Why Not Take Tomorrow Back in Your Hands? Combat PTSD Wounded Times Kathie Costos August 23, 2017
What is worse to you, needing help from someone else, or worrying that they won't help? Oh, it is all so easy to see so many getting help online but, so hard wondering why you are not one of them. Gets pretty lonely, at best, and at worst, robs you of whatever hope you try to hang onto. We can keep asking "why" something happened, but sooner or later, we've run out of questions before we found a single answer. I know that feeling all too well and right now, I'm in one of those times when the back of my neck hurts from my head being down so low, instead of held up high. The weight of the world or something much deeper? I can sit here and feel sorry for myself, asking "why" or I can add in that one extra word that opens the door to possibilities. Instead of asking "why" add in "not" and see what happens. I am not a veteran. I am just a human dealing with life and other people as best as I can. You have all the same problems the rest of us do but you also have the extra weight on your shoulders from serving and putting your life on the line. When you need help, first figure out why you are not asking for it. Is it because of your pride? Nope, since you had no trouble asking for help when your life was on the line along with those you served with. Is it because you've asked before and ended up feeling worse because you were turned down, turned away or put down? So why not ask someone else? Nothing will ever change until you try to make it happen. If you know your life sucks, then wonder why and then why not do something to make it better? Life mattered so much to you that you were willing to risk it for others. So why not risk your pride to save your own this time? Look at your family and the people you think you are making miserable. You must care about them or you wouldn't be thinking of what you're doing to them. Why not think of what you can do for them? Why not think of ways to make your lives better together instead of thinking about something that will cause them to blame themselves for the rest of their lives. Why not give them a chance to help you stay instead of leaving them with that? Why let what you survived defeat you now? Why not take back control over your life instead? If your pride is stopping you from asking for help, why not think of what it can be like to stand on the other side of this darkness and help someone else get through their own?
"Why be afraid if I'm not alone"
I made Alive Day years ago, and at the end, it says that "18 veterans committed suicide today" but that was what we knew a long time ago. We know better now and now you know better too. The song on the video is "I Will Live For Love" and why not think of your life that way? You were willing to die for those you served with and loved like family. Why not be willing to live for them too?
Majority of VA hospitals offer holistic therapies, alternative to opioids, study finds
Washington Times
Laura Kelly
August 11, 2017
“In addition, some of the mind/body practices can be effective for the reduction of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. A patient might not want to admit they have PTSD, but they may be persuaded to take a yoga class,” she said.
This Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, file photo shows hydrocodone pills, also known as Vicodin, arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. Leftover opioids are a common dilemma for surgery patients; a study published Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017,
Nearly 80 percent of military medical facilities are offering alternative medicines for pain management and psychological treatment instead of opioids when possible, according to a study publishedThursday by the nonprofit RAND Corp.
Over 8.9 million veterans are treated at 1,233 veteran health facilities each year, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs.
The study said there were about 76,000 alternative therapy patient visits per month treated by 1,750 providers. Services include acupuncture, yoga, relaxation therapy, among others, and responding physicians said patients often express interest and openness to the treatments.
“Patient visits for [complementary and alternative medicine] make up a small but nontrivial portion of total outpatient [military treatment facilities] visits,” the authors wrote.
If everyone is raising awareness, why don't veterans stop killing themselves? Isn't that a fair question? Isn't that a question all of us should be asking? There is another question that all of us should be, not only asking, but getting an answer to; What good are they doing for veterans? It is easy to talk about how much someone cares but a lot harder to care enough to know what will help. Then they need to be willing to do it as well as prepared to do it. Ok, confession time. A few weeks ago I had yet one more frustrating conversation with a local charity for veterans. It turned out they were not doing the work, but sending veterans to others to do the work. Top that off with only selected veterans and their families were welcome. The OEF and OIF veterans mattered enough but the majority of our veterans didn't. When I asked them if they were aware of the fact that 65% of the veterans committing suicide were over the age of 50, the answer was "yes" but they were not willing to do anything for them. So why are the majority of the veterans being neglected? Or should I say, rejected, simply because they were here longer? Are you still writing checks to these new groups when your husband is part of the forgotten majority? Are you passing on links on Facebook to them instead of groups helping your family? Do you honor all our veterans or just some of them? Have you even thought about that? The results are these groups with selected attention have ended up getting in the way of veterans discovering they do have the hope of healing and are not stuck where they are. Seems like that would be a beneficial message to share with them. So what good are you doing our veterans? Do you find out what is really helping and who is doing the work or settle for what is popular? Raising awareness, whatever that is supposed to mean, is very popular and all kinds of stunts are being pulled all across the country. The problem is, no one in the media pushing these stories bothered to review the outcome.
