Afghanistan Veteran "...can focus on healing" after war

Army veteran, family get new home mortgage free

WFXL FOX 31
Alexandria Ikomani
January 5, 2018

“I can focus more on my healing, take care of me and take care of my family now that we have a home.” Sgt. Chad Turner

ALBANY. Ga. — An army veteran and his family have somewhere to call home.

Operation FINALLY Home is an organization that gives free homes to veterans in need.

Sergeant Chad Turner and his family can't put their feelings into many words.

Turner was diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, short-term memory loss, post-traumatic stress disorder and more after an explosion while serving in Afghanistan.

read more here 

PTSD and TBI, Not Broken, Just Dented

I didn't break my head, it was just dented
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 25, 2017

Reminder: Combat PTSD is about fighting to take your life back!

Yesterday I was at the Oviedo Hospital Emergency room. I have to tell you, great people work there!!! 

Orlando Business Journal

(They had no clue who I was, so no special treatment. In other words, I was just like everyone else they help every single day.) I have a history of head injuries.(Yes, I know, heard it all before. Now you know what's wrong with me.)

Tuesday I had the shots into my spine and didn't sleep well. Went to work, stopped at the supermarket and when I went to take the bags out of the car, I dropped the apple pie as I was shutting the hatch and hit myself in the head. Came close to passing out, but I was more upset about breaking the pie instead of my head.

By the time I got into the house, I already had a bump. Anyway, I felt ok Thursday, just a bad headache. Yesterday morning I was having an "aura stage" migraine. Not worrying, I popped a couple of Tylenol, chugged down some coffee and waited for it to stop. It faded, like it always does but then hit came back a lot stronger than ever.

I got frightened about something really being damaged in my head this time, so I called my doctor and was told to go to get it checked out. At the Ovideo ER, they kept asking me what was going on and I kept saying, "I broke my head." Considering I actually did break my head when I was 5 and had TBI before they were calling it that, head injuries are something I worry about.

A CT scan was taken and the nurse came in to tell me that I didn't break my head, it was just dented. (Yes, we were kidding around! She also told my husband no housework for me until Christmas because I needed the rest. He didn't get the joke.)

When I hear someone say that "veterans are either considered heroes or broken" I get angry. To me, they are all heroic simply because when someone actually puts their life at risk for someone else, that is the definition of hero. As for broken, I never met one of them who was broken. The third of Vietnam veterans with PTSD are dented and there is nothing "broken" about them.

With a diagnosis of PTSD, they can start to recover with the right kind of help. The trouble is, getting them to figure out when they need to worry about not simply getting over "IT" and then go an get it.

For all the "awareness" BS, why aren't they getting the message that PTSD is nothing to be ashamed of? Why don't they know that it is a wound and the term TRAUMA IS GREEK FOR WOUND? I am a klutz. I always have been. I never felt ashamed of getting wounded. I know what it is like to face death, far too many times, just from regular living and I know what it is like to suffer from what the wound did physically, as well as mentally.

PTSD didn't hit me for one simple reason. The way my family dealt with everything traumatic was to talk it to death as soon as it happened. Bingo! That is what Crisis Intervention does. It gets the survivor to bring the trauma into the "safety time" and they begin to take control back over what just happened.

I was not in control over what happened to me but I was in total control the second I went from "victim" to "survivor" and there was no way in hell I was going to let "IT" rob one more second of my life. Several times Doctors said I was lucky to be alive, but twice they said I should have been dead according to their understanding of humans. There was no logical way to explain why I was still here. The thing is, I didn't need one. I just ended up coming to the conclusion that for whatever extra time I had, it was going to be spent doing stuff for other people and it changed the way I look at a lot of things.

Like the aura migraine, all the bad stuff faded away and "I" was still left as "me" as klutzy as before. If you have TBI, know this. It isn't something WRONG with you. It is what happened after you survived something. Get help to heal what can be healed and what can't, you can manage it. I had spelling and memory problems. (I still do. If you read Combat PTSD Wounded Times, that is something you are well aware of.) I just don't let it stop me from doing anything, including speech problems, which stopped me from talking when I was young. Now, I embrace it, especially living in Florida with a think Bostonian accent. It is all part of me and I am happy to have some fun with it. Joy is surviving but bliss is thriving.

