Service Dog Kicked Out of VA--For Blind Veteran

Blind Vet's Guide Dog Banned From VA Hospital
SF Weekly
Posted By David-Elijah Nahmod
Dec 12, 2014 at 2:14 PM

Matthew Easton's dog Chestnut isn't just his buddy — he's his eyesight.

Easton, an Air Force veteran who served from 2001-2005, lost most of his vision due to an eye disease. Chestnut is Easton's guide dog. With his faithful companion by his side, Easton is able to get around his neighborhood in San Luis Obispo.

Chestnut also guides Easton from Central California to the VA Hospital in San Francisco's Outer Richmond District, where he receives medical treatment for his eyes.

But recently, the VA Hospital delivered some not-so-welcoming news, telling Easton that he could no longer bring Chestnut into the eye exam room at the hospital.

"I was told by the Patient Advocate Office as well as the eye clinic that the only option was to have a family member or a friend watch my dog for me during my exam," Easton told SF Weekly. "I was told if that wasn't an option that I was to call Animal Control and have them take my guide dog to the shelter at my own expense just for the short duration of my appointment."

Easton says that he was advised to "leave his dog in the car."

Obvious questions arose, such as: leave Chestnut in what car? A blind person can't legally drive. As a person who lives on disability insurance Easton can hardly afford boarding fees. And besides, how would Easton get from the pound—which is in the Mission—to the VA Hospital in the Outer Richmond without his guide dog?
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Only way to reduce suicides tied to military is fix stupid solutions

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 14, 2014

There is only one way to reduce military/veteran suicides but in order to do it, they'd first have to fix what are stupid solutions.

Spc. Jacob Sexton committed suicide in 2009. His Dad went on a crusade to prevent other families from going through the same thing. Indiana WBNS 10 News reported that Jeff Sexton went to the State of the Union Address in 2014, invited by Senator Joe Donnelly.

In this video you'll hear about a Dad saying his son committed suicide in 2009. He talked about how his son Chance Kingsley had reported PTSD but was still sent back. He mentioned that if what was in the Sexton suicide prevention bill were in place back then, his son would still be alive. The trouble with this is, he was wrong.

There were many bills, rules and regulations in place pushed by parents with the same goal of sparing other families from burying their members due to suicide. A great example is the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act signed by President Bush in 2008. This was supposed to save lives too.

More bills followed and pushed for mental health screenings, pre and post deployment but the leaders of the military said they do not do post deployment screenings during a Senate Armed Forces Committee meeting in 2010. They excused themselves saying they didn't have the manpower or the time to do them.

While most are talking about the Clay Hunt Suicide act being held up, they pretty much ignored this one and all the others that sound good in a news report and a speech but will do little to actually save any lives.

The Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act Explained -- Washington, D.C. 6-22-13
Chicago Medical Innovations
Jun 27, 2013

Marta McLellan Ross, Military Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN), explains The Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act at "Visible Honor for Invisible Wounds" to commemorate National PTSD Awareness Day in Washington, D.C. on June 22, 2013.

The event was co-sponsored by Chicago Medical Innovations. Join Chicago Medical Innovations (http://www.chicagomedicalinnovations....) in the fight against Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and help spread the word about PTSD.

Chicago Medical Innovations is a Non-Profit 501(c)3 Organization that facilitates access to innovative treatment options for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans, sexual assault victims and others who have faced traumatic experiences and have been unable to achieve adequate relief from PTSD symptoms through existing evidence-based treatments.

Indiana National Guardsman committed suicide at movie theater
Spc. Jacob Sexton died because of war and because the military didn't make sure they were prepared to return home.

Guardsman home from war kills self in Ind. theater
Associated Press
7:12 p.m. CDT, October 13, 2009

MUNCIE, Ind. - The father of an Indiana National Guardsman who fatally shot himself inside a movie theater said Tuesday that the families of servicemembers returning home from war need to closely watch them for signs of stress.

Spc. Jacob Sexton, 21, showed no signs of being suicidal before shooting himself in the head, the guardsman's father, Jeffrey Sexton of Farmland, said.

