POW-MIA Day, watchfires for the lost

Trucksville church group will light watch fires for veterans
National POW/MIA Recognition Day is Sept. 19
Times Leader
By Joe Sylvester
September 01. 2014

Ed Zimmerman, seen here, will be guest speaker at a National POW/MIA Recognition Day event in Trucksville on Sept. 19.

In war, watch fires were lit on hilltops and at the mouths of rivers after a battle, so those separated from their units could find their way back.

On Sept. 19, the “Remembering Our Veterans Memorial” group from Back Mountain Harvest Assembly of God Church, Carverton Road, Trucksville, will light a watch fire to spiritually guide home, remember and honor all the POW/MIA from America’s wars and conflicts, said John Tasco, who represents the group.

The lighting of the watch fire will take place on the church grounds at about 5:30 p.m. on that day, which is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. The ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m. The ceremony will move into the church sanctuary if there is inclement weather.

“This year we will be featuring Ed Zimmerman as our guest speaker,” Tasco said.

Zimmerman, of Bear Creek Township, a Marine Corps and Vietnam veteran, traveled to Khe Sanh, Vietnam with a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, search team earlier this year to search for the remains of two Marines who were killed during the 77-day siege at Khe Sanh in early 1968. Zimmerman, who fought in the battle, will speak about his trip in June to Khe Sanh, where he helped locate the spot where the remains of the two Marines may be found.
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Also St. Charles Missouri
Second Annual Watchfire to be held on Sept. 19 at the Veterans Memorial


New Jersey
24th Annual POW/MIA Watchfire

Date/Time - 09/20/2014, 7:00 pm
Location Beachside on Heiring Ave, Heiring Ave, Seaside Heights, NJ,
SAL Detachment of NJ – 12 hour vigil. 7pm -7am. Beachside at Heiring Ave., Seaside Heights, NJ.

Vietnam Veteran Found Not Guilty Over Drone Protest

Vietnam veteran turns to activism for redemption
Buffalo News
By Phil Fairbanks
News Staff Reporter
on September 1, 2014

Russell Brown, a Buffalo resident and Vietnam veteran, was arrested in Central New York in April 2013 while protesting the use of drones.
Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News

In a suburban courtroom outside Syracuse, before a jury of six men and women, Russell Brown talked about his days as a Marine in Vietnam.

He talked about the fighting and killing – he was in Quang Tri Province, a bloody battleground in the late 1960s – and how a lot of innocent Vietnamese died there.

He also talked about why, 45 years later, his experiences during that war led him to an anti-drone protest and the decision to lie down in front of an Air National Guard base in Central New York and cover himself with paint the color of blood.

It was the “most peaceful experience” since his return from the war in 1968, he told he jury.

“When I was in Vietnam, I didn’t say anything,” the 67-year-old Buffalo resident said. “I never spoke out.”

Brown, who represented himself during the two-day trial in Dewitt Town Court, portrayed his protest as an act of redemption, a way for him to ease some of his guilt and regret about the war.

The jury, after just two hours of deliberation, found him not guilty.
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Camp Lejeune Marines and Sailors Rescued after crash near Djibouti

Camp Lejeune helicopter crashes in waters near Africa
By WCTI Staff
Sep 01 2014
GULF OF ADEN

A Camp Lejeune helicopter carrying 25 people crashed Monday in the Gulf of Aden, but all aboard were rescued, the Navy said

The 17 Marines and eight Navy sailors were recovered and were on board the USS Mesa Verde, and some who sustained minor injuries were treated on the ship.

The CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter --assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune-- crashed at about 2 p.m GMT (10 a.m. EST) Monday as it attempted to land on the ship, which has a big landing deck on the back, according to the Navy.

The Navy said the crash was not the result of hostile activity, but the aircraft was transferring troops back to the ship from training in nearby Djibouti in Africa.
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Psychiatrist blames pre-existing trauma on military suicides

Again they are linking pre-existing trauma to military suicides.

Once this rumor got started too many jumped on it. The DOD has mental health testing they do before troops are trained. They have been doing it for generations. They have also been looking for something else to blame for generations.

Here's a good question to start with.

If the DOD really believed that, then why would they have spent billions a year fighting something they didn't cause?