If you have PTSD, again, I get it because I know what trauma can do to a person. I know how it can eat away at you and make you question everything, including your faith in everything. Do not think of yourself as a "victim" but know yourself as a survivor. You defeated the sucker when you stood up after it happened. Don't let it win now. 

Just because you didn't get help to start recovering right after it happened, doesn't mean you can't get it now. It is never too late to take back control of your next moment.

I have the memories of all the stuff I survived in this dented head of mine. It is all a part of me, but so is everything else about me. 

The same for you! Your ability to care about others to the point where you were willing to die for them is beyond what "normal" people are willing to do. Embrace that!

Your history as a survivor is something few others know, stand tall with it!

Your endurance level is beyond human understanding considering all you had to do, to do your job! Flex your muscles!

If you are still ashamed of having PTSD, then one last thing to consider. If you have PTSD because of your job, there is nothing weak within you. It was the strength of your emotional core that made you care enough to risk your life in the first place. It is that same strength that makes you grieve now.

So take some advice from an older lady with a dented head. Stop living with a dented head and open your eyes to what you are having trouble seeing!

Army Career Lasted 16 More Years Thanks to VA

Veteran completes Army career thanks to rehab at Tampa VA

VAntager Point

Department of Veterans Affairs

November 20, 2017

When Patrick Stamm woke up at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, his first thoughts were, “What’s going on?”

Tampa VA occupational therapist Kerri Martin works with Army Veteran Patrick Stamm during his recent reevaluation at the hospital.

He didn’t know it at the time, but he’d suffered major injuries – including a traumatic brain injury – after falling four stories from a hotel balcony in Hawaii on Labor Day Weekend 1996. He’d been celebrating his reenlistment in the Army when the accident happened, and spent the next 40 days in a coma before waking up in Tampa.

While most people would be grateful just waking up at all after a four-story fall, that wasn’t enough for Stamm. With the help of the Tampa’s rehabilitation and therapy programs, the soldier recovered enough that he was able to remain in the Army and complete 16 more years as a military intelligence specialist, including two deployments to Iraq, a stint as an instructor and going back on jump status as a paratrooper, before retiring in 2012.

Stamm was an infantryman and Ranger during his first enlistment, but realized after getting out of the Army that he missed it. He eventually reenlisted and was stationed in Hawaii.

“We were celebrating my being back in the Army and I fell from the fourth floor of the Hale Koa Hotel and Resort,” Stamm said. “I don’t remember exactly what happened, but my fall was broken by the air conditioning unit for the kitchen.  That’s how they found me.  They said something’s wrong with the AC or something, so they went out to check and there I was.”

read more here

What Happens To Betrayed Veterans?

Kicked Out Instead of Helped?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 6, 2017

One more thing some think about on Veterans Day, is the day they got kicked out and became part of the forgotten veterans we never acknowledge.

If you were kicked out of the military for having PTSD or TBI, you are far from alone! If your family doubts what you've been telling them, show them this!

To everyone else, what do we owe to the men and women kicked out of the military because they received the "unseen" wounds of PTSD and TBI?

That is yet one more thing we never really talk about when we read about the numbers of veterans we think committed suicide on any given day.

We don't think about the data the VA is missing from their suicide counts, like some states do not track military service, and were not included in on any count. 

What makes that even worse is when someone served in the military but ended up kicked out and left out of all accounts. How many of these veterans decided to commit suicide?  

GAO: DOD HEALTHACTIONS NEEDED TO ENSURE POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY ARE CONSIDERED IN MISCONDUCT SEPARATIONS
Our analysis of DOD data shows that 91,764 servicemembers were separated for misconduct from fiscal years 2011 through 2015; of these servicemembers, 57,141—62 percent—had been diagnosed within the 2 years prior to their separation with PTSD, TBI, or certain other conditions that could be associated with misconduct.

