A Vietnam veteran needed help. The government gave him a “bad paper” discharge instead
McClatchy News
BY EMMA DUMAIN AND TARA COPP
JULY 25, 2019
“What person in their right mind would serve the country honorably and then come back and go AWOL? I had to have been nuts.” Charles Smith
WASHINGTON
When Charles Smith came home after two years in Vietnam during one of the bloodiest periods of the conflict, he was a traumatized 21-year-old who needed help.
But all he could think about in 1969 was getting away from the military and “drinking myself to death.”
Smith — now 70 years old and living in Conway, S.C. — displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a condition that wasn’t formally recognized by the U.S. medical community until 1980. He dealt with his pain by going Absent Without Leave, or AWOL.
That action affected the rest of his life.
He received an “undesirable” discharge in 1971, which at the time was a subcategory of “less than honorable.” Smith’s mental state and his exposure to combat weren’t part of the evaluation.
That became a double injury, because the designation meant Smith would not be eligible to get medical or mental health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, or any financial benefits like disability payments, housing loans and education.
He is among tens of thousands of veterans who have experienced that same type of military separation, even though they are often among the troops who need care the most. Veterans believe many of these discharges are undeserved and call them “bad paper.”
“It’s taking time. That’s more suffering mentally, physically and spiritually, really, because you still will continue to drink or use drugs or whatever you want to escape,” he continued. “And most folks get discouraged, because they’re taking ‘No’ for an answer.”
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Marine vet sentenced to 4 years in federal prison for scamming money from Gold Star mom, Marine families
Marine Corps Times
By: Shawn Snow
July 23, 2019
Court documents revealed that the victims of Simpson’s charity scam included active-duty Marines and the mother of a Marine killed in the 2015 attack on the military recruiting center in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Simpson was ordered to pay restitution of $141,709.44 to the victims of his charity scam, dubbed Marines and Mickey, where Simpson bilked people into donating money to help Marines and families attend Disney and Marine boot camp graduation.
Marine veteran John Shannon Simpson was sentenced to four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud, United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced Tuesday.
Simpson was ordered to pay restitution of $141,709.44 to the victims of his charity scam, dubbed Marines and Mickey, where Simpson bilked people into donating money to help Marines and families attend Disney and Marine boot camp graduation, the release detailed.
Sentencing was handed down by United States District Judge David C. Norton of Charleston, South Carolina, who also sentenced Simpson to three years of supervised release following his prison term, according to a press release.
Simpson will serve his prison term consecutively with a nine year state sentence for sexual assault he is already serving in Florida.
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Vietnam veterans honor a fallen soldier 50 years later
CBS News
By STEVE HARTMAN
July 19, 2019
But like a lot of Vietnam vets, especially, they find it hard to mourn the loss of a fellow soldier, without also mourning their own survival.
Chester, Illinois — At a cemetery in Illinois, Perry Dotson is 50 years late for the funeral of Army Pfc. Leonard Nitzsche. Lt. Dotson was Leonard's platoon leader in Vietnam, when, in April 1970, their group was attacked and Leonard was killed. They loaded his body on a helicopter and immediately, the platoon went back to the war.
"That was the extent of our grieving. And it just hit me one day, I woke up and I thought, 'I never had a chance to say thank you.' Maybe I just needed some finality," Perry said.
When Perry mentioned this pilgrimage to some of the other guys in his platoon, he found out something he hadn't considered before: That he wasn't alone and there were others who felt the exact same way.
So, they came, too. Tim Roland flew in from McAllen, Texas. Ernie Levesque drove out from Springfield, Massachusetts, and Glenn Fox came from Newport, Nebraska. On arrival, they met Leonard's sister, Linda, at the cemetery. Everyone gathered to pay their respects to Leonard.
"That's why this is so important to us today, because we never got to do this when it happened," Glenn said.
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South Florida is a top home buyer’s market for millennial veterans, study finds
SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL
By JOHNNY DIAZ
JUL 24, 2019
"South Florida has a lot to offer veterans and military families, from cultural and lifestyle amenities to a strong economy with relatively low unemployment,'' said Chris Birk, director of education at Veterans United Home Loans.
