When does Wounded Times earn support from the veterans community?

When does Wounded Times Earn Your Support?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 21, 2014

When does Wounded Times earn support from the veterans community? That is a question I struggle with daily. Has 7 years been long enough? Has over 22,0000 posts been enough? With over 15,000,0000 views on my profile, over 1.7 million pages views on the site, sure, Wounded Times is clearly getting attention but I wonder what kind of attention. Is it good or bad?

When I was attending events, most the complaints I heard from veterans was that the media didn't care about them anymore. So I decided to do something about it. Researching reports on PTSD I was frustrated with the fact I had to search for hours to discover what was happening in towns and cities veterans called home. The national news dropped covering your news so long ago I can't even remember when they actually decided veterans no longer mattered. When they decided to dedicate a couple of minutes to a hero receiving the Medal of Honor at the end of the broadcast right behind a story of a celebrity getting airtime between commercial breaks. (That really ticks me off)

In 2003 I self-published by first book FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR MY BATTLE and re-released it in 2012. Why? Because when I wrote it, no one was telling our story. The secrets we kept from the public because most veteran families thought PTSD was something to be ashamed of. Top that off when we dared to talk to members of the press about what had become America's secret war after war, they didn't want to hear any of it. They told families like mine it was all old news.

They didn't care when they had a chance to fix what was wrong in the 80's for Vietnam veterans, or the 90's for them plus Gulf War veterans. Yes, they had the chance to make a difference as we were dealing with VA long waits to see doctors for treatment as many died before they could be seen, having claims in a pile of other backlog claims, being sent home from the hospital trying to be admitted to the rehab because there were not enough beds and above all, dealing with PTSD with no support from anyone.

People think all of the problem Afghanistan and Iraq veterans have today are new. I supposed it helped them sleep better at night to think they were actually paying attention so they could wash their hands of what they did not do decades ago.

In 1982 I went from being a veteran's daughter and niece of WWII veterans to advocate for Vietnam veterans. That's how long I've been researching PTSD caused by combat after I fell in love with one of them.

In 2006 more research on how veterans learn caused me to create videos so they could learn the easy way.

The first one was Wounded Minds telling their story and ours. It was up on YouTube for a long time until they started blocking music. It was followed by years of more videos.


Years ago it was one site after another but 7 years ago a Marine serving in Iraq actually caused me to rethink what I was doing. I fell into the political trap so many others seemed more involved with than the original mission they had. After responding to his complaint, which I am still ashamed of, defending my right to post what I wanted, he asked me a simple question. "Are you doing this for yourself or us?"

When I stopped crying, realizing he was right, after my eyes cleared up enough to see the computer screen, I sent him an email with a promise. That I would start this site to stay focused on all veterans and servicemembers without being political. I kept my promise.

They only time I get political is when a politician does something positive for you or against you. Really tough holding back because most days I want to explode on some kind of rant. I usually type it to get it off my chest then delete it so I can get back to the story.

By 2010, after two years of training on Crisis Intervention, I decided to go back to college for Digital Media so that I could make better videos and film the events the media didn't think was worthy of air time when they bothered to show up at all.

These are the videos on YouTube for veterans events

One of them was for Orlando Chief Petty Officers.
7 new Navy Chief Petty Officers were pinned today in Orlando at the Reserve Center with a couple of really funny moments.

Last night my husband and I were at the VFW for dinner when I found out there was a Chief's party going on in the hall. I went out to tell an officer I met early about the video and then met the Chief standing near the podium in the video. I actually had a chance to tell him about the video being seen thousands of time and gave him a hug. (Actually the thousands of times is more than 10,000 but who is counting? ha ha)

Last year it was THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR about military suicides, why they happen, why what has been done failed and what we can do about them. I wrote it after families asked me to. They were torn apart learning to late why they had to bury someone they loved and lost to suicide. Few people understand they blame themselves for something they had no control over. I know that feeling as well because we lost my husband's nephew over a decade ago to suicide. He was another Vietnam veteran, uncounted even by today's press as the majority of the suicides.

Sometimes being ahead of the crowd can leave someone behind and that is exactly how I feel when some yahoo steps out of the covers, gets some attention from the press then suddenly becomes an expert on what was happening before they were even born. Instead of giving real answers, they give slogans. Instead of actually helping a veteran, they pass them off with a fix all answer like "I'm prayin' for you" when what they are really saying is, give me your money because I am preying on you.

It isn't my job to watch them or out them. I leave all that up to you. It is only my job to make sure you understand some very simple facts starting with the one that hurts the most. When you don't feel as if you matter at all. This site and the hours I put in are here for you, so you do matter. Trust me, if you didn't, I'd be doing what everyone else is doing in their free time. I have no clue what most of my coworkers are talking about when they watch some kind of apparently popular TV show.

Coworkers? Yes, I have to work for a living because everything I do is free to veterans and their families. I couldn't even break even with donations or ads from Google and lose a few thousand a year out of my own pocket. But the way I look at it, how much does it cost me to do what I am doing right now? Electricity, phone, internet, gas and tolls, the price for attending events and camera equipment aren't really that expensive. Ok, there is the tiny matter of paying back student loans, but I didn't have to do that. I wanted to.

If you read Wounded Times can you take a minute and let me know why? Can you tell me the types of things that matter to you the most? Let me know if you let other people know this site is there for them or why you don't pass it on. I have no clue why there are so many people reading this or what you think.

That is how you can support what I do. Tell me! Share with me the way I share with you. What does this mean to you?

Wounded Times Thanks You For Reading

Wonderful thing to wake up this morning. Sometime last night Wounded Times broke a million and a half views! Thank you for reading and thank you for caring about our veterans.

Wounded Times T-shirt

The first 30 orders will be entered into a drawing for signed copies of both of my books.

The Warrior Saw, Suicides After War by Kathie Costos (Apr 15, 2013)

For the Love of Jack His War/My Battle: Finding Peace With Combat PTSD by Kathie Costos (Nov 25, 2012)

Hero After War from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

If this video touches you, the books will too.

