Navy Seal Committed suicide after battle with PTSD and TBI...not just a headache

HIS NAVY SEAL SON COMMITTED SUICIDE, NOW HE FIGHTS FOR HIS NAME

SOFREP
by Stavros Atlamazoglou
59 minutes ago

Following President Trump’s statements about TBIs after Iran’s missile attack on U.S. bases in Iraq, Mr Frank Larkin penned a letter to the President, explaining the hidden aspects of the problem.

On a Sunday morning of 2017, Ryan Larkin, a Navy SEAL with four combat deployments under his belt, committed suicide. He was just 29 years old.

He was haunted by a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) that was caused by repeated exposure to concussive blows and explosions. But the Navy and the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) thought he was crazy.

His father, Frank J Larkin, also a former Navy SEAL and the 40th United States Senate Sergeant at Arms, is now fighting to raise awareness about the multiple facets of brain injuries that can lead to behavior change, other medical problems, or even suicide.

Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Ryan Larkin had completed four combat deployments as a Navy SEAL to Afghanistan and Iraq. He had completed the Special Operations Combat Medic (SOCM) course and the Navy SEAL Sniper course; he was also a qualified breacher.

After coming home from his third deployment, the Navy docs diagnosed him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and referred him to a variety of programs. The common denominator between the different programs, some of which were helpful, according to his father, was the medication. Throughout the duration of his two-year treatment, the doctors prescribed him over 40 different medications. And yet he didn’t seem to get any better. In fact, they made him worse.
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Tyler Reeb: "his courage and strength should inspire us to do better"

How many veterans do we have to lose before we actually do better?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 4, 2020

Why do I still believe we will do the right thing to stop men and women, who risked their lives to save others, will finally risk their pride to save themselves? Because I have seen it happen too often to dismiss what is possible.

Air Force Suicides went up last year. "The U.S. Air Force says 137 airmen across the active duty, Guard and Reserve died by suicide in 2019, a 33% increase over the previous year." The annual report released last year for 2018, showed that suicides have gone up to the highest on record.

Col. Michael A. Miller, commander of the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, reportedly commented that "killing yourself is a chickenshit way to go" during a 1.2 mile "resiliency day" run with personnel...

The problem is, leaders like him are part of the problem itself! "Marine colonel calls suicide ‘shameful,' cites ‘godless age’ and calls on Marines to ‘read some scripture’"

Since the start of Gen. Robert Neller’s tenure as commandant in 2015, nearly 224 Marines have ended their own lives. That’s more Marines than an entire rifle company, he noted in a recent two-page letter on mental wellness.

In 2018, 354 active and reserve Marines attempted suicide, and 77 Marines died, numbers that are greater, Neller wrote “than any previous year recorded."

In his letter to the entire Corps, posted via Twitter in May, Neller called on Marines to address “collective mental wellness," spiritual fitness and to seek help to combat the suicide epidemic across the Corps.

Those messages have been delivered at the same time the Department of Defense has been publicly saying the troops need to seek help without fear.... and kicking out far too many who needed help, the wrong message has gotten through.

But they are not alone with that type of thinking. It has been happening for decades because "leaders" refuse to learn about what PTSD is and what it does. They cannot accept that the men and women they command valued the lives of others so much so, they were willing to die for their sake, but could not risk their pride to admit they needed help to stay alive. These "leaders" cannot even recognized they have supported silence instead of encouraging service members to #BreakTheSilence so they can heal the wound of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

We should know the end of this month how many were discharged without honoring their service.

Now, according to court documents, the timeline for the documents to again be visible is clear: at least 90 percent of the pre-April 2019 Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard decisions will be reposted on the website by Jan. 31, as will all Army decisions from 2009 to April 2019. By Feb. 14, the remaining Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard decisions will be reposted, and by Feb. 28, all Army decisions prior to 2009 will be reposted.

And by March 31, the services, including the Coast Guard, will repost all decisions through Dec. 31, 2019.

But I do still believe that one day, we will arrive at a time and place where no one will ever be ashamed of PTSD, especially when it was caused by their heroism. I believe because of these leaders.

Commandant Gen. Robert Neller

"Marines are in a fight to save their fellow comrades, and they must approach that fight with the same intensity they apply to other battles," he added. In the nearly four years Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has led the Marine Corps, the service has lost a rifle company-worth of Marines to suicide, and he says it's time to have a frank conversation about what's causing that.

"Let me be clear up front, there is zero shame in admitting one's struggles in life -- trauma, shame, guilt or uncertainty about the future -- and asking for help," he said in a two-page letter about mental illness addressed to Marines, sailors and their families.

Blumenthal to bring uncle of Marine who committed suicide to State of the Union

The Day
By Julia Bergman Day staff writer
February 03. 2020

"Our nation has abjectly failed to provide the care our heroes need to fight these invisible wounds — mental health services to diagnose and treat them effectively. The loss of Tyler Reeb as well as his courage and strength should inspire us to do better." U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal

The uncle of a Marine Staff Sergeant Tyler Reeb, who died by suicide last fall October following multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be the guest of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., at the State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Tyler Reeb, a decorated Marine Corps sniper who grew up in New Canaan, died in October. He led more than 100 combat missions against the Taliban, according to a news release from Blumenthal's office. His uncle, Christopher Reeb of Weston, will represent the family at the State of the Union.

"Our nation has abjectly failed to provide the care our heroes need to fight these invisible wounds — mental health services to diagnose and treat them effectively," Blumenthal said in a statement. "The loss of Tyler Reeb as well as his courage and strength should inspire us to do better."

Last week, the U.S. Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee approved legislation, authored by Blumenthal, that would establish targets to evaluate the efficacy of the VA's mental health and suicide prevention outreach campaigns and would create a process to oversee these campaigns.

The proposal adopts several recommendations from a Government Accountability Office report publicly released in December 2018, which found the VA's suicide prevention outreach activities had "dropped off in 2017 and 2018, and the office responsible for these activities lacked consistent leadership."
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Tyler Michael Reeb, 34

When you read about Tyler Reeb in days to come, think about what you just learned and then ask yourself what you can do to deliver the message to others, that Tyler Reeb should have heard.

