Troubling report from DOD on military suicides

This sounded as if the DOD was trying to bring understanding as to why servicemembers keep committing suicide after all these years of "training" them to be "resilient" and heal. It is about a sailor "Navy Petty Officer Considers Suicide" but as we read more, we see that he tried to end his life when he was just a child.

They live for the sake of others in combat.

Navy Petty Officer Considers Suicide
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
by Shannon Collins
Sep 11, 2014

WASHINGTON -- This month is Suicide Prevention Month, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has said preventing military suicides is one of the Defense Department's highest priorities.

"As we observe Suicide Prevention Month," he said in a message to the department's workforce, "we must rededicate ourselves to actively working not only every month, but every day to fulfill our collective responsibility to watch out for each other and take care of each other."

This is the first article in a four-part series about a Navy petty officer who came close to taking his own life but did not do so, thanks to the intervention of his leadership and the use of support networks, and how he continues to brave his battle with alcoholism and depression.

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Thompson, a mass communication specialist, is an instructor at a joint command in Maryland. He began his journey in Detroit as the child of a mother and stepfather who were drug users. He suffered physical and emotional trauma, he said, and his mother repeatedly told him he was a liar and a cheater, that he was stupid, and that life was only going to get worse.

Because of this, Thompson said, he first thought of suicide when he was 8 years old, and he attempted it when he was 9.
read more here

They are still pushing the notion that these men and women were already "damaged" before they joined the military. Very troubling considering the DOD has psychological tests they give to every recruit before they are allowed in. Saying a servicemember was already troubled when he joined is dangerous. It leaves us believing these men and women were trained to use weapons while mentally challenged by suicidal thoughts.

After all, they can't actually be honest with us and admit their "resilience training" does not work at best, at worse, prevents them from seeking help because they believe they are mentally weak. They have been pushing the same program since 2009. If I could see it would raise suicides as a "non-professional" then why didn't they? Why didn't they stop when the numbers went up? Why didn't they learn anything about the thousands they studied who lived after attempting suicide while in the military multiple times?

This article sold as being helpful only shows how the military doesn't get the simple fact they were already resilient before they joined.

No one can be trained to be resilient. The vast majority of servicemembers face deployments and push past all the pain they carry because their families, their military unit family, is counting on them so they can all go back home. Most suicides happen after deployments into combat and not during it.

The DOD reports on military suicides but they accept no responsibility when veterans commit suicide. Why should they when they are no longer held accountable for what they did to these men and women in the first place? The VA is responsible for veterans, but even they do not know how many veterans take their own lives after risking them for the sake of others.

If we let them get away with controlling the conversation, twisting the truth, then we're going to be counting higher numbers next year among servicemembers and veterans.

South Carolina’s Day of Recognition for Veterans’ Spouses and Families

Veterans, families join in bill signing
Herald Online.com
BY DON WORTHINGTON
September 12, 2014

“All military wives deserve this day,” said Gino Del Buono of Rolling Thunder and a Navy veteran of 30 years.

Gov. Nikki Haley signs the bill designating the day after Thanksgiving as a day of recognition for veterans’ families. S.C. Rep. Raye Felder (in black jacket, red blouse) stands behind Haley. York County veteran Harvey Mayhill (in suit with patriotic tie) standing to the right the governor.
PROVIDED BY S.C. REP. RAYE FELDER — Provided by S.C. Rep. Raye Felder

As state holidays go, it won’t be a day of parades or grand speeches.

But on South Carolina’s Day of Recognition for Veterans’ Spouses and Families – the day after Thanksgiving – there should be more than just a day of thanks, say those who advocated for the day. It should be a day of action and not words, they say.

Gov. Nikki Haley celebrated the new state day of recognition on Friday with a ceremonial signing of a bill that passed through the Legislature unanimously on its second try this year.

Surrounding Haley at the bill signing in Columbia were veterans and their families.

Spouses and their families, said Harvey Mayhill, an Air Force veteran and Rock Hill resident, “are pretty much alone without support,” when loved ones are deployed.

They go through “just as much hell as veterans deployed,” Mayhill said. “They are veterans in a different way that support this country.”
read more here

Tennessee Veterans Committing Suicide in Higher Numbers

Veteran suicides on the rise in Tennessee
WBIR
Rachel Kinney
September 11, 2014

The physical scars of war are not the only wounds that can be debilitating for veterans. Traumatic events seared in veterans' memories often haunts them off the battlefield through serious illnesses like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Unfortunately, more veterans in Tennessee committed suicide in 2013 than the previous year. The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday that the number of veteran suicides jumped from 197 in 2012 to 214 in 2013.
read more here

Think of PTSD in a Different Way

What comes next depends on how you see PTSD
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 10, 2014

Combat PTSD is Change, Change Again

If you think you are stuck the way you are with PTSD, then why bother getting up? Why bother going for help? You wouldn't. Yet if you have even a tiny fraction of hope that tomorrow can be better than today is, then would it be worth trying? Sometimes PTSD is this;

Painful

Transition

from

Stressful

Deployments

"Transition: movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change:"

From one state or condition to another. That is what "transition" is. You transitioned from being a kid to teenager, to adult, to soldier and now, you're transitioning into veteran. You are far from done changing and far from being stuck where you are as you are. Coming home with PTSD is making the PAINFUL TRANSITION FROM STRESSFUL DEPLOYMENTS to living a happier life and healing.

If you want to, you can change right now and start healing. Begin with forgetting about "fitting" back in with the people you spent pre-military life with. Did they go with you? Did they understand you wanting to join? Doubt it. They had no clue what pulled you into joining and they will have no clue what you went through, what it was like with the buddies you were with or what it is like for you now.

