Sgt. Major accused of hoping PTSD veteran would die of AIDS

Army major probed after Facebook message told soldier with PTSD to 'die from AIDS'
The Mirror UK
BySean Rayment
6 OCT 2018

EXCLUSIVE: Rob Walker is now being investigated after the shock message was sent

Rob Walker is being investigated (Image: Western Mail)

A message from an Army sergeant major’s Facebook account said he hoped a soldier discharged with PTSD would die from AIDS.

The comments from Rob Walker’s social media are being investigated by the Royal Military Police and he could face a court martial if he sent the message.

Walker, a Company Sergeant Major in First Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment, served in conflict with the PTSD sufferer in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The message also accused the ex-soldier of sleeping with a 10-year-old Filipino boy.
read more here

"Break the stigma of mental health in public service"

New Florida law will allow first responders to claim benefits for PTSD
ABC 7 News
by Annie Hubbell
September 21st 2018

Under the law, a first responder must be diagnosed with PTSD after witnessing one of seven qualifying events, all including death, and the claim has to be filed within 90 days of it happening.

Fire officials hope a new law will help break the stigma of mental health in public service.

When you're in work mode, you're in autopilot," Assistant Chief of Operations for North Collier Fire and Rescue John McMahon said. "The problem occurs when the individual is done with that call. That person then goes back to being a human being."

Starting October 1, Florida worker's compensation benefits for first responders will now include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder when a person experiences a traumatic event.
read more here
ABC-7.com WZVN News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Naples, Florida


Think about the part where it said, "a traumatic event" which is how civilians end up getting hit by PTSD. Now think about how many of them you experience in your career. If they can get it from one time, which turns out to be over 7 million Americans, then it should be easy to accept the fact that no matter how tough you are, the odds are, you will need help too!

The 90 days is more than a problem about filing a claim. The truth is, the sooner you get help to heal, the better the chances are, the worst will not happen. As soon as you get help to heal from what you survived, you begin to #TakeBackYourLife.

If you have a hard time understanding what PTSD is, this may help. I created it for National Guards and Reservists, but it was used to help first responders. I even got an award for it back in 2008 from the IFOC.

Four fricken decades of PTSD?

Four fricken decades of PTSD and this is the best we got?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 24, 2018

It is very hard to not be in a very bad mood today. We went out for dinner and I had a huge glass of wine. No margarita tonight since I have to get up at 3:45 for work. Hangovers are always bad but way, way too bad at that time.

I came home, feeling a bit more positive than I was before the wine and a great steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse (one of our favorites) until I saw more emails with the same theme we should have eliminated years ago. 

The going trend is the stigma of PTSD is alive and well, while far too many are not.

I read this out of Canada and wondered if it was too early to go to bed. 

Family angry top general rejected stigma as factor in RMC student's suicide on The Canadian Press, JULY 24, 2018

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Kelertas said the version provided to his family specifically identified stigma as a key factor in what happened to Harrison, who died only weeks before he was scheduled to graduate from RMC.

OTTAWA — The father of a Royal Military College student who took his own life says the family is upset that Canada's top general rejected a board of inquiry's finding that stigma around seeking mental-health support was a contributing factor in the death.

Richard Kelertas says Gen. Jonathan Vance's response suggests there is a "disconnect" between senior officers and other Forces members, including RMC students, who remain fearful of what could happen to their careers if they ask for help. (click link for more)

The truth is, it is not just Canada, or the UK, or Australia, or the USA. It is everywhere, because common sense has left the military behind in every nation.

Anyone still approving of, pushing the theory of, or using it for whatever reason they have, are complete total imbeciles!

Psychology. (no longer in technical use; now considered offensive) a person of the second order in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, above the level of idiocy, having a mental age of seven or eight years and an intelligence quotient of 25 to 50.

If you find it offensive, then you must be among those who refuse to learn anything after 4 fricken decades of some of the best minds clarifying it!

We know that anyone who survives a life threatening event can get hit by PTSD.

How common is PTSD?

An estimated 7.8 percent of Americans will experience PTSD at some point in their lives, with women (10.4%) twice as likely as men (5%) to develop PTSD. About 3.6 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 to 54 (5.2 million people) have PTSD during the course of a given year. This represents a small portion of those who have experienced at least one traumatic event; 60.7% of men and 51.2% of women reported at least one traumatic event. The traumatic events most often associated with PTSD for men are rape, combat exposure, childhood neglect, and childhood physical abuse. The most traumatic events for women are rape, sexual molestation, physical attack, being threatened with a weapon, and childhood physical abuse.

About 30 percent of the men and women who have spent time in war zones experience PTSD. An additional 20 to 25 percent have had partial PTSD at some point in their lives. More than half of all male Vietnam veterans and almost half of all female Vietnam veterans have experienced “clinically serious stress reaction symptoms.” PTSD has also been detected among veterans of other wars. Estimates of PTSD from the Gulf War are as high as 10%. Estimates from the war in Afghanistan are between 6 and 11%. Current estimates of PTSD in military personnel who served in Iraq range from 12% to 20%.

If there is a "stigma" then it is for all those people. If there is a stigma for anyone who willingly puts their lives on the line subjecting themselves beyond what average people go through, then it is not backed up by any thinking-rational human!

If anyone is prevented from asking for help to heal as a survivor, especially those who make facing events a career choice, then the leaders at the top are in fact responsible for it!

If they think so less of their own people, we need to wonder what they think of us. Considering they come to rescue us but won't bother to rescue their own people, they must really think we do not deserve help either.

If you have not guessed already, I think I need another glass of wine! This has been one pathetic day and it isn't even Monday! It just feels like it!

UK Troops with PTSD get phone linkup to help

New phone helpline for troops with mental health problems is launched

The Telegraph
February 25, 2018

"I will be working personally with the service chiefs to make sure there isn't a single person in the Armed Forces who doesn't know where to turn in times of trouble."

A helpline to give troops suffering from mental health problems round-the-clock support is being launched.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has announced an extra £20 million in funding to pay for the hotline and other new support services over the next decade.

It follows calls by campaigners, including Lord Dannatt, former head of the British Army, for more help for struggling soldiers.

Mr Williamson said it was "simply unacceptable" that troops should suffer in silence.

"It is our duty to ensure we do all we can for our world-class personnel," he told the Mail on Sunday.

The helpline will be funded by the Ministry of Defence and run with the charity Combat Stress.

Lord Dannatt said the new helpline, which opens at midday on Sunday, was a "massive improvement" in support for troops.

The Military Mental Health Helpline can be called on 0800 323 4444.
read more here

Australia Commander Opens Up About PTSD

Going public: How PTSD broke AFP commander and Australia’s strongest man

News.com
Debbie Schipp
August 21, 2017

AS Australia’s strongest man, former Australian Federal Police Commander Grant Edwards’ physical strength was pure, brutish, inarguable, indisputable power.

So he was as astounded as anyone when he splintered apart mentally.

The unravelling, when it came, left him sobbing uncontrollably. And once the tears started, the flood would not stop. The stone man broke.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was the toll on a man who had been at the forefront of child exploitation and trafficking investigations.

It was 2003, the early days of the spread of internet, and it was grim, sickening, gut-wrenching work.

You didn’t talk about it, he told ABC’s Australian Story in a report on Monday night.

You hardened up. Maybe had a few drinks. And then a lot more. The hangover would mask it.

As AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin concedes: “You didn’t talk about your weaknesses, you didn’t talk about your vulnerabilities, because that was a sign you weren’t doing your job, you weren’t strong enough or cut out to be a police officer,” Commissioner Colvin said.

Earlier this year, the suicide of an officer at the AFP’s Melbourne headquarters led to a flood of complaints from former and existing AFP officers, chronicled by news.com.au’s Megan Palin.
read more here

First Responders Still Struggle With Stigma of PTSD

Study: Many first responders face PTSD

KSLA News

Jeff Ferrell

Reporter

August 11, 2017

"When in reality, being able to be in control of your emotions, be aware and have insight about your emotions, is actual strength," added Davis.

