Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Winn-Dixie and Walmart pull fireworks to honor meaning of Memorial Day

Stores pull fireworks off shelves for Memorial Day
No fireworks sold before Memorial Day following complaints
Troy Moon • tmoon@pnj.com • March 2, 2010


Two major shopping chains will not sell fireworks leading up to Memorial Day, in response to area veterans who complained that the companies were commercializing a day meant to honor fallen military members.

Walmart and Winn-Dixie will not sell fireworks at any of its stores throughout the United States until after Memorial Day, May 31.

"Wow, this is a start," said Mike Esmond, 63, a Vietnam veteran from Gulf Breeze who spearheaded a letter-writing campaign to keep fireworks from the stores until after the holiday. "Hopefully, we can keep Memorial Day to what it was intended to be — a solemn day to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice."

In November, Walmart agreed to withhold the fireworks at its more than 4,000 U.S. stores until after Memorial Day.

Winn-Dixie decided this month to do the same at its 515 stores across five states.
read more here
http://www.pnj.com/article/20100302/NEWS01/3020323

Books for Vets has given more than 50,000 away


Wendy Shiner in the book-filled garage of her Winter Springs home, on Saturday, February 27, 2010. Two years ago Shiner founded Books for Vets, Inc., a group that collects used books and ships them to veterans facilities and troops serving overseas. In that time, she estimates that her group has helped more than 50,000 books find their way to readers who have served or are still serving their country. (RICARDO RAMIREZ/ORLANDO SENTINEL / February 26, 2010)

Books for Vets has given more than 50,000 away

Wendy Shiner founded the group that ships books overseas

Veterans Affairs

By Rachael Jackson, Orlando Sentinel

6:49 p.m. EST, March 1, 2010



Two years ago Wendy Shiner founded Books for Vets Inc., a group that collects used books and ships them to troops overseas and veterans facilities. Before long, she was inundated with books. Donations have ranged from boxes from a bookstore going out of business to collections from people cleaning out home libraries. So far, she estimates that her group has helped more than 50,000 books get to veterans who have served — or are still serving — their country. She spoke with Sentinel reporter Rachael Jackson.

click link for more

Alleged Car Thief Messes With Wrong Man Ex-Marine Daillard Paris

Alleged Car Thief Messes With Wrong Man - Ex-Marine Daillard Paris

(CBS)NEW YORK (CBS) If the New York police have it right, an alleged car thief messed with the wrong guy - a 6-foot-3, 240 pound former Marine named Daillard Paris - and the man didn't live to tell his side of the story.

The New York Daily News reports that when Paris found his 50-year-old neighbor Yaosee Agboku in the driver's seat of his Nissan Altima, he didn't take very kindly to it.
read more here
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/03/01/crimesider/entry6255299.shtml

Time is the greatest enemy for combat veterans


Time is the greatest enemy for combat veterans

by
Chaplain Kathie
Right after a traumatic event during combat, every part of the survivor is affected. Without realizing how much they are paying attention to, every single image is engrained. Sounds are recorded. Emotions are uploaded. Physical reactions are stored. It all gets linked together, joining forces, ready to be reactivated for a full blown assault. The enemy rests, strengthens and is fed by all other following events. They build up forces as one is promoted in rank of importance. This commanding event gains all control ordering the warrior to destroy itself from within. The enemy is PTSD and the greatest ally is time.

For Vietnam veterans 40 years or more has passed since the time they walked the paths through hell. Most were still teenagers, now in their 50's, 60's and 70's. Now they have children serving and grandchildren growing up approaching the age they were when they ended their life as a civilian becoming a soldier. For them, just as every generation before them and after them, they would never again know what it is like to live as a simple citizen untouched by the price paid by others for their sake.

When they came home, aside from the appalling reception and dismissal of their sacrifices, they were left to suffer in silence alone. No one wanted to hear anything. No one paid attention to this;

The conflict that raged in Southeast Asia produced more than its share of heroes. In all, 239 persons who served in Vietnam received the Medal of Honor, beginning with U.S. Army Captain Roger Hugh C. Donlon for his conspicuous gallantry in defending Camp Nam Dong on July 6, 1964.
Vietnam War Medal Of Honor



or to this

Colonel David Haskell Hackworth, U.S. Army (November 11, 1930 to May 4, 2005), received three Silver Stars for gallantry in action during the Korean War, and then earned seven additional Silver Stars for gallantry in action during the Vietnam War, thus making him the holder of the most Silver Stars by any service member.
Vietnam Silver Star Record Holder



or to things like this
Vietnam War Casualty

CACCF Record Counts by Year of Death or Declaration of Death (as of 12/98) Year of Death or Declaration of Death Number of Records
1956-1960 9
1961 16
1962 52
1963 118
1964 206
1965 1,863
1966 6,143
1967 11,153
1968 16,592
1969 11,616
1970 6,081
1971 2,357
1972 641
1973 168
1974 178
1975 161
1976 77
1977 96
1978 447
1979 148
1980 26
1981-1990 34
1991-1998 11
Total 58,193

