Life After Combat Shouldn't Be Harder After It

This Time Save Yourself 
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 31, 2015

Paul Combs

You put your life on the line for the sake of others. Did you think less of them because they needed you?

In combat, if you were overwhelmed by enemy forces, did you ask for help? Did you think you were weak because you couldn't defeat them by yourself?

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ASKING FOR HELP NOW?

Do you still think you'll get over it? You won't. No one gets "over" anything that happens in their lives but they do get past it if they have the help they need to stop being stuck suffering. Your life can get better if you don't settle for the way it is today. PTSD is caused by surviving and it changed you but you can change again!

Do you still want to fit back in with your civilian friends? Forget about it since you didn't fit in as well as you thought in the first place because you served and they didn't. You went places and did things they never will. Find other veterans because no matter what war was in their lives, they are fighting the same battle back home as a veteran. None of this is new.

If you're sick and tired of hearing about folks "raising awareness" using the number of "22 a day" veterans committing suicide, you should be. The only things you need to be aware of is that YOU CAN HEAL and where you can get the help to do it.

It isn't "22 a day" but they say "it is an easy number to remember." Why should any of this be easy for them? This isn't like guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar! This is your life and it is far from easy on you and your family.

If you are not finding what you need, then keep looking for the weapons you need to save your own life this time. Folks you helped deserved the best you could give and now you deserve the same!

STOP GRIEVING AND START HEALING!

Veterans Plant to Paper Project Inspired by Ed Tick

Military and vets make art from plant to paper
Hi Desert Star
By Daniel Strasberger
The Desert Trail
January 30, 2016

“I read a book by Ed Tick, ‘War in the Soul,’ that said PTSD is more of a soul wound than anything else,” she said. “When you are in a situation that is beyond your wildest, sometimes your soul cannot take it all in, it’s too much and creates anxiety and all the symptoms that PTSD creates.”

Military and vets make art from plant to paper
Lt. Col. Frank Marilao and Donald Burton, from Marine Corps Community Services, join Mil-Tree founder Cheryl Montelle at informational meeting for the Plant to Paper Project Thursday at Copper Mountain College.

JOSHUA TREE — Joining Forces: Plant to Paper is a new art and writing project catering to veterans and people on active military duty.

Mil-Tree joined forces with Arts Connection from San Bernardino to create the project.

This multifaceted art project, spanning from February through May, is paid for by a Veterans in the Arts Initiative grant from the California Arts Council.

The goal is to clear invasive plants from the desert, make them into paper and pulp and create works of art and writing that will displayed in a show in May.

Cheryl Montelle, Mil-Tree founder, is excited about bringing the project to the Morongo Basin.

“Mil-Tree’s mission is to bring veterans into the community through arts and dialogue,” Montelle said. “Communication and arts is what we are about, to create bonds and connections where there haven’t been.”
read more here

This is a great video from 2010
War and the Soul: Healing our Veterans, Families, and Communities from the Wounds of War

Dr. Edward Tick is a practicing psychotherapist who has worked with veterans with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for more than 30 years. For Tick, the key to helping veterans heal lies in how we understand PTSD.

Ret. General Petraeus Will Keep 4th Star

Pentagon won't demote Petraeus for sharing information
USA TODAY
Tom Vanden Brook
January 30, 2016

WASHINGTON — Retired General David Petraeus will not be docked one star for his conviction on charges of leaking classified information to his biographer and former lover, according to a letter sent by the Pentagon to the Senate and obtained by USA TODAY.

Stephen Hedger, a top official for legislative affairs, wrote Friday to Sen. John McCainsaying that Defense Secretary Ash Carter considers the Petraeus matter closed, according to the letter, which was obtained by USA TODAY from the Senate.

A Defense department official told USA TODAY on Saturday that Carter accepted the Army's recommendation that Petraeus not be sanctioned with demotion. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Carter agreed with the findings of an Army review that recommended Petraeus be allowed to maintain his four-star rank in retirement, the official said. Holding that rank, while prestigious, also allows him to collect a pension of around $220,000. Loss of a star could have cost him tens of thousands of dollars a year.
read more here

Amputee Veterans Enjoy Parade of Pirates in Tampa

Wounded Veteran Meets Joe Maddon at Bayshore Home on Parade Route
Tampa Tribune
By Howard Altman
Tribune Staff
January 30, 2016

Charlie Lemon, center, got to have his wish fulfilled and met Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon, left, on Saturday at Gasparilla. HOWARD ALTMAN/STAFF

Sitting in his wheelchair on the front lawn of the Bayshore Boulevard home owned by Jill and Scott Kelley, Charlie Lemon talks about an item on his bucket list.

“I really want to meet Joe Maddon,” says Lemon, 32, who lost both legs in Iraq in 2011 when an explosive hit the big armored vehicle in which he was riding.

Lemon is one of about a half-dozen veterans — wounded in combat dating back to the Vietnam War — who, along with spouses and significant others, were invited to watch the annual Gasparailla parade from the Kelleys’ lawn.

For Lemon and the other wounded veterans, it was a chance to see an event they otherwise would have to avoid.

“This is my first Gasparilla since I was hurt,” says Lemon. “There’s no way I could come out here otherwise, because it’s impossible to get around these crowds in this chair.”

It was a sentiment shared by Rudy Salas, who was a Marine lance corporal when he lost his left leg in Vietnam.

“Normally I’d stay home,” says Salas, 68.
read more here

Gasparilla Parade of Pirates
Gasparilla celebrations get off to an early start on Davis Island

Joplin High School Won't Hold Empty Chair for Tornado Victim?

Anguished mom wants seat saved for son at graduation
WZZM 13 ABC News
January 30, 2016

"They should at least do something," he said. Williams is now 21 and a member of the U.S. Marine Corps stationed in North Carolina's Camp Lejeune. His unit is expected to deploy soon.

JOPLIN, Mo. — A woman whose son was killed almost five years ago in a monster tornado that struck southwest Missouri wants an empty chair saved for him at what would have been his high school graduation.

Officials at Joplin High School and the school district rejected the request, saying it doesn't comply with their policy. Now Tammy Niederhelman hopes to put pressure on Joplin School District officials through an online petition.

"I'll never see my son graduate. I know that. I'll never see him get married. I'll never hold my grandchildren," Niederhelman said. "This is very important to me — to have a seat for him."

Zachary Zachary Allen Williams was 12 and hadn't finished middle school when he died May 22, 2011, as he huddled in a bathroom of the Niederhelmans' house; 160 other people died that same day.

"No parent should ever have to beg, plead, and fight for their deceased student to be honored with their own seat at graduation and for their name to be called," Niederhelman wrote in her Change.org petition, which more than 4,500 people had signed as of Friday. "Zach will not sit in the seat as he should have but he was, is, and always will be a Joplin Eagle Class of 2016."
read more here