Suicide awareness did not save their lives

Did all the "suicide awareness save any of these lives?

They risked their lives to save other people. Isn't it time we actually noticed that fact instead of dismissing what happens to them when they cannot save their own lives or find the help they need?

Veterans raise awareness about mental health after Dyess airman takes own life

KTXC 12 News
by Daniela Ibarra
December 2nd 2019

“He was depressed," said Blair's friend Tim Ringhoffer. "He was angry at times about the lack of help.“ His friends believe the suicide could have been avoided.

ABILENE, Texas — The friends of a Dyess airman who committed suicide after a standoff with Abilene police are trying to raise awareness about mental health.

Air Force Staff Sergeant Ryan Blair took his own life Saturday after he was shot by an Abilene police officer.

Blair's friends said they will miss his warm, fun to be around personality. But behind his smile, Blair's friends said he was hurting.
read it here

‘We are heartbroken:’ Elm Grove police mourn 19-year veteran who died by suicide at police department

FOX 6 News
BY KATIE DELONG
NOVEMBER 26, 2019

ELM GROVE — Elm Grove police on Tuesday, Nov. 26 posted a heartfelt message on social media, mourning the loss of a 19-year veteran of the Elm Grove Police Department, who died by suicide at the department in the early morning hours of Monday, Nov. 25.

Police identified the officer as Sgt. Joseph Ipavec, described as “a leader in our department and in our community.”

Sgt. Ipavec mentored new officers in his role as a field training officer and certified firearms instructor, police said. He represented the department as the Citizen Police Academy’s liaison.
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Orange City police sergeant shoots herself in suicide on Daytona Beach, officials said

News Journal
By Patricio G. Balona
Posted Nov 20, 2019

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the agency that is investigating the death, said the Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue and Daytona Beach police received information that an off-duty Orange City police officer possibly committed suicide on the beach.

An Orange City police sergeant shot and killed herself on Daytona Beach on Tuesday night leaving her longtime colleagues grieving, officials said.

“She was a very happy person, always laughing with everyone here at the department,” said Orange City police Lt. Jason Samspell. “There was no indication that she had any type of illness or stress. We are all shocked by her death.”

Authorities said that 12-year veteran Sgt. Kelly Jo Brubaker, 49, shot and killed herself on the beach near SunSplash Park about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Dispatchers said on Tuesday night that a woman, who the police department on Wednesday confirmed was Brubaker, was pulled out of the surf with a gunshot wound to the head.
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Iraq veteran blamed PTSD for shooting at car and road rage?

Route 29 road rage driver gets three months in jail

Fauquier Now
By Don Del Rosso
Staff Journalist
December 19, 2019

Testifying Wednesday in circuit court for 15 minutes, Mr. Busicchia blamed his behavior on post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by military experiences in Iraq. Beginning in 2003, he served about 13 months in the country.

A Jeffersonton man will spend three months in jail for firing two gunshots from his car at a van near New Baltimore in June.

Damian Patrick Busicchia pleaded guilty Oct. 23 in Fauquier County Circuit Court to one felony count of firing a weapon from a vehicle — in exchange for dismissal of an identical gun charge and a felony hit-and-run count.

After a 35-minute hearing Wednesday afternoon in circuit court, Judge James E. Plowman sentenced Mr. Busicchia to seven years in prison, suspending all but three months.

Driving a black Audi A6, Mr. Busicchia cut off the driver of a van, according to investigators

The van driver gave him the finger. Mr. Busicchia, 39, then lowered his driver-side window and fired two shots, according to investigators. The bullets didn’t strike the van or other nearby vehicles.
read it here

Caught ripping off the VA

Two creeps ripped off VA...and disabled veterans

In a media release, prosecutors said Francis Engles, 63, owned and operated Engles Security Training School. In 2015, the school became a vendor for the VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program, according to the release, promising veterans months-long courses totaling 600 hours....Prosecutors said he also had veterans sign attendance sheets for classes they did not attend and submitted letters to the department falsely stating that veterans were employed by his private security business. The VA paid him $337,960 to educate veterans.
Capital Gazette

