When things suck, try to remember other sucky days you got through

Isolated senior veterans and COVID-19 does not have to be this sucky!

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 16, 2020

Experts have been saying that the worst thing veterans can do when they have PTSD, is to isolate themselves. Experts say that seniors need to isolate themselves because of COVID-19.

Take actions to reduce your risk of getting sick Group of senior citizens If you are at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19 because of your age or because you have a serious long-term health problem, it is extra important for you to take actions to reduce your risk of getting sick with the disease.

Stock up on supplies.

Take everyday precautions to keep space between yourself and others.

When you go out in public, keep away from others who are sick, limit close contact and wash your hands often.

Avoid crowds as much as possible.

Avoid cruise travel and non-essential air travel.

During a COVID-19 outbreak in your community, stay home as much as possible to further reduce your risk of being exposed.

Well, we cannot stock up on supplies when we go to the store but everyday things like toilet paper and paper towels are gone, along with a lot of other things. We could not even find a thermometer yesterday.

It is hard on all of us because seniors are very active, but it is especially hard on senior veterans with PTSD. I spent years go get my husband out with other veterans. Being around them helps him thrive. Going to the gym helps him but the last few days has been a battle to keep him from going. Today I had some relief on that one. The gym he goes to closed!

Right now, it is very important that if you know another elderly veteran, keep that in mind so you can reach out to them and call them!

I am grateful for Amazon Prime and Netflix since he does not go online. Here are some of the things I try to get him to do.

Take a walk with your dog!

We live in a great walking neighborhood. Just because it is still cold here in New Hampshire, he can cover up with layers. At least he is away from the TV and keeps him physically active. Take a walk by yourself if you live alone.

Do projects around the house that have been put off.

We moved into our house in November and it needs work. Great time to do it!

Clean out the shed so he can clean out the garage! It is too cold for him to ride his Harley, but he can also clean that too since he is already in the garage. He can hang up all the tools he has. He can also go through the boxes of his things he never seems to have time to do. (Don't get me started on that one.)

Take a ride.

I am trying to keep him out of stores right now. So far, it has been impossible but trying to get him to at least stay in the car while I go shopping. I have to bribe him with a hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts. It is about 20 minutes to the store. It takes me about that long to do the shopping. Then 20 more minutes home. One hour less whining!

Try to avoid news.

It is OK to catch up on what is going on so that you do not imagine the worst. Just do not spend all day watching it! Find something funny to watch or at least inspirational. 

Be prepared for news this is getting worse.

Experts say that there is about a week lag time between when someone was infected and showing up in the numbers they are releasing. With everything shut down now, there will be a reported increase in the numbers, so be prepared for that gloomy news. Then understand that all happened before steps were taken to protect more people. 

If you go online, stay away from idiots!

Most of the things I share online are either really funny or inspirational. We all know I do have to post news, but I am trying to focus more on sharing other things. 

Remember other times you got through other things.

When things suck, try to remember other sucky days and then acknowledge that you got through them...you'll get through this too! Then you can resume your life and do the things you normally did again. Besides, think of all the money you'll have saved up to enjoy it all more!

Retired Mountie speaking out to change the PTSD conversation

A veteran Mountie shares his struggles with PTSD, hoping it will encourage others to seek help

Vancouver Sun
Lori Culbert
March 14, 2020

There were 25 documented RCMP suicides between January 2014 and December 2019, involving 15 active members and 10 retirees, Brien said. Postmedia has reported that between 2006 and 2014, there were 31 suicides by serving or retired Mounties.

It was a warm Sunday evening in April 1979 when John Buis, a 25-year-old Mountie with two years on the job, pulled over a dilapidated Lincoln Continental with Texas plates that had been speeding on Kingsway Avenue in Burnaby.

He radioed in the licence plate number, but it was 8:30 p.m. on a Sunday night and the computer system was slow, so no information was immediately available. Buis and his partner Jack Robinson called for backup before checking the identification of the seven people who spilled out of the messy, dirty car stopped near Imperial Avenue.

After Const. Merv Korolek responded to the scene, the three officers searched the car. They made some disturbing finds among the discarded food wrappers and other garbage: ammunition and a rifle scope in the back seat, and a sawed-off rifle in a plastic bag in the trunk.

