Forgetting About Majority of Veterans Is The Greatest Sin of All

How do you start and conversation that has been going on for decades with the wrong information? How to you actually change anything when you leave out the most important details?

I've grown so weary of all the things being done to "raise awareness" that hope of meaningful conversations is evaporating.

This seems like a beautiful project and should be watched as well as earned awards but when folks will walk away thinking they have learned anything on suicides tied to the military, they will have learned what is wrong.

The fact is, the majority of the veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50. The fact is that veterans in general are double the number of civilian suicides. The fact is the younger veterans are triple their peer rate after all the fabricated lies of training them to be resilient when in fact even suicides within the military increased after this training. The fact is for female veterans they are 6 times higher than civilian female suicides while younger female veterans are 12 times higher.

The other fact in all of this is no one is talking about what works and has helped veteran heal for decades.

New documentary to address PTSD, depression and suicide among war vets
KSLA News
By John Bridges
Oct 29, 2015

SULPHUR, LA (KPLC) - Army chaplain Justin David Roberts served with the 101st Airborne Division in eastern Afghanistan, and compiled hours of video documenting their exploits. Roberts has turned that footage into a documentary called, "No Greater Love."

"There has to be this conversation and some sort of understanding on it," said Roberts. "That's what this film is all about: trying to help tell the story of not just the war, but also the people who were serving and why they were serving. Also to begin this discussion, this conversation on how to we fully come home and how do we sink in."

Roberts says he made the film because of the alarming rate of PTSD and suicide among veterans returning from war.

"Right now it's killing us. There's 22 suicides per day. I mean there are serious problems of depression, addictions, PTSD. A litany of issues and these are the best of our best."
read more here

Those numbers, yet again, are wrong and leave out the older veterans being forgotten about even though they are the majority of the veterans population in this country and that is the greatest sin of all.

American Legion Fights For Swords to Plowshares Equal Treatment

S.F. big shots forcing vets out of Veterans Building, suit says 
San Francisco Chronicle
By Matier and Ross
November 1, 2015

“It’s nothing new — we we are used to being treated like second-class citizens,” said Michael Blecker, Swords to Plowshares’ executive director and a Vietnam War veteran.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle The Green Room is seen inside the newly renovated War Memorial Veterans Building in San Francisco, Calif. on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015.

Swords to Plowshares, the celebrated charity that works with homeless and low-income veterans, is being squeezed out by the upscale landlords of San Francisco’s newly renovated War Memorial Veterans Building.

That’s the thrust of a lawsuit filed by the local American Legion over the War Memorial board’s refusal to provide Swords with free office space at the landmark building across from City Hall — while carving out square footage aplenty for high-society tenants like the San Francisco Opera that have the money to pay.

The American Legion is challenging the way the board — which includes such big names as city protocol chief Charlotte Mailliard Shultz and former Presidio Trust Chair Nancy Bechtle — is interpreting a city attorney’s 2009 decree that only “patriotic organizations” are entitled to free rent at the Veterans Building.

The fight goes all the way back to 2008 when the American Legion offered to make room in the building for Swords to Plowshares — but then came the city attorney’s finding that the charity wasn’t entitled to free rent.
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Britney Spears' former boyfriend killed in Afghanistan

Britney Spears' former boyfriend killed in Afghanistan 
“It’s heartbreaking – John went there to try to repair the country."
Australian Women's Weekly
by Caroline Overington
November 2, 2015

The Mirror reports that John Sundahl, 44, was shot down flying a helicopter from the capital Kabul where he had been working for several months as a private contractor ferrying officials across the war-torn country.

A pilot and former boyfriend of Britney Spears, who is credited with helping her overcome her addiction to alcohol, has been killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. read more here

Fort Bragg Soldier's Choice for Halloween Costume Caused Emergency Response

Never mind "what was he thinking" when he must have not been thinking at all.

Soldier's Suicide Bomber Costume Sparks Fort Bragg Security Response
NBC News
by PHIL HELSEL
October 31, 2015

A Halloween costume at Fort Bragg prompted an emergency response after a soldier tried to enter the North Carolina military installation dressed as a suicide bomber, the military said.

The soldier was not identified.

The costume prompted a gate to be cleared and a response from an explosive ordnance disposal team, Fort Bragg said. The costume included a simulated explosive vest. "Costumes of this sort are not allowed on Fort Bragg," the base said in a statement.
read more here

USS Sgt. Rafael Peralta Destroyer

Mother of Marine christens Navy destroyer bearing her son's name 
Associated Press
By DAVID SHARP
Oct. 31, 2015

BATH, Maine (AP) — First in English, then in Spanish, the mother of a fallen Marine who shielded his comrades from an insurgent's grenade christened a new Navy destroyer in his honor.

