On a personal note, Donna and Denny belong to the same Chapter of the DAV as we do, Chapter 16 Orlando.
They are part of the generation who ended up being told we are worth less than the newer generations. The other problem is, it also means that Gulf War, Korean War and remaining WWII generations are also worth less.
Donna and Denny, along with the DAV, fight for all generations of disabled veterans and that is the way it should be. If you want to know where almost everything known on PTSD came from, that was also the DAV when they commissioned the research on The Forgotten Warrior Project! Ironic that we are still forgotten!
Why Are Vietnam Vets, Families Still Waiting for VA Caregiver Benefits?
Military.com
By Richard Sisk
8 Jul 2018
"Just look at the Vietnam veterans, the way they were treated. There's a lot of guilt there," said Meyer, who lost his right leg above the knee and the thumb, index finger and middle finger of his right hand to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
Disabled Vietnam War veteran Bill Czyzewski joins about 150 other disabled veterans in a 2016 cycling event at Gettysburg, Pa. Although Congress passed a bill to provide benefits for caregivers of such veterans, about $55 billion in funding must be found. (DoD photo/EJ Hersom).
"I just think it's very unfair, the inequity of it all. You give up so much," Donna Joyner said of the wall put up by Congress at the Department of Veterans Affairs that has separated one generation of family caregivers to disabled veterans from another.
Joyner, the wife and caregiver to her husband, triple amputee Vietnam veteran Dennis Joyner, has been among the thousands who are ineligible for training and modest stipends under the VA Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers program that was limited to post-9/11 veterans by a law passed in 2010.
On June 6, President Donald Trump signed the VA Maintaining Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act, or VA Mission Act, which was primarily aimed at expanding private health care options through the VA.
As part of the Mission Act, the caregivers program was expanded to eliminate the 9/11 limitation in stages and eventually extend the benefit to veterans of all eras.
The first expansion would go to caregivers of veterans who suffered severe, service-connected wounds or injuries before May 1975, when the Vietnam War ended for the U.S.
read more here
Marine found dead in river at Fort Leonard Wood identified
KSDK 5 News
Author: KSDK Staff
July 6, 2018
The Marine went missing on the Fourth of July after being swept away by the river's current.
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — The Marine involved in the Big Piney River incident on Fort Leonard Wood has been identified as Pfc. Corey Staten.
Staten was a Basic Motor Transport Marine assigned to the Marine Corps Detachment at Fort Leonard Wood.
According to Fort Leonard Wood’s Directorate of Emergency Services, Pfc. Staten went missing around 4:25 p.m. on the Fourth of July after being swept away by the river’s current.
read more here
Hidden Heroes: When her husband was injured in Afghanistan, she fought to get him the care he needed
Johnson City Press
Hannah Swayze
July 8, 2018
Soon, Susan also realized, they had to move. The family was living in Fort Bragg at the time, and there, military life was unescapable. They decided to look for another place to live and they heard about the Mountain Home Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.
“Once we came here it was like the Disney World of VAs,” said Susan. Susan says their lives look a lot different now.
Hannah Swayze
This is a photo collage that Susan created to show their doctors and counselors to illustrate really what Jason has gone through. The first top left photo is Justin before the injuries and the other three surrounding it are the aftermath of the explosion. "I realized as I became justin's advocate and I became his voice that words simply won't describe what he had survived," said Susan.
Susan Freeman became her husband Justin’s caregiver after he returned from war. He was severely injured after his truck was shattered by a 1,000-pound improvised explosive device, or IED, in 2009, though looking at him and talking to him today, you might not notice more than a limp.
Justin, a U.S. Army veteran, said it was the largest successfully detonated IED that had been used in Afghanistan at that point in the war.
The explosion left Justin severely injured. He suffered damage to his brain and spinal cord and various other places throughout his body. It wasn't until after he painfully finished out his deployment and returned to the United States that he and his family realized just how much damage had been done.
“When he walked off the plane I could see that he was just broken,” said Susan. “He was broken mentally and physically and spiritually broken.”
When Justin returned, he was put in rehabilitation, going to appointment after appointment. It wasn't long before Susan realized that he wasn't really getting better.
Justin was grieving the loss of his career in the Army and struggling both physically and mentally. His injuries were numerous: nerve damage in his shoulder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and more. His mental health plummeted.
read more here
Are you transitioning or surrendering?
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
July 8, 2018
Life is about transitioning from one place to another. In this case, we're talking about the transition from surrendering to something that happened into being a survivor and using your transmission to move you forward.
WHAT DOES A TRANSMISSION DO?
From Meineke
How Does an Automatic Transmission Work?
An automatic transmission is essentially an automatic gear shifter...Have you ever heard the sound of your engine getting higher, then lower as your car accelerates? A car in a low gear will start struggle as its pushed to higher speeds. A car with an automatic transmission has a torque converter that senses these changes as you accelerate and shifts you to a higher gear. The same process works in reverse as you slow down.
TRANSITION
movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change: the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Music.
a passing from one key to another; modulation.
a brief modulation; a modulation used in passing.
a sudden, unprepared modulation.
a passage from one scene to another by sound effects, music, etc., as in a television program, theatrical production, or the like.
There are things you may have told yourself, that are simply not true!
The first lie is when you told yourself there was something wrong with you. The truth is, there is something strong within you!
If you chose a job where you knew it could kill you, military, law enforcement, firefighting or any of the other jobs protecting others, that choice came from a very strong emotional core.
Civilians can get hit by PTSD from just one event in their lives. When you consider how many events you survived, it should make more sense that you would get hit harder, than escape it because of your training.
You may be resilient, but that does not mean you are impervious to what your jobs did to you.
If you do not have PTSD, then make sure that you keep doing the steps for Crisis Intervention for yourself. That starts with being able to open up about what you witnessed from an emotional level, not just a tactical one.
Every time I survived something that could have killed me, I was able to talk about all of it knowing I mattered to someone. It helped me get out the ugliness of what I was faced with so that good stuff could get back in.
read more here
A week after stabbings, his city gives Boise's police chief hope 'to create good out of horror'
Idaho Statesman
Katy Moeller
July 7, 2018
"One can imagine what it would be like for paramedics, firefighters and others to see the horrific injuries of these victims — these small young children," Murphy said in a phone interview from Seattle. "It may be more than a human being is meant to bear."
Boise Police Chief Bill Bones was visibly emotional during a press conference Sunday, July 1. "These are victims who in their past homes have fled violence from Syria, Iraq and Ethiopia," Bones said.
Meiying Wu
The emotional calluses of a 25-year career in law enforcement appeared to have been ripped away when Boise Police Chief Bill Bones stepped in front of the cameras at City Hall West on July 1.
The towering, soft-spoken chief choked back tears as he described the horror of the night before — an "evil" attack that left the largest number of victims in an incident in department history.
Nine people were stabbed, including six children, who were at or near a 3-year-old's birthday party at the Wylie Street Station Apartments just off State Street. All of the victims were members of refugee families from Syria, Iraq and Ethiopia.
"Obviously, I have cried during this event," Bones said a couple of days later in an interview at his office. "Thankfully, I was alone yesterday when I found out that we had lost our little girl — because she really is, in a part, she is a daughter of the entire community. She's a part of who we are."
"I have a department of people that got into this job, into this career, because they're here to take care of others, to help others. We try hard to get them to take care of themselves," he said. "None of us do the best job at that."read more here
