Chaplain talks about his own PTSD

Invisible wounds of war
Del. ministry works to bring attention to silent cost
1:56 AM, Mar. 30, 2011
Written by
GARY SOULSMAN
The News Journal
As a chaplain of the 512th Airlift Wing, Lt. Col. John W. Groth made certain that the remains of fallen military personnel were given a dignified transfer at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary.

It was his role to pray during the arrival of a flag-draped transfer case and be present during the examination of remains. He was ready to listen if mortuary staff needed to talk about how hard it was to deal with the sights, sounds and smells of death.

"I was absolutely proud of seeking to bring dignity, honor and respect to my role at the base," said Groth, a reservist who saw off-and-on service at the mortuary over eight years.

By 2009, he was part of a base team that had processed more than 4,500 remains from the nation's conflicts. The mortuary is an operations center for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in some ways working in the mortuary is like a funeral home.

But combat death can batter human tissue with horrific force, and that leaves a lasting impression when body bags are opened. And while Groth became accustomed to looking after others, he was not tuned into the subtleties of his own well-being.
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Invisible wounds of war

Medevac crash victims returned home

When you read an article like this, you don't need pictures to feel it. It is a beautiful tribute to the fallen as well as those who care for them.

Medevac crash victims returned home

By Scott Fontaine - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jun 12, 2010 10:10:44 EDT

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — The transfer team’s steps were meticulously synchronized. Their white gloves were spotless. The flag wrapped around each case was tight, each with an identical number of stars and stripes showing.

They said little — just a few orders, barely audible over the clanging rotors of the Boeing 747. The Air Force chief of staff held a sharp salute as they walked by. The service secretary held his hand over his heart.

Four of their colleagues were killed two days earlier, when insurgents shot down their HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter during a medical-evacuation mission in southern Afghanistan. And on Friday, the fallen returned to the U.S.; their remains were met here with full honors.

The Air Force transfer team first carried the flag-draped case containing the remains of Lt. Joel C. Gentz, a combat rescue officer who enrolled in ROTC because he wanted to be a pilot and fly rescue missions, from a hydraulic lift to a waiting cargo van.

Next came the body of Tech. Sgt. Michael P. Flores, a pararescueman who had previously been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and had served overseas eight times in 12 years.

And then Staff Sgt. David C. Smith, a flight engineer who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan during his nine-year Air Force career.

And, lastly, Senior Airman Benjamin D. White, a pararescueman on his first deployment.

Their helicopter crashed in Helmand province, leaving three other airmen injured and leading to the Air Force’s deadliest day at war in more than five years. The remains of Lance Cpl. Michael G. Plank, a Marine killed in Helmand province on Wednesday, also made the trip from Germany.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/06/airforce_helo_crash_remains_061110w/

2nd LT Mike McGahan will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery

2nd Lt. Mike McGahan: Olympia High grad dies in Afghanistan
Mike McGahan will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

By Sarah Lundy, Orlando Sentinel

4:59 p.m. EDT, June 8, 2010


Mike McGahan's loved ones describe him as a born leader and an exceptional young man.

The Orlando man's desire to serve his country led him to join the U.S. Army after graduating from the University of Florida two years ago. He became second lieutenant and led a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan.

McGahan, 23, was with those soldiers when he died Sunday.

On Tuesday, his family attended a ceremony at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where his body arrived with those of four other service members killed in recent days.

"He loved the Army," said his father, Tim McGahan. "He felt young people today should serve their country."
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Olympia High grad dies in Afghanistan

Afghan war suicide moves mother

An Air Force carry team carries a transfer case containing the remains of Airman 1st Class Austin H. Gates Benson on May 4 at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del. (AP photo)

Afghan war suicide moves mother
Hellertown airman killed himself. His mom vows to help stem rising rates.

By Veronica Torrejón

OF THE MORNING CALL

May 13, 2010


Days after Joie Gates learned that her son had killed himself in Afghanistan, she dashed off a letter to President Barack Obama.

It was an impassioned plea for him to take action to stem the number of military suicides, which last year exceeded the number of those who died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a Congressional Quarterly report.

