Extreme Makeover for Spc. Patrick Tutwiller after Iraq and tornado

Makeover: Stars descend on community
Carla Strand
City-County Editor
Thursday, Nov 20, 2008

CHAPMAN -- Before a crowd of thousands of people and with TV cameras rolling, the Patrick Tutwiler family was introduced to their new home built by volunteers working with the television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

Many of those thousands waited four to five hours through a sunny, chilly and often breezy Tuesday, after e-mail messages sent out by the show Monday night stated the family would be home early to avoid the potential for bad weather late Tuesday.

Joy Burton, who teaches grades 1-8 at the Enterprise Academy, said students from the school attended about two hours of classes Tuesday morning before buses headed to Chapman to watch events unfold.

“This is a once in a lifetime experience,” she said. “There are some things you can’t teach them about. They have to see it for themselves.”

Spc. Tutwiler, who joined the Army following 9/11, was wounded in the neck by a sniper’s bullet while serving in Iraq in 2007, and was back home in Chapman recovering from a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, when the tornado occurred.

Within a matter of months, the family would have been forced to leave after Tutwiler is medically discharged from the Army.

“It was fitting that we named a veteran on Veteran’s Day to receive a home,” said Diane Korman, senior producer, Lock and Key Productions, which produces “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
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Captain Dale Allen Walker, 3 tours in Vietnam, 2 Purple Hearts, VA makes him wait

Like thousands of veterans, local has trouble with VA
Bullard News - USA

Jim Epperson editor@bullardnews.com

While Riverboat Captain Dale Allen Walker patrolled a river in Vietnam, a mine blew up at a nearby boat. He flew 30 feet in the air, landed on the boat, then rolled into the water.

He was trapped under the vessel, and it was bouncing on top of him. The boat pounded his feet into the thick river mud. Walker was stuck and about to drowned. Then someone in his boat came to his rescue. A helicopter hovered just low enough to board the wounded, and flew Walker to an Army hospital in Vietnam.

"I was in the Navy, and I had to go to an Army hospital," he said, remembering the battle from his home outside of Jacksonville. "I think that is how my records were lost."

This was how he received his second Purple Heart, and how the rest of his life changed. The first time he received a Purple Heart his Assault Support Patrol Boat was pounded by three rocket-propelled grenades.

The Navy later awarded Walker with an Accommodation Medal. On one of his three tours through Vietnam, a boat directly behind him was hit by a rocket. The boat started to sink. While the squad still received small arm fire, Walker reversed course, hooked up a tow line to the sinking boat and beached it.

Walker has experienced what thousands of veterans in the United States have experienced. When it comes to the Department of Veteran Affairs, everything is a slow process.
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When they rush to help, do you pray?

Firefighters shift focus to north Orange County as 26,000 evacuate
By Tami Abdollah, Howard Blume 2:38 p.m.
The Triangle Complex fire burns uncontrolled and threatens to cross the 57 Freeway. Firefighters make better progress in Sylmar area and Santa Barbara.

I live just outside of Orlando and around here, the sound of a fire engine is pretty common. Each time I hear one, I offer a prayer for the firefighters rushing to help others. A little while ago, several passed nearby. They reminded me of what is happening in California right now. With all the people losing their homes to the fires, it's easy to acknowledge they need help and offer a prayer of comfort for them. What we too often take for granted is the firefighters. They need prayers of comfort and to be watched over as they battle the fires. Please take a moment and pray for them.

We also forget about the police officers who also risk their lives on a daily basis. Unless one of them is caught committing some kind of abuse, we don't read much about them. That is unless it's too late and one of them has fallen in the line of duty and we see their funerals covered on TV. Please pray for them as well.

And then that takes us back to the men and women serving in the National Guards, Reservists and active military. We should also offer up prayers for the families waiting for them to come home as we pray for them. Offer prayers for the wounded veterans. Prayer takes so little time but it does require something not everyone is willing to do. Set aside your own needs for a moment a day and pray for those who do so much for us. Here's a few links if you can't think of what to pray but remember, God does not care if you are eloquent with your words. He can hear your heart.



(St. Michael is used in most of the posts I do on the fallen)


Patron Saints of the Military Other Than St. Michael:

ST. BRENDAN, PATRON OF SAILORS

ST. JOSEPH CUPERTINO, CONFESSOR, PATRON OF PILOTS AND ASTRONAUTS

ST. JOHN CAPISTRANO, PATRON OF MILITARY CHAPLAINS

ST. ERASMUS [ELMO], MARTYR, ONE OF THE 14 HOLY HELPERS, PATRON OF SAILORS

ST. GEORGE, ONE OF THE 14 HOLY HELPERS, MARTYR AND PATRON OF SOLDIERS

THE LITANY OF THE 14 HOLY HELPERSST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA,

PATRON OF SOLDIERS

THE LITANY OF ST. IGNATIUS

ST. JOAN OF ARC, MARTYR, PATRON OF MILITARY LEADERSTHE LITANY OF ST. JOAN



ST. SEBASTIAN, MARTYR, PATRON OF SOLDIERS

FOR OUR ARMED FORCES

O God, I beg Thee, watch over those exposed to the dangers of a soldier's, sailor's, or airman's life. Give them such strong faith that no human respect may ever lead them to deny it or fear to practice it. Strengthen them by Thy grace against the influence of bad examples so that, being preserved from vice and by serving Thee faithfully, they may be ready to meet death, if it should come to them on land, at sea, or in the air.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, inspire them with sorrow for sin and grant them pardon. Mary, Immaculate Mother of God, protect them. Amen.

