View From Inside Orlando Veterans Day Parade

Yep, that's me on the back of the pickup truck.

Now maybe you know why I like to be behind the camera. 

Special thanks to Linda Peterson for taking most of the ground shots. She ran while I got to ride on the back of a pickup truck!

And here is the video.

You Have The Power To Change The Conversation On PTSD

Veterans consider the next commander-in-chief on PRI by Steven Snyder posted yesterday, this report on how our veterans are looking at the results of the election differently.

Brian McGough is a combat-wounded veteran who served in the initial invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

McGough, who has fought for the right of women to serve in combat, worries that President-elect Trump's views might result in limiting opportunities for women in the military.

"It's important to remember that there are a lot of veterans out there who are now feeling like they don't belong in this country," McGough adds. "There are veterans of color, veterans of different religious preferences, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender veterans who now feel threatened in their own country. And for me that's very concerning."

Another vet, who wrote to us from Ellwood City, Penn., expresses bitterness.

"I'm a veteran with mental health issues, and we just elected a man that thinks I need to just toughen up. ... I wish I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I'm neither proud of my country nor my service today. I just want to wake up from this nightmare."

But Dean Castaldo, an eight-year military veteran, points out that the men and women in the armed services — more than a million — represent a cross-section of America.

And regardless of their differences, Castaldo says, they all work together as a team.

Residual War, Something Worth Living For is about a female soldier, proven hero, suffering for what she thinks she caused by saving the wrong person. Suicides, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, military women, Warrior Transition Units mistreatment of our soldiers and the rest of the things that they really go through are within this work of fiction. 

Some hear about a female soldier with PTSD and assume it is just because of sexual assault, failing to notice females are just as human as the male soldiers and are exposed to the same dangers of combat. Some hear about soldiers committing suicide, assume they "just couldn't take it" without ever considering the simple fact they managed to "take it" when other lives were in danger, but did not receive the help they needed to heal afterwards.

Some hear about folks running around the country, screaming about how they are raising awareness, but the reality is there are less serving now than when the Army started to "address PTSD" yet it translated into more suicides among less to count.

Whatever you have heard up to this day after Veterans Day, you will now have the power to change the conversation.

Keep in mind that Combat PTSD Wounded Times has over 27,000 posts on it, so there is a lot of "news" put into this book. Your challenge is to discover what is true about the lives of these fictional characters.

PTSD Soldiers Still Being Abused At Warrior Transition Units

Two years ago, the Dallas Morning News and NBC Dallas, "Injured Heroes Broken Promises" reported on how wounded soldiers were being abused at Warrior Transition Units. Yep, the very place where they were supposed to be sent to heal from what combat did to them. Most of the time we're talking about PTSD soldiers being told to "man up" but the reporters covering national news worthy of national attention did not think any of this was important. 

Most people in the country had no clue what was going on. So much for social media folks putting more attention on raising awareness about suicides instead of actually paying attention to the biggest reason behind our young veterans committing suicide. You'd think this would matter, but then again, they want you to think if they get attention for talking, they never really have to achieve what they claim is important to them.

The fine reporting out of Dallas Morning News and NBC Dallas is one of the reasons this site exists. The news is out there and it is up to you to do something with it, or just keep supporting what is popular. Hey, here's a thought, how about we make the truth matter for a change?

Badly wounded veterans need better care from special Army units, report says
Dallas Morning News
David Tarrant and Scott Friedman
November 11, 2016

“Those are the things we had lived through,” added Cynthia Adams, sitting next to her husband at their kitchen table. She’s relieved “it’s finally out there,” but wonders: “What difference is this going to make?”

FRANKSTON — Ken Adams leans on two canes as he limps into his dining room. Spread across the table are prescription pill bottles, knee and back braces, a therapeutic boot and other medical supplies he’s come to rely on in recent years after injuries he sustained in the Army.

Adams spent nearly two years in a Warrior Transition Unit, or WTU, a special Army unit for injured soldiers who need extensive medical treatment and rehabilitation. But his medical problems got worse — not better, he said.

At Fort Hood's WTU, Adams says commanders fought against his doctor's recommendations and denied him treatments for debilitating back pain.