They were not heroes in the minds of the American public. They were shadows of "the greatest generation" not welcomed into their groups and no longer welcomed into civilian society. They were "baby killers" and "druggies" on menial jobs trying to fit back in and prove themselves as worthy of inclusion into the role of veteran. The news focused on the image of "crazy Nam vets" even though they returned just as all other generations had, with a yolk around their neck pulling them back into combat readiness and PTSD trying to finish them off. All other generations under different terms/labels were haunted by this but the Vietnam veterans, despite the American public's attempt to ignore them, managed to take on another battle of getting them to help them heal.

All advances in mental health came because they never lost faith in the American people but we still ignore how much they contributed to the rest of us. Whenever we face traumatic events, crisis teams respond because of them but less than half of the Vietnam veterans seek help to heal after their own traumas. Some because they never understood what became of their lives was forever altered by facing death for this nation's sake. Some because they have been taught to suffer in silence because that is their burden to carry alone. For others, as of the last study, 200,000 lost all hope and ended their own lives.

Today, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are able to seek treatment for PTSD, receive support online, hear of news reports covering this wound, yet still, less than half needing help seek it. The VA is overloaded with veterans seeking help to heal from the two new wars and a trickling in of Vietnam veterans finally understanding they can seek help to heal as well.

The number of Vietnam vets receiving PTSD treatment more than doubled between 1997 and 2005, swelling from 91,043 to 189,309, according to the latest figures available from the government.

The "sharp recent growth" in PTSD treatment among Vietnam veterans is "puzzling" to Robert A. Rosenheck and Alan F. Fontana of the VA New England Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center.

"Combat ended in Vietnam 30 years ago, and a growing volume of veterans seeking help for PTSD would not have been expected so long after the traumatic events took place," they said in their article in the journal Health Affairs.


It doesn't puzzle Dave McPeak. A Vietnam veteran himself, McPeak has been counseling vets at the VA Vets Center in Greentree since its opening in 1980.

A licensed psychologist, McPeak attributes the increase to several factors, including retirement. The average Vietnam veteran now is 61.

"They have time on their hands," McPeak said.

Busy raising families and building careers, Vietnam veterans were either too preoccupied to be troubled by wartime memories or, like Merwin, managed to mask them, McPeak said.

"This is pure PTSD," said McPeak, comparing the Vietnam veterans now in counseling with earlier veterans, who frequently were ensnared by either drug or alcohol abuse. Most of those veterans now are dead, many living only to their 30s or 40s, McPeak said.
More Vietnam vets seeking PTSD help


Iraq and Afghanistan veterans face the same enemy of time. As time passes by, PTSD gains more power. This enemy shows no mercy on the veteran or their families. It is a destroyer but it is not unstoppable. The sooner they receive help, the better the outcome, but as time passes without treatment, there are pieces of their lives that cannot be reversed simply because as time passed by other events contributed to what PTSD began. No matter what treatment they seek, time is the determining factor of how well they will heal. This concerns all psychologist. With the backlog of claims, lack of specially trained PTSD experts and therapists able to treat the veterans and their families, time gains more control over them.

For Vietnam veterans, even after all these years, it is not too late for them to heal and defeat the enemy within them, PTSD. They are seeking help in higher numbers simply because they have more understanding that their are not doomed to live with the ghosts. While there is still no cure for PTSD, much of what they suffer from can be healed and for what cannot be healed, it can be subdued with medications, therapy, spiritual healing and counter terrorism tactics over their emotions. They can learn to calm down their physical reactions fully engaged in flashbacks and nightmares, ease hyperirritability and find peace, forgiving themselves as well as the way they were mistreated.

Had most of the Vietnam veterans been helped early on, mild PTSD would have never gained total control over their lives. When they were able to "deal with it" other events followed awakening the enemy with a vengeance because they were pushing it back instead of finding ammunition to fight against it.

Now they grieve for the lost years they suffered in silence, the end of relationships because PTSD had control over them, the friends they lost, the jobs they lost, but above all, the years they lost existing instead of living. They grieve for this generation knowing that today is the day they should all begin to heal so they do not suffer the same condemnation of their souls needlessly.