He sought help at Vancouver’s Operational Stress Injury Clinic, which caters to police and soldiers, and from there attended a nine-week residential treatment program in Saanich.

He is speaking out today to encourage a larger conversation about mental health among first responders, who are often hesitant to ask for help.
read it here

Founder of Veteran Outreach Program Dealing With Loss Of His Own

Veteran Suicide Hits Home for Founder of Veteran Outreach Program

NBC 2 News
By: Chris DiMaria
Mar 13, 2020

"It broke me down. It broke me down bad. Because I was thinking to myself, if I can't even help my own cousin, how can I help my fellow veterans? I felt like a failure, I felt angry, because why didn't he reach out to me?" Lezama wondered.

MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A Green Country veteran, hoping to save the lives of his fellow vets, was hit by tragedy when he learned his cousin had taken his own life.

Victor Lezama spent 10 years in the Army and 10 years in the Marines, doing two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, his image is to help fellow veterans get back on their feet, by opening The Barracks in Muskogee.

Just before The Barracks were set to open, Lezama's cousin, Gil Ortiz, took his own life. Ortiz was a service member of 17 years, and was a husband and father of three.

"This is a man who was there when my daughter passed away. Our wives were pregnant together," Lezama recalled. "I'm reading through these text messages seeing if there's any kind of clue. A reach out for help or something because he knew what we were doing."
read it here

Victor Lezama, I do not know if you will ever read this or not but I have to try. Wanting to help veterans is a wonderful thing. The problem is, too many want to help, but do not know how to do it. I've been doing this since 1982, so when I say what has to be said, please consider that this is directed to everyone wanting to make a difference.

Stop doing what you are doing until you are honestly prepared to do it. 

Make sure you have all the knowledge you need, before you even decide to do this work. 

Make sure that you have the resources set up in case you get over your head and need to send the veteran for more help than you can give.

Make sure you have your own resources for when you are overwhelmed and need to talk to someone to help you, especially when you lose someone you know.

You also have to face that fact that you will not be able to save all of them. That is something I know all too well when we lost my husband's nephew. I never could find the right words he needed to hear before he would listen to anything else I had to say to him. 

Your cousin knew you were there and it was up to him to ask you for help. It is something that you will never totally let go of, but let that motivate you to keeping on with the work you do so that others willing to seek help will find it.

No matter how many times I read something like this, and the dagger hits my heart all over again emotionally, I do not regret trying to save as many as possible. There is nothing like turning a life around and seeing joy come back into their lives again. If I can help you in anyway, please call 407-754-7526 or email woundedtimes@aol.com. You can also find Point Man International Ministries to help you in your area.

Iraq veteran PTSD survivor proud to cry because it helped him heal

This Iraq War Vet Cheated Death 3 Times. He's Proud to Cry About It.

Men's Health
BY LAUREN LARSON
MAR 12, 2020

FitOps, which counts zero suicides among its alumni, cracked Somers open like that first grenade did. For most of his life, he had been motivated by men around him—his cartel-wealthy veteran uncle, or his hardcore first sergeant. In telling his story, and seeing how other people were affected and moved to tell theirs, Somers found his own strong sense of purpose.

Somers after joining FitOps, which helped him discover a new way to cope with PTSD and his harsh upbringing.
BENEDICT EVANS

FROM ABOVE, YOU WOULD have seen two battered Humvees streaking down a rutted freeway, one behind the other in the center lane, surrounded by miles of Iraq’s parched terrain. As they approached an overpass, one moved into the far-left lane and the other moved far right. Afterward, the trucks weaved back into the same lane.

It was July 2003, and trucks were getting blown up every day in Iraq—insurgents often dropped grenades from overpasses. Bobby Somers, a 23-year-old specialist in the U. S. Army, sat behind the wheel of the second beat-up Humvee, fondly code-named Bertha. Clad in tan fatigues, he had one hand on the wheel, the other on a machine gun pointed out the window. A tiny earbud snaked into his left ear, pumping 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ album from a CD player tucked beneath his seat. Somers had driven thousands of miles like this without incident, and he felt invincible.

