Army finally understands mind-body-spirit connection

Army to Revolutionize Healthcare with Whole-Person Concept
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 29, 2008) - A change in healthcare begins March 1 across the Army, the Department of Defense and the nation, said the executive officer for the assistant surgeon general for warrior care and transition.



Phase 2: Assessment

Next comes the assessment phase when doctors, physical and vocational therapists, mental-health workers, social workers and others will evaluate the Soldiers in the four areas of body, mind, heart and spirit.

Physical well-being not only means the Soldiers are healing and going to physical therapy, it can mean they need to get back into shape or start weight-loss programs, Dominguez said, especially if they want to return to duty.

In the area of the mind, Dominguez said, the Army will pay close attention to Soldiers who have traumatic brain injuries and provide neurocognitive testing, and check for speech and language problems, problem-solving skills and concentration skills.

Experts will take a close look at Soldiers’ abilities and interests, what kind of jobs they want to do and what they can do. Most importantly, the Army is going to provide educational and vocational training for Soldiers in WTUs, and Soldiers will be required to participate as much as they are physically and mentally able.

Heart and Soul

In the area of the heart, medical officials will examine Soldiers’ relationships, how they are able to resolve conflicts and any socially unacceptable behaviors.

Col. David Reese, director for ministry initiatives at the Office of the Chief of Chaplains, said the Strong Bonds program of marriage retreats is being expanded to meet the specific needs of wounded Soldiers and their Families. In addition to the regular curriculum focusing on communication skills, the program will be handicapped accessible and provide forums on challenges specific to them, such as grief and loss. Some chaplains have already begun offering specific weekends to wounded warriors and their Families on an informal basis.

Dominguez said that spirit can include anything from religious support — Reese said chaplains will be assigned to all WTUs at the battalion level — to hobbies Soldiers’ enjoy. She said officials are especially concerned when Soldiers’ injuries make their previous hobbies impossible. What would a Soldier who liked to paint but has been blinded do for a hobby? Dominguez said they might help him or her learn to sculpt, for example.

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It's about time! Now if they can get the rest of the jackasses still thinking PTSD is a crock, we'll be that much closer to taking care of our veterans for real.

Sgt. Matthew J. Rhoads Fort Bragg death under investigation

Officials investigating Fort Bragg death

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 4, 2008 16:59:46 EST

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Military officials are investigating the death of a soldier whose body was found Sunday night on Fort Bragg.

The Army identified the paratrooper Tuesday as 29-year-old Sgt. Matthew J. Rhoads of Philadelphia.

A spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne Division said investigators don’t suspect foul play. Details haven’t been released.

Rhoads was a small arms master gunner assigned to the division’s 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. He was deployed to Iraq from August 2006 until February 2007.

Rhoads is survived by his parents, Gerald and Karen Rhoads, a brother and a sister, all of Philadelphia.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_braggdeath_030408/

OCD the other out for military instead of PTSD

The Connection between Trauma, PTSD, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
PTSD has been found to commonly co-occur with other anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (commonly referred to as OCD).

In fact, studies have found that anywhere between 4% and 22% of people with PTSD also have a diagnosis of OCD. In addition, people with OCD also show a high likelihood of having experienced traumatic events. For example, it was found that 54% of people with a diagnosis of OCD reported having had experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.

The experience of traumatic events has also been connected to compulsive behaviors often seen in OCD, such as hoarding. You can learn more about the connection between trauma, PTSD, and OCD here.


click above for more.

They use all kinds of excuses to send the troops home without the ability to collect for combat wounds. PTSD is a recognized wound, or at least close to it, but OCD and Bipolar and Personality Disorder is not along with Schizophrenia. I posted this before about the symptoms on these other illnesses and if you look careful at the signs of PTSD, bingo, you see all of the above. It's easy for anyone wanting to, to misdiagnose these wounded as if they went to combat already wounded instead of getting wounded in service to this nation.

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides

Veterans For Common Sense would not have to sue the VA if the VA did what they should have done under Nicholson. The veterans have been paying the price for his loyalty to the administration instead of them.

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides
Monday, March 03, 2008 9:18 PM
By Vic Lee

There is pressure on the Veterans Administration to do more to prevent suicides. The number of vets returning from Iraq and taking their own lives is reaching an epidemic level. That's what veterans groups claim and they are taking the VA to court to force it to do more.

This is the first salvo of a major class action lawsuit filed by veterans groups, challenging what they call "the failure of the VA to properly treat returning veterans."

They say there are long waiting lists for veterans who need mental health care and a huge backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims. In the meantime, veterans are said to be committing suicide in unprecedented numbers.

Former Marine Guido Gualco fought in the late 80's in Operation Desert Storm. VA doctors failed to diagnose his PTSD until 2005 -- 14 years after he was discharged. It got so bad, he begged his friend to kill him.

"I was questioning God, 'why was I alive?' I didn't want to live," says Gualco.

Army specialist Tim Chapman was a Humvee gunner in the Middle East. He was discharged after he fell into a deep depression in 2006.

"I was sitting in Roseville with my gas on the pedal and I was going to drive my car off this cliff at a truck stop," says Chapman.

Paul Sullivan heads Veterans for Common Sense. He says the VA has failed to deal with the growing problem of veteran suicides.

"There are cases around the country of veterans who said they were suicidal in front of VA employees and they were placed on waiting lists and otherwise turned away," says Sullivan.
go here for the rest
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=5996940

In 2004, there were already complaints about Bush's VA budget.

In a statement issued shortly after the budget was released, Edward S. Banas Sr., commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, called the VA's health care spending proposal "a disgrace and a sham."

VA officials reply that spending for health care will increase under the budget, but that tough choices had to be made because of the soaring budget deficit and limits on spending.

With two occupations producing more wounded, the VA, under Nicholson, called for a reduction in staff at the VA instead of wanting to increase them.

According to John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA is calling for a reduction of 540 full-time jobs in the Veterans Benefits Administration, which handles disability, pension and other claims by veterans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24665-2004Mar2

What we saw was the GOP taking sides with Bush on this.

Senator Larry Craig

Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said the Department of Veterans Affairs would need more than the $30.7 billion for medical care in Mr. Bush's budget just "to maintain current levels of service" in 2006.

Mr. Craig said at a committee hearing that the White House was seeking an increase of less than one-half of 1 percent in the appropriation for veterans' medical care. He also noted that the administration wanted to save $606 million by restricting eligibility for nursing home care.

Yet at the end of the report Craig came out with this.

Mr. Craig said he detected "unanimous concern on the part of this committee that the budget has some inadequacies." The need to provide care to veterans is increasing, he said, because improvements in military medicine are saving the lives of many service members whose injuries would have proved fatal in previous wars.

Congressman Steve Buyer

Representative Steve Buyer, Republican of Indiana, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, indicated he was open to the ideas. Laura J. Zuckerman, a spokeswoman for Mr. Buyer, said he saw the proposals as a way to "bring balance, fairness and equity into the system."

The president's budget would save $293 million by reducing federal payments for state-run homes that provide veterans with long-term care. It would also save more than $100 million with a one-year hiatus in federal spending for construction and renovation of such homes.

They were looking to save money instead of looking at the best way to care for our wounded veterans.

Again looking at cutting employees instead of adding them.

Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, acting under secretary of veterans affairs, said the medical staff of the department would be reduced by 3,700 employees under the president's budget. About 194,000 employees now provide medical care.

Nicholson was showing what he thought about the veterans he was supposed to be taking care of.

Mr. Nicholson said the budget showed a strong commitment to veterans, but he added: "We have to make tough decisions. We have to set priorities."

And then we have this from the VFW

Dennis M. Cullinan, legislative director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, told Congress that the federal programs for state veterans' homes dated to the Civil War.

"These cuts, at a time when demand for V.A. long-term care services is on the rise with a rapidly aging veteran population, are unconscionable and reprehensible," Mr. Cullinan said.

It was Senator Akaka and Senator Patty Murray taking the side of the veterans against the GOP in charge of the budgets.

Senator Daniel K. Akaka of Hawaii, the senior Democrat on the committee, said a goal of the proposed fees and co-payments was to make it "prohibitively expensive" for some people to use V.A. clinics and hospitals, which are widely respected for quality of care. The new charges, Mr. Akaka said, would lead more than 192,000 people to drop out of the veterans health care system.

Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, said, "Serving veterans is part of the cost of war, but there's not one dime for veterans" in the $81.9 billion request that Mr. Bush sent Congress on Monday to cover the costs of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
go here for the rest of this section
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/politics/16vets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

What is more tellling about the attitude is that in 2001 the APA had already called for increases in mental health care in the VA. Keep in mind this warning came a month before 9-11. Before the invasion of Afghanistan. Before the invasion of Iraq.

Psychiatric News August 3, 2001
Volume 36 Number 15
© 2001 American Psychiatric Association
APA Wants VA Budget Increased To Meet Mental Health Needs
Christine Lehmann
APA and other mental health groups are recommending that a congressional oversight committee designate funds to be used by the Department of Veterans Affairs for psychiatric research and a continuum of outpatient services.

APA urged a congressional subcommittee that oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs to allocate more funds than President George W. Bush proposed in his Fiscal 2002 budget for mental health research and services.

APA recommended that an additional $50 million of the president’s proposed $51 billion VA budget be spent on establishing two new Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (MIRECCs). APA also advocated that $100 million be designated annually in Fiscal 2002 to 2004 for veterans with serious mental illness.

The House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee heard testimony in June from mental health and veterans advocacy groups on the VA’s mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness programs. APA submitted a written statement.

The goal of the hearing was to ensure that the VA is complying with several mandates contained in a sweeping VA reform law enacted in 1996 (PL 106-262).
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/15/4

The lack of attention on the needs of our veterans at a time when there are two combat operations creating more wounded is "unconscionable and reprehensible" because the cuts kept coming in staff. During a time when more was needed it turned out there were less doctors and nurses in the VA, less claims reps, than there was after the Gulf War. Think how many lives could have been saved had the VA been provided with all they needed to really take care of all the wounded.

The next time you hear the words "support the troops" consider who has really been supporting them and those who have not taken care of them. Consider who has been harming them and treating them as if they should be grateful to us instead of the other way around.
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

Veterans returning from wars find VA under strain still

Iraq War veteran Christopher M. Kreiger — at home since Thursday with wife, Melissa, and sons C.J., 6, left, and Cole, 4 — suffers from seizures and hallucinations and has been in and out of VA hospital seven times. (photo: Bill Wippert / Buffalo News)

‘Flood’ coming as soldiers return home needing care

Veterans returning from wars find VA under strain

By Lou Michel NEWS STAFF REPORTER



Another surge is putting pressure on the nation’s military.

It is the surge of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan returning home with physical and psychological wounds, and the question is: Are the nation’s veterans hospitals equipped and staffed to handle it?

“The flood is coming,” said Patrick W. Welch, director of veterans services for Erie County. “Within the next three to five years, the flood of vets seeking help is probably going to overwhelm the VA.”

It started with a trickle. Just 61 of these newest war veterans sought help at the local VA hospital in 2003.

But in the years after, nearly 1,800 vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan went to the Buffalo VA and its seven community clinics.

Local VA officials acknowledge the growing demand, and they say they are keeping up with it and will hire 150 more people to continue what, they insist, is success in providing prompt and comprehensive health care.

The VA’s optimism is not shared by everyone.

Jeremy Lepsch, a Marine who served with an anti-terrorist unit in east Africa, says his most recent admission to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s psychiatric unit exposed him to staff shortages and overworked psychiatrists.

Dana Cushing, who served twice in Iraq and once in east Africa, says she has to make a 300-mile round-trip drive to the Syracuse VA because she can’t get timely appointments here with a women’s doctor.

And then there’s Iraq War veteran Christopher M. Kreiger.

He has several physical and psychological problems and has been in and out of the Buffalo VA Medical Center seven times. In the last six months, his condition has worsened as he suffered from mysterious seizures and hallucinations and has been unable to sleep. Kreiger was released Thursday from the hospital and says he still does not know what is ruining his health.

go here for the rest

http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfMAR08/nf030408-1.htm

Native Americans take pride in Medal of Honor recipient Keeble’s story

Native Americans take pride in Medal of Honor recipient Keeble’s story
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, March 5, 2008


WASHINGTON — Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble is the first full-blooded Sioux Indian to receive the Medal of Honor, a point of pride for both his tribe and the larger Native American community.

“The history of [Native American military service] is well known to our younger generation, but probably not in mainstream America,” said Robert Holden, deputy director of the National Congress of American Indians.

“But they’ve continued a long line of warrior tradition. It’s their duty.”

Keeble was born on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, home to the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux — on the North Dakota-South Dakota border — and spent nearly all of his pre-Army life on tribal lands. After his service in World War II and Korea, he returned there to live and work with the community.
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53043

2 dead, 5 injured after shooting at Wendy's near West Palm Beach

2 dead, 5 injured after shooting at Wendy's near West Palm Beach
Published Monday, March 3, 2008 at 9:14 p.m.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A 60-year-old gunman wearing a jacket and tie wordlessly opened fire inside a Wendy's during the lunchtime rush Monday, killing a firefighter who'd returned to exchange a toy and wounding five other diners.

Alburn Edward Blake of West Palm Beach then turned the gun on himself.

"This was not a robbery. He didn't demand anything," said Paul Miller, a Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman. "Looks like this was just another random shooting like we've seen around the United States."

The 42-year-old victim, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Lt. Rafael Vazquez, had met his wife and child at the restaurant, Deputy Fire-Rescue Chief Steve Delai said. The family had just left, but Vazquez returned to exchange a promotional toy in his child's meal and was shot in the back as he stood at the counter, Delai said.

Neighbors described Blake as a quiet man who "kept to himself." Public records show that Blake owned a maintenance and handyman company until 2003. A 1996 story in The Palm Beach Post showed that he accidentally ran over an 18-month-old girl with his van, leaving her seriously injured. The story said he had a young daughter who would now be a teenager.
go here for the rest
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080303/APN/803030841

A witness said the police took out a bag of pills from his apartment. Is this another case of a known mentally ill person with guns? I don't know. No one does right now but I'm sure there will be more reports. I do know that the people who were at Wendy's will need to get some help with this. Think of what you'd be like going through something like this.

Marine puppy toss may be fake

Marine seems to hurl puppy off cliff in video
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writerPosted : Monday Mar 3, 2008 18:43:59 EST

A video that appears to show an armor-clad Marine hurling a small puppy off a cliff and joking with his buddies as it smashes against a rock-strewn desert landscape has sparked outrage online and an investigation by commanders in Hawaii.

A 22-year-old lance corporal from Seattle was named in several online postings as the “puppy killer” and accused of being a “sociopath.” A home address for the Marine was posted on several sites, with at least one urging readers to “make him pay.”
Marine Corps Times could not confirm his identity.

As the puppy flies through the air, the video’s soundtrack features a distinct yelping sound, but Dejournett said that could have been edited in afterward. She noted that the squealing sound does not diminish as the puppy appears to fade in the distance.
To some degree, she said, it doesn’t matter whether the Marines were torturing the puppy or playing with a dead animal.
“Regardless, it is horrifying and it’s not the kind of behavior that we want to see our troops engaging in,” Dejournett said.
View the video (Warning: This video may be disturbing to some viewers)

Yes Congressman Buyer we noticed what you did for seven years

Lawmakers argue for bigger veterans budget

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 3, 2008 17:08:51 EST

Republican members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee — who for seven years have defended the Bush administration’s funding requests for veterans programs — now want to add $5.8 billion to the White House request for 2009.

The budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs requested by the 12 Republicans is about $2 billion more than the VA budget recommendations from the Democratic majority.

Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the committee’s ranking minority member, said the budget requests about $2 billion to be set aside to improve GI Bill education benefits for members of the National Guard and reserve, about $2.5 billion for medical care and services, $700 million for major construction, $200 million for minor construction and $644 million for cemetery construction.

The rest of the funding would be spread among other programs, including $320 million to improve information technology, a Buyer priority.
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Veterans' Affairs Committee (Ranking Member)
Energy and Commerce Committee
Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality
National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus, Co-Chairman

When asked about potential compensation for veterans whose personal data was compromised by the theft of a Veterans Administration computer, Rep. Buyer told the Army Times, "How many of them would have had their identities stolen anyway?"[5]

In November, 2005 Buyer announced plans to eliminate testimony from veteran's service organizations before the annual joint session of the House and Senate Veterans Service committees, a tradition going back more than 50 years. A joint letter of protest from the four major veteran’s service organizations was hand delivered members of congress in May, 2006.[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Buyer

Yes we noticed. We noticed all of it. While you were sitting there making sure you gave Bush whatever he wanted, even if it meant soldiers and veterans would have to suffer, you made sure they came last. Even the writer of this report began with "after seven years" so yes, we all noticed.

Bob Woodruff Family Foundation Get PR Giant's Help

JWT to Volunteer Services for Bob Woodruff Family Foundation

Will Support Group That Helps Injured Service Members and Their Families
March 03, 2008: 09:00 AM EST

NEW YORK, March 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- JWT, the largest advertising agency in the U.S. and the fourth largest in the world, announced today that it will volunteer its broad marketing expertise to support the Bob Woodruff Family Foundation (BWFF), a nonprofit organization that raises awareness of the devastation caused by the "hidden injuries of war", traumatic brain injury (TBI) and combat stress.

Bob Woodruff, an ABC News anchor, was nearly killed in a roadside bomb attack while reporting from Iraq in January 2006. The Woodruff Family launched BWFF to help service members, veterans and their families as they navigate their road to recovery and reintegration back into their local communities.

"JWT has a long history of working with the U.S. Marine Corps, and we're honored to rally behind the BWFF," says JWT chairman and CEO Bob Jeffrey. "This is a chance to use our resources for the greater good and to give back to those brave men and women who sacrifice everything in the line of duty."

JWT has handled the U.S. Marine Corps account since 1946; founder James Walter Thompson was a Marine Corps veteran.
click post title for the rest

UK fight is on to give medal for PTSD wounds!!

Falklands surgeon Rick Jolly backs medal fight
By Jeff Pickett 3/03/2008

A hero doctor of the Falklands war who continued to fight for troops when he returned home backed the Mirror medal campaign last night.

Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly, 62, was the only serviceman to be decorated by both sides after the conflict. He was also part of a veterans' group which urged the Government to recognise soldiers with posttraumatic stress disorder.

He believes a medal to recognise troops killed or hurt in Afghanistan and Iraq would be a great morale-booster.

He said: "The principle of an award is a good one although it must be extended to those injured or killed in other conflicts.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/03/03/
falklands-surgeon-backs-medal-fight-89520-20338711/


As generals dither, MPs will demand new medal for heroes
EXCLUSIVE
By Bob Roberts And Chris Hughes 26/02/2008
Britain's top military brass will come under ferocious attack today for refusing to award a new medal to the country's most courageous soldiers.
In a historic Parliamentary debate, MPs from all political parties will say the campaign for a new honour to recognise dead and injured servicemen has been held up by the generals for too long.
And they will say it is wrong for the heads of the armed forces to block a new medal for ordinary troops when they are happy to take honours for themselves.
Former military chiefs will also express their disgust at the refusal of today's generals to award the new medal.
Advertisement
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Ex commander of British Armed Forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp says he is disgusted the top brass are out of touch.
"I never thought I would say this, but it is beginning to appear that the politicians are more attuned to the needs of our fighting men and women than are the generals," he told the Mirror, which has long campaigned for the medal.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has backed the idea of a British equivalent to an American Purple Heart which is awarded to all dead and wounded service personnel.
Soldiers across the ranks and politicians of all parties have backed the Mirror's campaign. But Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt and his deputy Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman are dithering, claiming a new medal for the wounded would be "divisive" amongst soldiers.
Labour MP Kevan Jones who called for the debate is expected to tell Parliament they should not be receiving their own honours while refusing them for others.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/02/26/
as-generals-dither-mps-will-demand-new-medal-for-heroes-89520-20331967/



Hero Victoria Cross Gurkha soldiers back Daily Mirror medal campaign
Number of MPs backing Daily Mirror medal campaign reaches 303
MPs tell PM Gordon Brown 'give soldiers award they deserve'
Soldiers' families demand medals for their fallen heroes

I'm not the only one calling for this,,,,,,,when will we begin a push for this here too?

Who Will Stand new video on impact of PTSD with Clint Holmes

Photo may be used in documentary
Monday, March 3, 2008
By Clint Confehr


An image of Christian Golczynski, published here nearly a year ago, may be used in a documentary and music video to illustrate psychological impacts of war on Americans.

The photograph, by now-retired Times-Gazette editor Kay Rose, portrays the son of slain Staff Sgt. Marc Golczynski, who grew up in Lewisburg. Her photo shows an 8-year-old boy receiving the American flag that had been draped across his father's coffin at Wheel Cemetery.

Phil Valentine of his own Red Live production company in Las Vegas, Nev., explained he wanted to use the picture in a music video for "Who Will Stand" as sung by Clint Holmes, and as an image during a documentary that explores issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

An early cut of the music video may be seen at www.whowillstand4us.com. The site did not yet include the photograph by Rose when viewed early this week. Valentine said he hoped to reach Marc Golczynski's widow Heather in Maryland, and/or his parents here in Tennessee. Henry Golczynski is a Murfreesboro businessman. Marc's mother, Elaine Huffines, teaches science at Forrest High School.

Rose agreed that the photo should be available for the Red Live productions so long as it wasn't used to advocate or oppose the war, she said Sunday. The Times-Gazette has had a policy of sharing its images with other media that acknowledge the source. Valentine has agreed to that.

The director's videos are avoiding any "political spin," he said, by focusing on what the documentary reveals from speaking with soldiers, Marines, their families and doctors.

"It's such a powerful photograph," Valentine said Friday. "People see it and it brings things together; the pain and sacrifice that the families go through."

The sacrifice of families of soldiers and Marines was recognized late last year in Lewisburg where the Golczynskis, Huffines and survivors of Todd Nunes and David Heirholzer were honored by the Elks Club where members expressed their respect for what survivors experience.

"It was a very emotional moment," Rose said of that afternoon of April 4 in the Wheel Cemetery. "I left in tears and I didn't know the family."
go here for the rest
http://www.t-g.com/story/1315445.html

Army to Release Anti-Suicide Film

Army to Release Anti-Suicide Film
Last Update: 6:32 am

Film Aims to Lower Soldier Suicide 3/2/08

Oswego County, New York (WSYR-TV) - The Army is releasing an interactive video in April aimed at curbing the soldier suicide rate. It’s the highest it’s been in more than twenty years. That’s just among active soldiers. There have also been a staggering number of suicides among veterans home from the war, who are dealing with post traumatic stress disorder.

Joe Godfrey from Oswego County says he doesn’t think the video will work. Godfrey knows far more about post traumatic stress disorder than any father should.

His son, Joe, came home from Iraq at the end of 2004 a different man. He couldn't sleep, was afraid of the dark and started drinking despite being on a slew of medications.

“He was always afraid that someone was out to get him,” Godfrey says.

Joe knew he needed help but didn't get it from the VA in time. Joe was killed outside a bar in Oswego a few months later. His father believes that he ended up dying as a result of the fact that he couldn’t get treatment in a timely manner.

Godfrey's other son, Justin, will be leaving for Iraq this summer – on his third tour.
“You make it through the first time, then the second time was when his brother was killed. Now, he’s going back a third time. Every time you go back, you're bucking the odds, you know?” Godfrey says.
go here for the rest

http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story.aspx?
content_id=8143c4df-7ec4-4c1f-919a-dd5d7f59c70b

Maj. General Clara Hawley-Bowland, woman in charge!

Military medicine

By NOELLE STRAUB
Star-Tribune Washington bureau
Saturday, March 1, 2008 11:20 PM MST

WASHINGTON -- In 2005, while commander of the Europe Regional Medical Command, Carla Hawley-Bowland received an e-mail asking general officers to reply if a child of theirs had deployed to Iraq, because Newsweek magazine was doing a story on military families.

What the e-mail failed to mention, because it didn't seem necessary, was that they were looking for dads.

"They didn't say it was a Father's Day article, but they didn't know that they had a female general that had kids," the Casper native recalled recently. "I don't know if I'm the first one to have kids, but there's very few of us."

Her son Scott had deployed to Iraq in 2003-04, serving as a medic at a battalion aid station at the Fallujah airfield. She replied to the e-mail, and she and her son were included in the article.

Now a two-star major general, Hawley-Bowland in December took command of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the U.S. Army's North Atlantic Regional Medical Command.

Hawley-Bowland is the first female physician who has risen to the rank of general. "We've had nurses and medical service corps female generals, but not a doc," she said. "So I'm the first one there."

She has found the Army to be very fair to women when it comes to career progression.

"I don't think I was ever discriminated against," she said. "There were individuals you always had issues with like anybody else does, but as a whole, as an institution, I felt that actually, in comparing what my career would have been in academic medicine and that of the civilian sector, I progressed probably 10 years faster in the military than I would have in the civilian sector."

Asked if female officers ever tell her she inspired them, she laughed and said, "Yeah, and there's some that say, 'We're glad you made general so we don't have to do it, Carla.'"

"I don't know," she added. "I've just done the jobs they gave me, and had fun and just kept doing it. Never saw a reason to change."
click post title for the rest