Still killing veterans after all these years instead of helping them heal?

Still killing veterans after all these years instead of helping them heal?
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 8, 2013

I get infuriated reading their stories and usually end up crying when I hear the pain in their voices. None of it is excusable. The term "the new normal" is one I have used since I wrote my book, FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR/ MY BATTLE back in 2002. (I republished it last year with a new cover. If you don't see the picture of us, then it is an illegal copy. I haven't been paid for it in over 8 years.) I was trying to find a publisher with the help of Jonathan Shay before September 11 and the attacks shattered veterans across the country. I updated the manuscript and decided to self-publish. I knew what was coming, not just for Vietnam veterans but for the men and women we would send into combat along with their families.

I knew because by then I had researched PTSD for 20 years plus lived with it everyday. Now it has been over 30 years and my head is filled with regret while my heart is filled with anguish. The war fighters are still suffering and families are still trying to figure out what happened while this government spends billions a year on crap like "resilience" training telling us that they know what they are doing. We see the suicide numbers and attempted suicides go up every year. What you don't see is that this does to the families. Next week you'll have a chance to discover what has been really going on and it will leave you speechless. THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR tells the story of what has gone on over the last ten years so you will know where we are, how we got here and what can be done to save their lives. I don't have money for advertising. I don't have a PR firm. I don't take millions a year to "raise awareness" about myself while claiming to be doing it for the wounded warriors so you won't see my work on TV commercials. All I have is a track record of 30 years and this blog.

Families share the pain of veterans' PTSD (with video)
By Brian Albrecht
March 23, 2013

Lyndsay Glenn and Jean Lauro are the home front's walking wounded of war.

They, and others who care for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may not have been in combat, but they can wage much the same battles, suffering similar psychic wounds, as those who have.

Their common "enemies" are anger, frustration, isolation, anxiety and a variety of other psychiatric problems.

Glenn struggles to maintain a household -- caring for both her husband, a Marine who served in Iraq, and their 2-year-old daughter, with little time for herself.

She never signed on to be the collateral damage of a disorder that can seem overwhelming and has no cure.

"Sometimes I don't feel like my vows cover this horror," she said.

Lauro had her own nightmares, tears and constant worry as the mother of a daughter who came home psychologically shattered after a tour with the Army in Iraq. Lauro called it "living on the edge." Every day.

PTSD isn't a death sentence for veterans. But it can be a life sentence for their families.

Often there's a spillover effect, impacting anyone personally involved with this disorder -- spouses, parents, and even children.

This "secondary PTSD" can include distress, depression and anxiety, said the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD.
read more here

Finding a new normal

Posted by Brian Albrecht

March 22, 2013
Ever since Jimmy Glenn returned from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder, his wife, Lyndsay, has to shoulder the responsibilities of caring for him and their 2-year-old daughter, plus handling the household. "It's beyond stressful," she says.

After watching this video you need to know that it is not "new" because this was the first video I made on living with PTSD. Had the "powers that be" listened to families like mine back in 2006, we wouldn't be where we are today.
This video was up on YouTube and had over 10,000 hits before they blocked music on some accounts and I moved it to Great Americans. Now I have a YouTube account where I can do what I want but I am not moving these videos again.

It isn't that Congress didn't know what was going on right here with families. I argued with Congressman Bob Filner when he was Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and Congressman Alan Grayson when they came to Orlando a few years ago. I told them I was tired of hearing about the problems families were facing while hearing nothing about what could be done and what worked.