If you read Wounded Times then you know what part of work is but there is another part to it. Helping veterans and their families heal Combat PTSD. I still believe they need to change the term to CPTC for Combat Post Traumatic Change. Combat changed them but that does not mean they have to remain in that state of change. They can heal and live a better quality of life. That has been my ministry and my passion since 1982.

It is also one of the biggest reasons I joined the number one group focused on healing the spiritual/soul of the veteran. Point Man International Ministries has been doing this work for 30 years. The donations I receive take care of that work as well as the time I spend making sure veterans are not forgotten and discover exactly how much they do matter across this nation.

What they did for love money goes to support POINTMAN INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES
Pointman of Winter Park
IRS #90-0749457

Please help me help them understand that they served because they loved and were willing to die for the sake of someone else.

Help them remember what they did for love

When Jesus said "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:12-13) and it should be added that level of love also comes when a man or woman is willing to lay down their lives.

Please contact the organizer with any questions.

All funds raised will go directly to Point Man International Ministries.

Color option is your choice

More about this campaign

We understand what that kind of unselfish love means. It comes with a heavy price to pay because they care so much for others. The problem is when they forget why they wanted to join the military in the first place.
Courage without compassion means little but joined together they become a force for the greater good. Being able to put the lives of others ahead of their own requires a deeper level of love and that is why they grieve so much. They feel it more. Let them know you understand why they did what they had to do. They did it for love.

Stop trying to put free ads up on Wounded Times

If you want to leave a comment on posts for Wounded Times, there is a message right above where you type it in.

"Leave your comment

If you want to be taken seriously, please do not use anonymous.

No Spam Allowed! Do not leave a comment that is nothing more than an ad for yourself. It will be removed."

That does not stop people from doing it. I am tired of spending time deleting attempted free ads. I make a couple of hundred a year from ads up on this site. That's all and that is if I am lucky and really frustrated by people thinking they are so important that they can just stick up whatever they want. (Yes, I meant to say it that way.)

I just put an ad into the spam section. Fuming it dawned on me that it has done little good to do this since they keep trying. Now is the time to embarrass them.

That selfish ad was attempted to be put up on a post about an unselfish Marine's actions.

Marine Veteran Still Giving Back to Community after Devastating Burglary
FOX 40 News
by Sonseeahray Tonsall
Reporter
October 31, 2013

She fundraises to help poor children in Ceres have laptops for school and caters appreciation luncheons for city employees. But now the lady known as “Millie-Mom” needs help recovering from the second major theft she’s suffered in three years.

“I’m prepping my stuff now so that I’ll have it all done,” said Millie Fisher as she buzzed around her kitchen Thursday night.

Fisher’s planning to be up until 1 a.m. working on dozens of tamales she intends to give away as presents.

As per usual, this Ceres community advocate is focused on how to brighten someone else’s day and trying not to think about who recently tried to wreck hers.

Did something like the attempted ad belong on a post like this? Hell no!

Here is fair warning yet again, ads for your site will go into spam but from now on, try it and I just may put it up here for everyone to know how unprofessional and selfish your company is!

UPDATE
ADD THIS TO THE ABOVE. THIS JUST CAME IN

Alan Abraham has left a new comment on your post "Death of 21 year old soldier in Afghanistan under ...":

Find more information about Acne Scar Treatment delhi

Look at the title of the post and then know this person didn't care at all.

Wounded Times T-Shirts are ready to order

Join the fight to save veterans from suicide

Point Man has been saving veterans since 1984 and healing their broken souls so they can live better lives. Changed by combat, they learn how to change again and know they are loved.

More about this campaign
Since 1984, when Seattle Police Officer and Vietnam Veteran Bill Landreth noticed he was arresting the same people each night, he discovered most were Vietnam vets like himself that just never seemed to have quite made it home. He began to meet with them in coffee shops and on a regular basis for fellowship and prayer. Soon, Point Man Ministries was conceived and became a staple of the Seattle area. Bills untimely death soon after put the future of Point Man in jeopardy.

However, Chuck Dean, publisher of a Veterans self help newspaper, Reveille, had a vision for the ministry and developed it into a system of small groups across the USA for the purpose of mutual support and fellowship. These groups are known as Outposts. Worldwide there are hundreds of Outposts and Homefront groups serving the families of veterans.

PMIM is run by veterans from all conflicts, nationalities and backgrounds. Although, the primary focus of Point Man has always been to offer spiritual healing from PTSD, Point Man today is involved in group meetings, publishing, hospital visits, conferences, supplying speakers for churches and veteran groups, welcome home projects and community support. Just about any where there are Vets there is a Point Man presence. All services offered by Point Man are free of charge.

There is the story of Point Man. There is the picture I created from some of the events I covered. Here is the design for the T-shirt.

Please show your support. There are only 10 days left

Wounded Times New Site For Old Mission

Wounded Times New Site For Old Mission
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 8, 2014

Wounded Times Net went live yesterday. It is a new site but the work is a 30 year compilation driven by my life. I remember what it was like the day my Dad met my husband. "He's a nice guy but he has shell shock." Coming from a disabled Korean veteran, that meant something to me. I grew up surrounded by veterans. My uncles were all WWII veterans on top of my Dad's service.

Wounded Times blog began in August of 2007 after receiving an email from a Marine in Iraq. He wrote to tell me that he loved reading my "stuff" but didn't want to have to read the political BS on my old site. Not thinking about him or where he was or what he was doing, I responded back defending my right to report the truth. Not long afterwards he sent me back one question. "Are you doing this for us or yourself?"

I balled my eyes out. He was right. I fell into the same political trap I had always complained about. Leave it to a Marine to set someone straight as simply as possible. After my pity party, my eyes cleared up enough to respond to him. I made him a promise. From that moment on I would start a new site where if he ever read anything political, it would be because a politician did something to them or for them. The rest of the time it would be news reports and more about Combat PTSD than anything else.