Our Lady of Victory, we humbly beg thee to protect all our armed forces everywhere and to give them unflinching courage age to defend our country with honor and dignity. Guard our churches, our homes, our schools, our hospitals, our factories, our buildings, and all therein from harm and peril. Protect our land from enemies within and without. Grant us an early peace and victory founded upon justice. Instill into the hearts and minds of men everywhere, a firm purpose to live forever in peace and good will toward all. Amen.






PRAYER FOR A SERVICEMAN

O Mary, Queen of Martyrs, look after my beloved wherever he may be. Talk with him during the silent watches of the night and spur him to bravery when he faces the cruel foe. Keep him inspired by a never undying faith in God our Savior. Wherever his duty takes him, keep his spirit high, and his purpose unwavering. He is my choicest treasure, take care of him, O Mother of God! Keep him in health and sustain him under every possible circumstance. Touch him with thy smile of benevolence, comfort him and give him full confidence in thy intercession and my prayers for his every brave pursuit. Fail him not and may he not fail God, his country, nor the ones who love him.

http://www.catholictradition.org/war-time6.htm#1

Iraq vet honored at service-dog fundraiser

Iraq vet honored at service-dog fundraiser
Kate Santich Sentinel Staff Writer
November 7, 2008
ORLANDO - Almost four years to the day after losing his leg to a bomb in Iraq, 1st Lt. Jeffrey Adams will be guest of honor at the Canine Companions for Independence 12th annual Tales and Tails Gala on Saturday at SeaWorld Orlando. Adams, the first Iraq war veteran helped by the nonprofit organization, graduated from training in February and will attend with his service dog, Sharif.

Military covenant to those who serve

This is from the UK but it should apply here as well.

Military covenant

The annual Remembrance Sunday, organised by the Royal British Legion, honours British troops

Britain has a 'duty of care' to its armed forces. This began as an unspoken pact between society and the military, possibly originating as far back as Henry VIII's reign. The pact was formally codified as a 'covenant' in 2000. It is not a law but is reinforced by custom and convention.

The covenant only officially applies to the army, but its core principles are taken to extend to the air force and navy too.

Soldiers will be called upon to make personal sacrifices - including the ultimate sacrifice - in the service of the Nation. In putting the needs of the Nation and the Army before their own, they forego some of the rights enjoyed by those outside the Armed Forces.

In return, British soldiers must always be able to expect fair treatment, to be valued and respected as individuals, and that they (and their families) will be sustained and rewarded by commensurate terms and conditions of service.

In the same way the unique nature of military land operations means that the Army differs from all other institutions, and must be sustained and provided for accordingly by the Nation.

This mutual obligation forms the Military Covenant between the Nation, the Army and each individual soldier; an unbreakable common bond of identity, loyalty and responsibility which has sustained the Army throughout its history. It has perhaps its greatest manifestation in the annual commemoration of Armistice Day, when the Nation keeps covenant with those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives in action.

Army Doctrine Publication Volume 5
The 'duty of c are' to troops includes paying towards healthcare, which can be physical care for injuries or mental support for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other problems. The Ministry of Defence also provides support for bereaved families.

The law gives the government 'combat immunity', which prevents soldiers from claiming compensation for injuries they received in combat except under official compensation schemes. Because soldiers cannot take the Crown to a civil court, the covenant is viewed as important in protecting soldiers' rights to compensation.

go here for more

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/overview/covenant.shtml

PTSD UK:Medication nightmare at the wheel

Medication nightmare at the wheel

Perthshire Advertiser - Perth,UK

A FORMER Black Watch soldier, stopped by police in his car in the early hours of the morning, was smelling of drink, his speech was slurred and he was unsteady on his feet.

But his solicitor told Perth Sheriff Court that he had only drank two pints – and his condition was caused by a cocktail of prescription drugs he takes to combat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Pat Clements (24), Room 1, The Star Hotel, High Street, Auchterarder, was fined £260 and banned for a year after pleading guilty to driving while unfit through drink or drugs.

He also admitted having no insurance. The offences took place in Western Road, Auchterarder, on October 2.

Depute fiscal Stuart Richardson said that two police officers were on duty at 2.20am when they heard the sound of what seemed like a car crash.

“He’s on a variety of prescribed medications as heis suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“He was a member of the 1st battalion The Black Watch but recent service has caused significant mental health problems for him.”
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War wound creates uncertainty for area soldier and family

Hurt in combat ... What now?
War wound creates uncertainty for area soldier and family

BY LESLIE WILBER - LWILBER@VICAD.COM
October 20, 2008 - 11:03 p.m.
Victoria Advocate - Victoria,TX,USA

He raises the volume of his voice and television, so he can hear. His gait betrays his constant pain, which gets worse if he tries to stand for long.