On Wednesday, after taking a week to consider her position and learn about efforts the military has undertaken to guard the mental health of troops, she penned another letter.

''What can I do to help you?'' she asked the president. ''How can we get to the bottom of why this is happening?''

Gates knows that her son, Airman 1st Class Austin H. Gates Benson, 19, of Hellertown, believed wholeheartedly in the good the U.S. military is doing in Afghanistan, but the horrors of war became too much for him. He shot himself May 3.

He was stationed at a remote combat outpost in Khyber, near the Pakistani border, where he was helping to establish communications.
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Afghan war suicide moves mother

Sgt. Keith Adam Coe Sacrificed His Life for His Men

An Army carry team carries the transfer case containing the remains of Army Sgt. Keith Adam Coe of Auburndale, Fla., upon his arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del.

Fulton native Sgt. Keith Coe dies in Iraq
By Paul Brockwell, Jr.
May 01, 2010, 10:46AM

Sgt. Keith A. Coe worked hard to get into the Army. When he was 26, the Fulton native was living in Florida working at a truss company and had been in trouble with the law.

Relatives say his eight months in jail for violating probation really marked a turning point in his life.

After getting released, his grandmothers say, Coe wanted to make something of himself and he saw the Army as his way to achieve that goal. His probation officer, says grandmother Dawn Jones, told her that she always knew Coe was one of the ones worth saving. Coe’s former probation officer stopped by to pay her respects and grieve with the family, Jones said.

In 2007, he married his wife, Katrina, at a Hawaiian wedding in Granny Jones’ back yard. Soon after, he joined the Army. Three years later, he had risen to the rank of sergeant.

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Fulton native Sgt. Keith Coe dies in Iraq

also

'Coe Daddy' Sacrificed His Life for His Men
Family of A'dale Army sergeant to hold memorial service in Haven.
By Shoshana Walter
THE LEDGER


Published: Friday, April 30, 2010 at 11:38 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, April 30, 2010 at 11:38 p.m.


LAKELAND His men called him "Coe Daddy."


And on Tuesday, Sgt. Keith A. Coe, 30, sacrificed his life for them, said grandmother Dawn Jones.

Defense Department officials say Coe died Tuesday in Khalis, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an explosive device. Coe was the first to step out of the truck when they arrived on scene for a mission, Jones said. Before anyone else could jump out, he was caught in the explosion, she said.

"All the others in the truck were just kids, just out of high school. It was his duty to get out of that truck first because he was the sergeant in charge," Jones said. "Keith saved their lives."
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Coe Daddy Sacrificed His Life for His Men

Military embraces mourning families at Dover Air Force Base

Military embraces mourning families

By HOWARD ALTMAN

haltman@tampatrib.com

Published: February 19, 2010

Greg Reiners stood on the flight line at Dover Air Force base early Monday.

It was cold and silent, save for the sound of soldiers' footfalls and the whine of the C-17's generators keeping the lights on in the bay of the big cargo plane ahead of them.

Reiners, flanked by daughter-in-law Casey Reiners and his ex-wife, Ronna Jackson, waited with the families of two other soldiers killed when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle drove into their patrol in southern Afghanistan last Friday.

They listened to the chaplain say a prayer. Then the caskets were rolled down the cargo ramp.

John Reiners' was first.

Casey Reiners and Ronna Jackson started crying.

"I got weak in the knees, too," Greg Reiners said. "But I had to stand strong."

He embraced his daughter-in-law. He embraced his ex-wife.

"I held them tight," he said. "I let them know I was there for both of them."

For Reiners, the experience was deeply moving and greatly appreciated.

In April, the Obama administration instituted a policy that pays for up to three family members to fly to Dover, the sprawling Delaware base where Americans killed in action are brought home. The change came at the same time the administration allowed the media to attend the ceremonies if given the permission of the families.

"If not for this program, I would not have been able to experience this," said Reiners, who is from Lakeland.
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Military embraces mourning families

Dover Air Force Base to expand care with Center for Families of fallen

Dover facility will serve families of war dead

By Randall Chase - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 5, 2010 12:55:06 EST

DOVER, Del. — The military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, where U.S. war casualties from overseas are brought home, will open a new facility Wednesday to serve families who travel there to witness the return of their loved ones’ remains.