After both attacks, Somers was offered a medical discharge, but he stayed. “I remember when I got back into that truck, I was crying,” he says. “I didn’t want to drive out the gate. But I was more scared to let people know I was scared.”

Which brings us to another time Somers nearly died, years after he’d finished his tour, while at his home in Texas. He went into his bathroom, put a gun in his mouth, and almost pulled the trigger. Fate had intervened twice to save Somers’s life. Now he would need a different kind of help.
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Over 400,000 veterans turned away from VA due to lack of guidance, oversight, and adequate training

Harvard Veterans Legal Clinic Contends VA Unlawfully Denies Health Care to Hundreds of Thousands of Veterans

Harvard Crimson
By Kelsey J. Griffin, Crimson Staff Writer
March 9, 2020

“By law, every person—regardless of military discharge status—has the right to apply for VA health care, to have VA consider that application on the merits, and to receive a written decision,” Veterans Legal Clinic Instructor Dana Montalto wrote in the press release.

Harvard Law School's veterans clinic recently released a report about the VA. By Karina G. Gonzalez-Espinoza

The Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School released a report Thursday contending the Department of Veteran Affairs has unlawfully turned away nearly half a million veterans seeking health care.

The report — titled “Turned Away: How VA Unlawfully Denies Health Care to Veterans with Bad Paper Discharges” — found that more than 400,000 veterans risk being rejected or dissuaded from applying to receive health care due to a lack of guidance, oversight, and adequate training within the VA.

“Many frontline staff at VA health care facilities have improperly turned away former servicemembers seeking health care, telling them that they are ineligible due to their military discharge statuses—without even allowing them to apply,” the report reads.

Those veterans, who have received less-than-honorable discharges, known as “bad paper discharges,” should in theory receive an individualized review by the VA to determine their eligibility for benefits.

“In many cases, veterans received ‘bad paper’ discharges because they were gay or lesbian, or because they have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or another mental health condition caused by their military service that led to actions resulting in their separation from the military,” the press release reads.
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Decorated UK War Hero Fighting For Better Care After Attempted Suicide

War hero demands better mental health services for veterans after PTSD caused breakdown

The Express UK
By MICHAEL KNOWLES, DAILY EXPRESS SECURITY CORRESPONDENT
Mar 9, 2020

“I could go and see the doctor, for six months, if I was lucky and she could fit me in once a week. But that was only four sessions a month, so 24 sessions in total. That doesn’t even get through all the trauma of one tour.”

Ex-Colour Sergeant Trevor Coult and his son

(Image: https://twitter.com/TrevorCoultMC)

He witnessed numerous friends get killed or sustain horrific injuries during a brutal three tours in Afghanistan. Mr Coult was awarded the third-highest military honour for bravery for fighting off suicide bombers and gunmen who ambushed his convoy in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2005.

Mr Coult then survived eight bomb blasts and 76 enemy engagements during three operational tours of Afghanistan.

But he attempted to kill himself by driving his car into a wall.
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TBI and PTSD aren't usually diagnosed until long after those other than honorable discharges are handed out

A new insult to veterans: Thousands are unlawfully being denied medical care | Vince Bzdek

The Gazette
Vince Bzdek
March 7, 2020

Just because a discharge is “other than honorable” doesn’t mean that a vet doesn't qualify for medical benefits, according to the VA’s own rules. But the new study by the Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School says the VA has unlawfully turned away thousands of veterans with other-than-honorable discharges because officials at the VA systematically misunderstood the law and didn’t review the vets’ applications properly.

A new study has discovered that the VA has unlawfully turned away thousands of veterans with other-than-honorable discharges because officials at the VA systematically misunderstood the law and didn’t review the vets’ applications properly. Associated Press file photo. Ted S. Warren

Veterans call it “bad paper.”

In a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of stories reported in 2013, The Gazette found that more soldiers than ever are receiving “bad paper”, which means they are receiving “other than honorable” discharges for some sort of misconduct ranging from drug use to insubordination.

The Gazette investigation, based on data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, found that the annual number of misconduct discharges was up more than 25% Armywide since 2009. At the eight Army posts that house most of the service's combat units, including Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, misconduct discharges had surged 67%.