Angel Ramirez is 22.

He had a plan – stay in the Army until his wife, Emma, became a nurse. When she found a good job, he’d go to school, learn a trade.

They had a home. An apartment in El Paso they could afford to keep as long as he was enlisted. Their furniture, their dishes, their space, it was all their own.

That life, those plans, blew apart when a rocket propelled grenade exploded a few feet from Ramirez on April 10, 2007. The Army specialist was wounded less than a minute into a 12-hour fight in Baghdad, he said. His left leg was shattered and his hearing shot.

Ramirez described himself as a go-to guy in his platoon, a gunner who hauled a heavy machine gun, even with a broken wrist.

“I wasn’t prepared to do anything else,” Ramirez said.

This month, Ramirez will leave the Army, decorated with a Purple Heart, but earlier than he expected.

“It’s scary now, because we have two kids and he needs a job,” Emma Ramirez said.
go here for more
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/local/story/340932.html

Congress Passes Sweeping Veterans' Mental Health Legislation

Congress Passes Sweeping Veterans' Mental Health Legislation
Akaka notes that bill is a tribute to Justin Bailey, an Iraq War veteran lost to suicide
By Jesse Broder Van Dyke, 9/27/2008 11:37:38 AM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, expressed great satisfaction with Senate passage of S. 2162, a sweeping veterans’ mental health care bill. S. 2162, the Veterans Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008, passed the Senate today by unanimous consent. The bill makes various improvements to veterans’ mental health care and other forms of health care, and is a tribute to Iraq war veteran Justin Bailey.

“Justin’s story is far too common: he survived the war in Iraq only to be lost to PTSD and substance abuse-related suicide,” said Akaka. “Invisible wounds such as PTSD are an injury - and an enemy - that many veterans face when they return home from war. This bill will provide better mental health support for our wounded warriors.”

S. 2162’s improvements to veterans’ mental health care include:

Setting a standard minimum level of care for substance use disorder, and creating innovative enhancements to treatment

Improving treatment to veterans with multiple disorders, such as PTSD and substance use disorder

Mandating a review of VA’s residential mental health care facilities, to ensure that they are adequately staffed

Creating a research program on PTSD and substance use disorder, in cooperation with the National Center for PTSD

Enabling VA to provide mental health services to veterans’ families, and setting up a program to aid the families of returning servicemembers
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Text of this Bill
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-s2162/text

Donations allow wounded vets to take a golf swing

Donations allow wounded vets to take a golf swing

By DANIELA FLORES
Associated Press Writer


TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Brian Coleman was never in the service and has no ties to the military. But when he began looking for a cause to support after his retirement, he decided helping wounded veterans was the way to go.

Now the 62-year-old, who splits his time between Madison and Bradenton, Fla., spends anywhere from 35 to 70 hours a week running Golf Supports Our Troops, a nonprofit that raises money to donate golf equipment to military hospitals and rehabilitation facilities.

"My intent was not to teach these guys to be golf pros," Coleman said. "It was to have some fun, maybe get golf into their recovery, but it was the health benefits of the equipment that I thought would be interesting."

Coleman retired from the graphic arts/printing field eight years ago, but after two years of boredom, decided to start a small golf company. Then, a year and a half ago, he decided he'd had enough. Left with a huge inventory, he thought he could do something good with it and Golf Supports Our Troops was born.
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Military Order of the Purple Heart Leader Allegedly Misused Charity Funds

Wounded Vet Charity Accuses Own Executive of Fraud
Military Order of the Purple Heart Leader Allegedly Misused Charity Funds
By ANNA SCHECTER


The executive director of a charity for wounded veterans that pulls in more than ten million dollars per year in donations has allegedly spent tens of thousands of dollars of the charity's funds inappropriately to benefit foundation executives and given out hundreds of thousands of dollars of donated funds in exchange for family favors, according to current and former executive board members of the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH).

Richard (Dick) Esau was fired from the MOPH Service Foundation after it brought in a forensic auditor to investigate Esau and the charity's finances, according to Henry Cook, outgoing national commander of the MOPH, and Ray Funderburk, former national public relations director for the MOPH.

"This investigation is ongoing and it's going to get bigger," said Cook. "It is outrageous and unfair to those who donate their hard earned money to help veterans."

The findings of the audit by a forensic independent accounting firm thus far warranted Esau's termination, according to Foundation President James Blaylock. The Foundation's Executive Committee "authorized a continued auditing process into any and all areas that the forensic auditor felt were appropriate," Blaylock wrote in the letter to MOPH members alerting them that Esau was fired.

ABC News reported in November 2007 that the Foundation received an "F" rating from the charity watchdog group American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP) for their extremely high fundraising costs and relatively small percentage of donations that actually went to help wounded veterans and their families.

go here for more

http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfAUG08/nf082208-3.htm

Veterans, if you can't take care of all of them, stop making more of them!

