Roundtable looks to boost care for vets
By PETER JOHNSON • Tribune Staff Writer • November 12, 2009
Montana is the model for broader mental health screening for war veterans, but the state needs to do more to meet their other health and employment needs.
Those were some of the major points made in two back-to-back Veterans Day panel discussions led by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
About 25 people attended the nearly three-hour session in the Civic Center Commission Chambers.
Baucus said he is "deeply troubled" by the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and the increase in suicides among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
He praised the Montana National Guard for creating a model program requiring more frequent mental health screenings for returning veterans.
Baucus successfully carried a federal bill that will require that system to be used nationwide.
He said veterans face other issues, including chronic claims backlogs, underfunded facilities, bureaucratic red tape and a lack of access to facilities in rural areas.
Susan Fuehrer, acting director for the Veteran Administration Montana Healthcare System, said the VA treated 31,744 Montana veterans last year, and is seeking to expand its service. Plans call for a 24-bed inpatient mental health center at Fort Harrison near Helena, veterans centers in Great Falls and Kalispell, and expanded rural health treatment in Plentywood and Hamilton.
Additionally, Buck Richardson, minority veteran program coordinator for the Rocky Mountain states, is trying to line up more veteran representatives on Indian reservations to help Native American vets learn about health benefits. He also hopes to arrange for more traveling psychologists to help provide screenings for PTSD.
read more here
Roundtable looks to boost care for vets
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Order of Silver Rose awarded to 7 Vietnam Veterans on Veterans Day
Central Texas observes Veterans Day
Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 11 2009 05:53 AM
From staff reports
Several local events and programs are planned across Central Texas today in observance of Veterans Day.
Killeen's annual Veterans Day parade will take place beginning at 11 a.m. today in downtown Killeen.
The lineup will be along Avenue E, and the parade will kick off at City Hall, Avenue D and College Street.
The grand marshal for the parade will be retired Gen. Robert Shoemaker, a former Army aviator and commander of the 1st Cavalry Division and III Corps.
Shoemaker was also assigned as deputy commander, U.S. Army Forces Command (FORCOM) and a year later was promoted to general and became commander of FORSCOM.
An awards ceremony and a reception will be held after the parade at American Legion Post 223 at 1:30 p.m.
The "Order of the Silver Rose" medal will be presented to seven local Vietnam veterans by the Armed Forces E9 Association and District 54 state Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock. The event is open to the public.
read more here
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=37030
Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 11 2009 05:53 AM
From staff reports
Several local events and programs are planned across Central Texas today in observance of Veterans Day.
Killeen's annual Veterans Day parade will take place beginning at 11 a.m. today in downtown Killeen.
The lineup will be along Avenue E, and the parade will kick off at City Hall, Avenue D and College Street.
The grand marshal for the parade will be retired Gen. Robert Shoemaker, a former Army aviator and commander of the 1st Cavalry Division and III Corps.
Shoemaker was also assigned as deputy commander, U.S. Army Forces Command (FORCOM) and a year later was promoted to general and became commander of FORSCOM.
An awards ceremony and a reception will be held after the parade at American Legion Post 223 at 1:30 p.m.
The "Order of the Silver Rose" medal will be presented to seven local Vietnam veterans by the Armed Forces E9 Association and District 54 state Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock. The event is open to the public.
read more here
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=37030
US doctors worried Hasan was 'psychotic:' report
But he was still treating our soldiers?
US doctors worried suspect was 'psychotic:' report
US military doctors had worried that the suspected gunman in the Fort Hood shootings was "psychotic" and unstable but did not seek to sack him, National Public Radio reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed officials.
Psychiatrists and medical officials who oversaw Major Nidal Hasan, accused of opening fire on fellow soldiers at the Fort Hood base in Texas last week, held a series of meetings between the spring of 2008 and the spring of this year to discuss serious concerns about his work and his behavior, NPR reported.
"Put it this way. Everybody felt that if you were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, you would not want Nidal Hasan in your fox hole," one official was quoted as saying.
read more here
US doctors worried suspect was psychotic report
Two more non-combat deaths
Europe briefs:
Soldier found dead in barracks identified
Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, November 12, 2009
BAMBERG, Germany — A Grafenwöhr-based soldier who was found dead Sunday in his barracks room has been identified as Pfc. Matthew C. Johnson of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, according to an official statement from the brigade.
Johnson is survived by his wife and parents in the States. His death is under investigation.
Memorial service for chaplain set
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A memorial service for Chaplain (Col.) Lonnie B. Barker will be held at 1 p.m. Friday in the Ramstein Northside Chapel.