FILE - In this July 22, 2015 file photo, a "sold" sign is posted outside a Harbor Beach neighborhood home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Standard & Poor’s releases its 20-city home price index for August on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) (The Associated Press)
Millennial veterans and service members looking to put down some roots are keen on South Florida.
A new study found that the Miami-Fort-Lauderdale-Pompano-Beach metro area ranked No. 6 nationally in the number of millennial veterans purchasing homes. That’s according to an analysis by Veterans United Home Loans, which defined millennial veterans or service members as people who were born between 1981 and 1996.
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How do we know suicide awareness does not work?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 21, 2019
"It is time for us "others" to step up and begin to communicate a much different message to veterans."
We know suicide awareness does not work because of the results. Much like the report out of Alabama with higher veteran suicide numbers "awareness" raising began. They did not need to become aware they were killing themselves. They needed to be made aware of how to stay alive.
Specialist Ricardo Acosta was one of them. He went to the VA for help but did not receive all the help he needed.
Ricardo was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. He attended therapy sessions through the Veterans Affairs Administration and was prescribed medication.
“What most definitely did not help was their answer to soldiers returning with PTSD is to throw them on a myriad of drugs. And that is a downward spiral," his mother stated.
Sixteen days before his 29 birthday, Ricardo took his own life.
“The demons fought too hard and he fought so hard for many years and he lost," Lynn said. It left Ricardo’s family, including his mother and three younger sisters torn.
“We’ll never be the same. There’s a missing piece.”
Military.com posted an article on military suicides that uses the data from 2017. Not sure why, other than the report for 2018 should have been released long before this. Still no clue where that report is.
The headline of the article is New Military Suicide Report May Revive Debate Over Gun Restrictions
but it was not the new report researchers have been looking for.
It has been reported that the number of suicides within the military have gone up for all branches. Active duty suicides for soldiers went up 20% for 2018.
The report from 2017 shows that suicide awareness has not worked, and there is every indication from what we know about 2018, the results are backwards. Reminder, these results are more current than from the VA.
Occurrence of Non-Fatal Suicide Attempts
Over the course of CY 2017, 1,397 non-fatal suicide attempts were identified. The associated DoDSER forms provided data on suicide attempts for 1,342 unique individuals since more than one attempt per individual could have occurred.
The reports from the VA on suicides have been years behind the deaths, limited data submitted by some states and leave out too many facts. Among them, are the number of veterans without honorable discharges, because none of them are counted. States like California and Illinois were not in the reports because they passed legislation in 2017 to include military service on death certificates.
National Guard and Reservists are not counted unless they were deployed into combat. Responding to natural disasters and humanitarian missions do not "qualify" them as veteran.
Vermont is another state with a high veteran suicide rate. Josh Pallotta was in the National Guard and was deployed.
Soon, his mother said, Josh lost motivation and purpose in life. In September 2014, he ended his life. He was 25.
Valerie had not spoken with her son during the nine months before he took his own life. She took a tough love approach, hoping Josh would buck up. But that backfired on her, and she has had to live with a terrible sense of guilt, she said.
What’s worse, she said, time doesn’t heal.
His Mom, Valerie, is left with all that because no one told her how to help her son heal. How is it that keeps getting missed in all of this reporting on veterans killing themselves?
We had the same issues when all other generations came home. What we also had was a strong desire to change the conversation from whispering about suicides into screaming about healing.
Point Man International Ministries started in 1984 when a Seattle Police Officer was tired of arresting other veterans. His mission was to show them the way to taking back control of their lives from PTSD and being defined as saved survivors.
The approach was simple, basic and powerful. To heal veterans, Bill knew it required healing the spirit, soul and body instead of being left out by mental health providers.
Lives were changed! Now I read all these reports and it rips me up inside knowing how many lives have been saved, families empowered to fight this battle and change the outcome.
We will never save their lives by talking about them choosing to die after they risked their lives for the sake of others.
The Department of Veterans Affairs campaign "Be There" will do little good unless those who are supposed to be there know how to help. Given the results it is clear far too many are doing whatever they want to do, and end up doing more harm than good.
I feel like a little kid on a long family trip..."are we there yet" pops into my brain as I wonder why so many of us are "there" while far too many are still finding themselves lost on a road to No Place Good.
