Put Knowledge Where Your Heart Is

Good Intentions Meaningless Awareness
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 30, 2017

Let us assume the folks raising awareness have good intentions. They probably do not know they are doing more harm than good. Now, let us assume they have no idea they are not even close to the truth. Considering they probably didn't read the reports they keep quoting, it is doubtful they have studied the results of their time.

None of the new groups are interested in older veterans, even though veterans over the age of 50 are 65% of the suicides. Set that fact aside for the moment. 

They seem to think that the suicides they do acknowledge are only among the War on Terror generation. After all, that is all they managed to learn.

So, we'll take a look at what those results have produced.


This is from the report on suicides from the VA that was released last year.

That is the outcome of all the "awareness" folks getting the attention while they truth was silenced. These are the veterans they pay attention to, talk about, post about, take walks for, do pushups for and all the while, this proves it got worse for those veterans.

Just with the numbers from 2012 and 2014, it shows a rise even just from veterans in the VA system. 

18-24 2012 66.3 2014 110.3
25-29 2012 55.9 2014 56.3
30-39 2012 50.8 2014 51.2
40-49 2012 23.5 2014 28.0
50-59 2012 21.8 2014 22.9

If everyone is saying the same thing, then when you tell them the truth, they think you're lying. No matter how hard you try to prove what the truth really is, they won't admit they had no clue or even apologize for the agony it caused.

Awareness "efforts" started about a decade ago. By 2009, more and were doing research. It was not until the VA released the first study putting the number of veteran suicides at 22 a day that it seemed as if everyone wanted to be the one to change the outcome. As this chart shows, it actually got worse, because while the number does not seem changed by much, we lost millions of older veterans.

The next time you are asked to donate to any of these groups or join in on the "effort" think about all that.

If you want to change the outcome on anything, then you need to have some knowledge first or you'll just add to the problem. 

You may want to start to ask some questions.

What are they doing with the money?

Are they focused on all veterans or just some?

Do they know what the real numbers are?

Do they know why some veterans are not included in the studies?

Do they know the percentage of veterans not going to the VA?

Do they know the difference between discharges or how they effect death certificates?

Do they know which states were not part of any of the studies?

The last question to ask is perhaps the most important one of all. If they did not know any of this, then how important were any of these veterans to them? 

"The VA has betrayed our veterans" But members of Congress did it first

OMG! I need to stay out of social media. Yet again I was reading about someone ignoring the fact that all the problems the OEF and OIF veterans have with their claims and treatment from the VA is new. 

"The VA has betrayed our veterans." Paul Sullivan Veterans For Common Sense said after his group filed a lawsuit because veteran were waiting too long for medical care and compensation. Here is a little history lesson, because if we ignore it, nothing will change. 

Injured Iraq War Vets Sue VA

Frustrated by delays in health care, injured Iraq war veterans accused VA Secretary Jim Nicholson in a lawsuit of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment. 

The class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks broad changes in the agency as it struggles to meet growing demands from veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Suing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it charges that the VA has failed warriors on numerous fronts. It contends the VA failed to provide prompt disability benefits, failed to add staff to reduce wait times for medical care and failed to boost services for post-traumatic stress disorder. 

The lawsuit also accuses the VA of deliberately cheating some veterans by allegedly working with the Pentagon to misclassify PTSD claims as pre-existing personality disorders to avoid paying benefits. The VA and Pentagon have generally denied such charges.

"When one of our combat veterans walks into a VA hospital, then they must see a doctor that day," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, which filed the lawsuit. "When a war veteran needs disability benefits because he or she can't work, then they must get a disability check in a few weeks."

You may think that just happened. You need to think again because if you just started to pay attention to all of this, you're wrong. That report came out July 23, 2007. There was a budget crisis.

Yet, the lawsuit says, Nicholson and other officials still insisted on a budget in 2005 that fell $1 billion short, and they made "a mockery of the rule of law" by awarding senior officials $3.8 million in bonuses despite their role in the budget foul-up.

And while our veterans and families were suffering after decades of promises from members of Congress, they never once apologized for any of it.

"The performance of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs has contributed substantially to our sense of national shame," the opinion from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals read.Nicholson abruptly announced last week he would step down by Oct. 1 to return to the private sector. 