TBI is associated with a greater risk of mental health conditions

Critically injured soldiers have high rates of mental health disorders

by University of Massachusetts Amherst
JANUARY 28, 2020

In addition, Chin found that the risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is higher—not lower, as previous investigators have assumed—among combat soldiers with more severe TBI.

This chart compares the incidence of various mental health diagnoses among soldiers with TBI vs other serious injuries. Credit: UMass Amherst

U.S. combat soldiers who suffered a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are more likely than soldiers with other serious injuries to experience a range of mental health disorders, according to a new retrospective study by University of Massachusetts Amherst health services researchers.

"A central takeaway is that severe TBI is associated with a greater risk of mental health conditions—not just PTSD," says lead investigator David Chin, assistant professor of health policy and management in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences. "Our findings suggest that patients who are critically injured in combat and sustain severe TBI have particularly high rates of mental health disorders."

Mining data from the U.S. Department of Defense, Chin found that 71% of all the severely injured soldiers were diagnosed in follow-up care with at least one of five mental health conditions: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and mood disorders, adjustment reactions, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, and cognitive disorders.
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UPDATE

Brain injuries from Iran air strike highlight military's failure to care for its own

USA Today
Stephen N. Xenakis Opinion contributor
Febuary 1, 2020

The medical campaign to treat psychological problems and brain injury has fallen short. Hundreds of thousands suffer the invisible injuries of war.

First the Pentagon said no U.S. troops were injured in Iran's missile strike last month on an Iraqi air base hosting Americans. Then it rose to 11 with brain injuries, then 34, then 50, and by Thursday the number was up to 64. That's upsetting, as was President Donald Trump's recent comment that "it's not very serious."

Shameful failure to help war fighters
Many years passed before the Pentagon acknowledged IED blasts as a game-changing combat injury. In 2004, I alerted the senior leadership in Army medicine. The young amputees at Walter Reed Army Medical Center complained of headaches, sleep problems and “not thinking right.” Any blast powerful enough to take the legs off a ground trooper would certainly rattle his brains. But, then again, the conventional mentality across the country did not acknowledge the damage from repeated concussions, as too many professional football players have tragically experienced.
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‘Macho’ Identity worsened PTSD but no acknowledgment of training pushed on them?

Looks like researchers are catching up to Wounded Times on Combat PTSD...finally!

click the link and see what I mean.

The data analyzed went back 25 years, but no one seems to be able to explain why they still used Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, which fueled the notion that if they were mentally tough enough, they could prevent PTSD.

‘Macho’ Identity Linked to More Severe PTSD in Vets

Psych Central
By Rick Nauert PhD
Associate News Editor
28 Jan 2020

“These values can promote self-confidence and skill-building in the field, but when a service member is confronted with physical or mental trauma, they can also contribute to more severe PTSD.”

Traumatic experiences, including combat and sexual trauma, can lead to feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness, both of which are in direct opposition to what society expects of men: That they should be strong and in control.

Military training includes learning to suppress emotion and the development of self-reliance. These skills are believed to help service members perform better in the field. New research suggests that when veterans return home, strict adherence to these traits can become detrimental, leading to more severe post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms that are more difficult to treat.

Researchers at Morehead University discovered that veterans with rigid adherence to traditional masculinity may be at increased risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, veterans “may have more severe PTSD symptoms and may be less likely to seek mental health treatment for PTSD,” said Elizabeth Neilson, Ph.D., the lead author on the study.

The research appears in the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinities.

Neilson and her co-authors analyzed data from 17 studies, comprising more than 3,500 military veterans. The data, obtained over the last 25 years involved, at least in part, measuring the relationship between adherence to traditional masculine ideals and trauma-related symptoms.

The studies primarily focused on men, but one included both male and female participants. While most studies were conducted in the United States, the researchers also included studies from Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel and Vietnam.

“Overall, we found that strict adherence to masculine norms was associated with more severe PTSD symptoms in veterans, but more detailed analysis suggests that the association may specifically be caused by the veterans’ belief that they should control and restrict their emotions.

In other words, they should be tough,” Neilson said. This held true for both male and female veterans.
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Self-Compassion can go a long way to healing PTSD

On the flip side, there are facts to destroy the assumptions about PTSD

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 28, 2020

While leprosy had been reported within the Bible, there are scientific proofs of it and what cures it, as much as there is news it has not been "cured" all the way.

The first known written mention of leprosy is dated 600 B.C., but skeletal evidence of leprosy has been found dating back to 2000 B.C. Throughout history, those with leprosy have often been ostracized by their communities and families.

Ancient people thought it was a judgement from God, instead of an infection. Most assume it has been cured and no one has it anymore...but that is not the truth.

That may be a bit surprising — leprosy seems to be a disease of the past. Indeed, in 2006, the World Health Organization issued a report on "elimination of leprosy as a public health problem," stating that the number of cases had dropped by 90 percent since 1985.

But more than a decade later, leprosy persists. According to a report in The Lancet: Infectious Diseases, some 200,000 new cases, including 25,000 in children, are reported each year. About half of these new cases are in India.

What it took was for someone to think about the facts behind leprosy, to attempt to treat it for what it was, and help the patient heal. How many others thought the healer was wrong to go against what they presumed to be true...that God sent it to the person?

It took until 1873 for a scientist to find the germ that caused it, instead of the sin many blamed. Those with it, got treated, healed and lived a better quality of life.

There are a lot of presumptions on all kinds of things. On the flip side, there are facts to destroy the assumptions.

The stigma of PTSD is allowed to live on because too many believe things that are simply not true. Those assumptions infect those who are suffering instead of helping them to become healed. Too many believe there is no hope for them, and they give up. At least that is what we have been led to believe, but the truth is, many more find healing because they know the facts. They understand what PTSD is, what caused it, the different types of it, as well as, the different levels of it.

They also know that to heal it, how they think about themselves and treat themselves is vital in living a better quality of life, if not entirely cured.