More specifically, 16 percent, or 14,816 of the 91,764 servicemembers who were separated for misconduct, had been diagnosed with PTSD or TBI.  

Looking at the conditions individually, 8 percent had been diagnosed with PTSD and 11 percent had been diagnosed with TBI, while other conditions, such as adjustment and alcohol-related disorders were more common.

The 57,141 servicemembers who were separated for misconduct and diagnosed within the 2 years prior to separation with PTSD, TBI, or certain other conditions had, on average, 4 years of active military service. Almost all, or 98 percent, were enlisted servicemembers, rather than officers, and two-thirds had not been deployed overseas within the 2 years prior to separation.

We will probably never know what we let happen to them after they were willing to die for the sake of others.

It is bad enough most of the charities should be sued for deceptive advertising when they avoid mentioning most of the veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50, which they heartlessly ignore, but they dare to talk about PTSD as if it didn't exist until now.

Some talk about 1 out of 5 OEF and OIF veterans with PTSD but none talk about how it was 1 out of 3 Vietnam veterans.

One more thing we don't talk about when Vietnam veterans are being pinned and given parties, is that there were,

"... approximately 250,000 Vietnam-era veterans received less-than-honorable discharges, and as many as 80,000 of those service members could be eligible for PTSD-related benefits.

Vietnam Veterans Still Fighting For Justice For All Generations

"Vietnam Veterans of American called the GAO report “immensely disturbing” and again called on President Trump to pardon affected veterans." From GAO report on The Hill

But fighting for justice is something Vietnam veterans know all too well. In 2014 the Hartford Courant reported that there were 70,000 Vietnam veterans with PTSD also kicked out. It was because of Conley Monk fighting for justice that then Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to do something about it. In case your wondering, Monk fought for 43 years!!!!

GAO: Thousands discharged for military misconduct had mental health diagnosisThe HillBY REBECCA KHEEL05/16/17

The top government watchdog said Tuesday that nearly a quarter of U.S. troops discharged for misconduct were given other-than-honorable discharges despite previously being diagnosed with a mental health condition.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its report faulted branches of the Department of Defense (DOD) for having policies inconsistent with — or poor enforcement of — official Pentagon rules for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) or sexual trauma. 

Such discharges haunt veterans for the rest of their lives, advocates say, by denying them veterans benefits and casting a stigma that can affect civilian life, such as finding employment.

According to the GAO, 57,141 of the 91,764 troops separated for misconduct from 2011 through 2015 had been diagnosed with PTSD, TBI or another condition at least two years before their discharge.

Of those with a diagnosis, 13,283, or about 23 percent, received other-than-honorable discharges.

Among the inconsistencies found by the GAO, the Navy does not require a medical exam for certain sailors being separated in lieu of court-martial to determine whether a PTSD or TBI diagnosis is a mitigating factor in the misconduct. Such an exam is Pentagon policy.

The Army and Marine Corps, meanwhile, may not follow to their own screening, training and counseling policies, according to the GAO.read more here

Well then, I guess that is supposed to say it all, but not even close to covering how many veterans served, were wounded and then betrayed. You know, the ones members of Congress have known about all along.

Translation: they got kicked out of the military without an Honorable Discharge.

According to data obtained by KPCC from the Defense Manpower Data Center, more than 615,000 Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force veterans were discharged with less-than-honorable discharges from 1990-2015.

Utah Veteran Created A Flag Out of Metal...And the Flag Tool

Military veteran making steel US flags shows his mettle
FOX
Alicia Acuna
March 29, 2017

That was more than 18 months ago. Today, his company, Iron Mountain Designs, has an 8,000-square-foot production facility in Salt Lake City, where he has a team, and an expanded business, making custom ironwork and furniture for other businesses.

Military veterans can have a tough time re-entering the workforce after serving in war. The special skills honed on the battlefield don't always translate to the civilian world.