Hang out with other veterans. Doesn't matter if they were where you were or in the same country you were in. You'll fit fine with them. It doesn't matter if they are your age or not simply because they are part of the same 7% group you're in. Veteran!

Face another fact that you're going to have to work on the healing thing. You won't change if you don't work at it. You didn't get deployed without training and you can't change again without training to do it.

Discover the different types of PTSD. Combat is different from all others. Look it up online. There is a reason you have PTSD and you begin to heal once you understand the "why" in all of this. Learn why the different parts of you need to be treated and that your mind controls all of it. Your mind controls your body and it also controls your emotions. That part of your brain holds your spirit/soul and it needs to be treated as well as every other part of you.

Learn how to calm your nerves down and how to change your focus off what is bad onto what is good and healing.

You'll get there but it won't be quick and it won't be easy. The only thing you have to decide right now is, do you want to change again or not?

Political Ads Use Veterans Again

Veterans' Care Emerges As A Key, Bipartisan Issue In Campaign Ads
NPR
by BRIAN NAYLOR
September 10, 2014

There aren't really any unifying issues in this year's midterm elections, except for one: the treatment of the nation's veterans.

In 2010, it was Obamacare that dominated the airwaves. This year veterans, and the Veterans Affairs scandal, have risen to prominence in both parties' ads.

"It has been the one big breaking news story of 2014 that's actually reverberating in campaign ads in a widespread way," says Elizabeth Wilner, vice president of Kantar Media Ad Intelligence, which tracks political advertising.
read more here

Here are some of the videos.
Vietnam Veteran talking about having PTSD and suffering in silence.

This Rick Allen video is terrible since he clearly does not understand that members of congress have had since 1946 to fix the VA. That is part of their job but they didn't do it for decades. We've all heard the hearings covered by CSPAN and we paid attention all along.

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives was authorized by enactment of Public Law 601, 79th Congress, which was entitled "Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946." Section 121(a) of this Act provides: "there shall be elected by the House at the commencement of each Congress the following standing committees": Nineteen Committees are listed and No. 18 quotes: "Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to consist of 27 Members." This Act has since been amended so that there are now 22 Standing Committees in the House of Representatives. The number of Members (Representatives) authorized to serve on each Committee has been changed from time to time. There are currently 29 members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Congress was warned about the impending VA crisis. Yet, Bruce Braley did nothing. Instead of leading the way on legislative reforms to improve the lives of veterans, Braley skipped 79% of VA committee hearings. He even skipped a hearing to attend three different fundraisers. Braley was AWOL when veterans needed him. Call and tell Rep. Bruce Braley to reform and fix the VA.

Marel "Butch" Verrando, Why Did You Attack All Veterans With PTSD?

Mr. Verrando,
Your conduct as a 'public servant' is reprehensible. You may think you just attacked one veteran with PTSD and it wasn't a big deal but you ended up attacking all veterans with PTSD in the process. Correction, not just veterans but firefighters and other 'public servants' risking their lives serving the public. You only had to worry about your reputation when they have to worry about their lives.

Your public contempt of Samuel J. Matychak III, his service in the military and as a firefighter is explained by how you ended up with the job as an appointee because you knew someone but didn't earn it. Had you earned the job, hopefully, you would have taken it more seriously than to sink to the level you reached.

Frankly I am glad that I had to go work right after I read the report on the Ocala Post. I was extremely tired since I was in Ocala last night. We went to a wake for a friend. Her husband served with my husband in Vietnam. My husband has PTSD and we heard it all before. The puzzling thing is, we heard thoughts like yours way back in the 70's when people had plenty of excuses to ignore what was happening to Vietnam veterans. Those days ended in the 80's leaving only the extremely deluded, ignorant and uneducated, all too ready to open their mouths providing a fascinating display of coordination as they managed somehow to tie their sneaker laces. Everyone assumed they were incapable of such a task since it required observation and practice but above all, a desire to learn how to do it.

Reading what you wrote it is hard to believe you had any interest at all in learning about what happens when people risk their lives serving the community removing any ability for you to think far enough about what it must be like sending young men and women into combat so far from home.
By the way it is not "alogations" but is

Allegations: a claim or assertion that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically one made without proof.

Seems that you proved what you were inside when you attacked Matychak.

Marcel “Butch” Verrando, who currently serves the citizens of Marion County as a member of the Fire Advisory Board (appointment by Commissioner Stan McClain) and a former candidate for Marion County Commissioner, attacked a U.S. military veteran and former volunteer firefighter for Marion County Fire Rescue for suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on an online forum.

On Aug. 12, 2014, at 1:55 p.m., Verrando created a post on Marion County Political Forum, moderated by community activist Stan Hanson via Facebook, beginning with, “We have another Union sell out.”

U.S. military veteran (worked for the military in providing fire and EMS to troops in Iraq) Samuel J. Matychak III responded to the thread talking about his support for a candidate because of their “mutual stance on public safety.” Verrando responded on Aug. 12 at 4:32 p.m. with, “Hey at least I’m not crazy!” Verrando added after some discussion on Aug 15 at 7:43 p.m., “Mr Matychak, I need not even attempt to answer your alogations [sic] as you were barely making sense (again), is your lithium supply getting low?”

Matychak responded with, “Also Butch Verrando, you need to stop the attacks on my mental health because you are totally out of place. I am not a damn mental case and I am not on lithium. I dislike people who thinks [sic] they know it all. I will make it clear again, I served this Country from 2005 to 2010 in Iraq. Yes, I have PTSD. So, before you throw out accusation [sic], you better have the facts first or you will get burned.”

