WWII Veteran Still On Mission

At 91, pilot, hero, still on mission
The Journal Gazette
Brian Francisco
Washington editor
October 8, 2015

“For many, many years I spoke every night in my dreams to the 16 guys who I flew with who were killed in World War II, half of my squadron,” he said. Yellen flew 19 combat missions over Japan.

Jerry Yellin stepped off a shuttle bus just before dawn Wednesday and headed toward an airliner when he was intercepted by a teenage girl.

“Thank you for your service,” she told Yellin, giving him a red, white and blue ornament with ribbons displaying the words “brave hero.”

Most if not all of the 86 military veterans boarding Tuesday’s Honor Flight received the trinkets from members of a Whitley County 4-H club. Yellin’s presenter likely did not know it at the time, but her gratitude was directed at the day’s celebrity.

Yellin, 91, was a P-51 fighter pilot who flew the final combat mission of World War II. His wingman on Aug. 14, 1945, Phil Schlamberg, disappeared in the attack over mainland Japan and is considered the last American killed in the war.

Wednesday’s trip was Yellin’s first Honor Flight to visit memorials in Washington, D.C., although the resident of Fairfield, Iowa, had seen them before. The group departed from the Air National Guard’s 122nd Fighter Wing and Fort Wayne International Airport, which began its life as a military air base during WWII.

While in Washington for the day, Yellin was scheduled to place a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

“That, to me, is an honor beyond anything that I’ve ever been involved with,” he said in an interview at the 122nd Fighter Wing along Ferguson Road.

Yellin is the author of four books; a spokesman for Spirit of ’45, an organization that celebrates the WWII generation; and an advocate for aiding veterans who suffer post traumatic stress disorder. He said he battled PTSD for 30 years after serving in the Pacific Theater.

“I thought about suicide, and I stopped flying fighter planes because I knew if I continued to fly, I was going to die, by chance or by choice,” said Yellen, who had been a captain in the Army Air Corps. “I hardly could ever go up in a building, a 10-story, 12-story building, without standing by a window and thinking about jumping.
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New to PTSD? You May Be But It Isn't.

It seems as if everyone is shocked to read how ancient people suffered from what we call PTSD but they suffered even without having any name to give it. Sure we changed the term given generation to generation but nothing about it has changed much. That really sucks when you consider there has never been more done to treat it yet we have more reports on bad outcomes.

Ancient Assyrian Soldiers Were Haunted by War, Too

A new study finds evidence of trauma experienced by soldiers returning home from combat over 3,000 years ago
Smithsonian
By Laura Clark
January 26, 2015

In his account of battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., the Greek historian Herodotus recorded the story of a man that went inexplicably blind after witnessing the death of one of his comrades. Until recently, this was believed to be earliest-known record of what modern medicine calls post-traumatic stress disorder.

But now, as BBC News reports, a team of researchers says they’ve found references to PTSD-related symptoms in much earlier writings, dating from the Assyrian Dynasty in Mesopotamia, between 1300 B.C. and 609 B.C. They published their findings in the journal Early Science and Medicine with an article poetically titled “Nothing New Under the Sun.”

Soldiers in ancient Assyria (located in present-day Iraq) were tied to a grueling three-year cycle, the BBC notes. They typically spent one year being “toughened up by building roads, bridges and other projects, before spending a year at war and then returning to their families for a year before starting the cycle again.”

By studying translations of known texts, the historians were able to see just how familiar symptoms of PTSD might have been to Assyrian soldiers. Co-author of the study and director of the Anglia Ruskin University’s Veterans and Families Institute, Professor Jamie Hacker Hughs told BBC News:
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It is actually in the Bible too and many other ancient accounts of war.
King David

His life is conventionally dated to c. 1040–970 BC, his reign over Judah c. 1010–1002 BC, and his reign over the United Kingdoms of Israel c. 1002–970 BC.[1]

Goliath Challenges the Israelites

17 The Philistines now mustered their army for battle and camped between Socoh in Judah and Azekah at Ephes-dammim. 2 Saul countered by gathering his Israelite troops near the valley of Elah. 3 So the Philistines and Israelites faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them. 4 Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet[a] tall! 5 He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds.[b] 6 He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. 7 The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds.[c] His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield. 8 Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! 9 If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! 10 I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!” 11 When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.

Fighting and Military Career

And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter. And they fled from him. (1Samuel 19:8)

Psalm 144 Of David.

1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. 2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. 3 Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? 4 They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow. 5 Part your heavens, Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke. 6 Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy; shoot your arrows and rout them. 7 Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners 8 whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful.

God the Sovereign Savior but there is also Psalm 23

A psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

And there is the mighty Achilles.

How dare they use a Spartan for "resilience" training?
Veterans were suffering nonetheless when no one noticed other than their families.

Utah Deputy Cleared After Killing Veteran Nicholas McGehee

Sheriff’s deputy justified in shooting armed soldier in Tooele County
FOX 13 Salt Lake
BY ASHTON EDWARDS
JANUARY 16, 2015

“Task Force Marne commanding general, Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, shakes hands with, Spc. Nicholas McGehee, a native of Sanford, N.C. and “Golden Dragon” Soldier with 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division out of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, after pinning him with the military’s oldest award still given to servicemembers, The Purple Heart, during a ceremony on Contingency Operating Site Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq, Oct. 7.”McGehee was shot and killed in an encounter with police in Tooele County on December 28. Image courtesy Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System.