Such was the case for retired Air Force pararescueman Josh Vandenbrink. After 14 years of service and 21 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, his life back home came with some readjusting.

The Utah man tried multiple jobs in a variety of industries, when one day he, somewhat accidentally, launched his own business. A fellow veteran in the Salt Lake City area who owned a coffee company called Black Rifle Coffee let him set up a work room in the back of his warehouse.

The first thing he did was buy a flag.

On each flag, he puts a reminder from the past. A quote by President George Washington is engraved on a wood plaque, hidden on the back. It reads: "I hope I shall possess the firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles. The character of an honest man."
read more here

Connecticut PTSD Bill to Study What They Already Know?

Committee changes bill that would expand benefits to vets with PTSD, brain injuries
The Day
By Julia Bergman Day staff writer
March 03. 2017

"We have enough knowledge to know that there is a problem here and generally I don't think a study is going to be helpful. A study is going to simply flesh out what we already know." Rep. Stephen Harding

Hartford — Supporters of a proposal, which would enable certain veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury to receive state benefits, are discouraged by changes made to the proposed bill that, they say, effectively kill the bill's chances of being passed this session.

House Bill 5580, introduced by state Rep. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, in its originally proposed form, would've allowed vets, who received an "other than honorable discharge" as a result of being diagnosed with PTSD or TBI, to qualify for state veterans' benefits.

The Veterans Affairs' Committee, to which the bill was assigned, changed the language so that it now calls for a study of how many of these vets exist, how much it would cost to provide benefits to them and how that process would be executed. Rep. Jack Hennessy, D-Bridgeport, co-chair of the veterans committee, said members were concerned that the original proposal would've put the state in a position of making a connection between a vets' diagnosis of PTSD or TBI and his or her so-called "bad paper" discharge.
read more here

OEF-OIF Veteran With PTSD and TBI Amazed by High School Students

Naperville Army veteran feels at home, thanks to students' donations
Daily Herald
Christopher Placek
December 16, 2016

"I never imagined being in a high school full of kids cheering for me and doing something amazing like this for me. I don't know what someone could want more than to be honored like this."
Tony Chobanov

"Amazing," is how Army Spc. Tony Chobanov feels about the support he's received from a veterans organization that's building a house for him and his family, and the students who have helped raise funds to pay for it.

Some 2,000 students at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights stood and applauded Friday as Chobanov and his wife, Abbey, walked into the school gym for an assembly where they were presented with a $16,000 check and an oversized key that represents their new house to be built next spring in Spring Grove.

Chobanov, 32, served two tours of combat duty -- one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq -- that led to his diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury.

He's worked several jobs in the trades since returning in 2008, putting in long hours to provide for his family, but has struggled as half the family income has gone to pay the rent of their Naperville home.

This year, he learned he, his wife and three children had been chosen by A Soldier's Journey Home, an Arlington Heights-based nonprofit, to receive a new house. He said he's receiving treatment for his war injuries and no doubt has been helped by the support he's receiving.

read more here

OEF-OIF PTSD Veteran and Family Get New Home to Heal In

EXCHANGE: Veteran given a new house as he confronts PTSD
Belleville News Democrat
Marie Wilson
November 26, 2016

"I was in shock," Chobanov said, recalling his reaction to the news he'd be getting a debt-free house and a lot fewer financial worries. "I didn't have words for it at first."

ADVANCE FOR USE SATURDAY, NOV. 26, 2016, AND THEREAFTER - In this Oct. 6, 2016 photo, Army Spc.Tony Chobanov, who served two tours of combat duty, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, is seen with his wife Abby, right, and their children, from left, Olivia, 6, Milan, 8,and Faith,11, in Lisle, Ill. Chobanov can't wait to get his family into their new home. They will be a recipient of a new house to be built by a charity by an Arlington Heights-based nonprofit called 'A Soldier's Journey Home' with help from District 214 high school students. Daily Herald, via AP Paul Michna

NAPERVILLE, ILL.