Verrando, at 8:12 p.m., stated, “Matychak I don’t ‘need’ to do anything…,” further adding at 8:14 p.m., “Gee Sam how could you have PTSD for being a civilian none combatant over there? Maybe too much time at the fire house [sic]?”

At 8:41 p.m., Verrando questioned how Matychak could receive such a diagnosis asking, “…so what major trama did Sam witness? That caused him to develop PTSD [sic]?”

Matychak did what no veteran should have to do by detailing in part what his job was in the military and what he saw.

Why did you do it? Bad enough you didn't think about one veteran but it must have escaped your mind that online posts are read by a lot more people than the one you are attacking. Do you do it often? Do you make it a practice to address veterans this way? Do you even care?
PTSD Veterans are not "crazy" and "lithium" isn't on the list of medications they are usually put on but after your performance in this exchange it seems you should check into it for yourself.

What is lithium?
Lithium affects the flow of sodium through nerve and muscle cells in the body. Sodium affects excitation or mania.

Lithium is used to treat the manic episodes of manic depression. Manic symptoms include hyperactivity, rushed speech, poor judgment, reduced need for sleep, aggression, and anger. It also helps to prevent or lessen the intensity of manic episodes.

Lithium may also be used for other purposes not listed.

You do not deserve to be on the job you were given. Many hope the "Advisory Board" takes the advice of veterans all over Florida and find you another job you'd be better qualified to do. You should have no problem finding employment selling used cars as long as you don't try to communicate online.

PTSD Iraq Veteran Gets Job Back, After News Report

Veteran with stress disorder back on the job
Houston Chronicle
By L.M. Sixel
September 9, 2014

Xavier Watt, the Iraq war veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who was profiled in a Houston Chronicle story on Sunday, was allowed to return to his job at SunEdison in Pasadena on Tuesday.

He hadn't been working for six months because officials at the manufacturing plant believed Watt's PTSD posed a danger to himself or to others.

"I was elated," said Watt, describing his emotions when he walked back through the gates after getting clearance from the company doctor Tuesday after passing a battery of fit-to-work tests. "I got so many hugs and handshakes, and there were so many smiling people. I felt like I was home."

Watt, an instrument and electrical technician, had not been permitted to return since he backed away from a tense workplace conversation in March. Watt received permission to take a day of vacation and stopped at the nurse's office on his way out of the plant.

An ensuing conversation about his PTSD set off alarm bells, and Watt had to go through a battery of psychiatric visits and lengthy inpatient treatment at the Veterans Affairs hospital to prove he was neither a danger to himself or to others if he returned to work.

On Monday, Sun Edison's doctor cleared Watt to return to work, a day after Watt's story was featured in the Chronicle, United Steel Workers Local 6000 President Debbie McDonald said. Watt also has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
read more here

Ocala Politician Attacked PTSD Iraq Veteran Online

Marion County government official belittles veteran for PTSD
Ocala Post
By Michael LaTulipe
September 10, 2014

Marcel "Butch" Verrando

(This is who he attacked)

Matychak did what no veteran should have to do by detailing in part what his job was in the military and what he saw.

“Butch, I saw death, such military personnel burned in their vehicles to blown body parts, having prisoners of war throwing pee and crap at me, to having a 8 year old Iraqi girl died on me to the CSH (Combat Support Hospital), getting shot at, having a vehicle blow up, and much more. My job was Combat Firefighter/Medic [sic].”

James Hoyne at 9:13 p.m. added an anonymous comment from a veteran who served with Matychak. “I would tread lightly before I embarrass you on your little political hi horse thread. I served with Sam in Iraq and I was there when windows were blown out, mortars exploding all around us, doors blown shut, and the military calling frantically for the fire dept to come assist in the middle of a fire fight that was the largest since falluja. I was there with Sam so I can deff vouch for him. You sir don’t have a clue, and quite frankly I don’t even know how you are involved in politics. Don’t question his PTSD because I have it as well [sic].”

Ocala, Florida — Post-traumatic stress disorder is a serious condition that can be very debilitating and even result in the death of the individual afflicted. This condition not only disproportionally affects soldiers, but also firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, and law enforcement officers.

Marcel “Butch” Verrando, who currently serves the citizens of Marion County as a member of the Fire Advisory Board (appointment by Commissioner Stan McClain) and a former candidate for Marion County Commissioner, attacked a U.S. military veteran and former volunteer firefighter for Marion County Fire Rescue for suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on an online forum.

On Aug. 12, 2014, at 1:55 p.m., Verrando created a post on Marion County Political Forum, moderated by community activist Stan Hanson via Facebook, beginning with, “We have another Union sell out.”

U.S. military veteran (worked for the military in providing fire and EMS to troops in Iraq) Samuel J. Matychak III responded to the thread talking about his support for a candidate because of their “mutual stance on public safety.” Verrando responded on Aug. 12 at 4:32 p.m. with, “Hey at least I’m not crazy!”
read more here

PTSD On Trial: Husband Guilty of Setting Wife on Fire

Thurston County man to serve time for setting wife on fire
The Olympian
BY AMELIA DICKSON
Staff writer
September 9, 2014

A Thurston County man was sentenced Tuesday to six years and seven months in prison after he pleaded guilty to pouring lighter fluid on his wife’s legs and igniting it in 2011.

In March of 2012, Duane M. Rader was found guilty of first-degree arson, felony harassment, unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault and sentenced to 10 years in prison, with the court acquitting him of first-degree attempted murder charges.

But the sentence was overturned by the Washington State Court of Appeals in January of this year because the court improperly calculated his offender score during the original trial.