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) -

A startling new study is shedding light on the pressures facing first responders in this country. It found that 85% of them report experiencing symptoms related to mental health issues.

The results of the recent Harris Poll survey conducted for the University of Phoenix comes as no surprise to many crime fighters.

It shows that more than a third of all first responders in this country have received a formal mental health disorder diagnosis, 10% for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, better known as PTSD. 

"Part of the symptoms of PTSD is, you know, having trouble sleeping, hypervigilance, avoiding stimuli, depression, anxiety, irritability," described Clint Davis.

Davis speaks from experience, not just as a licensed professional counselor specializing in PTSD, but also as someone who suffered from the disorder, after returning home from a tour in Afghanistan as an Army Sergeant.

That's why he was not surprised to hear such a high number of first responders struggle with PTSD.

"Every human, no matter how much resiliency they think they have, when they experience trauma it affects their brain," explained Davis.

Despite the fact a majority of first responders across the country have access to mental health services according to that Harris Poll, Davis understands why 39% fear negative repercussions for seeking help.

Those fears range from their supervisor treating them differently to co-workers seeing them as 'weak.'
read more here

"A suicide attempt in an Army unit can lead to more"

Stunning, since after all these years they still can't figure out why healing isn't as contagious as suicide.

A suicide attempt in an Army unit can lead to more, study finds

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN

Updated 3:00 PM ET, Wed July 26, 2017

"Historically, you were protected from suicide when you went in the Army. Rates of suicide were about half of those in the civilian population, and around 2009, they increased to above that of the civilian population and they remained high since then," said Ursano, who was lead author of the new study.

(CNN)Marc Raciti had the tree picked out. 

Positioned on a rolling Hawaiian hillside along the North Shore in Oahu, where the now-retired United States Army major was stationed, that tree was where Raciti said he planned to take his last breath. He planned to hang himself.

As a physician assistant, Raciti had been deployed five times, twice to Iraq, and mourned the suicide deaths of three medics who served with him. He suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and often fantasized about suicide.

"I did lose three medics after coming back from Iraq to suicide, which exasperated my PTSD, but mine is of survivor's guilt for the ones I could not save," Raciti said.

The US Department of Defense has continued to investigate what factors might influence a military member's risk of suicide attempt, and a new study suggests that previous suicide attempts in a particular unit of members can play a significant role.

Marc Raciti, the retired US Army major, said that he kept his silent suffering a secret from those around him, including both his military family and biological family, because of that stigma.
read more here



If you really want to learn more, then watch the video attached to this. They are talking about when Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard actually put the blame on soldiers committing suicide on the soldiers in 2012. Not much has changed, other than the numbers have gone up since then, and not in a good way.

But here are a few more blasts from the past if you think any of this is new.

Yes, that says 2005

A Veteran Needs Your Help With Combat PTSD

A Veteran Needs Your Help 
Combat PTSD Wounded Times 
Kathie Costos 
January 30, 2017

A veteran needs your help. He did everything possible to stay alive in combat. After all, the lives of everyone in his unit depended on him. It didn't matter if he was sick, tired, hungry, or if he spent the night battling memories he didn't want to keep. He was always watching over everyone else.

When he got back home, everything came with him. It wasn't a matter of staying alive, because someone else needed him. It was a matter of not knowing how to get up when he no longer knew who he was. Nightmares, flashbacks, mood swings, pushing people away when he needs to have someone care. 

Hope? No hope of healing. Hell, he didn't think he deserved to and even if someone told him he could, he wouldn't believe them. Not that he would have told anyone he needed help at all. He feels totally alone like no one will ever understand him and even if they did, they would think he was just weak or there was something mentally wrong with him.

All he needs is someone to show up the same way others were watching his back with each deployment. Someone to just show they care about him. That's all he needs to know. He is worthy of someone sitting with him, listening to him, buying him a beer or even a cup of coffee. Picking up the phone and showing some compassion, listening without any judgment or competition.  

Do you think you can do that? Ok, then. That veteran is you. 

It is a safe bet you'd do anything for one of your brothers or sisters, without thinking anything less of them than you did in combat. So what's stopping you from doing what you need to help now? If in your mind your buddies deserved your help, then why don't you deserve their help?

Cross posted on Residualwar.com

Shame Missing on Veterans Committing Suicide

Veterans continue to kill themselves. There is a lot of shame in that but not in them. It is ours to carry!

It is time to stop the bullshit, stop talking, stop writing, stop walking, pushing up, fundraising and getting publicity for what you want to do because we are only making matters worse for the veterans and families we claim we want to help. For Heaven's Sake! They still think having PTSD is something to be ashamed of!

Shame on Congress!
In 1999, when no one was talking about veterans committing suicide other than veterans and families, this chart shows there were 20 a day taking their own lives. There were over 5 million more veterans in the country. Thus, while the number of reported suicides has remained consistent, the number of veterans has been greatly reduced.

Why? For over a decade of bills being written, and funded, the result has been a higher percentage of veterans have been taking their own lives, not less. In 2007 the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act was signed into law. Ever since then, there has been an endless series of politicians writing the same bills, repeating what has failed.

Shame on Veterans Groups!
In 1978 the DAV produced a study on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The title was The Forgotten Warrior Project. This is the pamphlet they were handing out. I got a copy of it in 1993 and received a lot of comfort knowing it was not just happening to my family.

I love all these groups and belong to some of them, as I have for most of my life. Yet, as the DAV, VFW and American Legion groups complain about the lack of younger veterans joining, they have done far too little to remember what it was like when they came home. Seems there is far too much unawareness on PTSD. 

Why? Families are still searching for support and information, yet, these groups sit back and let regular folks make claims to the press about what they are doing. They allow the press to keep making the public believe that the suicides are happening only to younger veterans, while the majority of veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50. They allow Congress to continue to write bills that do not work and waste precious time instead of taking the time to know what they are dealing with before they rush to do anything that makes them feel good but leaves veterans behind. Put together groups and open it up to non-members. Prove they do matter that much to you and then maybe you'll get them to join. As long as that is not your goal and you prove you do care, any help you give them will be appreciated and will actually make a difference.

Shame on Reporters!

Why? You continue to give publicity to people doing pushups while veterans get pushed away from families and friends because they have been living under the assumption there is no hope for them. You jump on what is easy to report on, like repeating a number in a report without reading the report itself, thus perpetuating a headline as if it was correct instead of discovering what the facts really were.

Have any of you actually tried to figure out how taking a walk, doing pushups or having a group run benefits anyone other than the participants? It doesn't help veterans stay alive after surviving combat. I still wonder if any of you take this seriously enough to have noticed that fact? They did everything humanly possible to survive combat but lost hope here? How about you actually go out and interview folks about what worked for them? How about you spend some time in support groups, hearing their stories with open minds and then doing your own research about what they were talking about?

Shame on All of Us! 

 Why? If you are a family member and you decided that you were going to become the answer to save other families from going through the same anguish, great. Not so much if you only have experience in that anguish but have taken no time at all to understand what you are dealing with. If you do not want to invest the time and wait until you actually understand it, don't make it worse for the people you want to help. You are qualified to start a support group for others just like you and that is very much needed. Otherwise, remember, you are heartbreakingly an expert on what failed. Think about what would have helped you help your veteran and then learn all you can about it. It is only by becoming aware of all that comes with PTSD, the different causes, levels and types, that you will be able to begin to put together a team to respond appropriately.

You will encounter veterans in crisis and you need to know what to do, how to talk to them, and above all, who you can call to get them help as soon as possible. You need to know the difference between calling the Crisis Line, 911 and if you should ask for police or the fire department to respond, or when all you need to do is listen.   