He has repeatedly defended the agency during his 2½-year tenure while acknowledging there was room for improvement.More recently, following high-profile suicide incidents in which families of veterans say the VA did not provide adequate care, Nicholson pledged to add mental health services and hire more suicide-prevention coordinators.

A year later the VA Budget was $3 Billion short! Paul Sullivan continued the fight and was demanding some accountability when more veterans were committing suicide while waiting in a backlog of 600,000. Veterans were telling employees they were suicidal and were put on a waiting list.  

Now that may seem as if that was new but it happened to Vietnam veterans in the 80's and 90's. Not that it mattered since Congress did nothing about it. After all, when it reached the point where President Bush had to fight against veterans in court, no one put the blame on Congress.

During an interview given in November for the original CBS story, Dr. Katz told reporter Armen Keteyian that "There is no epidemic in suicide in the VA, but suicide is a major problem." When pressed for an answer to explain the VA's inability to come up with any suicide statistics among veterans, Katz replied "That research is ongoing." 

However, "After a public records request, the VA provided CBS News with data that showed there were a total of 790 attempted suicides by VA patients in the entire year of 2007." This number does not match up at all with a private email sent by Dr. Katz to a colleague in which he states that the VA has identified "about 1000 suicide attempts a month in patients we see at are medical facilities," a far cry from his public estimate of 790 a year.

PS, that really hasn't changed either. As you can see, not much has changed.

Everyone Raising Awareness of Death by Default

A friend asked why I am always so pissed off when I hear the term "raising awareness" and here is the answer,

March to raise awareness of veteran suicide

Winchester Sun-7 hours ago

An average of 22 veterans die by suicide each day, according to a 2016 report from the Veterans Affairs Office of Suicide Prevention. 

Soldiers raising awareness about veteran suicide make it to the Soo

UpperMichigansSource.com-1 hour ago

(WLUC) - The two soldiers walking across the Upper Peninsula to raise awareness about veteran suicide, Staff Sergeant Michael Beattie and...

VA looks for ways to curb veteran suicide crisis

FOX 13 News, Tampa Bay-May 23, 2017

TAMPA (FOX 13) - The Department of Veterans Affairs says the suicide rate for veterans has surged in recent years, and VA Secretary David 

WNY Veteran to ride 422 miles in wheelchair for veteran suicide ...

wivb.com-May 22, 2017

Geartz struggled with thoughts of suicide. According to the VA, an average of 20 veterans die from suicide each day. “I previously attempted .

Second Annual DSM March to Raise Awareness for Veteran Suicide

whotv.com-May 22, 2017

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Twenty veterans nationwide commit suicide every day, according to a 2016 Department of Veterans Affairs study.

Soldiers raise awareness of veteran suicide

Daily Mining Gazette-May 24, 2017

MARQUETTE — Two soldiers from the Michigan National Guard — who are marching across Michigan's Upper Peninsula to raise awareness ...

New Albany gym and charity join forces to fight veteran suicide

WDRB-May 24, 2017

Ten percent of the gym's membership fees go to fund suicide prevention programs for veterans such as Joshua Leary, who suffered a brain ...

Navy veteran walking across country for veteran suicide and PTSD

WBIR-TV-May 21, 2017

CHATTANOOGA - (WRCB) A Navy veteran is walking across the country with his service dog to raise awareness about veteran suicide and ...

Midland boy spreads awareness on veteran suicide, motorcycle ...

NewsWest9.com-May 21, 2017

22 Kill push up videos have played a part in fighting against veteran suicide. By doing 22 push-ups and sharing it online, these videos spread .

Veterans leave on 92-mile hike to raise awareness for veteran suicide

Fox17-Apr 27, 2017

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. - A handful of veterans stepped off on a 92-mile hike Thursday morning to raise awareness for veteran suicide.

Group of men running to save veterans' lives

KALB News (press release)-2 hours ago

(WDBJ) -- These men are running to raise awareness for veterans who ... We're trying to highlight 22 veteran suicides a day," Campbell said.

House resolution supports veterans organization

FOX43.com-May 23, 2017

Mission 22 creates large-scale public memorials, in an effort to raise awareness about, and prevent, veteran suicide. 