Barker, command deputy chaplain for U.S. Air forces in Europe, was found dead Sunday in his home near Ramstein Air Base. Cause of death is under investigation.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66051
Soldier found dead in barracks identified
Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, November 12, 2009
BAMBERG, Germany — A Grafenwöhr-based soldier who was found dead Sunday in his barracks room has been identified as Pfc. Matthew C. Johnson of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, according to an official statement from the brigade.
Johnson is survived by his wife and parents in the States. His death is under investigation.
Memorial service for chaplain set
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A memorial service for Chaplain (Col.) Lonnie B. Barker will be held at 1 p.m. Friday in the Ramstein Northside Chapel.
Barker, command deputy chaplain for U.S. Air forces in Europe, was found dead Sunday in his home near Ramstein Air Base. Cause of death is under investigation.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66051
Reviving a Greek tragedy the wrong way
One day I had an argument with an older veteran uninterested in hearing about the reality of PTSD. He grew more and more defensive then told me, "Kid, you don't know what you're talking about. I can track my family back to the Civil War." Aside from being called a kid when I was well over 40 and had been helping veterans with PTSD for a good many years, I politely pointed out, "I can track my family back to the Trojan war." Then I asked him, "What's your point?" With this, he walked away. He was still in denial about PTSD but more, he was in denial it was already in him.
He was an angry man because that was all he allowed himself to feel. Given the fact the vast majority of veterans I've talked to over the years along with their families, most of the veterans with PTSD were compassionate people, always caring about others, always loving, forgiving and most were very religious. The pain trapped all that was part of them and allowed only anger to be seen by others. It's a defense against feeling pain added onto them. It's also one of the biggest reasons they drink or use drugs. They want to feel nothing.
This Greek tragedy is one more case of the military missing the point. It is a lesson that will do much good for the mental health providers but not the veterans themselves. They already live with what the providers need to learn.
The biggest tragedy is that they live with all of it and no ancient Greek text will give them comfort or remove the stigma when the message they are getting is the same as usual.
PTSD is only caused by trauma. It is not their fault. When they understand this, the stigma is reduced.
PTSD is caused by an outside force striking the emotions where all their compassion lives on. This is why they hurt.
PTSD is not about lack of courage because compassion will only produce tears without courage to act for the sake of someone else. The ability to care is behind the courage they need to take action in the first place. The ability to be willing to lay down their lives is fueled by their courage.
There is so much they need to hear and they will not hear it unless someone starts to tell them.
He was an angry man because that was all he allowed himself to feel. Given the fact the vast majority of veterans I've talked to over the years along with their families, most of the veterans with PTSD were compassionate people, always caring about others, always loving, forgiving and most were very religious. The pain trapped all that was part of them and allowed only anger to be seen by others. It's a defense against feeling pain added onto them. It's also one of the biggest reasons they drink or use drugs. They want to feel nothing.
This Greek tragedy is one more case of the military missing the point. It is a lesson that will do much good for the mental health providers but not the veterans themselves. They already live with what the providers need to learn.
The Anguish of War for Today’s Soldiers, Explored by Sophocles
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: November 11, 2009
The ancient Greeks had a shorthand for the mental anguish of war, for post-traumatic stress disorder and even for outbursts of fratricidal bloodshed like last week’s shootings at Fort Hood. They would invoke the names of mythological military heroes who battled inner demons: Achilles, consumed by the deaths of his men; Philoctetes, hollowed out from betrayals by fellow officers; Ajax, warped with so much rage that he wanted to kill his comrades.
Now officials at the Defense Department are turning to the Greeks to explore the psychic impact of war.
The Pentagon has provided $3.7 million for an independent production company, Theater of War, to visit 50 military sites through at least next summer and stage readings from two plays by Sophocles, “Ajax” and “Philoctetes,” for service members. So far the group has performed at Fort Riley in Kansas; at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md.; and at last week’s Warrior Resilience Conference in Norfolk, Va.
read more here
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/theater/12greeks.html?_r=1
The biggest tragedy is that they live with all of it and no ancient Greek text will give them comfort or remove the stigma when the message they are getting is the same as usual.
PTSD is only caused by trauma. It is not their fault. When they understand this, the stigma is reduced.
PTSD is caused by an outside force striking the emotions where all their compassion lives on. This is why they hurt.
PTSD is not about lack of courage because compassion will only produce tears without courage to act for the sake of someone else. The ability to care is behind the courage they need to take action in the first place. The ability to be willing to lay down their lives is fueled by their courage.
There is so much they need to hear and they will not hear it unless someone starts to tell them.
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