A Mother's Sorrow: One Soldier's Suicide

A Mother's Sorrow: One Soldier's Suicide

Posted by Garland McLaurin, American News Project at 3:09 PM on July 30, 2008.



Marine Corporal James Jenkins is one of the many unsung casualties of war.
Suicides among veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are reaching epidemic proportions. More than 6,000 veterans took their lives in 2005 alone, according to a study by CBS News. By some estimates, veterans are attempting suicide 1,000 times a month.

Marine Corporal James Jenkins of New Jersey was one of these unsung casualties of war. A decorated veteran of the Iraq invasion and the Battle of Najaf, he took his own life after serving 22 months overseas. His mother, Cynthia Fleming, shares his story with ANP -- a tragedy that is being repeated 15 times a day in this country.
go here for the video
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/93370/a_mother's_sorrow:_one_soldier's_suicide/

PTSD, Puppies and Misplaced Values - We're Having the Wrong Conversation

June 13, 2008
PTSD, Puppies and Misplaced Values - We're Having the Wrong Conversation, America
Now that media coverage of SSgt. Travis Twiggs -- the five times-deployed Marine and gen-u-ine American hero who killed himself recently after a protracted and unsuccessful fight with PTSD -- has safely faded from view, America can go back to talking about what really interests it like the Marine tossing the puppy off the cliff in Hawaii. Here's a great quotable quote from Kathie Costos, a senior chaplain with the International Federation of Chaplains and a longtime, tireless advocate for veterans with PTSD, both personally and professionally on her blog, WoundedTimes, linked here. After noting that a mention of the news update on "that jerk" with the puppy toss sent blog traffic sky-high, Costos said, most quotably -- "I hate the fact a puppy toss gets more attention than a Marine killing himself because the DOD and the VA won't do what they are supposed to do." Amen, sistah. (I don't believe that she's talking about the Twiggs case there, specifically, but just in general.)
go here for more

http://www.healingcombattrauma.com/2008/06/
misplaced-values---were-having-the-wrong-conversation.html

Marines disciplined over puppy-tossing video

2 Marines disciplined over puppy-tossing video
Story Highlights
Lance Cpl. David Motari faces removal; Sgt. Crismarvin Banez Encarnacion punished

Video surfaced March 3 on YouTube showing a Marine tossing a puppy over a cliff

The Marines condemned the incident, calling it "shocking and deplorable"

CNN) -- The U.S. Marine Corps has disciplined two Marines over a videotape that showed a Marine throwing a puppy over a cliff, the military said Wednesday.


YouTube.com removed the video for violating the Web site's terms of use.

Officials did not specify the role that each man played in the incident, which received international attention after a video of it appeared on YouTube.com March 3.

Lance Cpl. David Motari is being processed for removal for his role, the Marine Corps said, and Sgt. Crismarvin Banez Encarnacion also has been punished.

The video shows someone throwing a black-and-white puppy off a rocky cliff. The dog makes a yelping sound as it flies through the air.

"That's mean. That was mean," someone off-camera is heard saying.

YouTube removed the video about a day after it was posted, "due to terms of use violation," the site said.

The Marines were quick to condemn the video when it surfaced, calling it "shocking and deplorable."

Marine officials said the disciplinary action followed a thorough investigation, according to a statement that the Marine Corps Base Hawaii released Wednesday.

"The actions seen in the Internet video are contrary to the high standards we expect of every Marine and will not be tolerated," the statement said.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/11/marine.puppy/index.html

Bush gave up golf for the troops?

Bush calls new attack on US his worst worry

Tuesday, May 13, 2008


(05-13) 18:32 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

President Bush said Tuesday he was disappointed in "flawed intelligence" before the Iraq war and was concerned that if a Democrat wins the presidency in November and withdrew troops prematurely it could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States."

In an interview with Politico magazine and the Internet portal Yahoo, Bush also said he gave up golf in 2003 out of respect for U.S. soldiers killed in the war, which has now lasted more than five years.

"I didn't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Bush said he made his decision after the August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.

A question submitted from the online audience asked Bush whether he felt he had been misled about Iraq as he made the decision to go to war.

"`Misled' is a strong word," he said. "Not only our intelligence community, but intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was."

"Do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don't. I think it was just, you know, they analyzed the situation and came up with the wrong conclusion," he added.

He acknowledged concerns about leaving the unfinished Iraq war to a Democratic successor. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have said they will bring troops home if elected.

Bush said his "doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States."
click post title for more

Yet in March of 2004 he was joking about WMD. You can watch it on YouTube. He was acting up for the
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKX6luiMINQ

During it he lied about the death of Pat Tillman. To this day his family is still trying to find out who was behind the massive cover up.

As we honor veterans who are leaving us, we also honor qualities that remain. The generation of WWII can be certain of this: When they are gone, we will still have their kind wearing the uniform of the United States of America. (Applause.)

The loss of Army Corporal Pat Tillman last week in Afghanistan brought home the sorrow that comes with every loss, and reminds us of the character of the men and women who serve on our behalf. Friends say that this young man saw the images of September the 11th, and seeing that evil, he felt called to defend America. He set aside a career in athletics and many things the world counts important: wealth and security and the acclaim of the crowds. He chose, instead, the rigors of Ranger training and the fellowship of soldiers and the hard duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Corporate Tillman asked for no special attention. He was modest because he knew there were many like him, making their own sacrifices. They fill the ranks of the Armed Forces. Every day, somewhere, they do brave and good things without notice. Their courage is usually seen only by their comrades, by those who long to be free, and by the enemy. They're willing to give up their lives, and when one is lost, a whole world of hopes and possibilities is lost with them.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/cs/bushcomedian/a/bushwhca2004.htm

But he says he gave up golf out of respect for the fallen? I don't get the joke here.

"I didn't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

By the time he gave this video performance, we lost 140 taking Iraq and no, they didn't find the WMD Bush joked about on video. We then lost another 718 by the time this video was done. I wonder if he ever thought of the families of those fallen soldiers when he joked about the fact no WMD had been found.

Father's Fort Bragg video causes Army wide inspections!

Army-wide barracks inspection ordered

By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 18:26:05 EDT

The Army’s senior leadership recently ordered a service-wide barracks inspection to make sure its billets are in better shape than the dilapidated quarters 82nd Airborne Division soldiers just came home to from Afghanistan, Army installation heads said today.

The impromptu walk-through carried out by all major commands occurred this past weekend in response to a video posted recently on YouTube that shows peeling paint, mold and a bathroom drain plugged with what appears to be sewage in the barracks that paratroopers from the Fort Bragg, N.C., unit were housed in after returning from a 15-month combat deployment.

“Folks, we let our soldiers down; that is not like us,” Brig. Gen. Dennis Rogers, the deputy director of Operations & Facilities of Army Installation Command, told reporters. “There is no good excuse for what happened.”

While the walk-through is not yet complete, Rogers said that garrison commanders have reported so far that “soldiers are being housed to the Army’s standard,” but stopped short of describing the poor barracks conditions some soldiers are living in at Fort Bragg as an isolated incident.

“I would hope that it is an isolated condition, and we will figure that out,” Rogers said. “If there are issues; we’ll fix them. That’s what we are going to do, we are going to fix them,” Rogers said. “We are still going through the data, and we will know by the end of the week.”

In addition to the walk-through, Army installation officials have stood up a Senior Non- Commissioned Officer Facilities Forum to make an assessment of Army barracks conditions. The forum, which will meet monthly, will be chaired by Command Sgt. Major Debra Strickland of Installation Management Command. It will inspect barracks and make recommendations for correcting current and future upkeep problems.

The video, shot by the father of Sgt. Jeff Frawley on April 14, caught the attention of Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., on April 25. She said she contacted the Army secretary after learning of the barracks’ condition.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/army_barracks_roundtable_042908w/


Don't anyone ever say it with a straight face again that one person cannot make a difference. This father just did!

Marine Corps still investigating puppy tossing video

Marine Corps still investigating puppy tossing video




Associated Press
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
April 28, 2008


HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) — It’s been nearly two months since a video appeared on the Internet showing a U.S. Marine tossing what appeared to be a live puppy into a ravine.

The Marine Corps says it’s still investigating, with no charges and no disciplinary action so far.

A new statement from Marine Corps Base Hawaii calls the video “appalling, deplorable and contrary to the high standards we expect of every marine at home and abroad.”

The corps says it first learned of the video appearing on the Web site YouTube on March 3.

The statements says the investigation will confirm authenticity of the video and identify those responsible.

The announcement says the vast majority of Marines conduct their duties with honor and compassion. It cites numerous incidents of Marines adopting pets.
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20080428/VALLEYNEWS/25643527

Marine puppy toss number one draw on PTSD blog? WTF

My feed burner traffic report from today.
Traffic Source visits Trend
Search for "marine puppy" 153 +147%
Search for "marine puppy fake" 44 +529%
Search for "marine puppy toss" 37 +270%
Search for "puppy toss" 28 +600%

What is wrong with people in this country? A few minutes on YouTube with a jerk tossing a puppy over a cliff and I get these kinds of hits, but when I cover PTSD and what it's doing to our troops and veterans, the counts are a lot lower. I labor over videos to provide support and information on PTSD yet the top hit I get is 100 a day on Hero After War but most of them are only about 20 a day. Yet a video like this, pulled in millions in a day?

What does this say about how we feel about our troops and our veterans when they are so easy to ignore unless they do something drastically different, stupid, evil or disgusting? What does it say about us that if the media reports on some of our veterans committing crimes makes the headlines but when they commit suicide because they are not being taken care of, gets buried? Most of these reports are so scattered and buried beneath the sports section that they get very little attention. You would think their life would be worth so much more. Yet reporters have to contact advocates for reports on suicides and attempted suicides so they can try to make a name for themselves.

I get alerts on several subjects. One of them is veterans. What I find is that we use the term "veteran" far too often to describe a person who has experience and usually it's a sports figure. PR firms hire "veterans" away from other firms. They don't hire real veterans. I just don't get it. Why should it take someone pulling a stunt like this puppy toss to draw attention to a PTSD blog? I have to tell you that if you came here to read the story about this, then I really feel sorry for you. Your ignorance is blinding you to the real story here!

Was Killing the Puppy a Way of Coping for One Marine?

The U.S. Marine filmed throwing a crying puppy off a cliff may have been trying to prove his strength or bravery, several mental health professionals told ABCNEWS.com. The Marine's identity has yet to be confirmed but the United States Marine Corps has launched a full investigation and deemed his actions as "deplorable." (ABCNEWS.com)

Was Killing the Puppy a Way of Coping for One Marine?
Stressful Environment May Have Contributed to Marine Apparently Tossing a Dog to His Death
By EMILY FRIEDMAN
March 5, 2008

Many war-weary veterans of the Iraq War take kindly to the animals they meet abroad — some of them have even gone to great expense and trouble to bring dogs back home with them at the end of their tours of duty.

What, then, provoked one U.S. Marine to let himself be videotaped apparently flinging a yelping puppy over a cliff, bursting into laughter at the sound of the animal's body hitting the ground below? The tape of the apparent incident has rocketed around the Internet, provoking a firestorm of criticism.

The motivation for such an act, if it did indeed occur, may be as complex and deep as the U.S. war that has dragged on for more than four years, experts told ABCNEWS.com. Chief among them: Having to live with the constant fear of being injured or killed might have led this Marine to take his aggression out on a defenseless animal, several psychologists said.
go here for the rest
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4387128&page=1

Linked from ICasualties.org

Knowing Marines, they will make sure they find out who did this. This is not what they stand for. I still think this could be fake. What if it wasn't a Marine but someone dressed up like one instead?

Marine puppy toss may be fake

Marine seems to hurl puppy off cliff in video
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writerPosted : Monday Mar 3, 2008 18:43:59 EST

A video that appears to show an armor-clad Marine hurling a small puppy off a cliff and joking with his buddies as it smashes against a rock-strewn desert landscape has sparked outrage online and an investigation by commanders in Hawaii.

A 22-year-old lance corporal from Seattle was named in several online postings as the “puppy killer” and accused of being a “sociopath.” A home address for the Marine was posted on several sites, with at least one urging readers to “make him pay.”
Marine Corps Times could not confirm his identity.

As the puppy flies through the air, the video’s soundtrack features a distinct yelping sound, but Dejournett said that could have been edited in afterward. She noted that the squealing sound does not diminish as the puppy appears to fade in the distance.
To some degree, she said, it doesn’t matter whether the Marines were torturing the puppy or playing with a dead animal.
“Regardless, it is horrifying and it’s not the kind of behavior that we want to see our troops engaging in,” Dejournett said.
View the video (Warning: This video may be disturbing to some viewers)

Used Veterans-Simply Discarded video

Troops maybe supported while they serve, but when they come home as veterans, they are forgotten about, told to get over it, take care of their own lives and get back to work. Not enough people in this country want to take a look at why they need help at all. Stop and think about what makes a man or woman want to serve the nation. Do they do it because they are lazy? Do they do it because they only want a free roof over their heads, food and clothing provided by the taxpayers? Why do they serve? They serve because they were all born with that one thing the rest of us will never understand. They were born heroes. They were born with a willingness to put what they wanted for themselves behind what they wanted for others. They were the rare breed of person who could put themselves in second place behind someone else. In this case, the case of veterans, they were willing to do it over 300 million times for the sake of all of us.
They do not get to decide which battles they will fight or which enemy is the next target. They only get to go and do their duty. They count on the rest of us to make sure that the administration is doing their part because the men and women in combat have other more pressing details to focus on, like people trying to kill them at the same time they are trying to kill others. It's up to us to make sure when they come home, if they come home in need, it's there for them. Watch the video and then tell me if we did our job or not. We know they did.
Used Veterans-Simply Discarded by Billybobjoe57
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI_qz06bIrY&feature=related

YouTube Tribute video to A Fallen Hero

A Fallen Hero

About This Video

Added: December 24, 2007
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Micheal D. Brown, 20, of Williamsburg, Kan. died Oct.16 in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, of a non-combat related illness after being transported from Tikrit,Iraq on Oct.15. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas. He joined the army in February of 2005 and arrived at Fort Riley in September of that same year. This was his second deployment.

The video is on the right side of this blog. It is a beautiful tribute.

It doesn't matter which side you take in all of this, they matter, they should matter to all of us. Think of how we all fight for them. Both sides have their hearts in the right place. It is all about them.

I read it many times that we need to keep politics out of war. The problem is, politics begin wars, wage wars and end wars. Most of the country does not agree with any part of the occupation of Iraq. Some, like me, believe that Iraq is a direct cause of what is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This was supposed to be about our defense and our security. It jeopardizes more lives in both operations. That is what matters to most of us. It stopped being about one political side against the other a long time ago. It became those who support Bush and those who support the troops years ago.

War bloggers want to glorify war. I want to make it personal. I want every soldier to be treated as if they were a member of your own family. I want people to pray for them as if they were your son or daughter. More, I want you to welcome them home the same way you would want your child welcomed home.

You wouldn't want them to suffer with PTSD knowing that the sooner they get help to heal their wound the better the chances of a brighter future will be. You wouldn't want them "dishonorably discharged" when they are in fact wounded and were wounded in service to this nation. You wouldn't want them to be trapped in a long line of other veterans waiting to have their wounds treated. You wouldn't want them to lose all hope of healing and you certainly wouldn't want to find their body because of suicide.

All of them should be regarded as our own family because that is what they are. They are a vital part of this nation. That's what makes what is being done to them the most appalling of all. Being wounded for the nation's cause is the nation's responsibility. It is our obligation to them and yes, even if it means taking care of them for the rest of their lives, the same lives they were willing to lay down for the nation who ordered them to go.

They live up to their obligations everyday. When will we live up to our's?

New PTSD group at YouTube

Speaking out on PTSD
PTSD is a wound. No one would be ashamed of a bullet wound. Why be ashamed of this wound? End the silence and break the stigma. More than you know suffer from this wound. Trauma is Greek for wound.
Tags:
ptsd post traumatic stress combat wound soldiers veteran Created: November 27, 2007Videos: 8 Members: 1 Discussions: 0 You are the owner of this group. Member since November 27, 2007

I set up this group for people to share PTSD videos (not just mine but I am pushing mine since I spend a couple of weeks just putting them together) because the more we focus on PTSD, share, learn from each other, the weaker the stigma gets. It is to support each other. If you plan on going in there and attacking anyone, I zap you out of the group faster than you can remember your password. This group is for us, the families and for the veterans, or anyone who has PTSD. It is to learn and support. Feel free to pass this on. All are welcome as long as you can remember compassion.

Homeless veteran joins protest ahead of CNN GOP YouTube debate

November 27, 2007
Homeless protest continues amid calm
ST. PETERSBURG -- About 25 homeless people and their advocates remained across the street from the Mahaffey Theater this morning in preparation for Wednesday's GOP presidential debate.