MJ gym helps local vets 'lift for their lives' to prevent suicide

Wilson Post-May 24, 2017

The day his wife officially left him, Davis almost committed suicide. A Veteran's hospital was just two blocks away. "I asked for the ER there," ...

Veterans March to Bring Awareness to PTSD, Suicide

Spectrum News-May 21, 2017

At the state capitol, people marched to bring awareness to veterans' issues like homelessness, PTSD and suicide. According to the VA, around ...

Those are just from this week and only a couple of pages into a Google search. 

With all these folks raising awareness, how is it that none of them seem to know how to change the outcome? 

If you've been passing along "awareness" links, bet you feel foolish now. After all, you just contributed to part of the problem getting the attention along with the group but not giving veterans anything worth living for. These veterans haven't been able to count on those using numbers as if they actually mattered.

STOP DEFAULTING ON THE DEBT!

In 1999 the number from the VA was 20 a day and the last report had it at 20 a day. Its time to raise hell and get them the help they need starting with the giving them reasons to fight and take back control of their lives!

Easy Stunts on Raising Suicide Awareness Predictable Outcome

Awareness of Predictable Heartbreaking Outcome
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 10, 2017

All across the country people have been publicly punishing themselves and talking about veterans committing suicide. Yep, that is what it boils down to. They are making themselves feel better by loading up backpacks and taking a hike, walking miles, doing pushups and asking for our money. They may feel as if they just accomplished something but the truth is, they'd run out of things to talk about if they were actually doing the work to change the outcome and save lives.

How can they save anyone by taking a walk? Veterans with PTSD have plenty of experience with people walking away from them.

How can they save anyone by doing pushups? Veterans are used to people pushing them out of their lives.

How can strapping on a heavy backpack do them any good when the weight of their service is crushing their souls?

The answer to saving lives is none of the above. But why do the work when that has to be done in private, side-by-side with them and freely given. A lot harder than doing a publicity stunt.

Suicides within the military was also a predicable outcome back in 2009. I predicted it back then after decades of research, working with veterans and paying attention as if all of this mattered. The rise in OEF and OIF veterans committing suicide was also predictable considering they had this training that was supposed to prevent them from becoming "mentally weak" which added insult to their injury. When they were told they could train their brains to be mentally tough, that is the message they believed and to them, it meant they were weak or didn't train right.

When the DOD pointed out that a lot of the suicides happened when the servicemembers had not even deployed, that should have sounded alarm bells all over the country. If that training wasn't even good enough to prevent non-deployed from taking their own lives, how did they expect it to do any good for those with multiple deployments?

When the number of suicides within the military went up, after they started this "effort" and spent billions over the last decade on it, why did they continue to use it? 

This was also supposed to include military families on training them to be "resilient" as well. Had any of this worked, we wouldn't have to be reading something like the following report.

Study explores military-family functioning before and after suicide deaths

Kristie Auman-Bauer

May 8, 2017

"Spouses of Marines who died by suicide reported significantly lower family cohesiveness and were five times more likely to report family conflict in the year prior to the death compared to spouses of Marines who died in combat. Spouses of those who died by suicide also reported having poorer psychological health in the year prior to the suicide. There were no differences in spouse attitudes toward the military either before or after Marine deaths, and attitudes remained relatively positive."

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For the first time in modern history, the suicide rate of active-duty service members exceeds that of the civilian population. This finding is even more alarming considering that the suicide rate for U.S. civilians hit a 30-year high in 2014, rising a staggering 24 percent in the preceding 15 years.

Neither the factors that contribute to service-member suicides, nor the impact of suicides on military families are well understood. “It has been assumed for a long time that the increase in military suicides was due to the high operational tempo of the Global War on Terror,” stated Keith Aronson, associate director of the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State and senior research associate in the department of biobehavioral health. “However, there are conflicting findings in the research with some studies finding the highest suicide rates are actually among those service members who never deployed.” read more here

PTSD Veterans Need A Reputation Defender

Who Defends PTSD Veterans With Truth?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 30, 2016

In the 80's and 90's researching suicides tied to military service used to make me very sad. After all, the online world had not connected the entire planet to information like that. We whispered about them as if they were something to be ashamed of. That is until we got angry, finally figuring out, that these are the same men and women, were willing to die for the sake someone else, yet could not find that same will to live after it. Yes, coming home was more dangerous to them back then too.