You also need to know that once you lose a veteran you were trying to help, no matter how much you knew ahead of time, you do not recover from it.

No matter how many veterans I help, the one I lost over a decade ago is a loss I have never gotten over. My husband's nephew committed suicide because for all I knew, all the research, I did not figure out how to get him to listen. 

 

PTSD Soldiers Still Being Abused At Warrior Transition Units

Two years ago, the Dallas Morning News and NBC Dallas, "Injured Heroes Broken Promises" reported on how wounded soldiers were being abused at Warrior Transition Units. Yep, the very place where they were supposed to be sent to heal from what combat did to them. Most of the time we're talking about PTSD soldiers being told to "man up" but the reporters covering national news worthy of national attention did not think any of this was important. 

Most people in the country had no clue what was going on. So much for social media folks putting more attention on raising awareness about suicides instead of actually paying attention to the biggest reason behind our young veterans committing suicide. You'd think this would matter, but then again, they want you to think if they get attention for talking, they never really have to achieve what they claim is important to them.

The fine reporting out of Dallas Morning News and NBC Dallas is one of the reasons this site exists. The news is out there and it is up to you to do something with it, or just keep supporting what is popular. Hey, here's a thought, how about we make the truth matter for a change?

Badly wounded veterans need better care from special Army units, report says
Dallas Morning News
David Tarrant and Scott Friedman
November 11, 2016

“Those are the things we had lived through,” added Cynthia Adams, sitting next to her husband at their kitchen table. She’s relieved “it’s finally out there,” but wonders: “What difference is this going to make?”

FRANKSTON — Ken Adams leans on two canes as he limps into his dining room. Spread across the table are prescription pill bottles, knee and back braces, a therapeutic boot and other medical supplies he’s come to rely on in recent years after injuries he sustained in the Army.

Adams spent nearly two years in a Warrior Transition Unit, or WTU, a special Army unit for injured soldiers who need extensive medical treatment and rehabilitation. But his medical problems got worse — not better, he said.

At Fort Hood's WTU, Adams says commanders fought against his doctor's recommendations and denied him treatments for debilitating back pain.

When he complained to his supervisors, they made him feel like he was trying to milk the system. “I was just another dirtbag looking for a meal ticket,” said Adams, 50, a retired master sergeant and Bronze Star veteran of the Iraq war. “None of what I had achieved or had done on a personal level or in the military was of any relevance.”

Stories like Adams’ are backed up by a government report that recently found that the Army needs to improve how it cares for severely wounded warriors in its WTUs. Congress ordered the report after a series of investigative stories by The Dallas Morning News and its broadcast partner, KXAS-TV (NBC5).
read more here

Original report

Deputy Sheriff: 'I Felt Like a Failure' Stigma of PTSD

Deputy Sheriff: 'I Felt Like a Failure'
WEBMD
By Katherine Kam, Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, DO, MS
November 10, 2016

Like soldiers, cops prize a show of toughness, and acknowledging PTSD is hard. “It takes a lot for cops to talk about their internal feelings because we don’t want to be judged or we’re afraid our gun will be taken away from us. We may lose our job,” DiBona says. “I held all that in, and I told very few people what was going on.”

Nov. 10, 2016 -- In 31 years of police work, Sgt. Mark DiBona has witnessed a torrent of human tragedy. But it took a child’s death a decade ago to crush his spirit.

DiBona was sitting in his police cruiser at 3 a.m. when a mother drove up and screamed that her 6-month-old son had stopped breathing. Firefighters at a nearby station were out on a call, so DiBona tried to revive him with CPR. But the baby died from sudden infant death syndrome.

“I felt worthless that I could not save the baby through my training, and I tried my hardest,” he says.

After he attended the baby’s funeral, the nightmares started.

The baby appeared in terrifying dreams: in his mailbox, at the dinner table with him and his wife, in the passenger seat of the police car.

