Veterans Day: Until you come and sit awhile with me

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 11, 2023

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary

When troubles come and my heart burdened be

Then, I am still and wait here in the silence

Until you come and sit awhile with me

Today is Veterans Day, well officially anyway. The thing is, we tend to forget that for them they are veterans every day of the year. They leave the service to our country after fighting her battles but their service never leaves them. They pay for it with their bodies, minds, and spirits. 

My husband is one of them. As his caregiver, I've seen what he goes through for over 40 years. When we were young it was hard, but we got through all of it together. We never imagined as we grew older, it would get harder, but it did.

I usually post on Veterans Day about them and families like mine. Today, while it is not so popular to do so, I want to post about those serving our veterans because they made the choice to focus on them.

We feel blessed to have had Department of Veterans Affairs employees helping us because we couldn't have made it without them. Yes, there are problems and horror stories within the VA system. For six years we experienced that first hand when his claim was tied up. That wasn't ten years ago, but over 20 years ago when before social media and when reporters didn't care enough to report what was going on. We were never alone in fighting for what he needed from them. He had great doctors who listened to him and when he couldn't fight for himself, they listened to me. They did all they could. No matter what state we lived in, we were not alone.

We are going through one of the worst times we've seen with an undiagnosed medical condition. It has been fighting for both of us. He requires my care 24-7 when he isn't in the hospital. That's why I haven't been posting much or even working on the next book. I can't do book signings or interviews to publicize the first three because I cannot leave him alone. At least that's why I tell myself but the truth is, I am drained physically, mentally, and emotionally. So is he. Even if I could find the time to focus on what I want to do for myself, I wouldn't be able to do it.

What I can't imagine is doing any of this without the VA Doctors, nurses, and other employees helping us. We feel blessed to know they are moving mountains out of our way and going above and beyond what their jobs are. Why do they do it? Because they have dedicated their lives to people like us.

I am a VA caregiver and found support, and understanding and have someone standing by my side so I can stand by his.

So on this Veterans Day, thank all veterans and families but also thank those who stand by our side every day of the year! You raise us up and give us the hope, support, and understanding we need "when troubles come and our hearts burdened be."

Who knows PTSD better than veterans?

Wounded Times

Kathie Costos

November 11, 2021

The Lost Son is live today and I couldn't think of a better day to do this, because it is Veterans Day!

Who knows PTSD better than veterans? Three veterans saved the main character's life. He was just a reporter, doing his job covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. His best friend Bill Gibson. joined the Army right out of high school while Chris Papadopoulos went to college to study journalism. 

After September 11, 2001, he did everything possible to be assigned to where Bill was deployed. Bill's buddy, David Mac Donald was side by side with Bill during every deployment too. The other veteran who knew what PTSD did, was a Vietnam veteran. The three of them, along with others joined forces to not just save Chris, but went on to change the way people look at PTSD. no matte what the caused it.

Seven years after a bomb blast in Afghanistan nearly ended Chris's life, he was still wishing it had finished the job instead of beginning an endless cycle of suffering. First came the scars on his body Then came the scars in his soul. His marriage to Bill's sister ended when she started to abuse him, and then tried to kill him. His career ended because he was getting more and more miserable because he wasn't able to do his job anymore. He drank more and ended up moving back to Salem Massachusetts from LA, no longer reporting for a major news paper, he was reduced to writing greeting cards.

The only friend he thought he had left was his bartender, Ed Hamilton.

On September 13, 2019, seven years after the blast, he was fighting with himself and wanted to just give up. He went back to the bar to say good-by to Ed and then miracles started walking back into his life. In thirteen days, he went from wanting to end his own life, to giving hope to millions around the world by letting them know miracles not only still happen, but they happen when we least expect them to.

If you are interested in a print copy of this, I'm working on it but it took all day to get this up. It will be coming soon. It will also be followed up by Alive Again, the second part to this. I hope they give you hope and a better understanding of how your lives can change for the better.

So why are so many charities leaving them behind?

If you do a Google search on Vietnam Veteran, click news, this is on the first page of 8,280,000 results. Each one of them is about doing something for someone else.

That is the point of that generation. Vietnam veterans vowed to never leave another generation of veterans behind. So why are so many charities leaving them behind?

Vietnam veteran says he is glad soldiers are respected now

Hickory Daily Record-4 hours ago

Vietnam veteran Rom Brown served in the U.S. Army in 1969 and 1970, and like many others, he did not have much of a say. Brown, now 68 ...

Vietnam veterans help others access VA benefits
Fredericksburg.com-12 hours ago

Vietnam vets honored during Fort Polk ceremony
Military Times-Nov 9, 2018

Fredericksburg.com

Military Times

Leesville Daily Leader

View all

Vietnam veteran: I didn't go in there just to loaf and have a good time ...

Hickory Daily Record-4 hours ago

Drum served a little more than a year in Vietnam, working as a clerk at a hospital unit about 7 miles away from the Vietnamese Demilitarized ...