They wouldn't. They'd just push more out before they got in.

They wouldn't hand them a machine gun and deploy them off with thousands if they were already mentally ill.

This video only infuses the thought that it is their fault. No clue who these people are but it has been watched over 1,900 times and it just went up yesterday.

Published on Sep 1, 2014


More Military Suicides Than Combat Deaths. US Soldiers and Suicide - PTSD and Psychiatric Drugs

Psychiatrist Dr. Colin Ross discusses the issue of military men committing suicide. Is this really due to post traumatic stress disorder after combat is there a connection between the over drugging of your solider on psych drugs and suicide?

Suicide Prevention Takes Honesty, Not Slogans

This is what the DOD thinks will work,

Suicide Prevention Takes Courage, Communication, Official Says
Department of Defense
By Amaani Lyle
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2014 – The Veterans Affairs Department has named September National Suicide Prevention Month, but the Defense Department continues its year-round, comprehensive, multi-pronged approach to address the issue of suicide in the military, a Pentagon official said Aug. 21.

Army Lt. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, military deputy to the Undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, said DoD will broaden suicide prevention programs and resources to increase awareness, prevention and understanding across the force.

Leadership focus
“Suicide prevention is about taking care of each other and that’s a responsibility leaders have to focus on year-round, daily, weekly, monthly … not just in the month of September,” Linnington said.

According to the Department of Defense Suicide Event Report, the 2012 suicide rate [expressed as a number per 100,000 service members] for the active component was 22.7 and for the reserve components was 24.2.

Across the services in 2012, 155 soldiers committed suicide, as did a total of 57 airmen, 59 sailors and 47 Marines.

DoD will focus on total force fitness programs to build mental, physical and spiritual resilience in service members and their families with a focus on training and education for leaders and teams across the military to proactively recognize suicide signs and encourage communication.

Access to medical care
Additionally, DoD will continue to direct efforts to enhance medical care, the general said. The department, he said, “has spent a tremendous amount of leader attention and resources on improving access to care, the quality of care and the ability of service members to seek care in an anonymous nature if that’s what they choose to do.”

Linnington stressed the importance of leaders understanding the array of medical and resilience resources and their entry points.

Help for service members
Military Crisis Line and Military OneSource, he noted, are among the many resources that demonstrate the partnership between DoD and the VA, and give service members an anonymous ability to call-in or engage in online chats to access immediate help.

Newer peer-to-peer networks such as Vets4Warriors have also emerged as valuable resources, he said. In many instances, however, the first people service members can go to for help can be members of the military family, the general said.

“Having walked in our shoes … I think it’s clear that service members are comfortable around those that serve with them and have shared experiences,” he said.

No stigma
There should be no stigma attached to seeking help, Linnington said.

“Getting help when you need it is not only a sign of strength, but it works,” he said. “Having the confidence to seek help when you need it is important.”

Linnington also championed positive, energetic, command climates at all levels.

Leadership support
“If leaders support the rehabilitation and resilience of their service members, then … that opens the door for service members to go out and seek help,” he said.

The general debunked the notion that seeking help could negatively impact a military career.

“One suicide is one too many and leaders throughout the military will do whatever it takes to prevent suicide,” he said.

This is what the troops, veterans and families say,

It doesn't work.

They don't know what PTSD is, why they have it or gain any hope of healing.

Too many they know have been bounced out of the service tied to medications they have been given to "treat" PTSD.

Too many lessons learned have been the wrong ones.

The worst message they received is that PTSD is a mental weakness. After all, that is what "resilience training" has told them for years. If they train to be resilient, then they'd be able to fight off PTSD.

Resilience Training, or Comprehensive Soldier Fitness does not work but they keep pushing it while more lives are lost to suicide in the military and long after they came home.

The DOD claims they are training families but families tell a different story. They have no clue what PTSD is or what they can do to help.

“One suicide is one too many and leaders throughout the military will do whatever it takes to prevent suicide,”

The DOD says those words but they have used the same words for over a decade. History has proven the DOD wrong. The first suicide should have been too many. It shouldn't have taken thousands more to learn their weapon to fight it has backfired.