At a court appearance Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to the same charges — first-degree arson, felony harassment, unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault — in addition to three charges of violating a no-contact order.

The main charges stem from a Feb. 13, 2011, assault that left Rader’s wife with second degree burns on her legs. She initially told Thurston County Sheriff’s deputies that she was trying to refill her lighter and accidentally lit her legs on fire, according to charging documents. The deputies didn’t arrest Rader at the time because they weren’t sure what had happened.

Rader served in the Army for 15 years and completed three overseas tours. The experience left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, and he “self-medicated” with alcohol, O’Connor said.

But Hirsch argued that post-traumatic stress disorder isn’t an excuse for committing violent crimes.

“Although that was an awful experience for you, I don’t believe that PTSD causes domestic violence,” Hirsch said.
read more here

Canadian PTSD Veterans Finishing Long Walk Home

Veterans suffering from PTSD walk across Canada to raise awareness
CTV Atlantic
September 7, 2014

Three Canadian veterans were one step closer to home on Sunday night as they neared the end of their cross-Canada march to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jason McKenzie and Steve Hartwig are walking towards their hometown of Antigonish, N.S. Both have been living with the disorder since they came back from military service in the former Yugoslavia.

“When I came back to Canada, I just realized there was something wrong,” says Hartwig. “I didn’t have the coping mechanisms or skills in place. I didn’t have any care available at the time, and people really didn’t know about PTSD then.”

That’s why Hartwig began a cross Canada march in Victoria, B.C. earlier this summer with a plan to raise awareness and how it affects the military and first responders.

“With more awareness comes more education and ultimately more acceptance,” adds Hartwig.
read more here

GI Veterans In Training

Time to train to heal as veterans!
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 6, 2014

You trained long and hard to change from civilian to soldier. While you were fighting the battles of this country, you changed again. All of the things you went through were training you for the next part of your life living with the title of Veteran!

It isn't as if the military has you prepare to go home with a kevlar vest, helmet and shorts instead of pants. Well at least most of the time anyway.

Moment teenage soldier went into battle against Taliban

wearing 'I love New York' pink boxer shorts

Zachary Boyd had been asleep when the firefight erupted in the mountains of Afghanistan. So he only had time to put on his helmet, body armour and grab his weapon in 2009.

War never leaves a veteran. Neither do we.

Disabled American Veterans

Sometimes the wounds are easy to see and the scars become reminders of a price you paid for the VA card in your wallet.

“The Price of Freedom is Visible Here“

Florida Hillbilly

Sometimes the scars are only visible to the bowed head in your hands. Reminders flood when you sleep with the enemy in your dreams but as you get busy with your life during the day, the enemy has time to regroup.

This battle is one you can win. Just like in combat, you didn't fight alone, you don't have to fight this one on your own either. The military gave you weapons to fight in combat. They didn't just hand them to you and let you figure them out on your own. They trained you to use them.

Same deal becoming a veteran. It isn't just your fight. You have weapons to use to fight PTSD already inside of you right where this enemy lives. You were born with them. All you need is training to use them the right way.

Everything in your life is "change" and so is PTSD. Trauma caused it to invade your core leaving you questioning everything you believed in and everything you thought about yourself. No one is ever stuck with the last change and you don't have to keep this change.

Changing again is possible if you are determined to get out of the abyss. Settle for the way things are and it is quicksand sucking in everything that is still good within you. Good? After all you went through and all you did? Yes! If goodness was not within you, you wouldn't have joined the military. You won't have been able to put your life on the line for the sake of others.

Evil people do not grieve for anyone but themselves. You grieve for everyone plus the "you" you were before and you just want things to go back to the way they were before. While that is impossible the good news is they can actually be better than before even with the parts of PTSD that cannot be reversed. You can learn how to take steps to calm your nerves, take the heat out of flashbacks and cut the nightmares down.

You have to fight from where the enemy camp is and that is in your mind where your emotions live. That massive computer holds all of it. Memories and emotions, good and bad ones, bash into whatever hope you have left but there is a code to bash them back. That code lives in the same part of your brain and we call it the soul. That part of you that makes you care enough to use your courage to fight for others. That code you lived by between crib and cot making you join the military.

The passage of time alone usually does not heal the psychological wounds of trauma.

Point Man International Ministries

At one time only troops engaged in heavy direct-fire combat were even treated, observed, or evaluated for psychological problems. But since the Vietnam War, and now the “War on Terror” (where there are no front lines or rear areas), it is clearly evident that PTSD is found both in combat veterans and in many rear-echelon support-type troops. Likewise, it has been diagnosed in sailors who spend their entire tours off the coast on ships. It has surfaced in troops who support the war from static compounds and not necessarily from the front lines, jungles, rice paddies, urban trenches, or Humvees convoying in a hot war zone. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can develop in service members who are engaged “down range”… regardless of job or proximity to danger.

To recognize PTSD as a real part of war’s after effects is vital not only for veterans, but also for the “significant others” at home. Family members, close friends, employers, etc. must obtain as much understanding about PTSD in order to help the veteran thrive in a civil society. In order for healing to begin both the veteran and the people closest to them need to understand and accept that this condition (PTSD) is genuine.

The very first aspect of PTSD that requires understanding is that it is not a mental illness. It is a normal reaction to the extreme stress encountered during your wartime experiences. It is important to become familiar with the variety of ways it manifests itself after returning home.

