Faces of Recovery: Veterans with PTSD

Faces of Recovery: Veterans with PTSD
ABC WRLC News
By Amy Lacey
Published: March 23, 2016

“This isn’t new. Over 100,000 Vietnam veterans committed suicide after they came home, and so we’re just continuing a trend that’s been going on far too long, and it’s up to our generation of veterans to say enough is enough,” he says.

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A new documentary called ‘Thank You for Your Service’ sheds light on challenges military veterans face after years of intense training and war. William Rodriguez lived it.

“I came home and I didn’t want to look at how I had changed, and I didn’t really know how I had changed. All I knew is that other people knew that,” he remembers.

That was three years ago after Rodriguez completed three Middle East deployments over four years with the U.S. Army. Life as he knew it would never be the same because of what he saw, what he heard and what he felt.

“There are as many kinds of war trauma as there are physical injuries,” explains the documentary Producer and Director Tom Donahue. “The diagnosis of post-traumatic stress is a very simplistic way to look at war trauma.”

Donahue began investigating what he calls a military mental health crisis after learning more U.S. troops died by suicide than in combat in 2012. Two hundred interviews later, including those with defense officials, counselors and those suffering, Donahue brought their story to Richmond’s Byrd Theater in February.
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Fort Hood: Col. Andrew Poznick Found Dead Near Carlisle Barracks

Former Fort Hood combat commander found dead near Carlisle Barracks, Pa
Killeen Daily Herald
Jacob Brooks
Herald Staff Writer
March 23, 2016

Spc. Jared Forsyth | U.S. Army

Col. Andrew Poznick

Lt. Col. Andrew Poznick speaks to his troops with 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, in Basrah, Iraq, on July 29, 2011. Poznick was commander of the battalion. On Sunday, March 20, 2016, Poznick was found dead at his residence near Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

A former Fort Hood battalion commander who led 1st Cavalry Division troopers in Iraq during the final months of the Iraq War has died, an Army official confirmed Wednesday.

Col. Andrew Poznick was found dead Sunday at his off-post residence near Carlisle Barracks, Pa., where he was scheduled to soon join the faculty at the Army War College, said Carol Kerr, a spokeswoman for the graduate school that focuses on strategy for its military and civilian students.

“He was going to join the faculty this summer,” said Kerr, adding Poznick was currently pursuing a doctorate at Temple University in Philadelphia as part of an elite Army education program.
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Barber Going To Jail After Clipping VA Funds

Ninety-Six man convicted of trying to defraud Veterans Affairs 
ABC News 4 
BY SAM TYSON 
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23RD 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCIV) — A 48-year-old man from the town of Ninety-Six was sentenced in federal court this week for conspiring to defraud Veterans Affairs.

Charles B. Harris was sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered him to pay $45,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors showed during the trial that from 2011 to 2014, Harris owned and operated the Greenwood Barber College, a school that was approved by the VA to teach veterans how to be barbers. Harris was supposed to certify student attendance and progress.

In December 2013, the Department of Veterans Affairs received a complaint that Harris was conspiring with various veterans in stealing government funds, prosecutors said.
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VA Commemoration of the Vietnam War

VA to Commemorate 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War
Exemplifies a MyVA priority to Improve the Veteran Experience While Thanking

Vietnam Veterans and Their Families

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced it will conduct hundreds of events in VA facilities across the nation on Mar. 29 to recognize, honor and thank U.S. Vietnam Veterans and their families for their service and sacrifices as part of the national Vietnam War Commemoration.

VA Secretary Robert McDonald will host a wreath-laying ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial – “The Wall” to initiate VA’s contribution to the Commemoration. He will be joined by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. “We are proud to partner with the Department of Defense in this endeavor. Secretary Carter’s Vietnam War Commemoration staff has greatly assisted us in planning this humble tribute to our Vietnam Veterans and their families.”