Self‐Compassion, Trauma and Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review

Sarah‐Jane Winders Orlagh Murphy Kathy Looney Gary O'Reilly
First published: 27 January 2020

Abstract

Self‐compassion has emerged as an important construct in the mental health literature. Although conceptual links between self‐compassion and trauma are apparent, a review has not been completed to examine whether this association is supported by empirical research findings. To systematically summarise knowledge on the association between trauma and/or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and self‐compassion. Searches were conducted in PsycINFO, PubMed, Ovid Medline, Web of Science, Embase and PILOTS databases and papers reporting a direct analysis on the relationship between these constructs were identified. The search yielded 35 studies meeting inclusion criteria.

Despite considerable heterogeneity in study design, sample, measurement and trauma type, there was consistent evidence to suggest that increased self‐compassion is associated with less PTSD symptomatology and some evidence to suggest that reduced fear of self‐compassion is associated with less PTSD symptomatology. There was tentative evidence to suggest that interventions based, in part or whole, on a self‐compassion model potentially reduce PTSD symptoms. While findings are positive for the association between increased self‐compassion and reduced PTSD symptoms, the precise mechanism of these protective effects is unknown. Prospective and longitudinal studies would be beneficial in clarifying this. The review also highlighted the variability in what is and should be referred to as trauma exposure, indicating the need for further research to clarify the concept.
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Courage and Combat PTSD
393 views•Oct 21, 2012
Kathie Costos DiCesare
252 subscribers
There are many things that keep getting missed when we talk about Combat and PTSD. This is to clear up the biggest one of all. What is courage and how does it link to being "mentally tough" so that you can push past what you were told about "resiliency" training. Chaplain Kathie "Costos" DiCesare of Wounded Times Blog tries to explain this in interview done by Union Squared Studios. woundedtimes.blogspot.com

"That's one of the parts most of you forget about. PTSD didn't happen to you because you are "mentally weak" but because your courage and compassion made you care enough to act. That is not weakness. That, that comes from strength of character."

"When you look at the hard numbers a research project on 20 veterans is not even yawn worthy."

MDMA did not work before but let's do it anyway?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 20, 2020

My emails have been piling up the last couple of days with this type of news.

Pioneering research in its third phase of trials with the FDA evaluates the safety and effectiveness of using MDMA—called molly or ecstasy—to treat post-traumatic stress disorders.

IT IS NOT NEW NEWS and there is a reason for that. It was done, redone and doggonit done again!

The first post on Wounded Times goes back to 2007 Tom Shoder of the Washington Post wanted to hear from readers about MDMA. He followed that up a few days later with Ecstasy Trials: Was it a fluke or the future?

In 2008, there was a "new look" at it, even though the subject of the article, MAPS President Rick Doblin had been aware of it since 1982.

On the post another report that went back to 2005 from The Guardian, also took a look at it. (That link is still active as of today.)

There were more from then to 2013 when I wrote that Euphoria over PTSD drugs needs to over and pointed out past studies along with this sentiment "When you look at the hard numbers a research project on 20 veterans is not even yawn worthy."

Well, full circle up to 2018 with another slam at this sham, there was another trial and this time they had a whopping 26 combat veterans! WOW, we were supposed to be impressed?

Reporters need to use all the extra time on their hands to actually start to do some basic research and folks passing this crapload forward need to go play a game of candy crush so they stop wasting everyone else's time!

UPDATE

FDA Expands Access to Ecstasy Drug for PTSD Therapy

We never seem to focus on those who do not commit suicide

The truth will change the grim ending of suicides

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 17, 2020

Why have we shut our eyes to veterans suffering greater harm because of our acceptance of their misery?

That is what has been achieved after 4 decades of research on PTSD. It is what they face even though it was written about throughout centuries of authors telling stories about the affliction of those who dare to face death.

The survivors have only forgotten they stopped being victims when they survived, because we allowed it to happen. We sat back and let others decide what they should know instead of what discovering what they needed to know to heal. They paid the price for our laziness and our inability to see what has been glowing in the darkness they have been trapped by.

Isn't it time you joined the fight for their sake?

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 830,000 Vietnam War veterans suffered symptoms of PTSD. The National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study (NVVRS) found 15% of male and 9% of female Vietnam veterans had PTSD at the time of the study. Life-time prevalence of PTSD was 31% for males and 27% for females. In a reanalysis of the NVVRS data, along with analysis of the data from the Matsunaga Vietnam Veterans Project, Schnurr, Lunney, Sengupta, and Waelde found that, contrary to the initial analysis of the NVVRS data, a large majority of Vietnam veterans suffered from PTSD symptoms (but not the disorder itself). Four out of five reported recent symptoms when interviewed 20–25 years after Vietnam.

Now that you know how long research has been going on, as well as the fact that decades after Vietnam veterans came home, they awakened to the fact the war did follow them home, just as this newer generation will face if we do not make serious changes now.

What makes all this worse is what has been happening to female veterans.

KOAA News article The factors behind alarming suicide rate among women veterans but did little to answer what the factors were.

"The United States Department of Veterans Affairs says the suicide rate among women veterans is double that of women who don't serve."

Then why would they point out something that happens to female veterans as well as civilians?

"According to the U.S. Office of Veterans Affairs, the suicide rate is higher among women who report military sexual assault, domestic violence, sexual discrimination and harassment-- all factors that can contribute to PTSD."

When "factors behind alarming suicide rate among women veterans" leaves out combat...that is part of the problem!

David McFadden, a social work professor at CSU Pueblo said,"I think [suicide] is a subject that's becoming more open," McFadden said. "We hear a lot about stars and celebrities committing suicide in the media, so I think it's a subject that we are definitely taking seriously and opening a dialogue helps." But apparently did not notice that he said that right after he said "it's harder for women to serve because an old stereotype that the idea women are weaker than men still prevails."

If it "prevails" it is because too many have just accepted it instead of fighting against what people think. Plus, while the "subject is becoming more open" about suicides, there seems to be a lack of curiosity as to why that happened...and even less about the ramifications of doing more talking about them happening instead of why they would not happen.

Isn't that what all of us should be talking about? We won't be able to as long as researchers avoid what is right in front of them.