Stress affects everyone differently. In most cases there are warning signs that indicate a need for active stress management. Check off the signs that relate to you:

Persistent fatigue
Inability to concentrate
Flashes of anger—lashing out at friends and family for no apparent reason
Changes in eating and sleeping habits
Increased use of alcohol drugs, tobacco, etc.
Prolonged tension headaches, lower back aches, stomach problems or other physical problems
Prolonged feelings of depression, guilt, anxiety and helplessness
These are just some of the ways that PTSD may be affecting your life. The emotional and psychological stress of war does not go away simply by leaving it unattended.
The wounds of war do not go away with time, or just by leaving them alone. They need to be addressed, and you cannot do it alone. If you were wounded physically during combat you would allow a medic to attend to the wound. This is no different. Your psychological wounds must be attended to as well. They can be managed with proper help and support.

Time to train to heal as veterans!

Vietnam Veteran "waiting for 43 years" for justice after PTSD

Vietnam Vet Hopes New Pentagon Guidelines Help Him And Others Gain Benefits
The Hartford Courant
Peggy McCarthy
September 5, 2014

Conley Monk, a Vietnam War veteran who has been fighting for decades to have his military discharge status upgraded, expressed hope Friday that new Pentagon guidelines will help him and other Vietnam Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder finally get federal benefits.

PTSD was not designated as a medical condition until 1980. Some 70,000 Vietnam veterans who suffered from undiagnosed PTSD were given less-than-honorable discharges for their behaviors and many were denied medical, educational and other federal benefits and had trouble securing employment.

"I'm a fighter. I won't quit," said Monk, who left the military in 1971. "I pray that this makes a difference. I've been waiting for 43 years for my discharge to be changed," he said.

After lobbying by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and others, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel this week issued guidelines which Hagel said would ease the process for Vietnam veterans who apply to upgrade their discharges and "ensure fair and consistent results across the military services."

Tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans could be affected by the new guidelines that take effect in late October.
read more here

Vietnam Veterans with PTSD and bad discharges may finally get justice

Sarah Palin speaking at PTSD foundation gala?

Sarah Palin to speak at PTSD support foundation gala
The Courier
September 4, 2014

Former Alaska Gov. and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will speak at a charity gala event to benefit the Mighty Oaks Warrior Foundation at WoodsEdge Community Church near The Woodlands at 6 tonight.

Tickets are still available to attend the gala. General seating, including admission to the silent auction and dinner, is $100 per person. Premium seating is $150 per person. A reserved table for eight guests with front row seating is $2,000; and a VIP table, including dinner for eight, a private meet and greet, photo and book signing with Palin, is $5,000.
read more here

Point Man Gathering in Indiana

Point Man Gathering
City County Observer
September 4, 2014

Point Man Gathering. Who is Point Man, according to the dictionary: The lead soldier of an infantry patrol on combat operations per Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.

Through the years, service people have returned with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As years have passed this disorder has been called by different names, such as combat fatigue and shell shock. What does the dictionary say? Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is a mental disorder that follows an occurrence of extreme psychological stress, such as that encountered in war per the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

Some veterans coming back from war have tried to talk to their families and friends about their feelings and conditions, while others have kept their feelings bottled up inside. Even though those close to them try to understand, but this is proven hard because they have not been there and done what the veteran has done.

Point Man Gathering offers a place where veterans can talk to other veterans that have experienced some of the same trauma that they have.

Point Man is a Family

read more here

Suicide Awareness or Healing Awareness?

Time to change the conversation, keep the topic
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 4, 2014

Did you know that the New England Patriots didn't fit in with the rest of the colonists? Not the football team but the home team. The men and women, business people and farmers, risking their lives to take on the best military in the world at the time. They were hated and the loyalists were doing whatever they could to wipe the "traitors to the crown" off the earth and under the dirt. The Patriots were totally misunderstood but soon enough, people changed their minds. Unfortunately by the time folks woke up, the Patriots were no longer alive to hear the "appreciation" of newly freed from the British Empire.

Just got off the phone with one of my buddies, a Vietnam veteran talking about how it is all so easy to get too busy to call other veterans they served with. This was brought about because of Chuck Hagel saying veterans need to support each other. The topic didn't change but we ended up talking about fitting in with other people and that led to the discussion of the Patriots.

We were talking about how the Iraqis may need to get trained by watching some movies on the Revolutionary War to be able to take care of their own country and get rid of the ISIS on their own. After all, it isn't as if it hasn't been done before. Then we talked about fitting in as veterans. The National Guards and Reservists have a harder time because they don't go back to their bases, they go back to their towns and cities among civilians with no clue about where they were, what they did or why they did it.

I have that conversation with almost every veteran I talk to. You lament about how out of place you feel. "I just want to fit back in" but the truth is, you never really did. Thank God for that or you'd be like the rest of us only thinking of our own problems, whining about our bosses, kids misbehaving or our how much things cost without ever thinking about the real price being paid on a daily basis to retain the freedom the Patriots obtained while being hated for doing it.

I change the conversation for the same topic. You won't fit back in again because there was something different inside of you all along and that is why you joined the military. Maybe you had a family member/veteran but some didn't. Some shocked their families and friends when they joined. The truth is, less than 1% serve now and veterans are only about 7% of the population. You don't fit in with the rest of the population but you fit perfectly with other veterans.

As veterans, it doesn't really matter which branch or what decade or which war because you all belong to the same community. You are stronger together because you understand each other and in the community, you are 100% of it no matter if you supplied the troops in combat, did paperwork to get others paid or flew them back home. One more thing my buddy reminded me of. The slogan for the Vietnam War, "All Gave Some, Some Gave All." They all had a job to do and all jobs mattered.

NOT FITTING IN?
Depends on who you want to fit in with. Cops fit in with other cops. Firefighters fit in with other firefighters. They all live in neighborhoods with others, shop, go to church, kids play with other kids, but most of the time, they are with their "own kind" where they are understood like family. Why should veterans be expected to be different from them? Veterans hang around with veterans for a reason. They understand each other, support each other and heal together.

RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS?
If you think you can't have a successful relationship then you don't spend much time with other veterans. We've been married 30 years this month. Think that's odd? Not really. Some of our friends have been married 40, 45 years and still hold hands. If you think that is odd, I met Melvin Morris and his wife Mary married for 53 years. Melvin has PTSD and is a Vietnam veteran. He earned the Medal of Honor in Vietnam but didn't receive it until this year.

It requires love above all. Staying together with Vietnam veterans isn't as hard as you think. When they came home, they didn't know what PTSD was. They didn't have any support and there were no older groups willing to "adopt" them into their groups. You may have heard about how badly they were treated, but you know only part of what it was like. Somehow they managed to find each other without the internet and social media groups. They found their own.

Wives went with them and we support each other. Again, while we lived near civilian families, we didn't really fit in with them all the way. We learned from each other and discovered we were far from alone.

MENTAL WEAKNESS?
One more bugaboo I find hard to tolerate. While the programming for emotions is in the brain, it isn't about weakness. It is about strength. Strength? Bet I shocked you on that one. The stronger you feel things, the more you care and the more you care, the more you feel pain. The trade off is, to stop feeling pain you'd have to trade feeling joys as deeply as you did.

Take a look at this picture.

Do you see hardness or do you see love?

There is a growing list of Medal of Honor Heroes talking openly about having PTSD. Are they "mentally weak" or do you understand how they could be affected by what they did for the sake of others? Do you think Army Rangers are tough or mentally weak? This is a perfect example of what we're talking about. Keep on thing in mind that while this is about an Army Ranger, a lot of Special Forces lives ended the same way.

The Army found Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann's body at a training area of Joint Base Lewis McChord a few weeks ago.

A spokesman for the base tells KOMO News that the nature of the death is still undetermined. But Staff Sgt. Hagemann's widow says her husband took his own life - and it didn't need to happen.

"It was just horrible. And he would just cry," says Ashley Hagemann.

Ashley says her husband Jared tried to come to grips with what he'd seen and done on his eight deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"And there's no way that any God would forgive him - that he was going to hell," says Ashley. "He couldn't live with that any more."

Ashley says her Army Ranger husband wanted out of the military.

"He just wanted to know what it felt like to be normal again," she says.

Staff Sgt. Hagemann had orders to return to Afghanistan this month for a ninth tour of duty.

Instead, on June 28, Ashley says her husband took a gun and shot himself in the head on base. She claims the Rangers never took his pleas for help seriously.

His story came out in 2011. They were sending him on his ninth tour. Mentally tough enough to do eight tours but still only human.

RESILIENT?
How much more resilient can a person be? Pardon my language but screw "resiliency training" since no one can train you do be what you already were. Like Boston Baked Beans, it may taste fine going in but comes out in an unpleasant way. It leaves you guys with the impression there was something wrong with you. There was something not only right about you but wow, stronger than anyone else. 

When I think of what all of you were willing to give up to serve, it is stunning. When I think about what it took for you to do what you did for the sake of those you were with, I just can't find the words. So why on earth would you think you were anything but mentally strong, committed and mind blowing courageous?

There is so much you don't know because most people just don't talk about it. At least not most of the folks you have been listening to. There are a lot of conversations going on all over the country and they can be heard in the veterans community. All you have to do look for a group near you where you can feel like you're back where you do fit in.

Marine held in Mexican Jail Finally Gets Hearing

Hearing for Marine jailed in Mexico to feature surveillance video
FOX News
By Dan Gallo
Published September 04, 2014

Next week’s court appearance by a U.S. Marine imprisoned in Mexico could turn into a video viewing marathon.

Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who has been held since March 31, when he says he mistakenly crossed into Mexico with three legally-purchased and registered guns in his truck, will be in a Tijuana courtroom on Tuesday, where a judge, prosecutors and his lawyer will view surveillance video made at the border the night he was arrested.

With 90-minute footage from 18 different cameras in evidence, the session could prove lengthy, Tahmooressi’s attorney, Fernando Benitez, told Fox News. What has Benitez most curious is the fact that Mexican Customs officials dragged their feet in turning over the video, to the point that Judge Victor Octavio Luna Escobedo had to order them to comply.

Benitez will also eventually present a report from a psychiatric expert who will focus on Tahmooressi’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a result of two combat tours in Afghanistan. Benitez believes that Tahmooressi cannot receive PTSD treatment in Mexico and an eventual prison sentence would be inconsistent with the country’s policy of providing rehabilitation to prisoners.
read more here

Vietnam Veterans with PTSD and bad discharges may finally get justice

DoD willing to reconsider discharges of Vietnam vets with PTSD
Air Force Times
By Andrew Tilghman
Staff writer
Sep. 3, 2014

“These are veterans who honorably served their country and have a psychological wound of war and they should be recognized for having served honorably, not stigmatized and discriminated against,”

U.S. soldiers carry a wounded comrade through a swampy area during action in Vietnam in 1969. The Defense Department has agreed to reconsider the bad-paper discharges for thousands of Vietnam-era veterans who may have suffered from combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder but were kicked out of the military in the era before that became a diagnosable condition.
(National Archives / AFP)

The Defense Department has agreed to reconsider the bad-paper discharges for thousands of Vietnam-era veterans who may have suffered from combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder but were kicked out of the military in the era before that became a diagnosable condition.