Labor Day For Some Since 1636

When it comes to having a day off it is great to remember those who "labor" for our freedom everyday but are usually forgotten.

December 13th, 1636
When the National Guard's oldest regiments met for their first drill on the village green in Salem, Massachusetts, they were barely three months old, organized on December 13th, 1636, the date we now celebrate as the National Guard birthday.

Minutemen
"Without these "ready in a minute" men, our history may have been written in a very different way."

The Minutemen playing a crucial role not only in the Revolutionary War, but in earlier conflicts.


Although the terms militia and minutemen are sometimes used interchangeably today, in the 18th century there was a decided difference between the two. Militia were men in arms formed to protect their towns from foreign invasion and ravages of war. Minutemen were a small hand-picked elite force which were required to be highly mobile and able to assemble quickly. Minutemen were selected from militia muster rolls by their commanding officers. Typically 25 years of age or younger, they were chosen for their enthusiasm, reliability, and physical strength.

Usually about one quarter of the militia served as Minutemen, performing additional duties as such. The Minutemen were the first armed militia to arrive or await a battle.

Although today Minutemen are thought of as connected to the Revolutionary War in America, their existence was conceived in Massachusetts during the mid-seventeenth century. As early as 1645, men were selected from the militia ranks to be dressed with matchlocks or pikes and accoutrements within half an hour of being warned. In 1689 another type of Minuteman company came into existence. Called Snowshoemen, each was to "provide himself with a good pair of snowshoes, one pair of moggisons, and one hatchet" and to be ready to march on a moment's warning. Minutemen also played a role in the French and Indian War in the 1750's.

A journal entry from Samuel Thompson, a Massachusetts militia officer, states, "...but when our men were gone, they sent eleven more at one minute's warning, with 3 days provision..." By the time of the Revolution, Minutemen had been a well-trained force for six generations in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Every town had maintained its 'training band'. The adversity that this region faced — Native-American uprisings, war with France, and potential for local insurrections, social unrest, and rioting — provided ample reason to adhere to a sound militia organization. In his recent book, perhaps David Hackett Fischer puts it best, "The muster of the Minutemen in 1775 was the product of many years of institutional development...it was also the result of careful planning and collective effort." (p. 151). By the time of the Revolution, Massachusetts had been training, drilling, and improving their militia for well over a hundred years.

Coins stolen from MOH Marvin Shields' grave replaced with love

On Marvin Shields' tombstone it says

"He died as he lived, for his friends"

Veterans replace stolen coins at war hero’s grave
KOMO News
By Mark Miller
Published: Aug 31, 2014

GARDINER, Wash. – At a small cemetery in the town of Gardiner, a wrong has been made right.

“I feel very honored, very blessed, very loved at this point in time,” said Joan Shields, as she looked at the headstone of the man she lost to the Vietnam War.

On Sunday, veterans held a ceremony to replace the special military coins that were stolen from Marvin G. Shields’ graveside earlier this month.

The fallen Navy Seabee posthumously received the Medal of Honor for saving many lives during a battle in Don Zoai, South Vietnam in 1965.

Shields was 25 years old when he volunteered to take out a Viet Cong machine gun nest. He fought while wounded, rescued another wounded soldier, and kept fighting for hours. Shields later died of a gunshot wound.

He was the first member of the Navy to earn the Medal of Honor in Vietnam.

“I'm pretty sure he’s sitting up there, you know, just grinning. He's gotta be grinning,” said retired Seabee Bill Pletcher, who led the effort to replace the stolen coins, and hold a ceremony to honor Marvin Shields and his family.

Bill decided to do something after seeing a KOMO4News Problems Solvers report on the theft of three challenge coins from the headstone.
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Representative-Veteran Double Amputee Duckworth "thrilled" to be pregnant

Iraq veteran U.S. Rep. Duckworth 'thrilled' to be pregnant
Daily Herald
Mike Riopell
September 1, 2014

U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth says she six months pregnant and expecting a daughter.

The Hoffman Estates Democrat, Iraq veteran and double amputee broke the news this morning on NBC's "Today" in a segment describing how four amputees who came home from the Iraq War are now pregnant or have recently had a baby.

Shortly after the news broke online, Duckworth posted a photo of a pink baby shirt with blue lettering saying "heli baby" and a plastic cup reading "Helicopter Pilot in Training."