Matthew 11:29-30King James Version (KJV)29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
We, however, review the outcome on a daily basis when we read about veterans taking their own lives after surviving combat. We read about the families left behind. I don't know about you, but every time I read one, I think about how my husband is still here and how close we came to that not happening. I think about his nephew who lost his battle over a decade ago and how I could not find a way to help him. I couldn't even find the right words to get him to hear me. I think about the lives saved over the years and then I get even sadder because this work is not glamorous, or expensive or even publicized because that is the way it needs to be. I just get sad knowing so many others could be doing the same work but do not bother. If you really want to help them, then help them find their roots. Who they were is still in there beneath the pain of how they are right now.
The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
If you want to do more than just talk about helping veterans, then do it! Be part of the help that has been going on since 1984 for all generations of veterans, Point Man International Ministries. We talk a lot about Veterans Courts operating now as good for them. It is the basis of how Point Man started when a Vietnam veteran/Seattle police officer, noticed he was arresting too many Vietnam veterans and he decided to do the work and help them. Support group that are taking care of all generations. Look them up online and read their mission statement. Don't write a check to selective groups if you want to help all generations. Find out what they claim to be needing the money for. Ask questions before giving support to any group. If they do not, or will not, answer your questions, then let others know what you discovered. The press will has shown no interest in doing it, so it is our job! We cannot set them free from PTSD controlling their days unless we are willing to give hours digging them out of the trench.
Military Chaplains Turn 100 Years Old as 'Attacks' on Service Rise CBN News 04-27-2017
"Chaplains serve as a constant reminder to our troops that God is present with them, especially in a combat environment." Douglas Carver This month marks the 100th anniversary of the United States' entry into World War I. It's also the 100th anniversary of when U.S. military chaplains made their mark in the U.S. Armed Services, according to Douglas Carver, former U.S. Army chief of chaplains.
Less than 150 chaplains served in the Army and National Guard when America entered the war against Germany.
That number grew to more than 2,300 by the end of WWI in 1918, and Carver says that rise secured the role of chaplains in today's Armed Services.
He calls chaplaincy the "ministry of presence."
"Chaplains serve as a constant reminder to our troops that God is present with them, especially in a combat environment," Carver, the executive director of chaplaincy for the North American Mission Board, wrote to Baptist Press. read more here
VA offering training to clergy to help veterans Killeen Daily Herald BY JANICE GIBBS FME News Service April 13, 2017
Building Community Partnerships. Local communities are often the most important and most neglected resources for reintegration of returning service members.
TEMPLE — The VA has training programs for local clergy to assist veterans in their communities.
“We want to reach out to anyone who will help us connect veterans to the local VA,” said Jeffrey Weir, chaplain for the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System. “We want to connect with not only clergy, but with helping organizations who serve veterans.”
Weir was the guest speaker at the Care Leadership Team’s April meeting. The Care Leadership Team is made up of people representing local agencies and organizations, communities, churches, schools, volunteers and hospitals who network to share community concerns, information and to connect resources.
“If you run into veterans who have needs we have resources for them,” Weir said. “One issue is that not everyone who says they’re veteran is a veteran. Don’t worry about that, we’ll sort that out.”
Central Texas Veterans Health Care System includes the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center, Waco VA and six outpatient clinics, including a large Austin clinic.
“We have 39 counties in Texas that we cover and most are rural,” he said. “You could drive in any direction from here and within a few minutes you’d be out in the country.”
Weir talked about training available to clergy. read more here
OMG....Yet another "new" study on the link between PTSD and the whole veteran!
"The mind and body are intimately linked, which is why there needs to be a change in the way post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is treated, say Australian researchers."
The date this came out was today, April 3, 2017.
A world-first study of 300 Vietnam veterans, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, has shown PTSD – a condition that affects an estimated one million Australians – is not just psychological.
It wrecks havoc on the body too, impacting the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, as well as a sufferers’ sleep.
Based on the findings PTSD should be considered a “full systemic disorder” rather than just a mental health problem, says Miriam Dwyer, CEO of the Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation.
Yes, it really did say that. It seems as if it has shown up all over the Internet as if no one bothered to even check to see if it was something new or not.
