Memorial Day Quilt of Tears coming to Kissimmee FL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:Sheila and Henry Snyder

PO Box 90Davenport, FL

33836Phone: 863-422-7788

http://www.agentorangequiltoftears.com/ armrdangel@aol.com

Memorial Day comes a month early-Quilt of Tears Display to be held at Area Hotel Kissimmee, FL – March 28th –Sheila and Henry Snyder both work at local hotels by day to pay their bills. But their true life’s work, the one they find most enriching, is their traveling memorial “The Agent Orange Quilt of Tears.” Every Memorial Day, the Snyder’s use their paid time off to travel to Washington, DC to display their quilts that original founding member Jennie R. LeFevre first introduced on the lawn back in 1998.

LeFevre lost her husband in 1989, fifteen years after his retirement from the Air Force. He had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer through out various parts of his body. Sheila and Henry have honored her last wish by ensuring the Agent Orange Victims and their sacrifices are not forgotten, mainly by traveling the country with the Quilt of Tears display.

As Henry Snyder, both a Vietnam Vet and Agent Orange Victim, said, “It’s a well known fact that memorials help us in many ways. As humans, we use them to help us heal emotionally and spiritually. None of our Veterans should be denied an individual form of recognition, honor, or remembrance for suffering due to exposure that was inflicted during their service in the military.”

There are 25 quilts, measuring 80 inches wide by 100 inches long. Patches are contributed by Agent Orange Victims. “Not only are we helping Vietnam Veterans to become aware of their health issues, but we are also paving the way for Veterans of the Iraq war too.”

Since the Snyder’s support their cause by Donation’s only, the hotel where Henry works will display the quilts April 19th and 20th for all to see. “Supporting our Veterans and those that work for us is such an important cause and we are honored that Henry and Sheila will be holding their quilt display on property” said Denis Persaud, General Manager of the America’s Best Value Inn Hotel Maingate West where Henry works.

The display will be exhibited in the hotel’s conference room Saturday April 19th from 10am to 10 pm and on Sunday April 20th from 10am to 6pm. Address is 7514 West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway (US 192), Kissimmee, FL 3474.

For information: http://www.agentorangequiltoftears.com/

Henry and Sheila’s email: armrdangel@aol.com
Phone: 863-422-7788

Hotel website: http://www.abvimaingate.com/

Hotel Email: wrivera@abvifl1266.com

Renew Wound Chevron for PTSD and TBI

Wound Chevron
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Army Wound ChevronA Wound Chevron was a badge of the United States Army which was authorized for wear on an Army uniform between the years of 1918 and 1932. The Wound Chevron was displayed on the lower right cuff of a military uniform, and denoted wounds which were received in combat against an enemy force. The Wound Chevron was a replacement insignia for the short lived Army Wound Ribbon.

In 1932, with the creation of the Purple Heart, Wound Chevrons were no longer awarded to Army personnel. A directive of the United States War Department permitted soldiers to exchange wound chevrons for the new Purple Heart medal. This was not required, however, and some Army personnel elected to retain wound chevrons for wear on the military uniform instead of the Purple Heart. For those who were subsequently wounded in the Second World War, both the original wound chevrons and the Purple Heart medal were worn simultaneously. It is historically agreed that Army regulations did not permit wearing both the Purple Heart and the Wound Chevron at the same time; however, photographic evidence indicates that this was often done by veterans of both the First World War and Second World War.

In the modern military, the Wound Chevron is considered obsolete. The decoration is very similar to the Overseas Service Bar, which in World War I was worn on the left sleeve.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wound_Chevron

As PTSD and TBI wounds caused by combat ravage lives, it's time to do the right thing and end the stigma of being wounded in service to this nation. The Purple Heart is for those who have lost blood for the nation but what is there to honor those who have had their minds wounded? What is there for them?

PTSD has been documented throughout history and yet to this day, there are some who consider the wounded as fakers or cowards. We have the most brilliant people in the world working on treating this along with TBI and yet still some want to deny it is real. Hundreds of millions of dollars and many years of research have provided ample evidence that this is a wound caused by combat-trauma. TBI is caused by combat-trauma. Face it. If they were not exposed to what goes on in combat, suffered PTSD or TBI for any other cause, they would be covered under insurance or workman's comp. These men and women are risking their lives and we tell them their wound is of a lower class of wound, yet when their claims are approved by the DOD or the VA, they are awarded compensation the same way all other "service connected" disabilities are paid out. There is no sub-category. So why do we treat these kinds of wounds as if they are anything less than what they are?

We are not the only nation dealing with TBI and PTSD. England is already working on a medal for these wounds to make sure the wounded are all honored so what's our problem? We already have one that is perfect for PTSD and TBI. The Wound Chevron should be renewed so that any veteran with PTSD or TBI can be seen as a man or woman wounded in service to this nation. They will have this with them the rest of their lives and it's up to us to make sure they know they are honored instead of left alone to feel ashamed for being wounded by the trauma of combat.
Chaplain Kathie Costos

New programs aim to ease National Guard return from war

New programs aim to ease Guard return from war

By Michael Virtanen - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Mar 30, 2008 14:33:43 EDT

LATHAM, N.Y. — When Capt. Brian Rockwell returned from Iraq last fall, like most soldiers he just wanted to be home. Four months later, though, he was starting to think he might like another mission.

“It wears on you when you’re over there,” Rockwell said. But there’s another set of stresses back here. “It’s an adjustment.”

Unlike the regular Army, whose soldiers usually return from combat zones to the steady rhythms of military bases after a couple weeks’ leave, National Guard troops have been leaving their comrades at the airport and go straight back into civilian life.

Now, with almost half its troop strength having gone to Iraq, the New York Army National Guard is changing the way they come back. Instead of cutting them loose for the first 90 days, Guardsmen will be required — and families invited — to attend weekend retreats at upscale hotels after 30 days and 60 days.

The full program starts with the 104th Military Police Battalion in mid-April. New York needed the recent change in Defense Department policy to do it, following Minnesota’s lead. Now 14 states are doing it. But officers said Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto, now adjutant general for New York following his own Iraq tour, and his wife, Susan, provided a push to get the program running here.

At a congressional hearing this month, several people testified about the sometimes unresponsive — but improving — mental health system for military personnel with problems from prolonged warfare and lengthy deployments. The increase in military suicides has dramatized the issue. The Army said recently that as many as 121 soldiers committed suicide last year, more than double the number reported in 2001.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_guardsmen_returnhome_033008/

Remains of Sgt. Matt Maupin found in Iraq

Maupin's remains found
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


BATAVIA, Ohio – The father of a soldier missing in Iraq since since 2004 says the military has informed him that remains found in Iraq have been identified as his son, Sgt. Matt Maupin.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080330/NEWS01/80330010

GI faces charges for alleged desertion in 2006

Army desertion rates peaked in 2007 with 4,698 deserters, an 80 percent increase since the Iraq war started in 2003. That’s the most since 2001, when 4,399 soldiers deserted, according to military records.

GI faces charges for alleged desertion in 2006

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Mar 30, 2008 14:29:32 EDT

WELLINGTON, Fla. — A 24-year-old Wellington woman is accused of deserting the Army eight months after joining.

Kristen Westerberg joined the Army in October 2005. Her family said she was promised she would never see war duty; she deserted after being told she might be sent to Iraq.

But soldiers shouldn’t be surprised if they are sent to war, said Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman.

“You don’t have to be a news junkie to know there were two wars going on,” Edgecomb told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Our recruiters are professional. I don’t know why a recruiter would tell someone at this time in our country’s history that they won’t see war.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_awol_033008/

Spc. Martin J. Berben death at National Guard Armory not suspicious

Police: Death of spc. at armory not suspicious

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Mar 30, 2008 9:56:14 EDT

OSHKOSH, Wis. — A soldier who died at the local National Guard Armory passed away of apparent natural causes, police said Saturday.

There was nothing suspicious about the death Friday of Spc. Martin J. Berben, Oshkosh police sergeant Steve Kaiser said.

Kaiser declined to reveal details about how the 51-year-old Gillett man was found or what he was doing immediately before his death.

Berben had worked with a detachment of the 132nd brigade support battalion in Appleton, said Lt. Col. Tim Donovan of the Wisconsin Army National Guard.

Berben was most recently working full-time at a field maintenance shop in Oshkosh, Donovan said.

The soldier had deployed with the 2nd battalion of the 127th infantry in Kuwait and Iraq from 2005 to 2006, Donovan said.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_guardsmandeath_033008/

PTSD SPECIAL REPORT: Combat that never ends ...

SPECIAL REPORT: Combat that never ends ...
By Alysa Landry The Daily Times
Article Launched: 03/30/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

FARMINGTON — John Collard bit down on the cold steel barrel of a pistol.
He was alone in his bedroom that day in 1991, alone except for the haunting string of memories that had become his closest companions during the previous two decades — since he returned from Vietnam.

Numb, Collard willed himself to pull the trigger. He still was deliberating when his daughter found him and called 911.

"The doctors didn't really know what was going on," he said. "They didn't understand. Neither did I."

The incident came 23 years after Collard joined the Army at age 20 and went to Vietnam as a combat medic. He spent 13 months covered in blood.

By 1991, he already had spent more than two decades trying to forget it, and he'd had enough.

Collard slept one hour per night for 23 years. When he did sleep, he was haunted by a recurring nightmare.

In the dream, Collard is back at the medic table, up to his elbows in blood.

"I was exposed to injury, death, blood, lots of body parts," he said. "I wake up at night and I am covered in blood, and my clothes are covered in blood. It is so real, I can see it."

Collard, 60, was injured in Vietnam and retired from the military at age 21. He went to college to pursue a career in medicine. He married and raised three children. And five years ago at age 55 — more than a decade after he considered ending his life — Collard was diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

He's one of an estimated 25 million United States soldiers who didn't leave the war on the battlefield.

Veterans who suffer from the disorder often experience nightmares, flashbacks and exaggerated startle responses, which is the phenomenon that sends veterans scrambling for shelter during fireworks displays or other unexpected explosions.

The reactions are part of a "short circuit" in the brain, said Dawn Snuggerud, trauma specialist at Presbyterian Medical Services. The brain is aware of the stimulus, but it fails to place it in proper context.

"They find themselves acting, but they don't have a clue why," she said. "The trauma is pulling them back to the past and they're problem solving as if they are in the middle of it all over again."

Collard has found himself crouched beneath cars or under beds on more than one occasion. Helicopters trigger this reaction; so do firecrackers. The Fourth of July, he said, feels like an air raid.

"You may be in your office or home, but in your mind you are sitting in a combat zone," he said. "People are setting off firecrackers, but in your head, there are rifles going off and people screaming for a medic."
go here for the rest
http://www.daily-times.com/ci_8744540?source=most_emailed

KBR can be sued because of tax loophole they used

Iraq contractor fights suit over toxic exposure
Tax loophole may subject construction firm to damages
By Farah Stockman
Globe Staff / March 25, 2008

WASHINGTON - When the American team arrived in Iraq in the summer of 2003 to repair the Qarmat Ali water injection plant, supervisors told them the orange, sand-like substance strewn around the looted facility was just a "mild irritant," workers recall.


The workers got it on their hands and clothing every day while racing for 2 1/2 months to meet a deadline to get the plant, a crucial part of Iraq's oil infrastructure, up and running.

But the chemical turned out to be sodium dichromate, a substance so dangerous that even limited exposure greatly increases the risk of cancer. Soon, many of the 22 Americans and 100-plus Iraqis began to complain of nosebleeds, ulcers, and shortness of breath. Within weeks, nearly 60 percent exhibited symptoms of exposure, according to the minutes of a meeting of project managers from KBR, the Houston-based construction company in charge of the repairs.

Now, nine Americans are accusing KBR, then a subsidiary of the oil conglomerate Halliburton, of knowingly exposing them to the deadly substance and failing to provide them with the protective equipment needed to keep them safe.

But the workers, like all employees injured in Iraq, face an uphill struggle in their quest for damages. Under a World War II-era federal workers compensation law, employers are generally protected from employee lawsuits, except in rare cases in which it can be proven that the company intentionally harmed its employees or committed outright fraud.

KBR is citing the law, called the Defense Base Act, as grounds to reject the workers' request for damages.

But the company's own actions have undermined its case: To avoid payroll taxes for its American employees, KBR hired the workers through two subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands, part of a strategy that has allowed KBR to dodge hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes.

That gives the workers' lawyer, Mike Doyle of Houston, a chance to argue to an arbitration board that KBR is not an employer protected by federal law, but a third-party that can be sued.

KBR's lawyers argued in a legal brief that the workers should be considered employees of KBR because they were part of a corporate subsidiary that was working on a KBR team. The company's spokeswoman, Heather Browne, pointed out that the company's projects in Iraq take place in a "dangerous, unpredictable environment," but said the firm maintains an "unwavering commitment to safety."

Like domestic workers' compensation plans, the Defense Base Act entitles employees in Iraq to medical care, disability, and death benefits, regardless of who is at fault for the injury. In exchange, it generally prohibits employees from seeking any further compensation, even if the employer is at fault.
Continued... click post title for link

Vietnam Veterans Day with Traveling Wall

Vietnam Veteran's Day

It was great timing for the Vietnam Veterans who live in the Northland. A traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial made a stop at Ironworld, just in time for their big day.

"We felt we were doing the right thing," said Bob Sieler, a Vietnam Veteran who says he was not welcomed home from the war. "And finally people are recognizing veterans for what we do."

Crowds of veterans came to the wall to pay their respects to their fallen brothers, and for the first time, they were able to wish each other a "Happy Veteran's Day."

Inside, at the Ironworld theater, Representative Larry Howes spoke about why he wrote the bill in the first place.

"They've never been thanked or welcomed home," he said. "I think everyone I talked to said, 'It's about time.'"

Major General Eugene Andreotti also spoke to the crowd, personally thanking the veterans.

"To the Vietnam Veterans," he said, "They are, you are, all heroes."

One veteran said he didn't have big plans to celebrate the day. He was just happy to see a formal day of acknowledgement.

"We just want to see the country in a positive way, and this is a great first step for the veterans," said Victor Zupanicich, another Vietnam Veteran.

The traveling replica of the memorial wall will be at Ironworld until Monday morning at eight am. It is open 24 hours a day.
go here to watch the video
http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S395297.shtml?cat=10335

Some went willingly, some were forced to go with the draft, yes, just like Korea and WWII. Some agreed, some didn't. What happened was that they ended up fighting for each other. They followed their orders to take the hill and then give the hill up only to loose brothers and then have to take it back all over again. Fighting for each other. That's something the Patriots and the Founding Fathers knew all too well. Those who are sent to fight in the wars the politicians pick have no say in what, when, where or how. They go. If you've been watching HBO's John Adams, I'm sure you are getting a bit of a history lesson in case you forgot what you learned in school. They do it for each other and because the politicians said it was necessary for the nation.

It's the job of the rest of us to honor them and to hold the politicians accountable for what they do, where they send them, if they provide the proper equipment and plans and if they take care of them or not when they come home. Think of how rare the combat veterans are to us. Think of what this nation would be if men and women were not willing to serve to defend it. That's what this all boils down to. If they get used by the government, it's up to us to hold them accountable for the sake of those risking their lives. But no matter how we feel about the reasons why they went, we cannot act as if they are of any lesser value than a Patriot.

I am very proud of this country, not the government at the moment but of the people of this country. We learned one lesson very well. That you do not take out anything on those who serve this nation. Both sides support them, they to help them and do what we can for them. We all hold them in our prayers. The only regret I have is that those doing the most screaming of "support the troops" are the first ones to not be doing it when they need us. We need to do so much more for the wounded than we are doing and for the families. Let's support all of them for real when it really matters to them.

Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."

- George Washington

PTSD:The War Inside

A Soldier's Struggle With PTSD
March 29, 2008
Stars and Stripes|by Tracy Burton
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.

The most troubling challenges facing these troops include:

Psychological trauma and mental health care not always receiving the same priority as physical injuries.

Army claims of pre-existing personality disorders, which in many cases slash disability benefits and long-term mental health care for otherwise eligible combat veterans.

The enemy Garrison encountered daily in combat still haunts him. He sees the faces of his fallen brothers. He smells the dirty air, amid the blood. Screams of panic broken with hums of moaning pain lingers and the dust ensues yet another storm inside him.

That is until he finds his way back to Lily, and back to the life he knew before war.

"Without her, I seriously wouldn't be alive right now," Garrison said.

Garrison's platoon from the Army's 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Drum, N.Y., specializes in fighting in harsh conditions. In northeast Afghanistan they were stationed in Pech Valley Korengal Outpost, one the country's deadliest valleys.
click post title for the rest

When PTSD is caused by combat, it becomes the war inside. This piece said "This is his war now." but the truth is, it is the whole family's war. It becomes the war of the wife or husband, to win, defeat an enemy that came home and heal a wound no one can see. Vietnam was my husband's war but it became my battle 25 years ago. My book For The Love Of Jack, His War/My Battle is on the right side of the blog and it's free. 18 years of our life together are in that book and all the changes we went through as mild PTSD turned into a raging war.

It is not just their battle to fight. It's up to us to help them fight for their lives when they come home.