"I am so thrilled I'm going to be a mother here in just four months," she told "Today."

Duckworth said the time she and other veterans have taken to start families speaks to the tough road faced by many soldiers who've come home from recent conflicts.

"We're the best-case scenario, and it's taken us 10 years to put our lives back together, to get into a good place where we could think about having children," she told the Daily Herald last week.
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Veterans over 50 78% of veteran suicides

Hey, lets not talk about the truth behind the numbers. Lets not talk about how we suck at taking care of veterans after sending them off to fight our battles. Lets not talk about how what they have been going through for decades predicts the future of today's veterans unless we change right here, right now.

"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 military did psychological screenings all the way back to WWI and ever since then, they have managed to put the blame on everyone and everything else. PTSD WWI and WWII

War II. Prominent civil and military medical authorities pointed out that World War I had demonstrated the necessity and feasibility of psychiatric screening in eliminating overt and covert mental disorders prior to entry in the military service. Emphasized by these authorities, based upon the experience of World War I, was the inability of emotionally unstable or otherwise psychiatrically vulnerable persons to absorb training profitably, to tolerate stress, or otherwise to make any useful contribution to the military effort. Also cited as further evidence for the thorough screening out of even potential psychiatric problems was the high cost of mental disorders in war that included their deleterious effect on other soldiers, the increased requirements of medical personnel and facilities to care for these problems, disability pensions, and other veterans' benefits.

During World War II, almost one fourth of all American psychologists were involved in the military. In addition to the screening of recruits, military psychologists were involved in the development of instrument displays, protective gear and placement of controls in aircraft.

The use of psychological warfare and methods of deceiving the enemy were also areas that required the involvement of a military psychologist. In addition to finding ways to affect the enemy, a military psychologist would have been involved in methods to increase soldier morale and deal with any stress issues that the soldiers may face.

Unlike the time after World War I, military psychology did not disappear at the end of World War II. Various veterans' hospitals began training clinical psychologists who could understand the needs of a veteran as well as diagnose and treat other problems. Over fifty percent of all veterans in VA hospitals at that time were diagnosed with a psychological problem.

In a further development, the American Psychological Association organized the Society of Military Psychology in 1945. This society which was also known as Division 19 was one of the original divisions organized by the American Psychological Association.

During the Korean War, clinical psychologists began working overseas with soldiers and in the Vietnam War an increase in psychological problems associated with war was seen.

Post traumatic stress disorder became one of the leading problems faced by Vietnam vets.

Clinicians were deployed with the troops in Korea. As soon as a soldier was showing symptoms of a crisis, they were removed from combat, treated and for the most part, sent back to duty. With Vietnam they tried something new. DEROS, one year deployments. This decreased medical evacuations for psychiatric cases but on the flip side, increased the number of veterans with untreated PTSD.

The result is;

Older Vets Committing Suicide at Alarming Rate
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Aug 31, 2014

Veteran suicide numbers have gone up in recent years with much of the attention focused on veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan killing themselves. However, almost seven out of 10 veterans who have committed suicide were over the age of 50, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study.

Even as the agency collects data to better understand the issue, independent experts acknowledge that finding all the answers won't be easy.

"Nobody knows anything about [why], but we suspect a combination of factors," said Dr. Tom Berger, a Navy corpsman in Vietnam and today executive director of the Veterans Health Council at Vietnam Veterans of America. "Certainly we share some of the risk factors with the younger guys," including post-traumatic stress disorder, high rates of depression and combat.

Older veterans are at an age when the structure they built into their lives starts to loosen up, he said.

"A lot of guys went in, and then they came out and became a workaholic rather than deal with depression and PTSD," he said. They covered over stresses born of service with work and family, but the stresses remain today and the vets are going into retirement and the family structure dissipates as children go or have gone their own ways.

For Korean War veterans it may even be worse. Many of these veterans would have been in their 40s before the VA - under pressure from Vietnam veterans and politicians - acknowledged PTSD was real and began providing services to veterans.

"The Korean guys don't talk about their service, and some of them were involved in the bloodiest battles ... in brutal, cold weather," Berger said.