This was done in 1999 and is just one of many...
Combat Exposure, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, and Health Behaviors as Predictors of Self-Reported Physical Health in Older Veterans
We used path analysis to model the effects of combat exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and health behaviors on physical health. Participants were 921 male military veterans from the Normative Aging Study. Their mean age at time of study was 65. Measures of combat exposure, PTSD symptoms, smoking, and alcohol problems were used to predict subsequent self-reported physical health status. Both combat exposure and PTSD were correlated with poorer health. In path analysis, combat exposure had only an indirect effect on health status, through PTSD, whereas PTSD had a direct effect. Smoking had a small effect on health status but did not mediate the effects of PTSD, and alcohol was unrelated to health status. We conclude that PTSD is an important predictor of physical health and encourage further investigation of health behaviors and other possible mediators of this relationship.
Little attention has been given to spiritually based approaches for managing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in combat veterans. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a growing need for more complementary and holistic therapies to assist combat veterans returning from deployment. Surveyed veterans report that they would use complementary approaches to health care if such programs were available (Bent & Hemphill, 2004; Kroesen, Baldwin, Brooks, & Bell, 2002).We developed a spiritually based group intervention that teaches a series of focusing strategies using mantram repetition, slowing down, and one-pointed attention (Easwaran, 2001,2005). A mantram is a Sanskrit word meaning “to cross the mind” and is sometimes referred to in the West as “holy name repetition” (Oman & Driskill, 2003) or in the East as “mantra repetition.” Repeating so-called sacred words such as “Om Mani Padme Hum” from Buddhism or holy names such as “Rama Rama,” “Jesus Jesus,” or “Ave Maria,” have been associated with reduced arousal, respirations, enhanced cardiovascular rhythms (Bernardi et al., 2001), and decreased stress and depression (Wolf & Abell, 2003). Unlike other meditative practices, mantram repetition does not require any specific posture, quiet surroundings, eyes closed or any religious/spiritual beliefs. Mantram repetition is easily learned, personal, portable, invisible, and can be readily practiced without changing one’s activities or environment.
There are actually older studies, but you get the point. None of the so called "new" studies on PTSD are new at all!
Conclusions
A spiritual program was found to be feasible for veterans with PTSD. They reported moderate to high satisfaction. Effect sizes show promise for symptom improvement but more research is needed.
A sight to behold: More than 1,200 people show support for veterans during Wounded Warrior Banquet The Huntsville Item By JP McBride Jan 27, 2017
In suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, many veterans feel like they are alone in their pain and are helpless in finding the healing they need.
The residents of Walker County and others from around the state of Texas showed that there are many Americans who want to help veterans struggling with PTSD find a solution and get them on the road to recovery during the eighth annual Walker County Wounded Warrior Banquet on Thursday night.
A sellout crowd of more than 1,200 generous folks made their way to the main building of the Walker County Fairgrounds for the banquet to honor the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country by donating to organizations like the Lone Survivor Foundation and Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs, as well as the Warrior Family Support Center in San Antonio. read more here Stronger (2017) - Official Trailer (HD) Film draws awareness to PTSD, provides suicide intervention
Houston Salsa Congress attracts veterans seeking stress relief Focus on the dance helps alleviate some PTSD symptoms Houston Cronicle By Katherine Blunt January 14, 2017
"You have to know how to lock into a moment and be OK with everything going on around you," Chris Fahey
Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff Houston Salsa Congress workshop participant Harrison Bohanan follows instructor Franklin Liranzo's dance moves to warm up before a class Saturday in Houston.
Shoulders as loose as his hips, Franklin Liranzo twisted and shimmied to percussive Latin music at the head of a crowded dance floor.
A high twirl of his finger had 50 dancers spinning in place. A downward flick brought them slinking to the ground.
"I hope you're warm," he exclaimed as the dancers caught their breath.
Liranzo, a skilled dancer and former U.S. Marine, led the group through a warm-up Saturday at the Houston Salsa Congress, a four-day series of workshops and performances at the Westin Hotel in Memorial City. He is one of many veterans who uses salsa and the intense focus its requires to alleviate some of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The congress, expected to attract more than 2,000 dancers, instructors and spectators, is an annual event run by Houston Salsa Dancers, a nonprofit organization that uses the proceeds to provide scholarships for underprivileged Houston teens. It features salsa enthusiasts of every skill level from around the world. read more here
Are you looking for God in the wrong place? If we search for Him in the dirt and debris we are looking for Him in the wrong place. This is a repost from 2012.