I never heard from him again after that but I have a feeling he knows he is responsible for what I have done on Wounded Times. This isn't about me. It is always about them.

Everything I have done for the last 30+ years has been because I fell in love with a Vietnam Veteran and saw what the pain of Combat PTSD does to a veteran as well as their families. Back in the 80's it was nearly impossible to learn about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder without the internet. I had to go to the library and read clinical books. Most of the time that was done with a dictionary as well because I couldn't understand most of the words I was reading. (You know how psychiatrists have their own language.) I was just an average person getting a good job right out of high school. I went to a vocational high school for business. What did I know about psychology? Nothing!

It was one year out of my husband's life. Just a year but that year was in Phu Bia near the DMZ when he was just 18. He turned 19 while deployed. I looked back at my own life while reading about trauma and what it does. I had a lifetime of trauma including the years when my Dad was a violent alcoholic. I almost died when I was 4 years old after an accident at a drive-in movie so I understood what terror was as well. I was on top of a very high slide without my brothers. I was so terrified being up that high alone that my hands grabbed the rails so hard that the impatient kid behind me shoved me hard to get me out of the way and sent me over the edge. I had TBI before anyone knew what it was.

I knew what it was like to be attacked because my ex-husband tried to kill me. The list goes on but while I understood what he went through and how it could have changed him more, I couldn't figure out why none of what I faced over a lifetime didn't really changed me.

The answer became clear. My family talked everything to death. I talked, they listened and most of the time they gave bad advice, but I knew I was safe and they loved me no matter what. The other factor, which is a huge one, is my faith in God and how I think of Christ knowing He loves me no matter what.

Veterans needed someone safe to talk to as much as I did growing up. They needed to know they were loved no matter what and to understand that the Bible is not filled with condemnation but the New Commandment Christ delivered before the Cross and what He did when He forgave even the hands that nailed Him to it.

The books I wrote, the videos I've made are all to make it easier to understand what it has taken over half my life to learn. Combat PTSD does not have to win. It does not have to destroy lives or breakup families. It does not have to and it won't as long as veterans receive the help they need as simply as possible.

Wounded Times is about the stories covered by news reports from across the country and many articles written to counter some of the crap that is being reported because too many reporters do not have even a basic understanding of any of this but I have an archive with almost 21,000 posts on it here.

The videos I create are on PTSD and the videos I film are on Central Florida Veterans events.

Veterans are just 7% of the population but they are so deserving of my devotion that they are the only subject that matters here along with their families. Combat PTSD does not have to win anything!

Wounded Times is expanding

New Year, new site to celebrate veterans and families
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 5, 2014


Yesterday I started a new site Civvies Report "Extraordinary stories of veterans making a difference" along with their families. Before you freak out, Wounded Times is not changing. You will still read the same coverage you trust everyday from news reports across the country, videos and commentaries.

Premium Business Cards by Vistaprint

Over the years spending so much time with veterans has been heartbreaking at times but what has continued to inspire me to do more has been experiencing their extraordinary lives. What they do in their civvies, when their military uniforms have been put away is something few others get to see.

On January 18, 2014 there will be a fundraiser event for Bo Reichenbach, Navy SEAL and double amputee at the VFW Post 4287 in Orlando sponsored by Semper Fidelis America. Two great groups joining forces to pull off a repeat of what they did last year for Green Beret SFC Josh Burnette, also a double amputee.

How did this happen? A friend Mary Ingrassia read about Josh and decided to do something. She sprang into action and spent a year planning to do something fantastic for Josh. Now she is repeating it all over again for Bo along with the VFW and Semper Fidelis America.

Here are two videos I filmed at the VFW last year for Josh.



This is a video from a fundraiser for Bo

Here is another video on Bo from Jim Kinsey


2014 is already starting off to be a fantastic year for more videos and reports of veterans making a difference.

Home from war should never be a gray area

Home from war should never be a gray area
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 26, 2013

In 1993 I was among the millions discovering the amazing ability to search news reports from all over the country when I got my first PC. (For younger folks, that was a time when there was a freaky noise connecting the PC to the internet as the connection was made thru a phone line.)

I freely admit to being a new junkie but as the years passed, I was frustrated searching for information on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I wondered why these reports were not all in one place. I did what I usually do. I complained. Then I thought about the national news reports I watched faithfully. It became clear that the producers make decisions based on what they think will get the most attention instead of what should have the most attention.

The numbers of veterans taking their own lives proves that it is a national crisis but how many reports have you seen on national news? How many families have you seen begging for someone to do something? How many reports have you seen on what works and how long it has worked for? How many reports on veterans stepping up to make sure more are saved?

Across the nation the best reporting being done on veterans issues has come from local news outlets. Heart tugging stories of suffering, inspiring stories of overcoming and people trying to make a difference, all important stories to the rest of us were ignored by the major news stations. Print was dying a slow death. It has been on life support for years but good reporting has not stopped.

If you read your local paper, tell them what you value. If they write a good story on veterans, thank them and encourage them to do more. Have an event? Make sure they know about it. Have a story to tell? Make sure you tell it. If the story is important enough they will usually do it. If they don't, then tell your story to your friends online and make sure they share it. The more attention it gets online, the more they will be inclined to jump on it and get their share of the attention. If you read a great story, send me the link in case I missed it.

Your lives should never, ever be a gray area. You deserve to know what is going on across your city, your state and the rest of the country. Otherwise, the major news stations will keep telling you what they want you to know instead of what is really going on.

Wounded Times Recorder of Veterans History

Wounded Times Recorder of Veterans History
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 2, 2013

In the last couple of months Wounded Times has been getting a new look. Considering there are now over 20,000 posts held for you to read and research, the old look needed to be replaced. It has become a recorder of our history.

Stories from across the country are not simply forgotten about as we move from one story to another. It is too easy for some reporters to forget what happened last month when they report on what subjects of their interviews tell them.

A great example of this is what happened with the VA claim backlog. Even Jeff Miller, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee didn't seem to know what it was like years ago. Wounded Times did.