In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said Peter Wong, 61, the founder of Sunrise Shoes and Pedorthic Service, a longtime specialized orthopedic shoe and prosthetic store, was found guilty in May of health care fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Wong and Anthony Lazzarino, 69, the former chief of podiatry for the VA’s Northern California health care system, were charged in 2016 with billing the VA for custom products that were prescribed but never supplied to veterans between 2008 and 2015...Their grand jury indictment said they billed the VA nearly $1.7 million worth of shoes, some costing $1,682 per pair, but veterans didn’t get the specialized footwear and instead received shoes straight off the shelves from Sunrise Shoes. Sacramento Bee

"Who is Kathie Costos and what qualifies her to come off as an expert?"

Who is Kathie Costos?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 18, 2019

After moving to New Hampshire, I was asked for an updated BIO. You would think after all these years, it should be easy, but it was not. I sat staring at a blank page for a long time. Then it dawned on me that there are a lot of people reading this site and wondering "Who is Kathie Costos and what qualifies her to come off as an expert?"

So, this is who I am.

I survived life threatening events 10 times, so I understand what it is like to have my life in jeopardy. I know what it is like to have nightmares and flashbacks, mood swings and feel as if the world is out to get me, as much as I know what it is like to take back my life from the "thing" that could have ended it.

In 1982, I met a Vietnam veteran and because of him, I do what I do everyday. I understand what it is like for him as well as what it is like for me and our family. We went through the worst and got into a better peace, so that we celebrated our 35th anniversary this year.

I researched PTSD as if my life depended on it at a local library with stacks of clinical books and a dictionary in whatever free time few had computers back then. The more I discovered about what it was, the more I loved my Vet! Oh, it isn't as if being around veterans was new to me. My uncles served in WWII and my Dad was a Korean War veteran.

Unknown to me, across the country, another Vietnam veteran working as a Seattle Police Officer was doing this work too. He started meeting veterans in 1984 at coffee shops and then created Point Man International Ministries to care for their spiritual needs, and supporting them to get the mental health help they needed from the VA. He also knew how important it was for families to have support too, so he started Home Fronts for them.

I started a lot of websites over the years but it was not until I wrote my first book FOR THE LOVE OF JACK HIS WAR MY BATTLE back in 2002, that I was contacted by an Out Post leader, learned what they did and why they did it, and have stayed with them ever since. That link goes to the three books I wrote and are available on Amazon. For The Love of Jack was republished in 2013.

In 2006 I created the first PTSD video Wounded Minds and was reaching veterans around the world.

That video was followed by about 300 more.

I started Wounded Times in 2007 after many other sites, because I thought that there should be a place to put all the research and reports I was reading, so they could be shared freely. It now has 30,855 posts with over 4 million views.

In 2008 I became a Certified Chaplain with the International Fellowship of Chaplains, specializing in veterans and first responders, crisis intervention, grief and loss, among other things. A video I did earned a Special Achievement award because while it was developed to help National Guards and Reservists, the IFOC was using it to help police officers and firefighters.

I also took every free class being offered to help me help them. I was certified in Critical Incidence and Stress Management and Peer Support in 2008. Disaster and Extreme Preparedness in 2009. The list goes on.

In 2012 after attending Valencia College, I received 5 certifications in digital media. Kind of funny considering that with all of that, I worked regular full time jobs, aside from when I was in college.

During my years, I began in Massachusetts, moved to Florida and currently live in New Hampshire. Now begins the new part of my work. Beginning soon, I will be focusing on female veterans and their families so they are no longer forgotten and going without the vital support they need.

I am a wife, Mother of a brilliant daughter and, if you ever watched the videos on PTSD Patrol, you also know I am a dogmom. This is Murray.