Suicides tied to military service are too high, yet we never seem to focus on those who do not commit suicide. Why do they choose to live and fight to heal?

According to the US Census these are the numbers we should be talking about.

Over 16 million male veterans and 1,628,110 female veterans. While less than 10 million veterans use the VA services for anything  no one is talking about how the vast majority did not commit suicide, today, or any other day. The chances of even understanding the simple fact we will never know exactly how many committed suicide on any day of the week have grown dimmer, because we close our eyes to those who were not counted in research put together. Knowing we will never know the exact number, the number everyone knows, oddly, gets more attention than the fact most do not.

We have more women in this country than males, yet it seems women are reluctant to fight for the female veterans, who are committing suicide double the rate of civilian women...as far as we know.

Do we demand anything from anyone to change any of this?

Do we do whatever we can to make sure that veterans know there are more of them healing than dying by their own hands today?

Do we tell them how to become one of them instead of one of the ones forcing their family to plan a funeral for?

If the subject of suicide has caused you to advocate "suicide awareness" then you have been fighting the wrong battle. Isn't it time to join the winning side that will actually save the lives you keep talking about deciding to leave?

UPDATE
Marine Plants American Flag Every Mile for Veterans With PTSD

“I wanted to bring awareness to the stigma around mental health and PTSD,” Hernandez told Runner’s World. “We need to understand and treat the condition better, whether that’s hearing about the veterans who are thriving with PTSD or those suffering more or have lost their lives to it.”

“I realized I was hearing the story of Achilles over and over again." Dr. Jonathan Shay on PTSD

Open Focus: Shelburne’s Jonathan Shay increased awareness of PTSD, ‘moral injury’

Greenfield Recorder
By RICHIE DAVIS
For the Recorder
Published: 1/12/2020

Shay, who moved to Franklin County from Newton nearly a decade ago, is a Harvard-trained doctor with a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania whose medical work shifted from neuropathology to treating combat veterans at the Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Boston. There, he says, “the veterans simply kidnapped me” with their compelling accounts of battle.

Shelburne resident Jonathan Shay holds a copy of his 1994 book, “Achilles in Vietnam.” For the Recorder/Richie Davis

It wasn’t until he was in his 40s that Jonathan Shay began reading ancient Greek author Homer’s landmark classics, “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey.”

Just a few years later, as a psychiatrist for the Veterans Administration in Boston, he heard the horrendous Vietnam War experiences of his clients as hauntingly similar to those of Homer’s characters Achilles and Odysseus.

“I realized I was hearing the story of Achilles over and over again,” the 78-year-old retired Shelburne psychiatrist recalls. “The Iliad is about the enduring themes of what really happens to soldiers in war.”

Even though Homer’s Greek tragedies were written 2,700 years ago, they reflect perfectly the moral and social world that today’s soldiers live through, Shay says

An audio version of Shay’s 1994 landmark book, “Achilles in Vietnam,” has been released, narrated by Academy Award nominee (“Good Night and Good Luck”) David Strathairn, while his 2002 sequel, “Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming,” has already been recorded by Strathairn — both of them at Armadillo Audio Group Studio in Pelham.

Shay, who moved to Franklin County from Newton nearly a decade ago, is a Harvard-trained doctor with a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania whose medical work shifted from neuropathology to treating combat veterans at the Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Boston. There, he says, “the veterans simply kidnapped me” with their compelling accounts of battle.

The 2010 recipient of the Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice, for building acceptance of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a serious, bona fide war injury, the former psychiatrist disputes the label of PTSD as an illness, disease or sickness. Instead, he argues, saying those veterans have suffered a severe injury as serious as any physical wound from the battlefield.
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Why is the Pentagon hiding number of other than honorable discharges?

Lawsuit: Pentagon Withholding Info From Veterans' Advocates

By The Associated Press
Jan. 3, 2020

Dana Montalto, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School's Veterans Legal Clinic"...there are thousands of decisions going back at least 15 years. She said the lack of information hampers veterans' efforts to change their discharge statuses and to get more help." 

NORFOLK, Va. — A veterans group said the Pentagon has stopped releasing information that helps former service members to contest less-than-honorable discharges from the military.

The Defense Department has been breaking the law since April, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Virginia by the National Veterans Legal Services Program.

The group says it lacks access to decisions made by military review boards. The boards grant or deny a veteran's request to upgrade a less-than-honorable discharge. Veterans’ lawyers study those decisions in hopes of building successful arguments for their clients.

The lawsuit comes at a time of growing recognition that a less-than-honorable discharge can stem from behaviors brought on by post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries. Liberal consideration is supposed to be given to veterans with combat-related mental health conditions and to those who were sexually assaulted while in the military.
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More on this subject is a great report on Military.com 'Bad Paper' Discharges Would Get Final Pentagon Review in Defense Bill

Who gets to decide if the service member can fight the discharge?

The bill states that the secretary of defense, upon receiving a petition from an individual whose upgrade request has been rejected, could order the service branch secretaries to grant the upgrade "if the Secretary of Defense determines that such recommendation is appropriate after review."

Notice the "could" instead of "must" or anything else that requires a review?

The report goes on to explain how many service members are being kicked out.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 500,000 veterans currently have less-than-honorable discharges, and most of them cannot access VA medical care because of their discharge status.

And this part shows how many were kicked out instead of being helped to heal PTSD and TBI.

In a 2017 report, the Government Accountability Office said that 62% of the roughly 92,000 personnel separated for misconduct between fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2015 had been diagnosed with PTSD or TBI.

And all of that is because what happened to Vietnam veterans was repeated instead of corrected by the "grateful nation" all of them risked their lives to serve.

Vietnam-era soldiers eligible for discharge upgrades which came out in 2014. You'd think it would have been fixed by now...but then again, you'd have to think the someone was being held accountable.

PTSD was not recognized as a potential behavior altering medical condition until 1980, which means that disability claims and discharge upgrades based on claims of the condition routinely were denied by government agencies, to include the Army review boards.

Hagel's September instruction to the services followed by several months a federal court class action suit filed by a group veterans and the Vietnam Veterans of America that claims the military systematically denied discharge upgrade applications based on claims of PTSD.

The suit estimated that about one-third of the 250,000 other-than-honorable discharges issued to Vietnam era veterans may have been PTSD-related.

Wounded by PTSD as Combat Medic, wounded again as firefighter, Ryan Mains fights so others can heal

Ryan Mains served others as an Army medic and a Woodstock firefighter. Now grappling with PTSD, he’s still trying to help.

Chicago Tribune
John Keilman
January 3, 2019

That grim statistic is serving as motivation for Mains. On May 30, he plans to run 1 km for every firefighter and paramedic who dies by suicide in 2019. So far, that distance works out to just over 77 miles — more than twice as far as he’s ever gone.

Ryan Mains, of Huntley, trains for an ultra-marathon in the woods of Veteran Acres Park on Dec. 11, 2019, in Crystal Lake. Mains will run more than 120 km next May, 1 km for each firefighter who committed suicide in 2019. Mains suffers from PTSD as as a result of his work as a combat medic in the armed forces as well as 14 years as a Woodstock paramedic/firefighter. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

The morning sky was the color of lead, the air was barely above freezing and the only sound was the crunch of dead leaves as Ryan Mains began a 10-mile run through Crystal Lake’s Veteran Acres Park.

He has come here for years to build his stamina on the park’s steep hills, preparing for races that stretch well beyond a marathon. But he also treasures the stillness. When he runs, observed by a few placid deer and the occasional owl, the memories that trouble him vanish like mist.

They always come back, though. He can never run far enough to escape them completely.

Mains, 39, is a veteran of the Iraq war and a longtime Woodstock firefighter and paramedic who has been diagnosed with a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder. The symptoms built slowly over years, ultimately becoming so pronounced that a few months ago Mains had to leave the job that he loved.

He’s now getting treatment while seeking worker’s compensation and a disability pension, but success is no sure thing: Unlike other states, Illinois does not treat PTSD as a “presumptive” condition, meaning firefighters must prove that their suffering is indeed the result of their work.
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2020 time for veterans to stop trying to be normal when they can be stronger than that

Seeing 2020 through stronger eyes

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 31, 2019

When you hear a number like 20/20, the automatic thought is that someone has perfect vision. After all, that number stuck like glue for decades. Numbers usually do "stick" even if they are wrong.


I took a look at the facts on this at All About Vision by Amy Hellem and Gary Heiting, OD and this was a real eye opener. (pun intended)

If this more inclusive (and accurate) definition of "vision" is used, what most people call "20/20 vision" should really be called "20/20 visual acuity." Realistically, that probably won't happen. For better or worse, the term "20/20 vision" is likely here to stay.

As some have thought that 20/20 was the best, it is actually stronger to have 20/10.

On most Snellen charts, the smallest letters correspond to 20/10 visual acuity. If you have 20/10 visual acuity, your eyesight is twice as sharp as that of a person with normal (20/20) vision.

20/20 may be "normal" but 20/10 is stronger than normal.

Most people have also heard the number "22" referring to the number of veterans thought to have committed suicide on any given day. That number is also wrong. Because so many people simply believed it without looking to see what the reality was, nothing changed. Much like the article on All About Vision, they are blind if that is all they can see.

The single big "E" at the top of most Snellen eye charts corresponds to 20/200 visual acuity. If this is the smallest letter size you can discern with your best corrective lenses in front of your eyes, you are legally blind.

It is time to see how to change what veterans hear, as well as what they can see.

They can heal PTSD if how they see themselves is put into focus!

This video is from 2016 when a veteran I worked with, was willing to do the work necessary to heal. He went to the VA for mental health help, started taking care of his body and we worked on the spiritual needs he had. He was able to see himself as a survivor instead of a victim. The world is better off because he came out of the darkness he had lived with and wanted to share a message of hope to start off the new year!

This is Johnnie. He has survived three attempted suicides and spent time as a homeless veteran. A year ago, he never thought he would be where he is today. He is healing and he wants to make sure other veterans get the message of something worth living for instead of the message spread about suicides. Spend next year healing and let this New Year be the year you begin to change again, only this time, for the better!

That is how you get veterans to change their focus from what others perceive as "normal numbers" and begin to see what is much stronger than that.

Help them to see that they can spend their last worst day on earth and begin to celebrate an alive day by finding hope again.

Coming home after combat should not be more dangerous but it is. Too many veterans committed suicide today. Be alive today to heal tomorrow. You served because you loved this country and those you served with. Live for love now!
UPDATE
This was uploaded on 1-2-2012, long before the reports became headline news. The number back then was 18 a day. Goes to show how little has changed and how all the talk about "raising awareness" has been a lot of stunts and very little progress.

Warriors Rock with another way to heal PTSD in South Dakota

Warriors rock out

Brookings Register
By: John Kubal
Posted Dec 24, 2019

“I don’t feel like it’s fair that veterans who are not into hunting or outdoors not get the same opportunity through recovery with something that fits them more specifically.” Connie Johnson

Connie Johnson and Cole Hennen strum some guitar chords during a Warriors Rock session on Tuesday evening in the Christmas tree-decorated room at the Brookings Arts Council. Johnson, a combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, is working with Kristina Gindo, a certified music therapist, in putting together a program aimed at teaching veterans the basics of playing guitar. John Kubal/Register

BROOKINGS – Connie Johnson, coordinator for Veterans Services at South Dakota State University and herself a combat veteran (Purple Heart recipient) who has battled post-traumatic stress disorder, is open to exploring avenues that have the potential for making life better for military veterans.

One of those avenues she’s now exploring and using to help others explore is music.

After she partnered with several local organizations and individuals, the end result is a new guitar-based music program for veterans called Warriors Rock.
read it here

Female veterans #BreakTheSilence and get your service on equal footing

Yesterday I posted on PTSD Patrol about female veterans service being overlooked. Too many times people have assumed that when you mention a female veteran with PTSD, they try to point to military sexual assaults. Not that they do not happen, but no one jumps to that conclusion when a male veteran has PTSD, even though they get attacked too.

As you can see in this recent report, it happens to males as well as females.

The US military is reporting a disturbing spike in the number of active-duty service members who said they’d experienced sexual assault last year, raising questions once again about the military’s handling of misconduct.
The Pentagon estimates that about 20,500 service members across the military branches — about 13,000 women and 7,500 men — were sexually assaulted in the 2018 fiscal year, based on data from an anonymous survey that’s compiled by the Department of Defense every two years.
That’s a four-year high — and an alarming jump from 2016, in which 14,900 service members said they had been sexually assaulted. VOX.com

Yet the public assumes that PTSD caused by combat situations in females, on top of everything else, does not happen.

There are, sadly still, too many things that are getting worse while it seems as if more is being done claiming to change all of it.

Things our politicians do, do not work, then everyone wants more done. Huge problem when it is all more of the same and the worst outcome spreads out! If you are a female veteran, or currently serving, use your voice and make sure that your service is honored, your wounds are tended to and you get the help you need to live a better quality of life. #BreakTheSilence

Why do women wonder when their service will count?

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
December 22, 2019

We read about it all the time. A couple is sitting together, both wearing military hats, yet it is only the male who receives a "thank you" for his service.

Someone forgot to inform the "thanker" that women have served this country since before it was a country.

Today over 210,000 women serve on active duty in the military services of the Department of Defense (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force), and another 5,955 serve in the Active Coast Guard—part of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime.

The Reserve Components are federal forces. Guard components play dual state and federal roles. Like most of the active forces, the Reserve and Guard components have an increasing percentage of women in their ranks. As of February 2018, women constituted 158,090 or 19.8 percent—of all personnel serving in the six DoD Reserve and Guard forces. Women number 1,067—or 17.4 percent—of all personnel serving in the Coast Guard Reserve.

Women have been bestowed with every military medal for heroism, including the Medal of Honor. Dr. Walker not only served during the Civil War, she was a POW.

Released from government contract at the end of the war, Dr. Walker lobbied for a brevet promotion to major for her services. Secretary of War Stanton would not grant the request. President Andrew Johnson asked for another way to recognize her service. A Medal of Honor was presented to Dr. Walker in January 1866. She wore it every day for the rest of her life. read it here

Vietnam veterans who found that the only way for them to move forward, was to go back

Healing the spiritual wounds of war

WITF PBS
Merideth Bucher
December 16, 2019

War wounds are not always physical.

Psychological wounds caused by the traumas of war can be equally debilitating. And because the injury is not visible to friends and loved ones, those suffering often deal with it in silence or behave out of character.

A mental health condition caused by trauma is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, frightening or dangerous event or experiences. PTSD can affect anyone, not only veterans. First responders, and even abused children, can suffer from PTSD.

In past wars, PTSD was called shell shock or combat stress. Symptoms of the disorder can be characterized as heightened anxiety, feeling constantly on edge or experiencing extreme or unreasonable anger during routine situations. PTSD can manifest itself in different ways, for different people. It might affect a person for a few months, or their entire life. It doesn’t always go away entirely; like the tide, it may ebb and flow.

There are local Vietnam veterans who found that the only way for them to move forward, was to go back. Back to Vietnam.

Former Army Capt. Aaron Lax served in the U.S. Army for nine years. During that time, he served with the 1st of the 26th Infantry regiment “Blue Spaders,” part of the 1st Infantry Division, from 2010-2012 and deployed with them to eastern Afghanistan. Lax next served with 1st battalion of the 320th Field Artillery Regiment “Top Guns,” part of the 101st Airborne Division, from 2012-2017.

Bob Smoker was drafted into the U.S. Army in May 1969.  After basic and then infantry training, he arrived in Vietnam in early October 1969 and turned 20-years- old later that month. Smoker was assigned to Charlie Company 2nd Battalion of the 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.

Former Air Force Staff Sergeant Ed Hardesty was the non-commissioned officer in charge of weapons and munitions for the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, an air rescue helicopter squadron out of Danang Air Force Base, Vietnam, from 1968 through 1969.

Former U.S. Army soldier Charles Lee deployed to Vietnam in 1970 at the age of 19, right after marrying his first wife. In Vietnam, Lee was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery, on a track vehicle known as a Duster.
read it here

Want to prevent veterans from killing themselves? Bobby Grey is an example of how to do it!

PTSD Nearly Killed Him - Now it's Helping Him Help Other Veterans

The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
By Jimmy Tomlin
15 Dec 2019

The scar on Bobby's neck lasted for weeks.

The scars on his heart have lasted much longer.

You can't see Bobby Grey's scars.

On the surface, he's just an ordinary 35-year-old husband. FedEx driver. Racing fan. Philadelphia Eagles diehard. Dog owner.

He's also a former Marine, 2003 to 2007 -- a mission that has given him great pride and great anguish. Twelve years later -- anguish or not -- he still loves the Corps to the core. Semper Fi -- always faithful.

Grey acknowledges, though, that that's where the scars originated.

North Carolina Marine veteran, Bobby Grey, discusses his suicide attempt seven years after an explosive Iraqi attack on his unit during Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Day at the Charlotte National Guard Armory on July 26, 2014. Grey said he had no memory of the suicide attempt when he awakened from a coma a week and half later. He tells his story to bring attention to the severity of the disorder so fellow comrades can seek help. (Ruth McClary/National Guard)

As a young devil dog, a PFC scarcely six months out of boot camp, Grey deployed to Iraq and got his first taste of combat when he was only 20 years old. One day, Marines in his convoy -- guys he knew -- died when a roadside bomb blew up beneath them. On another day, during a firefight with Iraqi insurgents, bullets whizzed over Grey's head, close enough that he could hear them. Seconds later, when the bullets shattered the windows behind him, a shower of glass rained down on his head.

But those days were nothing compared to Dec. 3, 2004, the day a suicide bomber rocked his unit's base with an explosion so violent that it literally blew him out of the chow hall where he'd been dining. He suffered a concussion and a mild traumatic brain injury -- as if anything traumatic could be mild -- but several comrades fared worse, suffering broken bones and dislocated hips. Two of his buddies died in the blast, and Grey had to put them in body bags himself.

"It's like losing a brother," he says softly. "No, it is losing a brother."

These are the memories Grey brought home from Iraq, carrying them around like a rucksack on his back. Also in that invisible rucksack, Grey lugged PTSD -- post-traumatic stress disorder -- a mental and emotional condition which, though common among active military personnel and veterans alike, he knew little about and even denied having.

Six and a half years ago, that denial nearly killed him. When the PTSD that had been simmering inside him for years suddenly exploded, Grey snapped. After an argument with his wife, Kia, he stormed out of the couple's house in Thomasville, climbed a magnolia tree in the backyard, texted his wife an apology, and hanged himself with an extension cord. He only survived because of Kia's screams when she found him, a neighbor with a ladder who helped cut him down, and Kia's frantic CPR efforts as she waited for paramedics to arrive.
read it here

PTSD and Courts

CLEVELAND, Ohio

(WOIO) - After more than a year of fighting for PTSD to be recognized for EMS crews like it already is for police and fire, a judge just ruled in the union’s favor.
So it went to a higher court, and Judge Michael Russo just ruled that mental health can be considered an injury, allowing Cleveland EMS workers to take paid leave in “certain qualifying events.”

ST LOUIS, Mo.

A St. Louis Army veteran who served in combat and suffers from PTSD said he is being forced out of his home for using prescribed medical marijuana.
Torrence Morris said his landlord is evicting him from The Tower at OPOP Apartments downtown. Morris said the situation started when he had a new neighbor move in next to him who started complaining about the smell of cannabis. He said he offered to start cooking edibles instead but said the neighbor was still upset about the situation.
Morris served active duty in the Army and later deployed to Iraq with the Missouri National Guard.

Operation Combat Bikesaver mending veterans of all generations

Hot rod therapy: Vets tout positive influence of motorcycle building workshop; ‘It’s really amazing what getting your knuckles dirty and bloody can do’

Chicago Tribune
By CARRIE NAPOLEON
POST-TRIBUNE
DEC 08, 2019

Participants are from different branches of the service and different wars and conflicts including Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. What they find on those Sundays is the camaraderie they had while serving and a place to work through their feelings physically by working on projects or their own bike.

U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Indiana), right, visits the headquarters of Operation Combat Bikesaver in Center Township near Crown Point on Friday, December 6, 2019. At left is organization CEO, president and founder, Jason Zaideman. (Michael Gard/Post-Tribune) (Michael Gard / Post-Tribune)

Marine veteran Dan Riordan explained to U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., how the motorcycle he is building at Operation Combat Bikesaver Inc. will look when the project is done.

The bike will be Marine Corps dress blue with the red stripe. There will be a Gold Star in front with the names of the members of his battalion “Mad Ghosts 224” killed in action listed, Riordan said. The battalion logo will be on the sides.

“It’s gonna be looking good and sounding even better,” Riordan, of Griffith, said.

Young was in Crown Point to tour the Operation Combat Bikesaver facility and learn more about the work done there to help veterans struggling with issues including depression and PTSD find their footing.
read it here

Columbus veteran admits to Stolen Valor...for PTSD VA Comp and Job

VA paid Columbus veteran $76,000 for PTSD from war events. He admits he made it up.

Ledger Examiner
BY NICK WOOTEN
DECEMBER 06, 2019

“Faking serious wartime injuries to gain undeserved benefit, and claiming valor where there is none, do a disservice to our brave veterans and service members who selflessly risk their lives protecting this country,” said U.S. Attorney Charlie Peeler in a statement.

A Columbus military veteran accused of stolen valor and lying about a combat-induced mental health condition to receive disability payments pleaded guilty to multiple charges in federal court.

Gregg Ramsdell, 61, entered a guilty plea to one count of false statements and one count of violation of the Stolen Valor Act. Ramsdell was indicted on those charges in August.

The Stolen Valor Act makes it illegal for people to claim to be war heroes in order to gain money, employment, property or other tangible benefits, according to court documents and a news release from the United States Attorney’s office for the Middle District of Georgia.
read it here

Wounded Times predicted rise in suicides a decade ago...DOD still clueless

In 2009 I wrote "Comprehensive Soldier fitness will make it worse"

General Casey, now hear this, you cannot, repeat, cannot train your brain to prevent PTSD and until you understand this "Because it is scientifically proven, you can build resilience." does not equal the cause of PTSD, you will keep making it worse! Did the rise in suicides and attempted suicides offer you no clue that Battlemind didn't work? Apparently something told you it didn't or you'd still be pushing this. When you have a program in place to "train them to be resilient" beginning with telling them if they do not, it's their fault, what the hell did you and the other brass expect? Did you think they would listen to the rest of what the Battlemind program had to say to them? Are you out of your mind?

With all due respect, because I do believe you care about the men and women you command, this is just one more in a series of mistakes because it seems no one in the Pentagon or the upper rows of the food chain have a clue what causes PTSD.

While adversity does make some stronger, you cannot train them to do it. Life and character does that quite effectively on their own. Some will walk away stronger after traumatic events but one out of three humans will not. Some experts put the rate at one out of five walk away wounded but the best experts I've listened to since 1982 have put it at one out of three.

Do you think that this man could have "trained his brain" as well?

UK:WWII veteran finally diagnosed with PTSD

A D-DAY hero has been told he is suffering a stress related illness picked up in battle — 65 years AFTER he was the first Brit to storm an enemy beach.

WWII vet George McMahon, who was the first soldier on Sword Beach in Normandy, France, had revealed he is still suffering terrifying flashbacks from June 6, 1944.

And Army docs have told the 89-year-old war hero he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) picked up during WWII.

Mr McMahon's family first sought help from docs when the ex-soldier talked vividly about the war in the lead-up to the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

Mr McMahon of Kirk Ella, Hull, was then visited by the Service Personnel and Veterans' Agency — part of the Ministry of Defence — who said he was displaying PTSD symptoms.

The Scotland-born Army vet who served with The King's Regiment Army was awarded the Military Cross for storming two machine-guns.