In 2009 the backlog hit 915,000.

Bill: Have VA pay old claims automatically
Marine Corps Times
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 30, 2009

A North Carolina lawmaker proposes tackling the backlog of veterans’ disability claims by awarding benefits to veterans after 18 months if their claim hasn’t been processed.

Veterans Affairs Department officials have told Congress they are, on average, processing disability compensation claims within 162 days and have a goal of cutting the average to 120 days. But Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., is one of many lawmakers who think there is a limit to how patient veterans could be in waiting for money they are due.

“Backlogs are at the point where veterans must wait an average of six months for a decision on benefits claims and some veterans are waiting as long as four years,” Butterfield said in a statement. “Veterans deserve better than this.”

Butterfield introduced a bill on Friday, HR 3087, that would automatically approve a veteran’s claim if no decision is made by the VA within 18 months. The bill doesn’t say exactly how the VA would do this, but creates a task force to monitor VA to make sure the 18-month deadline isn’t met with an arbitrary denial just before the claim must be paid.

The bill comes as the number of unprocessed veterans claims exceeds 915,000 — a 100,000 jump since the beginning of the year. In testimony two weeks ago before a House committee, VA officials said the current 162 days is 17 days less than one year ago, a sign that they are beginning to make process.

Jeff Miller is from Florida

Florida veterans among the longest wait for VA claims

Memorial Day weekend brought news that VA Backlog in Florida had veterans waiting 433 days.

By the end of June there was a report out of the Tampa Tribune with this piece of news released in a report saying that the VA had decided 2,100 claims for Florida veterans.

The St. Petersburg VA Regional Office will now join in VA efforts to complete the disability claims of veterans who have been waiting more than one year for a decision, while completing the final batch of oldest claims in progress, according to the release.

The office has been the subject of complaints by veterans, some of whom have waited more than 560 days for a decision.

There was a backlog in 2007, 2008 and 2009 but there were also huge backlogs long before the media decided it was important enough to cover. Unless the VA is fixed for real they will keep seeing more suffering while waiting. 

It was not until June of 2013 that the Congress decided to give the VA the funds to hire new claims processors.

U.S. House Votes to Pay For More Veterans’ Claims Processors
Bloomberg News
By Timothy R. Homan
Jun 4, 2013

The U.S. House voted to give the Veterans Affairs Department, which was exempted from this year’s budget cuts and furloughs, the money to hire more staff in fiscal 2014.

The spending bill, which advanced on a vote of 421-4, would allow the department to hire 94 new employees to help handle a backlog of disability claims that has drawn the ire of lawmakers. The department has 56 regional benefits offices serving more than 20 million veterans.

“I will not accept any further excuses; the VA must make progress,” Representative Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the panel that wrote the appropriations bill, said today.

Average wait times for first-time disability claims range between 316 days and 327 days, according to a May 28 bipartisan letter signed by 165 House lawmakers.

The legislation was the first of its 12 annual spending bills to reach the House floor. It would increase resources for military veterans and reduce funding for Pentagon construction projects.

The bill’s $157.8 billion total is almost $13 billion more than current funding levels.

The Veterans Affairs Department would be given 3.5 percent more in fiscal 2014, in part to help reduce its backlog of disability claims, while funding for Defense Department construction spending would decline by about 7 percent.

“Clearly this is an austere budget year, to put it mildly,” Kentucky Republican Hal Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said today. “Virtually all areas of the government will face cuts.”

Nothing will get fixed for the sake of our veterans unless we know what is going on as well as what went on before. History matters so they cannot get away with just saying what they want, when they want.

It is the same way with everything else going on. PTSD isn't new. Military Suicides are not new. That is the most depressing thing of all. Politicians and military leaders seem to think they can just pretend they are just learning of all of this but the truth is held here.

When I stopped crying, Wounded Times was born

When I stopped crying, Wounded Times was born
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 28, 2013

There are things that get to me and lately, it has been reading the achieves of my older blog. I wrote it during a time when I was stupid and got political, which am not proud of. Considering the men and women in the military are willing to die for each other, it seems a bit ridiculous that politics have gotten to the point where civilians can't even appear to care about the other side. I was like that until a Marine set me straight again and that is how Wounded Times came to be. He was in Iraq, risking his life and wrote to me to complain about my political posts. I got up on my high horse and slammed him defending my right to write whatever I wanted. Yep, I was that much of a jerk. Anyway after a long email ranting and raving about my rights, he responded with one question, "Are you doing this for us or yourself?"

When I stopped crying, Wounded Times was born.

That's the point too many make all the time. We miss the fact that if we are supposed to be doing things for them we need to remember that all the time. We also need to remember what happened or things will just keep getting worse for them.

Sometimes I forget how bad it has been for them because of how bad things are now. Even researching The Warrior SAW Suicides After War, things fade from my memory. I turn back when I have time and look at some of the over 8,000 posts there and the almost 20,000 posts here. Newspaper achieves can vanish but mine are always here year by year. Stuff bothers me!

Things like US Marines went hungry

"There are a lot of stories like that. We don't hear them much. They're kind of personal.So Nick Andoscia went to Iraq. And hunger soon followed."I got a letter," says Karen. "And he had called me before that. He said, 'Send lots of tuna.' "Nick told his mother that he and the men in his unit were all about 10 pounds lighter in their first few weeks in Iraq. They were pulling 22-hour patrol shifts. They were getting two meals a day and they were not meals to remember."He told me the two meals just weren't cutting it. He said the Iraqi food was usually better. They were going to the Iraqis and basically saying, 'feed me.'

That report was from 2006 with two wars going on. It proved that even back then the troops didn't matter a lot to the military but the did matter to a lot of people here.

The one that really gets me the most is when I read about what is still happening to our troops when more and more kill themselves after more and more has been done by the DOD and the VA.

Despite a congressional order that the military assess the mental health of all deploying troops, fewer than 1 in 300 service members see a mental health professional before shipping out.Once at war, some unstable troops are kept on the front lines while on potent antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, with little or no counseling or medical monitoring.And some troops who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq are being sent back to the war zone, increasing the risk to their mental health.