The burden of spending roughly half his family's income on rent isn't even lifted yet, but Army Spc. Tony Chobanov of Naperville already feels better.

He's been working on getting better for the past two years, and this most recent step is proving a giant help.

An Arlington Heights-based nonprofit called A Soldier's Journey Home chose Chobanov, his wife, Abbey, and their three children as the 2017 recipients of a new house, built free for the family with donated materials and labor. The house, on 1.3 acres in Spring Grove donated by First Midwest Bank, should be complete by next June - just in time for the family's lease on a house near Abbey's parents in Lisle to expire at the end of the month.

Chobanov, 32, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury stemming from his four years in the Army, which took him through two tours of combat duty - one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq.
read more here

Iraq Veteran Received Gift of Love

Iraq war veteran receives gift that evokes memories of fallen comrade and snowboarding buddy
The Gazette
By: Debbie Kelley
November 24, 2016

"For a mom, I can't describe the feeling - it was such a wonderful tribute to my son. He loved snowboarding," she said in a phone interview from her home in upstate New York.

A heart-wrenching story has turned heartwarming, and a local Iraq war veteran says he couldn't be more grateful for everyone who had a hand in the unexpected about-face.

Jason McDonald holds the snowboard Burton made for him to replace the stolen one he had as a tribute to his buddy and comrade Chris Simpson who was killed in Iraq Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, at his Colorado Springs home.

(The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

"It feels like a big void has been refilled," said Jason McDonald, a civilian contractor who works at Fort Carson's down-range training area.

McDonald claims he was wrongfully evicted from his Colorado Springs apartment in May, and in the process, his military commendation medals, uniforms, breathing machine and other valuables went missing.

The 36-year-old medically retired Army staff sergeant was deployed five times to Iraq and receives treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
read more here

University of North Texas Veteran Kicked Off Campus After Service Dog's Bad Behavior?

Veteran's service dog kicked off UNT campus because it was 'direct threat'
Dallas Morning News
Claire Z. Cardona

A veteran and student at the University of North Texas is worried about whether he will be able to continue his education there after his service dog was kicked off campus, KTVT-TV (Channel 11) reported.

Tawan Throngkumpola, who served in the Navy for 12 years and survived three IED blasts and three traumatic brain injuries, is pursuing a psychology degree at UNT, the station reported.

His service dog stays by his side, reminding him to take his anti-seizure medication and keeping him calm.

Recently, Throngkumpola told KTVT the university sent a letter saying his service dog is no longer welcome on campus or in his dorm because she is "a direct threat to the campus community."

The university cited several complaints including that the dog barked, lunged at students and staff and bit the Office of Disability Accommodation director on his hand and heels. Two professors also said the dog startled students and disrupted classes.
read more here

Brig. Gen. Donald C. Bolduc Opens Up About His Own Battle With PTSD

A General’s New Mission: Leading a Charge Against PTSD
New York Times
The Saturday Profile
By DIONNE SEARCEY
OCT. 7, 2016

“The powerful thing is that I can use myself as an example. And thank goodness not everybody can do that. But I’m able to do it, so that has some sort of different type of credibility to it.”
Brig. Gen. Donald C. Bolduc

Brig. Gen. Donald C. Bolduc, commander of American Special

Operations Forces in Africa, tells soldiers that it is all

right to get help for brain injuries and mental health problems.

Credit Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

STUTTGART, Germany — It might have been the 2,000-pound bomb that dropped near him in Afghanistan, killing several comrades. Or maybe it was the helicopter crash he managed to survive. It could have been the battlefield explosions that detonated all around him over eight combat tours.

Whatever the cause, the symptoms were clear. Brig. Gen. Donald C. Bolduc suffered frequent headaches. He was moody. He could not sleep. He was out of sorts; even his balance was off. He realized it every time he walked down the street holding hands with his wife, Sharon, leaning into her just a little too close.

Despite all the signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, it took 12 years from his first battlefield trauma for him to seek care. After all, he thought, he was a Green Beret in the Army’s Special Forces. He needed to be tough.