In one nightmare, the doorbell rang and DiBona answered it, startled to find the baby lying on his doorstep. “He was lifeless,” DiBona says. “I started doing CPR again, and I woke up in a cold sweat, yelling and screaming, just feeling bad that I couldn’t save the baby.”

During the day, DiBona was tormented by intrusive thoughts, as well as guilt and shame -- negative emotions that kept intensifying. He isolated himself from other officers.
read more here

Stupidity Feeds Stigma of PTSD

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?

PTSD Veterans: "Thank You For Your Service" Powerful Force

This is a stunning reminder of what is still going on, but that is what keeps getting missed. This has been going on for generations and the worst part is, after over a decade of prevention, it is worse now than ever.

OnlyOnAOL: PTSD filmmakers, veteran respond to Trump's comments 
AOL.COM EDITORS 
By: Donna Freydkin 
Oct 4th 2016

He's insulted women, Latinos and Muslims, and admitted to not paying taxes.

This week, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump started his latest media maelstrom with his comments about veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The documentary tells the story of four struggling Iraq War veterans, including Rodriguez.

"I think this is an issue that has been silent for far too long," says Rodriguez. "This is an issue that is bipartisan and most people care about veterans' mental health."
read more here

The Last Thing PTSD Veterans Are is Weak

Joe Biden talks about a Captain and how he did not want the Silver Star. Why? Because the soldier he saved ended up dying. Personally, after all these years, the last thing these men and women are is weak.

How do they go from enduring ever considerable hardship, putting their own lives on the line day in and day out, and then end up having anyone think, they just couldn't handle it? Especially when you consider that few end up committing suicide while they are deployed but end up ending their lives after surviving combat.

The last thing they are is not strong enough. That's the problem. They are too strong emotionally and feel it all more than others. Would be great if some of these folks in charge would finally figure that one out.


WOW: Joe Biden PASSIONATELY Calls Out Donald Trump on His PTSD Comments, Shares Story of Son Beau FOX 10 Phoenix

Veterans Come Out in Force Against Trump PTSD Comment

Trump under fire for PTSD comments
STARS AND STRIPES
By ALEX HORTON
Published: October 3, 2016

“I mean, I guess by reinforcing stigma (strong soldiers don’t get PTSD!), he’s doing his part to keep those VA lines short!” tweeted Ana Marie Cox, a political and culture columnist at MTV News and New York Times Magazine. Cox, with 1.3 million followers on Twitter, drove commentary early on.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday told an audience of veterans that “a lot of people can’t handle” post-traumatic stress, igniting controversy on the sticking points of discussing mental health among troops and veterans.

“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,” Trump said during a question-and-answer session with Retired American Warriors, a political action committee, in Herndon, Va.

“And you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle it,” he said.

The remarks touched off charged discussion on Twitter as commentators took at least two positions: Trump appearing to characterize veterans with PTSD as weak on one hand, and Trump indelicately describing the complexities of trauma that could lead to avoidance of help on the other.

Eduardo Colon replied to Cox, saying “Vet with PTSD here -- I can’t wait for this election to be over with -- hopefully trump will disappear.” Other veterans offered restraint over the comments. “Trump isn’t even close to enlightened on mental health issues. But hard to watch that and think he was implying PTSD sufferers are weak,” tweeted Max Rosenthal, a reporter with Mother Jones and an Army veteran.

Trump went on to say he would have a “very robust level of performance” at the Department of Veterans Affairs in his administration, offering few details.
read more here

Trump Says PTSD Veterans "Can't Handle It"

Trump suggests that vets with PTSD ‘can’t handle it’
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
October 3, 2016


Video by Donald Trump Speeches Events

Donald Trump is drawing criticism after he appeared to suggest that veterans who suffer from PTSD might not be as strong as those who don’t.

Trump made the reference Monday as he discussed his commitment to improving mental health services for veterans at an event held by the Retired American Warriors political action committee.
read more here


Full Event: Donald Trump Speech at Retired American Warriors Town Hall in Herndon, VA (10/3/2016)

Australia Police Officers: Do Not Have Courage To Ask For Help?