"As rescue and recovery began, fireman, police, and rescue workers would be forced to endure the nightmare of working and living inside Ground Zero. Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into hopelessness as the reality of what had happened sunk in. While working in Building 6 in the World Trade Center complex, workers discovered a cavernous type hole in the debris."
As I listened to some of the people there, while I thought it was a beautiful story, I kept thinking of what was missing from the program. It is easy to wonder where God was on that horrible day as other people decided such evil acts were justified when they used everything in their power to kill. Where was He? Why didn't He stop it? How could a loving God allow it to happen? We ask those questions all the time. We suffer in our lives, then try to figure out why God thought we deserved it. What did we do to make Him turn away from us? If we search for Him in the dirt and debris we are looking for Him in the wrong place. God was on those planes that hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon as much as he was on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. He was not the pilot but He was the comforter. When one hand reached out to comfort someone else, He was right there. Whenever people push past thoughts for themselves to think of someone else, He is there. Many wonder why He didn't just cause the hijackers to suffer a heart attack an spare so many innocent lives. Others wonder why He just didn't stop them from doing it. The truth is in the Bible that God does not interfere with freewill so He would not have just snatched the hijackers out of their seats. Still how do we know He didn't try to get them to change their hearts?
It is natural for us to ask what caused other humans to do such horrible things but we miss the other question about what causes so many to do compassionate things afterwards. What caused the police and firefighters to rush into the buildings after pure evil struck them? What caused them to climb the stairs over and over again trying to save as many lives as possible after others tried to kill as many as possible?
While the evil that man does is apparent, the good they do is inherent. It was not just public employees risking their lives that day, there were average citizens in the Towers thinking of others instead of their own lives. Some of them could have survived had they used the time they had to think of their own lives, but they had the lives of others in their thoughts and actions. It was God driving them to do for others and they had the freewill choice to allow His voice to guide them or not. But then there were smaller miracles. Survivors reached out to help others. Strangers took the hands of other strangers, put their arms around people they would have normally just walked past under normal circumstances. Then people rushed to the area to give whatever help they could. Days passed while more and more people showed up to help find survivors and recover bodies. God was still there hearing the prayers of the nation and comforting the weary as they refused to leave. Families of the missing were comforted by others while the time of hope faded into thinking of funerals for when the remains were found. Every street across the country became decorated with flags and so did our cars. We were all thinking of others glued to our TV sets and reminded to be kinder to other people. Even members of Congress joined together on the steps side by side. And we know it took a miracle to do that. Whenever we look for God in what has been lost, we miss where He was all along.
There are some things that just need repeating. Between now and Christmas, I'm digging out some older posts. The dates have changed but the message has not. You can heal.
Do you think God abandoned you still? Come on and admit that while you were in the center of the trauma, you either felt the hand of God on your shoulder, or more often, never felt further from Him. In natural disasters, we pray to God to protect us. Yet when it's over we wonder why He didn't make the hurricane hit someplace else or why the tornadoes came and destroyed what we had while leaving the neighbors house untouched. We wonder why He heals some people while the people we love suffer. It is human nature to wonder, search for answers and try to understand. In times of combat, it is very hard to feel anything Godly. Humans are trying to kill other humans and the horrors of wars become an evil act. The absence of God becomes overwhelming. We wonder how a loving God who blessed us with Jesus, would allow the carnage of war. We wonder how He could possibly forgive us for being a part of it. For soldiers, this is often the hardest personal crisis they face. They are raised to love God and to be told how much God loves them. For Christians, they are reminded of the gift of Jesus, yet in moments of crisis they forget most of what Jesus went through. Here are a few lessons and you don't even have to go to church to hear them. ( Matthew 8:5-13)
As he entered Caper'na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.