Service groups, now headed by the same veterans not welcomed after Vietnam, are pushing for greater help for the newer veterans and taking the lead in delivering them even as they struggle to obtain it for themselves.

There are no more excuses for anyone to dismiss or hinder the recovery of our veterans. Long gone are the days when anyone can dismiss the human that existed before combat and the one wounded after it.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Military suicides are causing civilian casualties, too

If you ever wanted to know what happens beyond some of the stories you read here, you should be able to know after this. Too many of these stories are happening all over the country in military families but beyond that, you need to know they are also being repeated all over the country in the families of veterans. We lose 18 a day to suicide and another 12,000 attempt it, leaving behind a family trying to make sense out of how things got so bad.

Military suicides are causing civilian casualties, too
By Halimah Abdullah, McClatchy Newspapers
Stars and Stripes online edition, Monday, March 1, 2010
WASHINGTON — Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Wimmer charmed potential Army recruits with a movie star's smile, but somehow it never quite reached his eyes, even when he was cradling his newborn twin daughters.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he dreamed of his own dead body swinging from a rope, his feet dangling just above a chair.

When those nightmares eventually blurred, the Persian Gulf veteran and former Army recruiter began trying to recreate their grisly images. He tried to kill himself with pills in the woods, and a razor blade in a hotel room, and every suicide attempt drew his wife, Jennifer, and their four daughters deeper into his dark world.

Jennifer learned that his fourth suicide attempt, on July 23, had succeeded when she got a text message: You'll "find his body hanging like a Christmas ornament from a tree across from the range on base. If he knew I was sending this he would be pissed. Hope you understand. Bob."

Jennifer doesn't know who "Bob" is, and the military is preparing to close its investigation into his death pending more evidence.

So less than a year after Daniel Wimmer, five days short of his 34th birthday, drove his white Ford F-150 truck to nearby Fort Benning, a sprawling military installation near Columbus, Ga., and hanged himself from a tree across from a practice range, his family is still caught in the dark currents that took his life — a life they're only just beginning to understand.
read more here
Military suicides are causing civilian casualties, too

VA Psychologist On PTSD And The Mental Health 'Stigma'

VA Psychologist On PTSD And The Mental Health 'Stigma'
Stacey Pollack Discusses The Challenges And Rewards Of Treating VeteransMonday, March 1, 2010




Awareness of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder has increased in recent years, giving Americans a clearer understanding of what some veterans have to fight against every day. NationalJournal.com met with a Department of Veterans Affairs clinical psychologist, Dr. Stacey Pollack, for her perspective on the battle against PTSD. Pollack, who also serves as trauma services director at the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C., says that although she tries to encourage vets suffering PTSD to undergo treatment, "I don't ever pretend to understand exactly what they go through."


Two soldiers overcome being hit by Union Pacific train

2 soldiers hurt when train strikes Army vehicle

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Feb 28, 2010 9:52:39 EST

SALT LAKE CITY — A train hit an Army vehicle in Tooele County on Saturday, and two soldiers were hurt.

The tactical vehicle, about the size of a pickup, was traveling to Camp Williams from Dugway Proving Grounds when it was hit by a northbound Union Pacific train.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/02/ap_army_utah_train_crash_022810/

Medal of Honor, Alejandro Ruiz's family billed for VA care?

This has to be the outrage of the day!!!! His actions were enough to be awarded the Medal of Honor but not good enough to cover his care from the VA?


A hero in life owes a huge sum in death

By KERANA TODOROV Register Staff Writer
Posted: Sunday, February 28, 2010 3:37 pm


Alejandro Ruiz was buried in November at the Veterans Home of California at Yountville with full military honors, half a century after receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor.

This month, Ruiz’ daughter was stunned to learn the California Department of Veterans Affairs billed Ruiz’ estate $262,500 for the care the veteran had received in Yountville.

Celia Ruiz said she thought that by pursuing the estates of former veterans, the state is disrespecting their service.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “These people sacrificed their lives for us.”

A spokesman for the department declined comment on the case, but said it is common for the state to seek payment for housing and medical services from the estates of veterans who lived or were under the medical care of any of the state’s five veterans homes.

Ruiz received the Congressional Medal of Honor for acts of heroism on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa, Japan. On April 28, 1945, then-Pfc. Ruiz lunged alone through flying grenades and rifle and automatic fire to take on Japanese pillbox, killing 12 enemy soldiers and completely destroying the position.
read more here
A hero in life owes a huge sum in death


read about this man's life here

Alejandro R. Ruiz
Private First Class, U.S. Army 165th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division

WITHOUT HOME - Veterans on the street grow

How hard is it to understand that when they are sent into combat, they are no longer civilians exposed to the same traumatic events every other civilian faces, but are not only exposed to them on a daily basis but propelled into a world of being a part of them?