The VA study found that the percentage of older veterans with a history of VA healthcare who committed suicide actually was higher than that of veterans not associated with VA care. 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 - 9 percentage points higher than the general pool.
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What Good Did Suicide Prevention Month Do?

No more excuses, time for living awareness
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 1, 2014

"Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another."
Vietnam Veterans of America

Yesterday a buddy of mine and long time reader of Wounded Times said he was sure I was ready to explode and the Bostonian Greek couldn't be held back much longer. I told him I felt like a bottle of Coke dropped on the floor, shaken, waiting to be opened. The twist top was released and I exploded higher than Mentos could have come close to achieving.

Suicide Prevention Month begins today for the troops and veterans but it seems the military leaders have been "SHAKE'n BAKE: an officer straight out of OCS (Officer Candidate School) without any combat experience" yet in charge of taking care of what they do not understand. Simply put, total FUBAR!

FUBAR: short for "Fucked Up Beyond All Repair" or "Recognition." To describe impossible situations, equipment, or persons as in, "It is (or they are) totally Fubar!"

The Defense Suicide Prevention Office for all branches of the military makes it seem as if raising awareness is enough but it isn't. All we have to do is read the suicide reports where year after year, more is done, while more suicides claim more lives.

BOHICA stands for bend over, here it comes again. It is an item of acronym slang which grew to regular use amongst the United States armed forces during the Vietnam War. It is used colloquially to indicate that an adverse situation is about to repeat itself, and that acquiescence is the wisest course of action.

Research by the U.S. Army and the National Institute of Mental Health aims to reduce suicides among America's military and military veterans.

"The suicide rate among soldiers began to rise significantly in 2002, and reached record levels by 2007," says Thomas R. Insel, M.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) director. "The Army has been very proactive in addressing the crisis but, sadly, the suicide rate continues to rise."

In addition to the Army's attempts to reduce the suicide rate and address mental health issues, Dr. Insel notes that in 2008 the Army and the NIMH initiated the Study to Assess Risk and Resilience of Service Members (Army STARRS) to better understand the phenomenon. It is the largest study of its kind ever undertaken.

In addition to suicide, this study is targeting depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Unlike typical research studies, which can take years, Dr. Insel says that data from Army STARRS will be reported at regular intervals throughout the five-year study period. The information will be used to tailor interventions so that the suicide rate drops and soldiers get the help they need as quickly as possible.

"No question. 2009 was a painful year for the Army when it came to suicides," says Col. Christopher Philbrick, deputy director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force. "We took wide-ranging measures to confront the problem, from servicewide prevention and teaching programs to the Army STARRS initiative with the National Institute of Mental Health."

In 2010, the Army plans to update its suicide prevention training and improve procedures to ensure that soldiers and their families receive the support they need when undergoing key transitions, such as moving to another duty station or separating from the Army.

"This will give us the data we need to better adjust and expand our programs so that we save more lives," adds Philbrick.

Yet more pain was delivered to families across the country when they blamed themselves. After all, how could they blame the military leaders when they were doing so much to prevent suicides?

Pretty much it failed leading up to 2012 with the highest number of suicides as well as attempted suicides. The DOD didn't learn the right lessons and their awareness of the issues facing the troops and veterans went over their heads. In 2012 Army Times had an article about what happened afterwards. New Suicide Prevention Strategy Make Debut

McHugh spoke alongside Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin, who released the 2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.

The strategy has been updated for the first time since 2001. Its priorities include fostering positive public dialogue, countering shame, prejudice, and silence, and building public support for suicide prevention.

The strategy calls attention to the increasing numbers of suicides among troops and veterans, noting an increase in suicide rates in the military in 2006 was driven by the Army and Marine Corps.

In 2010, junior enlisted troops who were white and under 25 years old were at increased risk for suicide relative to those groups in the general population.

The report references efforts at the Defense Department and in the individual services, including the Army's Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, to prepare designated "gatekeepers" to recognize suicide risk and intervene.

The "gatekeepers" turned out to be bouncers. They bounced out troubled servicemembers with discharges instead of helping them heal.

Disposable Soldiers
Huffington Post
May 29, 2013


As PTSD cases in the military are skyrocketing, so too are discharges for misconduct, where a small infraction could lead to a lifetime loss of much needed benefits. We need to re-evaluate the military discharge system to match current challenges.

