Showing posts with label OIF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OIF. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Gainesville OEF OIF War Memorial Vandalized

Gainesville veterans memorial vandalized
FOX 35 News
David Williams
April 12, 2016

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office said the vandals hit over the weekend at the Freedom Community Centrer, in Gainesville. The vandalism is tough for Terry Fitzpatrick to stomach.


“Instant anger,” the Korean War Veteran said.

Fitzpatrick explained, “One has to assume they’re not the brightest lights in the harbor. There’s something wrong with people that do that.”

The "Walk Through Time" monument honors people who died while serving in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The names of 14 local service members who died are on the brick and granite monument. Korean War Veteran, Eddie Thomas, is disgusted.

“It’s sickening. Nobody should want to do something like that,” Thomas said. 

“Why destroy something for somebody that gave their lives?”
read more here

Friday, January 13, 2012

Retired Marine Master Sergeant found dead in Goettge Memorial Field House

Retired Marine found dead in Goettge Memorial Field House
January 12, 2012 3:37 PM
HOPE HODGE - DAILY NEWS STAFF
Updated at 4:26 p.m.

A retired Marine Master Sergeant was discovered dead at the Goettge Memorial Field House aboard Camp Lejeune Thursday morning, base officials confirmed Thursday afternoon.

Shawn P. O’Shea, 45, was discovered unresponsive in a sauna at the field house, which is used for public events, ceremonies and sports activities. Base officials are currently performing renovations on the 1940s-era building to equip it with an air conditioning system.

According to officials, he was pronounced dead on-scene by emergency services personnel. Naval Criminal Investigative Services is investigating the death, and O’Shea’s next-of-kin were notified.
read more here

Saturday, February 26, 2011

What really happened to Pfc. David Jones Jr?

If a 21 year old soldier committed suicide, it is very sad, but we've been reading about suicide deaths for years. Usually when we read their stories, the families report other issues or changes going on before the death. The times when a family does not believe the death was by their own hands are often a very long battle to discover the truth.

St. Johnsville soldier's loved ones dispute Army's suicide finding
But David Jones' loved ones not satisfied with Army report in Iraq case
By DENNIS YUSKO Staff Writer
Updated 10:38 p.m., Friday, February 25, 2011

The would-be fiance of an area soldier who died in Iraq refuses to accept a recently completed Army investigation that says he killed himself in Baghdad.

An Army Criminal Investigation Command probe into the Oct. 24 death of Pfc. David Jones Jr. determined the 21-year-old soldier committed suicide. Results were sent recently to Jones' family in his hometown of St. Johnsville.

"CID's investigation concluded that Pfc. Jones died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and that no foul play was suspected in his death," CID spokesman Jeffrey Castro said in an e-mail Friday.


Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/St-Johnsville-soldier-s-loved-ones-dispute-1030401.php#ixzz1F4IUkn7Z

Winton and Jones' family, whose name is Bennett, consider his death suspicious and have said he had too much to live for to have taken his life. In the days following Jones' death, family members said they thought he was killed by another soldier in a shooting rampage. Army officials quickly denied that.

Read more:
St. Johnsville soldier's loved ones dispute Army's suicide finding1

Monday, March 15, 2010

Young Marine back from Iraq killed by wrong way driver

I-20 Wrong Way Wreck; Marine Killed
By Chris Camp @ March 15, 2010
(WSB Radio) -- Charges are pending against an elderly Carroll County man who allegedly drove the wrong way on I-20 Saturday afternoon, causing a deadly head on crash that claimed the life of a young Iraqi war veteran.

The driver of the Mitsubishi, 21-year-old Marine Lance Corporal Gregory Suedmeyer, died about two hours after the accident at Grady Hospital. His wife, 19-year-old Katelyn Suedmeyer, is listed in critical but stable condition at Atlanta Medical Center. The couple's dog was also killed in the wreck. Suedmeyer, who was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was driving home to Alabama at the time of the crash. He had recently completed a tour of duty in Iraq.

go here for more

http://wsbradio.com/localnews/2010/03/i20-wrong-way-wreck-marine-kil.html

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Are the troops just too young to go?