In Australia only 7 police officers out of 1,500 asked for help for PTSD. A survey showed that half of the officers have PTSD.

“There’s more than likely a significant number more that are suffering and don’t have the courage at this point in time to put their hand up and say I need help.” according to the findings. Imagine that! They risk their lives everyday for someone else needing help. That takes courage. So why would it require more courage to ask for help because of it?

Northern Territory police officers struggle to discuss post traumatic stress disorder
NT News Australia
KIERAN BANKS
August 21, 2016

“There’s more than likely a significant number more that are suffering and don’t have the courage at this point in time to put their hand up and say I need help.”

Northern Territory Police Association president Paul McCue

NEARLY every second police officer in the Northern Territory has been touched by post traumatic stress, according to a survey of frontline cops.

Despite the statistic gathered by the NT Police Association, only seven police officers out of the nearly 1500 in the Territory officially reported mental stress to their department in the past two years.

The survey found 41 per cent of police had experienced PTSD personally or with a colleague and 80 per cent said they had received no education or information about the illness.
read more here

PTSD Efforts Being Turned Back By Sterotypes

Police Shootings Touch Nerve Among Military Veterans
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By JULIE WATSON
SAN DIEGO
Jul 20, 2016

Many veterans fear the service records of the gunmen will feed a false perception that combat veterans are volatile and violent, turning back years of efforts to change such stereotypes.

FILE - In this Sunday, July 17, 2016 file photo, Baton Rouge Police investigate the scene in Baton Rouge, La., where several law enforcement officers were killed and wounded. Back-to-back attacks on police in Texas and Louisiana by former military men have touched a nerve among veterans who traditionally share a close bond with law enforcement. Veterans and active-duty troops started posting messages on social media almost immediately after the news broke this weekend that a masked ex-Marine had ambushed law enforcement along a busy highway, killing three officers - including a fellow former Marine. (Scott Clause/The Daily Advertiser via AP, File)

Back-to-back attacks on police in Texas and Louisiana by former military men have touched a nerve among veterans who traditionally share a close bond with law enforcement.

Veterans and active-duty troops started posting messages on social media almost immediately after the news broke last weekend that a masked ex-Marine had ambushed law enforcement along a busy highway, killing three officers — including a fellow former Marine.

Seeing one Marine kill another Marine after both had returned home safely from the battlefield in Iraq has been especially painful for the military's smallest branch, which considers service life-long membership among a force whose official motto is: "Semper Fidelis," or "Always Faithful."

"In the Marine community, we don't believe in 'ex-Marines'. However that is not the case when one decides to break the moral and ethical values we hold dear. The ex-Marine that opened fire on officers is everything we swear to protect our Nation from," Marine Cpl. Eric Trichel wrote on a Facebook page with about 25,000 mostly Marine members.

In an email to The Associated Press, he emphasized he was not speaking on behalf of the Marine Corps.
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PTSD: Taking the Mystery Out of IT

PTSD and Demystifying IT
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 4th 2016

Independence Day is the day we honor all the generations of men and women putting their lives on the line as Patriots to obtain freedom and all those who came afterwards to retain it.

The price paid is usually measured within the count of war deaths.  Sometimes when thought more deeply about all that is involved the number of all those who fought for this country are counted.  Sometimes when even more respectful thought is applied the wounded are counted but then there are those whose wounds are never accounted for.

There is a reason for that. As hard as researchers try to figure out how many carry the wounds borne by battle, there are far too many left out of the total. Many of the wounded never forget the price they paid while no one ever sees the cost embedded within their minds.

No generation came home without paying a price.  No wound is new and that is the most depressing thing of all. For all the years of research into what has been called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since the 70's, it has actually been studied in WWI.

While the military has been attempting to counter the stigma of PTSD and reduce the number of suicides for a decade, the result has proven to be a failed attempt. While every member of the military has been trained in "prevention" that clearly has not worked on those with multiple deployments. What has been the most overlooked aspect of all is that it did not even work for those who never deployed.