Rosa Peralta smashes a bottle of champagne to christen the USS Raphael Peralta, the 35th Arleigh Burke Class Missile Destroyer to be built by Bath Iron Works, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, in Bath, Maine. The warship is named for Rosa Peralta's son, Sgt. Raphael Peralta, who was killed in action on Nov. 15, 2004, while clearing houses in the city of Fallujah, Iraq, during Operation Al Fajr. Frederick J. Harris, president of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, at left, and Rosa Peralta's daughter, Icela Peralta Donald, center, and son, Ricardo Peralta, join her on the platform.(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Rosa Peralta asked God to bless the ship named for her son, Sgt. Rafael Peralta, and to keep the crew safe before smashing a bottle of Champagne on the ship's bow Saturday.

The ceremony at Bath Iron Works to christen the future USS Rafael Peralta paid homage to the slain Marine, who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service of a country to which he emigrated as a boy. He is believed to be the first serviceman born in Mexico to have a naval warship named in his honor.

Peralta was denied the Medal of Honor but awarded the Navy Cross, the nation's second highest award for valor, after former Defense Secretary Robert Gates ruled the Marine lost consciousness after he was mortally wounded and his body smothered a grenade in Iraq in 2004, saving other lives. But the prevailing belief among the military is that Peralta pulled the grenade against his body to protect his fellow Marines during close combat with insurgents in Fallujah on Nov. 15 that year.

"He believed more about the goodness of America than most Americans, to the point of fighting and sacrificing everything for what America stands for," Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, said as he quoted from Peralta's former commanding officer from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, the Hawaii-based "Lava Dogs."
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Do Veterans Deserve Support or The Charity?

Do Veterans Charities Deserve Your Money?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 1, 2015


Veterans Day is the 11th but in reality they are veterans everyday and no one can dispute the fact they deserve so much more than they get.

Most Americans want to do something for them, so they see an advertisement on TV tugging at their heart and then they write a check. They think about the veterans in the commercial believing they deserve the funds but never think about if the charity deserves their support as much as the veteran does.

There are some great veterans charities taking care of all veterans and they have been around for decades.

The American Legion (Sept. 16, 1919) Disabled American Veterans (June 17, 1932) Veterans of Foreign Wars (May 28, 1936) are some of the oldest groups taking care of all veterans no matter which war or time of service they put in.

How Many Veterans Are There? There are 21.8 million veterans of the U.S. armed forces as of 2014, according the Census Bureau, approximately 10 percent of whom are women. To put that in context there are 319.2 million Americans, according to the bureau. The states with the highest number of veteran residents are California with 2 million, Texas with 1.6 million and Florida also with 1. 6 million, the bureau estimates. Each of these states have major military bases including Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Irwin in California and Naval Air Station Pensacola.

New "Awareness fundraisers" are all over the country only mentioning younger veterans yet no one really knows what they are trying to raise awareness of or why it could cost so much money to do it. After all, the press is all too willing to do a human interest story without ever asking any questions, so they get publicity for free.  Why do they need your money?

Ask them what they are trying to do and they tell you that veterans need to know about what PTSD is, but they can't answer basic questions.  Ask them who they are trying to "make aware" and they say "veterans" but veterans already know the problems they face everyday.

They say that there are "22 a day" committing suicide, but again, veterans not only know that number, they also know it is false.  The numbers are much higher. Veterans in general are double the civilian rate and most are over the age of 50, but all these new groups are only interested in the post 9-11 veterans.

So much for their concern considering the suicides for that group are triple their peer rate and that statistic has been unchanged since 2007, long before these new charities popped up all over the country.

A Donor's Guide to Serving the Needs of Veterans and the Military "Donors who want to make contributions towards charitable programs that serve the military and veterans face an almost overwhelming volume of choices with, by some accounts, the existence of over 40,000 nonprofit organizations dedicated to serving the military and veterans and an estimated 400,000 service organizations that in some way touch veterans or service members. 

Even the 2013/2014 Directory of Veterans and Military Service Organizations published by the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs as an informational service for veterans seeking support lists over 140 national nonprofit organizations. Additionally, the number of new veterans charities has increased relatively rapidly over the past five years or so, growing by 41% since 2008 compared with 19% for charities in general, according to The Urban Institute as reported in a December 2013 The NonProfit Times article. 

We are either determined to repeat history or pretend just enough to let us go to sleep at night feeling as if we did something today. The question is, how does it feel to read another article about another veteran repeating the history we left for them?

The reality veterans and families like mine live with everyday are much different than you see on TV or read online.

So what do they do? What do they actually do with the money you give them? A great example is the famous enormous charity with their heart-tugging commercial lacking clarity and specifics.  No one really learns what they do with your money.  They never make any claim even when the families portrayed say they were there for them, they never say what they received that is any different than any other group.