Veterans, if you can't take care of all of them, stop making more of them!

When the people who work for the VA think everything is fine, you only need to understand they only hear what the VA tells them. It's as simple as that. They work very hard, most are highly trained and experienced. No matter how much outreach work I do, it would do no good to have them where they are able to diagnose and treat the PTSD veterans. The difference between us is that I track all of this across the country and internationally. A usual day for me is about 16 hours of reading and posting, emailing and phone conversations. While the VA workers hear what is right in front of them, they do not fully understand the level of despair that is out here in the country.

Several Vietnam veterans are still having their claims denied no matter how much evidence they have. One, a good friend of mine, called this morning to tell me her records have been changed. She has the original documents. She's tried to do everything possible to fight to have her claim approved, but it has been denied over and over again. She's suffering for a fight that shouldn't have been. She has Agent Orange illnesses, PTSD and is seeing her life fall apart. This has been a five year battle for her. She went to the DAV. She got a lawyer. She contacted her elected officials. The VA will not respond to their communications and they do not push for answers. Nice.

Really nice that this veteran is suffering, doing everything possible to fight for herself and is seems no one who is supposed to be fighting for her actually is. Aside from the financial suffering on top of the government accepting responsibility for what has happened to her, there is the extra stress on an ill veteran being told what is wrong with her, is not the responsibility of the government she served. Would you like it? Does anyone in the VA put themselves in the veteran's place when they are ill and no one seems to be able to do anything about it?

It's not new. During my husband's six year battle to have his claim approved, the doctors knew what it was and what caused it but the people who approve the claims didn't. It was six years of fighting and suffering and six years of extra stress on a PTSD veteran already stressed out seeing his life fall apart. Once his claim was approved, he's getting great care, except his appointments have been cut back because of the overloaded system and the new veterans. The truth is, he's alive today because of the care he's been getting. So when I slam the VA, it has nothing to do with the people working with the veterans and how much they care about them. I have never once had any bad experiences with the doctors he's seen or the staff at the VA hospitals he's been to. Others have not been so lucky.

When a legitimate claim is denied, it is time lost as salt is added to the wound. When it comes to PTSD, you have a very complicated problem because most of them have lost the ability to fight for themselves. Most have to rely on an advocate fighting for them. So how is it that the VA itself is not the advocate? They turn to service organizations. They turn to lawyers and lawmakers. They try the best they can as they suffering and wait for a miracle. When the people they turn to, do not fight for them with all they have, it's as if they have not only had the VA turn their back on them but the entire nation as well. What do they do when no one is helping them as if their life depended on it? In most cases, their life does depend on it. Read the news lately on the suicides and attempted suicides?

Part of PTSD that does not get addressed often enough is the paranoia that comes with it. They tend to see everyone as an enemy out to get them. They lost the ability to trust. Now add in finding out that they have PTSD because of their service to the nation. What does this enforce in their mind? Does it enforce they cannot trust the government they served and suffered for doing so or does it enforce this nation was worthy of their suffering?

Isn't it time we got this right for all of them or stop making more veterans needing care that will end up having to fight to receive it?

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos

Namguardianangel@aol.com

http://www.namguardianangel.org/

http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

For 2 soldiers, families, lives changed

Part IV: For 2 soldiers, families, lives changed

By Sharon Cohen - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 7, 2008 16:43:38 EDT

In that dreadful December, every day brought bloodshed, every week hundreds of attacks on Americans and Iraqis.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Roadside bomb blasts change everything for two soldiers and their families back home. Fourth of a seven-part series on the longest deployment of the Iraq war.
Car bombings. Drive-by shootings. Kidnappings. Torture. Bullet-riddled bodies. Sectarian fighting. It was a horrible end to a horrible year in the Iraq war.

And for two young soldiers, December 2006 was the month that changed everything, forever.

The sky was clear on Dec. 2 when Sgt. John Kriesel’s armored Humvee rolled out to check a report of suspicious activity: people digging on a dirt road near Fallujah.

His Humvee was turning a corner when the left front tire ran over something. Riding shotgun in the vehicle, Kriesel heard a metallic plink — like a rock striking a 55-gallon drum.

Then: BOOM!

The Humvee flew into the air, its doors blowing open, the gunner shooting out of the turret like a Roman candle before the vehicle crashed down on its side.

Kriesel’s helmet and glasses flew off as he was thrown to the ground. Rocks rained down in a concrete storm, and Kriesel heard the screeching of twisted metal, then moans, groans, screams.

Strangely, he was calm. He saw the underside of the Humvee; the axle was blown off.

Then he looked down.

His left leg was nearly severed, still tucked in his pants leg, hanging by a piece of skin. His left thigh was split open, with a bone jutting out and blood oozing.

His right leg, from about six inches below the knee, was badly mangled.

“I’m going to die,” he told himself. “This is how it ends.”

Sgt. Kriesel, the eternal optimist, had lost faith.

He tried to get up, but it was useless. The bones of his lower left arm were broken; the arm flapped like a door off its hinge. Kriesel, who had trained to be a paramedic, was clear-minded enough to brace his arm to his chest, hoping to avoid nerve damage.

His right biceps had burst; they were peppered with shrapnel. A bracelet in honor of a fallen soldier sliced his right wrist down to the bone.

Kriesel closed his eyes. He couldn’t bear to see more.
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Related Reading:
Part I — Unit prepares to deploy
Part II — Guardsmen arrive in Iraq
Part III —A funeral and a birth

'Changing the way a Corps thinks'

'Changing the way a Corps thinks'

July 20, 2008 - 12:29AM
JENNIFER HLAD
DAILY NEWS STAFF
It began as an idea: a place for wounded warriors to heal. It blossomed into a barracks, then grew into a battalion. Now, Wounded Warriors Battalion East has entered its second year, still growing as it offers injured Marines and sailors a place to connect, commiserate and recover.

Master Sgt. Ken Barnes was a gunnery sergeant in 2004, the commander of the personal security detachment for then-Col. Ron Johnson, commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Barnes was standing in the turret of a humvee when a huge aircraft bomb exploded.

He saw the bright flash and watched something he initially thought was his hand bounce across the top of the vehicle. He later learned it was his watch - which saved his hand.

Barnes took a two-inch piece of shrapnel in his left wrist, causing nerve damage so severe he can't move his fingers independently or feel most of his hand. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and "shredded" the cartilage in both knees.

The explosion came just about a month after another blast - one that severely injured the MEU's operations officer, Lt. Col. Timothy Maxwell. It was during their own treatment and recoveries that they realized - firsthand - the need for a place where the wounded could recover together and help each other heal.

What began as a type of support group grew into a barracks, and in 2005, the living facility near the II Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters was christened "Maxwell Hall." On June 30, 2007, the growing group of wounded warriors became a battalion.

The idea really isn't new, Barnes said. After all, during the Vietnam War, combat wounded would spend their recovery time in Veterans Affairs hospitals together. But with advances in technology, doctors would work to get the injured service member on the road to recovery, then send him home.
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Veterans Adversary

You can always tell when people have just begun to discover what our veterans go through as soon as they use the word "advocacy" when talking about the administration end of the VA. To hear of claims approved years after filing is nothing new. To hear claims denied that obviously should have been approved is nothing new either. None of this is new and that's the most infuriating part of all. Old timers like me will say the VA is more Veterans adversary than anything else until the claim is approved. Then they cannot do enough for the veterans needing to have their wounds treated. Getting from wound to treatment however, is like trying to be admitted into an exclusive club where membership is regarded as a privilege instead of a debt owed. We still have veterans trying to fight to have their Agent Orange claims approved and they are still trying to find out how many illnesses are actually attributable to AO. It's almost as if every claim filed is automatically suspected of being a false claim until they finally honor it.

While claims may be worthy of a total rating of 100%, they will approve 50% and then make the veteran fight for the increase instead of just awarding it fully in the first place and this only comes when there has been many years of fighting to have it honored. Ask the Vietnam veterans who came home fighting to have PTSD treated, which had been around since the beginning of time and they will tell you horror stories of getting claims approved.

The following story is just more of the same and will break your heart.


Main Entry: ad·ver·sary
Function: noun
Pronunciation: 'ad-v&(r)-"ser-e
Inflected Form(s): plural -sar·ies
: one that contends with, opposes, or resists : ENEMY
- ad·ver·sari·ness noun

VA or Veteran's advocacy?
Submitted by SHNS on Tue, 07/08/2008 - 17:11.
By MARTIN SCHRAM, Scripps Howard News Service editorials and opinion
When it comes to war and peace, we indeed are two Americas. One fights our nation's wars. The other pays those who go to war so the rest of us, our children and our grandchildren, won't have to.

At least, that is the way it is supposed to work. But a new book, written by this columnist, details scores of shameful ways in which our nation is failing the men and women who volunteer to fight our wars in distant lands -- and especially when they return home and discover they must battle anew, this time with their own government, just to get treatment and benefits earned long ago.

"Vets Under Siege: How America Deceives and Dishonors Those Who Fight Our Battles" (Thomas Dunne Books) chronicles more than a half century of tragic tales of veterans who have been wronged, stacks of dust-gathering studies of delays and denials, official studies followed by official inaction, as problems festered and veterans suffered.

There is the sad story of Gulf War Army veteran Bill Florey, who developed a rare cancer after being exposed to Iraqi chemical weapons that the U.S. Army mistakenly detonated at Khamisiyah, Iraq. A series of horrendous failures and treatment delays left him horribly disfigured and cancer-ridden.

Then the VA coldly rejected his modest request for service-related disability compensation -- without even checking its own data that would have proven the merits of his request. The VA case adjudicator simply asserted in adversarial language that it was "less likely than not" that Florey's chemical exposure caused his cancer. Florey died of his brain cancer on New Year's Day, 2005. Six months later, a government study discovered that actually it was twice as likely as not that Florey's chemical weapons contamination caused the cancer that killed him.

