Showing posts with label PTSD and crimes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PTSD and crimes. Show all posts

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Reports on families of crime victims reflection of veterans' families

In each of these articles what comes after violent events for families are told.

Collateral Damage: Advocates Aim To Save Children From Impact Of Violence
Collateral Damage: Families Struggle To Care For Victims Of Violence
Lloyd Fox • Baltimore Sun-TNS / Alice Oaks holds the Christmas ornament that will be hung on the tree at the Survivors Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) holiday gathering in remembrance of her two sons that were both killed. SAVE holds an annual event for those that are impacted by the loss of a family member or friends from violence.
Collateral Damage: Relatives Of Murder Victims Struggle With Grief
All of what they are going through is what families of veterans go through when they face the outcomes of inept attempts to avert them.

Families struggle with health issues after homicide,
Scientists at Johns Hopkins and other institutions have found that grief can cause biological changes.

The immediate grief after a death can weaken the heart and increase the risk of heart attacks. The lingering anger associated with this grief can also cause heart problems, a Harvard University study found. Other research connects intense grief to high levels of stress hormones, a weakened immune system and trouble sleeping.

Relatives interviewed in Jeanna M. Mastrocinque’s York College study attributed illnesses such as cancer, heart attacks and death to their grief. Many complained of feeling physically sick, and some lost so much weight that they dropped three or four clothes sizes. One described it this way: “I think this has changed me on a molecular level.”

Mastrocinque’s study recommended that primary care physicians pay more attention to the health status of the relatives of the murdered, given all the problems they reported.

“Homicide is one of the leading causes of death for many age groups,” said Mastrocinque, an assistant professor of criminal justice. “I don’t think people think about how much homicide ripples through communities.”

Michelle Randolph considered herself fairly healthy before her only child, Wesley Lewis, 19, was found murdered in August 2010. After his death, the Baltimore woman couldn’t control her blood pressure and suffered from panic attacks and depression.

They also suffer after family members come home from combat where they risked their lives to save others yet fell so hard that they ended up being killed by police officers.

The next time you read about a veteran and police officers facing off, remember, after the headline comes the reality of the event for the families and the officers. Remember, as with the above reports, families often suffer in silence and people walk away from them when they need support the most.

The next time you read about a veteran, remember one more key detail in all of this. They were willing to die for the sake of someone else and shouldn't have died because we managed to pay more attention to the "crime" in the headline instead of the people assuring us they were doing everything possible to help them come home.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Kentucky Senate passes bill to take care of combat veterans

Bill meant to help veterans passes Ky. Senate

A bill that has passed the Kentucky Senate would have pretrial officers ask people arrested whether they served in combat.

The measure's goal is to connect combat veterans with services to help deal with problems stemming from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The bill cleared the Senate on a 35-0 vote Tuesday. The measure now returns to the House, which will decide whether to accept a change made by the Senate.

Under the bill, as part of a pretrial release investigation, a pretrial officer would ask someone arrested if they had been in combat. If the suspect is a combat veteran, that person would be given contact information for assistance programs.

The legislation is House Bill 377.
http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=12192683

Monday, July 27, 2009

Carson soldiers say Iraq horrors led to crimes

Carson soldiers say Iraq horrors led to crimes

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 27, 2009 7:23:10 EDT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Soldiers from an Army unit that had 10 infantrymen accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter after returning to civilian life described a breakdown in discipline during their Iraq deployment in which troops murdered civilians, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Some Fort Carson, Colo.-based soldiers have had trouble adjusting to life back in the United States, saying they refused to seek help, or were belittled or punished for seeking help. Others say they were ignored by their commanders, or coped through drug and alcohol abuse before they allegedly committed crimes, The Gazette of Colorado Springs said.



The unit was deployed for a year to Iraq’s Sunni Triangle in September 2004. Sixty-four unit soldiers were killed and more than 400 wounded — about double the average for Army brigades in Iraq, according to Fort Carson. In 2007, the unit served a bloody 15-month mission in Baghdad. It’s currently deployed to the Khyber Pass region in Afghanistan.

read more here

Carson soldiers say Iraq horrors led to crimes