These practices, which have received little public scrutiny and in some cases violate the military's own policies, have helped to fuel an increase in the suicide rate among troops serving in Iraq, which reached an all-time high in 2005 when 22 soldiers killed themselves - accounting for nearly one in five of all Army non-combat deaths.The Courant's investigation found that at least 11 service members who committed suicide in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite exhibiting signs of significant psychological distress. In at least seven of the cases, superiors were aware of the problems, military investigative records and interviews with families indicate.Among the troops who plunged through the gaps in the mental health system was Army Spec. Jeffrey Henthorn, a young father and third-generation soldier, whose death last year is still being mourned by his native Choctaw, Okla.What his hometown does not know is that Henthorn, 25, had been sent back to Iraq for a second tour, even though his superiors knew he was unstable and had threatened suicide at least twice, according to Army investigative reports and interviews.

That was reported Mentally Unfit, Forced To Fight By LISA CHEDEKEL And MATTHEW KAUFFMAN The Hartford Courant Published May 14, 2006 but since nothing was fixed back then, we ended up with 2012 worst year on record for suicides to the point where the number of suicides surpassed the reported numbers for the entire Vietnam war.

The worst thing is that things were not fixed back in the 70's when the Vietnam War ended and we ended up with what has been happening ever since.

If we do not revisit history to see where we have been, we will never be reminded enough to make changes that will really matter. So yet again I sit here and the tears come because I am reminded of what we knew and how long ago we knew it.

Social Media Army of friends

To my Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn friends Wounded Times needs your help. As you know I track reports about our troops and veterans across the country. Since I have been doing temp jobs to pay the bills, my time has been cutback on the site, so I am missing too many stories. All of you are scattered across the country so if you find something in your local news sources, please send me a link. I would rather read something ten times than miss an important story. Email me woundedtimes@aol.com so we can make sure they get the attention they deserve. Lord only knows why the major media groups are no longer interested in them.

American Weekend interview on President Obama's DAV Speech

I just got off the radio with American Weekend. Paul Harris seemed a bit shocked when I said that veterans had to fight the VA when they came home after fighting for us. The truth is, it isn't new. I pointed out that as far as that goes, in 2009 Veterans for Common Sense filed a law suit because VA had a claims backlog of over 900,000.

But that isn't anything new really. Veterans for Common Sense has been taking the lead on most of the issues involving our veterans, like this from January of 2009,

Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield injuries and deaths number 81,361, up from 72,043 last January, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Veterans for Common Sense (VCS). Veteran patients - including those who didn't seek care until their return home - shot up to 400,304 (from 263,909 in December 2007).

For the thousands of soldiers flooding the VA, mental illness tops the list of ailments. Forty-five percent of VA patients have already been diagnosed with mental health conditions, including a startling 105,000 diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These data do not include the incalculable number of mentally ill veterans who have not received a diagnosis or haven't sought treatment at the VA.

But this was topped off with the lawsuit filed because the VA was lying about how many veterans were committing suicide.

But things were not really fixed going back to 2007.

The VA's current backlog is 800,000 cases Earlier this year, using the clout that only major broadcast networks seem capable of mustering, CBS News contacted the governments of all 50 states requesting their official records of death by suicide going back 12 years. They heard back from 45 of the 50. From the mountains of gathered information, they sifted out the suicides of those Americans who had served in the armed forces. What they discovered is that in 2005 alone -- and remember, this is just in 45 states -- there were at least 6,256 veteran suicides, 120 every week for a year and an average of 17 every day.

The truth is no political party is getting the job done. When President Bush was in the Oval office for the last two years, the Democrats had control of the House. As we've seen by what is happening today, they didn't get it fixed all the way. While it may have cleared up some of the backlog, it all got repeated again. Is anyone paying attention to this stuff? Does Congress? Hell no!

President Obama won't hold anyone accountable and Congress won't. The military won't. The VA won't. So who really cares about the veterans?

Paul wanted to know if there was a link between the backlog of claims and suicides. The answer is yes. I've seen what claims not being honored does veterans and families. It happened to us but that was back in 1999, six years after my husband's claim was filed.

So what exactly does supporting the troops really mean?

Wounded Times Design Change

Wounded Times Design Change
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 11, 2013

Wounded Times has grown so large that it became necessary to do a design change. There is a new blog De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide that will hold only PTSD posts.

I hope it clears up some of the issues readers have been complaining about. The black background was also hard for some people to read. The blue should be easier on the eyes. At least I hope it will be. There will be a few more changes coming but more tweaking than any major changes.

I hope you like it and I'd love to know what you think.

Wounded Times Event not connected to Wounded Times?

I have absolutely nothing to do with this event and pretty angry right now.

"Wounded Times: A Conversation about PTSD" at the Clifton Park - Halfmoon Public Library May 16 Wounded Times: A Conversation about PTSD Thursday, May 16 - 7:00 - 8:30 PM Dr. Charles R. Kennedy Clifton Park - Halfmoon Library, Program Rooms A&B

Military's Suicide Scandal and Wounded Times

Military's Suicide Scandal and Wounded Times
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
May 21, 2013

I am so sick and tired of seeing all the hard work that goes into covering the stories on this site turn into a "go to" to make reporters lives easier but never getting mentioned or donated to. The worst part is, when I ask the reporters using it to return the favor, they don't. They can't even manage to kick in a buck or two for the resource they find so valuable.

Friday I was heading to a meeting in Merritt Island and as usual, I was lost. The street I was looking for was not clearly marked, so I kept passing it. My cell phone rang. It was a reporter "working on deadline" wanting to ask questions on Jim Dao's report on the New York Times because links were not working. The reporter was none other than Nancy Goldstein. I told her some basics as I tried to find the address when somehow as I was not really paying attention to where I was going, I found it. I told her that she could call me later on and we could talk since the meeting was suppose to end at 5:00. I received a text from her saying she found what she needed on Wounded Times. That was the last I heard from her. That is until now when I was reading the article she wrote.

