All I want for Christmas is for reporters to know what they are reporting on!

I am sure you're tired of reading about the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Bill being blocked. As tired as you are consider that I'm reading a lot more than I post about. It is frustrating as hell! Are there no more reporters out there that actually understand what they are reporting on? How many times does it take before one of them steps up, looks up how many other bills were not only passed but funded at the same time they produced more suicides?

All I want for Christmas is for reporters to know what they are reporting on or stop doing it! How about instead of reporting on this bill they do something that may actually make a difference?

How about maybe paying attention to what came out of the Dallas Morning News joint reporting with NBC out of Texas on what has actually been happening? The Army just had to issue orders to stop abusing PTSD soldiers in Warrior Transition Units because of a 6 month investigation they did.

Instead of that, we get more of the same reporters doing what is easy instead of what is right! No amount of bills out of Congress can fix what the DOD has been doing in the first place.

Nicholas Cook: Fund effort to reduce veteran suicides
Battle Creek Enquirer
Nicholas Cook
December 21, 2014

As we close the 113th Congress and prepare for the 114th Congress, I would like to explain that Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and their colleagues missed the boat when it came to the Clay Hunt SAV Act of 2014.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in February spoke with both the senator and congressman when IAVA stormed Capitol Hill. Yet they did not sign on as a co-sponsors of the bi-partisan bill.

After the bill passed the House, Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, felt it was his duty to personally block this bill that had almost unanimous support in the Senate.

Fortunately for veterans, Sen. Coburn is retiring, but now our legislators in Michigan need to lead the charge as the elected officials of the 11th largest veterans community in the country.

There are 22 veterans a day dying by suicide a rate of almost 8,000 a year. It takes a veteran in the Battle Creek catchment area five weeks to see a Veterans Affairs psychologist/ psychiatrist or licensed social worker. Five weeks of waiting may be too long for those veterans desperate for help.

This is not just a Battle Creek VA Medical Center issue, nor is it an issue of caring. This is a lack of funding.

This bill asks for accountability of best practices, repayment of college loans to encourage psychologists and psychiatrists to work in the VA, and provides outreach to National Guard and Reserve units that have been some of the hardest hit by suicide.
read more here

Sorry but this bill is more of the same we've seen come out all along!

St. Cloud VA Canteen Serves Those Who Served

Cuisine Unseen: St. Cloud VA Canteen Serves Those Who Served [VIDEO]
WJON News
By Isaac Schweer
December 22, 2014

Photo by Isaac Schweer, WJON

ST. CLOUD — In this week’s installment of Cuisine Unseen, we head to the St. Cloud VA to check out the Canteen, which serves our local Veterans in more ways than one.

Open to Veterans and their caretakers, the St. Cloud VA Canteen serves over 1,000 hungry patrons every day.

The Canteen’s menu changes from day to day, ranging from fried chicken to pizza and from tacos to sub sandwiches.

The St. Cloud VA Canteen is a non-profit service that started with government funding in the very first year, but has been self-funded ever since.

The St. Cloud VA Canteen has a staff made up of 17 people – both Veterans and non-Veterans – who are led by Pam Krueger.
read more here

Cuisine Unseen: St. Cloud VA Canteen Serves Those Who Served
AM 1240 WJON

Family of PTSD Veteran Killed By Police Get Visit from Santa

Family of Soldier Killed in Police Shooting Gets Visit From Santa
Big Country
Ashley Gooden
12/20/2014

One deserving family was surprised by Santa Claus and his helpers at their home this evening.

You may remember hearing the story about Barbie Johnson's husband, Jeffrey Johnson who suffered from PTSD was killed in an officer-involved shooting in September. The Johnson family misses Jeffrey, but knows that he'll be with them in spirit.

Barbie calls him "the angel on our tree, not a star".

Barbie's sister Angela and their close friend Jamie have been keeping this surprise since Thanksgiving and are thrilled that Christmas is finally rolling around.

Jamie Goldstrich heard Barbie's story at a VA Town Hall meeting and knew she had to do something for the family, so she called the Santa's Workshop organization to see if it would sponsor them.

Jamie's husband also suffers from PTSD and felt sympathy for Barbie because it could just as easily have been her husband, "...it made me feel that I needed to reach out, and I have kids myself, and I could not imagine not being able to give them a Christmas, but I've been there before too, and people have helped me out."
read more here

Investigation Continues In Officer-Involved Shooting That Killed Suspect
Big Country
Bethany Blaine
09/12/2014

The Abilene Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division and the Texas Rangers are still investigating the officer-involved shooting that killed 33-year-old Jeffrey Johnson.

As of Saturday, Chief Stan Standridge said there were no updates. Administrative leave for the officer involved lasts usually no less than three days, but it can be much longer if a licensed counselors believe it is in the best interest of the employee, Chief Standridge said.