VA, along with more than 9,000 organizations across the country, has joined with the Department of Defense as a Commemorative Partner to help Americans honor our nation’s Vietnam Veterans.

Authorized by Congress, established under the Secretary of Defense, and launched by the President in May 2012, the Vietnam War Commemoration recognizes all men and women who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces from November 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975. Nine million Americans, approximately 7 million living today, served during that period, and the Commemoration makes no distinction between Veterans who served in-county, in-theater, or were stationed elsewhere during those 20 years. All answered the call of duty.

“This Commemoration has special significance for those of us at VA because of our honored mission to serve those who have “borne the battle,” said McDonald. “It’s also an opportunity to remember our VA colleagues who served in this generation of Veterans, to extend our heartfelt appreciation to them and to their families who shared the burden of their loved one’s service.”

More than 329 VA medical centers, regional benefit offices and national cemeteries will host events, many in partnership with local Veteran service organizations and volunteers.

By presidential proclamation issued on May 25, 2012, the Commemoration extends from its inaugural event on Memorial Day 2012 through Veterans Day 2025.

Commemorative Partners – local, state and national organizations, businesses, corporations and governmental agencies – have committed to publicly thank and honor Vietnam Veterans and their families on behalf of the nation and have pledged to host a minimum of two events annually.
To learn more click here Vietnam War Commemoration

Veteran Died After Setting Himself on Fire at VA Clinic

Distraught veteran sets himself on fire with gasoline outside VA facility after losing wife and job
RAW Story
Sarah K. Burris SARAH K. BURRIS
14 APR 2016

Dashcam footage has just been released from the suicide of Navy veteran Charles Ingram III who, on March 19, doused himself with gallons of gasoline and set himself on fire outside of the Veterans Affairs clinic in Northfield, New Jersey.

The footage shows police in a frantic rush to put the fire out but it was to no avail. Ingram was burned on 100 percent of his body and rushed to Temple University Hospital burn unit. He died nine hours later, according to My9NJ.com.
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I am not posting the picture because I do not see the point of doing it when the story itself is so heartbreaking.


UPDATE
Services announced for man who set himself on fire in Northfield
Press of Atlantic City
March 26, 2016

Funeral services have been announced for the Egg Harbor Township man who set himself on fire last weekend outside a Northfield VA clinic.

Charles R. Ingram III, 51, died last Saturday after he poured gasoline on himself and set himself ablaze at the Department of Veterans Affairs facility on New Road. He was taken by helicopter from the scene to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, where he passed.

Ingram served in the Navy from 1985 to 1992, according to his obituary. His public death renewed attention to problems in the VA health care system, local veterans advocates said.
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Man who set himself on fire at Northfield veterans' clinic has died 
Press of Atlantic City 
MICHELLE BRUNETTI POST, Staff Writer March 23, 2016

Ingram used gasoline as an accelerant and set himself on fire at the clinic at 1901 New Road. He was evacuated by helicopter from the Northfield Community School to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia just before 2 p.m., police said.

Michael Ein / Staff Photographer A woman who identified herself as the mother-in-law of Egg Harbor Township Veteran Charles R. Ingram III, 51, lays flowers at the memorial adjacent to the Veterans Affairs Clinic in Northfield, Wednesday March 23, 2016. Ingram died Saturday after setting himself on fire outside the clinic.

An Egg Harbor Township veteran who died after setting himself on fire Saturday outside a Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Northfield has drawn attention to problems in the VA system. Charles R. Ingram III, 51, was airlifted to the Temple Burn Center in Philadelphia on Saturday, where he died later that night, Northfield police said. No note of explanation was left at the scene or at Ingram’s home, said Northfield acting Police Chief Paul Newman.

In July 2014, Navy veteran Kevin Keller, 52, shot himself in front of a closed VA clinic in Wytheville, Virgnia. He left a note blaming the VA for leaving him in terrible pain after weaning him off prescription painkillers, according to a Sept. 7, 2014, story in the Roanoke Times. read more here