They were homeless and reports said there were 300,000 veterans walking the streets, but Congress simply ignored them. They were getting arrested and ended up in jail for crimes that were tied to their service, but Veterans Courts did not exist. They stood in line at the VA and fought for years to have their claims approved. They needed caregivers who gave up jobs to provide the loving care these veterans needed but would not receive otherwise.

They were not just suffering, they started to fight back and everything available for the generations following them, as imperfect as it all is, began because they take a stand for the sake of their brothers and sisters. The worst part is, they are still the majority of the suicides tied to military service. They led the way then were left behind.

I am no longer simply sad about what they face on a daily basis. I am pissed off! If you aren't then you haven't been paying attention to any of this.

With the online world what it is, anyone can post anything they want, a company called Reputation Defender popped up in 2006, offering to fix how the world sees customers. There is a case that goes back to 2006, but it is doubtful the reputation needing defending will ever seek them. 

PTSD veterans are the subject of at least 16,700,000 results on a Google search. Everyone seems to be talking about them. What really sucks is that as life back home gets worse for them, it has been very profitable for the publicists of their suffering.

Want proof? Easy to deliver. Reuters published an article Friday "Veterans may face higher risk of suicide during first year back home." The research also showed that "six years after leaving the military, veterans had a 63 percent higher risk of suicide than those still in the service." Pretty shocking to some, but not new at all to the rest of us.

As for those still in the military, the ones that never seem to get mentioned in the arbitrary number of "22" a day, while the DOD claims deployment has little to do with suicides, we have this piece of news. "However, in the first quarter following deployment, service members had a 50 percent higher risk of suicide than their peers who didn't experience deployment."

Yet again, we find this ties into another blast from the past within another article about redeployments from the Army's research on PTSD. The research was published on the Washington Post December 20, 2006, appropriately titled warning of "Repeat Iraq Tours Raise Risk of PTSD, Army Finds" 

U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health.

But what did they do? They kept redeploying them and then wondered why they were committing suicide. All they had to do was actually understand their own research to discover the answer.

The report also found a doubling of suicides among soldiers serving in the Iraq war from 2004 to 2005, the latest period for which data are available. Twenty-two soldiers took their own lives in Iraq and Kuwait in 2005, compared with 11 in 2004 and 25 in 2003, Army officials said.

They were sent to Iraq in 2003, so when you think of those numbers, consider that the number of deployments was nowhere near the number these men and women have been facing with 15 years of war.

The Department of Defense finally released the 2nd Quarter Suicide report for 2016. With less serving now than in 2006, the reported total for the first six months is 120 Active and 101 Reserve/National Guards. 

Billions are spent every year as members of Congress get their names put on Bills they write claiming to be about preventing suicides, yet as this shows, nothing they have done worked.

We have about 5 million less veterans than we had back in 1999, but as you can see, the numbers have not changed. The latest research has the number back at 20 veterans committing suicide a day again. 

So when do we defend their reputations against falsehoods? When do we take a stand for them and say we reached the "one too many" of them dying by their own hands because they did not get what they needed to fight back home?

You want to raise awareness? Then start with the truth. Start with the fact that none of this is new and that is the most deplorable thing of all. We ran out of excuses as soon as the world was connected and what was happening in one part of the country was not known nationally. Do you really want to change anything or do you want to remain sad and do nothing with substance?

The Fault in Battle Against Veteran Suicides

There was a time when I avoid any mention of an Opinion piece but shockingly enough, I started to notice that the writer was actually paying attention. Reading the headline of "The VA’s Faltering Battle Against Veteran Suicide" by Robert M. Morgenthau on The Wall Street Journal, there is a lot that he got right.

"The most dramatic manifestation of PTSD among veterans now is a suicide rate approximately twice that of the general population."

We can quote all the numbers we want as many times as we want but the truth is, these reported numbers have remained pretty much unchanged with a casual look. In 1999 it was 20 a day and again, this year, the VA sets the reported number at 20 a day. 

What is not mentioned is that back in 1999 there were about 5 million more veterans in the country than there are now.

"It is time for Congress and the administration to take ownership of this issue."

For all the hearings and claims made by politicians, all the money spent, it is actually worse now than it was when the press failed our veterans and did not want to publicize what families like mine were going through. We suffered in silence, not by our own choice, but because the American public was not able to hear us.

