Helping Homeless Vets
Barre, Vermont - March 28, 2008
Under bridges, behind dumpsters, in dark alleys, in cars; they are common places Vermont's homeless veterans sleep when shelters are full.
Richard Schroeder knows. He's been there. The former Vietnam medic-- who earned the nickname "Doc"-- spent six years homeless.
"I've eaten out of dumpsters before. That's where I ate," says Doc. "When I talk to a vet who is struggling, I know where he's coming from. I been there and done that."
Doc suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after what he saw during combat. His marriage fell apart and he became an alcoholic.
Many other Veterans suffered the same fate.
One central Vermont group is working to get homeless vets off the streets and back into society.
"We can provide a transition back into stability so they don't have to wander around," explains Rev. Ralph Howe of the Hedding United Methodist Church.
go here for the rest
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=8085279&nav=menu183_15_1_4
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Bay Area Iraq War Vets Face Possible Blindness
Bay Area Iraq War Vets Face Possible Blindness
KNTV-TV
updated 9:16 a.m. ET, Thurs., March. 27, 2008
Soldiers coming back from the war in Iraq are being treated for many combat-related injuries. But doctors at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto found something they haven't seen before. NBC11's Damian Trujillo investigates why soldiers, with no obvious signs of trauma, are at risk of going blind. It's hard for Army Specialist Jason Kvasnak to remember every single explosion he survived in Iraq.
"We were in several IED (improvised explosive device) blasts throughout the tour," Kvasnak said.
But Kvasnak remember the one that left him with the injuries no one saw coming.
"It was just massive concussive force and it thrust you forward, or whatever. I just felt really dazed afterwards and ringing in the ears and I couldn't really see straight," Kvasnak said.
Kvasnak hasn't been able to see straight since that blast. He sees double, has sensitivity to light and the headaches he gets from trying to read or watch TV are so bad that he sometimes passes out.
Doctors at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto are seeing more and more troops returning from Iraq with vision problems from exposure to roadside bombs.
"In this war, blast injuries have become the signature injuries. These can cause damage to the eye. They can also cause damage to the visual system and the visual processing centers in the brain," VA research psychologist Gregory Goodrich said.
Many soldiers don't even realize something's wrong with them. They're returning home with only half their visual field, not knowing that they're missing their entire left field of perception.
Without treatment, blast injuries like Kvasnak's can lead to long-term problems, even blindness
"The things that we're finding are damage to the soft tissue in the eye that can lead to glaucoma at any time in their life. There is a life-long risk, and bear in mind that these people are very young. In general, the median age so far is 28 years old some are as young as 19 when they are injured so that is a long lifetime," VA ophthalmologist Glenn Cockerham said.
The traumatic injury leads to a lifetime of treatment that starts with intense rehabilitation.
A driving simulator like the one at the VA in Palo Alto is an important tool in getting injured soldiers back on the road to recovery.
Soldiers are required to wear protective eye gear but since the vision loss is a result of a closed head injury, goggles and glasses aren't enough to protect the eyes from IED blasts.
Doctors encourage all Iraq veterans to have their eyes checked since many of the symptoms could take years to show up and by then, it could be too late.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23817493/
Ex-homeless Vietnam vet finally gets full benefits
Could someone tell Bill O'Reilly this is how they end up homeless to begin with?
Ex-homeless Vietnam vet finally gets full benefits
BY MITCHELL FREEDMAN | mitchell.freedman@newsday.com
8:27 PM EDT, March 28, 2008
Valentine's Day will always be important for Joseph Soukup Jr., but not for the reason that most people remember the holiday.
For the former Marine, it was the day his life almost came to an end.
Yesterday, with that day still a vivid memory, Soukup smiled as he held up a big symbolic check for $57,834 -- the benefits owed to him by the Veterans Administration.
"I trust him," Soukop said of Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), who had fought for those benefits and held a news conference in Hauppauge on Friday.
The benefits were the final chapter of a journey Soukop took back into life, that started on Valentine's Day 2007.
Homeless for three years, he had been living in his red Ford F-150 truck, parked at the Mayfair Shopping Center in Commack. "It was near my post office box," he explained.
The weather report that day was for snow, ice and freezing temperatures. In the past, he would have driven to an underpass for protection from the weather. But, he realized there was not enough gas in his tank to keep warm through the night.
He thought he would freeze to death. So, he made a choice that -- for years -- he had previously rejected. He drove to the Veterans Administration hospital in Northport where he was put into a program for veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. "I said to myself 'I was going to die'. But something inside me said 'go to the VA," Soukop, 61, explained.
click post title for the rest
That took Israel's final call to resolve. "It shouldn't take a member of Congress to make phone calls and pester the VA to get him his benefits," Israel said. "I'm proud of what we've done, but I'm not proud that we had to do it."
Ex-homeless Vietnam vet finally gets full benefits
BY MITCHELL FREEDMAN | mitchell.freedman@newsday.com
8:27 PM EDT, March 28, 2008
Valentine's Day will always be important for Joseph Soukup Jr., but not for the reason that most people remember the holiday.
For the former Marine, it was the day his life almost came to an end.
Yesterday, with that day still a vivid memory, Soukup smiled as he held up a big symbolic check for $57,834 -- the benefits owed to him by the Veterans Administration.
"I trust him," Soukop said of Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), who had fought for those benefits and held a news conference in Hauppauge on Friday.
The benefits were the final chapter of a journey Soukop took back into life, that started on Valentine's Day 2007.
Homeless for three years, he had been living in his red Ford F-150 truck, parked at the Mayfair Shopping Center in Commack. "It was near my post office box," he explained.
The weather report that day was for snow, ice and freezing temperatures. In the past, he would have driven to an underpass for protection from the weather. But, he realized there was not enough gas in his tank to keep warm through the night.
He thought he would freeze to death. So, he made a choice that -- for years -- he had previously rejected. He drove to the Veterans Administration hospital in Northport where he was put into a program for veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. "I said to myself 'I was going to die'. But something inside me said 'go to the VA," Soukop, 61, explained.
click post title for the rest
Battling bureaucracy to ensure long term care for veterans
March 28, 2008
Battling bureaucracy to ensure long term care for veterans
I discovered this article surfing military.com the other day and found it emotionally riveting. Many of us who served in the Armed Forces were fortunate enough not to have sustained life altering injuries of the magnitude described during a recent hearing on March 13th reflecting on the Care of Seriously Wounded After In-Patient Care conducted by the House Veterans' Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. The purpose of the hearing was to assess how the Department of Veterans Affairs cares for our nation's most seriously wounded veterans following inpatient treatment.
An opening statement by the Chairman, Representative Harry E. Mitchell, from Arizona set the tone for the hearing:
"We are here today to hear from veterans, their families, and the Department of Veterans Affairs about the long-term care of our most severely wounded Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. We know that DoD and VA provide the excellent inpatient healthcare for these warriors. But many of the most seriously injured require extensive outpatient care, some of them for life. Their families need care and assistance as well. Unfortunately, once these veterans leave the hospital, the care they receive does not seem to be on par with what they received directly following their injury. I think we can do better."
He went on to say:
"...The Department of Defense and the VA are large organizations with an overwhelming bureaucracy. Their care and services often overlap in messy and unpredictable ways. At a time of enormous stress, this bureaucracy only hurts the injured warrior and his family... We are going to hear from people that have been dealing with the difficulties of the system for a long time. On February 14, 2004 Army Sergeant Ted Wade lost his right arm and suffered severed traumatic brain injury, along with many other injuries, in an IED explosion in Iraq. Sgt. Wade is here today with his wife, Sarah."
go here for the rest
http://asmba.typepad.com/veterans/2008/03/battling-bureau.html
Non-combat wounds and "non-service connected" are two terms we need to dispose of. If they are deployed, then it is a combat wound. Doesn't matter if it was because of TBI, vaccines, tainted water, bombs, bullets, accidents or Post Traumatic Stress. If they were not deployed then fine, it's non-combat. If they went, they went into combat zones and came home wounded. What are they afraid of? Too many Purple Hearts to give out? Then let them design another kind of badge of honor for everyone else wounded. How they could even consider PTSD or TBI a non-combat wound is beyond reason.
When you hear "non-service connected" that does not mean it was not connected to service but the Veterans Administration has not yet acknowledged the claim. This happens when they claim is in process of being approved or denied, denied and on appeal or trapped between the two. Until a claim is approved, they call it "non-service connected" even if you are sitting there with two missing legs blown off by an IED. This leaves the wounded veterans SOL and out of income. It adds to the stress they already have to deal with trying to heal when they have bills coming in and no way to pay them because they have a claim that is not approved yet. The answer the VA gives is "Well once your claim is approved it's retroactive and then you'll have your money" but this does not tell them how to pay the bills between wound and approval. It does not tell them how they can find faith in the system of the government they served, were willing to lay down their lives for, were wounded in the service of, when the same government is allowing them to be penalized for the lack of planning to make sure all departments were ramped up in order to take care of them.
Noah’s clause may save lives with mandatory counseling
Around the clock access to trained professional is available for anyone struggling with thoughts of suicide. Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. If you are a veteran and would like to speak with someone trained in working with military members, press “1” to reach the VA hotline.
Reporter's Notebook: Soldier Suicides: veterans are killing themselves in record numbers
Filed under: City Pages
As of recently, soldiers killing themselves upon their return to combat have become all too familiar to Cheryl Softich, of Eveleth, Minn. Her son, Army Specialist Noah Pierce, 23, killed himself in July after deployment in Iraq.
He came home and was felt like he was a murderer. He said he killed a doctor while he was there; he mistook the doctor for a suicide bomber, his mother says.
Back home he couldn’t sleep at night. He was drinking all the time and the spark had drained from his eyes, Softich remembers.
“There were very few smiles that were genuine,” she says.
At the time of his death, Pierce, a member of the Army's Third Infantry Division, had plans for a third tour.
Unlike most parents and family members who are stonewalled by their sons and daughters in uniform who don’t want to speak about the trauma they experienced at war, Pierce journaled his experience in war, leaving behind a book of poetry.
"His writing just brings you to Iraq with him," says Softich, who published her son’s work in the California publication Rogue Voice.
In the poem “WTF” Pierce reflects on the accidental killing of the Iraqi doctor. "The investigation said it was done by the books / I ask myself, 'What the fuck kind of war is this?'"
In “Friends” Pierce writes about Iraqi kids who would give him food in exchange for water. "No english / No arabic / Yet we still understand each other."
He wrote about desert sandstorms in “Dust” and called Iraq a “godforgotten country,” where smoking is an imperative and the “girlfriends, the parties, the training /GONE.”
Softich is on a one-woman mission to change the military’s current mental health screening system for returning veterans.
Pierce, like the others in our feature on soldier suicides and PTSD, passed post deployment medical and psychological tests that allowed him to return sooner.
Softich is trying to enact a Noah’s clause, legislation that would require all troops to receive mandatory counseling, at least once every two weeks for a year, upon their return from active duty. Since coming forward, Representatives Jim Oberstar, D-Minnesota and Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii along with Senators Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota, and Amy Klobuchar R-Minnesota, have taken interest her idea, she says.
go here for the rest
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/03/reporters_noteb_5.php
Honoring Noah
Current mood: satisfied
Category: News and Politics
HONORING NOAH
Bringing more awareness to PTSD
Linda Tyssen
Last updated: Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 10:07:03 PM
VIRGINIA — Noah Charles Pierce wasn't there to answer roll call. The sounding of taps responded instead, as the new AMVETS Post 33 was named in his honor at a special ceremony Dec. 15.
The 23-year-old Army veteran of the war in Iraq committed suicide in July, following a battle with post-traumatic stress disorder. Spc. Pierce served with the Third Infantry Division in Kuwait and Iraq, driving a Bradley fighting vehicle and serving as a gunner on a Humvee. After his discharge from the military, he had told his family he would have gone back for a third tour of duty.
Shortly after the AMVETS post was chartered in Virginia, Commander Shawn Carr announced his wish to name the post for Pierce. AMVETS, short for American Veterans, is open to all those who served in the military, whether in wartime or peacetime, overseas or at home. Post 33 is headquartered at the Servicemen's Club.
A large group of Pierce's family and friends and military veterans came to the ceremony at the Servicemen's Club. Pierce's parents, Cheryl and Tom Softich of Sparta, and his sister, Sarah Snyder, were among those in attendance.
"In naming this post Noah C. Pierce AMVETS Post 33, we wish to give Noah a fitting memorial, raise community and public awareness of PTSD and in some way help the healing for his family to begin,'' Commander Carr said in his remarks.
go here for the rest of this
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=148938536&blogID=341746064
If you can't talk to your family, then talk to another veteran. If you can't talk to another veteran, then talk to a Chaplain. Talk to someone who will listen and understand that you have been wounded. In a perfect world, the VA would be waiting for you to get there and every military brass would be up to speed on PTSD so the DOD would do the right thing. This isn't a perfect world although the military wants to portray discipline and duty as an organized bunch, they are far from it when it comes to the wounds they cannot see. Anyone still treating PTSD as anything other than a wound should be ashamed of themselves for being so uneducated and uninformed. It's been around a lot longer than they have and documented since the beginning of recorded history. They better hurry up and understand this before they all look like members of the culture that brought us leaches and bleeding a patient to death.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Bail out wounded veterans not Bear Stearns
Reid Calls Bear Stearns `Bailout' Unfair to Taxpayers (Update1)
By Laura Litvan
March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said a decision by the Federal Reserve to provide as much as $30 billion to JPMorgan Chase & Co. to help it buy Bear Stearns Cos. is a ``bailout'' unfair to taxpayers.
``The Federal Reserve's latest actions appear to shift large risks to taxpayers, who may find themselves on the hook for billions in worthless securities,'' Reid said in a prepared statement. ``The public has a right to know why President Bush and his administration believe this bailout is necessary and what steps they are taking to both protect taxpayers and to hold accountable those whose bad decisions led to this crisis.''
Look how fast Bush moved on this. Do you think he could move that fast for the sake of the "troops" he keeps saying we all need to support? What about the wounded veterans and soldiers coming back without income while they have to wait for claims to be approved and still have bills to pay with no income? I'm sure the tax payers would rather their money go to helping the wounded veterans he keeps making than to his rich pals who have been sucking the life out of the rest of us with his tax breaks at the same time he managed to have two occupations killing and wounding the troops he sent then forgot about until he needs more to send. He bails out the jerks who did this to people who are going to end up losing their homes and yes, a lot of them are veterans. Poverty went up with him not caring and so have the numbers of people being homeless. With people paying more for everything and making less to do it with, you'd think we would have someone in charge who cares about doing the right thing for the tax payers of this country, because aside from it being the right thing to do with our money, it's our money! Remember when he said the money needed for the VA was too much money? He had a problem with spending our money then but he has no problem taking care of the rich. If you want to know why the veterans and everyone else in this country is having a hard time, ask them about their bank account and you'll know why. He only cares about rich people. Iraq is still going on because of the contractors and everyone knows it. Peace is just too damn expensive for them. There is no money in peace for any of them. The wounded soldiers are an expense to them they are not willing to pay for. This is why they have no problem coming up with the money to keep Afghansitan and Iraq going on and on without end but always have a hard time taking care of the wounded and the widows.
$30 billion? What would that do to help veterans or any of the people who are going to get kicked out of their homes?
Sgt. Godfrey J. Hurley gets life for murder of Lisa Nossett
Sgt. gets life for killing troop’s wife
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 28, 2008 16:06:35 EDT
FORT LEWIS, Wash. — A sergeant with 16 years in the Army has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing another soldier’s wife at Fort Lewis.
A panel of officers decided on the sentence Thursday, a day after convicting 40-year-old Godfrey J. Hurley of premeditated murder.
Investigators said Hurley stabbed and beat 28-year-old Lisa R. Nossett, a mother of two daughters, on March 11, 2006.
The attack occurred at Nossett’s living quarters at Fort Lewis, reportedly after she tried to end a two-year affair with Hurley. Her husband, Sgt. Christopher Nossett, was stationed in South Korea at the time.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_sgtsentenced_032808/
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 28, 2008 16:06:35 EDT
FORT LEWIS, Wash. — A sergeant with 16 years in the Army has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing another soldier’s wife at Fort Lewis.
A panel of officers decided on the sentence Thursday, a day after convicting 40-year-old Godfrey J. Hurley of premeditated murder.
Investigators said Hurley stabbed and beat 28-year-old Lisa R. Nossett, a mother of two daughters, on March 11, 2006.
The attack occurred at Nossett’s living quarters at Fort Lewis, reportedly after she tried to end a two-year affair with Hurley. Her husband, Sgt. Christopher Nossett, was stationed in South Korea at the time.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_sgtsentenced_032808/
At home, but not at peace: A soldier's struggle with PTSD
At home, but not at peace: A soldier's struggle with PTSD
Spc. Brandon Garrison volunteered to deploy and loved putting on his uniform each day. But after watching a mortar attack claim one of his friends in Afghanistan, he joined the thousands of servicemembers battling PTSD.
By Tracy Burton, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, March 30, 2008
Army Spc. Brandon Garrison looks fine. He pulls his wife, Lily, close. He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek and wraps his hand over her stomach, carrying their first child.
Inside, Garrison fights a rage that consumes most of his days since returning from 17 months of combat in Afghanistan. It’s a demon that shows no mercy and interrupts even simple routines like eating and sleeping. At any moment, halfway through a football game or in the middle of the night, he can lose himself to this evil.
This is his war now. A war that started on a battlefield a half a world away and has now embedded itself in his mind. Through nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety and fear, he battles this beast each day.
Garrison is among thousands of troops experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as they return from Afghanistan or Iraq. The 21-year-old from northeastern Kansas is also part of a growing number of servicemembers whose well-being has been compromised in a system that’s supposed to take care of them.
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53683
Spc. Brandon Garrison volunteered to deploy and loved putting on his uniform each day. But after watching a mortar attack claim one of his friends in Afghanistan, he joined the thousands of servicemembers battling PTSD.
By Tracy Burton, Special to Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, March 30, 2008
Army Spc. Brandon Garrison looks fine. He pulls his wife, Lily, close. He gives her a quick kiss on the cheek and wraps his hand over her stomach, carrying their first child.
Inside, Garrison fights a rage that consumes most of his days since returning from 17 months of combat in Afghanistan. It’s a demon that shows no mercy and interrupts even simple routines like eating and sleeping. At any moment, halfway through a football game or in the middle of the night, he can lose himself to this evil.
This is his war now. A war that started on a battlefield a half a world away and has now embedded itself in his mind. Through nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety and fear, he battles this beast each day.
Garrison is among thousands of troops experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as they return from Afghanistan or Iraq. The 21-year-old from northeastern Kansas is also part of a growing number of servicemembers whose well-being has been compromised in a system that’s supposed to take care of them.
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53683
PTSD:Can we smell danger? New study says possible
Can we smell danger? Study shows it's possible
The associated press
March 28, 2008
WASHINGTON - Know how a whiff of certain odors can take you back in time, either to a great memory or bad one?
It turns out emotion plays an even bigger role with the nose, and that your sense of smell actually can sharpen when something bad happens.
Northwestern University researchers proved the surprising connection by giving volunteers electric shocks while they sniffed novel odors.
The discovery, reported in today's edition of the journal Science, helps explain how our senses can steer us clear of danger. More intriguing, it could shed light on disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
"This is an incredibly unique study," said Dr. David Zald, a Vanderbilt University neuroscientist who studies how the brain handles sensory and emotional learning. "We're talking about a change in our perceptual abilities based on emotional learning."
Scientists long have known of a strong link between the sense of smell and emotion. A certain perfume or the scent of baking pie, for instance, can raise memories of a long-dead loved one.
Conversely, a whiff of diesel fuel might trigger a flashback for a soldier suffering from PTSD.
Northwestern neuroscientist Jay Gottfried, the study's senior author, says the work illuminates a sense that society too often gives short shrift.
"People really dismiss the sense of smell," said Gottfried, who researches "how the brain can put together perceptions of hundreds of thousands of different smells. . . . Work like this really says that the human sense of smell has much more capacity than people usually give it credit."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/orl-smell2808mar28,0,1775496.story
The associated press
March 28, 2008
WASHINGTON - Know how a whiff of certain odors can take you back in time, either to a great memory or bad one?
It turns out emotion plays an even bigger role with the nose, and that your sense of smell actually can sharpen when something bad happens.
Northwestern University researchers proved the surprising connection by giving volunteers electric shocks while they sniffed novel odors.
The discovery, reported in today's edition of the journal Science, helps explain how our senses can steer us clear of danger. More intriguing, it could shed light on disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
"This is an incredibly unique study," said Dr. David Zald, a Vanderbilt University neuroscientist who studies how the brain handles sensory and emotional learning. "We're talking about a change in our perceptual abilities based on emotional learning."
Scientists long have known of a strong link between the sense of smell and emotion. A certain perfume or the scent of baking pie, for instance, can raise memories of a long-dead loved one.
Conversely, a whiff of diesel fuel might trigger a flashback for a soldier suffering from PTSD.
Northwestern neuroscientist Jay Gottfried, the study's senior author, says the work illuminates a sense that society too often gives short shrift.
"People really dismiss the sense of smell," said Gottfried, who researches "how the brain can put together perceptions of hundreds of thousands of different smells. . . . Work like this really says that the human sense of smell has much more capacity than people usually give it credit."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/orl-smell2808mar28,0,1775496.story
Walter Reed Chaplains Help In Aftermath Of Combat
War's Wounded Find Guidance in Aftermath
Walter Reed Chaplains Help Amputees, Other Soldiers Confront Unpleasant Realities
By Greg Trotter
Religion News Service
Saturday, March 29, 2008; Page B10
Capt. Darrick Gutting is the friendliest guy in Ward 57.
The bald-headed, 40-year-old Pennsylvanian roams the halls, engaging passersby -- soldiers and medical staff -- in conversations that are equal parts jive and heartfelt concern.
"Sorry, man, but this is part of being a chaplain, too," Gutting said after talking with a male nurse for 10 minutes about a favorite hunting store in West Virginia. "You gotta let the people know that you care."
Gutting is one of 10 military chaplains in the pastoral care department at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. They come from Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Charismatic and evangelical churches. There is also a rabbi on contract and two volunteer Muslim and Hindu clerics.
The chaplains at Walter Reed provide spiritual advice and a listening ear to soldiers, staff and families. They also guide many amputee soldiers through the difficult process of coming to terms with a new reality.
As of Feb. 29, the most recent date available, 705 amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan had been treated in Army facilities, including 555 at Walter Reed, according to a Walter Reed spokeswoman. There are about 150 amputee patients in some stage of healing and rehabilitation at Walter Reed. Regardless of religious or cultural background, many of them wake up at some point and ask very similar questions: Why? Why did this happen to me?
"As chaplains, we are not peddlers of religion," said Col. Charles Howell, senior chaplain at Walter Reed and a 52-year-old Mississippi native. "We allow them to ask the questions and then show them a host of answers out there."
The chaplains face a range of emotions among the amputees: anger, sadness, fear and joy, or some mixture thereof, Howell said. Some soldiers become angry at God, or the Army, he said. Others go straight to gratitude and happiness that they are alive at all.
click post title for the rest
Walter Reed Chaplains Help Amputees, Other Soldiers Confront Unpleasant Realities
By Greg Trotter
Religion News Service
Saturday, March 29, 2008; Page B10
Capt. Darrick Gutting is the friendliest guy in Ward 57.
The bald-headed, 40-year-old Pennsylvanian roams the halls, engaging passersby -- soldiers and medical staff -- in conversations that are equal parts jive and heartfelt concern.
"Sorry, man, but this is part of being a chaplain, too," Gutting said after talking with a male nurse for 10 minutes about a favorite hunting store in West Virginia. "You gotta let the people know that you care."
Gutting is one of 10 military chaplains in the pastoral care department at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. They come from Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Charismatic and evangelical churches. There is also a rabbi on contract and two volunteer Muslim and Hindu clerics.
The chaplains at Walter Reed provide spiritual advice and a listening ear to soldiers, staff and families. They also guide many amputee soldiers through the difficult process of coming to terms with a new reality.
As of Feb. 29, the most recent date available, 705 amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan had been treated in Army facilities, including 555 at Walter Reed, according to a Walter Reed spokeswoman. There are about 150 amputee patients in some stage of healing and rehabilitation at Walter Reed. Regardless of religious or cultural background, many of them wake up at some point and ask very similar questions: Why? Why did this happen to me?
"As chaplains, we are not peddlers of religion," said Col. Charles Howell, senior chaplain at Walter Reed and a 52-year-old Mississippi native. "We allow them to ask the questions and then show them a host of answers out there."
The chaplains face a range of emotions among the amputees: anger, sadness, fear and joy, or some mixture thereof, Howell said. Some soldiers become angry at God, or the Army, he said. Others go straight to gratitude and happiness that they are alive at all.
click post title for the rest
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