"We just need to watch these boys and the girls coming back home. Something's just not right. Too much is happening," Jeffrey Sexton told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Muncie police said Jacob Sexton had argued with theater employees on Monday night over having to show identification to see the R-rated horror comedy "Zombieland." Twenty minutes into the film, a friend handed Sexton a 9 mm handgun, at the guardsman's request, and he then shot himself in the head, police said.

The Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act of 2014 would:

Require annual mental health assessments for all servicemembers, including members of the Active, Guard, and Reserve components. Right now, the best and most consistent screening is happening only for those within the deployment cycle which can leave non-deployed members of the Active, Reserve, and Guard components underserved.

Maintain strong privacy protections for servicemembers. We must ensure that seeking help remains a sign of strength by protecting the privacy of the servicemember coming forward. The privacy of servicemembers would be ensured by guaranteeing medical privacy protections for these mental health assessments.

Require a Pentagon report to evaluate existing military mental health practices and provide recommendations for improvement. This report, which is due to Congress within a year of enactment of the bill, would help identify which programs are working and which need to be fixed. A specific focus of the report will be identifying successful peer-to-peer programs that address the need for a more bottom-up approach to identifying warning signs and combatting stigma in each of the Services, with the intention of future expansion.

The Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act will come up for a vote as part of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act this year.

There have been years of repeated "efforts" that were supposed to reduce suicides while removing the stigma attached to admitting a soldier needs help to heal PTSD. One of the first of such efforts was spawned by the suicide of a Montana National Guardsman Spec. Chris Dana.

The Montana National Guard is taking steps to help returning and deploying soldiers and airmen deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The Guard hopes to equip citizens with the tools to reach out to friends, family members and neighbors who could be suffering from PTSD through statewide meetings.

The meetings outline symptoms of both PTSD and mild traumatic brain injuries and how to get help.

Col. Jeff Ireland: "We want to do everything we can to most importantly take care of our soldiers, our airmen and their families and if we have someone suffering from PTSD, helping them to get into a program that will help to get them better so that we can continue them as a resource for the guard and also be a productive citizen."

There were two PTSD meetings Wednesday -- one in Helena at the Armed Forces Reserve Center and the other in Butte at the National Guard Armory.

This caused then Senator Obama to travel to Montana to talk about the efforts.

Montana National Guard Spc. Chris Dana will never know the impact his life and ultimately his death may someday have on the lives of veterans nationwide.

Dana took his life in March 2007, less than two years after returning from a tour in Iraq. His family believes he was a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder, brought on by his combat experience.

Since Dana's death, his stepbrother Matt Kuntz has campaigned for more awareness of the costs of untreated post-traumatic stress syndrome in Iraq war veterans.

Wednesday, he was invited to meet with Sen. Barack Obama to share the message he's been spreading statewide for more than a year. At a quiet picnic table at Riverfront Park, Obama sat across from Kuntz, his wife, Sandy, and their infant daughter, Fiona.

And this was said before the election.

August 28, 2008 - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama promised Wednesday to expand Montana's pilot program to assess the mental health of combat vets nationwide, if elected.

The Montana National Guard has developed a program to check its soldiers and airmen for signs of post-traumatic stress disorder every six months for the first two years after returning from combat, then once a year thereafter. The program exceeds national standards set by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The pilot program was created in response to the suicide of former Army Spc. Chris Dana of Helena, who shot himself on March 4, 2007, days after being given a less-than-honorable discharge because he could no longer handle attending drills following a tour in Iraq.

"He (Obama) told me he understood why we need to have additional screenings for PTSD," said Matt Kuntz, Dana's stepbrother, who was among a small group invited to meet with Obama on Wednesday in Billings.

"And he told me when he is elected president, he will implement Montana's pilot program nationwide."

Kuntz, who recently gave up his job as a lawyer in Helena to advocate for the mentally ill and their families, said he was invited to brief Obama on how Montana had become a national model for assessing the mental health of its combat vets.

Besides the additional screenings, the Montana National Guard has developed crisis response teams that include a chaplain to investigate behavioral problems among its troops, and TriWest Healthcare pays to have four part-time counselors on hand to talk with soldiers and airmen during weekend drills.

After the briefing, Obama spent about 20 minutes telling several hundred veterans and their families that, if elected as president, he will be committed to meeting their needs.