The Gazette discovered a Catch-22 about those discharges. Many “other than honorable” discharges stem from misconduct due to traumatic brain injuries received during service or to mental health issues caused by deployment. The problem is TBI and PTSD aren't usually diagnosed until long after those other than honorable discharges are handed out.
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American Legion Chaplain leading veterans trained to talk to veterans and stop these suicides

Tackling veteran suicides one on one

American Legion
March 4, 2020

“I knew we had to do something about veteran suicides,” said Miller, who was a Strategic Air Command medic during the Korean War. “That’s when I started the peer group … to have veterans trained to talk to veterans and stop these suicides.

(Photo courtesy moriches.greaterlongisland.com)

In 2012, U.S. Air Force veteran Frederick Miller saw a report on CNN about veteran suicides. And then he started to notice multiple reports showing the number of suicides each day, but didn’t see much in the way of how the problem was being addressed.

So Miller – the former Nassau County (New York) chief of parasitology, an ordained reverend and the chaplain for Arthur H. Clune American Legion Post 1533 in Mastic Beach – decided to start addressing the problem at the local level.

Miller’s Veterans Peer-to-Peer Program started at his post, but has since grown to become a Suffolk County program, with more than 100 Legion Family members participating. Those who participate in the program as counselors undergo training and then work with veterans who are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and what Miller calls the “moral injuries” associated with serving in combat.
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Veteran with PTSD shot during standoff with police

Man Shot By Police During Standoff In Doylestown Dies In Hospital: Officials

By CBS3 Staff
March 1, 2020

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — A man who police shot during a standoff and shootout in Doylestown has died more than one week later.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office says 60-year-old Thomas Zeller had been hospitalized since the standoff in the Olde Colonial Greene residential community on Feb. 20.

A neighbor told CBS at the time that Zeller was a veteran who suffered from PTSD.

It’s unclear who fired first. The shooting remains under investigation.
get updates here

UK still unsure what to do to stop military suicides after cluster in 2 months

More than a dozen former British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan kill themselves within two months

The Independent
Kate Ng
2 hours ago

The recent spate of suicides will expedite government plans for new mental health services for veterans which are due to begin in April and will complement NHS programmes on problems like PTSD, addiction and debt, The Times reported Mr Mercer as saying.

A soldier from the 1st Battalion Royal Regiment Fusiliers leaves the security of the camp walls to conduct a dawn foot patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand Province, Afghanistan ( PA )

More than a dozen former British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan have died by suicide in a short period of time, it has been reported.

The Times reported that some 14 former and serving army personnel are thought to have killed themselves in the past two months.

MP Johnny Mercer told the newspaper in an interview he was concerned over the cluster of deaths involving a “specific unit that served at a specific time in Afghanistan… the bloodiest time”.

The Minister for Defence People and Veterans was referring to veterans involved in Operation Herrick, which is the codename for all British operations conducted between 2002 and 2014 in Afghanistan.

By the end of 2014, 453 soldiers died during Operation Herrick. According to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), there were 29 coroner-confirmed suicides and open verdict deaths of army personnel who were previously deployed to Operation Herrick as of February 2018.
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Jan Brown of Boardman, AMVETS first female National Commander told congress the truth!

National leader of AMVETS from Boardman appeals to Congress for help

The Vindicator
March 1, 2020

In her remarks to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Brown said: “If we had spent $9 billion this year showing veterans how to live lives worth living, our veterans would be in a lot better position. Instead, we have built a hard to manage mental health conglomerate, with associations and unions who put their needs first.

WASHINGTON — Jan Brown of Boardman, AMVETS first female national commander, told members of Congress about failures in addressing veterans’ mental health and suicides, and urged money be spent on alternative programs.

Brown said she spoke to the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee last week, and felt her message was well-received.

“This was my one opportunity to tell Congress what I thought and have it on record. A couple of them came up and actually thanked me,” said Brown. “The questions and comments I got apparently hit home.”

Veteran service organizations testify annually before both the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees, notifying Congress of their veteran-related priorities.

