Suicide "Top priority" fake news for all

A reporter with the Sun Herald out of North Carolina had chosen a headline that should fall under "fake news" but what can we expect?

20 veterans kill themselves every day. Suicide prevention is now VA’s No. 1 priority. by Matt Goad. I couldn't help it! I couldn't stop myself, not that I really wanted to. The thing is, are we really trying to save their lives or push a "feel better" story? I sent him an email but I bet he'll be like the others and just ignore it. 

Did you bother to actually research any of this? You used the slogan from the VA but did not know it was 20 a day back in 1999 when there were over 5 million more veterans living at the time? Did you know that the first suicide prevention bill was passed in 2007? 
The DOD and the VA have been saying a hell of a lot of things but the end results is, veterans are still ending their lives because coming home is still harder than combat!
OMG! Will you guys ever take this seriously?

Ya I know, shame on me for bothering to contact yet another reporter who did not do any basic research on this story.

Suicide prevention is now the VA’s highest priority among the nation’s 20 million veterans, 2 million of them women, according to a VA National Suicide Data Report released last month.

And maybe if reporters had paid attention when our generations was suffering the same way, then maybe we wouldn't be talking about what failed our veterans. 

Fake veterans charity collected millions

Just so you understand that ripping off people while claiming to be helping veterans is hurting them far beyond the ones who get caught. It is people like me who end up walking away because they cannot afford to operate anymore.

It is embarrassing to file my forms for Florida, since the IRS does not need a bottom line when you make basically nothing. Florida needs financial statements. Last year I lost over $3,000. I took in a whopping $120 for work I do 45 hours a week, with three books, over 300 videos and God knows how many posts done last year.

Most of my work is done on the phone, actually talking to veterans and families, or online. Most of the money I lost was for the cell phone.

OK, so, now maybe you get a better understanding how these people make millions for using veterans instead of helping them, and the ones actually helping, end up giving up.

We end up trapped behind the flood of fools screaming about veterans committing suicide, taking in millions and having fun pulling stunts while veterans lose hope. 

They cannot find us on Facebook or other social media sites because everyone is sharing the rumor while ignoring the end result. 

Anyway, had to get that off my chest. I have a full time job so, I can afford to do what I do. That is why it is so repulsive when people make it their full time job to rip off people by using veterans.

Fake veterans charity collected millions in donations from Ohioans
Springfield News Sun
By Max Filby - Staff Writer
July 23, 2018

One local nonprofit that has been impacted by misleading veterans charities is the Miami Valley Military Museum on the grounds of the VA Medical Center in Dayton.

WWII artifacts, including a Japanese helmet, lower right, at the Miami Valley Military History Museum located in Building 120 on the Dayton Veterans Administration campus. TY GREENLEES / STAFF

A government watchdog and six state attorneys general are taking aim at fake veterans charities, including one that collected more than $11 million from Ohioans from 2014 to 2016. A Florida-based nonprofit called “Help The Vets” was recently found to have spent less than five percent of donations on charity, with the other 95 percent going to the group’s founder and paid fundraisers, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Now, the fraudulent charity is one of several that finds itself in the crosshairs of the Federal Trade Commission and the state attorneys general of Ohio, Florida, California, Maryland, Minnesota and Oregon. The FTC and the six attorneys general have launched a campaign called “Operation Donate with Honor” to combat giving to charities falsely claiming to be helping veterans and members of the military.
read more here

Arizona may join states tracking veteran suicides

Arizona lawmaker planning bill to mandate tracking of veteran suicides
KTAR News
BY KATHY CLINE
JULY 23, 2018

“Before you can solve a problem, you’ve got to realize the extent of the problem,” said Mike Scerbo, spokesman for the family of Antouine Castaneda. Castaneda — a decorated Army Ranger who signed up after 911 — took his life on his 32nd birthday, July 23, 2015.

Rep. Jay Lawrence at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on July 23, 2018. (KTAR Photo/Kathy Cline)

PHOENIX — A bill that would require the compilation of veteran suicide statistics could be introduced next session in the Arizona Legislature.

State Rep. Jay Lawrence — a Republican who chairs the House Military, Veterans and Regulatory Affairs Committee — hasn’t written the bill yet. In fact, he’s only submitted suggestions to the Arizona Legislative Council.

He does plan to have something ready for the coming legislative session.

As Lawrence envisions it: “[The bill would] require the state of Arizona to compile a report on veteran suicide and provide that report to the Legislature and the Department of Veterans Affairs beginning Jan. 1, 2020.”

A November 2017 study from Arizona State University found Arizona veterans were almost four times as likely to commit suicide as nonveterans.
read more here

Are you pretending to care about veterans?

When you become part of the problem!
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 23, 2018

There seems to be more and more cases of people using the suffering of veterans and the families they leave behind for their own gain. We saw that when the FTC decided to put an end to these ripoff charities.

FTC and States Combat Fraudulent Charities That Falsely Claim to Help Veterans and Servicemembers

The thing is, none of them could have managed to pull millions out of well-meaning donors if the "causes" was not shared across social media.

The other factor is, none of these "groups" are doing anything to actually help veterans heal, live better lives or even attempt to understand that no one will ever know exactly how many veterans commit suicide. 

The number is pure BS, because the VA report was from 21 states using limited data. Then we put together an example of so many more that did not "count" in the number that has been unchanged since 1999!

If you are wondering why so many still commit suicide, start by asking yourself one question. "Do you care enough to know or are you just pretending to care?"

UPDATE
Looks like it keeps going on and on! This headline almost made me fall off my chair.

Flags for Forgotten Soldiers raises awareness about veteran suicide

Forgotten were all those beyond the "22" a day the press keeps talking about.

I wonder what Howard Berry would feel like knowing how many the press has let be forgotten because they did not do their jobs.

After all, easy to know he does care considering his own son committed suicide after surviving the Fort Hood massacre.

Howard, if you come across this site, give me a call and I'll give you a better idea of how many actually were forgotten!

Iraq veteran begs for flag to be returned

Tacoma veteran's American flag stolen; now a heartbreaking plea to get it back
KIRO 7 News
By: Deedee Sun
Updated: Jul 22, 2018

TACOMA, Wash. - The sign says, “Please return my flag, sentimental to me. I brought it back from Iraq. The bottom four stripes have my buddy’s blood on them.”

“This was very important to him,” said Kim Phillips, who lives in Tacoma. She said veteran Nolan Gomez was doing some yard work when someone stole his American flag.

I was actually shocked. It was his country we were in and he gave me an American flag,” Gomez said.

He’s kept it with him ever since.

And in Iraq, when a roadside bomb blew up, injuring him and his team, he reached for the flag. “I dropped to my knees and my friend is screaming,” Gomez said.

He tried to use the flag as a tourniquet. His friend – who is from Lakewood – lost his legs.

“He came back out here and committed suicide,” Gomez said. “Some horrific things that have happened, and that flag has always been there.”

Gomez also suffers from PTSD.
read more here