The Military's Suicide Scandal
The American Prospect
NANCY GOLDSTEIN
MAY 20, 2013

It’s time for the top brass to stop feigning surprise and start addressing the mounting mental-health epidemic.

What a drag it’s been these past few weeks to watch the military brass—those kings of accountability, at least when it comes to other people’s behavior—huffing and bluffing and outright lying about what they knew and when they knew it. First we had to endure the sight of them gaping over the news that the sexual-violence crisis they’ve done nothing to squelch since the assault of 83 women and seven men at the Tailhook Air Force convention in 1991 has worsened. Now those same Pentagon officials are shocked, simply shocked, by the military’s spiking suicide rates, despite the fact that those numbers, which have been rising steadily for the past 12 years, come from their own reporting system (and some claim are still an undercount).

The only thing worse than the Pentagon’s faux surprise has been the complicity of news organizations willing to echo its talking points. Shame on The New York Times for last week’s “Baffling Rise in Suicides Plagues the U.S. Military.” Disturbing, yes. But there’s nothing “baffling” about the news that more active-duty troops killed themselves in 2012 than were killed in combat in Afghanistan in the same year, and that the number of suicides has doubled from a decade ago.

As the Government Accountability Office (GAO)—Congress’s nonpartisan investigative wing—and a variety of media outlets attest, there’s been only one thing better documented than the military’s unwillingness over the past 25 years to throw any real muscle into ending its culture of widespread sexual assault. And that’s the military’s unwillingness to acknowledge the prevalence of post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health issues plaguing service members and to enact serious reforms aimed at curbing and treating mental illness in its ranks. The military’s systemic incompetence on this issue continues despite years of analysis and criticism, not only from service member advocacy organizations, but also from within the Beltway.
read more here

I hesitated to put the link up after yet again seeing my hard work on Wounded Times just being used to make the life easier for a reporter being paid to write their articles. The truth is, it is a good report and should be read.

There are almost 19,000 posts on Wounded Times and they come from news reports I track across the country. Each one of them has links to the reports reporters get paid to write because it is their time, energy and talent. The least thing they can do is return the favor by listing Wounded Times as their resource.

This isn't the first time and it won't be the last time but I no longer put up with just taking and and not letting readers know what is going on. Some may say it is unprofessional for me to point this out but it is even more unprofessional for them to just do it. Plus consider that I do not get paid to do this, so when you think about, I am not a professional. I just have more professional standards to live up to when it comes to doing the right thing.

Yep, my day started off really badly. They write stories but we live with them on a daily basis. They report on the lives being torn apart but we are living with them. They are not just some subject of curiosity. They are our family members. Well at least we know our stories matter to some reporters but it really should make all of us wonder, if they are doing something like this, how much do they really care about what we live with?

The Warrior SAW, Suicides After War release date

THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR RELEASE DATE is April 15, 2013

Well it is the end of March and it is still not finished. To bring justice to the families of these veterans it has taken longer than I thought it would. There is too much information that has to be in this book.

With the fact congress and the DOD have wasted about a billion dollars on "suicide prevention" I decided that the release date will be, appropriately enough April 15, 2013, tax filing date.

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Letter to Jean Baptiste Le Roy, 13 Nov. 1789

I doubt Franklin thought of how the two of them would end up being connected for so many military families.

Every piece of information in this this book has come from news reports, Congress, the VA, Department of Defense and editorials I have done over the years on Wounded Times. Information that has been forgotten by the very people talking about and responsible for all of it all this time. You'll be shocked at what has been going on when you weren't looking but they were suffering.

I am going it alone as usual. I haven't been able to find an agent so it will be up on Amazon and Kindle. Check back for updates over the next couple of weeks.

COMBAT PTSD BLOG BREAKS ONE MILLION

WOUNDED TIMES BLOG BREAKS ONE MILLION PAGE VIEWS!

Thank you to all the readers and especially the subscribers following this blog and passing on the news you find here.



When I started this blog in August of 2007 I knew it would matter to our veterans but I had no idea a blog like this would reach so many.

For all the veterans out there feeling as if you are alone, you're not! You do matter not just to me but to all the others coming here and paying attention to what is happening to you.

In case I haven't said it lately, I LOVE YOU! You are the reason I start every morning at 7:00 and shut my phone off at 10:00 each night.

Media dereliction of military duty

Media dereliction of military duty
By Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
January 15, 2013

After I posted about the military suicides at an all time high minutes after it was released by Associated Press, I got a call from a reporter. She wasn't asking me what I thought was going on. She didn't want to know what could be done to prevent them. Had no interest in what was behind all of this after vast sums of money had been spent in the last 40 years. You know, the questions that should have been asked considering I've been doing this for 30 years and spend 365 days a year tracking all of these stories plus working with families and veterans to heal or the fact I am working on my second book The Warrior SAW, Suicides After War because of all the false information out there and the suffering of families blaming themselves after someone they loved took their own lives. No, she didn't want to know any of that. She wanted to know how I got these stories so fast.

I told her, first, I know what I'm covering. I know the subjects of all these reports well. Seven days a week, 365 days a year, 12 hour days and haunting dreams keeping me awake at night have produced over 17,000 posts in 5 years on this blog alone. I lost count on the emails I receive and phone calls I take from military families and people I talk to filming events with heartbreaking stories they need to tell someone praying for relief, a kind word, an understanding ear they know will not judge them and more often than not, a hug. Other than that, I'm dedicated to this work because I remember what it was like when all of this was going on and the media was even less interested in these stories than they are now.

When the Washington Post's The Fold put up two video reports, I was among the first to post two breaking news stories. The first piece of news was that 22 veterans a day are committing suicide, up from the 18 the VA had been reporting. I felt for sure this would be all over the news sites. I was wrong. Last night during a conference call with Point Man leaders, I broke that piece of news to sunken hearts along with the latest military suicides at 349. The Fold also did a report on a Navy SEAL Robert Guzzo's suicide and his family when "After Veterans Day, he went to "be with the angels."