N.J. Veterans Helpline: Preventing suicide after war
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board/The Star-Led...
March 06, 2010, 5:01AM

Army Sgt. Coleman Bean died at a time when most people are just beginning to live. He was 25 in 2008 when he shot himself in the head in his South River apartment. He had served eight years fighting the war in Iraq.

Suicide is an ugly consequence for far too many veterans returning from the trauma of combat. Like Coleman, the tragedies of war follow them home. They come back suffering from deep depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Often they don’t know where to turn to for help.


More than 2,100 members of the armed forces have taken their own lives since 2001. And a study by the RAND corporation found that nearly one in five returning veterans who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan were suffering from P.T.S.D. or major depression. That shows that long after combat ends, war can still take a toll on soldiers.

read more here

Preventing suicide after war




Seminole Community Behavioral Health held a two day training session on Mental Health First Aid. Great training and I've taken almost everything available. I try to take anything on mental health so that I can get a better idea of what is being done for civilians that may not be happening for the troops and our veterans or visa versa.

During the training the frontal lobe area of the brain was brought up and while we were discussing the fact it is not fully "functional" until the age of 25, I coupled this with the fact most of the troops sent into combat are under 25. Odd how that happens but when you think about it, while this may benefit the military having young bodies thinking they are invincible put their lives on the line, it is not such a good idea when they have not understood the ramifications of this when they are paying the price with their minds.

Older people can be affected/wounded by PTSD as well depending on what else went on in their lives before, during and after the trauma but when we see older veterans seeking help for what happened in Vietnam, we need to acknowledge one very important fact. The fact is, they did not suddenly get slammed by what happened 30 or 40 years ago. They have been walking wounded waiting to "get over it" as PTSD gained more and more control over their lives.

Now it seems that when it comes to PTSD, age has a lot more to do with the development of PTSD as much as the trauma itself.



Frontal Lobe

Function
The executive functions of the frontal lobes involve the ability to recognize future consequences resulting from current actions, to choose between good and bad actions (or better and best), override and suppress unacceptable social responses, and determine similarities and differences between things or events. Therefore, it is involved in higher mental functions.
The frontal lobes also play an important part in retaining longer term memories which are not task-based. These are often memories associated with emotions derived from input from the brain's limbic system. The frontal lobe modifies those emotions to generally fit socially acceptable norms.
Psychological tests that measure frontal lobe function include finger tapping, Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, and measures of verbal and figural fluency.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_lobe


Frontal Lobes
What are the Frontal Lobes?

"The frontal lobes are considered our emotional control center and home to our personality. There is no other part of the brain where lesions can cause such a wide variety of symptoms (Kolb & Wishaw, 1990). The frontal lobes are involved in:

· motor function,

· problem solving,

· spontaneity,

· memory,

· language,

· initiation,

· judgment,

· impulse control…

· social and sexual behavior.

The frontal lobes are extremely vulnerable to injury due to their location at the front of the cranium, proximity to the sphenoid wing and their large size. MRI studies have shown that the frontal area is the most common region of injury following mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (Levin et al., 1987).

Traumatic Brain Injury Resource Guide: Frontal Lobes



One of the most common characteristics of frontal lobe damage is difficulty in interpreting feedback from the environment. Perseverating on a response (Milner, 1964), risk taking, and non-compliance with rules (Miller, 1985), and impaired associated learning (using external cues to help guide behavior) (Drewe, 1975) are a few examples of this type of deficit.

The frontal lobes are also thought to play a part in our spatial orientation, including our body's orientation in space (Semmes et al., 1963).

One of the most common effects of frontal damage can be a dramatic change in social behavior. A person's personality can undergo significant changes after an injury to the frontal lobes, especially when both lobes are involved. There are some differences in the left versus right frontal lobes in this area. Left frontal damage usually manifests as pseudodepression and right frontal damage as pseudopsychopathic (Blumer and Benson, 1975).

