Slain soldier from Fort Lewis wanted to make a difference

Waltz family photo

Slain soldier from Fort Lewis, Vancouver 'wanted to make a difference'
Ian Walz, a Vancouver, Wash., man who was thrilled when Barack Obama was elected president, was killed Tuesday along with six other Fort Lewis soldiers in an improvised explosive attack in southern Afghanistan.

By John Branton and Dave Kern

Columbian (Vancouver) staff writers



Ian Walz, a Vancouver, Wash., man who was thrilled when Barack Obama was elected president, was killed Tuesday along with six other Fort Lewis soldiers in an improvised explosive attack in southern Afghanistan.

An eighth Fort Lewis soldier was killed that day in a separate attack.

Wednesday night, Obama personally offered condolences to Walz's relatives at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Family members said Walz played football at Hudson's Bay High School, where he graduated in 2002, and had worked for years in the produce section of the WinCo store in Hazel Dell.

Walz, 25, was part of the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis.

"He wanted to go to school and become something useful. He wanted to make a difference in the world."

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Slain soldier from Fort Lewis wanted to make a difference

10 weeks therapy could not undo years for combat veteran

Correction:
I am leaving up the mistake I made on this post. For some reason, I did the post as he only received 10 "days" of therapy. A reader sent me an email to point out my mistake. While the point I made is a valid one, the comment was not right. I am very sorry for this mistake. I must have let my anger over another death take over what I was reading.

10 Days? That's it? The best programs last a month at least. Some programs last several months of in-house therapy to get them back on their feet on more solid ground.

I don't believe what they are hearing is helping enough in many parts of the country. It's not that all programs do not work, but they are not all the same. There are many psychologists without a clue what PTSD is but they are treating PTSD veterans. PTSD is still being misdiagnosed in many offices as anything but the wound the carry. If they are looking for bipolar, they'll find it when it's really PTSD. If they are looking for depression, they will find it and so on. What everyone doing this work needs to understand very clearly is that PTSD comes after trauma. That is the only way this changes lives. It does not come on like the flu and it is not a genetic mental illness. It comes after abnormal events outside the control of people.

No one is designed to endure endless traumatic events striking daily. Take civilians in a war zone and you'll find PTSD. Take inner city kids living near drug dealers and gunfire and you'll find PTSD. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, National Guardsmen and regular military are all exposed do abnormal events and no matter how much we depend on them, they are all still human just like the rest of us. They are also compassionate people and that is what opens the door to PTSD.

Scientists found the region of the brain where our emotions are held. They have seen the changes when someone is being changed by PTSD. It is an emotional wound, called an anxiety disorder but I call it a wound to the soul and so do most people with knowledge of what PTSD is.

It's time they got this right everywhere. The life of a veteran should not be predicted by where they live. Healing should never be regional.

Stress disorder plagued soldier
By: Andrea Koskey
Examiner Staff Writer
October 29, 2009

DALY CITY — Two days before 27-year-old Reuben “Chip” Santos took his own life, he sent an e-mail to his family telling them he was tired.

In response to the e-mail, his father headed to New Mexico, where his son, a decorated Army veteran who was raised in Daly City, was attending school. But before the elder Santos arrived, the family received word that Chip had succumbed to the post-traumatic stress disorder that had plagued him for years.

“He only received 10 weeks of therapy,” said Debra Burton, Santos’ aunt and family spokeswoman. “And it was a short, questionable process.”

Although Santos was also seeing a therapist at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., where he attended school, it wasn’t enough.

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http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Stress-disorder-plagued-soldier-67091442.html

Broadcaster’s death still under investigation

Broadcaster’s death still under investigation
Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, October 30, 2009
NAPLES, Italy — Italian railway police still are awaiting toxicology results from an autopsy of a 20-year-old American Forces Network broadcaster found dead Oct. 20 near Aviano Air Base, Italy, an official said Thursday.

The body of Airman 1st Class Lauren Lagudi, who was stationed at Aviano, was found near the train station in Pordenone, about 10 miles from the air base.

Railway police believe Lagudi died by accident or by suicide, but they have not ruled out the remote possibility of foul play, said an Italian police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65744

Military to issue report on overseas troops cut off from kids

Military to issue report on overseas troops cut off from kids
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, October 31, 2009
The military will be required to submit a report on the number of troops who have been cut off from their children by family members overseas during the last two years, according to an amendment in the newly approved Defense Authorization Bill.

Though it stops short of requiring the Defense Department to implement new policies to assist servicemembers affected by international child abduction, the amendment is intended to spur such a move, according to sponsor Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.

"This will be the catalyst for significant reform," Smith told Stars and Stripes on Thursday.

The report, which is due to Congress within 180 days, requires the military to document current practices to assist servicemembers entangled in overseas custody battles. Smith, however, said there appears to be no consistent policy within the DOD to address the problem.

The amendment came as good news to troops such as Navy Cmdr. Paul Toland, who has been fighting for rights to his 7-year-old daughter in Japan since she was a baby. While stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, Toland married a Japanese woman who he claims later abducted their daughter in 2003. Toland’s ex-wife died in 2007 and his former mother-in-law refuses to allow visitation, he said.

While U.S. laws provide for custody rights for both parents after a divorce, not every country protects those rights nor provides them.



http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65743

Two more non-combat deaths in Iraq

10/27/09 MNF: U.S. Soldier dies in non-combat related incident
A Multi-National Corps-Iraq Soldier died today of a non-combat related injury at Camp Victory. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.


10/29/09 MNF: U.S. Soldier dies in non-combat related incident
A Soldier who was currently assigned to the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) died Wednesday of a non-combat related injury at Camp Adder, Iraq. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.
go here for links
http://www.icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx