Military Mom, one son on 3rd tour, other son PTSD put him in jail

These are our soldiers. Why do we forget that? The photo is of troops in Iraq not the subject of the following piece.

Self-medicating to kill off what they do not want to feel again.


From MyFox Kansas City

PTSD More of a Problem for Returning Soldiers

Last Edited: Wednesday, 30 Jan 2008, 3:57 PM CST


OLATHE, KAN. -- A military study reached a new conclusion about returning soldiers who have memory loss, irritability and trouble sleeping. The cause, more often, may be due to depression and post traumatic stress disorder than blast related concussions.

Olathe mom Cindy Goforth knows about the problem first hand. She has two sons. One who's back from Iraq, 19-year-old David, and the other who's serving his third tour there.

She said her younger son is in jail because of PTSD and she hopes the new study will help convince him he can be treated.

"The night before he come home on R and R one of his best buddies was killed and he did not handle that well. He didn't handle that one well at all," said Goforth.

That was in October. He was supposed to go back in November, but went AWOL at the airport.

"Did he ever get mental health treatment when he came home? No, of course they teach them to be Army strong. Well, they're Army strong. The only problem is these kids don't realize they've got problems," said Goforth.

Goforth said that her son's PTSD was so bad, that David was so sensitive to noise, that simply turning on a computer, a sound you probably barely notice, caused him to the hit the ground for cover.

Angry and constantly unnerved, she said David turned to drugs when he got home. A week ago, he was arrested on drug charges.

"I've told my son that if I get you out of there, you aren't coming home. You're going to the VA. Any arguments, I'll leave you there. He's like 'Mom, I'll go to the VA,' Now, I'm getting the point of what you were saying," Goforth said.
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This is why I do what I do. This is why there are over a thousand just like me doing what we do. David Goforth didn't know what was wrong with him. Maybe he took it as if he would "get over it" and go back to the way he was before. Maybe he thought that if anyone knew what was going on in his mind, they would lock him up. After all, when they don't know what PTSD is, this is what usually happens.

When they do finally understand what PTSD is and that is a normal reaction to all they went through in the abnormal world of combat and carnage, they seek help but end up in a pile of claims 650,000 deep with 147,000 more on appeal. These are wounded veterans being tortured by the system unable, unprepared thanks to Nicholson and the Bush Administration not valuing the men and women they sent to risk their lives.

VA urged to use advanced technology to cut backlog of benefit claimsBy Bob Brewin bbrewin@govexec.com January 30, 2008
Advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence could help the Veterans Affairs Department reduce a backlog of disability claims that has spiked past 1 million, according to computer experts and veterans advocates.

The Veterans Benefits Administration, which processes the claims, has a backlog of 650,000 pending claims and another 147,000 that are under appeal and working their way through a process that "is paper intensive, complex to understand, difficult to manage and takes years to learn," Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., chairman of the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability and Memorial Affairs, said at a Jan. 29 hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Training an employee to rate VBA claims can take two to three years and many leave within five years, Hall said. Experienced raters can adjudicate only about three claims a day, spending two to three hours on each claim. He said the VA should consider the use of artificial intelligence technologies, such as automated decision-support tools that can determine disability payments, which would speed up claims processing.

Computer experts who testified at the hearing said technology exists today that can automate the claims process and eliminate the backlog.

VBA repeatedly loses paper records submitted by claimants. Robin Cleveland, wife of retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Tai Cleveland, told the hearing that since November 2005, she has submitted multiple copies of Tai's medical record and was told that the VBA could not find the records and she needed to resubmit them. She said her husband, a paraplegic after injuries incurred in August 2003 during a hand-to-hand training exercise in Kuwait, only started to receive benefit payments this month after Congress intervened.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0108/013008bb1.htm

Years ago, when veterans came to me to understand PTSD, I would explain it to them and their families, get the idea of it having anything to do with them out of their mind, support them until they were ready to go for help and then send them to it. Now I have no place to send them. This is especially hard for veterans in rural areas of the country. Help is often too far away. The suicide prevention lines are helping. The veteran can reach out in the middle of the night to talk to someone but unless they get into treatment with an approved claim, they find themselves either being billed for their treatment or being pushed back so that veterans with approved claims can be seen.

Between the time they come back and understand what PTSD is, vital time is lost. The sooner they begin treatment PTSD stops getting worse. It's like an infection that spreads untreated. The system is adding stress to them on a daily basis as they have to wait to have their claims approved. It's like a knife in their back when their claim is denied and they have to file an appeal.

With the changes in the new VA Bill providing five years of free care to returning forces, this will help in having them treated without charging them but it does not address the income stress they and their families face when most of the time, they are unable to work in the condition PTSD puts them in.

650,000 backlogged claims and 147,000 on appeal means they are just one of 797,000 veterans suffering for their service to this country and countless family members suffering right along with them.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://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

UK another murder on mentally handicapped innocent

Deborah Orr: We must protect disabled people against this wave of barbaric and hateful crimes
He died in his mother's arms, so badly beaten that his uncle did not at first recognise his face

Wednesday, 30 January 2008


Brent Martin's story should, and could, have been a story of quiet success. The 23-year-old had struggled in his short life with his learning difficulties, and those struggles more than once had become so serious that he had been compelled to spend long periods in psychiatric hospitals. Even a generation ago, such a history might have condemned a young man to an institutionalised life. But we are more enlightened now, in theory at least.


Martin, released in spring of last year into the care of his family, was recognised as a man who was quite capable of living independently, supporting himself through work, paying his taxes, living and loving like the equal member of a civilised society that he was, or should have been. In August last year, he was winning. He was about to start a new job as a landscape gardener, about to move into a flat and live on his own for the first time, and enjoying the time that he spent with his girlfriend.

Then, on 23 August, he was chased for a mile and a half through two estates in Sunderland. Repeatedly, he was set upon by 21-year-old William Hughes, and two boys of 16 and 17. Between them – they had trained as boxers – they bet £5 that one of them could knock him out with their fists. Their attacks got more frenzied until they started kicking Brent, and stamping on him. They removed his lower clothing, at the end, and took photographs of their bloodied selves to mark the occasion.

Brent died in his mother's arms of a massive head injury. He had been so badly beaten that his uncle did not at first recognise his face. Hughes and the 16-year-old admitted murder, while the 17-year-old was found guilty of murder at Newcastle Crown Court last week, after telling witnesses that "he was not going down for a muppet". All three have been warned that they face mandatory life imprisonment, when sentencing takes place next month.




Practical counter-measures are needed when such additional stresses are being perpetrated against already vulnerable people in such a widespread manner. The advances that have been made towards the full participation of disabled people in everyday life are still fragile, and they need to be defended. A concentrated effort to reduce the barbaric lack of stigma around such a cowardly form of criminality is absolutely essential.

click post title for the rest

It doesn't matter what country you live in because it happens here too. Remember the homeless people killed here in Orlando and other parts of the country. Why do they do it?

Fort Drum ordered VA to not help veterans with claims

Army Blocks Disability Paperwork Aid at Fort Drum
by Ari Shapiro




Enlarge

Stephanie Kuykendal
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, who co-chaired President Bush's commission on veterans' care, says the whole disability rating system is broken and needs to change. Getty Images


Morning Edition, January 29, 2008 · Army officials in upstate New York instructed representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs not to help disabled soldiers at Fort Drum Army base with their military disability paperwork last year. That paperwork can be crucial because it helps determine whether soldiers will get annual disability payments and health care after they're discharged.

Now soldiers at Fort Drum say they feel betrayed by the institutions that are supposed to support them. The soldiers want to know why the Army would want to stop them from getting help with their disability paperwork and why the VA— whose mission is to help veterans — would agree to the Army's request.

'A Worn Pair of Boots'

One disabled soldier, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he fears retaliation from the military, says it feels like a slap in the face.

"To be tossed aside like a worn-out pair of boots is pretty disheartening," the soldier says. "I always believed the Army would take care of me if I did the best I could, and I've done that."

At a restaurant near Fort Drum, the soldier described his first briefing with the VA office on base. According to the soldier, the VA official told a classroom full of injured troops, "We cannot help you review the narrative summaries of your medical problems." The official said the VA used to help soldiers with the paperwork, but Army officials saw soldiers from Fort Drum getting higher disability ratings with the VA's help than soldiers from other bases. The Army told the VA to stop helping Fort Drum soldiers describe their army injuries, and the VA did as it was told.

It's unclear why the Army wanted to stop the soldiers from getting help with the disability paperwork. Cynthia Vaughan, spokeswoman for the Army surgeon general, says the VA was not doing anything wrong by helping soldiers at Fort Drum.

"There is no Army policy on outside help in reviewing and/or assisting soldiers in rewriting their narratives during the 10-day period which they have to review them," Vaughan says.

She says the officers who asked the VA to stop helping Fort Drum's soldiers were part of what the Army calls a "Tiger Team"— an ad-hoc group assigned to investigate, in this case, medical disability benefits.

According to Army spokesman George Wright, the Tiger Team thought the VA should not be helping soldiers with their medical documents. The Army delivered that message to VA officials in Buffalo, N.Y., who went along with the request, even though the VA's assistance complied with Army policy.

The Army declined to provide any information about the Tiger Team members' identities or their motivations in asking the VA to stop reviewing the soldiers' paperwork. However, private attorney Mara Hurwitt points out that the Army has a financial incentive to keep soldiers' disability ratings low.

"The more soldiers you have who get disability retirements, the more retirement pay is coming out of your budget," Hurwitt says.
go here for the rest
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18492376&sourceCode=RSS

Burr is cold for wounded veterans

PTSD alert from email

PTSD treatment bill of the floor of the senate

A few minutes ago on the floor of the senate on CSPAN Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina described a bill he is introducing. I did not get the number.

This involves PTSD recovery in not only getting treatment but immediate financial aid to the Veteran through the use of stipends upon signing up for the program - provided he does not submit a claim for disability during the treatment and until the treatment is completed. With financial incentives for completing milestones during the intensive treatment. Does not stop the Vet from applying after the treatment.

In his words, what they are doing now is not working and backed up by Dole study as well as the Disability Commission findings.

For those already with disability the stipends would be 1/3 of those that have never sought treatment or disability provided no request for reevaluation is made during the intensive treatment.

Burr Praises New Law Improving Veterans’ Benefits
Better Education Benefits And Improved Treatment For TBI

January 29th, 2008 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) today praised President Bush’s signing of H.R.4986, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, which contains several improvements to veterans’ benefits. The legislation strengthens the relationship between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD), enhances education benefits for National Guard and Reserve members, and expands benefits and research programs for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI).

“I applaud President Bush and my congressional colleagues for getting the job done on this important piece of legislation,” Burr said. “This law provides our troops with equipment like armored vehicles and body armor. I am particularly pleased with some of the important provisions designed to help those returning from combat, including improved education benefits for National Guard and Reserve members and improved TBI treatment programs for all of our returning heroes.”

Under the new law, National Guard and Reserves who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan can now receive full education benefits after three total years of active duty service. They can also participate in the “buy-up” program, which provides up to $5,400 in additional education benefits. With these changes, Guard and Reserve members may receive over $37,000 in education benefits. Coupled with additional amounts paid from DOD for critical or hard to fill skills, their benefits may cover over 90% of the cost of a four-year public college education, including tuition, fees, room, and board. National Guard and Reserves may also participate in the Accelerated Payment Program, which pays for up to sixty percent of the cost of short term, high cost vocational training.

The new law also enhances services and benefits provided to veterans with traumatic brain injury. It requires the VA to develop individual treatment plans for all patients with TBI and develop a long-term care program for post-acute TBI patients. It also allows recently separated combat veterans to receive priority access to VA health care for five years following separation, up from the two years they currently receive.

http://burr.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases
.Detail&PressRelease_id=372&Month=1&Year=2008

If he cared wouldn't he show up more often?

Burr has Poor Attendance at Veterans Affairs Hearings
Health Care
Richard Burr
Security & Emergency Response
Veterans & Military Families

Lisa Zagaroli, McClatchy Newspapers
When U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina assumed the GOP leadership position on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs last week, he came to it with a bit of a gap -- he had attended fewer than half its hearings in recent years.
Others on the panel have worse attendance records. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the military himself, only showed up three times at veterans committee hearings between the start of 2005 and May 16, 2007, according to a Charlotte Observer review of the published proceedings from 44 meetings.
Burr's attendance -- he has gone to 20 meetings -- is about the middle of the pack. A few senators attended most of the meetings, led by former Chairman Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who attended 43 of the 44 hearings, and some senators attended only a few, such as Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who attended two.
http://www.ncdp.org/taxonomy/term/15

But it happened while they were in charge and ignored the problem when they could have saved lives. Why all of a sudden do they forget they had all the power to act for the sake of the troops and blew it?

Welcome! As the Ranking Member on this committee, I want you to know that Republicans are working with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to ensure America’s veterans are getting the care and services they deserve. We’ve made great strides recently. For example, funding of key programs serving veterans has risen dramatically in the past few years and VA health care has recently been ranked as among the best care in the nation.

There is room for improvement, of course, and I am dedicated to working with my Senate colleagues to improve the service and care our nation’s veterans receive. Please contact me at (202) 224-2074 or send me an email if you have any comments or suggestions on how we can improve our service to veterans.
http://www.senate.gov/~svac/public/index.cfm?page=ranking_member

He asked to be contacted, so why not do it?

Fort Huachuca soldier found dead in Warrior Transition Unit

Huachuca soldier found dead in barracks

Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 22:07:46 EST

A soldier undergoing advanced individual training was found dead in the Warrior Transition Unit barracks Monday morning at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., according to a press release.

The soldier’s name has not been released, pending notification of family.

Military police and emergency medical services responded to a 911 call from a noncommissioned officer in the barracks. The soldier was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:12 a.m.

The cause of death is still under investigation.

Vt. lawmakers seek to pull Guard from war

Vt. lawmakers seek to pull Guard from war

By Lisa Rathke - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 30, 2008 10:01:56 EST

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Fed up that Washington hasn’t done more to end the war, a group of Vermont lawmakers said Tuesday that the president no longer has the authority to use Guard troops in Iraq.

State Rep. Michael Fisher, D-Lincoln, said the authority to call up Guard members for Iraq duty has expired because that country no longer poses a threat to U.S. national security.

“The mission authorized in 2002 does not exist,” said Fisher, who plans to introduce a bill backed by 30 colleagues Wednesday that calls on Gov. Jim Douglas to join the effort. “Unless Congress grants a new authorization, the Vermont Guard should revert back to state control.”

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin said the Senate would take up similar legislation.

“Bottom line is, if the politicians in Washington aren’t going to do the right thing for our troops, let’s do the right thing by bringing our Vermont Guard members home,” he said. “If Vermont can make one small step forward, I believe others will follow.”
go here for the rest

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_vermontguard_080130/

National Guard troops have been reporting with rates of 50% with PTSD for two years now. They have to live with giving up their jobs and incomes in order to be deployed over and over again. Many of them face financial troubles beyond what the regular military face. This adds to their stress level.

Ex-soldier's post-traumatic stress ordeal

Ex-soldier's post-traumatic stress ordeal



Michael Cartmell

A FORMER soldier who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder died as a result of an accidental overdose.

Mr Michael Cartmell (38) was found collapsed at his home in Cuerdale Street, Burnley, on May 16th last year. An inquest at Burnley Coroner's Court heard he had been drinking and had taken a prescribed anti-psychosis drug.

The hearing heard how Mr Cartmell had lost a friend while serving with the Army in Northern Ireland. He had served with the Queen's Lancashire Regiment and Scots Guards.

The Express reported last May that Mr Cartmell had fought a 14-year battle with post-traumatic stress disorder. He had attended Briercliffe Primary and Mansfield High Schools and grew up in Briercliffe.

He developed an enthusiasm for the military from a very early age and joined the Sea Cadet Corps aged 12.

Pathologist Dr Abdul Al-Dawoud, who conducted the post-mortem examination, said toxological tests showed Mr Cartmell had a level of alcohol in his system above the legal driving limit. He also had six times the therapeutic level of the drug quetiapine. Dr Al-Dawoud gave the cause of death as the combined effect of the two.
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If you have PTSD or know someone who does, do not mix alcohol with medicine. It alters the medication and makes the depression worse.

Study: PTSD, not brain injury, may cause vets' symptoms

Study: PTSD, not brain injury, may cause vets' symptoms
Story Highlights
Study: Symptoms usually linked to vets' concussions were actually related to PTSD

5 percent of soldiers surveyed reported battle concussions/loss of consciousness

Critic: Doctors shouldn't dismiss true brain injury symptoms as psychological only

By Yvonne Lee
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Sgt. Ryan Kahlor has the same nightmare every time, a vision of walls painted in blood and fat, and men on top of houses, throwing pieces of Marine's bodies off rooftops. It's a vision he can't shake, because he lived through it while deployed to Iraq last year.



"I have nightmares. I dwell on it. I think about it all the time," said Kahlor, 24. "Staying asleep is hard. I associate a bed with the dreams I have. My parents think I'm crazy, but I sleep better when I'm on the floor."

Kahlor has post-traumatic stress disorder, which can develop after surviving a traumatic event in which a person is physically threatened or injured.

He also experienced concussions while surviving four explosions during his 14 months in Iraq. He said these events left him with a detached retina, vertigo, memory problems and dizziness.

A new military study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine says soldiers who suffered concussions in Iraq were not only at higher risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, but also that the depression and PTSD, not the head injuries, may be the cause of ongoing physical symptoms.

Five percent of the 2,500 soldiers surveyed by Walter Reed Army Institute of Research said they had concussions in which they lost consciousness during combat. Forty-four percent of these soldiers ended up with PTSD.

Researchers were surprised to find symptoms normally associated with concussions -- headaches, dizziness, irritability and memory problems -- were actually related to PTSD or depression.

"It isn't the combat exposure or physical injury, it's the PTSD that seems to drive these symptoms. That's a surprise," said Joseph A. Boscarino, Ph.D., who studies PTSD at the Geisinger Center for Health Research in Danville, Pennsylvania. "You would expect they would have these other symptoms related to traumatic brain injury, that maybe they have a permanent injury, but it's explained by whether they have PTSD or depression."



About 8 million American adults have PTSD. A 2003 New England Journal of Medicine Study found that 15 percent to 17 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were suffering from PTSD, and more than 60 percent of those showing symptoms were unlikely to seek help because of fears of stigmatization or loss of career advancement opportunities.

As of June 30, 2007, the Department of Defense reported 3,294 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs. Bomb blasts caused nearly 70 percent of those TBI cases.

Dr. James Kelly, a neurology professor at the University of Colorado and a co-author of guidelines the military uses to identify traumatic brain injury, expressed concerns that doctors will attribute lingering health problems to psychological issues.

"I think if people misunderstand or overextend beyond what this survey shows, they could dismiss true brain injury features as psychological only," Kelly said. "It would be a terrible disservice to our military for that to happen."
go here for the rest
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/01/30/brain.injury/

I had TBI at the age of 4. I was pushed off a slide and hit concrete head first. My scull was cracked and I had a sever concussion. I was in the hospital for a week. It didn't cause nightmares. It didn't cause me personality to change. It did give me headaches and to this day sometimes my head feels as if it will just explode. My Mom said that my brain worked differently after. I was able to learn how to spell quickly before that and after, it wasn't so great. For a person who loves to write lacking the ability to spell correctly, it's a terrible thing. I thank God for spell check so that I stopped wearing out dictionaries.

From all indications it is two different problems they are dealing with. TBI, damage to the brain itself, shouldn't cause character changes to levels we are seeing. My husband has PTSD and was around a lot of explosions in Vietnam. From the studies I've read and living with both conditions, it is both conditions in many of these veterans and they need to look at both just as seriously and as separately as they need to be.

Bill O'Reilly, You're Wrong Again.....

Bill O'Reilly, You're Wrong Again.....
By Gary Ater
January 29, 2008
Bill O'Reilly, Blowing Smoke on the "O'Reilly Factor"

It drives me crazy when Bill O makes the statement on his show that his organization does "extensive research" to support the comments made on his daily "O'Reilly Factor" cable TV show. In his program last week, after taking back his comment that "there aren't that many homeless vets out there anyway", he agreed he had learned that there were over 200,000 homeless US vets. But then he added "that it was well known, most of the homeless vets are drug addicts or are mentally ill". Well Bill, you blew it again.

Now, let's do some real investigative work and find out what the real information is on the homeless vets that have been fighting for the freedom of all Americans.

VA FUNDING:

First, let's look at the funding for the US Veterans Administration (VA) that support all US vets. The VA is not an on-going, funded entitlement program like Social Security or Medicare that automatically receives increases as inflation and the cost of living increase. Instead, the VA must approach the Congress and the Administration on an annual basis and submit a budget request which usually gets cut before it is approved for funding. To put the VA's 2008 Budget into perspective, let's compare the 2008 Budget to the overall costs of the War in Iraq (to date) and to the War on Terror.

2008 Veterans Administration Budget: $36.6 Billion

Cost of "Iraqi Freedom" to date: $360.7 Billion

Afghanistan & War on Terror cost to date: $82.3 Billion

Enhanced Security @ US Military Bases $27.6 Billion
go here for the rest
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/50565

Lee County Florida Veteran May Lose Home

I'm posting this all because he needs help and also because he is not the only one this is happening to.

Veteran may lose home
By WINK News

Story Created: Jan 29, 2008 at 5:37 PM EST

Story Updated: Jan 29, 2008 at 8:26 PM EST

LEE COUNTY, Fla. - Vince Crespi and his finance are out of food and almost out of a home because they're out of money.

"We needed it now, we needed it a month ago. I've lost my phone, my car."

Crespi who is bi-polar and has schizophrenia needs a disability check from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, money documents say he's entitled to.

"I asked the VA today, what more can I do? They said there is nothing more you can do, you've done everything you can do. It just wasn't acceptable to me," says Crespi.

How this all started is Crespi received a disability check for all of last year for $5,300. But because he has credit problems his bank would only accept a maximum deposit of $5,000 so the bank sent the check back to the government. Now the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has his check, but is suspending his payments.

Crespi says they asked him that.

"They didn't have an answer."

"I feel like they're getting screwed, they're getting screwed. They're being played with by the system," says Shirley Phillips.

Phillips is their landlord and she says their rent was due four weeks ago and she's run out of options.

"The bottom line is I have to evict them and put them in the street."

Crespi didn't know what to do.

"We called you," says Crespi.

We put him in touch with Congressman Connie Mack's office. They say they'll try and help.

"I don't know what else to do."

Regardless, Crespi still has a rent payment due and right now has no money to pay it.

"I'm scared."

WINK News contacted the local chapter of veteran affairs here in Lee County, they said our best bet is through the national office. That's who Congressman Connie Mack is working with. As soon as we hear something on this story we'll let you know.

http://www.winknews.com/news/local/14802611.html

I called Connie Mack's office here in Florida and was told they are working on helping him. Let's just hope they are doing all they can for him. He did all he could for us. If anyone out there has any extra money, contact the station and help him out.