2nd Campbell soldier found dead over weekend
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 4, 2007 10:20:24 EST
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — A Fort Campbell soldier was found dead Sunday in a barracks and military officials are investigating his death. The news comes a day after it was reported that another Campbell soldier died in a Western Kentucky University dorm room after falling out of bed and hitting his head on the floor, according to a coroner.
Fort Campbell spokeswoman Cathy Gramling said 22-year-old Pvt. Matthew Nicholson, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade, currently deployed to Iraq, was found by another soldier Sunday. Nicholson got national media attention when he was charged for intervening in a fight with a man he thought was assaulting two women in Modesto, Calif.
He was arrested and jailed in September, but prosecutors later dropped charges against him.
In a separate incident, Pvt. Lank Graves, 20, of Glasgow, was pronounced dead Sunday morning in Barnes-Campbell Hall. Warren County Coroner Kevin Kirby said Graves rolled off a bed and struck his head on the floor.
Kirby said he expects a preliminary autopsy report by Tuesday.
He said he hasn’t ruled out drugs or alcohol as a factor in Graves’ death, pending a toxicology report.
Graves was visiting a friend for the weekend, Kirby said.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/ap_campbelldead_071204/
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Newspaper Delivery Person Finds Dead Soldier's Body in Colorado
Newspaper Delivery Person Finds Dead Soldier's Body in Colorado
Published: December 03, 2007 7:45 AM ET
FORT CARSON Police were trying to reconstruct where a Fort Carson soldier was before he was found dead with a bullet wound on a sidewalk in a residential area.
A newspaper delivery person found the man’s body just after 5 a.m. Saturday, police said.
Douglas Rule, a spokesman for Fort Carson, confirmed that the victim was a soldier at the post. Police identified him as Kevin Shields, 24, of Colorado Springs.
Police said Shields was shot at least once in the head. An autopsy showed he was shot several times, and his death was ruled a homicide.
There were no reports of shots fired or a disturbance in the area before the body was found, said police Lt. Mark Smith.
click post title for link
Published: December 03, 2007 7:45 AM ET
FORT CARSON Police were trying to reconstruct where a Fort Carson soldier was before he was found dead with a bullet wound on a sidewalk in a residential area.
A newspaper delivery person found the man’s body just after 5 a.m. Saturday, police said.
Douglas Rule, a spokesman for Fort Carson, confirmed that the victim was a soldier at the post. Police identified him as Kevin Shields, 24, of Colorado Springs.
Police said Shields was shot at least once in the head. An autopsy showed he was shot several times, and his death was ruled a homicide.
There were no reports of shots fired or a disturbance in the area before the body was found, said police Lt. Mark Smith.
click post title for link
Post-Katrina New Orleans, half have trauma disorders
Mental disorders rife after Hurricane Katrina-study
CHICAGO (Reuters) - About half of adult New Orleans residents suffered from anxiety and mood disorders months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, a higher rate than after most natural disasters, researchers said on Monday.
Depression, panic disorders, and post-traumatic stress were diagnosed in 49 percent of New Orleans residents surveyed five to seven months after the storm struck on August 29, 2005, the study found.
About one-quarter of U.S. Gulf Coast residents of Mississippi and Alabama affected by the monster storm were found to suffer from anxiety and mood disorders, lower than in New Orleans and comparable to rates from similar disasters.
The researchers concluded that the slow government response to the hurricane in New Orleans created "avoidable stressors" on people who lived through the storm, which killed more than 1,400 people and uprooted 500,000 along the Gulf Coast.
go here for the rest
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0342197320071203
CHICAGO (Reuters) - About half of adult New Orleans residents suffered from anxiety and mood disorders months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, a higher rate than after most natural disasters, researchers said on Monday.
Depression, panic disorders, and post-traumatic stress were diagnosed in 49 percent of New Orleans residents surveyed five to seven months after the storm struck on August 29, 2005, the study found.
About one-quarter of U.S. Gulf Coast residents of Mississippi and Alabama affected by the monster storm were found to suffer from anxiety and mood disorders, lower than in New Orleans and comparable to rates from similar disasters.
The researchers concluded that the slow government response to the hurricane in New Orleans created "avoidable stressors" on people who lived through the storm, which killed more than 1,400 people and uprooted 500,000 along the Gulf Coast.
go here for the rest
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0342197320071203
Elected must reconnect with their own veteran constituents
Elected must reconnect with their own constituents
A lot of our elected appeared in commercials for Reconnect American. When I watch the Military Channel, Discovery Channel or National Geographic, there are a lot of these commercials appearing, with heart warming speeches of how much people need to support our troops and veterans. Congressman Patrick Murphy and Governor Edward G. Rendell, of Pennsylvania were on last night while I was watching the Discovery Channel. Great commercials but I am left to wonder what they do when they are not making speeches or appearing on TV.
There are so many veterans, wounded combat veterans, seeking help for their wounds, trapped in a mountain of backlogged claims, sporadic programs, clinics, leaving those in rural areas across the country unable to find their way to help for their wounds or financial assistance while their claims are tied up for months, or years, on end. Many of these veterans write to their elected seeking help. It is not in their character to beg for help. These are proud individuals, born heroes and the most noble among our citizenry. They would be totally self-sufficient, working, supporting their own families, had they not been wounded in service to this nation.
What do we put them through? With each claim you hear tied up, on last count it was 800,000 in a report I read not too long ago, there is a veteran and usually a family, fighting to have a wound treated and their families provided for because they are no longer able to support them due to their wound. Most of them were career military. This is all they wanted to do, all they trained for right out of high school and in many cases, while still in high school under ROTC.
So they serve according to the calling of their heart. They believe if they are killed in combat or wounded, their families will be taken care of. They believe in the government of this nation they risk their lives for. Yet this same government is the first to fail them.
When Afghanistan and Iraq were being planned to be invaded, the administration claims they had no way of knowing how many would be wounded, killed, or how long these combat operations would last. They use this lack of knowledge as a reason for the deplorable treatment, backlog of claims and understaffing as an excuse. In all truth, it was the lack of care behind it all. Had they cared enough, they would have used statistics to increase staff and mobilize the entire nation to provide for what they had to go through.
Both occupations have lasted longer than the government claimed they would and both have produced thousands of wounded, waiting for justice and suffering.
Senator Arlen Specter, along with most of the elected in this country, can offer up speeches and bills but when they are contacted by the veterans in their own state, they respond with form letters touting how much they do for the veterans, instead of taking care of the need of that veteran. If they were in fact doing what is needed, no veteran would have to contact their elected seeking help, but instead would be contacting them to thank them for what they do.
The veterans needing help are forced in most cases, to involve the media in their plight. The vast majority, especially veterans with PTSD, cannot bring themselves to turn to the media, nor should they have to do this. It is up to our elected to take care of these veterans and not just on the national stage where all eyes can see. When they do only what is seen by the TV cameras, they are serving their own self interests.
Senator Arlen Specter sent a form letter to a veteran in response to an urgent plea for help. How do I know this? Because the veteran emailed me a copy of it. Imagine that! Imagine for one second being a veteran carrying the wound of PTSD, a proud, private individual, reduced to begging for help for a wound they received in service to this country. Then imagine if you will for another second, trying to find the strength to keep reaching out for help, when none is offered. Try finding it within yourself to be dealing with flashbacks, nightmares, short term memory loss and inhibited thought processes while your family turn their backs on you because you are no longer someone they know. Try to find the will to keep fighting for what you know you wouldn't need help with if you did not serve this country.
Think of all of this and then maybe, just maybe you can understand why so many veterans end up homeless because of PTSD with absolutely no hope of help ever finding them. How long could you last being abandoned by the government, by your elected officials sending you form letters telling you how much they do for veterans when they just turned their back on you? Tell me how long you could hang onto the fact you are a veteran, wounded in service to this nation, that no longer cares if you live or die today, tomorrow, next week, next month or a year from now when they build the grand new hospital as a tribute to their hard work on your behalf? Tell me what good knowing a new hospital will be built next year when you are facing a catastrophic collapse right now?
I keep screaming that I am sick and tired of losing more of our veterans after war than we do during them. Does the White House hear me or any of us around the country doing this work? Do the Senators hear any of us? Oh, sure they can invite testimony and listen to personal stories. What does listening do when they are still not motivated to take all of this seriously enough to respond as if this were a life or death emergency? Would they call 911 and then see it as no problem to wait for help or would they expect it immediately? Every time I hear Bush say the term "emergency supplemental" for war funding I want to bash in my TV set. He can see it as an emergency to seek funds for two occupations but cannot treat the warriors with the same kind of attention.
If any Senator or Congressman is really serious about taking care of our wounded veterans, all of them and not just some of them which they apparently can only focus on one at a time, then they better make damn sure that when a veteran contacts their office for help, they do not respond with a form letter telling them how much they do for veterans when they cannot do anything for the one who just contacted them!
Am I pissed off beyond belief right now? No, I've been this pissed off for far too long. To Senator Specter and the rest, the next time you meet with your staff you better bring them up to speed on how to respond to a veteran in need of help. Form letters touting your "actions" does them no good.
I just got off the phone with Congressman Tom Feeney's office, speaking to Erin on behalf of veterans in dire need of help today. I could hear the compassion in her voice as I explained what they are going through in the backlog of claims, in the horrors of PTSD, as their lives fall apart and their families dissolve. The backlog of claims is waiting for income in most cases as well as help. Until the claims are processed and approved, they are not counted as disabled veterans. All of this is how the homeless veteran population has increased, how the divorce rate has increased and how the suicide rate has increased.
No one heard their screams for help. I did and thousands of us across the country did, but we have no power to make sure the help is there waiting for them. Our power ends when they know what PTSD is, overcome the stupidity of the stigma and find it within themselves to seek help. At that point, my job with them is done, or at least it used to be. Now I have them until they can get to the help they desperately need. Hundreds of emails go back and forth from the advocates and outreach workers across the country but our elected get away with making speeches and having a staffer send out a form letter. How many more military grave yards have to be expanded before they get serious about all of this?
To the elected: Please make sure you do more of these commercials on the Military Channel and Discovery Channel telling our wounded veterans how much they mean to you. It's sure a relief to hear you all say the words when they are seeing none of the benefits.
These are the groups associated with Reconnect America. Go there and support these groups but while your at it, dash off your own email to the elected across this country. The wounded are dying for their attention.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."
- George Washington
A lot of our elected appeared in commercials for Reconnect American. When I watch the Military Channel, Discovery Channel or National Geographic, there are a lot of these commercials appearing, with heart warming speeches of how much people need to support our troops and veterans. Congressman Patrick Murphy and Governor Edward G. Rendell, of Pennsylvania were on last night while I was watching the Discovery Channel. Great commercials but I am left to wonder what they do when they are not making speeches or appearing on TV.
There are so many veterans, wounded combat veterans, seeking help for their wounds, trapped in a mountain of backlogged claims, sporadic programs, clinics, leaving those in rural areas across the country unable to find their way to help for their wounds or financial assistance while their claims are tied up for months, or years, on end. Many of these veterans write to their elected seeking help. It is not in their character to beg for help. These are proud individuals, born heroes and the most noble among our citizenry. They would be totally self-sufficient, working, supporting their own families, had they not been wounded in service to this nation.
What do we put them through? With each claim you hear tied up, on last count it was 800,000 in a report I read not too long ago, there is a veteran and usually a family, fighting to have a wound treated and their families provided for because they are no longer able to support them due to their wound. Most of them were career military. This is all they wanted to do, all they trained for right out of high school and in many cases, while still in high school under ROTC.
So they serve according to the calling of their heart. They believe if they are killed in combat or wounded, their families will be taken care of. They believe in the government of this nation they risk their lives for. Yet this same government is the first to fail them.
When Afghanistan and Iraq were being planned to be invaded, the administration claims they had no way of knowing how many would be wounded, killed, or how long these combat operations would last. They use this lack of knowledge as a reason for the deplorable treatment, backlog of claims and understaffing as an excuse. In all truth, it was the lack of care behind it all. Had they cared enough, they would have used statistics to increase staff and mobilize the entire nation to provide for what they had to go through.
Both occupations have lasted longer than the government claimed they would and both have produced thousands of wounded, waiting for justice and suffering.
Senator Arlen Specter, along with most of the elected in this country, can offer up speeches and bills but when they are contacted by the veterans in their own state, they respond with form letters touting how much they do for the veterans, instead of taking care of the need of that veteran. If they were in fact doing what is needed, no veteran would have to contact their elected seeking help, but instead would be contacting them to thank them for what they do.
The veterans needing help are forced in most cases, to involve the media in their plight. The vast majority, especially veterans with PTSD, cannot bring themselves to turn to the media, nor should they have to do this. It is up to our elected to take care of these veterans and not just on the national stage where all eyes can see. When they do only what is seen by the TV cameras, they are serving their own self interests.
Senator Arlen Specter sent a form letter to a veteran in response to an urgent plea for help. How do I know this? Because the veteran emailed me a copy of it. Imagine that! Imagine for one second being a veteran carrying the wound of PTSD, a proud, private individual, reduced to begging for help for a wound they received in service to this country. Then imagine if you will for another second, trying to find the strength to keep reaching out for help, when none is offered. Try finding it within yourself to be dealing with flashbacks, nightmares, short term memory loss and inhibited thought processes while your family turn their backs on you because you are no longer someone they know. Try to find the will to keep fighting for what you know you wouldn't need help with if you did not serve this country.
Think of all of this and then maybe, just maybe you can understand why so many veterans end up homeless because of PTSD with absolutely no hope of help ever finding them. How long could you last being abandoned by the government, by your elected officials sending you form letters telling you how much they do for veterans when they just turned their back on you? Tell me how long you could hang onto the fact you are a veteran, wounded in service to this nation, that no longer cares if you live or die today, tomorrow, next week, next month or a year from now when they build the grand new hospital as a tribute to their hard work on your behalf? Tell me what good knowing a new hospital will be built next year when you are facing a catastrophic collapse right now?
I keep screaming that I am sick and tired of losing more of our veterans after war than we do during them. Does the White House hear me or any of us around the country doing this work? Do the Senators hear any of us? Oh, sure they can invite testimony and listen to personal stories. What does listening do when they are still not motivated to take all of this seriously enough to respond as if this were a life or death emergency? Would they call 911 and then see it as no problem to wait for help or would they expect it immediately? Every time I hear Bush say the term "emergency supplemental" for war funding I want to bash in my TV set. He can see it as an emergency to seek funds for two occupations but cannot treat the warriors with the same kind of attention.
If any Senator or Congressman is really serious about taking care of our wounded veterans, all of them and not just some of them which they apparently can only focus on one at a time, then they better make damn sure that when a veteran contacts their office for help, they do not respond with a form letter telling them how much they do for veterans when they cannot do anything for the one who just contacted them!
Am I pissed off beyond belief right now? No, I've been this pissed off for far too long. To Senator Specter and the rest, the next time you meet with your staff you better bring them up to speed on how to respond to a veteran in need of help. Form letters touting your "actions" does them no good.
I just got off the phone with Congressman Tom Feeney's office, speaking to Erin on behalf of veterans in dire need of help today. I could hear the compassion in her voice as I explained what they are going through in the backlog of claims, in the horrors of PTSD, as their lives fall apart and their families dissolve. The backlog of claims is waiting for income in most cases as well as help. Until the claims are processed and approved, they are not counted as disabled veterans. All of this is how the homeless veteran population has increased, how the divorce rate has increased and how the suicide rate has increased.
No one heard their screams for help. I did and thousands of us across the country did, but we have no power to make sure the help is there waiting for them. Our power ends when they know what PTSD is, overcome the stupidity of the stigma and find it within themselves to seek help. At that point, my job with them is done, or at least it used to be. Now I have them until they can get to the help they desperately need. Hundreds of emails go back and forth from the advocates and outreach workers across the country but our elected get away with making speeches and having a staffer send out a form letter. How many more military grave yards have to be expanded before they get serious about all of this?
To the elected: Please make sure you do more of these commercials on the Military Channel and Discovery Channel telling our wounded veterans how much they mean to you. It's sure a relief to hear you all say the words when they are seeing none of the benefits.
These are the groups associated with Reconnect America. Go there and support these groups but while your at it, dash off your own email to the elected across this country. The wounded are dying for their attention.
FEATURED ORGANIZATION: Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA)
The ASYMCA has provided military family support services for more than 140 years, with a special focus on junior-enlisted men and women — the individuals on the front lines defending our nation and their families. The ASYMCA offers many essential programs!
Fisher House™ Foundation
Fisher House™ Foundation donates "comfort homes," built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful times - during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.
OPERATION GRATITUDE seeks to lift troops' morale, and bring a smile to their faces by sending care packages to service members overseas. OPERATION GRATITUDE care packages contain food, toiletries, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation, all wrapped with good wishes of love and support.
National Military Family Association
National Military Family Association (NMFA) is dedicated to providing information to and representing the interests of family members of the uniformed services. NMFA sponsors a military spouse scholarship program, the NMFA Very Important Patriot Award, and the NMFA Family Award.
USO
The USO is a nonprofit organization that provides morale, welfare and recreation services for America’s troops and their families. Your donation supports the efforts of 26,000 volunteers who operate 132 centers around the world, send care packages and free phone cards to deployed service members, provide support to injured troops, deploy world-class entertainers to lift the spirits of America’s sons and daughters serving far from home, and many more programs and services. For 66 years, the USO has supported our nation’s military and your generosity makes this possible.
The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Inc.
TAPS is a one of a kind non-profit Veteran Service Organization offering hope, healing, comfort and care to thousands of American armed forces families facing the death of a loved one each year. TAPS receives absolutely no government funding and needs your help!
Sew Much Comfort
Sew Much Comfort is a 501C3 non-profit organization whose mission is to design, create and deliver customized clothing for our wounded troops. Adaptive clothing accommodates their medical devices or injuries and allows them to recuperate in comfort with dignity.
go here to learn more about these groups and to see what you can do for them.
http://www.reconnectamerica.com/giveback/
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."
- George Washington
Monday, December 3, 2007
CONTACT, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week crisis hotline
Other battles wait at home
Monday, December 03, 2007
BY GREG VELLNER
Special to the Times
Home sweet home isn't a reality for some returning U.S. soldiers, say local experts working to reverse "an emerging issue" of suicide among troops.
"The real tragedy is when young people survive over there in the military and come home and have major difficulties re-entering civilian life or during the time between deployments," says Eleanor Letcher, executive director of CONTACT of Mercer County. "It's at that point that some of them are taking their own lives."
According to the Veterans Affairs Department, there were at least 283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and the end of 2005. The Army said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops, the highest in 26 years of record-keeping. In October, two recently returned Marines one from New Jersey, the other from Bucks County committed suicide.
In response, CONTACT, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week crisis hotline, is establishing an outreach program specifically for returning veterans and their families. The "It's About Hope" program is a first in 31 years for CONTACT and could be one of the first in the state.
click post title for the rest
Monday, December 03, 2007
BY GREG VELLNER
Special to the Times
Home sweet home isn't a reality for some returning U.S. soldiers, say local experts working to reverse "an emerging issue" of suicide among troops.
"The real tragedy is when young people survive over there in the military and come home and have major difficulties re-entering civilian life or during the time between deployments," says Eleanor Letcher, executive director of CONTACT of Mercer County. "It's at that point that some of them are taking their own lives."
According to the Veterans Affairs Department, there were at least 283 suicides among veterans who left the military between the start of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and the end of 2005. The Army said its suicide rate in 2006 rose to 17.3 per 100,000 troops, the highest in 26 years of record-keeping. In October, two recently returned Marines one from New Jersey, the other from Bucks County committed suicide.
In response, CONTACT, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week crisis hotline, is establishing an outreach program specifically for returning veterans and their families. The "It's About Hope" program is a first in 31 years for CONTACT and could be one of the first in the state.
click post title for the rest
Terror by degree in PTSD
I've posted about virtual reality therapy in the past but hesitantly. I think we all need to stay open to new ideas. The problem I had with it has been pointed out on this article.
There are different levels of this wound, just as their are burns by degrees, there are PTSD wounds by degrees. Some veterans find they just need a little reassurance to get through this and begin to heal, while others, again as pointed in article, as well as countless times on this blog, some go into deeper wounds.
My husband is in the 90% range. Like most Vietnam veterans, they didn't receive any help for a decade or more. For him it was over 20 years after his return. There are things he can tolerate but many more he cannot. To this day, he has not been able to go to the Vietnam Memorial Wall, but we do go to the traveling walls. Even they cause him distress.
Knowing Jack, knowing veterans from all across the country, this article points out the problems with virtual reality therapy. They need to know what levels are helped and what levels are harmed before they go off and do this as a one size fits all cure. For some it may help but for others, it is just terror by degrees.
PTSD: VA's Current Snow Job
Dr. Phillip Leveque Salem-News.com
Phillip Leveque has spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician, Toxicologist and Pharmacologist.
US Marines. Photo: NATO
(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I had the dubious experience to watch and listen to the VA's new treatment for PTSD, "virtual reality", on ABC local news in Portland, Oregon. I was both fascinated and outraged.
Two doctors were directing the "experiment" of treating soldiers with "terror movies". One was Capt. Greg Reger, a psychologist who was manning the computer/player. The other was a civilian, Dr. Miles McFall of Seattle, Washington. It wasn't stated if he was a physician. He told the news reporter he was an expert on PTSD.
With the VA and the Army both admitting their treatment of PTSD veterans was a colossal failure, I can't imagine any doctor admitting he was involved in the colossal failure of the treatments.
go here for the rest
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/december032007/ptsd_120207.php
There are different levels of this wound, just as their are burns by degrees, there are PTSD wounds by degrees. Some veterans find they just need a little reassurance to get through this and begin to heal, while others, again as pointed in article, as well as countless times on this blog, some go into deeper wounds.
My husband is in the 90% range. Like most Vietnam veterans, they didn't receive any help for a decade or more. For him it was over 20 years after his return. There are things he can tolerate but many more he cannot. To this day, he has not been able to go to the Vietnam Memorial Wall, but we do go to the traveling walls. Even they cause him distress.
Knowing Jack, knowing veterans from all across the country, this article points out the problems with virtual reality therapy. They need to know what levels are helped and what levels are harmed before they go off and do this as a one size fits all cure. For some it may help but for others, it is just terror by degrees.
PTSD: VA's Current Snow Job
Dr. Phillip Leveque Salem-News.com
Phillip Leveque has spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician, Toxicologist and Pharmacologist.
US Marines. Photo: NATO
(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I had the dubious experience to watch and listen to the VA's new treatment for PTSD, "virtual reality", on ABC local news in Portland, Oregon. I was both fascinated and outraged.
Two doctors were directing the "experiment" of treating soldiers with "terror movies". One was Capt. Greg Reger, a psychologist who was manning the computer/player. The other was a civilian, Dr. Miles McFall of Seattle, Washington. It wasn't stated if he was a physician. He told the news reporter he was an expert on PTSD.
With the VA and the Army both admitting their treatment of PTSD veterans was a colossal failure, I can't imagine any doctor admitting he was involved in the colossal failure of the treatments.
go here for the rest
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/december032007/ptsd_120207.php
Excessive forces cases often full of ambiguity
Excessive forces cases often full of ambiguity
Personal problems sometimes collide with pressures of job
By J.J. Stambaugh (Contact)
Monday, December 3, 2007
Excessive force cases aren't usually the result of bad cops looking for people to abuse, officials say.
Most of the time, they are the result of complex circumstances that may include frightening encounters with suspects and officers who are wrestling with serious personal problems that are in turn sometimes the product of job-related
In late 2004, for instance, then-Knoxville Police Department officer Harry McGuffee was - by his own account - a disaster waiting to happen.
A former U.S. Marine Corps drill sergeant from Mississippi, McGuffee joined KPD in 1999 and quickly built a solid record of accomplishments, working closely with federal authorities intent on combating inner-city violence and taking part in a number of high-profile arrests.
But things started to go awry when his father was murdered by two black suspects in July 2004 in Florence, Miss. He and his wife also were dealing with marital problems, and as time crept by, his performance began to deteriorate.
click post title for the rest
First let me say right now that if they are under stress, they should be taken off the street and given whatever they need to recover so they can go back to work and not "spaz out" on others. I really suggest you read the rest of this article.
With that out of the way, I want to remind you that while there is a mountain of evidence of PTSD in police, firemen, as well as other emergency responders, we still question the same evidence in combat troops. Why? When they are sent into combat, their traumas are not isolated, or once in a while. They are constant.
I want to stop reading blogs with a set agenda to dismiss all evidence of this wound. They are humiliating themselves by attacking our troops instead of helping them. When they dismiss evidence, studies and reports, they are in fact attacking the people we count on most in this country. Our military men and women, our police, fire fighters, emergency responders, all are necessary to our survival. Because of this we need to take care of them when their minds and bodies pay the price of service to us. PTSD can strike in a traumatic event, yet these people go through them over and over again. Treat them early and treat them all with all they need.kc
Personal problems sometimes collide with pressures of job
By J.J. Stambaugh (Contact)
Monday, December 3, 2007
Excessive force cases aren't usually the result of bad cops looking for people to abuse, officials say.
Most of the time, they are the result of complex circumstances that may include frightening encounters with suspects and officers who are wrestling with serious personal problems that are in turn sometimes the product of job-related
In late 2004, for instance, then-Knoxville Police Department officer Harry McGuffee was - by his own account - a disaster waiting to happen.
A former U.S. Marine Corps drill sergeant from Mississippi, McGuffee joined KPD in 1999 and quickly built a solid record of accomplishments, working closely with federal authorities intent on combating inner-city violence and taking part in a number of high-profile arrests.
But things started to go awry when his father was murdered by two black suspects in July 2004 in Florence, Miss. He and his wife also were dealing with marital problems, and as time crept by, his performance began to deteriorate.
click post title for the rest
First let me say right now that if they are under stress, they should be taken off the street and given whatever they need to recover so they can go back to work and not "spaz out" on others. I really suggest you read the rest of this article.
With that out of the way, I want to remind you that while there is a mountain of evidence of PTSD in police, firemen, as well as other emergency responders, we still question the same evidence in combat troops. Why? When they are sent into combat, their traumas are not isolated, or once in a while. They are constant.
I want to stop reading blogs with a set agenda to dismiss all evidence of this wound. They are humiliating themselves by attacking our troops instead of helping them. When they dismiss evidence, studies and reports, they are in fact attacking the people we count on most in this country. Our military men and women, our police, fire fighters, emergency responders, all are necessary to our survival. Because of this we need to take care of them when their minds and bodies pay the price of service to us. PTSD can strike in a traumatic event, yet these people go through them over and over again. Treat them early and treat them all with all they need.kc
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Blood Brothers part two:‘I’ve seen enough. I’ve done enough.’
‘I’ve seen enough. I’ve done enough.’
For many in Charlie 1-26, the worst was still to come
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Dec 2, 2007 16:36:55 EST
Every time they learned to evade the insurgents’ methods of attack, the insurgents changed their methods. For the first five months, the Iraqis hit Charlie Company with snipers and firefights.
“I can’t even tell you how many bullet rounds I heard popping off my gunner’s turret,” Staff Sgt. Robin Johnson said. But after the unit lost Staff Sgt. Garth Sizemore to a sniper’s bullet Oct. 17, 2006, as he patrolled on foot, the soldiers learned to stand behind vehicles, not to stand in hallways or doorways, to watch the rooftops.
For several months after they arrived in Baghdad in August 2006, Charlie Company stayed at Combat Outpost Apache in the insurgent stronghold of Adhamiya only while they conducted day patrols. When they rotated to the night shift, they stayed at Forward Operating Base Loyalty and drove the 45 minutes into Adhamiya. At Loyalty, they could go to the gym, the store and the air-conditioned dining facility with its five flavors of Baskin Robbins ice cream and all-you-can-eat buffets. Apache, with only one building for the American soldiers, offered little but the safety of a shorter drive.
But when Sgt. Willsun Mock died five days later after his Humvee triggered a roadside bomb during the trip to Adhamiya, the company commander moved his men to COP Apache permanently.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/bloodbrothers2/
For many in Charlie 1-26, the worst was still to come
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Dec 2, 2007 16:36:55 EST
Every time they learned to evade the insurgents’ methods of attack, the insurgents changed their methods. For the first five months, the Iraqis hit Charlie Company with snipers and firefights.
“I can’t even tell you how many bullet rounds I heard popping off my gunner’s turret,” Staff Sgt. Robin Johnson said. But after the unit lost Staff Sgt. Garth Sizemore to a sniper’s bullet Oct. 17, 2006, as he patrolled on foot, the soldiers learned to stand behind vehicles, not to stand in hallways or doorways, to watch the rooftops.
For several months after they arrived in Baghdad in August 2006, Charlie Company stayed at Combat Outpost Apache in the insurgent stronghold of Adhamiya only while they conducted day patrols. When they rotated to the night shift, they stayed at Forward Operating Base Loyalty and drove the 45 minutes into Adhamiya. At Loyalty, they could go to the gym, the store and the air-conditioned dining facility with its five flavors of Baskin Robbins ice cream and all-you-can-eat buffets. Apache, with only one building for the American soldiers, offered little but the safety of a shorter drive.
But when Sgt. Willsun Mock died five days later after his Humvee triggered a roadside bomb during the trip to Adhamiya, the company commander moved his men to COP Apache permanently.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/bloodbrothers2/
Sammantha Arlene Owen Ewing after Walter Reed a casket
From the Washington Post report on Army 1st Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside. Yet one more death that did not have to happen. One more soldier gone.
Tom Whiteside comforts his daughter at the funeral of Sammantha Owen-Ewing, a soldier who hung herself last week. Whiteside and Owen-Ewing were friends on Ward 54 at Walter Reed.
Owen-Ewing lost all her medical benefits when she left the Army earlier this year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/
gallery/071130/GAL-07Nov30-95823/index.html
Ewing, Sammantha Arlene (Owen)
Sammantha Arlene Owen Ewing, 20, passed away Monday, Nov. 26, 2007, in Pawtucket, R.I. Sammantha was born in Orem, Utah, on Dec. 7, 1986, to Samuel and Linda Greene, and later adopted by Jason and Diana Owen. She graduated from Box Elder High School in 2005. She married Scott Ewing on June 12, 2007. Sammantha pursued her desire to work in the medical field while in the Army. She planned to continue her educational goals while also working as an EMT in Rhode Island. Sammantha was adventurous. She loved to travel and enjoyed learning from each new experience. Sammantha loved roller coasters, collecting seashells at the beach, photography, scrap booking, painting and beading. Her greatest joy was spending time with her siblings, Rebekah, Michael, Alexxa and Mookey. Sammantha was sweet, thoughtful and loving. She brought joy to the lives of those around her. We were blessed to know Samm and we will miss her very much. A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007, at the Bothwell LDS chapel. Friends and family may call from 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. prior to the funeral. Interment is at Springville Evergreen Cemetery.
http://www.legacy.com/HJNews/Obituaries.asp?Page=SearchResults&DateRange=Today&Product=0
Why is this still happening? How many other deaths not counted? How many other born heroes need to die from this wound that do not need to die?
PTSD wounded by degrees
"It's a disgrace," said Tom Whiteside, a former Marine and retired federal law enforcement officer who lost his free housing after his daughter's physical wounds had healed enough that she could be moved to the psychiatric ward. A charity organization, the Yellow Ribbon Fund, provides him with an apartment near Walter Reed so he can be near his daughter.
'A Soldier's Officer'
By Dana Priest and Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 2, 2007; Page A01
In a nondescript conference room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 1st Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside listened last week as an Army prosecutor outlined the criminal case against her in a preliminary hearing. The charges: attempting suicide and endangering the life of another soldier while serving in Iraq.
Her hands trembled as Maj. Stefan Wolfe, the prosecutor, argued that Whiteside, now a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed, should be court-martialed. After seven years of exemplary service, the 25-year-old Army reservist faces the possibility of life in prison if she is tried and convicted.
click post title for the reet
I know I posted about case yesterday but I was reading the Washington Post and saw this part. It's in bold above. Is the military really treating the PTSD wounded as if they do not need their families as much as when they have a wound to the body? Is this really what they think?
PTSD wounded by degrees according to who? Who decided PTSD wounded didn't need their families near them? Who came up with this rule treating PTSD combat veterans as second class wounded?
This is outrageous. When they are wounded by trauma they need all the support they can get, not isolated from their families or subjected to filthy living conditions. How can the DOD get away with this? How long has this been going on? For them to dismiss the fact the families also need support and knowledge to prepare them for the veteran returning home is a wound to the family as well. Lord I find it astonishing they have learned so little about taking care of the wounded. Will they ever get any of this right?kc
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