Some say it is a scam but that isn't true. It would only be true if they made a claim that wasn't true. They never claim anything other than "being there" and asking for you to "honor and empower them to aid and assist each other" without ever needing to add anything to that original mission of "raising awareness" when they started.

You write them a check and so do corporations. These are just a couple of them.


Brawny gave

Brawny® Brand Surpasses $2 Million in Donations to Wounded Warrior Project® through 'Tough to the... -- ATLANTA, Dec. 30, 2014 Brawny® Brand Surpasses $2 Million in Donations to Wounded Warrior Project® through "Tough to the Core" Campaign Donations spanned three years, with consumers sharing personal definitions of "toughness" in support of wounded veterans

Raytheon Gave

SUPPORTING THE WOUNDED Raytheon actively supports those wounded while serving their country. In 2014 we fulfilled a five-year grant to the Wounded Warrior Project totaling $2.5 million to provide transition assistance to wounded troops and their caregivers. Raytheon's grant allowed the organization to expand its Transition Training Academy in six states and to offer two additional certification courses. The academy provides information technology training to help students compete in the job market. More than 4,500 wounded warriors and caregivers have graduated from the academy since 2010.

And then they gave money to other groups.

To date, WWP has funded over 85 different organizations, totaling more than $9.1 million in support.

Jacksonville, FL (June 11, 2015) – In its first grant cycle of 2015, Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) has awarded over $1 million in grants to organizations that provide support and specialized services to this generation of wounded service members, their families, and caregivers. Now in its seventh round, the WWP Grant Program has provided over $10 million to 90 organizations through 107 grants since the program’s inception in 2012.

This cycle’s grant recipients are Catch a Lift Fund (Baltimore, MD), Shepherd Center Foundation (Atlanta, GA) Rocky Mountain Human Services (Colorado Springs, CO), Northeast Nebraska Community Action Partnership (Pender, NE), Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council (Independence, WI), Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia (Roanoke, VA), Yellow Ribbon Fund (Bethesda, MD), Colorado State University Foundation (Fort Collins, CO), and David Lynch Foundation (New York, NY).

WEST LAFYAETTE, Ind. – The Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University announced Monday (Nov. 3) its selection as a 2014 Wounded Warrior Project® grant recipient.

The WWP grant program bridges gaps in services and support for this generation of injured service members by supporting organizations that provide high-quality, high-touch, unique programming in remote or underserved regions. Through teamwork and collaboration, this $250,000 grant will enhance MFRI’s ability to support this generation of injured service members and foster healthy readjustment to civilian life through programmatic activities aimed at training civilian behavioral health specialists.

Colleges got money too.

UCLA Operation Mend receives $15.7 million for mental health program for wounded warriors

Wounded Warrior Project Awards Grant to Colorado State University
FORT COLLINS, Colo., June 11, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The New Start for Student Veterans Program at Colorado State University (CSU) has received a grant from Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) to improve the sleep of this generation of wounded veterans with service-related injuries. The Restoring Effective Sleep Tranquility (REST) project is a seven-week sleep improvement program that aims to enhance sleep-related knowledge and skills to improve sleep quality, sleep quantity, and the mental health of veterans seeking college degrees. The REST project will also create RESTWEB, a web-based portal to access sleep improvement resources. WWP's Grant Program, now in its fourth year, is expanding the availability of programs and services that provide support to this generation of injured service members.

Prairie State College has announced it will receive a $25,000 grant from the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors.

The grant will be used by the PSC Student Veterans Center for special programming for student veterans who are returning military personnel who have incurred service-connected injuries on or after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

And that is the other factor in all of this. It is almost as if the older veterans suffering longer, waiting long with the same exact wounds the newer veterans get all the attention for were not still here, still waiting after all these years.

Do we support the other millions of veterans in this country or not? Do we really care about all our veterans or just looking for a quick-feel-good-as-if-I-did-something moment?

VA "Candy Man" Fired in Wisconsin

Wisconsin VA hospital official dubbed ‘candy man’ fired
Associated Press
By SCOTT BAUER
October 30, 2015

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The chief of staff at a much-criticized Wisconsin Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who was nicknamed “candy man” by some patients for allegedly handing out excess narcotics, was notified Friday that he would be fired.

David Houlihan was placed on leave in January while the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs investigated allegations of over-prescribing narcotic pain medications and retaliatory behavior at the Tomah, Wisconsin, facility.

The VA told Wisconsin’s congressional delegation that based on results of an investigation, Houlihan was notified Friday that he would be fired effective Nov. 9. Houlihan, who is a psychiatrist, also had his clinical privileges revoked.