I was hopeful. So were a lot of others that things would change because Senator Obama served on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and knew what was going on. He was one a few politicians paying attention to the bitter battles they fought after combat and suffering needlessly. He was one of a few politicians we expected to hold people accountable for what they failed to do.

Suicides went up after more bills and more money was spent by Congress yet as President, he has held no one accountable for any of it.

When Dallas Morning News and NBC reported Injured Heroes, Broken Promises: Hundreds of Soldiers Allege Mistreatment at Army Warrior Transition Units being told to man up and being treated like fakes, it showed exactly where all the talk, all the promises and all the claims made about changing the culture ended. It all ended with a bunch of nonsense produced by leaders like General Ray Odierno.

Some of it is just personal make-up. Intestinal fortitude. Mental toughness that ensures that people are able to deal with stressful situations.

But it also has to do with where you come from. I came from a loving family, one who gave lots of positive reinforcement, who built up psychologically who I was, who I am, what I might want to do.

If leaders are this boneheaded then how can anyone expect a bill will reduce suicides when they are being pushed to blame themselves? Congressional Bills have yet to be written to fix stupid.

What is in the defense budget?

A 1% pay raise for the troops? Gee do you think they can get off food stamps with that?

What these critics may not realize is that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is also increasingly relied upon by members of the U.S. armed forces, with patrons of military commissaries using food stamps to purchase $103.6 million worth of groceries in fiscal 2013.

That's a 5 percent rise from 2012, and almost double the $52.9 million spent in 2009.

That's a faster pace of growth than the general population, since overall SNAP spending rose just 51 percent from 2009 through 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Senate approves giant defense policy bill
The Associated Press
By Donna Cassata
PUBLISHED: Saturday, December 13, 2014

WASHINGTON – Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a massive defense policy bill that endorses his stepped-up military campaign of airstrikes, and training of Iraqis and moderate Syrian rebels in the war against Islamic State militants.

The Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill, which authorizes funds for basic military operations, including construction of ships, aircraft and weapons, as well as a 1 percent pay raise for the troops.

The vote was 89-11.

The measure also served as a catch-all for legislation that was generally supported by Congress but stalled as the end of the session neared.

A coalition of defense hawks and Western state Republicans overcame objections by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and several other GOP senators, who were furious that unrelated provisions to designate 250,000 acres of new, federally protected wilderness were added to the popular legislation dedicated to military operations.

The measure would authorize the training and equipping of moderate Syrian rebels battling the extremists, a mandate that lasts for two years. It also would provide $5 billion to train Iraqis to counter the militants who brutally rule large sections of Iraq and Syria.

“American air power had changed the momentum on the ground somewhat and given moderates in the region an opportunity to regroup, but ISIS cannot be defeated without an opposing force to take the fight to it on the ground,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
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“What the VA did to me 60 years ago is they tore up the Bill of Rights”

If you missed this story, Vegas Navy Cross recipient shot down by VA benefits office I strongly suggest you read it.

In this one you'll read about the story of a Korean War Veteran being denied benefits and his 60 years battle for justice. Charles Mahoney was treated to electroshock wiping out his memory for days much like 2,000 WWII veterans.

Besieged by psychologically damaged troops returning from the battlefields of North Africa, Europe and the Pacific, the Veterans Administration performed the brain-altering operation on former servicemen it diagnosed as depressives, psychotics and schizophrenics, and occasionally on people identified as homosexuals, according to the report.

The VA’s use of lobotomy, in which doctors severed connections between parts of the brain then thought to control emotions, was known in medical circles in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and is occasionally cited in medical texts. But the VA’s practice, never widely publicized, long ago slipped from public view. Even the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says it possesses no records detailing the creation and breadth of its lobotomy program.

If you are still under the impression that any of this is new, then please make sure you are not expressing your imbecilic opinions publicly. Lack of knowledge, refusing to do basic research and actually learn the truth are reasons why it has been this bad this long for our veterans. We've doomed them to history repeated over and over again.

Veterans say legitimate claims routinely denied or ignored
Las Vegas Review
By KEITH ROGERS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
December 13, 2014

Vietnam War Navy Cross recipient Steve Lowery isn’t alone in his battle to convince the Veterans Benefits Administration that his wounds are linked to his military service.