Sexual behavior can also be effected by frontal lesions. Orbital frontal damage can introduce abnormal sexual behavior, while dorolateral lesions may reduce sexual interest (Walker and Blummer, 1975).

read more here

http://www.neuroskills.com/tbi/bfrontal.shtml



The more I talk to veterans and their families, the more the links between the PTSD veterans becomes clear. The age they were deployed, which is usually under 25. The fact that families say they used to be very compassionate, caring, loved to do things but ended up with a total personality change. They were drained by what they went through but somehow most of what they used to be remains frozen taking a subordinate position as PTSD gained more and more control.

Maybe instead of saying "wounded mind" we should be saying "hurt brain" since PTSD is caused by an outside force? After all, PTSD only comes after experiencing an event when their lives were in danger or they witnessed something horrifying. There have been cases of veterans in perceived safe jobs but ended up with PTSD because they worked collecting bodies or recovering vehicles after a bomb blew up the occupants. Maybe TBI hits harder the younger they are as well, but the more we understand about how humans develop, the better we can understand the damage done to them affecting the rest of their lives.

Are older survivors of trauma more able to recover from them because of how they developed and what their life experiences were like? Are they less able to recover if they were already exposed to traumatic events at a young age? Does peer impressions play into the recovery or lack of it?

Suppose you were under 20, serving in Iraq when an IED blew up some of your friends. Then think about how your other buddies seemed to get over it to the point where they were able to go back to their "normal" lives back on US soil. They appear to be able to recover while you are still grieving, can't get it out of your mind, can't stop thinking about it and dreaming about it and there is no way in hell you want them to think you are weaker than they are. What do you do? You do whatever you can to make sure they don't see any sign of "weakness" coming from you. You talk yourself into doing whatever it takes to appear as tough as you think your buddies are. What you don't seem to be able to understand is that you are not hiding anything from them. They see right through you but may not understand what they are seeing.

Now top all that off with the fact some of your buddies get fed up with the way you are acting and then push you away. You want to tell them what's going on but you know if you do, they will see you as weak, so you decide you'd rather have them think the worst of you than know you need help. This happens all the time. The good thing the military and the VA are doing right now is relying on the Buddy System so this doesn't happen as often.

For Vietnam veterans the same things happened and these are "tough" guys now because they developed that way. Their lives made them tough just as much as the way they were treated when they came home. They were hardened by all of it on the surface but beneath it all there was a "hurt brain" they tried to cover up. They knew something was wrong but for most, up until the last few years, they had no clue what it was.

Many of them still have the wrong idea of what PTSD is even if they acknowledge the term as a part of them. Too many of them still think this means they are "crazy" or a "nut case" and if they opened up about their emotions, they would no longer be "tough enough" to take it. Some still think that one day they will wake up and it will all be gone, waiting for the day when they finally do "get over it" comes and they will be cured.

They search for what they think will make them happy. They drink too much because for a time it makes them feel better. They fall in love over and over as the "love high" makes them feel better until they discover that all the symptoms of PTSD have ruined another relationship, so they search for another one where they will feel good about themselves again without ever addressing the fact they still have the pain inside of them. They want to live isolated from others physically because emotionally that is the way they have survived all these years.

They want to be able to trust "buddies" at the same time letting anyone get that close is the last thing they feel comfortable doing fearing being judged, ending up being pushed away.

They want what the rest of us want but can't figure out how to get there from here without help. For most, they don't know where to find the help. When they came home, there wasn't any help to find but now there is. The problem they face now is how they can get the message when too little is being talked about.

It would be a wonderful day in this country if PTSD had commercials. We know more about erectile problems than we do about problems with the organ that controls the entire life, the brain. We know more about problems with the menstrual cycle of women than we do about the cycle of life after trauma.

Looking at Vietnam veterans and the commonality they have with the newer generation of veterans, there can be no more clear evidence of the fact if we do not address PTSD in them while they are still young, they will end up facing life with a "hurt brain" for the rest of their lives. Had Vietnam veterans received the help they needed when they came home, mild PTSD would have stayed mild and most would have recovered enough to heal instead of PTSD being allowed to claim more of their lives. Do we really want this repeated in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans?


http://www.seminolecares.org/
Welcome to Veteran's Services!