TOOELE, Utah – The Department of Public Safety said the Tooele County deputy who shot and killed a man in Stansbury Park was justified in using deadly force.

Back on Dec. 28, Sgt. Eli Wayman shot 28-year-old Nicholas Ryan McGehee.

The incident started when McGehee’s wife Kathryn called authorities about her husband who was intoxicated, had stepped on some glass and needed help.

Deputies went to the home near Aberdeen Lane and Merion Dr. after Kathryn told the 911 dispatcher her husband was armed with a shotgun.

When Sgt. Wayman saw McGehee with the shotgun, he told him to put down the gun and talk.

At that point McGehee went back into the house and slammed the door.

During the altercation Sgt. Wayman told McGehee at least three times to drop his weapon but he didn’t listen.

Officials said McGehee ended up pointing his gun at Sgt. Wayman which forced him to shoot.
read more here

Utah Iraq Veteran Killed by Police

Veteran Went to the VA for Help, He Died and So Did His Wife

Veteran's family sues the Fayetteville VA Medical Center over his suicide
FayObserver
By Greg Barnes Staff writer
December 19, 2014

The family of Paul Wade Adams Sr. of Lumberton has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center failed to provide proper care and follow-up treatment before Adams killed his wife and then himself on July 18, 2012.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, seeks $40 million for the deaths of Adams, an Army veteran, and his wife, Cathy. The lawsuit names the U.S. government as the defendant. The couple had been married 38 years. He was 62. She was 56.

According to the lawsuit, Paul Adams went to the Fayetteville VA on June 15, 2012, complaining of having suicidal thoughts. He was prescribed the anti-depressant Zoloft, the lawsuit says.

On July 4, the lawsuit alleges, Adams tried to shoot himself but was left with only a flash burn on his head.

Two days later, the lawsuit alleges, his daughter, Jennifer Nichole Fairfax, took him to the VA's emergency department. A nursing triage note on that day says Adams admitted having had suicidal thoughts for the previous two months.

According to the lawsuit, Adams was admitted directly into the VA's psychiatric unit, where records indicate that he suffered "suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation," indicating he had thoughts or plans to kill other people.

The lawsuit says Adams spent four days in the psychiatric ward. In that time, it says, VA did not take steps to warn his family or make sure that Adams did not have access to guns after his release.

According to the lawsuit, VA switched Adams' medication from Zoloft to another antidepressant, Wellbutrin. Records show that Adams was to gradually increase the dosage and that maximum benefits would be reached in three to four weeks.

The lawsuit says the VA did not keep Adams in the hospital long enough to test or observe whether the new medication was working and released him while he was still at high risk of committing homicide or suicide.

VA initiated Adams' release - not the family - and left him outside the hospital until his wife picked him up, the lawsuit says.
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PTSD Vietnam Veteran Died Detained Instead of Helped to Recover

If you still think the problems veterans face getting help for PTSD instead of being lock up is new they are not. Not much has changed no matter how much we seem all so willing to congratulate ourselves on how much we've done for them.

Another mentally ill inmate died of dehydration
News and Observer
Posted by Joseph Neff
September 25, 2014

A North Carolina prison inmate with a history of mental illness died of dehydration in March, according to an Associated Press report. All the details are not yet known, but there are a number of striking similarities to the 1996 of a Vietnam veteran who suffered from post traumatic stress.

A subsequent federal audit found a host of problems plaguing medical and mental-health care at Central Prison: inadequate staffing, an out-of-date facility, poor management and overuse of drugs and restraints in the psychiatric hospital.

In March, Anthony Michael Kerr, 53, died of dehydration while in care of Alexander Correctional Institution.

A damaged veteran:

Mabrey grew up in Roanoke Rapids, the oldest of four children. His father was a loom repairman for J.P. Stevens, working in the textile mill featured in the movie "Norma Rae."

Drafted after high school, Mabrey served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970, escorting convoys, setting up ambushes and protecting an Army base in the Ia Drang Valley.

"It was rough," said Melvin Tharrington, a boyhood friend who recalled the night they spent pinned down under enemy fire for five hours. "Glen was good as gold. He was like a brother to me. He wasn't the same Glen I had known after he got back. I think it just really got to him."

A week after Mabrey's return, his mother heard noises in his bedroom. She found him in his closet crying, banging his head against the wall.

"Momma said he talked about all his friends coming back in body bags and it was too much for him," Hollowell, his sister, said.

He was a welder by trade, but had trouble holding a job. Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome, Mabrey lived on monthly $ 900 disability checks.

He had numerous run-ins with the law resulting from his abuse of alcohol and cocaine: DWI, driving with a revoked license, larceny, writing bad checks. His first marriage ended. His second marriage was rocky. He was arrested for assaulting his wife, usually while he was drinking.
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PTSD Veteran Lost VA Benefit in Move Between States

After 4 tours Army veteran had what he needed from the VA. He even had financial help under Caregivers bill from Congress so his wife was paid to take care of him. I know that sounds strange but a few years ago that is what happened for OEF and OIF veteran families but not other veterans.

Where did his story go wrong? When he moved from Tennessee to Colorado so he could use medical pot to help with PTSD. In one state he qualified for a Caregiver but in another, poof, he didn't anymore.

Army veteran trying to get help from PTSD
KRDO.com
Greg Miller
Multimedia Journalist
Sep 24, 2014

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.
Jerry Hamilton was deployed in the army four times in nine years.

“I was in numerous explosions, we got mortared, we were targeted on a daily basis, in numerous explosions,” Jerry Hamilton said.

He's been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but his family thinks it could be something more.

"What the hell is wrong with my husband? What's going on? What is this? This is not just PTSD!,” Cissie Hamilton said.

What started as a small facial tick has led to seizures, Tourette syndrome, body shocks and dementia symptoms.

Eventually he and his wife qualified for the VA's highest level of caregiver assistance.

So his wife quit her job to stay with him.

The drugs the VA prescribed alleviated his symptoms somewhat, but not enough, as you can see from a video the family posted to Facebook.
read more here

Suicide Prevention Sorely Lacking Military Intellligence

Considering the government has been spending billions a year on "prevention" they really need to ask for their money back.

More servicemen and women die by suicide than in combat,,,,still.

From Senator Joe Donnelly on Military Suicides Using an updated method of tracking suicides, DoD also announced in the new military suicide report that 475 servicemembers took their lives in 2013. This total is slightly lower than the 479 total DoD had previously reported. While the total number of servicemembers who took their lives declined from 522 in 2012 to 475 in 2013, there was an increase in the number of National Guard and Reserve Members who committed suicide last year. The 134 National Guard Members who took their own lives is a record high, up from 130 in 2012. Last year, 86 Reserve Members committed suicide compared to 72 in 2012.

The DOD and psychiatrists talk about pre-existing mental health issues but never seems to manage to explain how their psychological testing in the beginning could have missed it in so many cases.

"Roughly 18 out of every 100,000 Army soldiers commit suicide every year, while many more attempt or consider killing themselves. A new study on the rise in suicides found that 1 in 10 soldiers could be diagnosed for an anger impulse control disorder. Jeffrey Brown talked to Dr. Ronald Kessler of Harvard Medical School about how pre-existing mental illness may make soldiers more vulnerable."

After all, if the mental health issue was that big of factor in suicides, shouldn't they have noticed before investing so much time and training recruits they also armed? How is it no one is asking them to explain that?

The DOD says most of the suicides were not tied to deployments. What they don't explain is if their "prevention" programs were not even sufficient to prevent suicides in non-deployed, how did they expect the training to work on those deployed multiple times? How is it no one is asking them that either?

They say the majority of the suicides can be tied to relationship problems but never seem to mention what PTSD can do to a relationship.

They say financial issues are a part of the problem but never explain how it is they were willing to work 24-7 for less pay than they could get flipping burgers. (Add up the hours and how much they make and you'll understand)

Now the latest is that suicides are down from last year but yet again, they don't seem willing to explain the simple fact that there are also less serving.

2012 1,393,948
2013 1,372,336
2014 1,347,187

The ugly truth is if they explain it, then they'd have to actually admit what they have been doing to prevent them sorely lacked military intelligence!

Iowa VA let SWAT Team train where PTSD are trying to heal!

SWAT Training Conducted Near Veterans With PTSD
13 WHO NBC News
BY AARON BRILBECK
SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — Masked Marshalltown police officers, decked out in SWAT gear and carrying realistic looking guns, conducted training last Friday at the Iowa Veterans Home where quite a few residents suffer with post traumatic stress disorder.

“You get somebody with pistols out there violently trying to break into a building, even if it’s an empty building, and if they see it and they’ve been in Fallujah or some of the other places where there has been that kind of combat, you’re gonna have problems,” says Bob Krause with the Veterans National Recovery Center.

The training was conducted at an auditorium and cottages where family members can stay. Commandant Jodi Tymeson says it’s not uncommon for police and firefighters to train on the grounds of the Iowa Veterans Home. She says, staff who need to know are given ample warning, but warning everyone is difficult. “We are a large campus with a lot of staff and a large number of residents so we do our best to notify everyone.”
read more here

VA Doctor's Answer to PTSD, More Pills, Less Talk

Since I already popped my cork today I will not add more to this.

Dr. Suris is the Chief of Psychiatry of Mental Health at Dallas’ VA Medical Center. Her research into a more efficient PTSD treatment has been called promising because it does not dwell on the traumatic memory.

“You come in and you have a 30 second exposure to your trauma,” Dr. Suris said. “That 30 second exposure is paired with a medication that we know is safe. We’re trying to interfere with that emotional connection. So you don’t lose the memory of the trauma, at all. But, you lose how you respond to that trauma. So if you think about your trauma, you’re not upset. It’s a fact.”

Enough said

CSF: How to Increase Military Suicides Without Really Trying

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 23, 2014

What is the job of military leaders? Kill the enemy and get them to surrender with psychological pressure. Who had the bright idea they would be remotely capable of doing anything to save the lives of the troops serving under them?

There is a great line in the movie Steel Magnolias by Shirley MacLaine "I'm not crazy, M'Lynn, I've just been in a very bad mood for 40 years!" I've been in an every increasing bad mood for the last 30 years and today I may very well blow my top.

Fuck is an English-language word, a profanity which refers to the act of sexual intercourse and is also commonly used to denote disdain or as an intensifier. Its origin is obscure; it is usually considered to be first attested to around 1475, but may be considerably older. In modern usage, the term fuck and its derivatives (such as fucker and fucking) can be used in the position of a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb. There are many common phrases that employ the word, as well as compounds incorporating it, such as motherfucker.