When they come home, they have done their time with weapons in their hands, being shot at and doing the shooting. They did their share of screaming, running, praying and counting down the days until they could go back home to live "normal" lives again. They had combat drilled into their brains and the military way of thinking was supposed to replace their own. They returned far from "normal" to family and friends, on their own. No one was telling them what to wear, when to go to sleep, when to wake up, dictating when they could eat and what they had to eat. No one to tell them what to do from one hour to the next. Above all, they no longer had the family they inherited from the military.

Civilians have a hard time understanding how it is strangers could feel so closely connected that in such a short time a bond grew as if they had been related by blood. In a sense, they were. They watched over each other. When one of them was being threatened, others went to defend them. When one of them was wounded, others tried to help and when one of them died, they grieved as if it had happened to a blood brother. When they come home, part of them stayed there. They try to put it all behind them and get back to "normal living" but sooner or later they notice this is impossible because of what they returned from.

They return to a nation of over 300 million people but less than 30 million served in the military, even less in combat. How can they "fit in" with what they carried back home with them? No longer simple civilian, no longer soldier, yet expected to adjust with both living within them.

Families wait for the day when their veteran will get over it. Friends want them back the way they were before they left. They end up turning away after the sullen moods, angry outbursts and dismissal of the trivial issues they act as if are all so important. How can a combat veteran relate to that after what they just came home from? They can no more relate to the trivial than the civilian can relate to terror.

Active duty military, lifers, still have their military family around them. At least they are among others able to understand. Military "normal" is their way of life and they could not be made comfortable with living among others "back in the real world" of everyday living.

Therapists still make the mistake of thinking they can treat a combat veteran with the same kind of therapy they give to civilians, never understanding what makes the veteran so different, so deeply cut by their experiences that they need help beyond "normal" after abnormal events they were an active part in.

They end up homeless because of what they carried inside of them. For a start, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder left them with a long list of life changing thinking. Some feel as if they do not deserve help because they cannot forgive themselves for what they had to do any more than they expect anyone else to forgive them when they act out because of PTSD. For others, they believe they should not yield their pride enough to ask for help because they were the defenders of freedom, the protectors, the servers of their countrymen. Being trained to stand ready to face death, it is nearly impossible for these same men and women to ask for help to live.

We see the homeless veterans everyday on the streets, lining up for a simple meal and for a bed. We walk by them as we do any other homeless person. As bad as that is, we forget about them as soon as they are deployed. Few in this country know where a local homeless veteran shelter is. Most of the people right here in the Orlando area know there is a homeless veterans shelter within the grounds of the VA clinic. Over 60 homeless veterans are in a program to help them recover and be able to live "normal" lives again.

To think that veterans can be placed into civilian homeless shelters is making it worse for them simply because no one else there understands these men and women faced all they did for the sake of the country and then found themselves kicked to the curb with families turning their backs on them, friends betraying them and the military families they had separated by many miles. They are isolated in a crowded room, alone in their own communities wanting to seek out other veterans but come up against other veterans with their own agenda instead of helping a brother.

There are no perfect answers. There are no perfect solutions. What we do know is that what we have been doing has not been working and will not work until the day comes when we fully understand treating them like the rest of the population is doing more harm than good. They are not like the rest of us and never will be because their eyes have seen things we will never have to see because they went for our sake.

WITHOUT HOME - Veterans on the street grow

NORWALK

By STEVE KOBAK

Hour Staff Writer


U.S. Army veteran Samuel Lee Smalls knew that certain veterans' organizations could help him with his problems, but he died on the streets of Norwalk without ever reaching out to one of these groups, according to his sister.

Smalls, who was honorably discharged after serving four years in the U.S. Army, had a stubborn nature about him and it's hard to tell if veterans' programs would have worked, his sister, Louisa Smalls, said.

"They probably would've helped him if he would've reached out to them," she said. "We'd often mention it to him, but he never did anything about it."

The Hour's News Hound - More from the Homeless

Many former soldiers like Smalls have trouble adjusting to civilian life and wind up on the streets. Like Smalls, these veterans at first may not be accepting of help from the state and federal government, but various programs are heightening their efforts to reach out to the homeless veterans in Connecticut.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that anywhere between 3,000 and 4,000 veterans are currently homeless in the state.