These organizations urged action to prevent more suicide deaths, to care for increasing veterans ill and dying of toxic exposure and traumatic brain injuries, and to provide equal care for a growing number of women veterans.

AMVETS last summer elected Brown, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant, to serve as the organization’s 2019-2020 national commander.
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Exactly what we have been saying all along and so glad someone like her is saying it!

Do not choose to leave your family wondering why

Military suicide crisis: Army veteran remembered as kind and compassionate

WFMY 2 News
Author: Kevin Kennedy
February 26, 2020

“He seemed okay when I talked to him on the phone that morning but evidently, he was holding back and already had a plan in mind,” said Dan Krise.

Sgt. William Krise wanted to serve his country. His family was proud and thankful he returned home safe, but the man that came back was not the same one that left.

SEAGROVE, N.C. — Sgt. William Krise picked up the phone on the morning of January 18, 2020, and called his dad. The two men shared a simple conversation like they have done hundreds of times in the past.

“We just talked, nothing big, mostly regular stuff,” said Dan Krise.

The conversation didn’t last long, and Sgt. Krise ended it like he always did.

“He said, I love you, dad."

Dan was in Pennsylvania at the time while his son was at his home in Seagrove, NC. Dan had been planning a trip to North Carolina, but they had yet to set a date.

Later that afternoon, Dan received a phone call from a friend of his son. The lady on the other end of the phone had helped Sgt. Krise find a therapy dog to help him adjust to life after the military. This call was also short, and little was said.

She told Dan his son had committed suicide.

Pain and misery seemed to follow Sgt. Krise from his tour in Iraq back home in the United States. A 10-year veteran, Krise was medically discharged in 2003, but his life was filled with challenges and obstacles after he returned from the war.
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#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

If it was your job to help others, what is wrong with admitting you need help too?

Nothing wrong with needing help now

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
February 29, 2020


"Lean On Me"
Bill Withers Lyrics

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain, we all have sorrow.

But if we are wise,

we know that there's always tomorrow.

All of you who serve, putting your lives on the line for the sake of someone else, are all still just human. You have the same emotions as everyone else.

What makes you different, is you willingly subject yourself to things others run away from. While you have more courage than most people, you also have more compassion than others, or you would not have taken on the job you did.

You spent everyday trying to make a difference. Sometimes you felt as if you failed when things went wrong. The thing you missed is that you did make a difference because if you were not there, it could have been a lot worse.

Lean on me when you're not strong

I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on

For it won't be long

'Til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on.

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Years of data suggest CBD could help mitigate PTSD complications

How CBD Could Improve PTSD Symptoms For First Responders And The Military

GUEST POST

John Mace Alois
February 26, 2020

Years of data suggest cannabidiol could help mitigate PTSD complications.

Taking care of your mental health can be a particularly challenging thing for current and former military personnel, as well as for many first responders. In fact, the vast majority of both groups report having experienced at least one traumatic event during their work. Things are so severe, some reports suggest a third of first responders have received a formal mental health diagnosis such as PTSD or depression.

Given how much our military and first responders put on the line for us every day, we owe it to them more than anyone to continually work toward new and more effective ways to mitigate their most challenging symptoms. While we still have a long way to go, the last 15 years of research has offered some significant steps forward.

Over the last couple of years, in particular, CBD has rapidly grown in popularity as a treatment option for those with a broad range of conditions. However, with so much talk about the power of CBD so fast, many pragmatic people have questioned whether it can actually produce the incredible things suggested.

That said, this growth in the CBD industry has, in large part, been spurred on by an explosion in peer-reviewed research. While CBD itself has been known for decades, it wasn’t all that long ago few people understood the potential it holds for those suffering.

What Is CBD Exactly?
CBD, otherwise known as cannabidiol, is a specific type of cannabinoid that is entirely non-psychoactive. Generally speaking, cannabinoids are compounds typically derived from cannabis plants that interact with a specific set of receptors found throughout the body and brain. This network of receptors is known as the endocannabinoid system and is only just starting to be studied closer to uncover potential health benefits.