So I'm using it right now in place of the inability to provide another word suitable for the ever growing emotional pain being inflicted on the troops and families, including veterans, trained and sent by the Department of Defense to defeat the enemy time and time again. When are they going to get a fucking clue?

CSF, Comprehensive Soldier Fitness IS THE PROBLEM NOT THE SOLUTION! Gee what other words could those letters stand for? Here's a hint. They are not good words but I just gave you the last one. The terms are used everyday when soldiers try to explain the "efforts" the military has been doing for the last decade while they kill themselves more often than the enemy does.

PowerPoint Commando / PowerPoint Ranger
A briefer notorious for producing overly complex briefs in PowerPoint that are too long and use too many effects, such as animations and sounds.

Suicides tied to military service among veterans are twice the civilian population. If that doesn't seem bad enough then consider they are only 7% of the population. Maybe that means something to you but when you consider there are more veterans no longer counted by the DOD as they hide behind the reduction in suicides, that should really be a huge slap in the face.

They say;

"Number of soldier-suicides down Bobeck said the Army National Guard had 120 suicides in 2013. There have been 44 this year, he said.

“That’s tragic that we’ve even had 44, but that’s a significant difference in number,” Bobeck said. “We’ve made a tremendous investment in our resiliency campaigns and our resiliency training. Can we tie that directly to that? We’re still looking at that, but we know we’ve had a significant reduction.” Yet, each soldier’s suicide “is still tragic,” said Bobeck, who noted the necessity of reducing the incidence of such tragedies “to zero.”

There are less serving to count in the first place because of sequestration and the cutbacks thanks to Congress. They came out with Battlemind and then CSF. Congress has funded billions a year yet what happened? What happened to all that money? Who got it? Was anyone held accountable for the money wasted as more and more lives were lost to suicides? No, the bullshit result is the DOD and the VA say they don't have a clue if any of it is working or not. Well here's the biggest clue of all. They filled more coffins than the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Iraq Republican Guard. When you add up the number of suicides in the military plus those of the discharged the number is higher but one more catch is the DOD doesn't have to count them after they are discharged including those discharged under bad papers leaving them with nothing but heartache.

If all that isn't bad enough, here comes yet on more crap load of results of what they have done.

Report: Some causes of suicide in military need more study
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
September 22, 2014

While the military has poured more money into suicide research than any other sector of American society in recent years, certain targets in dire need of study remain under-funded, according to a RAND Corp. report released Monday.

Researchers sampled opinions of leading suicide experts within the military and on the RAND Corp. staff about the most important areas needing research. They found the those areas — improving ways of identifying those who are suicidal; and developing better methods for the ongoing care of those with self-destructive tendencies — receive little or moderate focus in either funding or number of studies.

"There is no apparent relationship between what is being funded and what (Defense) representatives perceive as important," RAND researchers concluded.

RAND researchers found that the largest sums of money and the greatest numbers of studies were devoted to finding better treatment methods and improving care, each ranked ninth and fifth, respectively, on a list of most important research areas.
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UPDATE

Now add this to the above out of a report on the situation at Fort Hood

Inferior testing and evaluation procedures,
Lack of adequate funding for clinic services,
Senior mental health professionals forced into retirement by the Army,
Months-long wait times for soldiers seeking evaluation and treatment for psychological conditions,
Only one trained clinical neuropsychologist for more than 50,000 soldiers

How the Army Fails Soldiers: Fort Hood Psych Crisis

FENCE-JUMPER: ANOTHER VICTIM OF 'PSYCH CRISIS' AT FORT HOOD?
'Omar is not some maniac. He's a veteran who needs help'
WND
Chelsea Schiliing
September 22, 2014

Only five months after a senior neuropsychologist in charge of Fort Hood’s outpatient psychiatry clinic revealed to WND a crisis in psychological testing and treatment at the U.S. Army post, a decorated war veteran who sought therapy at the installation is now in federal custody for jumping the White House fence and bursting through the executive mansion doors.

On Sept. 19, Omar J. Gonzalez, a 42-year-old Army veteran who had deployed to Iraq three times and was injured by a homemade bomb, jumped over the north fence, sprinted across the lawn and was stopped only after he entered the White House doors.

Gonzalez has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoia and was being treated at Fort Hood, Texas, for a time, according to his former stepson, Jerry S. Murphy.

A psychiatrist at Fort Hood prescribed Gonzalez medications, he said.

An unidentified family member told the Los Angeles Times Gonzalez said he had planned to go to a Veterans Administration hospital to seek treatment after his exit from the military in 2012. The person said Gonzalez had been taking antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication, but he was unsure if Gonzalez had stopped.

“Omar is not some maniac,” he said. “He’s a veteran who needs help.”
read more here

FORT HOOD POST MORTEM: CRISIS IN PSYCH TESTING
Top doctor warns, 'There's no way to keep up with the workload'
WND
Chelsea Schilling
April 13, 2014

Soldiers assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division's Company F, 3rd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Travis Zielinski)

The Army terminated its psychological testing contract at Fort Hood, Texas, only seven months before Spc. Ivan Lopez’s eight-minute shooting rampage that left Lopez and three other soldiers dead and 16 more wounded on April 2, WND has learned.

Instead, Fort Hood – one of the largest military installations in the world and the primary hub for deploying U.S. soldiers overseas – has been using free tests it finds on the Internet to evaluate soldiers’ psychological health and only employs a single neuropsychologist to treat up to 500 soldiers a month.

And while the post’s traumatic brain injury clinic has a brand-new hot tub in storage, it receives little money to test soldiers for psychological trauma.

The senior neuropsychologist in charge of Fort Hood’s outpatient psychiatry clinic – who resigned from his position only two months ago – tells WND the post has insufficient resources to treat soldiers seeking psychological help, including:

Inferior testing and evaluation procedures,
Lack of adequate funding for clinic services,
Senior mental health professionals forced into retirement by the Army,
Months-long wait times for soldiers seeking evaluation and treatment for psychological conditions,
Only one trained clinical neuropsychologist for more than 50,000 soldiers
read more of this here

Police vs Veterans

UPDATE
Add Gregory Smith to the list.

Father of US Army vet who was shot and killed discusses his son's PTSD
KVIA ABC News
Alec Schreck, Alec Schreck
Sep 21, 2014

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico
Gregory Smith says he tried for years to get his son to seek treatment from the VA for his PTSD. Smith told KVIA that his son William Smith served in the Army from 2003-2007. He said his son was not the same when he returned from his second tour.

Following several years of difficulty where the younger Smith struggled with PTSD, several criminal arrests and the use of illegal street drugs, former US Army Sergeant William Smith was shot and killed by a New Mexico state policeman on Friday.
read more here

Jacinto Zavala was killed by police officers and they have been cleared. Never a good ending for the veteran or the officers. This one is more tragic because Greeley Police Chief said "I am both saddened and angry that this individual put our young officers and their families through this. I am equally sad that he inflicted pain on his own family members." Didn't he feel sad that after a 21 year old veteran reached the point where he wanted to die? It happened in August and the headline read "Man fatally shot by police in Greeley"

It happened in September to "Jeffrey Johnson, the 33-year-old father and veteran killed during an officer-involved shooting" after his wife called police to help her husband.

It happened in August when six bullets ended life of Marine Cpl. Allan DeVillena II when he was 22.

In July

A Kentucky National Guardsman served two tours in Iraq. Justin Neil Davis was only 24. His last tour ended when he was 22 in 2012. Davis knew he was having problems. He had been in the VA rehab for 30 days but as it turned out, it didn't make that much of a difference.

And in Kansas

Police say Icarus Randolph charged at an officer with a knife after they were called to the scene by family for a report of a suicidal person. The family said the man was in the military and had done tours in Iraq. He had been dealing with mental issues prior to this incident.

In June
"A psychologist called 911 and said he had just received a call from a patient who was potentially suicidal" and police shot him in his driveway in Denver.

In May

Jerome Christmas died Saturday after a struggle with Shreveport police, and while witnesses said he was acting wild before it happened, his brother knew a completely different person.

Witnesses say they saw Jerome Christmas go crazy, throwing things, getting undressed, talking to himself, and acting as though he was on fire. Christmas' brother Drake said his brother was a veteran who served his country, and suffered from PTSD.

It keeps happening but no one seems bothered by the simple fact when it does, the veterans had gone from risking their lives to facing off with police.

It is sad for the police officers, families and community but the fact this keeps happening should never be forgotten. They lived for others but died because they didn't get the help they needed and were promised for doing a job few others wanted to do.

Vietnam Veteran Healing "God left me here for something"

Soldiers and Families Heal Through Song
LIVEFox 17 This Morning
September 21 2014

Less than half of current and retired soldiers who suffer from illness like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder actually seek treatment, according to Veterans and PTSD organization.

Non-profit SAFE (Soldiers and Families Embraced) is trying to change that offering free treatment services. The group also offered a unique measure to healing through "Singing Their Stories" Retreat.

Twenty people of all ages and backgrounds came on common ground to the Historic Scarritt Bennet Center in Nashville. Bill Wheeler says, "I've seen a lot of soldiers die. I don't know why I was spared, but God left me here for something. I have not told that story to anyone until now." Wheeler is a veteran who fought in Vietnam.

This weekend, he and others were paired up with some Music City's top songwriters to channel his military experiences into a song.
read more here

Combat to Criminal? How they got to that point is the question

Ever think about how in control soldiers have to be to be in the military in the first place? Think about it. All the training they have to do topped off with following orders telling them what to do, when to eat, when to wake up and when to go to sleep. They spend years of being in control.

We are always told the military is addressing their need to heal, but over and over again, we discover far too many times the military used the wrong address.

Suicides have gone up since the military started to "do something" about them. Suicides back home have gone up as well with more and more veterans facing off with law enforcement, usually when they have reached the point where suicide seems to be the only option they can see.

Communities wonder what justice really is but it wouldn't have to come to that point had they wondered first how they ended up that way after all they did for us.

These folks are not your average citizen. They were willing to die for someone else. So why do some go from that, surviving combat, years of honorable service, to being treated like a criminal?

What is not being done? What is being done needs to be changed, but when do they do it? When will they ever reach the point where the "one too many suicide" really happens and they actually do something about it instead of repeating what already failed them?

