Military suicides not worth reporters effort?

Military suicides increased in 2018

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 6, 2019

ACTIVE DUTY 325
AIR FORCE 60
ARMY 139
MARINE CORPS 58
NAVY 68

RESERVES 216

541

THOSE ARE THE NUMBERS FROM THE DOD REGARDING SUICIDES IN 2018

THIS IS WHAT THE REPORTERS DECIDED SHOULD BE THE NUMBER THEY LET EVERYONE KNOW....AND FORGETTING ABOUT NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVISTS

Military suicides reached an all-time high in 2018, Pentagon says
The Washington Examiner
by Russ Read
August 05, 2019

Military suicides reached their highest recorded level last year, the Pentagon reports, highlighting a crisis affecting both civilians and veterans.

In 2018, 325 military service members committed suicide, according to the Pentagon's Defense Suicide Prevention Office, surpassing the previous record of 321 in 2012.

"I feel like this is a drastically underpublicized and addressed issue in the military," one former military member, identified as docgosu, wrote in response to the report on Reddit's veterans' board. "I dealt with behavior health issues in the Navy and the chain of command had no respect for it even while working in the medical field as a Hospital Corpsman."
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Point Man getting to the point of love and what heals PTSD

Point Man weekend lifting up healing

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 5, 2019

Of all the things you have been hearing about lately, you may have received the impression that it is all new stuff. Peer support...not new. Healing of mind-body and spirit...not new. Suicides and attempted suicides...not new. None of what you hear about today is new, but most of it is not an improvement on what had already been done without the glow of reporters covering stunts.

This weekend I was in Buffalo for the Point Man International Ministries conference. Dana Morgan, the President of Point Man for longer than I have been involved, has stepped down and is taking on leading an Out Post instead of the whole thing after over 20 years.

Want to know what works? Listen to these speeches and know what the rest of the groups should be doing because if you end the video and are not awakened to possibilities...not much else will open your eyes.

There will be a few more videos up tomorrow but they will have to wait until I get back from work.

Iraq veteran's daughter fighting for life after hit and run driver left her in road

Lillington family trying to bring home woman critically hurt in Colorado hit-and-run

WRAL
By Amanda Lamb, WRAL reporter
August 1, 2019

LILLINGTON, N.C. — A Lillington native remains in a Colorado hospital three months after she was seriously injured in a hit-and-run in Denver.

Ashley Schachter, 22, was on her way to work at a local college on May 1 when she was hit. Witnesses told police that the driver stopped briefly and could be heard asking someone on the phone what to do before jumping back in her car and driving off.

"To know that she got out of her car saw what she did to my daughter and then left the scene of what she did, it just baffles me how someone could just do that," Brandy Schachter said Wednesday.

Ashley Schachter, a Harnett Central High School graduate who had moved to Denver only weeks earlier after spending several years doing community service work through AmeriCorps, suffered a traumatic brain injury along with fractures in her spine, hip, legs, left ankle and collarbone.

"I didn't recognize my daughter, and I basically hit the floor," Brandy Schachter said, recalling the first time she saw her in the hospital. "It was, I mean, all the trauma and the bruises, everything, it was just overwhelming that I didn't even recognize my own daughter."

Chad Schachter, a disabled Iraq War veteran, has stayed in Denver since the crash to be with his daughter and to try find clues to help with the investigation of the hit-and-run, which remains unsolved.

"I had no idea if she was going to be alive or not when I got here," he told NBC affiliate KUSA.
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Senate Armed Services Committee turning their backs on sexual assault victims...still

Senate committee advances senior general’s nomination despite sexual assault accusations

Military Times
By: Leo Shane III and Joe Gould
July 31, 2019

Hyten’s accuser — Army Col. Kathryn Spletstoser — attended the hearing and told reporters afterwards that both the Senate and military officials were turning their backs on sexual assault victims. “You just had a four-star general get up in front of the American people and in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee and make false statements under oath,” she said. “He lied. He lied about sexually assaulting me.”

Senate Armed Services Committee members on Wednesday advanced the nomination of an Air Force general accused of sexually harassing and assaulting an aide, but a full floor vote on his confirmation likely won’t take place for several more weeks.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has advanced the nomination of Air Force Gen. John Hyten to be Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said his panel members comfortably backed Gen. John Hyten, 20-7, to become the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the second-highest uniformed military post.

“I have no concerns (about Hyten) at all,” he told reporters after the committee vote. “You’re talking about five classified briefings, where every member had every chance to ask every question.”

The nomination of Hyten, the current head of U.S. Strategic Command, has been stalled for weeks as senators wrestled with the allegations of sexual assault. On Tuesday, Hyten spoke publicly about the accusations for the first time during his confirmation hearing, denying any inappropriate behavior.
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Marine Old Breed Rugby offering support for PTSD the old fashion way

How a St. Charles veteran uses rugby to help fellow Marines

Daily Herald
Bob Susnjara
August 1, 2019

Okicich is among five Old Breed Rugby members who are available 24 hours a day for veterans suffering from depression or who just need to talk. Contact information is on the home page of Old Breed Rugby's website.

Retired Marine Marc Okicich of St. Charles, running with ball, helps other veterans through endeavors such as the Old Breed Rugby Club. The nonprofit honors the memories of fallen Marines while offering a support network to veterans in need. Courtesy of Old Breed Rugby Club

When St. Charles resident Marc Okicich gathers with other retired Marines to play rugby, it's more than just a fun day on the field.

Okicich is a member of the nationwide Old Breed Rugby Club, which since 2005 has honored the memories of fallen Marines while offering a support network to veterans in need.

Part of Old Breed Rugby's mission is to raise money for the permanent endowment of a memorial fund named for Marine Lt. Col. Kevin Shea, who was killed in Iraq in September 2004. The fund is administered by the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.

Okicich is among five Old Breed Rugby members who are available 24 hours a day for veterans suffering from depression or who just need to talk. Contact information is on the home page of Old Breed Rugby's website, www.oldbreedrugby.org.

"We've found we've become a support network for some of the guys that came back that were struggling with some post-traumatic stress issues," said Okicich, who played rugby with Shea at Camp Pendleton in California in the early 1990s.

Okicich, 49, remembers one instance when he woke from a nightmare at 2:30 a.m. and noticed a missed call from a few minutes earlier. He returned the call and reached a veteran who "was struggling with some demons."
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