APD supports the extension if needed.

Johnson's wife tells us that he was a veteran dealing with post traumatic stress disorder for the past few months.

During the afternoon hours of September 12, 2014, officers responded to a check welfare call at the Best Western Hotel located on Overland Trail near FM 600. The caller indicated a known person was possibly suicidal and requested patrol officers make contact with him at the hotel.

Upon arrival, officers contacted Jeffrey Johnson, a white male, 33 years of age. Later during that contact, Johnson slammed and barricaded the hotel room door on the responding officers as they tried to speak to the calling party. Johnson then fired two shots. One of the rounds passed through a wall narrowly missing an APD patrol officer standing outside the door.

Dear Abby Letter from Soldier in Afghanistan Heartbreaking Reminder of Deployed

Dear Abby:

I am a soldier in Afghanistan who is single with few friends, if you would even call them that. We work 24/7. No days off, no breaks. It’s not an easy life.

You would not believe how nice it is to receive a message from family or friends.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a loving family who support me and everything I do. When I first got here, I’d get a message from them at least once a week. But now that I am seven months into a 12-month deployment, it has been almost two months since I have gotten anything.

Now, I know if I reach out and send a message — which I have done — I’ll get replies, but am I wrong for not wanting to have to do that? Is it wrong to wish that I could come in, relax, and find a message waiting for me? I know they love me and are busy with their lives, but sometimes it seems that I am forgotten. It would be comforting to know someone is thinking about me. Any day now could be my last.

click link for her reply

Veterans ended at the bottom of the despair valley when truth was ignored

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 22, 2014

Tampa Bay Times John Romano, Times Columnist wrote Why aren't we doing everything possible to help anguished veterans?

There were 475 suicides among active service members last year. That was triple the number of soldiers lost in combat. Also, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, active military suicides in 2012 were almost twice as high as the general population rate.

The numbers are even more frightening for retired military members. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 22 veterans kill themselves daily. In other words, a veteran commits suicide nearly every hour of every day.

In the face of those numbers, it seems obvious that we need to do all we can to provide help and services for our military community.

Here are a few more facts. Most states say the number of veterans committing suicide are double the general population however, veterans are only 7% of the US population. The VA says the largest group committing suicide are 50 and over.

The article was yet one more reporter jumping on the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Bill being blocked by Senator Tom Coburn. While I don't agree with him on most things, and only partially on the reason he blocked the bill, it should not be approved. Most of the ones congress has done have failed to produce positive results. The troops and our veterans deserved better.

The old line about "If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything" came to reality because well meaning reporters decided they wouldn't stand for much at all leading the public to jump off the same cliff while veterans ended at the bottom of the despair valley.

CBS 60 Minutes had an interview with Coburn about leaving the senate and talked about the way American feel about members. "Americans like witches, the IRS and even hemorrhoids better than Congress" with only 7% approval rating. Part of the reason veterans don't approve of what Congress has been doing is due to what they live with everyday, year after year.

While most reporters tell them what Congress, the VA and the DOD are doing, the reality

Coburn was also interviewed about holding the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Bill. 13 Veterans groups came out against Coburn and so did most reporters but the reason doesn't seem clear to the rest of us.

In our lives, we've seen decades of other bills, countless hearings covered by CSPAN in their boring entirety and then we waited to see what each one produced until our minds got numb. We wanted to know when someone, somewhere, would stop playing games and start supporting the truth. How can anyone say they support the troops/veterans without supporting the truth?

The truth is suicides went up, more and more troops succeeded at committing suicide and far more tried multiple times even after everything was "being done" to prevent them. The truth says no matter how many Bills members of Congress got their names attached to, we went to more funerals.

For every active duty servicemember and veteran counted, there is a family in mourning wondering what they could have done differently. That anguish led to action and they got the ear of some member of Congress. Everyone wanted to do something to make a difference but no one wanted to take responsibility when that "something" they did made it worse.

We paid attention to the reports of veterans being turned down for claims in the 80's and 90's as much as we did after troops were sent to Afghanistan and Iraq. We paid attention to the fact that as these troops were sent to fight two wars under the War on Terror, the DOD didn't have enough medical personnel and the VA had less doctors, nurses and claims processors than they had during the Gulf War.

When reports surfaced about the lack of care veterans were getting from the VA, we pretty much scratched our heads since none of it was news to us. We've actually seen worse but we stopped hoping for better because of what Congress was doing and reporters ignored. They ignored history.

The veterans community paid attention all along and few support these bills because while the names have changed, the stories remained the same. How many more families have to go to Washington with hope of making a difference before other folks figure out until they start to do differently, nothing will really change?