Criminal or victim?
Communities weigh how to deal with battle-scarred soldiers who do wrong after coming home
Washington Post
Greg Jaffe
September 20, 2014

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Staff Sgt. Robert D. Carlson raised the gun to his head. In the parking lot of their duplex, his wife was calling the police.

"Please help," she cried. "He punched me in the face."

His intention, Carlson would say later, was to kill himself. Instead, alone on the second floor of their house, he lowered the gun from his head, pointed it toward a window and squeezed the trigger again and again, nine times in all.

Some of the rounds went into the roof of a garage, just below the window. Two rounds hit apartment buildings across the street. One round flew into the headlamp of a responding police SUV.

That was July 2012. Now, two years later, after being found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to eight years in prison, Carlson wonders about the fairness of such a punishment. "I know I did wrong," he said recently from the detention facility at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. But is jail time appropriate for someone who, before he fired those shots, spent 16 months in Iraq, followed by 12 months in Iraq, followed by another 12 months in Afghanistan?

Forty months total at war: He had survived a blast from a suicide car bomb. He had killed an Iraqi insurgent as the man's children watched in horror. He had traded places one day with a fellow soldier who then was killed by a sniper's bullet, standing in the very place where Carlson would have been if he hadn't switched. Did his years in combat mean he was deserving of compassion?

Compassion or conviction - that's the choice more and more communities across the country are facing as the effects of 12 years of war are increasingly seeping into the American legal system.
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If you have a PTSD service dog, remember your responsibility

This is our dog Harry. He is more of a guard dog than service dog because we trained him to just be a normal dog. While he does fine on walks and at the vets, we don't take him places with us because frankly, I doubt it would end well. We tried it when he was younger but at 80 lbs, this 3 year old takes tantrums and sulks. Forget the dog park for this guy.

Harry is also a Momma's boy. No one comes near me. He is my "baby" and I adore him but I have a responsibility to other people. It is one I respect as much as I want them to respect a dog like him. Harry was adopted from a shelter. We later found out that he is Rottweiler-Rhodesian Ridgeback

Hound Group; AKC recognized in 1955. Ranging in size from 24 to 27 inches tall at the shoulder and 70 to 85 pounds. Lion hunter; guard dog

I am a huge supporter of PTSD service dogs and value the fact they were trained to get veterans out in public again. It is reprehensible turning veterans away when they have them. I approve of businesses being subjected to protests and publicity when they refuse service because of service dogs. On the flip side, we don't seem to talk much about the responsibility of the owners to the general public.

If your dog cannot behave in public, then take him for retraining otherwise you are defeating his purpose of calming you down.

As for papers, would it hurt you to carry them when things are getting out of control and showing someone the proof your dog is trained would calm things down?

There are a lot of people buying a vest and pretending their dogs are like yours. Do you really want to put up with that? After all, training a PTSD service dog is very expensive and you not only value your dog, you have shown how much you love them, so don't let a liar put your dog in the same category as their dog.

Proliferation of Service Dogs Leads to Conflict
Valley News Staff Writer
By Maggie Cassidy
Sunday, September 21, 2014

White River Junction — Elroy Litchfield, a Vietnam War veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, recently acquired something that he believes will prove a tremendous help in coping with his condition: a five-month-old dog named Mischief who’s being trained to recognize Litchfield’s early signs of an anxious episode — “getting ready to blow up,” as he calls it — to help prepare the vet and try to calm him down.

Mischief will also be able to help comfort Litchfield in case he experiences an episode.

That explains why Litchfield became upset earlier this summer when a bus driver for Advance Transit prohibited him from taking Mischief aboard. The bus driver informed him that other passengers had complained about Mischief’s behavior on previous rides — the dog had pulled on its leash, jumped on bus seats and on other people, according to the driver.

Litchfield and Advance Transit officials quickly ironed the matter out. Advance Transit Executive Director Van Chesnut says that there is no question that service dogs are allowed on the bus, but only as long as they are kept under control.

In fact, such conflicts are likely to become increasingly common these days, as the use of service dogs grows and the variety of disabilities for which they are used expands.
read more here

Human cost of war for British servicemen and women

Iraq and Afghanistan: Human cost of war for British servicemen and women
BBC News
By Jonathan Beale
Defence correspondent
September 21, 2104

From January 2001 to March 2014, 220,560 individuals were deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan, the MoD says

Medically discharged
A study carried out by King's College London in 2012 found that 27.2% of those deployed to the front line had symptoms of common mental disorders.

Therefore, of the 220,560 who've served in either Iraq and Afghanistan, it's been assumed that 59,992 have or could have mental health issues.

For Britain's armed forces the war in Afghanistan is fast drawing to a close.

To date, 453 UK servicemen and woman have lost their lives there.

But the human cost goes much further.

Many soldiers are still recovering from severe physical injuries.

Others are counting the cost with unseen mental scars.

For the first time we now have a sense of the scale of the potential problem.

Figures released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) show that nearly a quarter of a million men and women have served on the front line.

Between January 2001 and March 2014, 220,560 individuals have been deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan. Many in that number would have had multiple tours.
read more here

Another organization steps up for veterans with PTSD

Suicide awareness month: Helping vets with PTSD
HLN News
By Kelly Bowman
September 21, 2014

An average of 22 veterans commit suicide every day
Battle Saint is an organization raising money to help wounded warriors

When military men and women leave the battlefield, their fight doesn't always end when they get home. Psychiatrists believe that one in three U.S. service members will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an average of 22 veterans commit suicide every day.