As more soldiers come home from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the number of homeless veterans is expected to rise dramatically, and the need for outreach programs is on the rise.

The current economic environment paired with the stress and psychological trauma of combat heighten the susceptibility of veterans to homelessness, according to Laurie Harkness, the director of the Errera Center for the VA CT Healthcare system.
read more here
http://www.thehour.com/story/482839


Program helps homeless vets find housing
BY PENELOPE OVERTON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

When she learned her unit was going to be deployed to Iraq again, Army Sgt. Shellyann Burke, a decorated nine-year veteran, decided it was time to get out.

But her sudden discharge left this young mother with no civilian life plan other than being around to raise her daughter. She had no job and no place to live. Soon the two of them were sleeping in her truck.

"I just couldn't believe what was happening to us," Burke said. "All those years of service, the impeccable military record, the skills, all of that did not seem to matter anymore. I felt angry. I felt lost and out of control."

Her 18-month descent into homelessness and despair ended after she got a federal housing voucher meant to help homeless veterans like herself find permanent housing and supportive services.


According to John Sullivan, the director of the HUD-VASH program in Connecticut, Burke is an unfortunate example of how even the most talented, articulate and decorated veterans can become homeless.

After almost nine years of service, including five spent overseas and a year in Iraq, Burke has a small collection of shiny medals and an incredibly diverse resume. She has been a secretary, weapons trainer and truck driver.

But not just any truck. Burke drove a 56-wheel monster, hauling heavy military equipment like tanks in convoys down Iraqi roads lined with buried bombs. Her name for the truck that stood four times her height? Bessie.

She would like to find a job in the health care field, something hands-on and helpful and generally in demand. Burke is a certified nursing assistant, and is finishing a medical assistant program at Lincoln Tech Institute now.

To read the complete story see The Sunday Republican or our electronic edition at http://republicanamerican.ct.newsmemory.com/ .


Helping America's Homeless Veterans
Inverness, FL, February 28, 2010 (PR.com)

A much needed homeless shelter is planned for Inverness Florida. As part of the ongoing effort to meet the needs of homeless veterans in the Citrus County Area- "The Mission in Citrus" is planning a homeless veteran’s shelter to be located on Park Ave "In the old CASA shelter" in Inverness Florida. The location was chosen after an earlier meeting with State and County Officials. As it was already an operating shelter, few upgrades are required to bring it up to compliance.

The "Mission in Citrus" decided to open the facility "because of the increased number of homeless Veterans and the demand for comprehensive, specialized services for them," stated founder James Sleighter. The "Mission" helped over forty homeless Veterans in the past sixteen months. Some were just passing through Citrus County. Others were reunited with family and friends, and still others were helped with housing and job placement. The Mission found that many Veterans wander around the country in search of jobs or a place to call home. And that placing homeless Veterans into housing is extremely difficult, especially those receiving disability payments from the government.

The Mission in Citrus wants to send a powerful message that "we did not take their service for granted," and that "We are deeply grateful for the service and sacrifice by our nation’s Veterans and we must make every effort to help them as they struggle to avoid a life on the streets, and in the woods of Citrus County," said Sleighter. "This program and shelter are an opportunity to say, ‘Thank You’ and to make certain that we serve them as they once served us."

Read more: Helping America Homeless Veterans


Study hopes to help veterans in a different way

Local study hopes to help veterans
By Alysa Landry The Daily Times
Posted: 03/01/2010 12:00:00 AM MST


FARMINGTON — A duo of behavioral health specialists is soliciting help from area combat veterans in a study of the role of therapy in healing from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Roy Harrington, a Marine diagnosed with the disorder nearly 20 years after serving in the Desert Storm conflict, is spearheading a conversation he hopes leads to specific changes in the way mental health professionals and the military view stress and trauma.

"I didn't know what the heck was wrong with me," Harrington said of the diagnosis. "I was crying all the time. It was affecting my job and my relationships. It just didn't make sense."

Harrington hopes by listening to other veterans' accounts of trauma and the emotional aftermath he will better understand the kind of conversation needed to prevent the disorder and heal those who already have it.

"Therapy for PTSD is all the same," he said, "but the practice, the approach isn't appropriate. You have to be able to go in there and know the other person will understand where you are coming from as a veteran."

Part of the solution may be pairing veterans with other veterans, Harrington said. Another piece could be better training of nonveteran therapists so they can find common ground. The goal is to isolate the trauma as an experience, not as something that defines a person, Harrington said.
read more here
http://www.daily-times.com/ci_14489987