Some people have a problem when I use the word "soul" but have an easier time accepting the term "heart" so on this post, let's stick to that term.
If you were thinking you wanted to kill instead of defeat when you entered into the military, then you shouldn't worry about PTSD hitting you. The level of your compassion is so low, the possibility of you being wounded by what used to be called Soldier's Heart, is extremely low.
If you were thinking you wanted to defend your country, wanted to give back, wanted to be a part of something noble, then you should remember that, embrace that and understand that.
The notion of Rambo figures running around Iraq and Afghanistan is part of the problem. Added to that is the view of the military that men and women can toughen their minds to prevent PTSD. What they do not know understand is that you cannot prepare your mind to stop being "who" you are inside. You can however use that mind of your's to heal faster if you know how to make it work together.
A Marine regretting the fact he survived when a buddy didn't was supported when another Marine was responsible for the fallen Marine being on that road that night. The Marine who stayed behind blamed the survivor for the other life being lost simply because he was feeling the guilt of it happening, but wanted to deflect it onto the Marine already hurting because it was not him instead. Two feeling guilty for still being alive when there was nothing they could have done to prevent it and were not in control of what happened.
A National Guards soldier tried to commit suicide twice before he understood what PTSD was, why it picked on him just as he couldn't understand why that final image could not leave his mind. He had forgotten about the fact he did everything possible to prevent taking lives of civilians in Iraq.
They are all trying to find themselves beneath the pain. Most want to go back to the way they were before and those are the only words they want to hear. They don't want to accept the fact that every even in our lives changes us by our experiences. They don't want to hear they cannot be cured, so when they are told they can be healed, that's just not good enough. Yet when they are told they can come out of this darkness better and stronger, this gives them hope based in reality.
The guilt they feel can be released if they can stop and think about what was in their heart before the life altering traumatic event happened. If they ask themselves what they were thinking before it happened, then they are able to forgive themselves for the outcome. The callous will not bother with guilt so surviving is a good thing. The compassionate will walk away with their own pain as well as the pain of others and this is what needs to be focused on to begin the healing.
Even for those put into positions where they did end up getting so angry they were trying to kill off as many as possible, forgiveness can happen once they understand that every other event has contributed to their change in attitude.
They need to see who they always were inside and then, then they can use the "old" them to help them heal. It all depends on what they were thinking in those horrifying moments out of their lives what happens to the rest of their lives after.
How can they come out better? Because every event in our lives goes into who we become. If we understand it, accept it, learn from it, grow with it, then we can heal it. Once there, as a survivor, people stand stronger because it did not destroy them, all the goodness within them, all the compassion within their heart and all their courage are made stronger and deeper.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Mass. restores funding for veterans clinics
Mass. restores funding for veterans clinics
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 13, 2010 6:41:31 EST
BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick says two outpatient veterans clinics in Massachusetts that had been closed because of the state’s budget crisis will reopen.
The state cut $1.89 million from the clinics at the state soldiers’ homes in Chelsea and Holyoke, prompting both to end outpatient services, and sparking outrage from veterans and their advocates statewide. The clinics provide free outpatient care, including vision and dental care, physical therapy and a pharmacy.
read more here
Mass. restores funding for veterans clinics
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 13, 2010 6:41:31 EST
BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick says two outpatient veterans clinics in Massachusetts that had been closed because of the state’s budget crisis will reopen.
The state cut $1.89 million from the clinics at the state soldiers’ homes in Chelsea and Holyoke, prompting both to end outpatient services, and sparking outrage from veterans and their advocates statewide. The clinics provide free outpatient care, including vision and dental care, physical therapy and a pharmacy.
read more here
Mass. restores funding for veterans clinics
Bereaved kin push for more condolence letters
Bereaved kin push for more condolence letters
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 13, 2010 7:49:40 EST
WASHINGTON — Army Pfc. Brian Matthew Williams, 20, took his own life the day before he was to return to Iraq. Because it was a suicide, the president didn’t send a condolence letter to his family. Nobody has planted a tree in his honor or carved his name onto a memorial wall.
Advocates for bereaved military families say soldiers like Williams deserve better. They’re asking President Obama to send condolence letters to the next of kin of troops who die under a variety of circumstances not directly related to the war.
“Every military family pays a price when a loved one serves in the military,” Bonnie Carroll, a military widow who founded the advocacy group Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, wrote in a letter sent to Obama on Tuesday, as veterans and military officials met in Washington for a four-day suicide prevention conference.
“Their loved ones stand ready to go into harm’s way to protect our country,” Carroll wrote. “Their deaths are painful to their surviving family members, regardless of the circumstances or location of the death.”
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/01/ap_military_condolence_letters_011310/
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 13, 2010 7:49:40 EST
WASHINGTON — Army Pfc. Brian Matthew Williams, 20, took his own life the day before he was to return to Iraq. Because it was a suicide, the president didn’t send a condolence letter to his family. Nobody has planted a tree in his honor or carved his name onto a memorial wall.