The men and women, with their blankets and sleeping bags spread across the sidewalk near First Street and Fourth Avenue S, said Monday's tensions with the city had mostly evaporated. They began their day eating donated Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks coffee outside the Hilton's Spa Olimpia.

"Things are going well,'' said Eric Rubin, an advocate for the homeless.

On Sunday, demonstrators set up outside the theater, the site of the CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate for a four-day protest. They plan to stay through Thursday morning.

Many of the demonstrators believe the city's rules toward the homeless are too harsh and are upset about a new tent city set to open next weekend far from downtown, at 49th Street N and 126th Avenue.

click post title for the rest

148,000 Vietnam Vets sought help in last 18 months

In the past 18 months, 148,000 Vietnam veterans have gone to VA centers reporting symptoms of PTSD "30 years after the war," said Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, deputy commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He recently visited El Paso.



Two-tiered system of healthcare puts veterans of the war on terror at the top and makes everyone else -- from World War I to the first Gulf War -- "second-class veterans"
by Chris Roberts, El Paso Times
An internal directive from a high-ranking Veterans Affairs official creates a two-tiered system of veterans health care, putting veterans of the global war on terror at the top and making every one else -- from World War I to the first Gulf War -- "second-class veterans," according to some veterans advocates.

"I think they're ever pushing us to the side," said former Marine Ron Holmes, an El Paso resident who founded Veterans Advocates. "We are still in need. We still have our problems, and our cases are being handled more slowly."

Vice Adm. Daniel L. Cooper, undersecretary for benefits in the Department of Veterans Affairs -- in a memo obtained by the El Paso Times -- instructs the department's employees to put Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans at the head of the line when processing claims for medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, employment and education benefits...




Veterans Affairs officials say prioritizing war-on-terror veterans is necessary because many of them face serious health challenges. But they don't agree that other veterans will suffer, saying that they are hiring thousands of new employees, finding ways to train them more quickly and streamlining the process of moving troops from active duty to veteran status.

"We are concerned about it, and it's something we are watching carefully," said Jerry Manar, deputy director national veterans service for Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington, D.C. "We'll learn quickly enough from talking with our veterans service officers whether they're seeing a dramatic slowdown in the processing of claims."

Manar and Holmes said Afghanistan and Iraq veterans deserve the best care possible, but so do all other veterans.
click post title for the rest

148,000 in 18 months. This tells me the outreach workers around the country are beginning to get through to them. It tells me the media paying attention to this is beginning to get through to them. The battles being fought for Vietnam Veterans are being won, but unless the funding is there to take care of all the combat wounded, we will lose the war.

I've spent the last 25 years trying to get through to them and so have an army of volunteers across the country. We don't use anything but compassion and facts. Sooner or later, if we keep trying, we will reach all the veterans with Post Traumatic Stress from this generation and beyond to all veterans, but what good will it do if the help they need is not there?

I started doing videos in February of 2006. Is this a coincidence? From the emails I get, it is part of it. It was the goal anyway.

When War Comes Home PTSD
2418
50

Veterans and PTSD version 1
All time views:14,283

Wounded Minds Veterans and PTSD version 2
1567
36

Wounded Minds PTSD and Veterans version 3
7777
176

PTSD After Trauma on Google
1709
85

End The Silence of PTSD on Youtube

Views: 2,919

Hero After War Combat Vets and PTSD on Google
3697
38

Views: 1,772 on Youtube

Coming Out of The Dark of PTSD on Google
889
33

Coming Out Of The Dark-PTSD&Veterans on Youtube

Views: 4,304

Death Because They Served PTSD Suicides
1442
14

Nothing else seemed to work as well as these videos did. They are being used in colleges, by service organizations and individuals all across the country as well as other nations. This wound does not know national borders.

After reading this, and knowing from personal experience, I wonder what good it does if the help is not being addressed as actively?

What good does it do the veterans if I can talk them into going for help, but they can't get to it? I'm working between 10 to 12 hours a day now on this 7 days a week. Where is the dedication of the people who have the power to make sure the help is there? The people working for the VA and service organizations have that dedication but the politicians don't seem as focused and certainly Bush is not when he threatened congress to not fund the VA unless they found the way to pay for it.

We keep getting promised the problems with the VA will be corrected but we don't know when that will happen. Someday will not make things easier on them! Yesterday would have! Last year would have! Twenty five years ago it would have!

Kathie Costos