Gen. Robert Neller said he is also troubled by the spike in suicides for Marines who’ve never deployed. That number has jumped from 36 percent of the service’s suicides in 2013 to 66 percent in 2015. During the first four months of this year, that number is up to 73 percent. Sixteen Marines who never deployed have taken their own lives in 2016.

The stigma is alive but far too many are no longer alive because the root of PTSD remains a mystery to them. To feel ashamed of feeling when it is that very aspect within a person compelling them to be willing to die for the sake of someone else is astonishing. One would have to have a very strong emotional core to be even thinking of doing that for a living.

We need to demystify IT to take away the power it has and restore power to the veterans over the next part of life, healing.

P Post is listed "to bring to public notice by or as by a poster or bill" but is also defined as 'a prefix, meaning “behind,” “after,” “later,” “subsequent to,” “posterior to,” occurring originally in loanwords from Latin ( postscript)'

You were a certain way before IT happened to you. The second IT happened, you were a victim of it. The next second, you were a survivor of IT. IT attacked you and changed you. Here is the thing you do not hear often enough. You can change again.

T Trauma is defined as "an agent, force, or mechanism that causes trauma" and is Greek for "wound" so, it hit you not started from within you.

Yet again, we see another example of the simplicity within the complexity of PTSD. IT caused a wound within your skin striking at the part of your brain where feelings are fueled by your past and doing battle with your future.

As with all wounds, it heals treated properly. The sooner the wound is treated, the less of a scar it leaves behind.  Much like a wound on your body, an infection can spread out destroying tissue. Once treated, a scar is often left behind but treated soon after IT happened, it is hard to notice it was ever there.

S Stress is defined as "a state resulting from a stress; one of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium "

The stress you feel should actually be less than when IT happened in the first place. Too often you can push the pain to the back of your mind but IT is still there.Flashbacks are caused by stuff that awakens the memory you thought was gone. Things you see, smell, feel and the often overlooked, anniversary date, can bring IT back as if was happening all over again.

D Disorder is defined as "to destroy the order or regular arrangement of; disarrange" and "to derange the physical or mental health or functions of."

Having the disorder of PTSD is not a sign of weakness and is not as bad as it may sound.  When something is out of order, it means at one time it was in order, all where it was supposed to be. It also means it can be put back into place again. Nothing about PTSD is hopeless and no one is destined to remain as you are this second.

The way you think and how you feel has been disrupted but the origins of who you were, your foundation, is all still there. IT just keeps getting in the way of feeling anything good because what was bad about IT was allowed to gain strength.

Strength is yet one more aspect of PTSD that is not talked about enough.  It is because your emotional core is so strong you felt IT all more than others. Maybe you survived IT once and just had memories left behind. Maybe you survived more times when you were hit again and those times built onto what the original IT did. Sooner or later you felt too much of IT and not enough of dealing with IT so IT got embedded within you.

As with everything, what something means to you is all too often based on what you think it means instead of what it actually means.

Australian Troops Fear of "Career Suicide" Seeking Outside Care for PTSD

ADF personnel seek PTSD treatment in secrecy to avoid 'career suicide', members say
ABC News Australia
Exclusive by Alexandra Fisher
Updated earlier today at 1:13am

"You're almost alienated from the system ... you can't go to work, you can't drive a vehicle, can't carry a weapon."

Key points:
ADF members say they speak to mental health professionals outside the Department
Talking about mental illness could jeopardise worker's career, members say
ADF says reporting mental illness ensures members are provided with proper support

Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel are being treated in secret for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions to avoid jeopardising their careers, according to serving and former members.

James (not his real name) has just recently retired from a 25-year career in the Australian Army and said he never told the ADF he had PTSD.

"I'd go and speak to professionals outside of Defence," he said.

"I'd go see a psychologist and talk to them about what was wrong."

The ADF told the ABC in a statement that members were required to tell them if they were being treated outside the ADF system.

But James said if he spoke up about his mental illness, he risked his career.
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