Reservist’s Army ID stops muggers in their tracks
By Carrie Antlfinger - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 7:48:26 EST
MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee Army reservist's military identification earned him some street cred Tuesday, when he says four men who mugged him at gunpoint returned his belongings and thanked him for his service after finding the ID.
The 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student said he was walking home from work at about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday when he was pulled into an alley and told to lay face down and with a gun to his neck. Four men took his wallet, $16, keys, his cell phone and even a PowerBar wrapper from his pants pockets, he said.
But the hostile tone quickly changed when one of the robbers, whom the reservist presumed was the leader, saw an Army ID in the wallet. The robber told the others to return the items and they put most of his belongings on the ground next to him, including the wrapper, the reservist said.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_reservist_id_stops_muggers_111109/
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
American Legion, VFW attract few young vets
American Legion, VFW attract few young vets
By Judy Keen - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 9:15:20 EST
GALESBURG, Ill. — The future of VFW Post 2257 might hinge on the lifespan of its worn-out, 50-year-old boiler and attendance at weekly bingo games this winter.
Like many Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts, Post 2257 in this western Illinois city of 31,000 people is struggling to survive as older members die and younger veterans decide not to join. Nationally, the number of VFW posts declined from 8,374 in 2007 to 7,915 as of June, says spokesman Jerry Newberry. The legion has 14,150 posts, down from 14,260 two years ago, says spokesman John Raughter.
More than a building is at stake here and at other troubled posts, says quartermaster Mike Lummis, who keeps the books for Post 2257. VFW and American Legion posts, both founded to fight for veterans’ benefits and promote patriotism, quickly became havens where veterans could talk with peers about experiences and problems, members say. Beyond the physical posts, both groups have long been vital presences in communities, marching proudly in parades, placing flags in cemeteries and sponsoring scholarships and Little League teams.
Some younger vets buy into the misconception “that all this organization is a bunch of old warriors sitting around blowing smoke and in a lot of places drinking beer and telling war stories,” Lummis says. “Well, that’s not correct at all” — especially at Post 2257, where zoning regulations don’t allow alcohol sales.
“We look after our fellow vets whose lives were never the same and the ones fighting in the current wars and the wars that will come,” Lummis says.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/111109gan_youngvets/
By Judy Keen - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 9:15:20 EST
GALESBURG, Ill. — The future of VFW Post 2257 might hinge on the lifespan of its worn-out, 50-year-old boiler and attendance at weekly bingo games this winter.
Like many Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts, Post 2257 in this western Illinois city of 31,000 people is struggling to survive as older members die and younger veterans decide not to join. Nationally, the number of VFW posts declined from 8,374 in 2007 to 7,915 as of June, says spokesman Jerry Newberry. The legion has 14,150 posts, down from 14,260 two years ago, says spokesman John Raughter.
More than a building is at stake here and at other troubled posts, says quartermaster Mike Lummis, who keeps the books for Post 2257. VFW and American Legion posts, both founded to fight for veterans’ benefits and promote patriotism, quickly became havens where veterans could talk with peers about experiences and problems, members say. Beyond the physical posts, both groups have long been vital presences in communities, marching proudly in parades, placing flags in cemeteries and sponsoring scholarships and Little League teams.
Some younger vets buy into the misconception “that all this organization is a bunch of old warriors sitting around blowing smoke and in a lot of places drinking beer and telling war stories,” Lummis says. “Well, that’s not correct at all” — especially at Post 2257, where zoning regulations don’t allow alcohol sales.
“We look after our fellow vets whose lives were never the same and the ones fighting in the current wars and the wars that will come,” Lummis says.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/111109gan_youngvets/
Homeless Veterans? Something's Wrong With That Phrase
Homeless Veterans? Something's Wrong With That Phrase
Susan Campbell
November 11, 2009
There it was, anchoring the tail end of Hartford's Veterans Day parade — a homeless-veterans float.
What do you say to that?