This sounds like a great act Jesus did. You think about the Roman Centurion, powerful, commanding, able to lead men into combat, perhaps Jesus even knew of the other men this Centurion has killed. Yet this same man, capable of killing, was also capable of great compassion for what some regarded as a piece of property, his slave. He showed he didn't trust the pagan gods the Romans prayed to but was willing to trust Jesus. Yet when you look deeper into this act, it proves that Jesus has compassion for the warriors. The life and death of Jesus were not surprises to Him. He knew from the very beginning how it would end. This is apparent throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. He knew He would be betrayed, beaten, mocked, humiliated and nailed to the cross by the hands of Romans. Yet even knowing this would come, He had compassion for this Roman soldier. The Romans had tortured and killed the Jews since the beginning of their empire as well as other conquered people. The Roman soldiers believed in what they were doing, yet even with that, there was still documentation of them suffering for what they did. Ancient historians documented the illness striking the Greeks, which is what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There is evidence this illness hit every generation of warriors. Jesus would be aware that saving the Centurion's slave, because of the faith and trust He placed in Jesus, would be reported from soldier to soldier. Jesus showed compassion even to the Romans. How can we think that He would not show compassion to today's soldiers? How can we think that He would look any differently on them than He did toward the soldiers who would nail Him to the Cross? God didn't send you into combat. Another human did. God however created who you are inside. The ability to be willing to lay down your life for the sake of others was in you the day you were born. While God allows freewill, for good and for evil, He also has a place in His heart for all of His children. We humans however let go of His hand at the time we need to hold onto it the most. When tragedy and trauma strike, we wonder where God was that He allowed it to happen. Then we blame ourselves. We do the "if" and " but" over and over again in our own minds thinking it was our fault and the trauma was a judgment from God. Yet we do not consider that God could very well be the reason we survived it all. PTSD is a double edge cut to the person. The trauma strikes the emotions and the sense that God has abandoned us strikes at the soul. There is no greater sense of loss than to feel as if God has left you alone especially after surviving trauma and war. If you read the passage of Jesus and the Roman, you know that this would be impossible for God to do to you. Search your soul and you will find Him still there. For the last story on this we have none other than the Arch Angel Michael. The warrior angel. If God did not value the warrior for the sake of good, then why would He create a warrior angel and make him as mighty as he was?Michael has a sword in one hand and a scale in the other. God places things in balance for the warriors.
And in John 15:
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
When it comes to waging war, issuing orders, God will judge the hearts and minds of those who sent you and He will also know yours. If you feel you need to be forgiven, then ask for it and you will be forgiven. Yet if you know in your heart the basis of your service was that of the willingness to lay down your life for your friends, then ask to be healed. Know this. That if Jesus had the compassion for a Roman how could He have any less compassion for you?Because the military is in enough trouble already trying to evangelize soldiers for a certain branch of Christianity, understand this is not part of that. It's one of the benefits of having I don't care what faith you have or which place of worship you attended. If you were a religious person at any level before combat, your soul is in need of healing as well. There is a tremendous gift when the psychological healing is combined with the spiritual healing. If you have a religious leader you can talk to, please seek them out. Kathie Costos
Replace Stupidity with Spectacular Combat PTSD Wounded Times Kathie Costos October 23, 2016 For over three decades I have heard all kinds of things, had my heart broken more times than I can calculate, but then there are moments, when I am in awe of how spectacular these veterans truly are. Parade Magazine published an article written by Paula Spencer Scott this month, "Feeling Awe May Be the Secret to Health and Happiness." Stacy Bare, an Iraq veteran said he was suffering from PTSD and wondered "What does it mean to be at home, a veteran anyway?" He went to the Druid Arch in Utah and was struck by "awe" beginning a change within him.
“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast or beyond human scale, that transcends our current understanding of things,” says psychologist Dacher Keltner, who heads the University of California, Berkeley’s Social Interaction Lab.
That keeps getting missed in this messed up, convoluted dialog on PTSD and suicides connected to military service. It isn't that they were not able to "handle it" but handled it the whole time when the men and women in their unit are deployed with them. Why? Because their lives matter and they are willing to die for one another. That comes from a strong emotional core. The very worthy part of them that caused such devotion is also the part of them that grieves from losing so many they cared for. The "awe" moment for them is when they realize they are not stuck suffering, do not have anything to be ashamed of and they can heal. We just allow other conversations to permeate the news they hear.
When Donald Trump said “When you talk about the mental health problems - when people come back from war and combat, and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over, and you’re strong and you can handle it. But a lot of people can’t handle it." he showed he doesn't get it. The problem is, far too many are just like him.
There are Medal of Honor Recipients openly talking about their own battles with PTSD so that others may overcome the rumor of weakness or claims of lacking intestinal fortitude. There are Special Forces veterans talking about what they also experience coming home along with Generals speaking openly, hoping to lead by example. Folks can do all the talking they want about the "problem" of suicides to make others aware, and get noticed by the press, but they never seem to mention their talk is doing no good at all. It is feeding the stigma. If they want to do pushups or other publicity stunts, who does that actually serve? Is it the suffering veterans forced to remain in the shadows? Is it the families left behind wondering what they did wrong and blaming themselves? Or is it the people wanting attention for themselves? Stupidity feeds the stigma of PTSD and leaves them trapped in an endless cycle of suffering and search for what will bring them out of the darkness within their souls. What may be an easy number to remember, they were more than an abstract number to their families. Isn't it time to actually focus on what is possible and good instead of simply focusing on all this talk of anguish? It is obvious that none of the popular "efforts" managed to change anything other than spread the heartache. How about we talk more about the "awe" moments that begin the healing and replace despair with encouragement?
Veteran awakens from coma during final prayer; family now faces mountain of red tape to bring him home WHNT News BY DAVID KUMBROCH OCTOBER 17, 2016
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A Gulf War veteran’s family had to make a difficult choice recently, and only a miracle could change their tragic course.
Gulf War veteran Frank Bedwell was in a coma. With the pressure of a brain bleed pressing against them, his family came to a conclusion.
“My kids and myself, we all knew what he would want for himself. We knew that he didn’t want to live on machines for the rest of his life,” said Amy Bedwell, Frank’s wife.
They decided to turn off the machines at six o’clock.
“Fifteen minutes before it was time to pull the plug, I sent everybody out except for my kids,” Amy recalled.
“We called my dad. We prayed for him. And he woke up.” read more here
Chaplains’ care also goes to deputies Course for ‘a ministry of presence’ is the first of its kind in Bexar County San Antonio Express News
By Elaine Ayala
July 16, 2016
For the first time in Bexar County, 20 volunteer chaplains have received training to care and counsel sheriff’s deputies in what’s described as “a ministry of presence.”
Bexar County Sheriff's Office volunteer chaplain Bette Huereca, right, speaks with Sheriff Deputy Michelle Grabowski.
The Ecumenical Center created the Chaplains for Justice Training Program, an intensive 14-week course accredited by the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy. It’s considered a rarity in law enforcement, and the training is a first here.
Faith leaders and ministers long have worked in the county’s jail system, focused on the spiritual needs of inmates. Less attention has gone to the emotional well-being of law enforcement officers, though there is a growing recognition of its importance, most recently after the killings of five Dallas officers by a sniper during a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.
The Sheriff’s Office began recruiting volunteer chaplains in 2013, spurred by the suicide of a detention officer that year. Its 14 chaplains received the training,and several others who graduated with them could help bolster their numbers, officials said. The county has a separate set of chaplains who minister to inmates. read more here
Suicide Attempt: A Soldier's Story ABC News 25
By Jillian Corder, Reporter
Friday, May 27th 2016
"There's no way that God allowed me to live through this if there is a God - which I know there is - that he would not want me to be helping other people when he saved me through that," Matthew Richard
After struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder , or PTSD, for years, Matthew Richard attempted to take his own life in March. (Source: Jillian Corder/KPLC)
SULPHUR, LA (KPLC)
Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in Louisiana, and every 13 hours, someone dies by their own hand, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Nationwide, stories of veterans falling victim to mental health disorders are all too common.
After struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder , or PTSD, for years, Matthew Richard, 30, attempted to take his own life in March.
"So I looked in the mirror and I said 'God I'm going to countdown,'" Richard said, describing the moment he decided to take his own life, "I said 3, and I took it off safety. I said '3, 2, 1' and I said 'God' and I shot."
To understand what led Richard to this moment, he starts from the beginning of his military career. He joined the Marine Corps in 2005, following in the footsteps of his godfather.
"I told myself since I was 6 or 7 years old that I was going to be a Marine because of him," he said.
Just two years in the service, tragedy struck when Richard was overseas in Ramadi, Iraq.
"I ended up accidentally shooting a best friend of mine over there when we got back from patrol," said Richard.
Richard's gun discharged, killing Lance Corporal Steven Chavez. He went to the brig for a year for negligent homicide and received a bad conduct discharge, meaning his military benefits were stripped. Richard was no longer eligible for help from the VA, forcing him to deal with PTSD on his own.
"I was struggling mentally, physically, and spiritually for a long time after that dealing with it," said Richard.
Richard was in a place he never thought he'd be.