There is the tale of Eric Adams, a military policeman from Tampa, Fla., who served in both the Gulf War and the Iraq War. His job in Iraq included leading truck convoys through dangerous territory. A roadside bomb exploded in front of his convoy and when he braked, a truck smashed into the rear of his rented van, which had no seat belts. Back home, a VA adjudicator initially felt there was inadequate proof that his service even constituted combat conditions!
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A war that won't let go: Decorated veteran recovers

Pay special attention to this part

That paranoia is part of the Thurin who came back from Iraq. Carla Thurin notices other changes, too. Her son is angrier, is not as committed to his faith as he used to be, and is less compassionate toward other people. That, more than anything, disappoints Carla.

A war that won't let go: Decorated veteran recovers from more than physical wounds
By KRISTY GRAY
Star-Tribune staff writer
Sunday, July 6, 2008 10:21 AM MDT

PINE BLUFFS -- It should have been a fairy-tale homecoming for Marine Cpl. Jay Thurin.

And for a time, it was.

Thurin, 23, returned to Pine Bluffs in March 2006 to grateful friends and relatives who shook his hand and thanked him for his service. Newspapers featured the stories of his two Purple Hearts. Pine Bluffs Elementary School invited him to speak to wide-eyed kids who wanted to know everything about being a Marine in Iraq. He found a good job in a field he loved -- farming.

On July 27, 2006, he married Ashley Knaub, a girl he'd met in 4-H. Then came baby MaKenna, a beautiful daughter born on March 31 this year.

On the outside, Thurin looks strong, healthy and every bit like a young man building a life for his family. His right arm -- nearly ripped apart by shrapnel from an anti-tank mine bomb near Fallujah -- is healing after five surgeries and two years of physical therapy.

But inside -- and in the nightmares -- Thurin is still fighting the war. And he struggles to find his footing in a world that seems to be crumbling around him.

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It was important for you to notice the first part because this is something we all need to pay attention to. For over 30 years scientists and psychiatrists have been trying to understand the wound of PTSD. For just as long, they have been looking in part, in the wrong places. PTSD does not begin with changes in the brain. That comes after the trauma. So why is it they are only looking at the brain instead of where the wound originates from?

Yesterday during the radio interview I was called a PTSD expert. That still has a hard time of resonating in my brain along with being called Chaplain. While I may be both, I have grown so accustomed to being ignored that when people pay attention to what I have to say, I'm shocked. Considering I've been at this since the age of 23 and heading into my 26th year of this work, (gee I'm getting old) there is a lot more knowledge of this wound in my ever crowded head than there is in the minds of people who just started working on PTSD. While I've learned a great deal reading about PTSD in clinic books as well as just about every news report that has come out since the Vietnam War, (thanking God for library achieves) the biggest source of knowledge came from living with one of them and talking to a lot of others.

Cpl. Jay Thurin is showing classic signs of PTSD not often enough addressed in media accounts. The paranoia of thinking the worst could happen at any moment as he guards the crib of his young baby. The nightly ritual of patrolling the perimeter of the home replacing the base, checking doors and windows obsessively, making sure weapons are in reach, because they think someone is always out there to get them and the enemy followed them home. That comes from the enemy hitching a ride back implanted in their memories. It also comes from a lack of faith that someone is watching over them.

We all feel that way when traumatic things shake our lives. We either walk away thinking God watched over us and protected us or God condemned us and like Job, has begun to take things away from us. Every detail of our lives is dissected looking for all the wrong things we've done up to that point when it feels as if God is fed up with us. We figure if God knows everything then there has to be something wrong with us, the way we lived our lives and the way we treated other people. Facts really don't play into this at all if our understanding of God is so simplistic that the real message from the Bibles we read remains hidden. If we think He's out to get us, then what's the point? We then lose faith, trust, love, joy while believing we have been cursed. Nothing noble or righteous means anything any more.

This is what most PTSD veterans face, as well as anyone who has suffered from traumatic events. It begins with the event itself and then penetrates the soul, traveling into the mind when the memories, nightmares and flashbacks come and then penetrates the body when the organs are attacked, the immune system breaks down and the heart is under assault from the stress. This is why there are miracles happening everyday when PTSD is addressed for the whole person and not just the mind, but the body and the spirit are included in the healing. If scientists would come to the point where they truly understand what a role faith plays in our lives, they will be a lot closer to understanding how to heal the whole person. They have not been able to find the answers by looking at the mind alone after all these years. You'd think they would have learned something else by now. They are still asking the same questions they've been asking since the beginning of man on the planet. Time for them to take a look at another part of the wounded and then maybe, just maybe they will begin to treat it the way it should have been treated all along.



Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Veteran Love and Appreciation Inc. steps up for Miami Veteran

Miami Beach nonprofit gives disabled veterans help

Published Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 12:13 p.m.
Last updated Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 12:13 p.m.

MIAMI — Jorge Roque endured life in the Kuwaiti desert as his Marine Corps unit waited for the signal that the war in Iraq had begun. He survived as friends died fighting their way into Baghdad. He witnessed the famous toppling of the city's statue of Saddam Hussein.

But he wasn't prepared for the hardships he faced when he tried to create a life for himself after he was discharged from the military. He was unemployed and living in his car when he went to the local Veterans Affairs center seeking help.

The VA center directed him to Veteran Love and Appreciation Fund Inc., a private nonprofit based in Miami Beach. It helps needy disabled ex-soldiers who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other wars by giving them money until their government checks begin, including rent payments and gift cards for food and gas.

Roque is one of about 130 people Veteran Love has helped since it was created in 2003. He is now studying his longtime dream of filmmaking.

"They come home and they don't know what to do next," said Charlene Riggs, who runs the fund with her mother-in-law Toni Garner. "They need a person to basically walk them through getting the forms filled out. ... The veterans are so lost in trying to become reacclimated into a normal life."

The local VA center has been working with Veteran Love for about two years.

In 2006, Veteran Love had a fundraiser, netting about $116,000, which it has been doling out. It has about $40,000 left and is trying to raise more. The fund was created with the guidance and financial assistance of Garner's son, who pays for the overhead - including a secretary and a recently hired grant writer - while Garner and Riggs volunteer.
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http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080703/APN/807030626

This is from their site:

American Support - Veteran Help for Disabled Veteran Soldiers in need of assistance
Our Mission Statement Veteran Love and Appreciation Inc., a nonprofit 501(c) (3), exists to provide direct, essential needs to our severely wounded and disabled men and women who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Our assistance is intended to bridge the gap for these brave men and women as they transition from military service into civilian life. We are helping to put shattered lives and families back together. These heroes of the “War on Terror” deserve America's support for their service and sacrifices made daily.

Veteran Love & Appreciation donates $5,000 to wounded warrior and family at a benefit held in Ocala, Fl April 12, 2008.

FOCUS: Job Fair Veteran Love and Appreciation will once again participate in the 3rd Annual Job Fair for Military Veterans. Click here for flyer and more info.

FOCUS: Food and Fuel Veteran Love understands that there can be a substantial delay in the discharge from active duty and the payment of VA benefits. This is where Veteran Love steps in to help by providing for veterans’ essential, day to day needs. We have initiated Operation: Food and Fuel to provide for veterans and their families vital needs such as food and gas.

To qualify for assistance, the disabled veterans:
Must have served in Iraq or Afghanistan (DD Form 214, required)
Must be a combat wounded disabled veteran (VA confirmation required, normally through VA case worker, Purple Heart and/or medical documentation of war wounds sustained)
Are not presently receiving benefits from either Defense Finance and Accounting Service or the Veterans Administration
Must allow Veteran Love to verify the information provided by the disabled veteran
Must provide substantiating information regarding the disabled veterans’ financial situation

Please email to:assistance@veteranlove.com or mail to:
Veteran Love and Appreciation
930 Washington Avenue Suite 203
Miami Beach, FL 33139

Start a Movement: Get your Dog Tags Today!
In order to better create awareness you will receive with every tax deductible donation, personalized dog tags with your with your name engraved.Our movement will show our support and appreciation of our American disabled veteransDonate Today »
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http://www.veteranlove.com/

Canada:Wounded Veterans, Wounded Families

Families of wounded military veterans struggling to cope and make ends meet
6 hours ago

CALGARY — They are the invisible victims of Canada's military efforts around the world.

The families of wounded soldiers released from active duty due to severe disabilities are poorer, less healthy and less socially active, says a study prepared for Veterans Affairs Canada.

It's a growing problem as Canadian soldiers continue to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan and help keep the peace in global hot spots.

Soldiers who can no longer serve in the military receive full pensions, but the University of Alberta study suggests their families still struggle.

A Canada-wide review involved 142 wounded soldiers and 115 of their caretakers and paints a painful picture of what life is like at home.

"I tend to try to be positive, not negative, (but) ... I feel robbed because all our lives he has been ill, can't sit, walk, or stand too long," wrote one of the anonymous respondents.

The soldiers surveyed were between 25 and 65, were suffering full impairment to most of their bodies and were often battling emotional, psychiatric and psychological conditions.

The study found financial pressures and an overwhelming and relentless sense of responsibility for the caregiver.

"You don't dwell on it. You ... try to think of something good every day. You just try to keep going," wrote another woman. A few years ago I had to write a letter to Veterans Affairs and I thought, 'Oh my God. This is my life."'

The report, titled "Wounded Veterans, Wounded Families," revealed high levels of need for the severely disabled veterans and their families, many of whom were also trying to earn a living and raise young children.

"Are they suffering? Absolutely. And suffering in ways that their lives have been changed," said Norah Keating, a professor of human ecology, who co-authored the report with colleague Janet Fast.
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Soldiers first injured, then destitute

Every time I read this story, I remember when it was us facing waiting for a claim to be honored.