General Bolduc learned that not only did he suffer from PTSD, but he also had a bullet-size spot on his brain, an injury probably dating to his helicopter crash in Afghanistan in 2005.

Other high-ranking officers have come forward to talk about their struggles with post-combat stress and brain injuries. And in recent years, Special Operations commanders have become more open about urging their soldiers to get treatment.
read more here

He is not alone in talking about having PTSD. Other Generals came out as well so that they could actually care for the men and women they commanded.

Brig. General Gary S. Patton and Gen. Carter Ham have both sought counseling for the emotional trauma of their time in the Iraq war.

FUBAR Researchers Want to Link PTSD and TBI Together Still?

Well there was some common sense on TBI and PTSD back in 2008 and it came out of Canada.

"There's potential to say the brain damage caused by a concussion alters brain chemistry and increases your risk of developing PTSD, but just seeing a blast like that is enough to make someone depressed, and those feelings can cause further anxiety disorders." Dr. Greg Passey, a Vancouver-based PTSD expert and military veteran, said brain trauma coupled with exposure to battle events could easily lead to PTSD.

And in 2013 there was $760 million spent to research it.

As part of its collaborative effort, the Army is participating in a $60 million research study for TBI, sponsored by the National Football League, General Electric and athletic apparel manufacturer Under Armour, he said. Also, $700 million has been allocated toward both PTSD and TBI as the result of a White House executive order for a renewed effort in collaboration with the Veterans Affairs Department and other organizations.

So why all this BS as if any of this is new?

War Studies Suggest A Concussion Leaves The Brain Vulnerable To PTSD

Studies of troops who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have found that service members who have suffered a concussion or mild traumatic brain injury are far more likely to develop PTSD, a condition that can cause flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety for years after a traumatic event.

This part really gets me. Do they really think that the troops and veterans are like animals?

And research on both people and animals suggests the reason is that a brain injury can disrupt circuits that normally dampen the response to a frightening event. The result is like "driving a car and the brake's not fully functioning," says Mingxiong Huang, a biomedical physicist at the University of California, San Diego.

Tennessee Family Struggles to Bring Son's Body Home After Suicide

Tennessee family raising money to fly deceased veteran’s body from Springfield to Memphis
The Register-Guard
By Elon Glucklich
SEPT. 22, 2016

SPRINGFIELD — A mother in Tennessee hopes the public can help raise money to fly her military veteran son’s body home, after he committed suicide in Springfield last weekend.

Taylor Lee Odom

Pfc. Taylor Lee Odom, 23, hanged himself Saturday, his mother, Jenniffer Palazola-Herrin, said. After being injured during training in the U.S. Army, he was medically retired from the military in July 2015. He moved to Springfield five months ago to study automotive technology at Lane Community College under the GI Bill.

Odom had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder for four years, Palazola-Herrin said, stemming from a traumatic brain injury he received in a training accident at Fort Carson in Colorado.

In the 2012 accident, Odom was thrown from a Humvee and partly crushed as it rolled on him, local news reports said at the time.

Even as he slowly recovered, Odom suffered from symptoms related to his PTSD, Palazola-Herrin said, speaking from her home in Memphis.

He attempted suicide before, she said, and care was subpar at the Memphis-area Veterans Affairs hospitals where they sought help.
read more here

Army Kicked Out 73 Soldiers Without Checking For PTSD or TBI

Army: 73 soldiers may have been improperly sent home with TBI, PTSD
Federal News Radio
Jared Serbu
September 19, 2016

Of those 394, an internal audit identified 73 cases where there was no evidence that commanders even considered whether PTSD or TBI was a factor in the underlying offense that prompted their discharge.

The Army is reexamining the cases of at least 73 soldiers who it kicked out under other-than-honorable circumstances between 2009 and 2015 because it may have run afoul of a federal law intended to help ensure troops aren’t punished for mental health issues that were actually caused by their military service.

At issue is a provision in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that requires all the military branches to consider whether service-connected behavioral health might have played a role in whatever misconduct officials are using as their reasoning for separating a military member.

Any service member who’s served in a combat zone in the previous two years and who’s also been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury is supposed to receive additional scrutiny before commanders discharge him or her for a law or rule violation — particularly since a less-than-honorable discharge makes them ineligible for mental health treatment or any other veterans benefits.

Eric Fanning, the secretary of the Army, formally notified Congress in an Aug. 25 letter that the service had identified a total of 394 soldiers who had PTSD or TBI diagnoses in their medical records, were sent home with less-than-honorable discharges and had deployed to serve in contingency operations sometime in the 24 months before they were kicked out. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the letter late last week.
read more here

Disabled Air Force Veteran is Ultimate Champion

Air Force Competitor Earns ‘Ultimate Champion’ Title at Warrior Games
DoD News
By Shannon Collins Defense Media Activity
June 21, 2016

WEST POINT, N.Y., June 21, 2016 — Medically retired Air Force Master Sgt. Reese Hines earned the “Ultimate Champion” title and bragging rights at the 2016 Department of Defense Warrior Games at the U.S. Military Academy here.

2016 Department of Defense Warrior Games Shooting Competition
Air Force veteran Master Sgt. D. Reese Hines poses for a photo with a competition air rifle at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., June 19, 2016. Hines was named the event’s Ultimate Champion after winning a series of events. DoD photo by EJ Hersom

From June 15 until today, about 250 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans representing teams from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, U.S. Special Operations Command and United Kingdom armed forces competed in shooting, archery, cycling, track and field, swimming, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball.

He suffered damage to both eyes, and his right eye was surgically removed. His right hand was almost severed and was put back together, he said, though he lost his right index finger. His right wrist was fused, and some of his knuckles were fused to the right hand and thumb. He had a brain bleed, a traumatic brain injury, a bolt in his skull, a broken jaw, ruptured eardrums, soft-tissue damage to both arms, nerve damage to his leg and post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s gone through 30 to 40 surgeries.

Burnett was injured in July 2009 in Basra, Iraq, while serving as a computer networks operations technician. She served in the military 14 years. A rocket came in about 10 feet from where she was standing. Three of her fellow service members were killed, and two others were injured. She was knocked unconscious and suffered a TBI and PTSD from the incident.
read more here

Navy Safe Harbor Helps Wounded Heal

Shift Focus: Wounded Warrior Finds Healing in Competition
DVIDS
WEST POINT, NY, UNITED STATES
Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Gordon
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Two Five (NMCB-25)
06.18.2016

The Navy Wounded Warrior (NWW)– Safe Harbor program coordinates the non-medical care of seriously wounded, ill, and injured Sailors and Coast Guardsmen, and provides help resources and support to their families and caregivers. Part of their support is through the adaptive sports program.

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Gordon | WEST POINT, N.Y.

(June 17, 2016) -- Navy veteran Joseph Derbak, a retired Hospital

“I was about 20 feet away from a 7-ton when it hit an IED, and kicked me down off this little hill we were on,” said Derbak.

Derbak suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) from the explosion, but wouldn’t let it stop him. Refusing to abandon his team, he continued on, enduring further injury the next day.

“I had a grenade come right over my shoulder and hit a Marine right in front of me and cooked off all of his ammo,” he continued. “It ended up injuring six others on top of it.”

Despite his injuries, Derbak would not – could not – leave his Marines.

“They didn’t have anybody to relieve me out there for me to medevac myself back, so it was kind of a choice I had to make whether to abandon my Marines or stay out there to help them,” Derbak explained. “So, kind of flip a coin and see what happens.”

Derbak’s efforts resulted in saved lives and a decoration for valor, but the effects of the deployment took their toll after his return. He began to lose feeling in both legs as a result of the TBI and was showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While getting treatment for his injuries, a chance encounter would change his life dramatically and provide a new goal for the driven Sailor.

“When I got back I was having some serious problems. One of my buddies working at a clinic was part of Safe Harbor said to me, ‘I know you had a combat injury, let me put you in contact with this person,’ so I went to that person and they in turn registered me for Safe Harbor,” said Derbak.
read more here

Navy Changing Bad Paper Discharges Policy For PTSD and TBI

Why the Navy is making a major change in its approach to PTSD
PBS News Hour
June 16, 2016

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to a major change being made by the U.S. Navy that will affect servicemen suffering from one of the unseen wounds of war.

John Yang has that.

JOHN YANG: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have killed thousands of American servicemen and maimed and injured tens of thousands more, but some wounds are not as easily seen or identified.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD afflicts as much as one-fifth of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in any given year. Compounding the affliction, personnel who were kicked out of the military because of erratic behavior caused by PTSD, by traumatic brain injury, called TBI, or by other mental health conditions often lose their benefits, including access to veterans health care.

But that will now change for at least one of the services, navy personnel, sailors and Marines, under a new policy enacted by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

RAY MABUS: The policy that we had been operating under was, if somebody committed misconduct, the erratic behavior you were talking about, that took preference over everything else in terms of a discharge.

And so people would get discharged with bad paper, with discharges that didn’t give them any benefits when they left. What we have done with policy that I have just signed was to say, if you’re being administratively discharged for some misconduct, we’re going to take a look to see if you have got a diagnosable condition, to see if you have got PTSD, to see if you have got traumatic brain injury, and then that will factor in, so that you may still be discharged, but you will be discharged with benefits, with help that we’re going to recognize the reason for this erratic behavior and give you help after you leave the military.

And it’s not just for combat injuries, combat wounds. It’s also for things like sexual assault that is often followed by PTSD.
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24,000 TBI Veterans Tested by Unqualified Workers

VA admits unqualified personnel administered brain injury exam to thousands of veterans
WPXI News
Jun 7, 2016

PITTSBURGH
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has admitted that 24,000 veterans nationwide, including 100 in the Pittsburgh area, were examined by personnel who were unqualified to administer the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) exam.

“It’s always detrimental if somebody is misdiagnosed with something,” said Dr. Edward Kendjelic, a neuropsychologist with the VA Pittsburgh health care system.

Kendjelic told Channel 11 News that a mild traumatic brain injury will likely go away over time, but said a severe traumatic brain injury can lead to more serious effects with symptoms similar to those of post-traumatic stress disorder.

“For vets returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, traumatic brain injuries or concussions are one of the more common injuries,” he said.

According to VA policy, only four types of designated medical specialists are allowed to diagnose veterans, but that didn’t always happen.

The VA announced plans to offer new TBI exams and to reopen benefits claims for veterans affected.
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Other Than Honorable Discharges to Be Reviewed for PTSD and TBI

They know it happened, as with all other wars. What we do not know is who has been held accountable for service members suffering after they were kicked out instead of being helped?

PTSD to be factor in benefits decisions for sailors, Marines kicked out of military
The Virginian-Pilot
By Brock Vergakis
Jun 1, 2016

Under Mabus’ order, sailors and Marines who suffer from PTSD, TBI or any other mental condition who did not receive an honorable discharge may have that decision reviewed.

Sailors and Marines who are kicked out of the military for misconduct now may be eligible for disability benefits if they’ve been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury or any other mental health condition that contributed to their behavior, under an order signed Wednesday by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

The order is the first of its type in the military and serves as another acknowledgment that many service members return home from combat with invisible psychological wounds that affect their daily lives.

“For more than a decade, we’ve asked a tremendous amount of our people and their families,” Mabus said in a statement. “In turn, we have a responsibility to support their needs, whether they are serving the Navy and Marine Corps mission around the globe or transitioning from uniformed service to civilian life.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how many people the order might affect.

About 11 to 20 percent of veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan suffer PTSD in a given year, according to statistics from the National Center for PTSD.

“Keeping faith with veterans under all circumstances is our solemn vow,” Mabus said. “It is vitally important to address those service members whose separation is a result of PTSD/TBI.”
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