Florida Vietnam Veteran saved by other brother

2 Vietnam veterans forever connected by life-saving kidney donation from one to the other
FOX New York
By: Bob Barnard
POSTED: SEP 18 2018

"Our blood and tissue type match is good," said Coffman. "And to me, it just is living proof that we're all part of one human family. The chances of our match -- I don't know what the odds were, but we beat them."

WASHINGTON - Two men who served in the Air Force almost 50 years ago trained together in California. After they served our country, they returned home and parted ways.

Jim McGee and Doug Coffman didn't reconnect until a recent reunion of their training class at a memorial service for one of their fellow Vietnam veterans. It was the first time the men had seen each other since 1971. That's when one of them learned the other was in urgent need of a new kidney. The operation happened Tuesday at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

McGee, a retired foreign service officer and former U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe and Madagascar from Sarasota, Florida, was undergoing dialysis three times a week while waiting for a kidney donation.
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Veterans' lives depend on it

Save the VA. Veterans' lives depend on it | Opinion
New Jersey.com
By Joesph Hirsch
Jersey Journal Guest Columnist
September 18, 2018

In May of 1968 I was sent to Vietnam, where I translated intercepted communiques during the war. The horrors of war I witnessed changed me forever. Since I returned home, I have worked to end war and for social justice.

Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin speaks at a news conference at the Washington Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington last March. (AP Photo)

In Vietnam, I, like millions of Vietnamese and many other American soldiers, was exposed to Agent Orange. Decades later, the VA linked that exposure to my diabetes.

Right now there is a push to get vets out of the VA system and into the private sector medical industry. But the private sector is not prepared to care for vets. Private sector doctors do not understand the unique medical needs of vets, including war trauma, battle induced hearing loss or toxin exposure such as Agent Orange.

A recent RAND study of New York doctors showed only 16 percent asked about occupational or military exposures such as Agent Orange. The same report found just 20 percent of doctors even asked their patients if they had spent time in the military.

While I may suffer from chronic diabetes because of Agent Orange, I am one of the luckier ones. Many people exposed to Agent Orange ended with Parkinson's disease, devastating cancers or they saw their children born with birth defects.
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And here are even more reasons why!

Robotic therapy moving arms again

New equipment helps people regain arm movement 
Helps veterans regain movement to disabled arms 
Our Quad Cities
By: Yukare Nakayama 
Posted: Sep 18, 2018 

DAVENPORT, Iowa - A breakthrough in robotic therapy. The Myomo orthosis is now helping those suffering from paralyzed or weakened arms and hands gain back motion.

"I just really see the excitement and hope it brings patients," says Myomo business manager, Kim Smith. The device reads nerve signals from the surface of the skin. It then activates small motors to move the arm and hand. The brace amps up the weak muscle signal to move the limb.

This device is for those who've suffered from strokes or similar disabilities. Myomo's business manager says repetition of these movements can really do wonders. "We have some patients who are able to return to work. 

It's basically the future and the hope that there is a way to restore that arm," says Smith. Myomo is targeting a specific audience, veterans. About 3.8 million veterans in the U.S are disabled. 

This device not only helps them gain function back to their elbow or their arms but also their independence. And that is something the Veteran Outreach Center in Davenport is looking forward to. read more here

Spirituality May Protect Their Mental Health

Something bigger for mind-body-spirit
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 18, 2018

On Forbes there is a very interesting article about mental health and spirituality. Raising Kids With Religion Or Spirituality May Protect Their Mental Health: Study

"It turned out that those who attended religious services at least once a week as children or teens were about 18% more likely to report being happier in their 20s than those who never attended services. They were also almost 30% more likely to do volunteer work and 33% less likely to use drugs in their 20s as well."

In other words, you are happier if you believe in something outside of yourself. Yep, and you are more likely to care about others too.

"But what was interesting was that it wasn’t just about how much a person went to services, but it was at least as much about how much they prayed or meditated in their own time. Those who prayed or meditated every day also had more life satisfaction, were better able to process emotions, and were more forgiving compared to those who never prayed/meditated. They were also less likely to have sex at an earlier age and to have a sexually transmitted infection."

 You are also more likely to be happier, less likely to hang onto bad feelings and anger. Notice that also stated that you do not need to be in a building to be in a place of prayer or meditation? In other words, you can do it where you are for free!

"One drawback of the new study was that although it tried to control for socioeconomic status and other confounding variables, most people in the study were white, female, and of higher socioeconomic status. The study would need to be repeated in a more diverse population to see whether the phenomenon holds for other demographics."

Some may want to point out that if you have more money and security, then you are happier and more giving. I know plenty of people with the means to do a lot of good in this world, but they are more interested in themselves than others.

This is from 2014

Don't take your life, take it back
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 22, 2014

The Department of Veterans Affairs puts it this way

After a trauma or life-threatening event, it is common to have reactions such as upsetting memories of the event, increased jumpiness, or trouble sleeping. If these reactions do not go away or if they get worse, you may have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Sometimes you may feel like a victim but you just didn't notice that you are a survivor. You are not weak. You were so strong that you were willing to risk your life for your friends and that came from the strength within you.

PTSD means you survived an event that was so traumatic your life was on the line. Anyone can change after that. When it is caused by combat, it means it wasn't just your life on the line but the lives of your friends as well.

While the events changed you, that does not mean you cannot change again. It doesn't mean you are stuck feeling lousy inside. You are not condemned to suffer, feeling sad, angry, bitter or hopeless. Help is out there the same way you were there to help your buddies survive combat.

Don't even think about taking your own life now when you can take your life back!

Every part of a warfighter went. Your body was conditioned to react to stressful situations. Your mind was trained to react in a new way. Your spirit was pushed and often crushed by what you had to see and do. Every part of you changed because of combat.

Life is full of challenges and changes because of them. Challenge yourself to discover that you have the ability to change again. Your buddies watched over you just as you watched over them when someone was trying to kill you. There is still an enemy to fight back home trying to claim victory over you and them. You used weapons in war and you need weapons now to fight PTSD. You were not alone in combat and you are not alone now.

Seek help for your mind even if that means medication. If the medication doesn't work or you are having problems with it, talk to your doctors so that they can change them until they find the right ones for you.

Seek help to teach your body how to live calmly again. It had to be trained to push on and now it needs to be trained to relax again.

Seek help to heal your spirit. After all you went through it is often hard to feel the good emotions because the bad ones are so strong. All that was good inside of you before is still in there.

PTSD can be defeated and you can take your life back.

And this is why I use Combat PTSD....

Combat PTSD Acronyms To Heal By
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 14, 2013

PTSD does not mean FUBAR (short for "Fucked Up Beyond All Repair" or "Recognition." To describe impossible situations, equipment, or persons as in, "It is (or they are) totally Fubar!") even though most of what the DOD has been doing has been.

If it worked then suicides wouldn't have gone up. If it worked then we wouldn't be talking about so much suffering back home. (Hell, this blog would be pretty happy and light on posts so I could get back to working for a paycheck all the time again instead of taking temp jobs.)

What we talk about all the time isn't what everyone else sees on the news so we'll keep cutting thru the BS (bull shit) living back here in the WORLD (USA)

Start with the acronym of PTSD itself "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" meaning "after trauma" which is actually "after wound" since trauma is Greek for "wound" and it was something that was done to you or you were exposed to. There should be no issue with this term if it was understood correctly. Replacing "disorder" as some want to do would put PTSD into something temporary instead of a lifetime disability. Changing it to I for injury would imply it will heal and go away but while you can heal PTSD, it never really goes away. With the right help you can actually come out on the other side better than the way you went into the military. What you can't heal you can learn how to adapt with.

So for them, CPTC would be the best acronym to use.

COMBAT POST TRAUMATIC CHANGE is a term I've been trying to come up with for over 30 years. (Plain and simple so if you see that term used from now on, you know where it came from.) Trauma changes everyone no matter what the cause was but hacks want to lump everyone in together as if there is no difference between a survivor of a car accident and a veteran surviving combat. A true PTSD guru not only points out the differences but the different levels as well. All PTSD are not the same! Veterans need the distinction to appropriately address what they survived and the fact they knowingly put themselves in danger for the sake of someone else. (Cops are the closest to veterans because they also deal with trauma and weapons used to do what they do but we're not talking about them on this one.) 

If you have issues with PTSD then start to use CPTC if it helps. Consider it this way. Combat changed you but that doesn't mean you cannot change again. There is nothing to be ashamed of and as a matter of fact, you are supposed to talk about it and not try to forget that part of your life.