June 18th, 2008 4:41 pm
Soldiers first injured, then destitute


Wounded soldiers can face financial ruin while waiting for disability pay

By Michelle Roberts / Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO — His lifelong dream of becoming a soldier had, in the end, come to this for Isaac Stevens: 28, penniless, in a wheelchair, fending off the sexual advances of another man in a homeless shelter.

Stevens' descent from Army private first-class, 3rd Infantry Division, 11 Bravo Company, began in 2005 -- not in battle, since he was never sent off to Iraq or Afghanistan, but with a headfirst fall over a wall on the obstacle course at Fort Benning, Ga. He suffered a head injury and spinal damage.

The injury alone didn't put him in a homeless shelter. Instead, it was military bureaucracy -- specifically, the way injured soldiers are discharged on just a fraction of their salary and then forced to wait six to nine months, and sometimes even more than a year, before their full disability payments begin to flow.

"When I got out, I hate to say it, but man, that was it. Everybody just kind of washed their hands of me, and it was like, 'OK, you're on your own,'" said Stevens, who was discharged in November and was in a shelter by February. He has since moved into a temporary San Antonio apartment with help from Operation Homefront, a nonprofit organization.

Nearly 20,000 disabled soldiers were discharged in the past two fiscal years, and lawmakers, veterans' advocates and others say thousands could be facing financial ruin while they wait for their claims to be processed and their benefits to come through.

"The anecdotal evidence is depressing," said Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., who heads a subcommittee on veterans disability benefits. "These veterans are getting medical care, but their family is going through this huge readjustment at the same time they're dealing with financial difficulties."
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http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11691

It was not Iraq or Afghanistan or the Gulf War that made my family suffer. It was Vietnam. Back then no one was reporting on PTSD and no one was talking about it. Newspaper reporters didn't want to hear our stories or our suffering. Service organizations were trying to help but even they were shocked to learn the VA could take a tax refund for the treatment diagnosed PTSD veterans were getting simply because their claims were not approved yet. It was a time when the Congress had passed a rule that allowed the VA to charge for "non-service" connected treatment even though that rule also lumped claims being processed for what doctors had already determined was connected to Vietnam. In the eyes of the VA a claim denied was a wound not covered.

We went through hell. Between seeing my marriage and my life fall apart, my husband's slide into oblivion, bill collectors calling and trying to explain what was happening to my family so that I could borrow money to keep a roof over our heads, fight his employer to make sure he still had a job, the stress nearly finished us off. Consider that I knew what PTSD was back then and was even doing outreach work with other Vietnam Veterans. What if I had to live with all of this and not even know why this was all happening? This is what the new generation is going through. Not only are they faced with everything we went through, they don't even know why. Can you manage to see how so many end up not only homeless but also see their marriages fall apart? Do you think that this is living up to our end of the deal when they get wounded in service to this nation? Do you think this is how a grateful nation should treat the wounded? Hell no! I just wish that anyone who thinks this is ok would bother to think of what their life would be like if they were the one it was being done to. Jesus even said something about this as well as the Ten Commandments! Would it bother you enough to do something about it? Then why don't you?

When the claims are tied up there is no income. Think about that when you hear about the time it takes to process a claim.

Wounded soldiers become homeless waiting for benefits

Wounded soldiers become homeless waiting for benefits
By David Edwards
(AP) Thousands of wounded soldiers discharged from the Army risk financial ruin as they wait six to nine months for their disability benefits. The Army has taken steps to ease the strain, but it’s taking awhile for those policies to take hold.

Nearly 20,000 disabled soldiers were discharged in the past two fiscal years, and lawmakers, veterans’ advocates and others say thousands could be facing financial ruin while they wait for their claims to be processed and their benefits to come through.

“The anecdotal evidence is depressing,” said Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., who heads a subcommittee on veterans disability benefits. “These veterans are getting medical care, but their family is going through this huge readjustment at the same time they’re dealing with financial difficulties.”
Most permanently disabled veterans qualify for payments from Social Security and the military or Veterans Affairs. Those sums can amount to about two-thirds of their active-duty pay. But until those checks show up, most disabled veterans draw a reduced Army paycheck.

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Army Vet honorable discharge or discharge of honor?

Injured Army Veteran Fights Long Delays to Get VA Benefits
KMBC-TV (Kansas City, Missouri)

Jun 09, 2008
Kansas City, MO - An injured army veteran is now battling the Veterans Administration. For 17 years, Gary Connellis was a police officer in New York. He joined the Army when he was in his mid-30s, married and with a young daughter.

Connellis was injured in the line of duty. He told KMBC's Micheal Mahoney that he thought he'd be taken care of.

"I don't know who to turn to, what else to do," Connellis said.

Mahoney reported that the issue is over how badly Connellis was injured. Early Army reports describe it as chronic pain, especially in his lower back.

Other outside doctors report it as a herniated disc.

"The records are all there. This is problem within the system. A major problem," Connellis said.

A General Accountability Office report stated the Defense Department military evaluation process "often generates long delays in disability evaluations and creates confusion."

Connellis left the Army with a 30 percent disability rating, an honorable medical discharge and a severance.
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http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10329