February 27th, 2008 1:21 pm
Thousands of veterans lose health benefits because of paperwork errors
By Lou Michel / Buffalo News
Christopher M. Simmance helped keep the peace as an American soldier in the Middle East, but when he returned home and later suffered a breakdown, he was turned away from the VA hospital because the government didn’t acknowledge his overseas duty.
Dana Cushing as a Marine served two tours of duty in Iraq and a third in east Africa, but when she returned home, she found herself labeled a “conscientious objector” and also was denied medical care by the government.
Simmance is one local veteran among roughly 2,000 across the country trying to get corrected incomplete or inadequate discharge papers. Cushing only recently got hers corrected after trying for a year. The result is that many now face a bureaucratic nightmare that prevents them from getting the health benefits they are entitled to receive.
click post title for the rest
Thursday, February 28, 2008
VA urged to give families mental health help
VA urged to give families mental health help
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 13:21:08 EST
A House subcommittee was urged Thursday to expand the Veterans Affairs Department’s authority to provide mental health counseling for the families of veterans, including National Guard and reserve members who have returned from combat.
Current law restricts VA to providing “limited services to immediate family members,” said Kristin Day, VA’s chief consultant for care management and social work service.
“The law provides, in general, that the immediate family members of a veteran being treated for a service-connected disability may receive counseling, education and training services,” Day told the House Veterans’ Affairs health subcommittee.
That leaves a lot of gaps for people who fall outside the military health care system, some critics say.
Todd Bowers, government affairs director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that when he was wounded by a sniper’s bullet during his second tour in Iraq, his mother suffered.
“The incident that physically wounded me wounded my mother much worse,” said Bowers, a Marine Corps Reserve staff sergeant. “As she struggled to cope with the knowledge of my injury, my mother was more than alone. She was lost. She sought assistance through the only means she was aware of, the mental health counseling covered by her own health care.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_mentalhealth_veteransfamilies_02808w/
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 13:21:08 EST
A House subcommittee was urged Thursday to expand the Veterans Affairs Department’s authority to provide mental health counseling for the families of veterans, including National Guard and reserve members who have returned from combat.
Current law restricts VA to providing “limited services to immediate family members,” said Kristin Day, VA’s chief consultant for care management and social work service.
“The law provides, in general, that the immediate family members of a veteran being treated for a service-connected disability may receive counseling, education and training services,” Day told the House Veterans’ Affairs health subcommittee.
That leaves a lot of gaps for people who fall outside the military health care system, some critics say.
Todd Bowers, government affairs director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that when he was wounded by a sniper’s bullet during his second tour in Iraq, his mother suffered.
“The incident that physically wounded me wounded my mother much worse,” said Bowers, a Marine Corps Reserve staff sergeant. “As she struggled to cope with the knowledge of my injury, my mother was more than alone. She was lost. She sought assistance through the only means she was aware of, the mental health counseling covered by her own health care.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_mentalhealth_veteransfamilies_02808w/
Austerity Threatens Veterans, Too
VCS in the News: Austerity Threatens Veterans, Too
Carl Osgood
Executive Intelligence Review
Feb 28, 2008
Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, added that there is a surge of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, "and not only are they being denied medical care but their requests for help are being delayed unnecessarily." There are cases of veterans committing suicide, turning up homeless, turning to drug and alcohol abuse (euphemistically called "self-medicating") as a result of the long delays, "and the Department of Veterans Affairs is doing little or nothing, and in some cases, violating the law." Sullivan said that the only option left to address this situation was to file a lawsuit.
February 29, 2008 - When the austerity mongers among Republicans and the "post-partisan Bloomberg crowd talk about "entitlement reform," they usually mean slashing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits. Hardly anybody talks about veterans' benefits in the same vein, saying openly that they must come under the budget axe as well.
However, veterans have been under attack, in fact, just as much as the elderly, the sick, and the poor have been. In its first budget submission after winning re-election in 2004, the Bush Administration proposed that those in the Veterans Administration (VA) health-care system should pay higher enrollment fees and prescription drug co-pays than they were already being charged, a move the Department of Veterans Affairs calculated would result in 213,000 fewer veterans in the system than otherwise would be the case.
At about the same time, Undersecretary of Defense David Chu was quoted by the Wall Street Journal complaining that veterans' benefits had grown so much, that "they are taking away from the nation's ability to defend itself."
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9438
Carl Osgood
Executive Intelligence Review
Feb 28, 2008
Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, added that there is a surge of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, "and not only are they being denied medical care but their requests for help are being delayed unnecessarily." There are cases of veterans committing suicide, turning up homeless, turning to drug and alcohol abuse (euphemistically called "self-medicating") as a result of the long delays, "and the Department of Veterans Affairs is doing little or nothing, and in some cases, violating the law." Sullivan said that the only option left to address this situation was to file a lawsuit.
February 29, 2008 - When the austerity mongers among Republicans and the "post-partisan Bloomberg crowd talk about "entitlement reform," they usually mean slashing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits. Hardly anybody talks about veterans' benefits in the same vein, saying openly that they must come under the budget axe as well.
However, veterans have been under attack, in fact, just as much as the elderly, the sick, and the poor have been. In its first budget submission after winning re-election in 2004, the Bush Administration proposed that those in the Veterans Administration (VA) health-care system should pay higher enrollment fees and prescription drug co-pays than they were already being charged, a move the Department of Veterans Affairs calculated would result in 213,000 fewer veterans in the system than otherwise would be the case.
At about the same time, Undersecretary of Defense David Chu was quoted by the Wall Street Journal complaining that veterans' benefits had grown so much, that "they are taking away from the nation's ability to defend itself."
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9438
Homeless Veterans and VA Prejudice
122. Homeless Veterans and VA Prejudice
The other day I was hanging around the Seattle, Washington VA Hospital with a few homeless veterans. I was listening around the eligibility check in desk for information. As the homeless veterans were getting checked in, I was listening to the “in-processor” who hands out the books, and folders to including the benefits of what one MIGHT be entitled to etc. and so forth.
As I was watching the homeless veterans looking down with a hangdog expression waiting for their VA identification cards giving their addresses as “none”, and explaining that their incomes from their work, were minimal at best as most did have some form of work, I heard the following… You are eligible for medical only. You are not eligible for dental, or eye glasses unless it is a service rated disability.
One fellow piped in and said he did not need glasses until he was in the service. She said he had to prove it of course. Of course proving things to the VA is nearly impossible in the first place, without two examinations and a rectal check. For some reason, the armed forces and the VA cannot coordinate the transference of the medical records in this modern era as of yet.
As a further example, I have written the National Personnel Records Center, sent in the prescribed forms, followed up with letters to a Senator and a Congressman, for my medical records. This has taken four years and I have yet to receive them or the NPRC to find them or the VA to receive them.
On the other hand, I am wondering if the VA is counting these homeless veterans that showed up on their door step that day at their hospital. If so, why were they not automatically referred to the Homeless Veteran’s Coordinator that is supposed to be assigned to every veteran’s administration hospital? The VA has highly touted these “highly dedicated and trained individuals”. It was not a Federal Holiday again. Undoubtedly, there is a serious lack of training system wide at the VA. What else is new at the VA?
click post title for the rest
The other day I was hanging around the Seattle, Washington VA Hospital with a few homeless veterans. I was listening around the eligibility check in desk for information. As the homeless veterans were getting checked in, I was listening to the “in-processor” who hands out the books, and folders to including the benefits of what one MIGHT be entitled to etc. and so forth.
As I was watching the homeless veterans looking down with a hangdog expression waiting for their VA identification cards giving their addresses as “none”, and explaining that their incomes from their work, were minimal at best as most did have some form of work, I heard the following… You are eligible for medical only. You are not eligible for dental, or eye glasses unless it is a service rated disability.
One fellow piped in and said he did not need glasses until he was in the service. She said he had to prove it of course. Of course proving things to the VA is nearly impossible in the first place, without two examinations and a rectal check. For some reason, the armed forces and the VA cannot coordinate the transference of the medical records in this modern era as of yet.
As a further example, I have written the National Personnel Records Center, sent in the prescribed forms, followed up with letters to a Senator and a Congressman, for my medical records. This has taken four years and I have yet to receive them or the NPRC to find them or the VA to receive them.
On the other hand, I am wondering if the VA is counting these homeless veterans that showed up on their door step that day at their hospital. If so, why were they not automatically referred to the Homeless Veteran’s Coordinator that is supposed to be assigned to every veteran’s administration hospital? The VA has highly touted these “highly dedicated and trained individuals”. It was not a Federal Holiday again. Undoubtedly, there is a serious lack of training system wide at the VA. What else is new at the VA?
click post title for the rest
Tinker Air Force responds to Sgt. Thorson murder/suicide
Feb. 28, 2008
Tinker seeks ways to help ease stress
By Augie Frost and Ken Raymond
Staff Writers
There are unique aspects of being in the military that may lead to health issues, particularly mentally, Lt. Col. David Parr said Wednesday.
From moving frequently to being deployed overseas, there are added stresses on a service member that can lead to problems, said Parr, commander of the Operations Support Squadron.
Officials at Tinker Air Force Base held a roundtable discussion on mental health issues in the military Wednesday, two days after Tech Sgt. Dustin Thorson killed his two children and then himself.
During a separate news conference Wednesday, Air Force Brig. Gen. Lori J. Robinson said Thorson saw a mental health professional and his commander was monitoring his mental health. She did not elaborate.
At the roundtable, officials focused on services to check, balance and treat mental illnesses. Before someone is deployed he or she goes through a screening. When he or she returns, they again go through a screening and then another one 90 days later, Parr said.
Often times that stress is taken out in the home on family members, but the goal is to alleviate that. Tinker officials would not discuss particulars concerning Thorson and his family, but said they never want to be faced with that problem.
"We don't want it to get to that point,” said Jane Allen, director of the Air Wing Family Support Center.
Airmen who may be suffering from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder have a wealth of options for treatment, Allen said.
go here for the rest
http://newsok.com/article/3209613/1204173042
Tinker seeks ways to help ease stress
By Augie Frost and Ken Raymond
Staff Writers
There are unique aspects of being in the military that may lead to health issues, particularly mentally, Lt. Col. David Parr said Wednesday.
From moving frequently to being deployed overseas, there are added stresses on a service member that can lead to problems, said Parr, commander of the Operations Support Squadron.
Officials at Tinker Air Force Base held a roundtable discussion on mental health issues in the military Wednesday, two days after Tech Sgt. Dustin Thorson killed his two children and then himself.
During a separate news conference Wednesday, Air Force Brig. Gen. Lori J. Robinson said Thorson saw a mental health professional and his commander was monitoring his mental health. She did not elaborate.
At the roundtable, officials focused on services to check, balance and treat mental illnesses. Before someone is deployed he or she goes through a screening. When he or she returns, they again go through a screening and then another one 90 days later, Parr said.
Often times that stress is taken out in the home on family members, but the goal is to alleviate that. Tinker officials would not discuss particulars concerning Thorson and his family, but said they never want to be faced with that problem.
"We don't want it to get to that point,” said Jane Allen, director of the Air Wing Family Support Center.
Airmen who may be suffering from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder have a wealth of options for treatment, Allen said.
go here for the rest
http://newsok.com/article/3209613/1204173042
Veterans Home contributed to suffering of patients
Report: Veterans Home contributed to suffering of patients
By TURNER HUTCHENS
trhutchens@dnj.com
— Turner Hutchens, 615-278-5161
A lack of care at the Tennessee State Veterans Home in Murfreesboro has led to the early death and needless suffering of veterans in the facility's care, according to a new report by U.S. Department of Justice.
The report, issued Feb. 8 to Gov. Phil Bredesen by the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, describes "unconscionably poor health care" at the state's veterans nursing homes in Murfreesboro and Humboldt in West Tennessee.
However, state officials have said the problems have been remedied at both facilities since the data for the report was collected last year.
The report describes a disturbing list of problems, citing specific instances with patients not receiving food and water, a lack of proper pain medication, psychotropic drugs given to patients for the convenience of staff, a lack of care for chronic conditions failure to address dangers of falls and failure to aid patients in rehabilitation.
"At both TSVHs (Tennessee State Veterans Homes), residents have been, and continue to be, the victims of egregious neglect from the nursing homes' failure to provide for the most basic of human needs — food and water," the report states. "As a result, residents have suffered and, sometimes, have died needless and untimely deaths."
One case found to have maggots in a patient's open pressure sore. In another, a patient whose pain was so severe he threatened suicide was given Tylenol and there was no follow up to his mental state. In yet another, a man in need of hospice care did not received it for five days while dying.
"We found that many residents spend their last days and hours often suffering needless pain," the report stated.
click post title for the rest
By TURNER HUTCHENS
trhutchens@dnj.com
— Turner Hutchens, 615-278-5161
A lack of care at the Tennessee State Veterans Home in Murfreesboro has led to the early death and needless suffering of veterans in the facility's care, according to a new report by U.S. Department of Justice.
The report, issued Feb. 8 to Gov. Phil Bredesen by the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, describes "unconscionably poor health care" at the state's veterans nursing homes in Murfreesboro and Humboldt in West Tennessee.
However, state officials have said the problems have been remedied at both facilities since the data for the report was collected last year.
The report describes a disturbing list of problems, citing specific instances with patients not receiving food and water, a lack of proper pain medication, psychotropic drugs given to patients for the convenience of staff, a lack of care for chronic conditions failure to address dangers of falls and failure to aid patients in rehabilitation.
"At both TSVHs (Tennessee State Veterans Homes), residents have been, and continue to be, the victims of egregious neglect from the nursing homes' failure to provide for the most basic of human needs — food and water," the report states. "As a result, residents have suffered and, sometimes, have died needless and untimely deaths."
One case found to have maggots in a patient's open pressure sore. In another, a patient whose pain was so severe he threatened suicide was given Tylenol and there was no follow up to his mental state. In yet another, a man in need of hospice care did not received it for five days while dying.
"We found that many residents spend their last days and hours often suffering needless pain," the report stated.
click post title for the rest
Common sense on PTSD from Congressman Tom Allen
Help for Veterans with PTSD
by: Congressman Tom Allen
Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 11:45:14 AM EST
(This is a guest piece by Congressman Tom Allen who represents Maine's 1st Congressional District. Congressman Allen is promoting H.R. 5448, a bill that would improve veterans' treatment for combat PTSD. From the diaries - promoted by Brandon Friedman)
When my father returned from the South Pacific after World War II, he rarely talked about the terrifying nightly bombings that blasted the Navy air base where he served as a control tower operator. Nor did he often speak of the pilots he had befriended who never returned from their missions. He was a quiet and determined man, who gave enormously to his country, community and family, but I now believe that when he came home, he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that skillful treatment might have eased his pain.
In 1945, however, the symptoms that constitute PTSD were rarely acknowledged. Even today, as Maine veterans have shown me, it remains under-diagnosed, under-treated, and misunderstood. That is why I have introduced the Full Faith in Veterans Act, H.R. 5448.
Continue reading below. . . .
Congressman Tom Allen :: Help for Veterans with PTSD
Scott Whittier, from Washington, Maine, served as an active duty Army Reserve soldier and National Guard Member during the Gulf War in 1991. U.S. forces had relentlessly bombed and strafed Iraqi military convoys fleeing Kuwait on Route 8, Iraq's "Highway of Death." As he recently recalled, "The sights were of nothing I'd ever seen before... Death littered the highway."
Later, these sights began to take their toll. Back in the States, Scott was diagnosed by Togus Veterans Administration (VA) medical personnel as suffering from PTSD, made worse when he watched 9/11 and the current War in Iraq unfold. "I almost totally shut down. I began isolating myself...started drinking even more. Lost all interest...could not remember simple tasks, names, where I was going... Memories came crashing down ...of all those bodies, smells, hands, legs, heads, blood, burnt gruesome odorsome bodies."
Although his physician was confident that his PTSD was service-connected, the VA demanded proof that he was on Route 8 during the invasion. One would think that the military itself could easily provide this evidence, but it took the Army years to do so. Only this month did Scott get word that his government would accept his doctor's diagnosis.
Terry Belanger of Biddeford was rapidly driving a troop-filled truck in Vietnam during the Tet offensive when he ran over a small girl. Ordered not to stop because of the danger lurking in the village, the accident has haunted him for decades. He is plagued by flashbacks and nightmares, anxiety, migraines and insomnia. As his loving wife wrote, "this wonderful man...left part of his soul in Vietnam."
Terry's PTSD disability claim was denied because "there was no evidence of a qualifying stressor and his evidentiary assertions regarding his post-traumatic stress disorder were found to be not credible." In other words, this soldier's medical history and the conclusions of his private and VA physicians-all of whom believe he has service-connected PTSD-are dismissed by VA bureaucrats.
go here for the rest
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=657
by: Congressman Tom Allen
Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 11:45:14 AM EST
(This is a guest piece by Congressman Tom Allen who represents Maine's 1st Congressional District. Congressman Allen is promoting H.R. 5448, a bill that would improve veterans' treatment for combat PTSD. From the diaries - promoted by Brandon Friedman)
When my father returned from the South Pacific after World War II, he rarely talked about the terrifying nightly bombings that blasted the Navy air base where he served as a control tower operator. Nor did he often speak of the pilots he had befriended who never returned from their missions. He was a quiet and determined man, who gave enormously to his country, community and family, but I now believe that when he came home, he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that skillful treatment might have eased his pain.
In 1945, however, the symptoms that constitute PTSD were rarely acknowledged. Even today, as Maine veterans have shown me, it remains under-diagnosed, under-treated, and misunderstood. That is why I have introduced the Full Faith in Veterans Act, H.R. 5448.
Continue reading below. . . .
Congressman Tom Allen :: Help for Veterans with PTSD
Scott Whittier, from Washington, Maine, served as an active duty Army Reserve soldier and National Guard Member during the Gulf War in 1991. U.S. forces had relentlessly bombed and strafed Iraqi military convoys fleeing Kuwait on Route 8, Iraq's "Highway of Death." As he recently recalled, "The sights were of nothing I'd ever seen before... Death littered the highway."
Later, these sights began to take their toll. Back in the States, Scott was diagnosed by Togus Veterans Administration (VA) medical personnel as suffering from PTSD, made worse when he watched 9/11 and the current War in Iraq unfold. "I almost totally shut down. I began isolating myself...started drinking even more. Lost all interest...could not remember simple tasks, names, where I was going... Memories came crashing down ...of all those bodies, smells, hands, legs, heads, blood, burnt gruesome odorsome bodies."
Although his physician was confident that his PTSD was service-connected, the VA demanded proof that he was on Route 8 during the invasion. One would think that the military itself could easily provide this evidence, but it took the Army years to do so. Only this month did Scott get word that his government would accept his doctor's diagnosis.
Terry Belanger of Biddeford was rapidly driving a troop-filled truck in Vietnam during the Tet offensive when he ran over a small girl. Ordered not to stop because of the danger lurking in the village, the accident has haunted him for decades. He is plagued by flashbacks and nightmares, anxiety, migraines and insomnia. As his loving wife wrote, "this wonderful man...left part of his soul in Vietnam."
Terry's PTSD disability claim was denied because "there was no evidence of a qualifying stressor and his evidentiary assertions regarding his post-traumatic stress disorder were found to be not credible." In other words, this soldier's medical history and the conclusions of his private and VA physicians-all of whom believe he has service-connected PTSD-are dismissed by VA bureaucrats.
go here for the rest
http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=657
Vietnam Vet goes back to where he never really left
Updated at: 02/28/2008 08:33:45 AM
By: Kim Johnson
kjohnson@wdio.com
Still Searching
"I did this one time before a long time ago," said Scott Cameron as he lowered himself down into an underground tunnel in Vietnam.
On a journey half way around the world, Scott Cameron is re-discovering places that have haunted him for decades. The tunnels he’s exploring were used by enemy soldiers to hide from danger during the war.
"You could escape into here when the B-52s started hitting," he said while looking into a hand-held personal video camera.
As the veteran goes deeper into the ground, bad memories begin to surface. "To be honest, I got to get the hell out of here," Scott said. "I'm getting real paranoid and I'm getting real claustrophobic."
Soon come flashbacks that are too powerful to bear. "This is really doing a lot of triggers for this guy, this old Vietnam vet," he said.
Scott is searching down in these holes, a painful search that began thousands of miles away back in Duluth.
Five months ago Scott decided it was time to take serious steps in his life. He’d been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder--a crippling mental illness he developed after the war four decades ago.
go here for the rest
http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S361250.shtml?cat=10335
This is not a picture from Vietnam. It is from Afghanistan. They are not American forces but Canadian forces. Does it look that much different from the other one above taken in Vietnam?
For some, the war is no longer the war they fought with machine gun bullets or bombs. The war is the one they have inside of them. The battles are fought on a daily basis. These battles they try to fight alone. All the haunting images come back to them. They see it all, feel it all, re-experience it all as if time did not exists. They have a TV remote control in their hands instead of a machine gun. They have a Chevy steering wheel in their hands instead of the steering wheel of a military vehicle. They drive down a country road right here in the USA instead of a road in a foreign land. It doesn't matter what they are doing when a flashback comes at that moment because they are no longer here. They are right back there again. H.G. Wells could never manage to bring that kind of imagery to life as he created his time travel machine.
For veterans with PTSD, H.G. Wells fiction is their life. They don't need a machine to step into to travel back in time. They purchased a ticket the day they boot on their combat boots and their reservation for this trip was confirmed as soon as trauma collided with normal life.
The return trip back to normal life is up to us to cover the cost of. Without us, too many will never really make the journey back home.
By: Kim Johnson
kjohnson@wdio.com
Still Searching
"I did this one time before a long time ago," said Scott Cameron as he lowered himself down into an underground tunnel in Vietnam.
On a journey half way around the world, Scott Cameron is re-discovering places that have haunted him for decades. The tunnels he’s exploring were used by enemy soldiers to hide from danger during the war.
"You could escape into here when the B-52s started hitting," he said while looking into a hand-held personal video camera.
As the veteran goes deeper into the ground, bad memories begin to surface. "To be honest, I got to get the hell out of here," Scott said. "I'm getting real paranoid and I'm getting real claustrophobic."
Soon come flashbacks that are too powerful to bear. "This is really doing a lot of triggers for this guy, this old Vietnam vet," he said.
Scott is searching down in these holes, a painful search that began thousands of miles away back in Duluth.
Five months ago Scott decided it was time to take serious steps in his life. He’d been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder--a crippling mental illness he developed after the war four decades ago.
go here for the rest
http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S361250.shtml?cat=10335
This is not a picture from Vietnam. It is from Afghanistan. They are not American forces but Canadian forces. Does it look that much different from the other one above taken in Vietnam?
For some, the war is no longer the war they fought with machine gun bullets or bombs. The war is the one they have inside of them. The battles are fought on a daily basis. These battles they try to fight alone. All the haunting images come back to them. They see it all, feel it all, re-experience it all as if time did not exists. They have a TV remote control in their hands instead of a machine gun. They have a Chevy steering wheel in their hands instead of the steering wheel of a military vehicle. They drive down a country road right here in the USA instead of a road in a foreign land. It doesn't matter what they are doing when a flashback comes at that moment because they are no longer here. They are right back there again. H.G. Wells could never manage to bring that kind of imagery to life as he created his time travel machine.
The Time Machine is a novel by H. G. Wells, first published in 1895 and later directly adapted into at least two theatrical films of the same name as well as at least one television and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction in all media. Considered by many to be one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, this 38,000 word novella is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to such a vehicle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine
For veterans with PTSD, H.G. Wells fiction is their life. They don't need a machine to step into to travel back in time. They purchased a ticket the day they boot on their combat boots and their reservation for this trip was confirmed as soon as trauma collided with normal life.
The return trip back to normal life is up to us to cover the cost of. Without us, too many will never really make the journey back home.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Judith Busto, War Veteran and Police Officer Fired for PTSD?
Veteran alleges Albuquerque police wrongfully fired her
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 02/27/2008 05:19:28 PM MST
ALBUQUERQUE—A former dispatcher for the Albuquerque Police Department is alleging she was assaulted and humiliated while working for the city, then was fired.
Santa Fe attorney Merit Bennett filed a lawsuit in state district court Wednesday on behalf of Judith Busto, 22, seeking unspecified damages.
Busto alleges deprivation of constitutional rights, discrimination on the basis of disability, false arrest and imprisonment, assault and battery, negligent retention and supervision, and conspiracy.
The lawsuit said Busto, an Army combat medic and veteran of Afghanistan, was treated for post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, when she returned home.
When she was hired by the police, the lawsuit said, the department made no attempt to accommodate Busto's medical condition. The complaint alleges that "abject disregard" led to her wrongful termination on Oct. 4, 2006.
She said she turned to Mayor Martin Chavez for help, but he ignored her.
go here to read the rest of this story and get as angry as I am right now.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_8383192
I wonder what Gov. Richardson would have to say about this.
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 02/27/2008 05:19:28 PM MST
ALBUQUERQUE—A former dispatcher for the Albuquerque Police Department is alleging she was assaulted and humiliated while working for the city, then was fired.
Santa Fe attorney Merit Bennett filed a lawsuit in state district court Wednesday on behalf of Judith Busto, 22, seeking unspecified damages.
Busto alleges deprivation of constitutional rights, discrimination on the basis of disability, false arrest and imprisonment, assault and battery, negligent retention and supervision, and conspiracy.
The lawsuit said Busto, an Army combat medic and veteran of Afghanistan, was treated for post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, when she returned home.
When she was hired by the police, the lawsuit said, the department made no attempt to accommodate Busto's medical condition. The complaint alleges that "abject disregard" led to her wrongful termination on Oct. 4, 2006.
She said she turned to Mayor Martin Chavez for help, but he ignored her.
go here to read the rest of this story and get as angry as I am right now.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_8383192
I wonder what Gov. Richardson would have to say about this.
Vietnam Vet Turns from stress expert to AARP model
Stress Expert Among AARP's Top Models
USF stress expert Michael Rank is one of the winners of AARP The Magazine’s Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search.
By CLOE CABRERA, The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 27, 2008
TAMPA - Vietnam War veteran Michael Garnet Rank witnessed firsthand the horrific psychological effects the war had on his fellow soldiers.
He saw severe depression, drug and alcohol dependency, problems with memory and cognition, and other mental health issues. And it had a profound impact on his career.
Today, as director of trauma stress studies at the University of South Florida, Rank, 60, trains and educates others and researches issues related to post-traumatic stress and trauma.
"Although I was experienced in combat, the question I had when I came back was, why didn't I suffer the emotional problems of the war the way my peers had?" said Rank, a former Army infantryman. "In the early 1970s, there was no such thing as post-traumatic stress disorder as we know it. The VA Veterans Administration wasn't paying attention to it that decade. It was a very difficult time for veterans returning home with mental illness."
Rank's story - not to mention his character, sense of style and healthy lifestyle - won him a spot in AARP The Magazine's Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search.
USF stress expert Michael Rank is one of the winners of AARP The Magazine’s Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search.
By CLOE CABRERA, The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 27, 2008
TAMPA - Vietnam War veteran Michael Garnet Rank witnessed firsthand the horrific psychological effects the war had on his fellow soldiers.
He saw severe depression, drug and alcohol dependency, problems with memory and cognition, and other mental health issues. And it had a profound impact on his career.
Today, as director of trauma stress studies at the University of South Florida, Rank, 60, trains and educates others and researches issues related to post-traumatic stress and trauma.
"Although I was experienced in combat, the question I had when I came back was, why didn't I suffer the emotional problems of the war the way my peers had?" said Rank, a former Army infantryman. "In the early 1970s, there was no such thing as post-traumatic stress disorder as we know it. The VA Veterans Administration wasn't paying attention to it that decade. It was a very difficult time for veterans returning home with mental illness."
Rank's story - not to mention his character, sense of style and healthy lifestyle - won him a spot in AARP The Magazine's Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search.
click post title for the rest
Airman kills his 2 kids then self
Divorced US Air Force computer expert kills his 2 young children, himself at base housing
The Associated Press
Published: February 27, 2008
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma: A recently divorced airman who served with distinction in Iraq chased his ex-wife out of military housing with a pistol before killing his two young children and himself.
Tinker Air Force Base officials on Wednesday identified Tech. Sgt. Dustin Thorson, a military computer expert, as the killer in the shootings Monday.
His former wife had filed an order of protection against him last year, saying he had threatened to kill 4-year-old Dylan and 9-year-old Jourdain if she filed for divorce.
Thorson had been under the care of a mental health professional, Brig. Gen. Lori Robinson said. She would not say whether his mental problems were related to stress from his crumbling marriage or his experiences in Iraq.
Armed with a 9 mm Ruger semiautomatic pistol and a stun gun, Thorson, 35, chased his ex-wife, Michelle Thorson, out of the house before shooting his children and committing suicide, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said.
go here for the rest
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/27/america/NA-GEN-US-Base-Shootings.php
linked from
http://icasualties.org/oif/
The Associated Press
Published: February 27, 2008
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma: A recently divorced airman who served with distinction in Iraq chased his ex-wife out of military housing with a pistol before killing his two young children and himself.
Tinker Air Force Base officials on Wednesday identified Tech. Sgt. Dustin Thorson, a military computer expert, as the killer in the shootings Monday.
His former wife had filed an order of protection against him last year, saying he had threatened to kill 4-year-old Dylan and 9-year-old Jourdain if she filed for divorce.
Thorson had been under the care of a mental health professional, Brig. Gen. Lori Robinson said. She would not say whether his mental problems were related to stress from his crumbling marriage or his experiences in Iraq.
Armed with a 9 mm Ruger semiautomatic pistol and a stun gun, Thorson, 35, chased his ex-wife, Michelle Thorson, out of the house before shooting his children and committing suicide, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said.
go here for the rest
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/27/america/NA-GEN-US-Base-Shootings.php
linked from
http://icasualties.org/oif/
PTSD the burden of humanity
PTSD is a burden for humanity, and every nation must deal with it or ignore it at their peril.
Uganda
Israel
Iraq
Lebanon
Canada
Pick any country on the planet and PTSD is a problem. Much like global changes lives across national borders and continents, PTSD knows no boundaries. It requires one thing, a human exposed to a traumatic event. It does not know age. It does not know race. It does not know wealth or poverty or social status at all. It does not know language. It knows what strikes humans in their core. It hits with a warning, the event itself. PTSD is humanities burden and as traumatic events spiral out of control from nation to nation, humanity had better step up and defeat this enemy with the only weapon known to be able to defeat it, knowledge. Once people are aware what is wrong with them, they can seek help to heal. Ignorance is more deadly than a bullet because this enemy does not just hit the target but hits the entire family.
Uganda
Nine Million Ugandans Mentally Ill
AT LEAST 9 million out of the 29 million Ugandans are suffering from some form of mental disorder and are not fully productive, it has been revealed.
The disorders include; post traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, epilepsy and schizophrenia.
The ailments disrupt peoples' thinking and emotions, relations with people, daily functioning -and this often results in an inability to cope with the ordinary demands of life.
This was revealed yesterday by Dr Fred Kigozi, the director of Butabika Mental Hospital. He was speaking at a symposium to mark the World Mental Health Day in Kampala.
The theme of the symposium was 'Mental Health in a Changing World: Mental Health and the Impact of culture'.
"The number of citizens in Uganda who are moving from normal to abnormal status is increasing. Several studies have shown that 20 - 30 per cent of the Ugandan population suffer from common mental disorders," he said.
He said mentally ill people are unable to perform their duties and because of this, they can not contribute to the GDP (Growth Domestic Product) of Uganda."
Out of these, he said, at least one per cent have severe mental disorders like major depression, schizophrenia and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
go here for the rest
http://allafrica.com/stories/200802270959.html
Israel
Terror leaves 42% of children with PTSD
By Gideon Alon
Some 42 percent of Israeli children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which 15 percent have a moderate to severe version of the syndrome, Dr. Avital Laufer of Tel Aviv University told the Knesset Committee on the Rights of Children yesterday.
The committee was discussing the effects of the terror attacks of the past 32 months on children. Laufer's findings were based on a study of some 3,000 children aged 13 to 15, from both sides of the Green Line. Some 70 percent of the children said that the terror attacks had had a direct impact on their lives, causing them to abandon or avoid certain activities.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?item
No=300638&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Iraq
PTSD in Iraqis, children: The Lancet, "Mental Health of Iraqi Children", by Ali Razokhi, September 2, 2006.
40% of Iraqi professionals: Brookings Institution, "Iraq Index", page 24, January 2007.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2007/03/sources.html
02/27/08 IRIN: High rates of trauma, sickness among Iraqi refugees
Many of the estimated 70,000-150,000 Iraqi refugees in Egypt have developed serious psychological and stress-related illnesses, including cardiac problems, according to Ahlam Tobia, a medical doctor who works with refugees in Cairo.
Lebanon
Researchers say 2006 war left many children in targeted areas with emotional scars
Daily Star staff
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A new study issued on Wednesday showed that 14.4 percent of children and teenagers in South Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs suffered from war-related psychological symptoms after the summer 2006 war with Israel ended, adding that 15.4 percent of teenagers might suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders.
http://www.myantiwar.org/view/143679.html
Canada
PTSD Program Breaks New Ground in Canada
Joan Arehart-Treichel
Canada offers an inpatient treatment program for adults with posttraumatic stress disorder. It is based on the Sanctuary Model developed by Philadelphia psychiatrist Sandra Bloom, M.D.
A Canadian who has posttraumatic stress disorder might be wise to head to Guelph, Ontario. Canada’s only inpatient treatment program for PTSD—the "Program for Traumatic Stress Recovery"—can be found there at Homewood Health Center.
The program, which is underwritten by Canada’s universal health insurance system, runs six weeks. It has been in existence for a decade and, to date, has treated some 3,000 PTSD patients, from child-abuse survivors and motor-accident victims to peacekeepers who have witnessed atrocities.
Further, as PTSD is being increasingly recognized by health care professionals in Canada, more and more Canadian PTSD patients are being referred to the program. In fact, PTSD patients from other countries are also welcome to participate in it.
Pick any country on the planet and PTSD is a problem. Much like global changes lives across national borders and continents, PTSD knows no boundaries. It requires one thing, a human exposed to a traumatic event. It does not know age. It does not know race. It does not know wealth or poverty or social status at all. It does not know language. It knows what strikes humans in their core. It hits with a warning, the event itself. PTSD is humanities burden and as traumatic events spiral out of control from nation to nation, humanity had better step up and defeat this enemy with the only weapon known to be able to defeat it, knowledge. Once people are aware what is wrong with them, they can seek help to heal. Ignorance is more deadly than a bullet because this enemy does not just hit the target but hits the entire family.
Gen. Casey "we can fix ourselves over the next 3 to 4 years"
“If we get the resources in a timely, predictable fashion, we believe we can fix ourselves over the next three to four years.”
Casey: Move to shorter tours ‘has to happen’
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 17:41:55 EST
The Army’s chief of staff reiterated his commitment to shortening combat tours in Iraq to 12 months to a Senate panel Wednesday, stressing that current 15-month deployments are “just not sustainable.”
Echoing comments he made Tuesday to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. George Casey told Appropriations Committee members the Army is out of balance from more than six years of war and back-to-back deployments.
Casey told lawmakers that the service hopes to begin restoring that balance in July when he expects the demand for forces to decrease.
“That has to happen,” he said Wednesday at a fiscal 2009 budget overview hearing on Capital Hill. “Soldiers and leaders need to see that over time they won’t be deploying for 15 months and home for 12.”
Casey, who was the top U.S. commander in Iraq before taking the chief of staff job last spring, told lawmakers that cutting the time soldiers spend in combat is an integral part of reducing the stress on the force.
He said he anticipates the service can cut combat tours from 15 months to 12 months this summer, as long as the president reduces the number of active-duty Army brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan to 15 units by July, as planned.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/army_casey_budget_022708w/
God help the troops survive all this. The redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50%, yet they keep sending them back over and over again. Not enough time between deployments increases the risk and puts a bigger burden on the families. How long can this go on?
Casey: Move to shorter tours ‘has to happen’
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 17:41:55 EST
The Army’s chief of staff reiterated his commitment to shortening combat tours in Iraq to 12 months to a Senate panel Wednesday, stressing that current 15-month deployments are “just not sustainable.”
Echoing comments he made Tuesday to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. George Casey told Appropriations Committee members the Army is out of balance from more than six years of war and back-to-back deployments.
Casey told lawmakers that the service hopes to begin restoring that balance in July when he expects the demand for forces to decrease.
“That has to happen,” he said Wednesday at a fiscal 2009 budget overview hearing on Capital Hill. “Soldiers and leaders need to see that over time they won’t be deploying for 15 months and home for 12.”
Casey, who was the top U.S. commander in Iraq before taking the chief of staff job last spring, told lawmakers that cutting the time soldiers spend in combat is an integral part of reducing the stress on the force.
He said he anticipates the service can cut combat tours from 15 months to 12 months this summer, as long as the president reduces the number of active-duty Army brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan to 15 units by July, as planned.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/army_casey_budget_022708w/
God help the troops survive all this. The redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50%, yet they keep sending them back over and over again. Not enough time between deployments increases the risk and puts a bigger burden on the families. How long can this go on?
Dr. James B. Peake doing what Nicholson should have done years ago
VA Has Added 20 New Vet Centers
Posted : Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:19:51 GMT
Author : U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake today said an expansion by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of its Vet Centers, which provide readjustment counseling and outreach services to returning combat veterans, is well ahead of schedule.
In February 2007, VA announced it would open 23 new centers during the next two years. Fifteen of those centers are already operational, and five others are seeing patients in temporary facilities while finalizing their leases. The other three facilities will begin operations later this year.
"Building on our past successes, 2008 will see a permanent increase in the number of Vet Centers, as we bring the remaining facilities on line to reach a record 232 Vet Centers by the end of the year," Peake said.
"To support this expansion and augment the staff at 61 existing Vet Centers, this year we are channeling a 44 percent increase in funding to the Readjustment Counseling Service, which operates the Vet Centers -- nearly $50 million more than last year's budget," he added.
The community-based Vet Centers are a key component of VA's mental health program, providing veterans with mental health screening and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) counseling, along with help for family members dealing with bereavement and loved ones with PTSD.
click post title for the rest
Posted : Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:19:51 GMT
Author : U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake today said an expansion by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of its Vet Centers, which provide readjustment counseling and outreach services to returning combat veterans, is well ahead of schedule.
In February 2007, VA announced it would open 23 new centers during the next two years. Fifteen of those centers are already operational, and five others are seeing patients in temporary facilities while finalizing their leases. The other three facilities will begin operations later this year.
"Building on our past successes, 2008 will see a permanent increase in the number of Vet Centers, as we bring the remaining facilities on line to reach a record 232 Vet Centers by the end of the year," Peake said.
"To support this expansion and augment the staff at 61 existing Vet Centers, this year we are channeling a 44 percent increase in funding to the Readjustment Counseling Service, which operates the Vet Centers -- nearly $50 million more than last year's budget," he added.
The community-based Vet Centers are a key component of VA's mental health program, providing veterans with mental health screening and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) counseling, along with help for family members dealing with bereavement and loved ones with PTSD.
click post title for the rest
PTSD WOUND OF LESSER VALUE?
Experts: VA disability system can be fixed
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 12:47:24 EST
Medical experts, advocacy groups and Veterans Affairs Department officials say VA’s disability rating schedule needs to be updated — continually — but they denied the system is so bad that it needs to be dumped completely.
A Tuesday hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance and memorial affairs also focused on studies conducted over the past year that point toward needed improvements not only in the ratings schedule, but in VA’s disability retirement system itself.
Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., chairman of the subcommittee, said VA needs to remove “archaic” criteria from the rating schedule; update psychiatric criteria to better reflect symptoms of troops diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder; find out why so many veterans with PTSD have been rated fully disabled; and update neurological criteria to include new research on traumatic brain injuries.
“The VA needs the right tools to do the right thing,” Hall said.
VA argued that it is already doing the right thing and has been updating the rating schedule, though officials acknowledged they could do better. From 1990 through 2007, VA had updated 47 percent of the ratings schedule, but 35 percent of the codes had not been touched since 1945. However, VA said it updated the codes for TBI in January and is working on an update for PTSD.
The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission began looking at how service members’ and veterans’ disability cases were being handled long before February 2007, when Military Times and the Washington Post featured stories highlighting problems in the system. Retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, a member of the commission, said VA has made “very limited progress” since the group’s report came out in October.
“I believe the ratings schedule needs to be clarified so it has logic from the point of view of medicine and science,” McGinn said. “It has not progressed in the last five decades.”
The group found that VA compensates veterans according to the schedule in a way that is “generally adequate to offset average impairment” and that the schedule does “reasonably well.”
But there are specific areas where VA’s system does not serve troops and veterans well, McGinn said, including those with PTSD, those severely disabled at a young age and those granted maximum benefits because a disability makes them unemployable.
Veterans with PTSD, he noted, have “much greater loss of employment and earnings” than those with physical disabilities.
McGinn recommended separate criteria on the rating schedule for PTSD, as well as a way to compensate unemployable veterans for lost quality of life, not just their inability to work.
So-called “individual unemployability” veterans may have formal VA disability ratings of less than 100 percent, but are still rated fully disabled because of their inability to work. The commission found that almost half of the 223,000 IU veterans have primary diagnoses of PTSD or other mental disorders.
The problem is that if a veteran has physical disabilities that lead to a 100 percent disability rating, he can still work and keep his full compensation. But a veteran who has a 100 percent disability for a mental disorder tries to work, he loses his compensation.
go here for the rest
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_disabilityratings_022708w/
This last part is very important. My husband is 70% disabled for PTSD and 30% unemployable. Yet it is 100% of his life that has been touched. He can't work but he fought very hard to keep his job under Family and Medical Leave Act for as long as he could. His doctor told him that he was just making his PTSD worse with the stress. Every aspect of his life and mine are adapted to deal with his wound. There are conversations we cannot have.
There are times when we cannot communicate at all except to have a brief conversation about what to have for dinner. His decision making skills are virtually gone, paranoia consumes him to the point where I get so fed up I tell him "You get worried if you don't have something to worry about." The body wounded is terrible and the scars can be seen for a lifetime. When they mind is wounded the scars on the life are forever. Depending on when they get treated and begin to heal, their wound can be mild all the way to fully consuming every aspect of their life.
A while ago a reader wanted to know why I thought PTSD was worse than losing a limb. He wanted to know how I could compare the loss of a leg to PTSD. I told him it was easy. Had my husband lost a limb, I would still have a husband with the rest of his body, his mind and his heart. I have a husband who has had his mind wounded and his soul torn.
If we go to one of the parks on our Friday play day and his face begins to twitch or he begins to make involuntary mouth movements as if he is talking to himself, he gets stared at as if people are afraid of him. What most people do not fully understand is that many who have lost limbs also have PTSD and they are dealing with double the wounding but they get a Purple Heart for a body wound while their other wound, the one that inflicts the most pain on their lives as well as their family's lives, is something considered of lesser value.
With a physical wound that is not a back injury or a brain injury, they can be retrained to do something else for work. With a back injury, they cannot. With a brain injury, depending on how serious it is, they cannot work either. With PTSD they cannot work if they have high levels of test results. PTSD and TBI wounded need to be taken seriously enough to have their wounds categorized as enveloping not just their lives but the lives of their families as well. If we do not fully appreciate the role of the families in taking care of these veterans, then we will see a lot more homeless veterans because of PTSD.
Aside from providing support groups to help hold families together and proactive outreach to them, they also need to be provided for when it comes to the quality of their own lives being involved. My husband is one of the biggest reasons why I cannot work full time any longer. Doing this work at home on a volunteer basis, I can be here when he needs me and I don't have to answer to anyone as to why I have to take him to the doctors when he's having a bad day and cannot go alone. That's why working part time was perfect for me. He can be alone a few hours a day with no problem at all. This gets forgotten about when wives and husbands are unable to do the jobs they used to do in order to take care of their wounded warrior.
This hearing today was a step in the right direction.
Avoiding employment is not the problem. Being unable to be employed is. You cannot retrain a mind to work normally.
Again it needs to be noticed that there has to be other factors put in when considering steps to take in improving the treatment the veterans have by including their families.
The only thing that has kept my husband in treatment with the VA is the thought of getting as bad as he was without it. The idea of retesting what is already known to be a lifetime wound only causes more stress for the veteran. If they are in treatment, then there is no need to "retest" to make sure they are still wounded.
TBI and PTSD are not wounds of lesser value and they need to be treated differently than other wounds. If a soldier has TBI from a bullet wound, that is a wound from the bullet, the TBI and in most cases PTSD as well.
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 12:47:24 EST
Medical experts, advocacy groups and Veterans Affairs Department officials say VA’s disability rating schedule needs to be updated — continually — but they denied the system is so bad that it needs to be dumped completely.
A Tuesday hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance and memorial affairs also focused on studies conducted over the past year that point toward needed improvements not only in the ratings schedule, but in VA’s disability retirement system itself.
Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., chairman of the subcommittee, said VA needs to remove “archaic” criteria from the rating schedule; update psychiatric criteria to better reflect symptoms of troops diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder; find out why so many veterans with PTSD have been rated fully disabled; and update neurological criteria to include new research on traumatic brain injuries.
“The VA needs the right tools to do the right thing,” Hall said.
VA argued that it is already doing the right thing and has been updating the rating schedule, though officials acknowledged they could do better. From 1990 through 2007, VA had updated 47 percent of the ratings schedule, but 35 percent of the codes had not been touched since 1945. However, VA said it updated the codes for TBI in January and is working on an update for PTSD.
The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission began looking at how service members’ and veterans’ disability cases were being handled long before February 2007, when Military Times and the Washington Post featured stories highlighting problems in the system. Retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, a member of the commission, said VA has made “very limited progress” since the group’s report came out in October.
“I believe the ratings schedule needs to be clarified so it has logic from the point of view of medicine and science,” McGinn said. “It has not progressed in the last five decades.”
The group found that VA compensates veterans according to the schedule in a way that is “generally adequate to offset average impairment” and that the schedule does “reasonably well.”
But there are specific areas where VA’s system does not serve troops and veterans well, McGinn said, including those with PTSD, those severely disabled at a young age and those granted maximum benefits because a disability makes them unemployable.
Veterans with PTSD, he noted, have “much greater loss of employment and earnings” than those with physical disabilities.
McGinn recommended separate criteria on the rating schedule for PTSD, as well as a way to compensate unemployable veterans for lost quality of life, not just their inability to work.
So-called “individual unemployability” veterans may have formal VA disability ratings of less than 100 percent, but are still rated fully disabled because of their inability to work. The commission found that almost half of the 223,000 IU veterans have primary diagnoses of PTSD or other mental disorders.
The problem is that if a veteran has physical disabilities that lead to a 100 percent disability rating, he can still work and keep his full compensation. But a veteran who has a 100 percent disability for a mental disorder tries to work, he loses his compensation.
go here for the rest
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_disabilityratings_022708w/
This last part is very important. My husband is 70% disabled for PTSD and 30% unemployable. Yet it is 100% of his life that has been touched. He can't work but he fought very hard to keep his job under Family and Medical Leave Act for as long as he could. His doctor told him that he was just making his PTSD worse with the stress. Every aspect of his life and mine are adapted to deal with his wound. There are conversations we cannot have.
There are times when we cannot communicate at all except to have a brief conversation about what to have for dinner. His decision making skills are virtually gone, paranoia consumes him to the point where I get so fed up I tell him "You get worried if you don't have something to worry about." The body wounded is terrible and the scars can be seen for a lifetime. When they mind is wounded the scars on the life are forever. Depending on when they get treated and begin to heal, their wound can be mild all the way to fully consuming every aspect of their life.
A while ago a reader wanted to know why I thought PTSD was worse than losing a limb. He wanted to know how I could compare the loss of a leg to PTSD. I told him it was easy. Had my husband lost a limb, I would still have a husband with the rest of his body, his mind and his heart. I have a husband who has had his mind wounded and his soul torn.
If we go to one of the parks on our Friday play day and his face begins to twitch or he begins to make involuntary mouth movements as if he is talking to himself, he gets stared at as if people are afraid of him. What most people do not fully understand is that many who have lost limbs also have PTSD and they are dealing with double the wounding but they get a Purple Heart for a body wound while their other wound, the one that inflicts the most pain on their lives as well as their family's lives, is something considered of lesser value.
With a physical wound that is not a back injury or a brain injury, they can be retrained to do something else for work. With a back injury, they cannot. With a brain injury, depending on how serious it is, they cannot work either. With PTSD they cannot work if they have high levels of test results. PTSD and TBI wounded need to be taken seriously enough to have their wounds categorized as enveloping not just their lives but the lives of their families as well. If we do not fully appreciate the role of the families in taking care of these veterans, then we will see a lot more homeless veterans because of PTSD.
Aside from providing support groups to help hold families together and proactive outreach to them, they also need to be provided for when it comes to the quality of their own lives being involved. My husband is one of the biggest reasons why I cannot work full time any longer. Doing this work at home on a volunteer basis, I can be here when he needs me and I don't have to answer to anyone as to why I have to take him to the doctors when he's having a bad day and cannot go alone. That's why working part time was perfect for me. He can be alone a few hours a day with no problem at all. This gets forgotten about when wives and husbands are unable to do the jobs they used to do in order to take care of their wounded warrior.
This hearing today was a step in the right direction.
This could inspire a veteran to avoid seeking out vocational rehabilitation or employment, and also implies something “suspect” about claiming PTSD — which only adds to the considerable stigma behind the disease, said Dean Kilpatrick, a member of the Committee on Veterans’ Compensation for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder at the Institute of Medicine.
Avoiding employment is not the problem. Being unable to be employed is. You cannot retrain a mind to work normally.
McGinn also requested couples therapy as part of treatment for PTSD. That is important because responding to a veteran’s anger with more anger can exacerbate the problem, while learning how to work with a spouse suffering PTSD can be part of a cure, he said. Also, many family members deal with their own mental health issues while living with someone with PTSD.
Again it needs to be noticed that there has to be other factors put in when considering steps to take in improving the treatment the veterans have by including their families.
McGinn’s group and Kilpatrick had different recommendations as far as follow-up evaluations for people with PTSD. Again, other disabilities are not re-examined, so an exam puts those with mental disabilities in a separate class. But McGinn’s group sees follow-ups as a way to encourage vets to seek further treatment.
The only thing that has kept my husband in treatment with the VA is the thought of getting as bad as he was without it. The idea of retesting what is already known to be a lifetime wound only causes more stress for the veteran. If they are in treatment, then there is no need to "retest" to make sure they are still wounded.
TBI and PTSD are not wounds of lesser value and they need to be treated differently than other wounds. If a soldier has TBI from a bullet wound, that is a wound from the bullet, the TBI and in most cases PTSD as well.
Verdict in electrocution of Pvt. Van Ryan Marcum Upheld
Verdict in electrocution of soldier upheld
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 10:13:27 EST
LITTLE ROCK — A federal appeals panel on Tuesday upheld a $6.5 million verdict against a private contractor in the death of an Arkansas soldier who was electrocuted when he leaned back against the metal exterior wall of a latrine.
Pvt. Van Ryan Marcum died June 19, 2004, following an exercise at a firing range at Fort Benning, Ga. Marcum’s estate sued The Shaw Group Inc., which was under contract to demolish several abandoned metal latrines at the Army base. Marcum, 21, was from Prescott, Ark.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis turned away The Shaw Group’s requests for a new trial or a ruling that the company was not responsible.
The Shaw Group, based in Baton Rouge, La., argued that it had no duty to have demolished the latrine, noting that the Army had given it an extension for the demolition work.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_electrocution_022608/
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 10:13:27 EST
LITTLE ROCK — A federal appeals panel on Tuesday upheld a $6.5 million verdict against a private contractor in the death of an Arkansas soldier who was electrocuted when he leaned back against the metal exterior wall of a latrine.
Pvt. Van Ryan Marcum died June 19, 2004, following an exercise at a firing range at Fort Benning, Ga. Marcum’s estate sued The Shaw Group Inc., which was under contract to demolish several abandoned metal latrines at the Army base. Marcum, 21, was from Prescott, Ark.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis turned away The Shaw Group’s requests for a new trial or a ruling that the company was not responsible.
The Shaw Group, based in Baton Rouge, La., argued that it had no duty to have demolished the latrine, noting that the Army had given it an extension for the demolition work.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_electrocution_022608/
Mental Health being withheld from Fort Drum Soldiers
Military Doctors Withholding Treatment from Soldiers with Mental Health Problems
By Maggie Mahar, Health Beat.
Posted February 27, 2008.
The military is denying crucial care to soldiers, making them vulnerable on the battlefield.
In recent months, VFA reports, it has been contacted by a number of soldiers based at Fort Drum who are concerned about their own mental health and the health of other members of their units. In response, VFA launched an investigation of conditions at Fort Drum, and what it found was shocking.
Soldiers told the VFA that "the leader of the mental health treatment clinic at Fort Drum asked soldiers not to discuss their mental health problems with people outside the base. Attempts to keep matters 'in house' foster an atmosphere of secrecy and shame," the report observed "that is not conducive to proper treatment for combat-related mental health injuries."
The investigators also discovered that "some military mental health providers have argued that a number of soldiers fake mental health injuries to increase the likelihood that they will be deemed unfit for combat and/or for further military service."
The report notes that a "conversation with a leading expert in treating combat psychological wounds" confirmed "that some military commanders at Fort Drum doubt the validity of mental health wounds in some soldiers, thereby undermining treatment prescribed by civilian psychiatrists" at the nearby Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, NY.
"In the estimation of this expert, military commanders have undue influence in the treatment of soldiers with psychological wounds," the report noted. "Another point of general concern for VFA is that Samaritan also has a strong financial incentive to maintain business ties with Fort Drum -- a dynamic [that] deserves greater scrutiny."
Because some soldiers do not trust Samaritan, the report reveals that a number of "soldiers have sought treatment after normal base business hours at a hospital in Syracuse, more than an hour's drive from Watertown ... because they feared that Samaritan would side with base leadership, which had, in some cases, cast doubt on the legitimacy of combat-related mental health wounds.
go here for the rest
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/77867/
It is almost impossible to get these men and women to admit they need help. They were trained to take care of themselves and watch out for the backs of their brothers and sisters. I've been dealing with them and their denials for 25 years. They don't want to admit they need help. Yet still, Fort Drum, and other bases, treat those who do as if they are slackers! Disgraceful! How can it be that such very smart, able, dedicated leaders can remain so uninformed and uneducated as to the tactics of the enemy the soldiers bring home with them? PTSD is an enemy. It attacks and it kills. There is only one thing PTSD fears and that is knowledge.
By Maggie Mahar, Health Beat.
Posted February 27, 2008.
The military is denying crucial care to soldiers, making them vulnerable on the battlefield.
In recent months, VFA reports, it has been contacted by a number of soldiers based at Fort Drum who are concerned about their own mental health and the health of other members of their units. In response, VFA launched an investigation of conditions at Fort Drum, and what it found was shocking.
Soldiers told the VFA that "the leader of the mental health treatment clinic at Fort Drum asked soldiers not to discuss their mental health problems with people outside the base. Attempts to keep matters 'in house' foster an atmosphere of secrecy and shame," the report observed "that is not conducive to proper treatment for combat-related mental health injuries."
The investigators also discovered that "some military mental health providers have argued that a number of soldiers fake mental health injuries to increase the likelihood that they will be deemed unfit for combat and/or for further military service."
The report notes that a "conversation with a leading expert in treating combat psychological wounds" confirmed "that some military commanders at Fort Drum doubt the validity of mental health wounds in some soldiers, thereby undermining treatment prescribed by civilian psychiatrists" at the nearby Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, NY.
"In the estimation of this expert, military commanders have undue influence in the treatment of soldiers with psychological wounds," the report noted. "Another point of general concern for VFA is that Samaritan also has a strong financial incentive to maintain business ties with Fort Drum -- a dynamic [that] deserves greater scrutiny."
Because some soldiers do not trust Samaritan, the report reveals that a number of "soldiers have sought treatment after normal base business hours at a hospital in Syracuse, more than an hour's drive from Watertown ... because they feared that Samaritan would side with base leadership, which had, in some cases, cast doubt on the legitimacy of combat-related mental health wounds.
go here for the rest
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/77867/
It is almost impossible to get these men and women to admit they need help. They were trained to take care of themselves and watch out for the backs of their brothers and sisters. I've been dealing with them and their denials for 25 years. They don't want to admit they need help. Yet still, Fort Drum, and other bases, treat those who do as if they are slackers! Disgraceful! How can it be that such very smart, able, dedicated leaders can remain so uninformed and uneducated as to the tactics of the enemy the soldiers bring home with them? PTSD is an enemy. It attacks and it kills. There is only one thing PTSD fears and that is knowledge.
Army Suicide Rates Go Up, Alarm Bells Don't
Army Suicide Rates ClimbingPosted: 10:27 PM Feb 26, 2008
Last Updated: 6:24 AM Feb 27, 2008
Reporter: David Nancarrow
Email Address: mailto:dnancarrow@kktv11news.com?subject=Army
Army Suicide Rates Climbing
The Colorado Springs community is constantly reminded of the men and women in uniform who are lost in combat. The Army is now reporting a dramatic rise in the number of soldiers taking their own lives.
There is a single diamond set in a black band on the finger where Mia Sagahon expected to wear her wedding ring.
She thought her fiancee, a veteran, Walter Padilla would be by her side forever.
"You wake up and see them daily and then they're just gone," she said.
Visions of the battlefield haunted the medically discharged Padilla. He tried to hide his pain and tormenting questions from the ones he loved. Mia now knows these questions all too well.
"Am I a weak person?" she believed he wondered. "Why is this happening to me? feeling alone, why am I having these dreams?"
Walter silenced the voices in 2007, taking his life with a single shot from his own gun.
"You can't say good-bye, or anything. It's horrible," Sagahon said.
The Army expects 2007 will have been one of the worst in years in terms of suicide among active soldiers. If 32 cases still under investigation add to the 89 confirmed, 121 suicides represent a 20% spike from 2006, more than twice the number reported in 2001, pushing the Army rate closer to that seen among the civilian community.
Even more alarming, according to Department of Defense sources, attempted suicides rose to more than 2,000, up from about 1400 in 2006.
It is an issue that hits close to home for Ft. Carson commanders. Commanding Officer, Major General Mark Graham, lost a son to suicide.
"In every case where there's a suicide, people will tell you I should have seen it coming. I should have seen it," Graham said.
Army investigators say motives are different, but common reasons include stress levels from time put in to the battle.
"The secretary of the Army says our Army is tired that is no secret. I think our nation is understanding that we are a nation at war now for 7 years in Afghanistan, six years in Iraq," said COL Kelly Wolgast, Director of Ft. Carson's Evans Army Hospital.
Investigators report many are linked to strained romantic relationships, or failed marriages. There's also the issue of fearing to admit to loved ones and superiors they need help.
go here for the rest
http://www.kktv.com/news/headlines/16012862.html
How much time will they talk about doing something? How much money will they throw at this without results that prove it's working? How many different "steps" will they take before they discover what they are doing is not working? When will they hear the alarm bells going off all around the country that when it comes to them coming home, the military sucks at taking care of them?
Senator Brownback showed disrespect to PTSD veterans
By the information on Brownback's site, it's clear that the impression Jay Harden, the author of the following letter, had was right on the mark.
Letter: Take care of veteransPublished Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Sen. Sam Brownback met with us on the PTSD ward at Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center on Feb. 11. I sincerely appreciate his time and good intentions, but the ultimate purpose of the uninvited intrusion escapes me. Perhaps a photo-op?
Sen. Brownback is a public servant, a U.S. senator. That is, he serves the public, and I am one of the public. Therefore, it is important to me (and possibly him) to provide the following feedback.
In my opinion, the entire PTSD patient population here didn't appreciate the senator's performance, nor did many of the professional staff. And I am being charitable here.
Some of us bared our souls, stories and traumas to a stranger and his entourage in the hope some greater good would come of it. At least one veteran walked out on Sen. Brownback, on the verge of tears because of his disrespect to Vietnam veterans. One had the foresight to decline his direct invitation to talk about his Iraq experience.
This is what I want from Sen. Brownback. Take on the task of getting the word out to veterans about the PTSD services of the VA. And do something to standardize the quality of VA care across the nation.
I was stunned to learn how VA services vary greatly in quality from one facility to another. For example, some VA facilities don't help PTSD veterans unless the PTSD is combat-related. This is unacceptable. All are equally worthy as we still relive our service traumas without choice.
I should be able to walk into any VA facility in the U.S. and get the same quality of care for the same services offered. Just because it has never been done doesn't mean it is impossible, right?
JAY HARDEN, Topeka
http://cjonline.com/stories/022708/opi_251511209.shtml
This is from Brownback's site
VETERANS
At a time when our government is asking thousands of military members to enter harm's way in our war against terrorism, the citizens of Kansas are seeing a dramatic decrease in the standard of care that our veterans are provided to help them with the lifelong physical and mental effects of these wars. I have long been a supporter of veterans and veterans' benefits. America's veterans have put their lives on the line to defend our country and we should honor their sacrifices and fulfill our commitments to them. Keeping our nation strong and keeping our promises to veterans should be among our top national priorities.
Brownback Visits Walter Reed
"The system that provides treatment for our soldiers must be improved, but I continue to be impressed with the commitment and dedication of the staff at Walter Reed and other military facilities. I offer my heartfelt thanks and prayers for those wounded while defending this nation and I want to thank all those currently serving in our Armed Forces. Their sacrifices make this nation great and we all owe them a debt of gratitude." Read More
Brownback Introduces Bill to Protect Veteran's Memorials
This important bill would prevent judicial activist groups from using a 1970s-era civil rights law to force taxpayers to pay their attorney's fees in cases related to public displays of religious faith. Read More Bill S.415: Veterans' Memorials, Boy Scouts, Public Seals, and Other Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act of 2007
http://brownback.senate.gov/english/legissues/veterans/index.cfm
Suicide matters to Michelle Malkin, but not when it involves the troops
When I received a heads up on a new article from Michelle Malkin I may be interested in, I paused before going to the link. What could she possibly say that would interest me? My gut instinct was right and should have just avoided it. I ended up very angry.
How is it that the "right" always seem to be so outraged when women have abortions but never, ever contemplate the suicides of our veterans. They never seem to be willing to acknowledge one single needles death when it comes to them.
This is just one more case of them not being willing to really stand up for the troops and our veterans. They could join in the effort to have all our veterans treated for PTSD and cared for in the manner this nation should finally be willing to do, but they don't. Yet Malkin managed to add in the terms AWOL and MIA. These are military terms for Absent Without Leave and Missing in Action. When it comes to our wounded warriors, she couldn't have picked better terms to describe their neglect.
I cannot remember a single time I visited any of their sites and found something worthy of posting. There has been virtually no information they provide that has any value to what should really matter to everyone in this country. Why is that? I keep asking and receive absolutely no explanation at all. Why can't they live up to their claims of being all about supporting the troops when the troops need them? Why can't they cross over the line of wanting to defend Bush when the troops suffer from his neglect? Does anyone have any thoughts on this at all?
We have thousands committing suicide because of PTSD, yet these "pro-life" people want to ignore the living, breathing, suffering so hopeless that they cannot find the strength to go on one more day without relief. All these veterans need is compassion enough to reach out a hand to help them heal, yet the "right" ignore them. Worse, they attack media reports regarding the needless suffering of our men and women in uniform serving this nation. What will it take to get them involved in any of this? What will it take people like O'Reilly and Hannity and Coulter to actually join the fight for the sake of the troops that has absolutely nothing to do with being for or against the occupation of Iraq? The troops will one day leave Iraq but they will not leave Iraq behind them. They will not leave Afghanistan behind them any more than they left Vietnam or the Gulf War behind them or any combat. This will take every ounce of dedication and courage the people of this nation can find to fight for them.
PTSD has nothing to do with a political affiliation, believing in the mission or not, being from a "blue state" or a "red state" or any type of religious institution. It has to do with being a human exposed to traumatic events. Combat is the form that cuts the deepest, but police and firefighters, emergency responders, crime victims, survivors of natures fury, all experience PTSD. What will it take for these people to actually start acting like members of the human family?
How is it that the "right" always seem to be so outraged when women have abortions but never, ever contemplate the suicides of our veterans. They never seem to be willing to acknowledge one single needles death when it comes to them.
This is just one more case of them not being willing to really stand up for the troops and our veterans. They could join in the effort to have all our veterans treated for PTSD and cared for in the manner this nation should finally be willing to do, but they don't. Yet Malkin managed to add in the terms AWOL and MIA. These are military terms for Absent Without Leave and Missing in Action. When it comes to our wounded warriors, she couldn't have picked better terms to describe their neglect.
I cannot remember a single time I visited any of their sites and found something worthy of posting. There has been virtually no information they provide that has any value to what should really matter to everyone in this country. Why is that? I keep asking and receive absolutely no explanation at all. Why can't they live up to their claims of being all about supporting the troops when the troops need them? Why can't they cross over the line of wanting to defend Bush when the troops suffer from his neglect? Does anyone have any thoughts on this at all?
February 27, 2008
The Suicide of Emma Beck and Silence No More
By Michelle Malkin
She didn't have to die. And neither did her unborn children. Over the weekend, London newspapers reported on the 2007 suicide of 30-year-old Emma Beck, a young British artist who hung herself after the abortion of her twin babies. Perhaps the retelling of her suffering can prevent more needless deaths.
The agony and loneliness in Emma Beck's suicide note resonate across the pond, across racial and class lines, across generations. She was distraught over a breakup with her boyfriend, who didn't want the children. She was suffering intense grief from her decision to end the lives inside her. And so she ended her own.
"I should never have had an abortion. I see now I would have been a good mum," Beck wrote. "I told everyone I didn't want to do it, even at the hospital. I was frightened, now it is too late. I died when my babies died. I want to be with my babies -- they need me, no one else does."But it's not just jaded abortion providers and medical assistants, AWOL counselors and MIA parents who need to look in the mirror.
go here for the rest
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/the_suicide_of_emma_beck_and_s.html
We have thousands committing suicide because of PTSD, yet these "pro-life" people want to ignore the living, breathing, suffering so hopeless that they cannot find the strength to go on one more day without relief. All these veterans need is compassion enough to reach out a hand to help them heal, yet the "right" ignore them. Worse, they attack media reports regarding the needless suffering of our men and women in uniform serving this nation. What will it take to get them involved in any of this? What will it take people like O'Reilly and Hannity and Coulter to actually join the fight for the sake of the troops that has absolutely nothing to do with being for or against the occupation of Iraq? The troops will one day leave Iraq but they will not leave Iraq behind them. They will not leave Afghanistan behind them any more than they left Vietnam or the Gulf War behind them or any combat. This will take every ounce of dedication and courage the people of this nation can find to fight for them.
PTSD has nothing to do with a political affiliation, believing in the mission or not, being from a "blue state" or a "red state" or any type of religious institution. It has to do with being a human exposed to traumatic events. Combat is the form that cuts the deepest, but police and firefighters, emergency responders, crime victims, survivors of natures fury, all experience PTSD. What will it take for these people to actually start acting like members of the human family?
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