The decision to fire Houlihan came after the VA investigated his clinical practice as well as his “administrative interactions with subordinates and alleged retaliatory behavior,” said the statement from the VA telling lawmakers of the firing.
read more here

Homeless Veteran Returned Found Lost Wallet and Found Respect

Homeless veteran receives bike in recognition of his integrity
Turned in found wallet with hundreds in cash
Topeka Capital Journal
Katie Moore
Posted: October 30, 2015

A homeless veteran whose “integrity stood out” was recognized with a special gift in a presentation Friday afternoon at the Colmery-O’Neil Veterans Administration Center.

KATIE MOORE/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
VA police chief Sparky Edwards presents veteran Ron
Trusheim with a bike, a lock and a pair of gloves.

In May, Ron Trusheim, affectionately known as “Bicycle Ron,” happened to see a wallet on the grounds of the VA. Without hesitation, he turned it in to VA police.

“I just did what you’re supposed to do,” Trusheim said.

The wallet contained nearly $400. It was returned to its owner, a female veteran who had dropped it from her wheelchair.

“Your integrity stood out,” VA police chief Sparky Edwards told Trusheim during the presentation.
read more here

Veteran Survived 3 Tours in Afghanistan, Died in Arms of Witness

Veteran dies in accidental shooting in north Harris County
Click2Houston
Author: Andy Cerota, Anchor/Reporter
October 30, 2015

A witness told KPRC 2 the victim was loading a duffel bag into his SUV when his 12-gauge shotgun fired. A shotgun round struck the victim in his groin.

The witness, who immediately tried to help, said the victim was still conscious and told him he just returned from serving three tours of duty in Afghanistan.

The witness said the man died in his arms.
read more here

Donald Trump Wants To Surrender Veterans Affairs

Trumps Veterans' Care
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 1, 2015

This is not a good way to start my day.  Someone is playing a trick on veterans and passing it off as a treat!

Associated Press reporter Jill Colvin wrote a piece on "Trump releases plan aimed at improving veteran's care" that is nothing more than surrendering veterans to the same "care" for profit.

Under Trump's plan, eligible veterans would be able to bring their veterans' identification cards to any private doctor or facility that accepts Medicare and be able to receive immediate treatment. The change, he said, would help improve wait times and services by adding competition.

OK, and exactly how has that improved anything? Ever see a waiting room filled when you wait to be called only to end up stuck in an empty room until the doctor manages to come in for a few minutes and then end up with a huge charge only to be sent to a specialist? Then you have to wait until they have time to see you. Ever show up at an emergency room and have to wait for hours? Ever call a doctor for the first time and hear "we're not taking new patients" and the nearest doctor for your problem is a couple of hours away? City searches for cure to doctor shortage

The city now has two family practice offices — one run by a nurse practitioner and the other that only serves members who pay monthly dues.

There is a bigger shortage for seniors, but why mention the fact that the majority of veterans ARE SENIORS!

Doctor Shortage: Who Will Take Care of the Elderly? As the number of geriatricians shrinks, the future care of seniors could be in jeopardy.

We are not prepared as a nation. We are facing a crisis,” says Dr. Heather Whitson, associate professor of medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina. “Our current health care system is ill equipped to provide the optimal care experience for patients with multiple chronic conditions or with functional limitations and disabilities.”

How about hospitals closing?

As rural hospitals struggle, solutions sought to preserve healthcare access
Modern Healthcare
By Paul Demko
May 16, 2015

On March 31, for-profit Parkway Regional Hospital in Fulton closed its doors after more than two decades of business in southwestern Kentucky. Rural Fulton County's only hospital employed nearly 200 and accounted for as much as 18% of the town's tax base.

Parkway was far from alone among rural hospitals struggling to survive. Less than a year before, Nicholas County Hospital, an 18-bed facility in Carlisle in north-central Kentucky, shut its doors, citing “insurmountable” financial challenges. A report issued in March by Kentucky's auditor of public accounts found that 15 of the 44 rural hospitals analyzed were in “poor” financial health. Those facilities served more than 250,000 Kentuckians in fiscal 2013, with about 60% of those patients enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid.

Learn more here

When you factor in the years of politicians complaining about how messed up the Affordable Care Act is, this is an appalling suggestion for veterans. Just because politicians have failed veterans for decades you'd think Trump would actually have a plan to fix the VA instead of sending veterans away.

Trump got the first part right on this.

"Politicians in Washington have tried to fix the VA by holding hearings and blindly throwing money at the problem. None of it has worked," according to the plan.

This is partly right. None on us should trust politicians, or the press for that matter, since they never seem able to remember Congress has jurisdiction over the VA!

"It's time we stop trusting Washington politicians to fix the problems and empower our veterans to vote with their feet."

This is more BS from yet another politician running for political office while unable to believe the office he wants can't do anything to fix anything!