Still this reporter was doing what so many others do. I asked her how she compiled a story, what she knew about the military and PTSD. She said she searched Google when she was assigned stories. At that point, I lost my patience and hung up the phone. It happens all the time when someone has to write a "story" on something they don't know anything about.

The worst was when a reporter from the New Yorker, William Finnegan wanted to know about Staff Sgt. Travis Twiggs. I picked up the story and so did my friend Lily Casura at Healing Combat Trauma. Lily has the heart and soul to do this work and did a fantastic job finding more about Travis. Finnegan called her after I told him he should. For days he picked our brains to learn about PTSD and suicide. When it came time to publish his story, later picked up by the UK, he forgot where he got all the information from and said his editor removed reference to our work.

The worst thing about all of this is that while I do have more reports than most sites, I am only one person. Sure I get a lot of hits on a daily basis but the "real media" sites get a hell of a lot more. It makes me sick to know that all these stories are out there but few reporters care about them enough to make the general public aware. Can't imagine how far we could have come if they had cared enough to do the same thing I'm doing.

They have money to advertise their sites and they have money to pay reporters. I can't even get enough in donations to be able to support the work I do for our veterans so advertising is out of the question. That is why I get angry. If they were doing their jobs, I wouldn't have to search day and night to make sure these stories were told to as many people willing to read them.

The next time a reporter feels the need to speed up getting their story out, they better have a check book ready to make a donation for my time. If they had been doing their jobs, I'd spend a lot less time helping grieving families.

Wounded Times Year End Thank You

Wounded Times Year End Thank You
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
December 31, 2012

It has been a crazy, busy, year. In May I finished Valencia College Digital Media Certification. Not bad, ended up with a 3.1 GPA.

The top post this year as well as last year was For Those I Love I will Sacrifice with a total of 35,038 views.

In November I re-released For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle the book I self published in 2002 trying to warn families about what they were facing with combat and PTSD.

Last month I started a new book, The Warrior SAW, Suicides After War, because of requests from families needing help when someone they love committed suicide. I hope to have it finished next month.

I need your prayers while I get through this because it is emotionally draining.

Up until I was done with college, I didn't want to ask for donations because it just didn't seem right.

In August, I finally received my tax exempt from the State of Florida and was able to start getting donations. Up until then, all the work I did, the travel, equipment, food, phone and everything else was coming out of my husband's pocket. Usually it runs between $1,000 and $2,000 a month depending on how much traveling I have to do. While this is really low for a charity, what I do does not cost much at all, but when you are talking about taking the money out of your personal budget, it hurts!

Donations for 2012

August 24, 2012

Lenny $25.00

August 25, 2012

Rofkens $20.00

August 26, 2012

Fearless $10.00

Theresa $50.00

August 27, 2012

John $10.00

August 28, 2012

Ed and Sue $50.00

Veterans Multi-purpose Center $100.00

Thomas $25.00

September 4, 2012

Ivy $25.00

Aaron $50.00

September 18, 2012

VFW $1,000

October 13, 2012

Judith, $10.00

November 2, 2012

Richard $50.00

November 12, 2012

Kim $20.00

November 13, 2012

Steve $100.00

November 14, 2012

Michael and Patricia $200.00

November 27, 3012

Brian $20.00

December 6, 2012

Lenny $20.00

December 16, 2012

Nam Knights $200.00

This is what your money helped me do and I thank you very much for your support. You helped all of these groups get some attention for the work they are doing.

Videos filmed for veterans around Central Florida for 2012

January 22
Stunt Show Motorcycle Crash
Orlando Bikers Against Child Abuse
February 3
Memorial Service for John Michael Barrett
February 7
WWII Four Chaplains Service
February 12
WWII Montford Point Marine
February 22
Veterans Walk of Honor
March 8
Memorial Service for Daniel Hurley
March 10
DAV Dinner for Wounded Warriors
March 10
Nam Knights Bike Week Party
Dannis Bish
April 12
Three Wounded Veterans
April 15
Orlando Marines Come Home
April 18
Dannis Bish Memorial Service
April 19
MOMS
April 22
Vietnam Wall Escort
April 29
Guitarists Plays With One Hand
April 29
Veterans Reunion
May 7
Medal of Honor Sammy Davis
Combat? Talk About It
Nam Knights Homes For Our Troops Fundraiser
MOH Sammy Davis Shenandoah
May 27
Ocoee Memorial Day
May 28
Vietnam War Museum Memorial Day
May 31
Glen Haven Memorial Day
June 17
Orlando DAV Volunteers
DAV Convention Candy Man
Member of the Year Award I ended up filming myself getting the Auxiliary Award
June 23
Home Depot Helps DAV
June 28
VFW Military Awards
July 18
Orlando DAV New Officers
July 22
Rebel Rider Magazine Anniversary
July 28
Funeral for Capt. Bruce MacFarlane
August 7
Purple Heart Day
August 18
Lukas Nursery Butterfly Encounter about Spiritual Healing
August 29
DAV Van Dedication
September 15
Orlando Marines Fundraiser
Orlando US Navy Chief Petty Officers
September 23
Renewal of Vows Ambush
October 18
Nam Knights Memorial Dannis Bish
Nam Knights Memorial Eternal Chapter
November 11
Healing PTSD with Horse Power
November 18
Giving Thanks for Veterans
December 8
Coast Guard Fill the Boat
December 16
Coast Guard Fill the Boat Wrap Up
December 22
Brothers in Bras

Videos created for 2012


All of these videos from this year, as well as videos done going back to 2006, were all done for free! The donations above, while deeply appreciated, were not enough to cover the cost of going to these events during the year. The editing program to turn footage into videos is $2,500. Camera equipment along with everything else is very expensive. My car is getting old on top of everything else, so if you want to see more veterans events covered next year, I'm counting on you to carry me through!

Remember, your donations are tax deductible and also cover spiritual counseling I do with veterans and their families.