In a new rule announced Wednesday, the Pentagon said veterans from the Vietnam era and other past wars with other-than-honorable discharges will be given “liberal consideration” if they seek to correct their military records and provide some evidence of a PTSD diagnosis that existed at the time of their service.

Upgraded discharges could result in the restoration of some benefits, such as disability pay, separation pay or GI Bill benefits from the Veterans Affairs Department, which are typically denied to vets who receive other-than-honorable discharges. Health care in the VA system is typically provided to veterans regardless of their discharge.

In today’s military, PTSD is considered a mitigating factor for misconduct and behavioral problems. The military services are required to grant a medical evaluation to any service member who claims PTSD before finalizing a bad discharge.
read more here

Army Reserve: "Life and Death Decisions to cleanup in aisle nine"

Searching for Answers: A panel review of Army Reserve suicides
DVIDS
U.S. Army Reserve Command
Story by Timothy Hale
September 2, 2014

"Soldiers come back from making life and death decisions to ‘clean up on Aisle Nine"

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – In 2013, 57 Army Reserve Soldiers decided the only way out of their particular situation was to take their own life.

That year was the most deadly since 2009.

The fateful choices these Soldiers made left questions, not only for their loved ones, but also for Army Reserve leaders.

To find out the answers, a panel of Army Reserve Suicide Prevention Program managers recently completed an in-depth look at each of the 57 cases. They reviewed more than 30 documents associated with each case to include 15-6 investigations, police reports, witness depositions, suicide notes, medical records, and autopsy reports.

In most of the cases, what they found was unexpected. A suicide was not necessarily connected to a deployment, traumatic brain injury, or post-traumatic event. In many instances, the suicide was driven by either a financial, personal relationship stressor, or may have been based on where they lived.

In 2013, the predominant demographic trait of Army Reserve suicides were white males between the ages of 18-25 – as one panel member said, “these are formative years for cognitive development and the stressors can be too much.”

Overwhelmed by life
“One of the theories might suggest that coping strategies haven’t fully developed,” said Richard Doss, Ph.D., 416th Theater Engineer Command suicide prevention program manager, and a licensed clinical psychologist. “They haven’t had an opportunity to experience adversity and realize that they can overcome adversity.”

Doss also cited that in many cases, a sound financial system and personal support system hadn’t been established.

“They recently left home and are establishing themselves as adults so that transition period into early adulthood is challenging,” he said.

Doss said part of that transition happens when they return home and try to return to life as a civilian.

“They come from a military environment where many decisions are made them and now they have to make their own decisions,” he said. "It can be overwhelming.”

“Soldiers come back from making life and death decisions to ‘clean up on Aisle Nine,’” he said.

“They go from being responsible for millions of dollars worth of equipment to sleeping in their mother’s basement. So that sense of the meaning and purpose and value of life sometimes gets degraded in the process of returning home.”

Community involvement

One of the panel recommendations was to involve the civilian community. Since a majority of Army Reserve Soldiers and their families do not reside near major military installations, community involvement is a key to limiting the number of suicides, the panel members said.

“I’m a realist so what I’d like to see, initially, is to provide better information to those resources in the community about the general, day-to-day needs, that some of our TPU [Troop Program Unit] Soldiers have,” Wade said.

He said this includes their job, financial, medical, mental health, or family circumstances.

“Because their community is more aware of the needs of that TPU Soldier, they are now in a position to invite that Soldier to take advantage of the resources that community has to offer,” he said.

He also didn’t rule out reaching out to veterans’ organizations such as the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Wade said connecting with outside organizations falls in line with Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, or ASIST, that addresses building safer communities.

“It’s an educational process,” Wade said. “It takes time to build a Suicide Safer Community because you have to make connections, you have to get all these different entities connected in such a way where we recognize that we are looking out for everybody.” read more here

Suicide Prevention Takes Honesty, Not Slogans

This is what the DOD thinks will work,

Suicide Prevention Takes Courage, Communication, Official Says
Department of Defense
By Amaani Lyle
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2014 – The Veterans Affairs Department has named September National Suicide Prevention Month, but the Defense Department continues its year-round, comprehensive, multi-pronged approach to address the issue of suicide in the military, a Pentagon official said Aug. 21.

Army Lt. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, military deputy to the Undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, said DoD will broaden suicide prevention programs and resources to increase awareness, prevention and understanding across the force.

Leadership focus
“Suicide prevention is about taking care of each other and that’s a responsibility leaders have to focus on year-round, daily, weekly, monthly … not just in the month of September,” Linnington said.

According to the Department of Defense Suicide Event Report, the 2012 suicide rate [expressed as a number per 100,000 service members] for the active component was 22.7 and for the reserve components was 24.2.

Across the services in 2012, 155 soldiers committed suicide, as did a total of 57 airmen, 59 sailors and 47 Marines.

DoD will focus on total force fitness programs to build mental, physical and spiritual resilience in service members and their families with a focus on training and education for leaders and teams across the military to proactively recognize suicide signs and encourage communication.

Access to medical care
Additionally, DoD will continue to direct efforts to enhance medical care, the general said. The department, he said, “has spent a tremendous amount of leader attention and resources on improving access to care, the quality of care and the ability of service members to seek care in an anonymous nature if that’s what they choose to do.”

Linnington stressed the importance of leaders understanding the array of medical and resilience resources and their entry points.

Help for service members
Military Crisis Line and Military OneSource, he noted, are among the many resources that demonstrate the partnership between DoD and the VA, and give service members an anonymous ability to call-in or engage in online chats to access immediate help.