September is National Suicide Awareness Month. Battle Saint is an organization raising money to help wounded warriors with physical rehabilitation and post-traumatic stress. The organization's founder says with only one percent of the U.S. population serving in the armed forces, it’s up to the rest of us to come together and do something for the men and women who sacrifice so much.
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When does Wounded Times earn support from the veterans community?

When does Wounded Times Earn Your Support?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 21, 2014

When does Wounded Times earn support from the veterans community? That is a question I struggle with daily. Has 7 years been long enough? Has over 22,0000 posts been enough? With over 15,000,0000 views on my profile, over 1.7 million pages views on the site, sure, Wounded Times is clearly getting attention but I wonder what kind of attention. Is it good or bad?

When I was attending events, most the complaints I heard from veterans was that the media didn't care about them anymore. So I decided to do something about it. Researching reports on PTSD I was frustrated with the fact I had to search for hours to discover what was happening in towns and cities veterans called home. The national news dropped covering your news so long ago I can't even remember when they actually decided veterans no longer mattered. When they decided to dedicate a couple of minutes to a hero receiving the Medal of Honor at the end of the broadcast right behind a story of a celebrity getting airtime between commercial breaks. (That really ticks me off)

In 2003 I self-published by first book FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR MY BATTLE and re-released it in 2012. Why? Because when I wrote it, no one was telling our story. The secrets we kept from the public because most veteran families thought PTSD was something to be ashamed of. Top that off when we dared to talk to members of the press about what had become America's secret war after war, they didn't want to hear any of it. They told families like mine it was all old news.

They didn't care when they had a chance to fix what was wrong in the 80's for Vietnam veterans, or the 90's for them plus Gulf War veterans. Yes, they had the chance to make a difference as we were dealing with VA long waits to see doctors for treatment as many died before they could be seen, having claims in a pile of other backlog claims, being sent home from the hospital trying to be admitted to the rehab because there were not enough beds and above all, dealing with PTSD with no support from anyone.

People think all of the problem Afghanistan and Iraq veterans have today are new. I supposed it helped them sleep better at night to think they were actually paying attention so they could wash their hands of what they did not do decades ago.

In 1982 I went from being a veteran's daughter and niece of WWII veterans to advocate for Vietnam veterans. That's how long I've been researching PTSD caused by combat after I fell in love with one of them.

In 2006 more research on how veterans learn caused me to create videos so they could learn the easy way.

The first one was Wounded Minds telling their story and ours. It was up on YouTube for a long time until they started blocking music. It was followed by years of more videos.


Years ago it was one site after another but 7 years ago a Marine serving in Iraq actually caused me to rethink what I was doing. I fell into the political trap so many others seemed more involved with than the original mission they had. After responding to his complaint, which I am still ashamed of, defending my right to post what I wanted, he asked me a simple question. "Are you doing this for yourself or us?"

When I stopped crying, realizing he was right, after my eyes cleared up enough to see the computer screen, I sent him an email with a promise. That I would start this site to stay focused on all veterans and servicemembers without being political. I kept my promise.

They only time I get political is when a politician does something positive for you or against you. Really tough holding back because most days I want to explode on some kind of rant. I usually type it to get it off my chest then delete it so I can get back to the story.

By 2010, after two years of training on Crisis Intervention, I decided to go back to college for Digital Media so that I could make better videos and film the events the media didn't think was worthy of air time when they bothered to show up at all.

These are the videos on YouTube for veterans events

One of them was for Orlando Chief Petty Officers.
7 new Navy Chief Petty Officers were pinned today in Orlando at the Reserve Center with a couple of really funny moments.

Last night my husband and I were at the VFW for dinner when I found out there was a Chief's party going on in the hall. I went out to tell an officer I met early about the video and then met the Chief standing near the podium in the video. I actually had a chance to tell him about the video being seen thousands of time and gave him a hug. (Actually the thousands of times is more than 10,000 but who is counting? ha ha)

Last year it was THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR about military suicides, why they happen, why what has been done failed and what we can do about them. I wrote it after families asked me to. They were torn apart learning to late why they had to bury someone they loved and lost to suicide. Few people understand they blame themselves for something they had no control over. I know that feeling as well because we lost my husband's nephew over a decade ago to suicide. He was another Vietnam veteran, uncounted even by today's press as the majority of the suicides.

Sometimes being ahead of the crowd can leave someone behind and that is exactly how I feel when some yahoo steps out of the covers, gets some attention from the press then suddenly becomes an expert on what was happening before they were even born. Instead of giving real answers, they give slogans. Instead of actually helping a veteran, they pass them off with a fix all answer like "I'm prayin' for you" when what they are really saying is, give me your money because I am preying on you.

It isn't my job to watch them or out them. I leave all that up to you. It is only my job to make sure you understand some very simple facts starting with the one that hurts the most. When you don't feel as if you matter at all. This site and the hours I put in are here for you, so you do matter. Trust me, if you didn't, I'd be doing what everyone else is doing in their free time. I have no clue what most of my coworkers are talking about when they watch some kind of apparently popular TV show.