As the float rolled along the parade route — a flatbed truck decorated with benches, American flags, high-tech sleeping bags, and two orange buckets of candy to throw — parade-goers looked a little stunned before they burst into cheers.
It was a stark reminder of the men and women we're leaving behind. The Department of Veterans Affairs says there are roughly 131,000 homeless veterans in the U.S. About 5,000 of those are in Connecticut, says the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Overall, homeless veterans make up about a quarter of the homeless population.
Yes, there are female homeless vets out there. The staff at the Hartford homeless shelter South Park Inn just helped one. The woman served two tours in Iraq, and came home with serious post-traumatic stress disorder. She was sleeping on her mother's couch with her 4-year-old.
"And what's coming?" asks Brian Baker, the tireless assistant director at South Park. How are we going to help the veterans churned out by our current wars? South Park has 10 beds set aside for veterans, and already, those beds are always full. The Hartford shelter's veterans' drop-in center, which opened a year and a half ago, has had 500 visits.
Those numbers don't begin to count the veterans — like the young woman — who couch-surf, or bounce from family member to friend, bumming a corner. Nor does that count the hard-cores, the homeless veterans who hide under the bridges and refuse all efforts to be brought inside for services.
go here for more
Homeless Veterans
Susan Campbell
November 11, 2009
There it was, anchoring the tail end of Hartford's Veterans Day parade — a homeless-veterans float.
What do you say to that?
As the float rolled along the parade route — a flatbed truck decorated with benches, American flags, high-tech sleeping bags, and two orange buckets of candy to throw — parade-goers looked a little stunned before they burst into cheers.
It was a stark reminder of the men and women we're leaving behind. The Department of Veterans Affairs says there are roughly 131,000 homeless veterans in the U.S. About 5,000 of those are in Connecticut, says the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Overall, homeless veterans make up about a quarter of the homeless population.
Yes, there are female homeless vets out there. The staff at the Hartford homeless shelter South Park Inn just helped one. The woman served two tours in Iraq, and came home with serious post-traumatic stress disorder. She was sleeping on her mother's couch with her 4-year-old.
"And what's coming?" asks Brian Baker, the tireless assistant director at South Park. How are we going to help the veterans churned out by our current wars? South Park has 10 beds set aside for veterans, and already, those beds are always full. The Hartford shelter's veterans' drop-in center, which opened a year and a half ago, has had 500 visits.
Those numbers don't begin to count the veterans — like the young woman — who couch-surf, or bounce from family member to friend, bumming a corner. Nor does that count the hard-cores, the homeless veterans who hide under the bridges and refuse all efforts to be brought inside for services.
go here for more
Homeless Veterans
Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 10, 2009
Veterans' mental health a priority yesterday, today and tomorrow
It would be hard to imagine anyone wanting the job General Shinseki has when so many veterans need action now. The Obama Administration is not just trying to take care of the combat veterans and wounded soldiers from this year, they have to try to take care of all of those who came before, waited longer, hurt longer and felt abandoned by the country since they returned home in need of help.
Usually I complain about what they lack. It's habit. After all these years of reading their stories, talking to them and their families, it would be impossible to not complain about what they are not getting. These are not, as some put it, freeloaders looking for a handout, but men and women who earned whatever it is we can provide them with. We'll honor them today on Veterans Day, but fail to imagine tomorrow, they will still be veterans living with memories of combat, fallen friends and carrying the same wounds they came home with. They are veterans everyday, every week, every month and every year for as long as they live.
They return to home, families, neighborhoods, to work when they can and the VA claim line when they can't. They return to people they used to feel comfortable with suddenly feeling like a stranger in their midst. They hear us complain about tiny issues as if they were all so important while they remember what it was like when the food couldn't get to them for days, the times when they were fighting too stressed out to realize they hadn't eaten all day or slept, or showered or that it was over a hundred degrees in the shade. Still they listen to us get all flustered because they didn't take out the trash or notice the new curtains in the living room.
In the weeks, months and years as they try to readjust back to the world of normalcy, they soon realize everyone else has gotten on with their normal lives but they haven't. There is nothing "normal" about them anymore. What they do not understand is that after what they went through, they are normal considering where they came from.