Congress has just blamed the VA yet within the numbers the fact remains that veterans receiving treatment from the VA are less likely to commit suicide than those who are not turning to the VA. Instead of spending money on what does work, funding programs that were learned and proven over the last 4 decades, they push repeated failures.

And what veterans do not agree with.

Similarly, we need to face frankly that current efforts to combat PTSD and suicide have been inadequate. To supply crucially needed mental health services, Congress and the administration need to act immediately to provide veterans access to civilian mental-health services, and need to improve treatment by dramatically expanding public/private partnerships. This must be a priority.

They do not want to go to a civilian doctor simply because they are civilians. They cannot begin to understand a veteran back from combat he/she left the night before in their dreams. As for those still in the military, they are not included in on any of the quoted numbers but are included in on the suffering.

Florida Combat Medic Veteran Thinks Suicide is His Only Answer After Decades of "Awareness"

Jacksonville veteran feels suicide is only answer despite push to raise awareness during September
Florida Times Union
Joe Daraskevich
September 28, 2016

Terry Russell Bass Jr. joined the Army when he was 19 years old. He believed in the military and was willing to give his life for his country so strangers could enjoy the feeling of freedom.

He’s now 35, living with his wife and three children in a mobile home on Jacksonville’s Westside, and he’s ready to kill himself so his family doesn’t have to struggle anymore.

“I’m tired,” Bass said recently as he sat on his couch wearing one of his four white undershirts and a pair of ragged athletic shorts. “If it’s OK for me to die for my country, then why is it not OK for me to die because I’m tired of being tired?”

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and the military and veteran communities in Northeast Florida have been working to spread the message of awareness and assistance that has eluded Bass for so long.

The Navy announced a new suicide-prevention program Sept. 16 called Sailor Assistance and Intercept for Life, or SAIL. The new national program provides continual support to supplement regular mental-health treatment for the first 90 days after suicide-related behavior.

“We are going to assign an advocate to follow up with them, kind of like being in aftercare,” said Command Master Chief Donald Henderson of Fleet Readiness Center Southeast at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.

He said a lot of times suicidal thoughts among sailors stem from something happening away from the base. Issues with family life or illicit drug use are common things that can lead to suicidal thoughts, Henderson said.
read more here

Veteran Army Ranger's Suicide Gets Senator's Attention?

How many times does this have to happen before things really change and veterans get proper care? 

When do politicians actually face the families and apologize for all the years veterans have been left waiting while they make speeches? 

When does our Congress actually fix the VA instead of trying to sell our veterans to private for profit corporations?

How many more years of pain and suffering do they intend to let us go through watching our veterans suffer while they pass bill after bill that only repeat what has been proven to have already failed them?

Colorado veteran’s suicide prompts call for investigation into VA wait times
Denver Post
By MARK K. MATTHEWS
PUBLISHED: September 20, 2016

Specifically, the whistleblower said the situation in Colorado Springs could have contributed to the death of an Army Ranger who was awaiting treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators are calling for an investigation into wait times at VA facilities in Colorado following the suicide of a 26-year-old U.S. Army Ranger who did not receive PTSD counseling in time.

The request by Republican U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin also asks that an internal watchdog at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs examine allegations that VA officials forged documents after the service member’s death and then threatened a whistleblower who raised these issues with authorities, according to a letter dated Monday.

Without specifically addressing the accusations, the VA released a statement in response that said the agency would work with Congress and investigators “to determine the facts of the situation and take appropriate action should any wrongdoing be uncovered.”
read more here

Suicide Awareness Not Same As Reason To Live With PTSD

Stop Raising PTSD-Suicide Awareness, Start Sharing Hope
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 6, 2016

This morning my email box was full of news on veterans committing suicide and folks "raising awareness" about what they were doing for them.  Some use "22 a day" others use the latest number from the VA of "20 a day" and some even use "25 a day" as if any of those numbers will change anything.

The simple fact is, none of what has been done since 1999 has been enough to actually help change the outcome for far too many. With a reduction of almost 7 million veterans leaving us since then, the numbers from the VA on suicides are still "20 a day" even after a decade of stunts to "prevent" them from taking their own lives.

Pushups put focus on veteran suicides on the Clarion Ledger covered an event with participants dropping to the floor while believing they will do what exactly?