When he complained to his supervisors, they made him feel like he was trying to milk the system. “I was just another dirtbag looking for a meal ticket,” said Adams, 50, a retired master sergeant and Bronze Star veteran of the Iraq war. “None of what I had achieved or had done on a personal level or in the military was of any relevance.”

Stories like Adams’ are backed up by a government report that recently found that the Army needs to improve how it cares for severely wounded warriors in its WTUs. Congress ordered the report after a series of investigative stories by The Dallas Morning News and its broadcast partner, KXAS-TV (NBC5).
read more here

Original report

Veterans Day is Everyday To Them

Veterans Day means different things to different folks in this country. If you have a veteran in your family, well, it has meaning to you. If you do not, then, hey, one more reason to go shopping and save some money. Think about that for a second, and then, maybe, you'll understand the rest of this. You save money on a day that is supposed to be about them after they were willing to lay down their own lives to save the life of someone else.

All my life I have been blessed to be surrounded by veterans and my family has served in three different wars. Really amazing considering I am only second generation American. My Uncles served in WWII, my Dad served in Korean and my husband served in Vietnam. His Dad and Uncles served in WWII. He's just second generation too.

Our Grandparents thought this country was so special, they risked everything to start a new life here. My Mom's family left Greece, my husband's Grandparents left Italy, all for the promise of what this country was. All of the veterans in our families thought it was not perfect but, oh so worthy, of whatever they could do for America.

They did not regret serving but they are sadden by the conditions far too many of them have to endure because members of Congress neglected to make sure the Department of Veterans Affairs was able to care for all their wounds. That is one thing generations of our elected representatives should have done decades ago. They haven't and now there are some suggesting this one place for them will be sold off so that they can be sent to civilian doctors and civilian hospitals.

You may think that all the problems with the claims, shortage of doctors and claims processors is new, but it has all gone on for generations. None of this is new to them or families like mine. They paid the price with their service and continue to pay the price for the lack of service they were promised.

So here are some reminders of what has not been accurate.

Afghanistan is the longest war. It is the longest declared war. Vietnam was the longest.

Vietnam Memorial Wall

The First and the Last The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956. His name was added to the Wall on Memorial Day 1999. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who has a casualty date of Sept. 7, 1965.
First battlefield fatality was Specialist 4 James T. Davis who was killed on December 22, 1961.
The last American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year old Marine. He was killed in action on May 15, 1975, two weeks after the evacuation of Saigon, in what became known as the Mayaguez incident.
Others list Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove and Danny G. Marshall as the last to die in Vietnam. These three US Marines Corps veterans were mistakenly left behind on Koh Tang Island during the Mayaguez incident. They were last seen together but unfortunately to date, their fate is unknown. They are located on panel 1W, lines 130 - 131.

In the latest VA Suicide Research, they reported there are 20 veterans a day committing suicide, however, that was the same number reported in 1999 with over 5 million more veterans in this country. Most are tied to PTSD caused by combat.

All that bills Congress has passed and paid for, all the claims of the military changing how they treat the wounded, has actually made the outcomes more deadly. Veterans who go to the VA are less likely to commit suicide than those who do not.

Another fact is that the majority of veterans committing suicide, over 65% of them, are over the age of 50. With all that in mind, you may remember them today but the other reality for them is, their day as a veteran is everyday and they live with the memories of what they were willing to do for the sake of someone else. If you didn't know that already, I feel sorry for you because it means you do not know any of them. 

Generations of Veterans Gather to say "No regrets, despite their traumas"

On Veterans Day, from World War II to Iraq, vets say: No regrets, despite their traumas
Seattle Times
Erik Lacitis
Originally published November 11, 2016

Military veterans, from left: Angel Gonzalez, Scot Pondelick, Tommy Darnell, Alicia Johnson, Notrip Ticey III and, seated, Merle “Bob” Clapper at the Veterans Resource Center at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood.
(Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times)

They are six veterans of our various wars. Some saw combat, some not.

They sat together recently at the Veterans Resource Center at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood. And even though some had met for the first time, there was an easy camaraderie.

They told of their most vivid experiences in the military — the kind that come back in the middle of the night — and some told how the Fourth of July is always a rough day for them.

Some told of the smell of war. You never forget it. They gave advice to those thinking about joining the military.
read more here