Newer peer-to-peer networks such as Vets4Warriors have also emerged as valuable resources, he said. In many instances, however, the first people service members can go to for help can be members of the military family, the general said.

“Having walked in our shoes … I think it’s clear that service members are comfortable around those that serve with them and have shared experiences,” he said.

No stigma
There should be no stigma attached to seeking help, Linnington said.

“Getting help when you need it is not only a sign of strength, but it works,” he said. “Having the confidence to seek help when you need it is important.”

Linnington also championed positive, energetic, command climates at all levels.

Leadership support
“If leaders support the rehabilitation and resilience of their service members, then … that opens the door for service members to go out and seek help,” he said.

The general debunked the notion that seeking help could negatively impact a military career.

“One suicide is one too many and leaders throughout the military will do whatever it takes to prevent suicide,” he said.

This is what the troops, veterans and families say,

It doesn't work.

They don't know what PTSD is, why they have it or gain any hope of healing.

Too many they know have been bounced out of the service tied to medications they have been given to "treat" PTSD.

Too many lessons learned have been the wrong ones.

The worst message they received is that PTSD is a mental weakness. After all, that is what "resilience training" has told them for years. If they train to be resilient, then they'd be able to fight off PTSD.

Resilience Training, or Comprehensive Soldier Fitness does not work but they keep pushing it while more lives are lost to suicide in the military and long after they came home.

The DOD claims they are training families but families tell a different story. They have no clue what PTSD is or what they can do to help.

“One suicide is one too many and leaders throughout the military will do whatever it takes to prevent suicide,”

The DOD says those words but they have used the same words for over a decade. History has proven the DOD wrong. The first suicide should have been too many. It shouldn't have taken thousands more to learn their weapon to fight it has backfired.

Veterans over 50 78% of veteran suicides

Hey, lets not talk about the truth behind the numbers. Lets not talk about how we suck at taking care of veterans after sending them off to fight our battles. Lets not talk about how what they have been going through for decades predicts the future of today's veterans unless we change right here, right now.

"Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide"

The military did psychological screenings all the way back to WWI and ever since then, they have managed to put the blame on everyone and everything else. PTSD WWI and WWII

War II. Prominent civil and military medical authorities pointed out that World War I had demonstrated the necessity and feasibility of psychiatric screening in eliminating overt and covert mental disorders prior to entry in the military service. Emphasized by these authorities, based upon the experience of World War I, was the inability of emotionally unstable or otherwise psychiatrically vulnerable persons to absorb training profitably, to tolerate stress, or otherwise to make any useful contribution to the military effort. Also cited as further evidence for the thorough screening out of even potential psychiatric problems was the high cost of mental disorders in war that included their deleterious effect on other soldiers, the increased requirements of medical personnel and facilities to care for these problems, disability pensions, and other veterans' benefits.

During World War II, almost one fourth of all American psychologists were involved in the military. In addition to the screening of recruits, military psychologists were involved in the development of instrument displays, protective gear and placement of controls in aircraft.

The use of psychological warfare and methods of deceiving the enemy were also areas that required the involvement of a military psychologist. In addition to finding ways to affect the enemy, a military psychologist would have been involved in methods to increase soldier morale and deal with any stress issues that the soldiers may face.

Unlike the time after World War I, military psychology did not disappear at the end of World War II. Various veterans' hospitals began training clinical psychologists who could understand the needs of a veteran as well as diagnose and treat other problems. Over fifty percent of all veterans in VA hospitals at that time were diagnosed with a psychological problem.

In a further development, the American Psychological Association organized the Society of Military Psychology in 1945. This society which was also known as Division 19 was one of the original divisions organized by the American Psychological Association.

During the Korean War, clinical psychologists began working overseas with soldiers and in the Vietnam War an increase in psychological problems associated with war was seen.

Post traumatic stress disorder became one of the leading problems faced by Vietnam vets.

Clinicians were deployed with the troops in Korea. As soon as a soldier was showing symptoms of a crisis, they were removed from combat, treated and for the most part, sent back to duty. With Vietnam they tried something new. DEROS, one year deployments. This decreased medical evacuations for psychiatric cases but on the flip side, increased the number of veterans with untreated PTSD.

The result is;

Older Vets Committing Suicide at Alarming Rate
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Aug 31, 2014

Veteran suicide numbers have gone up in recent years with much of the attention focused on veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan killing themselves. However, almost seven out of 10 veterans who have committed suicide were over the age of 50, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study.

Even as the agency collects data to better understand the issue, independent experts acknowledge that finding all the answers won't be easy.

"Nobody knows anything about [why], but we suspect a combination of factors," said Dr. Tom Berger, a Navy corpsman in Vietnam and today executive director of the Veterans Health Council at Vietnam Veterans of America. "Certainly we share some of the risk factors with the younger guys," including post-traumatic stress disorder, high rates of depression and combat.

Older veterans are at an age when the structure they built into their lives starts to loosen up, he said.

"A lot of guys went in, and then they came out and became a workaholic rather than deal with depression and PTSD," he said. They covered over stresses born of service with work and family, but the stresses remain today and the vets are going into retirement and the family structure dissipates as children go or have gone their own ways.

For Korean War veterans it may even be worse. Many of these veterans would have been in their 40s before the VA - under pressure from Vietnam veterans and politicians - acknowledged PTSD was real and began providing services to veterans.

"The Korean guys don't talk about their service, and some of them were involved in the bloodiest battles ... in brutal, cold weather," Berger said.

The VA study found that the percentage of older veterans with a history of VA healthcare who committed suicide actually was higher than that of veterans not associated with VA care. Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide - 9 percentage points higher than the general pool.
read more here