Back then there were plenty of excuses to use for what happened to veterans but after Vietnam veterans came home and forced the wound to be treated, we ran out of excuses. How can you continue to dismiss what is so obvious? It is the nature of man, what is in their core, their empathy for others that is at the root of PTSD. I've talked to them long enough and enough of them to have understood this over 20 years ago. I also live with one.

I'm sick and tired of reading about what does not work being repeated. In all these years, people like me have already learned from the mistakes we made trying to help our husbands and others. To us, it wasn't a numbers game or a research project. This has meant our lives and the lives of the men we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with. Aside from that General Casey, I've spent countless hours attempting to undo the damage done because the troops are not being told what they need to hear in the first place.

I've held Marines in my arms crying because the military told them they were not strong enough and National Guardsmen told they were not cut out for combat. All of this because the military has been telling them it's their fault they didn't work hard enough to toughen their brains.

How many more suicides are you willing to live with? Has it not gotten thru to you yet that you are losing more men and women after combat than you do during it? This is only part of it because I doubt you have considered how many have committed suicide and tried it after they were discharged. You cannot order them to stop caring! You cannot order them to become callous or oblivious to the suffering of others. Between the members of their own unit to the innocent civilians that do end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, you cannot seriously expect them to just "get over it" and "toughen" their brains. These men and women walk away with their own pain compounded by the pain of others. This is what opens the door to PTSD and until you understand this is what the difference is, you will never get close enough to finding the best treatment for it and they will continue to pay for it.

Ever notice the vast majority of the men and women you command end up carrying out the mission they are given, fighting fiercely and showing great courage even though they are already carrying the wound inside of them? They fulfill their duty despite flashbacks and nightmares draining them because their duty comes first to them. Do you understand how much that takes for them to do that? Yet you think telling them their minds are not tough enough will solve the problem? What kind of a tough mind do you think they needed to have to fight on despite this killing pain inside of them?

I fully understand to you, I'm no one. I have been ignored by senators and congressmen, doctors and other brass for as long as I've been trying to help, so you are not the first. I've also been listened to by others trying to think outside the box, but more importantly to me, by the men and women seeking my help to understand this and their families. I tell them what you should have been telling them all along so that they know it's not their fault, they did not lack courage and they are not responsible for being wounded any more than they would have been to have been found by a bullet with their name on it.

And then I issued the prediction that should have been seen by all the experts as a warning of what was to come.

If you promote this program the way Battlemind was promoted, count on the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides to go up instead of down. It's just one more deadly mistake after another and just as dangerous as sending them into Iraq without the armor needed to protect them.

I was right back then, still right now, while the DOD remains clearly wrong...and too many servicemembers remain choosing to die instead of fighting for their own lives.

This is the "headline" they are dealing with now.

U.S. military’s suicide rate for active-duty troops up over the past five years, Pentagon says

But the Pentagon must build better understanding of the effectiveness of its suicide-prevention efforts, she said. That can be done through examining pilot programs and seeing “what is working in the civilian sector and bringing it into the military as a promising practice and to measure the effectiveness.”

Too bad they have been saying the same F***ing thing for a decade!

Sec. of the Army said he is pushing "resilience training" when in fact it has been more responsible for military suicides and enforces the stigma of PTSD. Telling them they can train their brains to be mentally tough ends up telling them they are mentally weak. They won't admit they need help to a buddy that heard the same message. No one is held accountable and I just got off the phone with another Mom after he son committed suicide. woundedtimes.blogspot.com February 5, 2013

Three sailors on USS George H.W. Bush took their own lives last week

After three USS George H.W. Bush sailor suicides in one week, commander calls for prevention ideas

STARS AND STRIPES 
By CAITLIN DOORNBOS 
Published: September 23, 2019

The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush arrives at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., Feb. 21, 2019. WILLIAM HENSLEY/U.S. NAVY

Three sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush took their own lives last week, commanding officer Capt. Sean Bailey said in a post on the ship’s official Facebook page Tuesday morning.

The deaths follow a rising number of suicides in the Navy since 2015. Bailey said the deaths “mark the third, fourth and fifth crew-member suicides in the last two years” on the Norfolk, Va.-based ship alone.

The three deaths occurred separately and were unrelated to each other, he said. They bring to at least 49 the number of active-duty sailors who have killed themselves this year.

In the post, Bailey said his “heart is broken” and called for ideas on suicide prevention, adding that “there is never any stigma or repercussion from seeking help.”
read it here
UPDATE

Navy confirms string of recent suicides by USS George H.W. Bush sailors
CBS News
Brian Pascus
September 24, 2019

Four service members of the United States Navy have died by suicide between July and September of this year, officials have confirmed. The suicides involved four sailors assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier. Although two of the sailors killed themselves on the same day, the suicides did not occur on board the ship and authorities have said there is nothing to indicate the deaths are linked. read it here

*******

Here's an idea for you. Stop doing what you are doing and try something OLD~ instead of repeating what was "new" and worse.

It is not just the Navy suffering. It is all branches losing more to suicide than are lost in combat.
In the Air Force, they are trying to get the spouses of servicemembers to take action.

In a video running on the American Forces Network this month, Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright tells viewers that 78 airmen have died by suicide so far this year - 28 more than had taken their own lives at the same point in 2018.

But we've heard all that before. We've pretty much heard it all and are fed up with repeated failures.

The "major malfunction" is no one in charge is paying enough attention to notice IT IS TIME TO CHANGE THE F##KING CONVERSATION! They have no clue what PTSD or what they can do to fight it.

Stop pandering to the "stigma" and reduce it down to the point reached when ancient people had to finally accept the fact the earth was not flat. The truth was still the  truth even though they refused to see it.

The "stigma" is fake news! What is wrong with surviving something that could have killed you and being changed by the event? Anything? Hell no!

Life changes everyone and it is up to us if we change again into something better. 

I am a ten time survivor of something that either could have killed me or, as I heard a few times, should have killed me. I ended up changed by the events, but fought take my life back into my control. 

I have been working on PTSD for 37 years and I have never seen so many people being so misinformed while still in charge.