So much for promises. In 2013 the Army bounced out 11,000 along with other branches it was yet one more year of getting rid of them while using the word "intervene" covering for their own shameful conduct. By the end of 2013 NPR reported the number of bad conduct discharges in the last 10 years reached 100,000

BCD – Bad Conduct Discharge. Usually spoken as Big Chicken Dinner

Eric Highfill spent five years in the Navy, fixing airplanes for special operations forces. His discharge papers show an Iraq campaign medal and an Afghanistan campaign medal, a good-conduct medal, and that he's a marksman with a pistol and sharpshooter with a rifle.

None of that matters, because at the bottom of the page it reads "Discharged: under other than honorable conditions."

Highfill, a 27-year-old Michigan native, says he got addicted to the painkillers he was taking for a knee injury. In the Navy's eyes, Highfill screwed up. He got a DUI, among other things, and so it kicked him out. And that means when he went to a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center, it did the same.

"I went down to the Battle Creek [Mich.] VA and I spoke with the receptionist. She looked at my discharge and said, 'Well, you have a bad discharge. ... Congress does not recognize you as a veteran.' And they turned me away," Highfill says.

Highfill and more than 100,000 other troops left the armed services with "bad paper" over the past decade of war.

But they can't seem to figure out why what they've done hasn't worked?

SNAFU: Situation Normal All Fucked Up

Who are they trying to fool?

When they say that "most of the troops committing suicide" had not been deployed, that is intended to get us thinking they were already "damaged" and lately that is the message they have pushed harder.

The trouble with this is twofold. First, they evaluate recruits. Are they admitting their testing sucks so bad they couldn't identify recruits with "pre-existing" mental health issues before handing them weapons? Secondly there is the issue of their "resiliency training" not being able to keep "non-deployed" from committing suicide, thus totally inept when it came to preventing soldiers from taking their own lives after multiple deployments.

XIN LOI or XOINE LOI: pronounced by GIs as "Sin Loy," meaning 'too bad,' 'tough shit,' 'sorry bout that.' The literal translation is "excuse me."

By July we read the outcome.

Of the 162 confirmed or suspected suicides to date this year for both the active and reserve components, the service breakdown is Army, 71; Air Force, 34; Marine Corps, 21; and Navy, 36.

This time last year, the figures were Army, 85; Air Force, 25; Marine Corps, 26; and Navy, 24.

The Navy is well ahead of its pace at this time last year and in fact is already closing in on its total of 43 for all of 2013.

Now all that is suicide awareness since we are well aware of why they take their own lives.

ZULU: casualty report is never complete

Forget about what the military told you about PTSD since they have had decades of exposure to this simple fact of a soldier's life. Being willing to die for someone else does not come out of someone being mentally weak. It comes from being emotionally strong.

Think about it. Think about the kind of courage it takes to join the military but don't stop there. It also required an abundance of emotional ability to put everything on the line for the sake of someone else.

There was nothing weak about you or anyone you served with and there isn't anything weak about you now. Once you get that, understand where all that pain is coming from, then you begin to heal. Until then you are allowing PTSD to be on a Search and Destroy mission, not just hunting you but everyone in your life.

You can heal and path has already been laid for you. Vietnam veterans carried the tradition of walking point "Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another" so if you can't find someone in your generation to explain stuff to you so you feel better instead of worse, find groups with Vietnam Veterans.

Being aware gives you the intel to defeat the last enemy so that you can cover the backs of other veterans searching for a way out of the pain. Heal and help them DEROS all the way home.

Enough bull has been passed down while wasting time filling heads and fueling the forsaken into hopelessness. Over 8,000 veterans succeed at killing themselves while over 12,000 attempt it. What if there were that many lost in Iraq or Afghanistan in a year? These are veterans from all wars, all trying to heal but not finding what they need to do it. On the flip side, thousands more found the way to not just heal for themselves or their families, but search for other veterans to help them.

You did not surrender to the pain you felt during your deployment. You pushed past it because you still had a duty to those you served side by side with. They are waiting for you to take the lead and show them how to survive surviving combat. Don't surrender now.