Lowery, a retired Marine major from Las Vegas, took a long-awaited physical examination Thursday at the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center to show a doctor that scars from shrapnel in his knee and those on his thighs from an AK-47 resulted from a 1969 firefight in Vietnam.

In 1994, the VA benefits office in Reno told him those wounds weren’t related to his military service, and he’s been fighting with the agency ever since.

The VA apparently disallowed his initial claim because the government’s archive agency failed to send his records to Reno. Bewildered by the decision, Lowery provided a copy of his personal medical file in 2010. Two years later, his claim was rejected again.

Since the Review-Journal wrote about Lowery’s case last week, other veterans have come forward with complaints about tactics employed by the agency, which demands that veterans prove their injuries were service-related but can deny claims without proving anything.

They include Phil Cushman, a Vietnam War Marine veteran from Oregon who beat the VA system there by winning a “due process” challenge in a federal appeals court that netted $400,000 in compensation. Now, through his nationally recognized nonprofit veterans rights advocacy group, Cushman is helping disabled Korean War soldier Charles P. Mahoney, of Las Vegas, with his appeal for more compensation.

Screen capture from Las Vegas Review Journal

“I’m not filing claims for the money. I want justice,” Mahoney, 82, told the newspaper. “What the VA did to me 60 years ago is they tore up the Bill of Rights.”

Mahoney, who served with the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea in 1950, suffered wounds and mental problems from a mortar blast that heaved him 15 feet into the air. After a hospital stint in Japan, he was taken to Fort Hood, Texas, where he underwent a series of electro­shock treatments in 1951 that “blotted out my memory for nine months.”

Two Army evaluation boards determined he was 100 percent disabled, but a third said he was only 10 percent disabled. The Army then told him he was cured and discharged him in 1952.
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There used to be excuses for all of this happening. When? After the Revolutionary War when the Colonies had no basic understanding of the necessity to care for those who put their lives on the line. It isn't as if that generation was totally off the hook either because they did little to take care of any of them or their widows.

After 1946 when the House Veterans Affairs Committee took their seats there should have been no acceptable excuses.

Fort Campbell Green Berets in Afghanistan From the Start

Green Berets took center stage in war to rebuild Afghanistan
Fayetteville Observer
By Drew Brooks Military editor
Posted: Sunday, December 14, 2014

Staff photo by Andrew Craft
Special Forces in Afghanistan
At Fort Bragg Col. Michael Sullivan is commander 
of the 3rd Battalion 3rd Special Forces Group.
In Afghanistan, he leads those soldiers and a
small group from the 7th Special Forces Group.

CAMP VANCE, Afghanistan - Michael Sullivan was training to join the Special Forces when he and his fellow soldiers had a real-world lesson to talk about in a food court on Fort Bragg.

On Sept. 9, 2001, suicide attackers posing as journalists assassinated Ahmed Shah Massoud, a leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

The Green Beret trainees were familiar with the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, Sullivan said. They knew Massoud was seen as a threat to the Taliban regime.

Two days later, on Sept. 11, Sullivan - then a captain - was signing for textbooks for his language courses when the planes crashed into the towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

Almost immediately, the Special Forces trainees were speculating - correctly - that the attacks originated in Afghanistan.

For Sullivan and thousands of other Special Forces soldiers, the attacks were life-defining.

Just days after the terrorists struck, Green Berets from the Fort Campbell-based 5th Group were in Afghanistan. In more than 13 years since, the Special Forces presence in the country has been a constant. Thousands of soldiers have given years out of their lives to the Afghanistan mission.

Many have been wounded.

Many have died.

In the process, they say, they have built the foundation for a future in a country that has known decades of war.

Mark Schwartz was a Green Beret major when he became one of the first American soldiers to enter Afghanistan after 9/11.

"You can imagine, you've never been to combat before and you're going to get off an aircraft with yourself and about 10 of your closest friends and you're walking into an uncertain environment," he said.

Now a brigadier general helping to lead special operations forces in Afghanistan, Schwartz said he and his team flew into northern Afghanistan from Central Asia to organize and assist the anti-Taliban forces.
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