Coworkers? Yes, I have to work for a living because everything I do is free to veterans and their families. I couldn't even break even with donations or ads from Google and lose a few thousand a year out of my own pocket. But the way I look at it, how much does it cost me to do what I am doing right now? Electricity, phone, internet, gas and tolls, the price for attending events and camera equipment aren't really that expensive. Ok, there is the tiny matter of paying back student loans, but I didn't have to do that. I wanted to.

If you read Wounded Times can you take a minute and let me know why? Can you tell me the types of things that matter to you the most? Let me know if you let other people know this site is there for them or why you don't pass it on. I have no clue why there are so many people reading this or what you think.

That is how you can support what I do. Tell me! Share with me the way I share with you. What does this mean to you?

PTSD Veteran's Widow Places 22 Crosses on Lawn

This is a story of love and suffering but beyond that, trying to prevent other families from suffering the same way. The only problem with it is the numbers are wrong. The "22 a day" number comes from the veteran population and not the military. The DOD doesn't count them when they are veterans and the veteran numbers do not include military folks.

The media gets these two groups confused all the time but if they are so important that an article is written about them and their tragedies, shouldn't they matter enough to get their numbers right?

One more thing to point out is even the "22" veteran suicides a day is wrong because it was taken from a study done with just over 20 states not including the 3 states with the highest veteran populations.

California

Veterans were more than twice as likely as other civilians to commit suicide. They were twice as likely to be a victim of a fatal motor vehicle crash and a quarter more likely to suffer other deadly accidents.

Texas
Suicide rate for young veterans three times higher than active duty

UNCOUNTED CASUALTIES: HOME, BUT NOT SAFE
Scores of recent Texas war veterans have died of overdoses, suicide and vehicle crashes, investigation finds

Florida

Military, veteran suicides account for nearly one in every four in Florida ... but the numbers don't explain why. Rate is one of the nation's highest

Keep in mind that veterans are only 7% of the population.
Also another under-reported fact is that 78% of the veterans committing suicide are 50 and over.

"Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide"

The crosses they bear
Military widow places flags, crosses to honor husband and others
Military Industry Today
By DEVIN HEILMAN
September 19, 2014

The crosses they bear
Jennifer McNulty placed 22 crosses in her front yard with photos of veterans who have committed suicide to bring awareness to soldier suicide. September is designated national Suicide Prevention Month.

COEUR d'ALENE - The small American flags flying over the white crosses in Jennifer McNulty's front yard Thursday accompanied photos of 22 servicemen and women who have taken their own lives.

She pointed to the picture of a handsome man in a green Army jacket in the front row.

"This is my husband," she said. "He died Oct. 31, 2012."

Jennifer's husband, Sgt. Wyatt McNulty, suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury. He was in the military for 11 years, serving in Kosovo and suffering the brain injury during training before being deployed to Iraq. He was out for seven years before his death.

"Ever since he came home from Iraq he wasn't the same," Jennifer said. "He was getting sick a lot, and the (Veterans Affairs) wasn't really doing anything to figure out what was making him sick. They were just, like I said, putting a Band-Aid over it and sending him home."

Jennifer, who serves as the treasurer for the Ladies Auxiliary at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 889, wore a special T-shirt and bracelet honoring her husband as she glanced at the many photographs of fallen heroes. She married Wyatt in 1994.

"The year he passed, we had just celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary," she said. "This last July would have been our 20th. I was 18, right out of high school."

She said she didn't notice a huge change in Wyatt's personality leading up to his death, but he did experience mood swings. She said they discussed the PTSD with their son and daughter, who are now 14 and 18.

"The mood swings were harsh on the kids," she said. "I always would try to be really honest with them and say, 'That's not really your dad, it's just he's sick. Now, we go to church and just lean on each other."

Jennifer placed the flags, crosses and photos in her yard Thursday morning to answer an Internet challenge issued by StopSoldierSuicide.org, which asked people across the nation to generate awareness about the realities of suicide and how it affects military families.

"It was not something that I ever thought would happen," she said. "He had a friend commit suicide when they were teenagers, and he was mad at him forever, so it was not something I ever expected."
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White House intruder is an Iraq Veteran

Turns out the man who got past Secret Service and into White House is an Iraq veteran. He is also an amputee, has PTSD and is homeless.

White House intruder was an Army vet with PTSD, family says
LA Times
By LOUIS SAHAGUN, EVAN HALPER
September 20, 2014

“The family’s hope is that this sad event brings awareness to the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said, “and the need for proper treatment.”

“Omar is not some maniac,” he added. “He’s a veteran who needs help.”

The intruder who scaled a White House fence and made it through the front doors was an Army veteran diagnosed with combat trauma, but authorities said Saturday the case was still under investigation.

A family member in California said Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, of Copperas Cove, Texas, near Ft. Hood, has been homeless and living alone in the wild and in campgrounds with his two pet dogs for the last two years.

“We talked to him on 9/11 and he said he planned to go to a Veterans Administration hospital to seek treatments,” said the family member, who asked that he not be identified pending completion of the Secret Service investigation.

A spokesman for the Army confirmed that Gonzalez served on active duty in the Army and was ‎retired in 2012.

Gonzalez joined the Army in the mid-1990s, the family member said. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after his first tour in Iraq. “But they sent him back for a second tour,” he said.

During a second tour, about three years ago, Gonzalez was reportedly injured by a homemade explosive device. “His job was running patrols in Baghdad when his Humvee was hit,” the family member said.
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Man claiming to be Iraq Veteran got past Secret Service and into White House