The Center for Families of the Fallen will be staffed by counselors and support specialists who will assist families awaiting the return of their loved ones to the nation’s largest military mortuary. Families also will be able to meet with casualty assistance officers who are assigned to them.

Officials said the new center will be more convenient both for families and mortuary officials than the space now shared by the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center at Dover with the base’s active duty and reserve wings.

“Sadly, as the death toll has grown in Afghanistan and Iraq, we find we need a larger facility,” said Maj. Shannon Mann, a spokeswoman for AFMAO.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/01/ap_dover_new_mortuary_010510/

In pre-dawn darkness, Obama salutes victims of war

President Obama witnessed the return to U.S. soil of the bodies of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan, an experience he called "sobering." (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/associated Press)

In pre-dawn darkness, Obama salutes victims of war
By Michael Fletcher and Ann Gerhart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 30, 2009

On Wednesday, President Obama started his day in the Oval Office as he always does, with intelligence and economic advisers alerting him to trouble spots and bits of improvement. He ended it 20 hours later, after a surprise trip to Dover Air Force Base, where he witnessed the return of 18 Americans killed this week in Afghanistan.

His day already had been crowded. By nightfall, the president had appeared in public five times. He honored a Senate pioneer, named an opponent to a panel, signed the defense bill, planted a tree and held a reception for a crowd jubilant over a new law. He made jokes, offered embraces, posed for photos, spoke firmly. He had dinner with his two girls, on the eve of their first Halloween in Washington. His wife was in New York at the first World Series game.

All the while, he knew the most sober and grim public duty of his new presidency awaited him after midnight.
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In pre-dawn darkness, Obama salutes victims of war

President Obama attends return of fallen troops from Afghanistan

As sad as it is to lose so many on one day, we must think of the families. We must also acknowledge that the men and women these service members served with will grieve as well.

It's so easy to pray for them when we send them, that God watches over them. The risk is obvious to all of us. It is easy to pray for them when they are risking their lives facing dangers all day, every day. We say a prayer of thanks when they come home. Too many of us then believe our obligation to them ends, no more need for prayers or to do anything for them. We must keep them in our hearts and our prayers even then because the need to find peace, the need to heal and to feel God's love is just as strong as the day they left. That is because no one returns from war the same way. All are touched by what they witnessed. They do their duty even with their pain and far too many need help to heal. Be ever watchful over them and remember just because they're back, that does not mean the risk to their lives is over. We lose 18 veterans a day by suicide and over 10,000 a year try to commit suicide. Families fall apart in a time when they need to support each other the most.

Never forget the sacrifice they all make for the sake of this nation they serve.

Obama attends return of fallen troops from Afghanistan
October 29, 2009 8:46 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
President Obama was on hand as bodies of soldiers who died in Afghanistan returned home

DEA agents, U.S. troops were recently killed in helicopter crash

Eight U.S. soldiers also killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan
(CNN) -- The flag-draped cases of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware early Thursday, in a solemn event attended by President Obama.

Also in attendance for the transfer of the bodies were U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Michele Leonhart, acting DEA administrator.

The bodies were of three Drug Enforcement Administration special agents and 15 U.S. troops who died in Afghanistan this week.

The DEA agents were killed Monday as they returned from a raid on a compound believed to be harboring insurgents tied to drug trafficking. Their helicopter with seven troops aboard went down in western Afghanistan.
go here for more and for video
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/29/dover.bodies/index.html

Bodies of soldiers killed in Afghanistan due back in U.S.

Bodies of soldiers killed in Afghanistan due back in U.S.
Story Highlights
NEW: Afghan security forces hunting down attackers kill insurgents in raids

Coffins of at least four U.S. soldiers due to return home

At least eight U.S. soldiers, two Afghan soldiers killed in attack in Nuristan province

Largest number of U.S. soldiers killed in single attack in more than a year



(CNN) -- The flag-draped coffins of at least four U.S. soldiers killed during a weekend onslaught against a U.S. military outpost in Afghanistan were scheduled to arrive Tuesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the military said.