Senator Roger Wicker, center left, and Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber, center right, do pushups as part of the "22 Pushup Challenge," a social media campaign to raise awareness for veteran suicide prevention, Thursday at the Capitol. (Photo: Elijah Baylis/The Clarion-Ledger)

This happened at the Mississippi State Capitol. In the article there was this,

"There’s no reason for any veteran to feel that he or she needs to take their own life," said Senator Roger Wicker just before he, Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber, Flowood Police Chief Richie McCluskey, and others hit the deck for 22 pushups in the Mississippi state capitol rotunda on Thursday.

I have no doubt they are filled with good intentions but lack good information so they share pain instead of hope.

The problem is, there are plenty of reasons veterans are still taking their own lives after risking them for the sake of others. All the raising awareness about them committing suicide has managed to do is spread the hopelessness. If others did not find the help they needed, then what are the chances a veteran in crisis will be able to change his/her own tomorrow?

The other thing is that older veterans, waiting longer for help and hope, forgotten by all these "new efforts" has left them in the majority of veterans committing suicide. They look at all the attention the younger veterans are getting, doing little good, and that removes hope for them. It devalues all the decades of them suffering in silence for what they fought so hard to change.

I could go on and on, but you have read enough of the bad reports here for a very long time. This month Wounded Times has been up for 9 years. That is a lot of covering the sad news but for now, I think it is vital to talk about the good news. If anything will ever change, we need to start raising awareness on what works. That begins with telling them what they have not heard enough. They are not condemned to suffer as much as they are today and their lives are healable.

Yesterday a veteran called to thank me for what I helped him with. Usually when I hear that, it is followed by heartache and I prepare to do battle with the demon of death to give them back the hope they lost.  This time, the thank you was followed by a series of blessings shared by him.

He proceeded to tell me that his claim had been upgraded and he would not have to worry about how to feed himself and his service dog. He talked about how so many people surrounded him in his darkest times, listening to him pour his heart out. They made sure he had food to eat and rides to get to around. They made sure he knew he mattered to them when he could not find a reason to matter to himself.

He also talked about how God was very busy in his life when He sent all of them to get him through all the hardships he had to face.

The most wondrous thing of all about this veteran is his voice was filled with hope when he talked about helping other veterans heal like he did.

So, for what it is worth, after over 3 decades of doing this work, this is what I feel needs to be shared right now to actually make a difference.

We have to start with what PTSD really is.

Post means "after' because things go from one way in your life to chaos and your life changed in a second. Trauma is something you survived that very well could have taken your life or the life of someone else. In other words, it happened to you. That trauma caused your entire body to go into stress mode. That caused the way you think and feel to be in disorder.  In other words, it was in order before it, got shaken up and you can put things back in order again. Maybe not in the same exact way, but at least an order you can live with.

One more thing to mention on this is  that "trauma" is actually Greek for "wound" and with all wounds, left untreated they get worse but with help, all wounds do in fact heal. YOU CAN HEAL!

If you think that PTSD is something to be ashamed of, think better about yourself since you survived it.  You are not a "victim" of the event but you are a survivor.  It was not able to kill you. So why are you letting it destroy you now?

Like the veteran needed to be reminded of a long time ago, when you were in combat and outnumbered, you called in all the help you could get.  If ground support was not enough, then you called in for air support.  Lives were on the line so you did what you had to do to keep them alive. How is this different?

Every veteran I have helped over the years said the first thing they wanted to do was help other veterans live better lives. Staying here and healing actually means you will save lives now by getting whatever you need to defeat this.

If you do not find what you need, then keep calling in as much help as you can find the same way you did in combat.

Brandon Ketchum tried to stay alive and tried to help raise awareness but when he was in his darkest hour, he was turned away from the VA after requesting emergency care.

Last October, former Marine sergeant and Army National Guard veteran Brandon Ketchum led a team in an awareness walk to honor military friends who had died by suicide.But this year, Ketchum won’t be present at the Out of the Darkness event in Rock Island, Illinois. Instead, he will be among those remembered, having died July 8 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound just hours after expressing his frustration with Veterans Affairs medical care on a closed Facebook page.Ketchum wrote that he had sought emergency inpatient care for his substance abuse issues but was turned away.

