LCpl Janos V. Lutz Live To Tell Ride For PTSD Support

Marine mom works for better PTSD programs 
Sun Sentinel
By Mike Clary
January 11, 2015

Live to Tell Ride scott fisher / Sun Sentinel fl-live-to-tell-ride-011115b--Bike riders participate in the Second Annual LCpl Janos V. Lutz Live To Tell Ride, from Western High School to C.B Smith Park in Broward County on Sunday, January 11th, 2015. The ride honors veteran's who have taken their own lives due to Post Traumatic Stress...

Two years after U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Janos Lutz took his own life, his mother said she is determined to leave as his legacy a means through which other war veterans can be saved.

"We are growing and we will do this," said Janine Lutz of her envisioned national network of "Buddy Up" chapters where military veterans can find fellow veterans to help them as they battle PTSD — post-traumatic stress disorder.

"When my son reached out to his battle buddies, they were in other states. We have to have people here by their side when they need them." 

Lutz spoke of her plans Sunday at the second annual PTSD Awareness Ride sponsored by the foundation she started to honor her son. Lutz, called Johnny, died Jan. 12, 2013, after taking an overdose of prescription medication at the family home in Davie. He was 24. "I'm sorry," he said in a farewell note he left on his open laptop. "I am happier now."

Just before leaden skies opened up to deliver pelting rain showers, the pictures of 211 veterans who have committed suicide were removed from the back of a hearse and pinned up for all to see. Lutz said they represented just a fraction of military veterans who have taken their lives in recent years.

Live to Tell Ride scott fisher / Sun Sentinel
Former Marine Hipolito Arriaga helps assemble the PTSD Memorial Wall as bike riders participate in the Second Annual LCpl Janos V. Lutz Live To Tell Ride, from Western High School to C.B Smith Park in Broward County on Sunday, January 11th, 2015.

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Video from WSVN News

After Marine Son Committed Suicide, Mom Decided to Fight Instead of Die Too

Mother picks up the pieces after the suicide of her Marine son 
Washington Post
By James LaPorta
January 9, 2015

Janine Lutz, the mother of Marine Lance Cpl. Janos Lutz, somberly looks over his
closet at her home in Florida recently. He committed suicide two years ago.
(Photo by James LaPorta)

DAVIE, Fla. — It has been two years since Marine veteran Janos “John” Lutz committed suicide, wracked with the memories and guilt he came home with following a deployment to Afghanistan. An enlisted infantryman, he had been involved in the largest helicopter offensive that the Marine Corps had launched since the Vietnam War, taking back territory from the Taliban. And he lost his best friend in that mission.

Lutz’s death sent his mother, Janine, 53, into a spiral, she said. She, too, considered suicide before deciding that she wanted to honor her son’s memory by raising awareness about the unseen wounds that combat veterans can have, she said. In May 2013, she launched a foundation bearing her son’s name, providing a support system for returning veterans and their families here in this town just north of Miami.

“After I decided not to kill myself … I told myself, we need to raise awareness,” Ms. Lutz said. “We need to tell the families about post-traumatic stress, how to deal with and what to expect — These guys need to know they are not crazy, that what they are feeling is normal for experiencing the theater of war. They are survivors, and they are awesome.”

On Sunday, the second annual Lance Cpl. Janos V. Lutz Live to Tell Awareness Motorcycle Ride will travel 26 miles, starting here at Western High School, where Lutz was a student before joining the Marine Corps, and finishing in nearby Pembroke Pines, Fla. Its purpose is to encourage veterans to grow from their most difficult days and provide information about post-traumatic stress to their families.
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OEF-OIF Marine Committed Suicide, Mom Takes Action on PTSD

OEF-OIF Marine Committed Suicide, Mom Takes Action on PTSD

Exclusive: Marine’s Mother Blames VA Doctors For His Death
CBS Miami
Joan Murray
November 6, 2014

“If you ask any doctor at the VA, they will tell you they are not happy with the system but they need the resources from Congress,” said attorney John Uustal.

DAVIE (CBSMiami) – The family of a decorated marine is saying Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors gave him powerful drugs that he used to take his own life.

Twenty-four year old Marine Lance corporal Johnny Lutz first served in Iraq and then the front lines of Afghanistan.

“Johnny was the life of the party,” said his mother Janine Lutz.

But war changed him. He committed suicide shortly after returning from serving.

“For six months every minute you think you are gonna die and that changes your brain,” said Lutz.