The bodies will include

Sgt. Joshua J. Kirk of South Portland, Maine;

Spc. Michael P. Scusa of Villas, New Jersey;

Spc. Christopher T. Griffin of Kincheloe, Michigan; and

Pfc. Kevin C. Thomson of Reno, Nevada

according to the Air Force mortuary affairs office. The dignified transfer ceremony also might include other fallen service members.
for more go here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/06/us.afghanistan.troops/index.html

PTSD wrenches service member's heart, home

This never gets any easier. I still get weepy when I read accounts from other families, other veterans and more people suffering from PTSD. It still is infuriating when there are some fools claiming PTSD is not real and the veterans with PTSD are just looking for a free ride. They wouldn't last a week in the shoes of just one of our families.

There are different levels of the hell we live with just as there are different levels of PTSD itself. PTSD receives different levels of rating from the VA according to, or supposedly according to, the depth of the pain and how many different aspects it changes. It hit every aspect of my husband's life, thus, our entire family lived with PTSD.

If you want to read about our life go here and look for free book. I wrote it when no one was talking about PTSD and it was published in 2002. NamGuardianAngel.com You can also find the videos I made to help you understand it too.

By Rob Curtis, Military Times

Sgt. Loyd Sawyer, a medically retired Army veteran suffering from PTSD, has experienced vivid flashbacks, nightmares and a strong sense of guilt.

PTSD wrenches service member's heart, home

By Kelly Kennedy, Military Times
Sgt. Loyd Sawyer joined the Army to bring honor to death.

For years, he had worked as a funeral home director. His children learned that death was part of the normal cycle of life — that it's good to mourn for a loved one and there was no reason to fear the bodies their daddy embalmed in a workroom of their home.

But then he spent six months working at the morgue at Dover Air Force Base, Del. And then six more months in mortuary affairs at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

After that, Loyd no longer saw death as part of a natural cycle.

The faces of dead troops began to haunt his every minute. Awake. Asleep. Some charred or shattered, some with faces he recognized from life, some in parts.

Once, after an aircraft crash, Loyd spent 82 hours lining up bodies side by side, the burnt remains still so hot they melted through the plastic body bags.

He took the images home with him, each of the dead competing for space in his mind. He spent hours crying on his family room floor, weeping as his dog Sophie licked away his tears, the only living comfort he could bear.

He retreated as his sons sought hugs and his wife, Andrea, looked for the snuggles they had once shared daily, hourly. He lashed out with angry words. He had known Andrea since they were 16. Now he couldn't touch her.

They'd never understand what he had been through. No one would, he thought.

Loyd was living a nightmare. Now his family was living one, too.

DISTRESS SIGNALS

Exposure to combat can spark several mental health diagnoses, and often they appear together. For example, people who have post-traumatic stress disorder often also suffer from depression or substance abuse. Here is a breakdown of common PTSD symptoms and diagnoses, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders:

A person is exposed to a traumatic event in which he experienced, witnessed or was confronted with death, serious injury, or the threat of death or serious injury.

The trauma caused a person to feel intense fear, helplessness or horror.

The trauma is re-experienced through nightmares, flashbacks or replays of the event. The person also avoids things that remind him of the event, which can cause emotional numbing. The person may refuse to talk about the trauma, avoid places and people that remind him of the event, be unable to remember the whole event, stop participating in activities, or feel estranged from friends or family, even feel incapable of love.

A person may also have difficulty sleeping; be irritable, jumpy or nervous, prone to outbursts of anger, or unable to concentrate; or feel constantly alert for danger.

If those symptoms last for less than a month, the diagnosis is acute stress disorder. If they persist for more than a month, the diagnosis is PTSD.

If the symptoms last fewer than three months, the diagnosis is acute PTSD; longer than three months, it is chronic PTSD. If a person does not develop symptoms until at least six months after being exposed to trauma, the diagnosis is delayed-onset PTSD.