So that is who I am and why I do what I do. Oh, as a Chaplain, you also have to know that since I usually hang around with veterans/bikers, I am far from what you may think a chaplain is like. I drink, smoke and swear, plus I have a wicked sense of humor and bad temper that constantly has to be defused...but the older I get, the easier it is to do it. You may have noticed many of the times I freak out over an article in the press, but glad I do not have the video on as I hit the delete keys to take out a bunch of things that are not fit for public reading.

We have to hold all of them accountable for veterans suffering

Holding people accountable for veterans in misery!

Wounded Times
Kathis Costos
December 18, 2019

Another case of someone reporting somethings that are wrong. There is no mention of the "contributor" who wrote ‘Parking lot suicides’ at VA hospitals prompt calls for better training, prevention efforts All it has is "Denton Staff Contributor" with a mention of "The Washington Post’s Julie Tate contributed to this report."

The article starts off with this.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Alissa Harrington took an audible breath as she slid open a closet door deep in her home office. This is where she displays what’s too painful, too raw to keep out in the open.

Framed photos of her younger brother, Justin Miller, a 33-year-old Marine Corps trumpet player and Iraq veteran. Blood-spattered safety glasses recovered from the snow-covered Nissan Frontier truck where his body was found. A phone filled with the last text messages from his father: “We love you. We miss you. Come home.”

Miller was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts when he checked into the Minneapolis Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in February 2018. After spending four days in the mental-health unit, Miller walked to his truck in VA‘s parking lot and shot himself in the very place he went to find help.

“The fact that my brother, Justin, never left the VA parking lot – it‘s infuriating,” said Harrington, 37. “He did the right thing; he went in for help. I just can‘t get my head around it.”

At this point, one would assume it would be an important enough report to have been well researched, however it apparently did not deserve careful research.

The most recent parking lot suicide occurred weeks before Christmas in St. Petersburg, Florida. Marine Col. Jim Turner, 55, dressed in his uniform blues and medals, sat on top of his military and VA records and killed himself with a rifle outside the Bay Pines Department of Veterans Affairs.

“I bet if you look at the 22 suicides a day you will see VA screwed up in 90%,” Turner wrote in a note investigators found near his body.

Yet this was not the "most recent" suicide at the VA.

March 14, 2019, again in Florida, Brieux Dash committed suicide at West Palm Beach VA. He hung himself on the grounds.

In April of 2019, two veterans committed suicide in Georgia in two days.

In August of 2019, it happened in North Carolina when a veteran committed suicide in the parking lot.

There were more, but it depends on who is doing the counting because veterans cannot count on anyone to get this right for them. You would think that with all the news reports focusing on this topic, things would change, but no one is ever held accountable for their broken promises.

With more than 50,000 community organizations nationwide also committed to preventing veteran suicide, bill sponsors said their proposed legislation also would allow the VA to work more closely with those groups to reach more veterans and to make sure veterans know about all available resources.

The "contributor to Denton" also got this wrong.

Sixty-two percent of veterans, or 9 million people, depend on VA‘s vast hospital system, but accessing it can require navigating a frustrating bureaucracy. Veterans sometimes must prove that their injuries are connected to their service, which can require a lot of paperwork and appeals.

While it is true that there are around 9 million veterans in the VA system, they are not depending on VA hospitals for their healthcare. The VA released a data sheet for all the veterans collecting disability compensation by states and counties. This chart released in 2017 gives you a better idea of how the 9 million veterans are using their benefits but also a good time to remind people that there are about 20 million veterans in this country, so less than half use the VA.

We no longer have the luxury of trusting what reporters tell us. We should no longer have the patience to wait for someone to be held accountable for all of this.

The last 4 presidents, including the current one, need to be held accountable.  The 100 Senators serving right now need to be held accountable, along with all the others who have been voted out of office. The over 400 in the House of Representatives need to be held accountable, along with all the ones voted out of office. The State representatives, also passing bills and using tax payer funds to pay for services on the local level, need to be held accountable. The 50,000 groups need to be held accountable for all the money they have been getting from Americans pockets. None of that will happen until we hold the media accountable for deceiving the public!

Find something that was reported and is wrong, call the out on it! Nothing will ever change until we demand it!