"I've had four or five senior Marines who have come back from war and shot themselves over divorce or other things, and I told myself, 'I'll never do that.'" read more here
"I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul" but what does that mean to you? It means that you cannot change what happened yesterday but you can change your future. You are in charge. You are the one in control of your soul and while most talk about the "moral injury" part of PTSD, few tell you that you are not destined to suffer but created with the intention of healing.
Do you surrender to what some people think of you or do you know enough about yourself to know that it isn't true? It really shouldn't matter to you what others think but what you think should matter more.
Learning what PTSD really is is the first step toward defeating it.
Under the Rules of Engagement the Marines learn, to "act as a control mechanism for the transition from peacetime to combat operations" but on the flip side, it is also important to transition from combat operations into peacetime as a veteran. Forget about fitting back in with the people you knew in your hometown unless they are part of the veteran community.
"We must review all aspects of the fight, from weaponeering to the understanding of proportionate force. Training needs to be discussion and scenario based, thus forcing Marines to articulate their perceptions of and responses to the situations.
You may have tried the wrong "weapons" to fight PTSD like self-medicating or just stuffing it until you get over it. That does not work. Sure, you can get busy getting your mind off of all of it, but you are not fighting it. You are giving it time to get stronger instead of making it weaker so you can defeat it. Going from a lower level of PTSD, when it is most reversible pretty much guaranties that you'll be hit by a secondary stressor (another traumatic event) that pushes that mild PTSD into PTSD with massive teeth latching onto any part of your life it can attack.
In combat, there are many weapons used, not just one. It is the same when battling the war going on inside of you.
Healing has to involve every part of what makes you, you. That means it has to be taking care of your mind, your body as well as your soul.
If you think that PTSD is a sign of any kind of weakness, then you don't understand anymore than they do. If you know that it comes from surviving where you were sent, doing what you had to do, seeing what you saw, enduring all kinds of hardships and came from a strong soul. That very soul that made you choose a military life no matter the risk to your life.
The truth is that everything you need to heal is already inside of you but you won't be able to find that power until you face what PTSD is. While it sucks to have it, it isn't really as bad as you think because it comes for a place that is still good inside of you. Your perception of it as "bad" causes thousands of veterans a year to give up on themselves but you are reading this so there is still hope inside of you.
Start with the basic facts. Post (after) Traumatic (trauma is Greek for wound) Stress (mind body and spirit ) (cause) Disorder (in survivors) because you survived "it" and it shouldn't be worse living as a survivor. It doesn't have to be if you learn more about yourself.
You may think "I'm weak" but actually you have a very strong emotional core and that strength allowed you to do what you had to do in order to save lives. As an all volunteer force, remember, weak people do not even think of putting their lives on the line for someone else. As for older veterans, some of them were drafted, forced to go, yet managed to risk their lives while they were deployed.
They knew the risks and they suffered the same as those who decided to join. No wound created by war is new.
You may think "I'm evil" but tell me how an evil person can grieve? Would an evil person actually think that much about someone else or feel the pain of loss or suffer in the depth of their soul? No, they'd be off on their merry way to live out the rest of their days perfectly happy focusing on themselves.
So you are not weak and you are not evil. You are also not meant to suffer but meant to heal so the next part of your life you can use that same soul tugging connection to help others living life as a veteran.
PTSD cannot be cured but the scar inside of you can heal. Find what works for you but remember, it has to be all about every part of you. Mind, body and spirit can heal when they work together.
Change the way you think about what you survived. You can be your worst enemy. Honestly look at what your snap judgment may have you thinking you could have done differently and then honestly put it together. You'll see what you may think you could have done would be for a movie super hero and not a human in real life.
Apprehension gets in the way of healing. Think of it this way. In combat you had no problem asking for help as expecting it. You trusted those you were with and when you needed more help, you were happy to see reinforcements show up. Same thing when dealing with what came after combat. Call in as much help as you can get. Lives mattered then and you life matters just as much now.
For the body, you were trained to be prepared for all the physical hardships you subjected your body to. You need to retrain to prepare your body to calm down and stop your nervous system from overreacting to daily life.
For the soul, you are in fact captain of, start with these and then explore the territory you have not noticed before. The thing that makes you what and who you are.
Remember you are not alone and all other generations have had the same wounds within you. Take comfort in knowing that it all comes from a very wonderful part of you. The same place where pain comes from is also where love still lives on waiting for the next part of your life when you find peace with yesterday and understand that tomorrow is in your control. You took the steps to serve, no take the steps to heal.