PTSD is one of a number of anxiety disorders that cause people to always feel worried and tense, even when they are safe or in a stress-free situation, and the disorder also comes with physical symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, muscle aches and other problems.

As many as one-third of people diagnosed with PTSD try to numb their pain and bad memories by abusing drugs and alcohol, leading to substance-abuse disorder.

-Kelly Kennedy, Military Times

read more here
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-09-18-ptsd-military_N.htm?csp=34

Bodies of servicemen killed by comrade come home from Camp Liberty

Bodies of servicemen killed by comrade come home
Story Highlights
Bodies of five fatally shot by fellow soldier at a stress clinic in Iraq returned

Bodies, in flag-draped cases, arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware

Family of three permitted photographers to document the return of loved ones


(CNN) -- The bodies of five U.S. servicemen fatally shot by a comrade at a stress clinic in Iraq were returned to the United States late Wednesday

Army Sgt. John M. Russell of Texas charged with five counts of murder
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met the bodies -- contained in flag-draped cases -- when they arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Family members of three of those killed permitted photographers to document the return of their loved ones.

They were Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, New Jersey; and Army Private First Class Michael E. Yates, 19, of Federalsburg, Maryland.

The two victims not photographed were Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina, and Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Missouri.
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Bodies of servicemen killed by comrade come home
Family mourns slain soldier 5:04
The family of one of the U.S. soldiers who died when a fellow soldier opened fire at a Baghdad Army stress clinic speaks out.

Media interest in covering return of fallen soldiers drops

Media interest has fallen off sharply since almost 40 reporters, photographers and camera operators turned out to document the arrival of Myers’ body. At a more recent casualty arrivals, the only media representative was a lone photographer from The Associated Press.

This is really sad! All the complaints from the media about being banned from Dover, stopped from taking pictures of the flag covered caskets coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan and now this is the result? How can they possibly lose interest? Isn't it bad enough that they no longer cover what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan? Good Lord, too many people in this country have no clue what is happening in either country and they don't bother to find out. The media buries the stories in local papers and the national media seems more interested in President Obama's picture on a magazine with different colored swimming shorts!

Most families OK coverage of fallen soldiers

By Randall Chase - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 27, 2009 11:28:13 EDT

DOVER, Del. — In the weeks since the Pentagon ended an 18-year ban on media coverage of fallen soldiers returning to the U.S., most families given the option have allowed reporters and photographers to witness the solemn ceremonies that mark the arrival of flag-draped transfer cases.

Critics had warned that military families needed privacy and peace activists might exploit the images, but so far the coverage has not caused problems.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Myers of Hopewell, Va., who died April 4 in Afghanistan, was the first combat casualty whose return to American soil was witnessed by the media. He was to be buried with full military honors Monday afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery.

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Most families OK coverage of fallen soldiers

Pentagon sorry for cremating soldiers at pet facility

Pentagon sorry for cremating soldiers at pet facility
By David Edwards
An e-mail from an offended Army official, attending the cremation of a military comrade killed overseas, has led to a Pentagon ban of the cremation of soldiers alongside pets.

Since there is no crematory at Dover Air Force Base, the Air Force contracted operations out to Torbert Funeral Chapels and Crematories, which operates two nearby facilities, in 2001.

Human and animal remains were ever mixed in the process, says the Pentagon, but nonetheless, remains of American servicemembers will no longer be cremated in facilities other than funeral homes, the Washington Post reports.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates found the environment of the Delaware facility in question “insensitive and entirely inappropriate for the dignified treatment of our fallen,” according to Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

“The families of the fallen have the secretary’s deepest apology,” Morrell added.

Members of the military and animals had been cremated in the same room, according to Capitol Crematory/Friends Forever Pet Cremation Service manager David A. Bose, but the crematory used for the pets is too small for most human bodies to fit inside.

A typical “processing” of a servicemember’s body, says Bose, was a simple drop-off and signing of paperwork, with a next-day pickup of the cremains.

The accompanying video report was broadcast on Fox’s Fox & Friends on May 10, 2008.
go here for video
http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=1025

How many more stories like this are going to come out? When do we reach the bottom of this pit the military has sunk to?