Children of Combat Veterans getting help

While there are many things parents have a hard time talking to their children about, avoiding talking about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should not be one of them.

I had the opportunity for all the knowledge I needed when our daughter was an infant. She was raised knowing "why Daddy was ......" and this prevented her from blaming herself for the way he acted. This did not prevent hurt feelings but it did minimize the damage. It did not prevent conflict but kept it from escalating. She was able to adapt to the fact Daddy didn't go with us most of the time but she was able to enjoy his company when he did come.

There are adults walking around right now, children of Vietnam veterans feeling as if their fathers did not love them, that it was their own fault for the stained relationships and they carry the wound of war within them with secondary PTSD. This comes when being exposed to the traumatic situations veterans often deliver with untreated PTSD.

Drop a glass and Dad freaked out.
Sneak up on Dad to hug him or cover his eyes, the way most kids love to do, Dad freaks out.
When Mom was out of the house and you got hurt playing the yard, you needed him to clean up your wound and,,,you guessed it, Dad freaked out.
Dad had a habit of waking you up in the middle of the night because you could hear him screaming not knowing he was having a horrific nightmare.
Dad got drunk a lot, or got high, embarrassing you in front of your friends and your parents screamed at each other most of the time.

This they carried with them the rest of their lives. It never seemed to matter what they did because nothing was ever good enough.

for more go here
Nam Guardian Angel PTSD Shield

Carissa Picard, PBS Unsung Heroine

When I read this I could not be more happy about this! Carissa, aside from being a wonderful friend for many years has been one of the most powerful advocates I've come across in all the years I've been doing this. She is absolutely devoted to helping the troops and their families to make sure they have the best possible life while serving and after their usefulness to the military has come to an end. In other words, when they are wounded or ill and need the military as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs to take care of them for a change in repayment of their duty being done. Her countless hours of dedication, emptied pockets covering expense of travel and supporting MSA causes as President and Founder, (old name Military Spouses for Change) have been done too many times without being shown the appreciation she truly deserves. Even on sabbatical, she finds it impossible to really stop working and get some much needed rest.

The following is from Carissa

I am on sabbatical from MSA, but it was brought to my attention that Maria Hinojosa, emmy-winning journalist of PBS NOW, has named me as one of their unsung heroines for Women's History Month. I am both humbled, honored, and grateful--even more so considering what an amazing woman Ms. Hinojosa is.

MSA President Named as an Unsung Heroine by PBS for Women's History Month
PBS’ Favorite Unsung HeroinesMarch 10th, 2009 at 12:42 pm"March is Women’s History Month–but we’d like to shine a light on women of immense accomplishment, fortitude and inspiration, though not an equal amount of recognition. From Bill Moyers, Maria Hinojosa, Judy Woodruff, Lidia Bastianich, Martin Savidge, Tom Stewart and Paula Zahn, their personal unsung heroines..."....Maria Hinojosa, Senior Correspondent from NOW on PBS, on Carissa Picard“Carissa Picard is an inspiration. The wife of an army pilot and mother of two toddlers, she lives on a military base in Texas. She sees many military

spouses on the base who feel powerless and lonely. But Carissa is a lawyer, so has taken her legal skills and created an organization–Military Spouses for Change (now Military Spouses for America)–to help the wives (and husbands) speak out and feel empowered enough to challenge one of the biggest and most powerful institutions in our country…the military. She helps women own their voices and their power to challenge authority.”Carissa was featured in the NOW Program “Fighting the Military“, you can watch it online.
Read about the other amazing woman at
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/424/index.html.

As always, your ally in change,

PBS:Medal of Honor history and Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

PBS film highlights Medal of Honor’s history and its recipients
Providence Journal - Providence,RI,USA

PBS film highlights Medal of Honor’s history and its recipients

07:06 AM EST on Monday, November 3, 2008


Medal of Honor, a PBS documentary that will air nationwide Wednesday at 9 p.m., will present powerful stories of those who have received our nation’s highest military honor.

Produced and directed by Roger Sherman, the 90-minute film traces the medal’s history from its inception, during the Civil War, and profiles Sgt. Paul Smith, the first combatant in the Iraq war to receive it.

Among others profiled in the film are a Holocaust survivor who singlehandedly defended a hill from an advancing enemy force in the Korean War; a Navy SEAL who saved the lives of two comrades by swimming for two hours, while injured, to bring them to safety; and a Marine at Iwo Jima who alone silenced seven Japanese bunkers with a flamethrower.

Only one Medal of Honor has been awarded to a woman: Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War doctor captured and imprisoned as a spy by the Confederates. Her medal was revoked after the war, when the criteria were tightened so it could be awarded only to active-duty soldiers in battle. Walker, however, refused to give it back.click above for more

PBS Stations, Last Ghost of War waits

This is to alert you to a must-see program that will soon be made available for your viewing. On July 24th you'll be able to select from 40-50 clips of films being offered to PBS stations. I strongly urge you to view the 3:15 clip called "The Last Ghost of War", which will be available free to PBS stations in November. Please vote for it.

Please see the attachment above for a short synopsis of "The Last Ghost of War". To find out more about the film just visit www.gardnerdocgroup.com, and/or contact Producer Janet Gardner at Gardnergroupinc@gmail.com

(05/07/08. ) The spine-chilling documentary Bong Ma Cuoi Cung Cua Chien Tranh (The Last Ghost of War), about the corrosive effects of Agent Orange (the toxic defoliant used by the Americans during the war in Viet Nam), will be aired for the first time on Vietnamese television today.
The film, made possible by a grant from the US’s New Jersey Council for the Humanities, was produced by Pham Quoc Thai and Janet Gardner, directed by Janet Gardner and narrated by Kevin Cline, from the New York-based Gardner Documentary Group.
The 56-minute film starts at 2pm on VTV1.
The film focuses on the physical and spiritual plight of terminally ill Agent Orange (AO) patients at Tu Du Hospital in HCM City.
“Thirty years after the end of the Viet Nam War there are several million people diagnosed by the Vietnamese [health services] as victims of Agent Orange,” says the Gardner Documentary Group’s website www.gardnerdocgroup.com.
“In The Last Ghost of War we meet several people who are plaintiffs in a class action against 32 US chemical companies. Attorneys, activists, scientists, and a military historian take us to a new battlefield.

http://vietnamtravelnotes.com/2008/07/08/the-last-ghost-of-war-broadcasts-today/

and on this subject


Chairman Bob Filner, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
William G. Jeff Davis, Blue Water Veteran
Ron Abrams, Executive Director, National Veterans Legal Services Program
John Rowan, Vietnam Veterans of America

What:
Introduction of the Agent Orange Equity Act, a bill to ensure that veterans receive their earned benefits

When:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at Noon
(Staging begins at 11:30 a.m. in Cannon Room 334)

Where:
Cannon House Office Building Terrace
The intersection of New Jersey and Independence Avenues, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20515

go here for more

http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/hcva08/hcva071808-1.htm

PBS Special on "Personality Disorder" Discharges

June 12, VCS Suggests Watching PBS Special About Military's Misuse of Personality Disorder Discharges for Wounded Iraq War Veterans
Veterans for Common Sense encourages you to watch a PBS News special on Friday, June 13. The show, "Now," is a collaboration between PBS reporter Maria Hinojosa and Nation magazine reporter Joshua Kors. They tell the story of Army Sergeant Chuck Luther, who was struck by mortar fire in Iraq, then jailed until he agreed to sign papers saying his wounds were pre-existing. Luther is an eloquent speaker with a powerful story. VCS hopes you'll tune in - and share this message with friends and family so they can see what's happening to so many of our soldiers.