Right now no one knows for sure why it happened anymore than they know why he did not keep trying to find help in crisis with all the other groups out there or even something as simple as calling 911 to get into a mental health hospital until he could get a bed at the VA.

Right now if you are like me, you are wondering what good the "Out of darkness" awareness did when he did not think about turning to them for help. Ketchum turned to Facebook to post his exit interview.

I do not have anything to do with that group but I do have something to do with Coming Out of The Dark. This is a video I made 10 years ago.


You are not alone so why be afraid? You may feel like reaching out for help is like hitting a stone wall, but look on your side and find folks standing right there waiting to help you.

They may not be able to give you what you want, but if you let them, they can give you what you need. If you are hungry, let them feed you. If you are without clothes, let them cover you. If you are lonely, let them visit you.

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Matthew 25

When you were able to help someone, how did you feel? Did you feel good or did you feel as if they were less since they needed help? Safe bet you were glad to help them and felt blessed being able to.  How is it different being on the receiving end and letting them get that same rush by helping you so you can help someone else along the line?

Do not let the life you lived go without putting up a fight the same way you did in combat.  They talk about the lives lost but it is time to talk about the lives not just spared, but shared. You cared so much you were willing to die for the sake of someone else.  How about you care enough to live for the same reason?

PTSD:3,000 hired in 2 years-43,000 needing help doesn't add up

You may be tired of hearing about this. Can't say I blame you. Frankly, I'm tired of posting it. I'm fed up! But there isn't a chance in hell I'm about to give up. Too many nights I lay my head down in bed and wonder how many more lives could have been saved today if they had been helped. There's a veteran I've been trying to help, among many, but he stands out the most in my mind and has captured my heart. I've "talked him down from the ledge" more times than I was even aware of until he told me. He's not part of the newer veterans getting all the attention but he's a Vietnam veteran being pushed aside and still having his claim denied. I wonder how I can offer him any hope when he is loosing the battle he should have never have had to fight. If the government were even close to where they claim they are, he would have been helped a very long time ago. The truth is, they are nowhere near where they need to be and these veterans, all generations of them, are dying for attention.

The VA said they hired 3,000 "mental health professionals" in two years but what they don't say is that many of those 3,000 are social workers without degrees as psychologist and psychiatrists. This is why they use the term they do. They tell you that 1,000 of our veterans calling the suicide hotline and were "rescued" but they also say that 43,000 of them called for help. They don't say what was done about them or if any of them ended up being treated, admitted, claim approved or if they took their own lives as part of the others who succeeded. As bad as all of this appears to be, we need to acknowledge right here and right now that we do not have all the numbers in yet. There are many still not seeking help and as a matter of fact, less than half of those needing help, seek it. Some studies put that figure at only a quarter of the veterans needing help, but I'm being kind here.

Another thing the VA needs to be aware of is that these veterans, these families, are not going to suffer in silence. They are not going to hide their stories and they are going to fight for their lives long after the risk should have ended. While the VA and Congress have talked about the need to do outreach work with the veterans and raise awareness, they have also raised the empowerment of the staggering numbers of families and veterans who have decided to take their fight all the way to Washington DC in order to live a life instead of existing in them until all hope has vanished. They know this government owes those who are sent to fight the battles this nation decides to fight and they are demanding to be damned no more! The time for excuses and trying to hide the facts has lead us to this perilous time. It's time for the VA and the DOD to open their books and let the people who can help get to work before this goes any further. Enough is enough. They need to stop sacrificing their lives long after they are out of reach from enemy forces but fight battles against the enemy within themselves.

Army Vet's Suicide Raises Questions About VA's Treatment PTSD Cases

By Jason Leopold
The Public Record
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Published in : Nation/World


The tragic death earlier this month of a 26-year-old Navy veteran who hung himself with an electrical cord while under the care of a Spokane, Washington Veterans Administration hospital depression underscores what veterans advocacy groups say is evidence of an epidemic of suicides due failures by the VA to identify and treat war veterans afflicted with severe mental health problems.

Lucas Senescall, who suffered from severe depression, was the sixth veteran who committed suicide this year after seeking treatment at the Spokane VA, according to a report published last weekend in the Spokesman Review.

Senescall’s father said his son was “begging for help and [the VA] kicked him to the curb,” according to the July 20 report in the Spokesman Review.

On Tuesday, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa, addressed the increasing number of war veterans who are committing suicide, specifically pointing out the death of Lucas Senescall, during a speech on the Senate floor.

“More than five years [after the start of the Iraq war], we should have the resources in place to treat the psychological wounds of war as well as we do the physical ones. But we don’t,” Murray said. “When someone with a history of depression, PTSD, or other psychological wounds walks into the VA and says they are suicidal, it should set off alarm bells. We can’t convince veterans or service members to get care if they think they will be met with lectures and closed doors. That is unacceptable. At the very least, we must ensure that staff at military and VA medical centers have the training to recognize and treat someone who is in real distress.

“Time and again, it has taken leaks and scandals to get the Administration to own up to major problems at the VA – from inadequate budgets to rising suicide rates. And its response to rising costs has been to underfund research and cut off services to some veterans. Service members and veterans need more than an 800 number to call,” Murray said.

Paul Sullivan, the executive director of the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense, agreed.

“The facts show VA lacks consistent and complete policies and oversight on the subject of suicide, as VA leaders confirmed during the trial in the lawsuit veterans brought against VA.”

Sullivan added that the actual number of veterans who have committed suicide is unknown “because VA failed to start collecting national suicide data until after we filed our lawsuit.”

“We called this willful negligence, or “Don’t Look, Don’t Find,” Sullivan said. “If VA looked determined if there was a suicide problem, and if VA found there was a suicide problem, then VA would be forced to address the suicide problem. VCS believes that Congress should order VA to collect robust suicide data so that VA doesn’t change their mind or somehow lose the data.”

Sullivan said the Democratic-controlled Congress began to address veterans’ mental health issues in 2007 with the passage of the Joshua Omvig suicide bill as well the Dignity for Wounded Warriors bill, a new law extending free VA healthcare for up to five years for returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Omvig was a 22-year-old Army veteran who suffered from PTSD and committed suicide in 2005.

And while Sullivan, an Army veteran and former project manager at the VA, applauds Murray for raising awareness about the issue, he said veterans’ suicides have already reached “epidemic” proportions.

“There is an epidemic of suicides among our veterans, especially our younger veterans,” Sullivan said. “The evidence of this was presented by the CBS Evening News and the University of Georgia in their November 2007 report indicating veterans are twice as likely to complete a suicide than non-veterans. Even worse, and an ominous indicator of the severity of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on the minds of our veterans, younger veterans, aged 18 to 24, are between three and four times more likely to complete a suicide than non-veterans of the same age. Veterans are screened for pre-existing conditions before entering the military, and their suicide rate should be lower, not higher.”

Last year, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, filed a lawsuit against the VA alleging some war veterans were turned away from VA hospitals after they sought care for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and later committed suicide. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can develop in a person who witnesses, or is confronted with, a traumatic event. Mental health experts have described PTSD as an event of overwhelming magnitude in which a victim's nervous system is afflicted with intense fear, helplessness and horror. The victim shuts down only to re-experience the traumatic event over and over again. Studies have shown that PTSD is the most prevalent mental disorder arising from combat.

The veterans groups had asked a federal judge in San Francisco to issue a preliminary injunction force the VA to immediately treat war veterans who showed signs of or were already suffering from PTSD. In addition, they wanted a federal judge to force the VA to overhaul its internal systems that handle benefits claims and medical services.

But U.S District Court Judge Samuel Conti ruled last month that he lacked the legal authority to implement those measures. But in an 82-page ruling he said it was “clear to the court” that “the VA may not be meeting all of the needs of the nation’s veterans.”

Conti wrote that the veterans groups should get “Congress, the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the adjudication system within the VA, and the Federal Circuit” to address the matter.

Sullivan said his group plans to appeal the ruling.

The VA said it has hired more than 3,000 mental healthcare professionals over the past two years to deal with the increasing number of PTSD cases, but the problems persist. In response to the federal lawsuit, the VA set up a suicide prevention hotline. The VA said it has received more than 43,000 calls, 1,000 of which were from veterans who were on the verge of suicide and were rescued.

But a VA spokesman said the agency would not provide additional data about the number of veterans being treated for mental health issues or the number of veterans who committed suicide while under VA care.
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