Heroes Behind Heroes But Only Some Matter

I became a caregiver over 30 years ago. I had to worry about taking care of my husband and our daughter along with trying to figure out how to hold down a job while helping my widow Mom with what she needed.

Families like mine had to do everything the Internet generation of veteran families have to do today but we didn't have the support. Reporters didn't care. They still don't. Vietnam veterans had the same physical wounds along with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury but do did other generations.

For over 30 years, before most of this generation was born, advocates like me were fighting for their lives knowing that unless we did, the next generation would join in our suffering instead of being cared for and about. We saw it happen to our parents and grandparents. We saw it happen to family after family. Now it is almost as if none of the suffering OEF and OIF veterans go through happened before. I got news for you.

Had it not been for families like mine and Vietnam veterans pushing for everything, albeit less than perfect, for the new generation, they would be like us. Abandoned and alone.

The heroes behind our heroes
Suffolk News
Staff Report
January 16, 2015

Andrea Sawyer of Colonial Heights takes her husband to all of his medical appointments as often as three or four times a week. At one point, he required all-day safety supervision at home. Although his conditions have improved greatly, there are still multiple medications and appointments to manage.

Mrs. Sawyer’s husband suffers from traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress as a result of his military service in Iraq. During his service, Mr. Sawyer served overseas in Department of Defense mortuaries in Tallil and Balad, Iraq, and stateside at Dover Port Mortuary, Dover Air Force Base. While in Iraq, he sustained blast-related injuries.

For the Sawyers, their toughest journey was not during his deployment, but after Mr. Sawyer returned home. It was a long road to his diagnosis of severe PTS and TBI. During that time, Mr. Sawyer needed full-time supervision — someone to manage his medications, take him to the doctor, ensure he was safe at home, and monitor his mental health.

But it wasn’t the Department of Veterans Affairs or Tricare or representatives from the Department of Defense who stepped in to fill that role. It was Mrs. Sawyer. At 34 and with two young children, she became the primary caregiver to her husband.

She’s not alone.

All across the nation, behind our wounded heroes, there is another army of heroes: veteran caregivers. These are the spouses, parents, family members and volunteers who provide regular care to those who have served our nation.
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So did we! I left this comment.

It is nice they are being helped. What isn't nice is my generation was not included in this. My generation is Vietnam veteran families and while we went through everything longer without any help, we were not included in on the Caregivers act. Gulf War families were not. Korean veterans were not. WWII veterans were not. Guess we just didn't matter to the people responsible for the bill that changed so many lives while forgetting about us.

It is more than insulting. When one group of veterans receives special treatment it says a lot. It tells the other veterans they just don't matter. Good Lord! Do they really think taking the D our of PTSD will matter when they don't have a clue how any of this actually started?

California Doctor Will Practice Again After Drunk Doctoring

Drunk Doctor Who Passed Out at Work to Continue Treating Patients
NBC 7 San Diego
By Paul Krueger
Jan 16, 2015

A local doctor who drank so much he passed out at his medical office will be allowed to treat patients again. NBC 7 Investigates reporter Mari Payton explains how the state Medical Board is keeping tabs on this doctor and trying to protect his patients.

Lane told investigators his alcohol problem worsened when he returned from military service in Afghanistan and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

A local doctor who drank so much that he passed out at his medical office, will now be allowed to treat patients again.

Dr. Jason Lane collapsed while working with the Kaiser Zion Medical Group in October 2013, according to a formal accusation filed by the Medical Board of California.

Lane's blood alcohol level was .39, which is almost five times the legal limit, and his colleagues in the emergency room had to treat him for alcohol poisoning, as revealed in the Medical Board’s accusation.

Those documents, obtained by NBC 7 Investigates, also reveal that Dr. Lane drank more than two bottles of wine, the night before he collapsed at work.
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Iraq Veteran PTSD Service Dog Not Welcomed at Taco Bell

Army Veteran kicked out of Taco Bell 
ABC 57
By Alexandra Koehn
Posted: Jan 16, 2015

An Army Veteran said he was kicked out of the Taco Bell on M-139 in Benton Township because he had a service dog.

The veteran called 911 because he said the scene got heated. Here is some of the audio from the call: “I'm a veteran. I have PTSD and I have a service dog. And the lady has refused service and wants to throw me out of the establishment... She's still cussing and putting me down and bullying me.”