Vietnam War Medal of Honor Hero Sammy Davis has been talking about this for years. He nailed it in this video from last year when I sat down with him and his wife Dixie. While I've known him for years, it was the first time we talked so much.

MOH Sammy Davis and Kathie Costos

Vietnam Medal of Honor Sammy Davis has a message to all the troops coming home. Talk about it! Don't try to forget it but you can make peace with it. Dixie Davis has a message for the spouses too. Help them to talk about it with you or with someone else.

 Now that you got the idea out of your head that you are supposed to just get over it, we can move onto the next part. MBS, mind-body-spirit.

Mind means talking to a shrink to be figured out. They test to see what is happening but if they are a hack and not trained for trauma, you can get a list of different diagnosis to explain what is going on. You need them for medications and they do have to play around with the meds to find what works for you. You need to talk to them and tell them if the meds are not working. The stuff hits your stomach and the chemicals shoot to your brain and your brain shoots the stuff out to the rest of your body. Meds are not the same as self-medicating and that is why drinking your 12th beer didn't work to get your adrenalin to adapt back to your civvies again.

This is only part of healing. The next part is taking care of your body. You have to train your body to become a veteran as much as you had to train it to become a flyboy, Sailor, Soldier or Marine. Well, as for Marines, they never really learn to walk right again. They keep the way they walk for the rest of their lives.

If you are physically able, martial arts, yoga, walking, swimming and a long list help teach your body to live more calmly. Make sure you do it at the same time everyday no matter how long you do it. Your body has an internal clock and will get used to what it does one day to the next and basically relearns. Just makes sure you can shut your head off when you are doing any of these. If your thoughts tend to run away, put in a pair of earbuds (unless you are swimming) and listen to calming music. It is fine to listen to whatever kind of music you like any other time of the day but this time has to be set aside for calming. Same with computer games. Don't play Call of Duty and think it is calming you down.

The spirit part is the most important of all since that is where CPTC hit you.

CSF (Comprehensive Soldier Fitness) is a bunch of BS and has done more harm than it has helped. We know that but the military has lacked the intel to figure that one out. So whatever you took from that training, forget about it. It is FUBAR to the max. Expecting you to train to become mentally stronger than what you already were is moronic. It has filled more body bags than the enemy. When suicides go up after they start something should have been a clue but there is no telling when or if they will ever figure that one out. When it comes to their ability to recon, they are pretty much Dinky Dau.

They trained you to be combat ready. Mentally and physically. What they had no part in was what you went into the military with. You courage and your compassion. It takes both to be willing to risk your life for the sake of someone else so whatever BS they fed you a steady diet of has to be flushed. That strength inside of you also opened the door for you to feel the bad stuff stronger than others did. It is not weakness of anything so telling you that you can train to be what you already were caused the emotional train wreck afterwards. This is a really good video on what is really going on with this crap.

POINT MAN: lead soldier in a unit cutting a path through dense vegetation if needed and constantly exposed to the danger of tripping booby traps or being the first in contact with the enemy.

Point Man leaders figured this out a long time ago. As a matter of fact before most of the new veterans were even born, way back in 1984. They also figured out that the families need to be educated and supported so they can help their veterans. It isn't whack-over-head-you're-going-to-hell type of spiritual healing. It is you are loved and you need to stop thinking you are evil because you are suffering. You don't deserve to suffer no matter what you try to tell yourself or anyone else does. There was no evil in you if you put your life on the line and there is no evil in you if you're grieving.

STAND-DOWN (period of rest and refitting in which all operational activity, except for security, is stopped.)

Time to learn, heal and then do what you do best. Take care of the others in need of help too. You know it all too well and you know what if feels like to be alone. Tomorrow can be better if you keep looking until you find what it is YOU need to heal.

UPDATE Can't help myself and have to say this.


FNG's in the DOD like to pretend PTSD is new but since they learned nothing from the past, nothing has improved but the bank accounts of morticians.

Newly Pinned Chief Petty Officer Found Dead

Jacksonville police suspect foul play after U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer found dead
CBS Action News
Updated: Sep 17, 2018

Loved ones are grieving the death of U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Andrea Washington as the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office works to figure out how and why she died.

Washington was found dead in a north Jacksonville home on Monday. Police say they got a call for a medical emergency, but they suspect foul play.

A friend says that Washington was a mother of three and a 19-year veteran of the U.S. Navy. She had just been pinned as a Chief Petty Officer last week.
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