She said he didn’t die on the battlefield but because of medical mistakes at the VA Hospital in Miami and clinic in Tamarac.
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Marine from Davie takes own life after battling demons of war

If there was ever a day when I wanted to stop doing this work, this is one of those days when I know I can't. I read the following story about a Marine here in Florida committing suicide after fighting a battle with PTSD that he could not win. More proof that what the military have been doing SUCKS AND THEY WON'T CHANGE. John Lutz is not in the count of 349 military suicides because he was already discharged. Active duty military suicides are all over the news right now but reporters are not doing their jobs. If they had been, they would have been asking how many committed suicide after being discharged. In other words, veteran suicides because the number of veterans committing suicide have also gone up.

Read this story and then watch the video. It even made me cry~

Marine from Davie takes own life after battling demons of war
By Mike Clary
Sun Sentinel
January 16, 2013

As a machine gunner in the U.S. Marine Corps, John Lutz survived combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq while earning 13 service commendations and the respect of his buddies.

"He was a Marine to the fullest," said fellow Marine Kevin Ullman. "He was someone who could lighten any situation with witty sarcasm."

Ultimately, however, Lutz could not escape the demons he carried back home to Davie after his discharge 18 months ago.

On Saturday, just hours after a lunch with his mother in which he chatted about his classes at Palm Beach State College, Lutz swallowed a handful of pills VA doctors had prescribed to help him cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lutz died in his bedroom, in the house where he grew up. He was 24.

"I'm sorry," he said in a farewell note he left on his open laptop. "I am happier now."

Among active duty members of the military, suicide is epidemic, according to Pentagon officials. Last year 349 active-duty troops took their lives, according to figures obtained Monday by the Associated Press. That exceeds the 295 Americans who died from combat in Afghanistan.
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PTSD Combat veterans lives rebuilt by a horse

Combat veterans lives rebuilt by a horse
9News
Written by
Dave Delozier
Nov 4, 2012

ELIZABETH - A horse made it possible for one man to reclaim his life.

John Nash is caring for a horse named Rain - who Nash says saved his life.

Horses are nothing new to Nash. He grew up on a farm in North Minnesota where he trained them the old fashioned way: He broke them.

"We broke their spirit. That's where the phrase breaking a horse comes from, from breaking their spirit," Nash said.

Life and war would eventually lead Nash from his farm in Minnesota to the jungles of Vietnam. A Specialist 5th Class with the 1st Cavalry, Nash volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army. He did a one year deployment in Vietnam. During that year he lived the realities of war. The 19-year-old soldier, who grew up breaking horses, in the end, had the same thing done to him - by war.

Nash was haunted by what he had experienced in Vietnam, but worst of all for him was living with one question. Why had he survived when so many of his friends had not?

"Was I broken? Yeah, I was broken bad," Nash said. "I was broken to the point of total hopelessness."
read more here

If you live in Florida, there is a great center here too.

They are having an open house on November 10th, 2012. (see poster on sidebar of this blog and check their link.)

Veterans Multi-Purpose Center Davie Florida

War-torn Troops Soothed by Horses’ Spirit

War-torn Troops Soothed by Horses’ Spirit
By Emily Oz
August 8, 2008

MIAMI -- The science of the human-animal bond is proving very effective in a new arena: on the home front of a new war. Returning veterans are finding help, as well as healing in therapy that involves a saddle and a set of reins.

"It feels pretty good. I feel tall," said U.S. Marine Gene Calonge, who recently returned from his deployment.

Learning to ride again is strengthening the bodies and minds of young vets here at the South Florida Veterans Multi-Purpose Center in Davie, Fla.

The last time Calonge mounted a horse, was his service with the Marine Corps. This time around it's Sam, a 4-year-old Arabian, giving him a much-needed boost.

"It's different bonding with an animal, you feel like you're not going to be judged so much about anything so ... you and him just have a good time,” said Calonge.

A crowd of people recently gathered to celebrate the grand opening of a new facility. It's got all the features needed to accommodate a growing Equine Therapy Program that started one year ago. Professional horse trainers and mental health experts work with the Veterans, using a very powerful tool: the love and respect of a horse.

"A horse is a prey animal,' said Bob Bambury, the executive director of the South Florida Veterans Multi-Purpose Center. “So it's used to being attacked by predators. So it has a ‘stand-offish’ effect. You're going to have to bond with that horse before you're going to develop any kind of relationship.”

go here for more
http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/wartorntroopssoothedbyhorsessp
You can view the video on the top of the side bar.

Grand Opening of new Florida Veterans Center

THE NEW Florida Veterans Multi-Purpose Center
On Sunday, August 3rd 2008, Veterans, Families, children and friends enjoyed the Grand Opening of the new Florida Veterans Multi-Purpose Center.
The Center will offer mental health and Equine Assisted Therapy to veterans facing pre and post deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Center also offers free weekend retreats for returning service men/women and couples.
For more information on this and any other programs offered, please call us: 866-598-8387

go here for pictures of the new center

http://www.vetsenews.com/events/grand-opening/index.shtml