Amazing Grace to heal PTSD

Can you believe such greatness of pain can be healed?
It can when you understand what it is and why it hit you but not someone else.
It was not by lack of courage nor dedication to duty, but the strength of your compassion that makes you grieve. You took away the pain of others along with your own. You wondered where God was while He was there all the time inside of you allowing you to care just as He was inside of you the day you decided to serve.

His grace was there in the midst of horror. His grace was there while you risked your life to care about those you served with more than your own life. His grace was there when you cared about strangers you would never meet and the strangers you ended up calling family.

He was there when you were willing to leave your family and friends for what your nation needed.

He was there when you wept for a fallen friend and when you mourned the loss of life for even the enemy.

He was there when you laid awake at night with memories that would not let you go.

He was there and is there in all moments of your life and He will forgive anything you believe you need to be forgiven for, for He knows where your heart was, just as He knew you before He sent you here.

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

You may think the person you were before is gone forever, but he/she still lives behind the wall of pain. You can find "you" again when you begin to heal.

You are blind to the cause of PTSD because no one ever told you but once you see it was caused by the events you lived through, you can see all that there is inside of you that is good, loving and still compassionate.

T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

The God you knew all your life has not changed. He still loves and still grieves that man has not learned to live in peace. He grieves over what man does with freewill and weeps for the sake of those who defend others because of this.

God created a warrior long before He created man because He knew some would put themselves first and others last. Yet it is the Archangel Michael created to defend, just as you were created to defend.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

We do not know why some die in service to this nation and others survive. We do not know why some will be called to greater glory as Medal of Honor heroes and other heroes return forgotten. There is much we do not know this day but there is also much we do know. We know that those who are willing to put the lives of others ahead of their own are to be called heroes even though you will say you were just doing your job, humbled as you bow your head.

God's grace is able to fill all the needs you have to heal this wound to your soul so that you may find the amazing grace within you. You can be found, you can see the truth and you can come all the way back home.

Volunteer Vets: Returning Troops Still Want to Serve

Volunteer Vets: Returning Troops Still Want to Serve
By Mark Thompson / Washington Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009
Veterans Day traditionally is when the nation thanks those who have served in the nation's armed forces, especially in a time of war. But as much as our gratitude, what the 1.8 million U.S. troops back home from Iraq and Afghanistan want is to be asked to serve again, this time on the home front. That, at least, is the conclusion of a new study that highlights many vets' hunger to serve in their communities and their frustration that their talents aren't being tapped. "We now know that veterans who serve" their communities after shedding their uniforms "have better transitions," says John Bridgeland, chief of Civic Enterprises, the public-policy group that conducted the landmark survey, which was funded by Target and the Case Foundation.

"We don't need handshakes and victory parades," says Alex Lemons, 30, who spent eight years in the Marines as a scout-sniper, including four tours in Iraq, before leaving the service last month. "We need to come back and see that people are ready to put us to work after we've been out there on their behalf doing some crazy dirty work." The stresses of deployment leave some veterans unable to reach out to help, but many are eager to do so just the same, which could help smooth their transition back to civilian life. "Getting involved in volunteer projects helps you get out of your own self-pity and pain," says Lemons, who has volunteered with environmental groups near his San Clemente, Calif., home. "It helps me reintegrate into society and not feel so alienated."
read more here
Returning Troops Still Want to Serve

Blame game erupts over probe of Fort Hood suspect

Blame game erupts over probe of Hood suspect

By Devlin Barrett - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 11, 2009 8:19:56 EST

WASHINGTON — Finger-pointing erupted between federal agencies Tuesday over Fort Hood shooting suspect Nidal Hasan. Government officials said a Defense Department terrorism investigator looked into Hasan’s contacts with a radical imam months ago, but a military official denied prior knowledge of the Army psychiatrist’s contacts with any Muslim extremists.

The two government officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case on the record, said the Washington-based joint terrorism task force overseen by the FBI was notified of communications between Hasan and a radical imam overseas, and the information was turned over to a Defense Criminal Investigative Service employee assigned to the task force. The communications were gathered by investigators beginning in December 2008 and continuing into early this year.
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Blame game erupts over probe of Hood suspect

Even a mugger honored service of veteran

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.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_reservist_id_stops_muggers_111109/

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/