The fast food chain said the issue was resolved and they invited the veteran back into the restaurant.

Lance Reeves said this happened on December 13th and it's upsetting because he served our country for nearly 22 years.

Reeves said he served for 4 years as a Military Police officer in Iraq and now he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He said his service dog 'Bolo' goes with him everywhere, and helps him when he's having anxiety.

Reeves said, “If I'm having real bad nightmares and night sweats, he's able to turn on the light and wake me up and get me out of that. If I stop breathing at night, he can lay on my chest and get me to breathe.”
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Utah Deputy Cleared After Killing Veteran Nicholas McGehee

Sheriff’s deputy justified in shooting armed soldier in Tooele County
FOX 13 Salt Lake
BY ASHTON EDWARDS
JANUARY 16, 2015

“Task Force Marne commanding general, Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, shakes hands with, Spc. Nicholas McGehee, a native of Sanford, N.C. and “Golden Dragon” Soldier with 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division out of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, after pinning him with the military’s oldest award still given to servicemembers, The Purple Heart, during a ceremony on Contingency Operating Site Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq, Oct. 7.”McGehee was shot and killed in an encounter with police in Tooele County on December 28. Image courtesy Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System.

TOOELE, Utah – The Department of Public Safety said the Tooele County deputy who shot and killed a man in Stansbury Park was justified in using deadly force.

Back on Dec. 28, Sgt. Eli Wayman shot 28-year-old Nicholas Ryan McGehee.

The incident started when McGehee’s wife Kathryn called authorities about her husband who was intoxicated, had stepped on some glass and needed help.

Deputies went to the home near Aberdeen Lane and Merion Dr. after Kathryn told the 911 dispatcher her husband was armed with a shotgun.

When Sgt. Wayman saw McGehee with the shotgun, he told him to put down the gun and talk.

At that point McGehee went back into the house and slammed the door.

During the altercation Sgt. Wayman told McGehee at least three times to drop his weapon but he didn’t listen.

Officials said McGehee ended up pointing his gun at Sgt. Wayman which forced him to shoot.
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Utah Iraq Veteran Killed by Police

Maine Veterans Services Director "veterans with PTSD were really just “lost” or “depressed.”

Maine Voices: The Veterans’ Services director is failing at his job
Peter Ogden needs to work with younger veterans to implement recommended changes or step aside
Portland Press Herald
BY ADRIAN COLE
SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM
January 18, 2015

Of the 132,000 veterans who live in Maine, about 60,000 come from the most recent wars. It is these veterans who are falling through the cracks, a state report says. Amelia Kunhardt/Staff Photographer

TOPSHAM — The director of Maine’s Bureau of Veterans’ Services, Peter Ogden, is failing in his charge to support all veterans. While his efforts to help care for aging veterans and memorializing those who have passed are commendable, he has shown a consistent disrespect and lack of concern for anyone who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I attended a meeting in December in Brunswick with state legislators, where Ogden laid out his agenda for the coming year.

He referred to the roughly 60,000 Maine veterans of America’s most recent wars as “kids” so many times that I lost count. This was only part of the insult, though, as his policy stance and inaction as a leader, revealed during the course of the meeting, proved more egregious than his insults.

For example, the report stated that returning veterans today are reluctant to seek help or take advantage of benefits for fear of being a burden on the system. But when Ogden was asked about the problems faced by this generation of veterans, he said, “Well, I think the kids today are saying, ‘You owe it to me, give it to me.’ If you push a red button and nothing happens, I think that’s the problem. I can tell a World War II guy, ‘Your claim, it will take a year to do your claim,’ he will be happy. If I tell a young kid today, (he’ll say) ‘Uh, I mean, why can’t that happen?’ ”

The report advised his office on many ways in which to reach out to veterans, centering mainly on information technology-based solutions. Ogden stated, “The young kids today come back and we don’t communicate the way they do. I don’t tweet, I don’t Twitter, I don’t do Facebook. I can barely answer my emails.” After citing staffing issues as an excuse as to why his office has failed to implement any of these recommendations, he then indicated that he would not be doing so any time soon.

At one point during Ogden’s talk, he gave a textbook definition of post-traumatic stress disorder and then told the room that veterans with PTSD were really just “lost” or “depressed.”

Adrian Cole of Topsham is a former Army captain who served two tours of duty in Iraq as an artillery officer with the 101st Airborne Division. He serves as the adjutant for the Bath Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7738.
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