Seminole Behavioral Healthcare is proud to announce that a wide variety of services are now available free of charge to the following:

Those who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan
Family members of those who have served, including children
Family Readiness Coordinators
Military personnel, including chaplains and VA employees
The following services are made possible through a generous grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice and the Florida Braive Fund:

Individual counseling
Family counseling
Support groups
Information & referral consultation
Certification in Mental Health First Aid
Professional Events for service providers

To find out more about our exciting new services for veterans and their families, simply click the "help/contact" tab on the side of this screen, or call :

Laurie Reid, LMFT, CAP
Director of Veterans Services
(407) 831-2411 X1266

Saturday, February 27, 2010

CREW lawsuit:VA Underreported Number of PTSD Cases

Why should this be addressed? Because behind the news, advocates know we are already at the point of no return. We talk about the numbers of OIF and OEF veterans in the hundreds of thousands, fast approaching the million mark but that is nothing new. We've been warning about this since the first set of boots hit Afghanistan sand and then began to scream even louder when they were being sent to Iraq. Troops were enlisted. The contractors were drying the ink on their contracts. Congress was approving war funds. Everyone was gearing up except the support system to take care of the warriors themselves. Less doctors and nurses were working for the VA than after the Gulf War. Was this anyway for a "grateful nation" that "supports the troops" to run a war?

CREW Files Lawsuit, Alleges the VA Underreported Number of PTSD Cases
Friday 26 February 2010

by: Mary Susan Littlepage, t r u t h o u t Report

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) after the VA admitted to destroying documents responding to CREW's May 2008 Freedom of Information (FOIA) request. CREW's FOIA request called for documents related to the VA's policy of underdiagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
CREW learned of the underdiagnosing of PTSD after learning of an email in which VA employee Norma Perez discussed the policy. According to CREW, the VA has resisted providing any documents; it stated that the VA claimed it had produced everything it had, even though it hasn't turned over the Perez email or any other records referring to the email.

Therefore, CREW has argued that the VA's search for documents has been inadequate, and the VA has argued that it destroyed in 2008 many emails and backup tapes, which included the Perez email. The VA has contended that it cannot produce any emails before December 9, 2008.

Anne Weismann, CREW's chief counsel, said, "There appears to be - and I don't know this for certain - a growing recognition on the part of the VA that there has been an under-diagnosis [of PTSD] and there seems to be a growing a recognition that they have a problem with high suicide rates. Obviously recognizing there is a problem is the first step toward curing it, but that's why the actions of the VA here in destroying emails is so disturbing."

The military has agreed to expedite these reviews in response to a class action lawsuit filed by seven combat veterans, who allege that the military illegally denied benefits to those discharged because of PTSD over a six-year period that ended October 14, 2008. "It is clear from these news reports that during the period 2002 to 2008 - a period covered by CREW's FOIA request - there was a widespread under-diagnosis of PTSD among U.S. military service personnel affecting thousands of discharged veterans," the brief stated.

read more here
VA Underreported Number of PTSD Cases

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Community comes together to help deployed Marine

Community helps repair Marine’s burglarized home
Posted: Jan 23, 2010 6:14 PM EST

LEE COUNTY: On Friday we reported a story about burglars who hit a Lehigh Acres Marine's home, and in less than 24 hours the community has reached out to help.

Steven Vonsooten, 23, is serving in Iraq while his mother is watching his new home.

During a check of the residence on Thursday his mother, Nancy Gonzalez, found five windows were broken and appliances were missing from the home.

We had many calls and e-mails come into our newsroom from people offering to help out.

Help also came when Captain John Bunch started receiving calls Saturday at 5:00 a.m. from nearly 50 people who were ready to help.

"With the economy right now, it's bringing out the worst in people, and virtually one day later, I'm seeing the best in people," said Gonzalez.
read more here
http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=11870262