Save Kathie Costos so she can save them

Save me so I can save them
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
November 13, 2012

While you read the stories I track everyday, I read emails from veterans and families. I read emails from psychologists and social workers, groups and most of the time from families involved in stories you read here all the time.

What you don't read about are the lives I have saved, families able to stay together because they have finally been informed about what they really needed to know.

In 2002 I self published For the Love of Jack because I knew so many other families would go through the hell we survived. I wait 3 years hoping and praying for the money to come it to be able to do this work full time. I worked for a pay check and did this work when I could.

In 2005, I gave up waiting and put the book online for free. Here are just two of the first emails I received when I did that.

From a female Vietnam Veteran in July 2005

Dear Kathie,

Thank you for sharing your life and wisdom in For The Love of Jack. I must also thank you for sharing it through the internet.

I admit to you that I had not initially sought out this information. It was forwarded to me yesterday by my good friend Edward. I started the book last night, didn't sleep very well, too many thoughts on the matter at hand, woke up this morning, made a lighter and quicker breakfast fare than usual only so that I could get back to your story.

Being forty-eight years of age I do share most of your pre-Jack memories of Vietnam, especially the news reports at dinner time, it was a pretty horrific time in our lives. I'm ashamed to admit that Vietnam was a memory that I had set aside.

I had heard some talk of PTSD, it only came to light with 9/11. I had also heard of "shell shock" but again, it seemed like a distant memory of something that happened to people back in WWII. In my ignorance I thought that it was caused by a physical manifestation - like shrapnel or a head injury having been it's cause.

Your book enlightened me in more ways than you can imagine. I wish these living angels could sprout wings so that we would know them when we see them, so that we could revere and thank them and treat them with the fullest respect and dignity that they so deserve.

Then again, you should have sprouted a set of wings, too!

From a Vietnam Veteran December 2005

I came across a Web-site and I enjoyed what you had written there. I am a Veteran Vietnam 1967-69. I know what it is like to be married to a Vietnam Veteran. I have two ex.-wife's neither of whom can say I ever abused them. I think the word normal is something Vets don't have. My last two wife's still love me either can sleep in the same bed with me. So they now sleep in the bed of someone else. I have a knew wife of a year and she has moved to the couch.

She I think she is afraid, I might died during the night.

I do love her very, very much so I respect her need to sleep on the couch. I have got the works, heart problems, Sugar, PTSD a whole list. I go out and work everyday I can to take care of her and would not have it any other way. My problem I just don't no how mush longer I can hang in there.

I have been fighting with the Veterans Administration since 2001 to get help. Last Dec. I manage finally to get some help. I was homeless for three years after 2001. I would work and could only make enough money to eat and buy my smokes. I was refused care by four Veterans Hospitals during that time. So, I know what you have been through. I know in your heart your a good person. You not only tried, but you kept tiring. Most women just take the money and run!

Thank you Kathie for hanging in there with yourVet, heaven has a place for you waiting.

Hundreds of emails later and very little money in donations, I ended up having to give up my website because I couldn't afford it anymore. The fact is that more and more families have come to me for help and while I have saved lives, the people I help cannot afford to make a donation and to tell you the truth, I am not going to ask them when they are going through hell.

Imagine for a second what that has been like for me. I can't pay my own bills. Do you know what it is like to go to bed every night not knowing how you're going to make it one day to the next with the voices of families falling apart in your head?

I keep asking for help but few have thought what I do is worth even a small donation.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is not new but while the media is now talking about it and others are coming out all over the country, making millions a year doing very little, I work 7 days a week at least 10 hours a day. I can't afford publicity like some of the major groups out there even though what they are doing is less than I do everyday. They just have a great PR firm standing behind them. This is not about money. This is about doing the work that I am compelled to do.

I can't do it without your support! If you read Wounded Times and think it is of value, then please support it. If you cannot donate, then please pass it on to others you know. Subscribe to it so that when Google puts up ads I'll get paid more than a couple of dollars a day.

You can donate by clicking the link to PayPal and here's the info

POINTMAN INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES
Pointman of Winter Park
IRS #90-0749457
FLORIDA CH36936


You can mail a check to
Pointman of Winter Park
PO Box 196992
Winter Springs FL 32719-6992


If you are not there for me, I can't be there for them!

I just discovered that the book in online for free from another site and requested it be removed. If people are reading it for free again, then no one will donate for it.

From Barnes and Noble reviews FOR THE LOVE OF JACK HIS WAR MY BATTLE

Anonymous
Posted September 3, 2003
PTSD is sadly too common
Kathie's book was amazing. I have PTSD myself and could identify with both her husband and Kathie since I know what my husband has gone through dealing with me and can look back at the worst times. A very insightful account of a family torn apart by PTSD. Help keep the shelter open since proceeds go to help Veterans who are badly in need of help.

Anonymous
Posted July 8, 2003
His War Her Battle Our Story
In Kathie Costos's groundbreaking new work, 'For the Love of Jack' she documents the life that thousands of families live everyday: living with a Vietnam Veteran who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the book, Costos describes the disorder and its effects on family and life through her own experiences. Although PTSD is a disorder that varies from individual to individual, anyone who has seen even the slightest of hints of it can relate to this book. Through the chapters the reader comes to know and love Jack along with his family and ultimately can relate back to veterans of all wars and their struggle with this disorder. Never before have I read anything quite like this. Costos's unique and insightful perspective allows the reader to realize the after effects of war on an individual and on a family that are all to often overlooked. She reminds the reader that, along with the Vietnam Veterans, the families too share in the pain and suffering and describes them eloquently as, 'America's Secret.' I think that anyone who read this book would immediately understand that Vietnam isn't just a war or a country but a day to day struggle that all too many families and friends of Vietnam Veterans along with the Veterans themselves continue to battle to this very moment. The subtitle of this piece is His War My Battle. As the proud daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, USMC 1968-1970 I can tell you that its not only His War and Her Battle but Our Story.