Advocates for bereaved military families say soldiers like Williams deserve better. They’re asking President Obama to send condolence letters to the next of kin of troops who die under a variety of circumstances not directly related to the war.
“Every military family pays a price when a loved one serves in the military,” Bonnie Carroll, a military widow who founded the advocacy group Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, wrote in a letter sent to Obama on Tuesday, as veterans and military officials met in Washington for a four-day suicide prevention conference.
“Their loved ones stand ready to go into harm’s way to protect our country,” Carroll wrote. “Their deaths are painful to their surviving family members, regardless of the circumstances or location of the death.”
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/01/ap_military_condolence_letters_011310/
Veteran Gives Insight on Suicide Prevention
Veteran Gives Insight on Suicide Prevention
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2010 – When retired Army Maj. Ed Pulido was medically evacuated from Iraq in August 2004, he knew tough challenges were ahead, as he’d have to learn to live without his left leg.
But as he sat in his hospital bed at Brooke Army Medical Center on Fort Sam Houston, Texas, he began to realize that recovering from his physical disability was only a small part of that challenge.
“When my leg was taken away … I sat in the hospital bed not knowing what was happening to me mentally,” said Pulido, who medically retired after a 19-year Army career. “I remember those three weeks at Brooke where I thought about the fact that as positive as I am, I hit that dark place, and those hidden wounds were the ones that would cripple me at times when I just didn’t understand.”
Post-traumatic stress had taken form, and depression and anxiety began to take their toll. Suddenly, suicidal thoughts began to surface, the Oklahoma native said.
Pulido shared the story of his struggles yesterday with an audience of more than 1,000 military and other government agency health-care workers and officials gathered here for the 2nd Annual Suicide Prevention Conference sponsored by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments.
The weeklong conference began yesterday and goes through Jan. 14 to give department health-care professionals insight to each organization’s programs and best practices in suicide prevention. Nearly 100 veterans who’ve experienced suicidal thoughts, such as Pulido, are expected to share their stories of survival.
read more here
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=57470
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2010 – When retired Army Maj. Ed Pulido was medically evacuated from Iraq in August 2004, he knew tough challenges were ahead, as he’d have to learn to live without his left leg.
But as he sat in his hospital bed at Brooke Army Medical Center on Fort Sam Houston, Texas, he began to realize that recovering from his physical disability was only a small part of that challenge.
“When my leg was taken away … I sat in the hospital bed not knowing what was happening to me mentally,” said Pulido, who medically retired after a 19-year Army career. “I remember those three weeks at Brooke where I thought about the fact that as positive as I am, I hit that dark place, and those hidden wounds were the ones that would cripple me at times when I just didn’t understand.”
Post-traumatic stress had taken form, and depression and anxiety began to take their toll. Suddenly, suicidal thoughts began to surface, the Oklahoma native said.
Pulido shared the story of his struggles yesterday with an audience of more than 1,000 military and other government agency health-care workers and officials gathered here for the 2nd Annual Suicide Prevention Conference sponsored by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments.
The weeklong conference began yesterday and goes through Jan. 14 to give department health-care professionals insight to each organization’s programs and best practices in suicide prevention. Nearly 100 veterans who’ve experienced suicidal thoughts, such as Pulido, are expected to share their stories of survival.
read more here
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=57470
Plant City FL mourning a proud soldier
Mourning a proud soldier
By DAVE NICHOLSON
dnicholson@tampatrib.com
Published: January 13, 2010
PLANT CITY - The nation's war on terror once again has hit home.
Army Spc. David A. Croft Jr. became the eighth local serviceman to die in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2004. A ninth Plant City area soldier was listed as a noncombat death in Kuwait.
Croft was killed Jan. 5, three days before his 23rd birthday. His death came a little more than two months after Army Spc. Eric N. Lembke of Plant City was killed in Afghanistan.
Croft, a Durant High School graduate on his second tour in Iraq, was scheduled to leave the war zone on Monday, Jan. 18.
He is survived by his mother, Vickie, three sisters and a brother.
His fiancee, Susie Clark of Brandon, said he was a brave, proud solider who liked serving his country. She said he seemed to blossom after joining the Army in 2005.
read more here
http://plantcity2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/13/pc-mourning-a-proud-soldier/
By DAVE NICHOLSON
dnicholson@tampatrib.com
Published: January 13, 2010
PLANT CITY - The nation's war on terror once again has hit home.
Army Spc. David A. Croft Jr. became the eighth local serviceman to die in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2004. A ninth Plant City area soldier was listed as a noncombat death in Kuwait.
Croft was killed Jan. 5, three days before his 23rd birthday. His death came a little more than two months after Army Spc. Eric N. Lembke of Plant City was killed in Afghanistan.
Croft, a Durant High School graduate on his second tour in Iraq, was scheduled to leave the war zone on Monday, Jan. 18.
He is survived by his mother, Vickie, three sisters and a brother.
His fiancee, Susie Clark of Brandon, said he was a brave, proud solider who liked serving his country. She said he seemed to blossom after joining the Army in 2005.
read more here
http://plantcity2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/13/pc-mourning-a-proud-soldier/
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