One thing that has long impeded the progress of CBD research is its association with THC. After all, THC is extremely well-known for being the psychoactive substance in marijuana, which elicits a “high.” This connection with what was long seen as a detrimental substance prevented a lot of peer-reviewed research from being conducted in the past. Regardless, the last decade-plus of research has come a long way in proving the value of CBD therapy to improve the lives of those living with debilitating conditions, including PTSD.

Can CBD Mitigate PTSD Symptoms?
In addition to the growing movement of people who personally advocate for the power of CBD to improve PTSD symptoms, there has been a significant amount of research highlighting this powerful effect.

For instance, a 2012 report out of NYU looked into the impact of CBD on those dealing with long-term, fear-related stress disorders, such as PTSD. The team concluded cannabidiol was able to help regulate dysfunction in the CB1 receptor, leading to much more significant fear extinction over control groups.

Other studies, including one looking directly at first responders from the World Trade Center attacks, have backed up the belief CB1 receptor function plays a vital role in controlling PTSD complications. The team of researchers was not only able to show CB receptor dysfunction increased intensity of stress but also confirmed taking CBD could promote levels of 2-AG, a chemical associated with reduced stress responses.

Some research has positioned CBD as best used in conjunction with traditional behavioral treatments. As with many reports looking into CBD and PTSD, a 2014 study conducted by the University of Michigan suggests a CBD regimen could significantly improve fear extinction associated with anxiety disorders. However, the team also concluded the benefits provided by CBD would have the greatest impact alongside exposure-based treatment plans.

As for the specific mechanisms by which CBD improves PTSD symptoms, there is some early research out of the University of Sao Paulo providing some insight. The team of researchers has shown that CBD boosts hippocampal neurogenesis in mice models. This process is believed to be central to the ability of cannabidiol to decrease anxiety levels in those living with PTSD, even after exposure to a trigger.

Does CBD Work?
These couple of reports only begin to scratch the surface of the data highlighting what CBD could do for those living with PTSD. That’s not to mention the wider range of potential applications for this very well-tolerated natural medication.

Regardless, you should always consult with your doctor before starting any new regimen. Only they can ensure you avoid any conflicts with your current medications. Not only that but involving a trusted healthcare provider can be a massive part of crafting an effective treatment plan for you.

While there is no shortage of information out there on CBD, it can actually be way too much to handle. In fact, these days, it’s hard to know for sure if what you’re reading online is trustworthy or just another paid ad. That said, there’s a new site looking to unite real CBD users together to answer the simple question, did CBD work?

DidCBDWork.com is a totally crowd-sourced platform for discussion on CBD, offering not only somewhere to provide your experiences for others, but also quickly browse much of the peer-reviewed research out there on what CBD can do. You’ll find dedicated pages for a wide range of conditions research suggests cannabidiol could improve, such as PTSD.

Have you or someone you know used CBD to help improve their mental health? DidCBDWork.com is currently gathering experiences from millions of people, just like you, who have used CBD to help manage their overall mental wellbeing. No matter if CBD worked for you or not, they would love to hear from you about your experience; these stories help those suffering see that there may be a solution out there for them.

About The Author
John Mace Alois is the Digital Editor and Lead Content Creator of DidCBDWork.com, a crowdsourcing project looking to reach 1 million CBD users. A lifelong advocate for CBD and cannabis products, this Empire State native has spent the last several years using advocacy to sharpen his writing skills. He has written professionally for years and looks forward to using that skill to educate others. He can be reached at team@didcbdwork.com.

Canada" “Our (PTSD suffering) soldiers are chastised, treated like lepers.”

Canada treats veterans poorly, Fredericton doctor tells Desmond inquiry

Chronicle Herald
Aaron Beswick
Published: 6 hours ago

Smith filled out the form. Eleven months later, Desmond would use his licence to kill Shanna, his daughter Aaliyah and mother Brenda before shooting himself.

GUYSBOROUGH, N.S. — A Fredericton family doctor who works with many veterans took a harsh view of how Canada treats soldiers who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Shanna and Lionel Desmond hold their daughter Aaliyah in this photo from Shanna Desmond’s Facebook page.

“Our (PTSD suffering) soldiers are chastised, treated like lepers,” Dr. Paul Smith told the Desmond Fatality Inquiry on Monday.

