More "Unawareness" on Veteran Suicides is how this year started out and sadly, ending the same way.
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 15, 2016
It was posted on January 1, 2016. Not much has changed. The Washington Times reported that "Veteran suicide estimates of 22 per day sparks debate, spurs lawmakers to action" and that all sounded good unless you had been paying attention all alone. The number was quoted over and over again but the rest of the report was ignored.
Indeed, the study found that suicide rates were highest not among newer recruits but among older veterans — two-thirds of those covered by the research committed suicide after reaching 50 years of age. But suicide rates among younger veterans shot up from 2009 to 2011, according to a 2014 update to the 2012 study.
It wasn't bad enough the military was still jeopardizing their lives with all the "resilience training" producing an ever growing number of suicides while the size of the military itself was shrinking, they had to keep pushing it as if totally oblivious to the deadly, heartbreaking outcomes. That "effort" started back in 2009 after even more years of doing what came easy but failed. But then again, they don't want to fact the fact that after 9-11 they kicked out over 300,000 on top of everything else.
Families are still left clueless and then forgotten in all of this. Anyone helping them heal afterwards? Does anyone think about what it is like to blame yourself for losing them? I do. We lost my husband's nephew over a decade ago and every time I read about another veteran committing suicide, it all haunts me. I wonder what I didn't say to get him to at least listen. That pain does not go away no matter how much I know about what could have gone right, it still ended badly for him.
Why on earth would anyone want to take the easy way out and just claim to be doing something by talking about their suffering instead of doing the work to help them heal it? We sure don't have time to talk about those who survived the attempt to take their own lives. Why bother to try to even understand that in 2012 there were 600 attempted suicides but by August of 2014, it was 900? Is it because it was less when no one was out there "raising awareness" and increased afterwards?
The ever growing number of folks out there "raising awareness" on veterans committing suicide was yet one more factor in this betrayal. Intensions may have been good but few wanted to actually understand this enough to know what to do to actually help them stay alive instead of talking about them not wanting to live one more day on this earth. It has been a deadly decade of PTSD.
While they were taking walks, doing pushups, raising money and publicity for themselves, here are some veterans we lost this year because no one told them how they could heal and give them something worth living for.
Staff Sgt. Devin Schuette
Ray Burnside veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan
Terry O'Hearn
These are only a few while they needed to hear reasons to live, others talked about them killing themselves. While they searched for hope, others spent too much time talking about a number, trivializing their lives down to something easy to remember. When they searched for help, others pointed to caskets already filled.
When advocates like me were trying desperately to get the message to them that they could heal and live better lives, our voices were drowned out by folks counting the number of push-ups they were willing to do, when we were willing to go into the gates of hell to get them out. When some were taking walks, talking about how many miles they were willing to travel, we were there listening for hours to veterans miles away. When some were done raising funds, we were still raising hope. When some folks arms were tired from doing push-ups, our arms were still being wrapped around them.
Do you really want to change the outcome? Then how about you stop doing the FUBAR crap and start doing the work. At least stop drowning out voices trying to save them so we can do our work without them having to get sidetracked by the sideshow of professed support you are willing to give when they need so much more.
'We're a veterans community'
About 40 Central Texas residents attend unaccompanied funeral
Killeen Daily Herald
By Ebriah Swenson
December 14, 2016
“We’re a veterans community. Fort Hood is one of biggest military bases in the world. It was very unique that we interred a Marine today, and I just happen to be a Marine, because most of the time it’s Army personnel. This time, it happened to be a Marine, so I wanted to make sure that I, personally, was here for that.” Lewis Stubbs
Eric J. Shelton | Herald
Funeral
Supporters salute during an unaccompanied veteran funeral for James Wesley Jones Wednesday the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.
Area residents gathered at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen on Wednesday to lay James Wesley Jones, a former Marine and a Vietnam War veteran, to rest.
Jones, who had no family members attend the funeral, served in the Marine Corps from July 1965 to September 1969.
read more here
Congress passes bill to help vets with less-than-honorable discharges
WHSV 3 News
By Ted Fioraliso
Dec 13, 2016
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) -- There may be hope for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other wounds of war.
"[This is] a major victory, and something every American should be celebrating," said Army veteran Kristofer Goldsmith, who has been fighting for the Fairness for Veterans Act: the bill Congress finally passed last week.
Goldsmith explained, "[It] is going to make sure veterans, who were discharged with less-than-honorable discharges and denied access to things like health care, are going to have their health care fully considered."
That wasn't the case for Goldsmith, who received a less-than-honorable discharge after he tried to commit suicide - a result of his post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Even though they're suffering from these invisible wounds of war, they did not have access to the VA and the specialized treatment that they need." said Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who authored the legislation. "We're going to work to move this along as quickly as possible for the Department of Defense to set up a process and the VA as well to do that."
read more here
Veteran Who Received Life-Changing Double-Arm Transplant Shows Off Progress
ABC News
By GILLIAN MOHNEY
Dec 13, 2016
Just four months after undergoing a life-changing double-arm transplant, John Peck shared how far he has come by releasing a video of him being able to control his elbow.
Peck, 31, underwent the surgery last August at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and has been undergoing rehabilitation ever since. Peck shared a video on Monday in which -- with the help of a therapist -- he slowly and carefully practices moving his right elbow.
As he reaches the end of his exercise, Peck exclaims, “Cool!”
read more here
National Guard Birth Date
We recognize December 13th as the birthday of the National Guard. On this date in 1636, the first militia regiments in North America were organized in Massachusetts. Based upon an order of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's General Court, the colony's militia was organized into three permanent regiments to better defend the colony.
Today, the descendants of these first regiments - the 181st Infantry, the 182nd Infantry, the 101st Field Artillery, and the 101st Engineer Battalion of the Massachusetts Army National Guard – share the distinction of being the oldest units in the U.S. military. December 13, 1636, thus marks the beginning of the organized militia, and the birth of the National Guard's oldest organized units is symbolic of the founding of all the state, territory, and District of Columbia militias that collectively make up today's National Guard.
What is the oldest Army National Guard Unit?
The oldest Army National Guard units are the 101st Engineer Battalion, the 101st Field Artillery Regiment, the 181st Infantry Regiment, and the 182nd Infantry Regiment, all of the Massachusetts Army National Guard. These four units are the descendents of the original three militia regiments organized by colonial Massachusetts legislation on December 13, 1636, and share the distinction of being the oldest units in the U.S. military.