This is one of the first videos I did on PTSD so that families could understand.
What is possible with PTSD is that they can heal this wound. It does not have to be fatal. It does not have to be all consuming. It does not have to be a terrorist inside of them trying to break them down and destroy their lives. If they know what it is, that knowledge acts like an antibiotic. Much like an infection will eat away flesh, PTSD with eat away at the soul unless it is treated. As soon as they start to talk about what is going on inside of them, they stop getting worse. PTSD is no longer able to rule over their lives. They begin to take control over it.
It is not their fault. It strikes the compassionate. Once they understand this, they stop the self-guilt road rage against themselves.
It is not something they can treat with alcohol or drugs because it makes it all worse. Masking what is there instead of treating it properly allows it to fester and grow stronger. If they are already on medication, it is dangerous because these chemicals interfere with the chemicals in the medications that are supposed to be helping them. Once they understand this, the medications begin to work and if not, the doctors can change them so they work with the individual body chemistry better.
They do not have to watch their family fall apart if everyone involved knows where all the emotions are coming from and what they can do about them. If they have the tools to readjust their thinking, they will know what a good response is and what a bad one is. In other words, they can either make the situation worse or better and help the veteran heal. They can only do this with knowledge as the tool for their survival.
They can laugh again. They can find the part of themselves where joy still lives on trapped behind the wall their body built to defend against more pain.
They can reclaim their faith. Once they understand what PTSD is, answer the age old question of "why me" when others walked away, then they understand themselves better. They can stop blaming themselves. They can stop thinking God is punishing them or abandoned them. Above all they can stop thinking God is evil because He allowed what they saw.
There is so much that is possible with PTSD and they can come out on the other side better than they were before while they can never come out the same way they were before. Every event in a human's life goes into what they become and each one of us adjust to events that shape our lives.
So here's another video. Veterans Everyday just to honor them for all they live with long after we stopped praying for them and felt we no longer had to worry about them.
Shinseki: Veterans' Mental Health a Priority
Posted by Daniel Carty
Eric Shinseki, the retired four-star general who currently heads the Department of Veterans Affairs, said his agency is "working diligently" to better aid veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.
Shinseki appeared on CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday, a day after attending a memorial for the 13 victims of the Fort Hood shooting rampage. As a former Army chief of staff, Shinseki described the attack as a "heart wrenching, terrible tragedy - unexplainable."
He also said President Barack Obama's speech during the ceremony was important to "bring the community together and begin the healing."
read more here
Veterans' Mental Health a Priority
Usually I complain about what they lack. It's habit. After all these years of reading their stories, talking to them and their families, it would be impossible to not complain about what they are not getting. These are not, as some put it, freeloaders looking for a handout, but men and women who earned whatever it is we can provide them with. We'll honor them today on Veterans Day, but fail to imagine tomorrow, they will still be veterans living with memories of combat, fallen friends and carrying the same wounds they came home with. They are veterans everyday, every week, every month and every year for as long as they live.
They return to home, families, neighborhoods, to work when they can and the VA claim line when they can't. They return to people they used to feel comfortable with suddenly feeling like a stranger in their midst. They hear us complain about tiny issues as if they were all so important while they remember what it was like when the food couldn't get to them for days, the times when they were fighting too stressed out to realize they hadn't eaten all day or slept, or showered or that it was over a hundred degrees in the shade. Still they listen to us get all flustered because they didn't take out the trash or notice the new curtains in the living room.
In the weeks, months and years as they try to readjust back to the world of normalcy, they soon realize everyone else has gotten on with their normal lives but they haven't. There is nothing "normal" about them anymore. What they do not understand is that after what they went through, they are normal considering where they came from.
This is one of the first videos I did on PTSD so that families could understand.
Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 19, 2009
What is possible with PTSD is that they can heal this wound. It does not have to be fatal. It does not have to be all consuming. It does not have to be a terrorist inside of them trying to break them down and destroy their lives. If they know what it is, that knowledge acts like an antibiotic. Much like an infection will eat away flesh, PTSD with eat away at the soul unless it is treated. As soon as they start to talk about what is going on inside of them, they stop getting worse. PTSD is no longer able to rule over their lives. They begin to take control over it.
It is not their fault. It strikes the compassionate. Once they understand this, they stop the self-guilt road rage against themselves.
It is not something they can treat with alcohol or drugs because it makes it all worse. Masking what is there instead of treating it properly allows it to fester and grow stronger. If they are already on medication, it is dangerous because these chemicals interfere with the chemicals in the medications that are supposed to be helping them. Once they understand this, the medications begin to work and if not, the doctors can change them so they work with the individual body chemistry better.
They do not have to watch their family fall apart if everyone involved knows where all the emotions are coming from and what they can do about them. If they have the tools to readjust their thinking, they will know what a good response is and what a bad one is. In other words, they can either make the situation worse or better and help the veteran heal. They can only do this with knowledge as the tool for their survival.
They can laugh again. They can find the part of themselves where joy still lives on trapped behind the wall their body built to defend against more pain.
They can reclaim their faith. Once they understand what PTSD is, answer the age old question of "why me" when others walked away, then they understand themselves better. They can stop blaming themselves. They can stop thinking God is punishing them or abandoned them. Above all they can stop thinking God is evil because He allowed what they saw.
There is so much that is possible with PTSD and they can come out on the other side better than they were before while they can never come out the same way they were before. Every event in a human's life goes into what they become and each one of us adjust to events that shape our lives.
So here's another video. Veterans Everyday just to honor them for all they live with long after we stopped praying for them and felt we no longer had to worry about them.
Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 12, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis
King: Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis
By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent
November 10, 2009 8:38 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
CNN's John King travels to Fort Lewis, Washington
Soldiers are dealing not only with physical injuries but with ones harder to detect
Two-thirds of the troops stationed at Fort Lewis are now in Iraq or Afghanistan
"State of the Union" with John King airs at 9 a.m. ET Sunday
Fort Lewis, Washington (CNN) -- The pain is excruciating, but to Army Spc. Michael Ballard, pain is the price of progress.
"I broke the top of my femur, so with the plate and screws, now I'm actually, two months later, able to walk -- do some walking on my own," Ballard told us. "Physical therapy is coming along very well."
Once the hip is back to full strength, Ballard will need knee surgery to repair ligament damage, but he shrugs and voices encouragement at his progress and smiles a confident smile when asked about his ultimate goal.
"Get back and fight," Ballard said without hesitation. "Return to duty."
Veterans Day traditionally has been set aside more to honor those who have served rather than those still serving. But eight-plus years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a huge class of combat veterans who still wear the uniform, many of them with two or three or more deployments under their belts and perhaps more in their futures.
read more here
Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis
By John King, CNN Chief National Correspondent
November 10, 2009 8:38 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
CNN's John King travels to Fort Lewis, Washington
Soldiers are dealing not only with physical injuries but with ones harder to detect
Two-thirds of the troops stationed at Fort Lewis are now in Iraq or Afghanistan
"State of the Union" with John King airs at 9 a.m. ET Sunday
Fort Lewis, Washington (CNN) -- The pain is excruciating, but to Army Spc. Michael Ballard, pain is the price of progress.
"I broke the top of my femur, so with the plate and screws, now I'm actually, two months later, able to walk -- do some walking on my own," Ballard told us. "Physical therapy is coming along very well."
Once the hip is back to full strength, Ballard will need knee surgery to repair ligament damage, but he shrugs and voices encouragement at his progress and smiles a confident smile when asked about his ultimate goal.
"Get back and fight," Ballard said without hesitation. "Return to duty."
Veterans Day traditionally has been set aside more to honor those who have served rather than those still serving. But eight-plus years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a huge class of combat veterans who still wear the uniform, many of them with two or three or more deployments under their belts and perhaps more in their futures.
read more here
Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis
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