Vietnam veteran was a Marine and in the Army

Hickory Daily Record-4 hours ago

In January 1968, Coulter arrived in Vietnam, where he worked as a radio ... Vietnam veteran Clifton Coulter proudly stands in his front yard ...

Vietnam veteran still coping with effects of war

Dothan Eagle-12 hours ago

“But what people didn't realize back then − instead of the government sending someone to tell people that their child had died in Vietnam, they ...

Vietnam veteran Tom Williams is twice decorated, never intimidated

Greensboro News & Record-9 hours ago

The thing you have to understand, says retired federal judge Tom Williams, is how invulnerable the young person feels who enlists during ...

Vietnam War veterans' kids say Agent Orange impact 'a nightmare'

ABC News-5 hours ago

The daughter of a combat Vietnam veteran who served in 1969 until 1970 in areas that were the most heavily sprayed with Agent Orange, Kuhn ...

Vietnam veteran Lee Smith Jr. enjoys sharing the less harrowing war ...

Dothan Eagle-8 minutes ago

The first lesson Lee C. Smith Jr. learned in the Army was that panicking was the fastest way to get yourself and your peers killed during war.

Decorated Longmont Vietnam vet recovers medals lost to the flood

Longmont Times-Call-12 hours ago

A Vietnam veteran who served in the 101st Airborne from 1967 to 1969, he came home with not only a lot of keepsakes; he came home with, ...

A long time coming: Badger Honor Flight gives Vietnam vets proper ...

Gazettextra-17 hours ago

JANESVILLE. John Gorski kept his emotions in check during most of the recent Badger Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.. But when the Vietnam ...

A VETERAN'S STORY: Understanding Veterans Day
Gwinnettdailypost.com-10 hours ago

View all

A Vietnam veteran died with no family to attend his funeral. So other ...

ABC Action News-18 hours ago

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee community came together Friday to make sure an unclaimed veteran would not be forgotten.

I wanted to see the darkness turn to the light of day

Dawn of Veterans Day

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
November 11, 2108

Before dawn yesterday, I went out to Apopka to walk along the path of the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall. I wanted to see the darkness turn to the light of day.

Much like when you drive surrounded by darkness, you can light your way by turning on your headlights, you can do that with your life as well.

The darkness can feel overwhelming at times and it can be hard to see what is around you.
read more here

Apopka at the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall

Dawn at the Wall

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 10, 2018

This morning I went out to Apopka at the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall. It was an overpowering experience just before dawn.

While I have been to many of these exhibits, it was the first time I walked around looking at the names, without crowds of people.

Most of the time I had to take a deep breath, unable to talk, no matter how many times I turned the video camera on.

No one can read the names and then forget how much that Wall means to all veterans. Sure, those are just the names of servicemembers who sacrificed their lives in Vietnam, but the Wall itself offers a message to all generations that they mattered too.

Veteran Day is the one day of the year when we are supposed to let them know they do matter. We just need to make sure that they matter the other 364 days a year, just as much.

Make sure to check PTSD Patrol tomorrow for the other video.

UPDATE
This is a video of the Wall going up from News 13

Reporter gave FUBAR veteran suicide report!

UPDATE
And what happened after this report? More carried the story without correction!

17 veterans per day commit suicide

PostBulletin.com-Nov 12, 2018

A frequently quoted 2012 VA report found that 22 veterans committed suicide per day, but that figure included active-duty troops,

Each day 17 veterans commit suicide. New campaign featuring ...

Herald & Review-Nov 10, 2018

A frequently quoted 2012 VA report found that 22 veterans committed suicide per day, but that figure included active-duty troops,

If you read the "story" by Nara Schoenberg of the Chicago Tribune, about "17 veterans committing suicide per day" demand accountability from her! 
This is what she reported.

"In 2016, the age- and gender-adjusted suicide rate for veterans was 26 per 100,000 — 1.5 times higher than the rate for nonveterans, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). A frequently quoted 2012 VA report found that 22 veterans committed suicide per day, but that figure included active-duty troops, Stars and Stripes reported in June. Stars and Stripes broke down more recent VA numbers, reporting there are 21 military suicides a day, including 17 by veterans and four by active-duty service members, Guardsmen and reservists."

Either she is misinformed or the VA and the DOD are! 

This is from the DOD, and if you add them up, it is an average of 500 a year, which is not even 2 per day.

Where did she get 4? Where did she get the numbers from at all?

Easy, from an article that was not only corrected, it was explained, and oh, BTW, it was on Military Times.

"Franklin said to VA researchers, the data shows that the rate of suicides among former service members has remained steady at around 20 a day, and the rate among currently serving troops sits just above one person a day."

This is the link to the last DOD Suicide report for up to June of 2018. They put it out for every quarter, as they have done going back to 2012. Do you think she should have at least did a basic search to find it?

These are the links to the VA reports and the chart from the latest one they did.

We will never change the deadly outcome as long as reporters DO NOT DO THEIR JOBS AND TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY~ instead of being FUBAR!