“It’s all about pills and psychotherapy. It’s pathetic. There’s nothing about developing relationships, which (are) what makes the world happen.”

Lionel Desmond appeared at Smith’s office in July 2015.

He’d just been discharged from the military, his marriage was on the rocks and money was short.

Diagnosed in 2011 with PTSD and suspected brain damage from concussions during a tour on the frontlines of Afghanistan in 2007, Desmond had already been prescribed antidepressants and drugs to help him sleep.
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Female veteran with PTSD from sexual assault rejected 11 times for service dog!

Service dog helps military sexual assault survivor

News 5
By: Alexandra Koehn
February 23, 2020

"I received 11 rejection letters from programs across the country because my PTSD came from military sexual assault and not from combat. With every one of those rejection letters, it felt more and more crushing." Stefanie Marvin-Miller

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — A military sexual assault survivor said a service dog has helped her heal from post traumatic stress disorder.

Stefanie Marvin-Miller was the first female in her family to serve our country, but that service led to a dark time in her life.

"In January of 2016, I was the victim of a violent sexual assault by another service member," Marvin-Miller said, "Military sexual assault, PTSD is very intense. It’s very real, and it’s valid. It’s a real problem."

Dealing with the impact of the traumatic event has been hard.

"It was a very difficult thing to do, and to speak up for, and say that happened," Marvin-Miller said, "For me specifically, it will be disassociating, so going back into a memory, and not feeling like I’m in the present anymore, or connected to the present."

She decided to apply for a service dog that would be capable of getting her to a safe place during an episode.

"I received 11 rejection letters from programs across the country because my PTSD came from military sexual assault and not from combat," Marvin-Miller said, "With every one of those rejection letters, it felt more and more crushing."
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He served others in National Guard and Police Officer...but lost his own battle

Former police sergeant dies

CENTRAL OREGONIAN
Jason Chaney
February 20, 2020

Prineville Police Chief Dale Cummins confirmed Tuesday that Mark Monroe, a former sergeant with the agency, took his life on Monday afternoon.

"Yesterday afternoon, the members of our law enforcement community lost a good man and dear friend," Cummins wrote in a statement posted to the police department's Facebook page on Tuesday.

In the post, Cummins stated that Monroe had resigned from the local agency on Jan. 10.

"The Prineville Police Department grieves over the loss of our friend, mentor, and colleague," he wrote.

The post, which can be found on the Prineville Police Department Facebook page, includes a musical video tribute to Monroe featuring music Cummins said he would have preferred.

Cummins said that Monroe was a military veteran, serving in the Army National Guard from 1991 to 1999. He started his law enforcement career as a Prineville police reserve officer in 2004. He was employed by Warm Springs Police from 2004 until 2005, and then returned to Prineville as a police officer, where he remained for the rest of his law enforcement career.
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What do we receive in return for our time than to see a veteran's life change from hopelessness to healing?

Faith In Healing PTSD Hardly New

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 20, 2020

The recent news about the Department of Veterans Affairs joining forces with faith based groups is something wonderful, yet troubling at the same time.

While more and more groups have been popping up all over the country for over a decade, we have been wondering if any of them noticed what others had already begun long before these new leaders heard the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Wondering what else did they miss?

It is obvious they missed a group dedicated to delivering the awesome power of healing through peer support based on someone else who knew what it was like to be willing to sacrifice His life for the sake of others...Jesus.

If even the Son of God asked for help, there should be no stigma associated with needing your peers to help you. After all, none of you looked down on those you were sent to help. If you were willing to die for their sake, as well as the sake of those you served with, turning to them for your own sake makes sense.

So why is it that the stigma lives on, as strong as ever, while you were brave enough to serve, are afraid to communicate with those you served with?

Point Man International Ministries has been clearing the road to #TakeBackYourLife since 1984 because a Vietnam veteran knew the price he paid for his service in Vietnam, as well as, the price he was willing to pay as a police officer in Seattle Washington.

Leaders in Point Man have been working with the Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals all over the country for years because it works. Yet, much like the 72 Jesus sent to care for others, no one knows their names.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Luke 10:1-2 New International Version (NIV)

They did not want to glorify themselves, they just wanted to freely share what they had been given by Jesus. It did not matter that no one knew their names, but it was they joy they received in doing the work they were sent to do that mattered the most.

The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

We live with that joy everyday! There is nothing to compare to what we receive in return for our time than to see a veteran's life change from hopelessness to healing! To see you go from feeling abandoned by God, to knowing you are loved!

New Veterans Affairs rule helps religious organizations provide quality services

Washington Times
By Mike Berry
February 19, 2020

Illustration on veterans and suicide by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

America faces a crisis of epidemic proportions. The number of Americans who take their own lives by suicide each day is staggering and sobering. Even one suicide is heartbreaking; a recent study estimated that 135 surviving people are affected by each suicide.

The latest data show that 17 veterans tragically take their own lives each day, and the rate shows no sign of slowing. Veterans comprise only 7.9 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for 13.5 percent of all suicides.

Americans know something has to be done to help the men and women who have selflessly served our nation, often resulting in terrible, unseen wounds. Thankfully, some Americans have answered the call to help those “who have borne the battle.”
read it here

Officials told us there is not a way to track PTSD and suicide rates, and that services for these first responders are scarce.

Senator Jackie Rosen Visits Fire Station To Talk About HERO Act

KTVN 2 News
by Bryan Hofmann
February 18th 2020

"We don't want to secondarily traumatize our spouses or our children with the stories of the things that we see, which makes hard to offload," said Reid. "If we can get some help from the senators office, that would be a great assistance to us not watching our brothers and sisters take their own lives."

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is often talked about when it comes to members of the armed forces, but it also affects others -- like first responders.

Senator Jackie Rosen introduced a bill to extend assistance to first responders ahead of touring a firehouse today and speaking with local officials. First responders usually see people on their most traumatic days, and often carry that memory with them. Officials told us there is not a way to track PTSD and suicide rates, and that services for these first responders are scarce.

"We have had more suicides in the fire service than line of duty deaths," said Derek Reid, Fire Captain with Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District.

That isn’t even taking into account the full scale of PTSD and suicide rates for firefighters. 100 percent of deaths in the line of duty are recorded, but suicide numbers are not always put on the record.

“We are receiving about 30 to 40 percent of confirmed cases of suicide within the fire service, so we are not even capturing all the data to get the true number of what the suicide rate is within the firefighter community," said Reid.
read it here

PTSD after six years and three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, lost to suicide

Helen Ubinas: Veteran’s final words show the true cost of war

Journal Star
By Helen Ubinas
Posted Feb 17, 2020

It’s been six weeks since Rosalind Williams’ 30-year-old son, Army veteran Michael Corey Hadley of Philadelphia, took his own life.

When grieving the death of a child, that’s a moment. A blink of an eye, a flip of a calendar. Barely enough time for Williams to pick herself up and return to the high school where she teaches science.

And yet in that small window, 900 other military parents have been dealt the same blow — left behind to try and find the rhythm of a life that they’ve lost after losing their children to suicide. According to the most recent data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, about 20 veterans, active-duty service members and members of the National Guard and Reserve die by their own hands every day.

In the quiet that followed the initial flurry of collective shock and grief after his death on Jan. 2, Williams sat with her anguish. She went through old photographs, collected new ones from his funeral and military interment. She read, and reread, the numerous news stories written about her son after the family spoke unsparingly about his death.

“His wounds were slow-acting and invisible, but nonetheless crippling and fatal,” the family said in a statement that spoke of his struggles with depression and PTSD after six years and three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Just as she did when she and the family struggled to find the right way and words to describe the loss of her son, Williams has continued to consider the cause of his death. His PTSD and the mental health issues that medicines and other interventions failed to help — those were merely symptoms, torturous as they were, of what really ailed him. Instead, his mother believed: What finally cost him his life was the traumatic brain injury he suffered after the Army sharpshooter’s multiple deployments. Even in his final letter to his family, which she read aloud to me at her dining room table, he spoke about it.

“I’m so sorry for doing this to you,” Hadley wrote. “I am so grateful to have been born into a loving, strong family.
read it here

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife