Miss. vets arrested over Purple Heart claims
By Nicklaus Lovelady - The Clarion Star-Ledger
Posted : Wednesday Mar 26, 2008 16:28:06 EDT
Federal investigators on Tuesday arrested two Mississippi men who allegedly falsely represented themselves as Purple Heart recipients in order to obtain free vehicle license plates.
John Wayne Lebo, 57, of Tylertown and Christopher Billeaud, 52, of Biloxi are suspected of altering their “official military discharge papers to reflect awards and medals (they) did not receive,” according records filed in federal court.
In doing so, both obtained the Mississippi Purple Heart vehicle license plate, which never expires and is given to Purple Heart recipients at no cost, U.S. Attorney Ruth Morgan said.
Purple Heart medals are given to war veterans wounded in combat by an enemy attack and are posthumously given to family members of those killed in battle by an enemy.
The arrests followed separate investigations by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
John Weber III, the attorney for Lebo, was unavailable for comment.
Kathleen Billeaud, the wife of Christopher Billeaud, an Air Force Veteran of Desert Storm, the first Iraq war, said the U.S. government is making a big mistake.
“My husband did not falsify anything. Sandbags collapsed on his neck during a scud [missile] attack, and his neck was broken. I have the documentation right in front of me to prove it,” she said.
According to court papers, officers with the Air Force Office of Investigations went to the Billeaud home in April 2007, after they say they discovered that Christopher Billeaud said he was a chief master sergeant, although he retired as a master sergeant.
One of the officers noticed that a vehicle parked at his home had a Purple Heart license plate. During the interview, the officer asked Billeaud if he received a Purple Heart, and he told the officer no, court records show.
Kathleen Billeaud said her husband has been recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the head of Keesler Air Force Base hospital as receiving a Purple Heart, but not by the Air Force.
She said the Air Force recognizes his disability but said there was some discrepancy on how he was injured.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/airforce_billeaud_purpleheart_032608w/
I was angry when I saw this headline but I was even more angry when I read the story. When is a wound less worthy when it happened in service? I still think they should give PTSD veterans at least an award like the Purple Heart because had they not been deployed, they wouldn't have been wounded either.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Soldier's widow charged as 2 year old found alone
Mother of tot found wandering is Iraq widow
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 26, 2008 13:09:03 EDT
BELLEVILLE, Ill. — A Belleville woman charged with letting her 2-year-old son wander alone in 40-degree weather wearing only a diaper is the widow of a man killed while serving in Iraq.
Thelma Straughter’s husband, Missouri National Guard Specialist Matthew Straughter, died Jan. 31 when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle in Iraq, a day before his 28th birthday.
St. Clair County prosecutors charged 28-year-old Thelma Straughter with misdemeanor child endangerment on Monday after a motorist found her toddler walking down a street.
The child had scratches on his feet but was otherwise uninjured.
The boy and his two siblings are staying with grandparents.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_widow_wanderingtoddler_032608/
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 26, 2008 13:09:03 EDT
BELLEVILLE, Ill. — A Belleville woman charged with letting her 2-year-old son wander alone in 40-degree weather wearing only a diaper is the widow of a man killed while serving in Iraq.
Thelma Straughter’s husband, Missouri National Guard Specialist Matthew Straughter, died Jan. 31 when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle in Iraq, a day before his 28th birthday.
St. Clair County prosecutors charged 28-year-old Thelma Straughter with misdemeanor child endangerment on Monday after a motorist found her toddler walking down a street.
The child had scratches on his feet but was otherwise uninjured.
The boy and his two siblings are staying with grandparents.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_widow_wanderingtoddler_032608/
Cartoonist Garry Trudeau getting award for veterans advocacy
Posted online: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 2:40:32 PM
Cartoonist to Be Awarded for His Portrayal About War-Related Mental Health
Cartoonist Garry Trudeau will receive the annual Mental Health Research Advocacy Award from Yale School of Medicine April 5 for his outstanding portrayal of the readjustment issues faced by soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trudeau, a Yale College graduate and creator of the popular comic strip “Doonesbury,” will be honored at the Department of Psychiatry’s Neuroscience 2008 symposium, “Stress, Resilience and Recovery.”
The symposium will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Harkness Auditorium, Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St.
“The Mental Health Research Advocacy Award is given annually by the Department of Psychiatry to someone who has made an important contribution to the effort to advance research designed to improve the lives of people with mental illness,” said John Krystal, M.D., professor of clinical pharmacology and deputy chair for research in psychiatry.
click post title for the rest
Cartoonist to Be Awarded for His Portrayal About War-Related Mental Health
Cartoonist Garry Trudeau will receive the annual Mental Health Research Advocacy Award from Yale School of Medicine April 5 for his outstanding portrayal of the readjustment issues faced by soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trudeau, a Yale College graduate and creator of the popular comic strip “Doonesbury,” will be honored at the Department of Psychiatry’s Neuroscience 2008 symposium, “Stress, Resilience and Recovery.”
The symposium will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Harkness Auditorium, Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St.
“The Mental Health Research Advocacy Award is given annually by the Department of Psychiatry to someone who has made an important contribution to the effort to advance research designed to improve the lives of people with mental illness,” said John Krystal, M.D., professor of clinical pharmacology and deputy chair for research in psychiatry.
click post title for the rest
More Soldiers Returning From Iraq With PTSD
More Soldiers Returning From Iraq With PTSD
Up To 20 Percent Of Iraq Veterans Have PTSD
By Angela Bettis, Staff Writer
UPDATED: 11:48 am CDT March 26, 2008
MADISON, Wis. -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that as many as 20 percent of veterans returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom are also returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder.
VIDEO: Watch The Report
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jeff Ethington returned home to Madison two days before Christmas after serving two back-to-back tours in Iraq. He's humble, but proud of what his unit accomplished.
"During the time that I was there we opened maybe four hospitals, six schools, and built all these parks all with the help of the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division," said Ethington.
Ethington's unit also trained Iraqi National Police and renovated one of the most dangerous boulevards in Baghdad, WISC-TV reported.
"It used to be known as Purple Heart Boulevard," said Ethington. "You'd get out of your truck and get shot at, you'd get out of your truck and someone would throw a grenade at you."
Ethington said he didn't dwell on the fact that he was in constant mortal danger.
"It was always in the back of my mind," he said.
In the back of his mind for the 29 months he served in Iraq.
After returning home in late December, Ethington re-enrolled in classes at the University of Wisconsin, eager to get back to his degree, back to his friends, back to his life.
"Between my first and second deployment, my brother said I didn't seem the same," said Ethington. "It seemed like I wasn't transitioning well. I thought about getting help then and then I got deployed again."
This time, when he re-entered campus, Ethington himself noticed the change.
"One specific day when school was starting, the crowds are bigger, you're always in the crowds, and you're in class. I just started to feel shaky and panicky, like really, really uncomfortable," he said.
Ethington was experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
"PTSD looks the same whether you're someone who was tortured in Africa, or if you're a woman who's been raped, or you're a combat veteran," said Veterans Hospital psychologist Dr. Tracey Smith. "It's the body and mind's way to make sense of these terrible events."
go here for the rest
http://www.channel3000.com/news/15708296/detail.html
Up To 20 Percent Of Iraq Veterans Have PTSD
By Angela Bettis, Staff Writer
UPDATED: 11:48 am CDT March 26, 2008
MADISON, Wis. -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that as many as 20 percent of veterans returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom are also returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder.
VIDEO: Watch The Report
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jeff Ethington returned home to Madison two days before Christmas after serving two back-to-back tours in Iraq. He's humble, but proud of what his unit accomplished.
"During the time that I was there we opened maybe four hospitals, six schools, and built all these parks all with the help of the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division," said Ethington.
Ethington's unit also trained Iraqi National Police and renovated one of the most dangerous boulevards in Baghdad, WISC-TV reported.
"It used to be known as Purple Heart Boulevard," said Ethington. "You'd get out of your truck and get shot at, you'd get out of your truck and someone would throw a grenade at you."
Ethington said he didn't dwell on the fact that he was in constant mortal danger.
"It was always in the back of my mind," he said.
In the back of his mind for the 29 months he served in Iraq.
After returning home in late December, Ethington re-enrolled in classes at the University of Wisconsin, eager to get back to his degree, back to his friends, back to his life.
"Between my first and second deployment, my brother said I didn't seem the same," said Ethington. "It seemed like I wasn't transitioning well. I thought about getting help then and then I got deployed again."
This time, when he re-entered campus, Ethington himself noticed the change.
"One specific day when school was starting, the crowds are bigger, you're always in the crowds, and you're in class. I just started to feel shaky and panicky, like really, really uncomfortable," he said.
Ethington was experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
"PTSD looks the same whether you're someone who was tortured in Africa, or if you're a woman who's been raped, or you're a combat veteran," said Veterans Hospital psychologist Dr. Tracey Smith. "It's the body and mind's way to make sense of these terrible events."
go here for the rest
http://www.channel3000.com/news/15708296/detail.html
Female Veterans Find Help With Emotional Wounds
Female Veterans Find Help With Emotional Wounds at Batavia Facility
Lou Michel
The Buffalo News
Mar 25, 2008
March 24, 2008 - After the improvised explosive and rifle attacks from the enemy, and after the sexual assaults and harassment from their own comrades, some female veterans find their way to the red brick house in Batavia to heal.
As if the horrors of war were not enough, women in uniform have been under assault for years in a culture that has failed to vanquish sexual attacks and harassment against them. Just last week, the Pentagon released figures indicating that one-third of military women are sexually harassed and many others sexually assaulted.
So the need for the red brick house at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Batavia is well documented.
It is home to a post-traumatic stress program exclusively for female veterans and is one of only four such facilities in the country.
Up to six women can be accommodated at the home, and when discharged, they are expected to continue with rigorous outpatient services. Healing does not come overnight.
“It’s very new for the VA and for the world,” said Dr. Terri F. Julian, manager of the VA’s post-traumatic stress program in Batavia.
Many of the female veterans who enter this cozy two-story house with its “Welcome Home” sign had been attacked by men — and sometimes women — who wore the same uniform and swore the same oath to defend the United States as they did.
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9668
Lou Michel
The Buffalo News
Mar 25, 2008
March 24, 2008 - After the improvised explosive and rifle attacks from the enemy, and after the sexual assaults and harassment from their own comrades, some female veterans find their way to the red brick house in Batavia to heal.
As if the horrors of war were not enough, women in uniform have been under assault for years in a culture that has failed to vanquish sexual attacks and harassment against them. Just last week, the Pentagon released figures indicating that one-third of military women are sexually harassed and many others sexually assaulted.
So the need for the red brick house at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Batavia is well documented.
It is home to a post-traumatic stress program exclusively for female veterans and is one of only four such facilities in the country.
Up to six women can be accommodated at the home, and when discharged, they are expected to continue with rigorous outpatient services. Healing does not come overnight.
“It’s very new for the VA and for the world,” said Dr. Terri F. Julian, manager of the VA’s post-traumatic stress program in Batavia.
Many of the female veterans who enter this cozy two-story house with its “Welcome Home” sign had been attacked by men — and sometimes women — who wore the same uniform and swore the same oath to defend the United States as they did.
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9668
VA Chaplain Grapples with the Toll of War
VA Chaplain Grapples with the Toll of War
by Thomas Phillips
Listen Now [2 min 34 sec] add to playlist
Morning Edition, March 25, 2008 · It is being reported that the Iraq war has claimed at least 4,000 American lives. Commentator Thomas Phillips knows firsthand about this number.
Phillips is a Veterans Affairs chaplain who receives computer notification whenever a member of the American armed forces is killed. He wishes for the day when notifications naming the dead will stop appearing on his computer screen.
Iraq
Iraq War Enters Sixth Year with Wave of Violence
Listen Now [4 min 33 sec] add to playlist
Chart military and civilian deaths in Iraq.
In Depth
Read, hear correspondent Anne Garrels' personal observations from five years of covering the Iraq war.
All Things Considered, March 24, 2008 · The war's sixth year begins in Baghdad with rockets falling into the U.S.-protected Green Zone over the weekend, while the overall U.S. military death toll tops 4,000 after a roadside bombing claims more American lives.
Army Maj. Gen. Bob Scales (Ret.) tells Robert Siegel that the enemy in Iraq has evolved, even as U.S. forces have improved their defenses against irregular attackers operating anonymously in small units and employing suicide and roadside bombs.
He says they have built larger bombs, and found more clever ways of hiding explosives and detonating the devices.
As well, Iraqi insurgents often are launching their attacks from densely populated regions, "so even though the point of launch can be determined with great precision, the ability to shoot back is limited," Scales says.
"You simply can't load up artillery guns and throw rounds into a crowded neighborhood. So the enemy has time — while the U.S. forces are clearing the area, putting together a patrol, launching helicopters — to simply fade away into buildings and hide away in alleys."
But Scales says this does not mean that the Iraqis who live in these neighborhoods support or are intimidated into cooperating by the insurgents. He says the hit-and-run attackers usually drive in from miles away and are gone before the populous even knows they are there.
Ultimately, Scales says it is very difficult to respond to suicide bombers, in particular.
"There is so little you can do when you're facing an enemy who is enthusiastic about death. … They want to create an impression among the Iraqis and Arabs in the region that U.S. efforts to build this period of tranquility [are] interrupted by these periodic spikes. And so the more dramatic they can make it, the more deaths that they can cause, that really plays to their ends," Scales says.
Related NPR Stories
March 24, 2008Living in a Wartorn Land, an Iraqi's Perspective
March 24, 2008U.S. War Dead in Iraq Honored
March 24, 20084,000 American Lives Lost in Iraq, AP Reports
Related NPR Stories
Jan. 6, 2008Chaplain Struggles with PTSD from Time in Iraq
Nov. 21, 2007Chaplains Struggle to Protect Monastery in Iraq
Nov. 14, 2007From Chicago to Anbar: A Chaplain's View of War
May 26, 2006Spiritual Soldier: A Chaplain's Life in War
by Thomas Phillips
Listen Now [2 min 34 sec] add to playlist
Morning Edition, March 25, 2008 · It is being reported that the Iraq war has claimed at least 4,000 American lives. Commentator Thomas Phillips knows firsthand about this number.
Phillips is a Veterans Affairs chaplain who receives computer notification whenever a member of the American armed forces is killed. He wishes for the day when notifications naming the dead will stop appearing on his computer screen.
Iraq
Iraq War Enters Sixth Year with Wave of Violence
Listen Now [4 min 33 sec] add to playlist
Chart military and civilian deaths in Iraq.
In Depth
Read, hear correspondent Anne Garrels' personal observations from five years of covering the Iraq war.
All Things Considered, March 24, 2008 · The war's sixth year begins in Baghdad with rockets falling into the U.S.-protected Green Zone over the weekend, while the overall U.S. military death toll tops 4,000 after a roadside bombing claims more American lives.
Army Maj. Gen. Bob Scales (Ret.) tells Robert Siegel that the enemy in Iraq has evolved, even as U.S. forces have improved their defenses against irregular attackers operating anonymously in small units and employing suicide and roadside bombs.
He says they have built larger bombs, and found more clever ways of hiding explosives and detonating the devices.
As well, Iraqi insurgents often are launching their attacks from densely populated regions, "so even though the point of launch can be determined with great precision, the ability to shoot back is limited," Scales says.
"You simply can't load up artillery guns and throw rounds into a crowded neighborhood. So the enemy has time — while the U.S. forces are clearing the area, putting together a patrol, launching helicopters — to simply fade away into buildings and hide away in alleys."
But Scales says this does not mean that the Iraqis who live in these neighborhoods support or are intimidated into cooperating by the insurgents. He says the hit-and-run attackers usually drive in from miles away and are gone before the populous even knows they are there.
Ultimately, Scales says it is very difficult to respond to suicide bombers, in particular.
"There is so little you can do when you're facing an enemy who is enthusiastic about death. … They want to create an impression among the Iraqis and Arabs in the region that U.S. efforts to build this period of tranquility [are] interrupted by these periodic spikes. And so the more dramatic they can make it, the more deaths that they can cause, that really plays to their ends," Scales says.
Related NPR Stories
March 24, 2008Living in a Wartorn Land, an Iraqi's Perspective
March 24, 2008U.S. War Dead in Iraq Honored
March 24, 20084,000 American Lives Lost in Iraq, AP Reports
Related NPR Stories
Jan. 6, 2008Chaplain Struggles with PTSD from Time in Iraq
Nov. 21, 2007Chaplains Struggle to Protect Monastery in Iraq
Nov. 14, 2007From Chicago to Anbar: A Chaplain's View of War
May 26, 2006Spiritual Soldier: A Chaplain's Life in War
More female casualties now than with Korea and Vietnam combined
Photo courtesy of Scott Antoinette Scott at home with her husband and
one of her daughters.
Female Iraq veterans face struggles at home
By NATHALIE LAVILLE
Observer Contributor
March 26, 2008
Sgt. Antoinette V. Scott was born in 1970 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. When she enlisted in the U.S. Army, she didn’t know she would be back at Walter Reed 33 years later, with a brain injury, a hole in the cheek and a broken jaw.
Scott, 37, was injured on Nov. 14, 2003, after being deployed in Iraq for eight months. While driving a five-ton truck in a convoy, Scott suddenly lost control of the vehicle and thought it may be because she ran over a piece of glass or metal.
“I didn’t realize immediately that my vehicle along with myself had been struck by the explosive,” she said.
Time moved quickly after that. Scott said she immediately regained control of the vehicle, and brought the truck to a stop.
“I was kind of dazed so, my assistant driver was like, you know we need to move… we have just been hit, and I am just sitting here and thinking – did this really happen? - not realizing that I have a big hole in my face, I was bleeding profusely and my jaw was broken,” Sgt. Scott said.
She managed to transport the soldiers to their destination before getting medical attention. She was then flown from the Troop Medical Center to Baghdad and ended up in Walter Reed for a 50-stage reconstructive facial surgery.
Equal rights, equal risk
Scott is just one example of the many women in the military who face the same risks as men in the battle ground. In Iraq, almost any military position can be a target and the enemy is not clear. There is no way to hide from roadside and car bombs or from mortars.
Captain Kristin Dabbieri, 30, served as an Army medic in Iraq for one year and said that the Iraq War is different from previous ones in that women are more involved.
“[People] are saying we can’t be in combat roles; we are in combat service support roles. However we are involved in convoy operations, some of our medics are on the front line,” she said.
“So when they say combat, what is considered combat? They need to define a little bit that word, because as much as we were considered combat service, I felt like we were involved in like combat.”
There are currently 95 female U.S. soldiers who have been killed while serving in Iraq and nearly 500 have been wounded. There have already been more female casualties than in the Korean, Vietnam and the first Gulf War combined.
One reason for the larger number of female casualties is that women also make up more of the army. Currently, 15 percent of the military is female; almost double the rate from 25 years ago. Additionally, women make up 20 percent of new military recruits.
Women are now actively engaged in fighting in a way that American women have never been before, said Lory Manning, director of Women in the Military Project of the Women’s Research and Education Institute.
“So there are many of them who have bad wounds, more of them have been killed in combat operations, and they face the same kind of problems as men could with things like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” Manning said.
“I didn’t know I was going through PTSD”
go here for the rest
http://americanobserver.net/2008/03/26/women-vets/
VA steps up effort to educate families on stress disorders
VA steps up effort to educate families on stress disorders
By Suzanne Bohan, STAFF WRITER
Article Created: 03/24/2008 02:34:33 AM PDT
PACIFICA — With roughly one in five soldiers or Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan developing post-traumatic stress disorder, and many of them remaining untreated, family members are the target for educational outreach by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"I think it's crucial for (military) family members to be aware of the potential mental health problems of their loved ones," said Dr. Byron J. Wittlin, director of mental health services at the VA's San Bruno clinic.
As part of an emerging emphasis on training family members to spot signs of the disorder, Wittlin spoke Thursday evening to a group from the Pacifica Military Moms, a chapter of the national organization, The Blue Star Mothers of America.
Debbie Smyser, co-founder of the Pacifica group and a trainer at Genentech in South San Francisco, has a 21-year-old son in Iraq. Some members of the group also have offspring in Iraq or Afghanistan, and Smyser said they wanted to be prepared to help them if they return with mental distress.
"We need to know what to recognize, in case we need to get them help," she said. "It's just to make us aware and what signs to lookfor."
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is nothing new, emphasized Wittlin. It's a condition plaguing humans for millennia that now has a new name.
"It's been around for thousands of years," he told the group. "As long as there's been war, as long as there's been trauma." In World War II, the condition was called "shell shock," Wittlin added.
go here for the rest
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_8676561
By Suzanne Bohan, STAFF WRITER
Article Created: 03/24/2008 02:34:33 AM PDT
PACIFICA — With roughly one in five soldiers or Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan developing post-traumatic stress disorder, and many of them remaining untreated, family members are the target for educational outreach by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"I think it's crucial for (military) family members to be aware of the potential mental health problems of their loved ones," said Dr. Byron J. Wittlin, director of mental health services at the VA's San Bruno clinic.
As part of an emerging emphasis on training family members to spot signs of the disorder, Wittlin spoke Thursday evening to a group from the Pacifica Military Moms, a chapter of the national organization, The Blue Star Mothers of America.
Debbie Smyser, co-founder of the Pacifica group and a trainer at Genentech in South San Francisco, has a 21-year-old son in Iraq. Some members of the group also have offspring in Iraq or Afghanistan, and Smyser said they wanted to be prepared to help them if they return with mental distress.
"We need to know what to recognize, in case we need to get them help," she said. "It's just to make us aware and what signs to lookfor."
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is nothing new, emphasized Wittlin. It's a condition plaguing humans for millennia that now has a new name.
"It's been around for thousands of years," he told the group. "As long as there's been war, as long as there's been trauma." In World War II, the condition was called "shell shock," Wittlin added.
go here for the rest
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_8676561
Illinois Warrior Assistance Program helping National Guardsmen as Veterans
Warrior Assistance Program Screens Returning Soldiers for TBI and PTSD
Barbara Kois
Monday March 24, 2008
The new Illinois Warrior Assistance Program is the first program of its kind in the U.S. to mandate screening of all Illinois National Guard members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan for traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The free screening is available to all Illinois veterans. The program also provides 24-hour toll-free confidential psychological counseling for any veteran who may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Veterans' family members also can call the hotline.
The hotline is manned by master's level licensed clinicians, including some veterans, who are trained to administer the screening tool. Screening also can be conducted in all of the 51 Veteran Service Offices in the state by 73 Veteran Service officers — state employees who were trained extensively by clinicians from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
Felise Zollman, MD, the medical director of the Brain Injury Medicine and Rehabilitation Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, was involved in devising the tool and the training for it.
"The screen was designed to be very sensitive and cast a wide net to identify any potential cases of brain injury so the person can go to a doctor for a definitive assessment. It can be administered in 10 minutes, much as one might get a blood pressure screening at a health fair," Zollman said. "Because many of the symptoms of brain injury are similar to those of PTSD, we can tell the person that it doesn't look like brain injury, but it might be a good idea to get a further assessment to see if PTSD is causing the symptoms."
click post title for the rest
Barbara Kois
Monday March 24, 2008
The new Illinois Warrior Assistance Program is the first program of its kind in the U.S. to mandate screening of all Illinois National Guard members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan for traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The free screening is available to all Illinois veterans. The program also provides 24-hour toll-free confidential psychological counseling for any veteran who may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Veterans' family members also can call the hotline.
The hotline is manned by master's level licensed clinicians, including some veterans, who are trained to administer the screening tool. Screening also can be conducted in all of the 51 Veteran Service Offices in the state by 73 Veteran Service officers — state employees who were trained extensively by clinicians from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.
Felise Zollman, MD, the medical director of the Brain Injury Medicine and Rehabilitation Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, was involved in devising the tool and the training for it.
"The screen was designed to be very sensitive and cast a wide net to identify any potential cases of brain injury so the person can go to a doctor for a definitive assessment. It can be administered in 10 minutes, much as one might get a blood pressure screening at a health fair," Zollman said. "Because many of the symptoms of brain injury are similar to those of PTSD, we can tell the person that it doesn't look like brain injury, but it might be a good idea to get a further assessment to see if PTSD is causing the symptoms."
click post title for the rest
Christian McEachern crashing through PTSD walls
Former city soldier plans wilderness centre to battle PTSD
By GLENN KAUTH, Sun Media
Christian McEachern, a former member of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry who left the military in 2001. (Supplied photo)
A former Edmonton soldier – once so distressed he crashed an SUV into a garrison building – is the driving force behind plans for a new wilderness centre dedicated to helping fellow post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers battle their demons.
“It’s going to be geared towards using an adventure-therapy concept with the veterans,” said Christian McEachern, a former member of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry who left the military in 2001.
Earlier that year, McEachern drew attention to the issue of PTSD when he crashed the vehicle through the Edmonton Garrison headquarters. At the time, he lashed out at the military for doing too little to help soldiers with the disorder, which he had suffered from for years following service in Bosnia and Rwanda.
Since leaving the military, McEachern, 37, has been living in his hometown of Calgary. Now, after finishing a degree in ecotourism and outdoor leadership, his goal is to apply that knowledge to help his successors in the army by setting up an adventure centre in the mountains nearby.
go here for the rest
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2008/03/24/5090881.html
By GLENN KAUTH, Sun Media
Christian McEachern, a former member of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry who left the military in 2001. (Supplied photo)
A former Edmonton soldier – once so distressed he crashed an SUV into a garrison building – is the driving force behind plans for a new wilderness centre dedicated to helping fellow post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers battle their demons.
“It’s going to be geared towards using an adventure-therapy concept with the veterans,” said Christian McEachern, a former member of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry who left the military in 2001.
Earlier that year, McEachern drew attention to the issue of PTSD when he crashed the vehicle through the Edmonton Garrison headquarters. At the time, he lashed out at the military for doing too little to help soldiers with the disorder, which he had suffered from for years following service in Bosnia and Rwanda.
Since leaving the military, McEachern, 37, has been living in his hometown of Calgary. Now, after finishing a degree in ecotourism and outdoor leadership, his goal is to apply that knowledge to help his successors in the army by setting up an adventure centre in the mountains nearby.
go here for the rest
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2008/03/24/5090881.html
Daily Herald Non-combat Bush agenda propaganda
The propaganda never ends.
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
IN OUR VIEW: Measuring losses in Iraq
Daily Herald
The U.S. has passed a sad milestone in Iraq. The news media have had stories ready for days: "4,000th U.S. death in Iraq." And Americans should mourn every one.
But the numbers must be fully understood if we are to fully honor the fallen. Figures from the Defense Department's Defense Manpower Data Center show that hundreds or thousands of service personnel die every year, whether the United States is fighting a war or not.
Death strikes the armed forces, even in peacetime. In 1980, for example 2,392 active duty personnel died, most in accidents, but also from illness, homicide and suicide.
In the first five years of the Clinton administration, U.S. active duty military deaths totaled 5,119, a thousand more than the first five years of the Iraq war. Only one was from hostile action.
Yet politicians didn't howl about the death toll. TV commentators were silent as the 4,000th and 5,000th deaths were recorded. Activists didn't make demands.
There were headlines, sometimes -- usually small ones -- buried in the back pages. "Navy jet feared lost." "Two die in truck crash on Marine maneuvers." "Authorities investigate slaying of soldier."
Are these non-combat deaths somehow easier to accept? Of course. Combat deaths are viewed differently because (depending on your politics) they "didn't have to happen." Blame is assignable to political leaders.
Karl von Clausewitz was right when he said that war is politics by other means. And so the political objectives of war -- and the politicians who push them -- are properly subject to the roiling waves of domestic opinion.
Certainly, the politics of war are complex; and there are always detractors. Even World War II had its critics and pacifists. Only in hindsight do we all agree that the decision to go to war was correct in 1941. There are simply times that the consequences of avoiding war are worse than the consequences of war itself.
That may be the case with worldwide terrorism. The question is not the number of deaths but the purposes achieved. If the Iraq war helps to keep terrorists off our soil -- and by unseating Saddam Hussein it has, according to a detailed report by the Institute for Defense Analyses -- then it might be seen as a responsible move.
Life in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps is always dangerous. Pilots land airplanes on ships at sea. Helicopters fly at night over rough terrain. Soldiers train with machine guns loaded with live ammo. Sometimes they just drive fast on bad roads or live in unsanitary conditions. And service personnel are largely young men, who tend toward risky behavior whether or not they're wearing a uniform.
Every year hundreds of young men and women will lose their lives in service of our country -- and will do so whether we are in Iraq or not.
We do not downplay the sacrifices made in combat. Accidents are quite different from deployment in places where an enemy is actively trying to kill you. Still, it's good remember that everyone in uniform is risking his or her life, whether in Anbar Province or up at Hill Air Force Base.
The scope of the losses in Iraq, while heart-wrenching, should not be measured against an impossible ideal in which service personnel are invulnerable. It should be measured against the risks we ask our men and women in uniform to take every day in war and peace.
More important, the losses in Iraq must be measured against gains. Yes, the Iraq war has seen blunders and tragedies; so does every war. It has also unseated a murderous tyrant, pushed another to give up nuclear weapons, and sent a fair number of fanatics to an early and well-deserved grave. It has also raised the hope that Iraq can become a foothold for democracy and a beacon of hope in the Mideast.
The best way to honor the 4,000 fallen is to do all that can be done to help their mission succeed.
As President Bush just said, "One day people will look back at this moment in history and say, 'Thank God there were courageous people willing to serve, because they laid the foundations for peace for generations to come.' I have vowed in the past, and I will vow so long as I'm president, to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain."
That is not just the president's responsibility, but also our own.
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/260014/3/
Non-combat deaths, let me count the ways this piece is a POS. First what is not even addressed is that there are 120 veterans committing suicide each and every week that are not counted. If they commit suicide while deployed, they are counted as a non-combat death however if they do it back in the states, they are not included, although they would not have committed suicide if they were not deployed, developed PTSD or other psychological illnesses, suffered the added stresses associated with serial deployments over and over again, were treated better by the DOD and the VA for the wounds they received not to mention treated better by the Bush administration when they are responsible for starting two military operations at the same time without providing for the wounded these two operations would cause.
To report the deaths of military members during the Clinton administration that were non-combat in comparison proves the desperation of the Bush supporters seeking to justify instead of address the problems this administration created.
Now for the big news, this piece also does not include those who have died in Afghanistan. I doubt they remember that Afghanistan is still going on and as of today there have been 490 US lives lost there. By 2001 there were 12 lives lost invading Afghanistan. This was a monumental accomplishment for the military forces in response to the attacks of 9-11 ordered by Osama from his base in Afghanistan. Never once do the Bush supporters mention or include the deaths from Afghanistan in any of their numbers while they consistently attempt to blend Iraq into those attacks when the fact is, there was no connection.
Here are the numbers out of Afghanistan;
2001 12
2002 49
2003 48
2004 52
2005 99
2006 98
2007 117
2008 15 in three months.
http://www.icasualties.org/oef/
Why they would avoid even mentioning Afghanistan deaths is astonishing. Why they would avoid the topic of suicides is even more astonishing but very educational. They do so because that would remind the public that Afghanistan is still going on, the Taliban are still seeking to take back territory and are doing so at the same time NATO took over operations there and have been screaming for more troops, more equipment and more plans to finally, once and for all accomplish the mission there.
I would really like to see where the figures stated about the non-combat deaths during the Clinton Administration came from. But here is an eye opener.
Military Casualty Information
ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY DEATHS. Calendar Years 1980 through 2006 ... of Total Deaths Per 100000 Strength - by Fiscal Year and Military Service, 1980-1999 ...
ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY DEATHS. Calendar Years 1980 through 2006 ... of Total Deaths Per 100000 Strength - by Fiscal Year and Military Service, 1980-1999 ...
On more thing to consider is that the numbers out of Iraq, are numbers out of Iraq only. Do you think they are counting the deaths of other military people not deployed into Iraq? Or those deployed to Afghanistan? No. While they want to cover their eyes to the fact they are not even counting any of them yet want us to look at what they want us to see, they think their propaganda will work. The problem with statistics is that they are only good when they include all figures available. If not they are just a bunch of numbers plucked out of thin air. When it comes to the desperation of the 'right" to support Bush instead of the troops, they are full of hot air! When will the lives of the troops matter to these people?
I don't know what the answer to Iraq is any more than I know what the answer to Afghanistan is but denial is not about to settle either occupation. Denial is not going to prevent the suicides in combat or because of combat either. It will not solve the problems the veterans face when they come home. Time to remove the blinders off these people before more and more of our troops pay the prices they should not have to pay.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Suicides and PTSD need to be inculded as price of war
Estimate: 120 Veteran Suicides Per Week
March 24, 2008
Email to a Friend Print Friendly VersionLate last year, a CBS News investigation found that in 2005 "there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That's 120 each and every week, in just one year."
Last week, CBS News reported on data it had just obtained from the government on veterans who were recently treated by the Veterans Administration. In this limited sample, "two age groups stood out between 2000 and 2007. First, ages 20-24 -- those likely to have served during the Iraq-Afghan wars. Suicide attempts rose from 11 to 47. And for vets ages 55 to 59, suicide attempts jumped from 19 to 117."
Joyce and Kevin Lucey are the parents of Jeffrey Lucey, who committed suicide after being in Iraq for five months in 2004. Joyce Lucey said today: "My son was betrayed first by a government who sent him to war and then by the Veterans Administration for not giving him the treatment he needed. He and others died from this war but their names will never be on a memorial wall. "The letters we received from him were brief and sanitized. But to his girlfriend of six years, he said in April of 2003 he felt he had done immoral things and that he wanted to erase the last month of his life. 'There are things I wouldn't want to tell you or my parents, because I don't want you to be worried. Even if I did tell you, you'd probably think I was just exaggerating. I would never want to fight in a war again. I've seen and done enough horrible things to last me a lifetime.'"
Kevin Lucey said today: "Jeffrey had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but PTSD is not so much a mental dysfunction as a normal response to an abnormal situation. Jeffrey refused to go to the VA due to the stigma associated with it. We finally got him to the VA, but after he committed suicide, the VA wouldn't give us all his medical records, claiming a Freedom of Information Act exemption. We finally managed to get the records -- Jeffrey had told them how he was thinking of committing suicide and they put him down as a moderate risk." Joyce and Kevin Lucey testified at the recent Winter Soldier conference.
Audio of their testimony is available online, as is video of various testimony.
go here for the rest
While the Vietnam Memorial Wall contains over 58,000 names, it does not include the names of all who died in service to this nation. We need to begin to ask ourselves how we can separate out the ultimate sacrifices made to decide who is worthy of inclusion in the death count and who is not.
Over the years there have been many statements made by military people concerning suicides. The classifications of combat and non-combat deaths provides two classes of deaths and supports the view of some that when the death occurs because of suicide, they did it to themselves and should not be honored. It never dawns on them that had it not been for the combat operation they were deployed to, the wound of PTSD would not have taken all hope away from them to the point where death seemed the only treatment they could obtain to erase the memories, the flashbacks and end the nightmares. The fact that PTSD comes after trauma never enters their own minds. The suicide of a soldier is a life lost because of combat, because of service and they should not be regarded as substandard.
The names on the wall do not include those who committed suicide after Vietnam. The 117,000 who committed suicide by 1986 are not on the Wall. Two studies released after placed the number between 150,000 and 200,000. Can you imagine the Wall containing over 250,000 names? My husband's nephew's name is not on the Wall. He committed suicide.
Today we are seeing 120 per week committing suicide and most of the names you will never know. It is easy to avoid acknowledging the true price of war being paid when we do not honor all of them equally. Some say that to be shot or blown up by a bomb is more worthy than to be wounded by witnessing it and then having your mind so filled with the horror you die as a result of that wound.
Until we face the fact that PTSD is a wound and honor it, treat it as aggressively as we do physical wounds, we will continue to lose more and more everyday of the year. We saw the newspapers with the count of 4,000 deaths in Iraq, yet did not see any mention of how many died in Afghanistan, the other occupation in the War on Terror. We did not see any mention of those who committed suicide after they had returned home and were supposed to be safe from harm. There is too much we do not see because we choose not to.
There were many more deaths associated with Agent Orange and their names are not included on any memorial while the fact exposure to AO would not have happened if they did not serve this nation and were exposed to it. Today AO has been replaced by depleted uranium. The ravages of these chemical weapons does not stop with the veteran but is carried on for generations within their children and birth defects. Most prices paid we do not count and do not face.
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
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Voice, Women At War new video
I just put up the new video The Voice, Women at War. If you want to learn some history of women in war time, it will open your eyes. They were not all just "nurses" as some fools want to believe. A lot of them made history. The video is on the right side of the blog.
Women have fought in war since before the days of Joan of Arc.
She led the French army army at 17 and died at only 19 years old in 1431 when
the court convicted her of heresy and she was burned at the stake by the English.
Robert Shirtliffe, born Deborah Samson, joined the Army in October of 1778 at Plymouth Massachusetts for the whole term of the war and served in the company of Captain Nathan Thayer of Medway, Massachusetts for three years.
Clara Barton worked in the Civil War, first collecting medical supplies and then on the battlefield and in hospitals. She went on to found the American Red Cross.
The population of women veterans numbered 1,731,125 as of 2006
Alabama 31,678
Alaska 6,950
Arizona 43,212
Arkansas 18,143
California 164,810
Colorado 36,294
Connecticut 14,722
Delaware 5,940
District of Columbia 3,261
Florida 132,723
Georgia 69,718
Hawaii 8,478
Idaho 9,660
Illinois 53,468
Indiana 32,620
Iowa 13,865
Kansas 16,137
Kentucky 22,468
Louisiana 27,526
Maine 9,358
Maryland 44,078
Massachusetts 28,096
Michigan 48,188
Minnesota 23,166
Mississippi 18,339
Missouri 35,370
Montana 7,114
Nebraska 10,899
Nevada 19,574
New Hampshire 8,382
New Jersey 30,478
New Mexico 14,742
New York 66,730
North Carolina 61,420
North Dakota 3,622
Ohio 63,256
Oklahoma 24,137
Oregon 25,401
Pennsylvania 63,279
Puerto Rico 7,086
Rhode Island 5,393
South Carolina 32,702
South Dakota 5,063
Tennessee 37,911
Texas 134,949
Utah 9,290
Vermont 3,750
Virginia 75,129
Washington 50,385
West Virginia 10,650
Wisconsin 27,571
Wyoming 3,866
Source: Department of Veterans Affairs, VetPop0
While some people, men mostly, want to say women are only nurses, they need to take a look at the history of women who have in fact fought for this country. As for the "nurse" comment they love to make I'd like to see what would happen if they were not willing to go into a combat zone to take care of the wounded.
Women are as important in times of war as males are. What makes all of this worse for them is that they not only suffer the same kinds of trauma as males do, too many of them suffer sexual trauma.
Take a look at this video and if you do need the strength in numbers of the women veterans, you are heading for a real eye opener because they are getting organized. They are no longer going to accept being treated as anything less than a veteran.
The United Female Veterans of America is having a meeting in June in St. Louis. I did this video for them. If you are a female veteran, make sure you attend this meeting and find others who were willing to serve, did serve and see what other heroes look like. This nation if filled with them from the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines, National Guards and all the wars this nation has engaged in. Some are wounded, some have medals but as with the saying about Vietnam, "All gave some, some gave all."
I will be at the meeting on June 27th and look forward to seeing as many women who have served as possible. I want to shake your hand and say thank you. I am not a veteran. I'm married to a Vietnam veteran and he's the reason I got into all of this 25 years ago. All of you have captured my heart.
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
4,000 Big news but what about the rest?
4,000 gone but there are so many more. Why the fixation on just what is happening in Iraq and not in Afghanistan as well? Or those who have died back home because of PTSD and suicide? Do they not matter? As the administration love to blend the two occupations together it would be a great thing if they even acknowledge Afghanistan or the fact we lost 490 there as well. Were their lives no less worthy or less of a sacrifice? How about the sons, husbands, wives, daughters who also lost their lives because they were wounded in service to this nation by PTSD? Seems that 6,000 a year merit some attention within all of this. 4,000 is a tragic number but it does not come close to the true price being paid by those who serve.
The following is from Stars and Stripes. In it you'll read what some have to say about what they are doing there. I selected these two because they seem to sum up what I'm thinking as well.
From Stars and Stripes
They do all need to be remembered. It's very difficult when the media paid only 3% to reporting on it because their time has been taken up with the economy and the election. You'd think they would find some time to pay more attention to Iraq and at least some attention on Afghanistan but the American public seems to think that Afghanistan is either part of Iraq or has been over a long time ago. You can't really blame them. They have no interest in looking into what is going on with our men and women serving this country because if they cared, they would find the time. The most attention the media has paid on Iraq happens when it is an easy number to report on and they like to round it off to the nearest thousand.
The other thing we heard of from the media is the term "in vain" and when you get right down to it, they didn't die in vain or serve in vain. They were willing to lay down their lives for what their country asked them to do and for those they served with. What they were not willing to do was to be used, abused, abandoned there and then abandoned right back home when they are forced to fight to have their wounds tended to and their lost incomes replaced so they could provide for their own families.
I keep saying that people who know what's going on do really care, but there are very few who really do. It's very sad.
The following is from Stars and Stripes. In it you'll read what some have to say about what they are doing there. I selected these two because they seem to sum up what I'm thinking as well.
From Stars and Stripes
It’s not that troops are oblivious to the cost.
“That’s 4,000 families without a son or husband or wife or daughter,” said G Troop First Sgt. James Adcock, 32, of Beeville, Texas. “They all need to be remembered, but the guys who served with them are never going to forget, and that’s what’s important. We don’t need a running tally to remind us we’re in a dangerous job.”
The meaning of the 4,000th death was open to interpretation.
Maj. Chuck McGregor, a Marine Corps reservist who commands Military Transition Team 131 in Diyala province, took the occasion to criticize the influence of companies working under contract in Iraq.
“If soldiers and Marines are dying to support these contracts then something is wrong,” he said.
“There’s an obnoxious number of contracts out here and money being poured into missions that are half-baked. I hope the next administration has a better approach to keeping peace here and abroad than this one.”
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53571
They do all need to be remembered. It's very difficult when the media paid only 3% to reporting on it because their time has been taken up with the economy and the election. You'd think they would find some time to pay more attention to Iraq and at least some attention on Afghanistan but the American public seems to think that Afghanistan is either part of Iraq or has been over a long time ago. You can't really blame them. They have no interest in looking into what is going on with our men and women serving this country because if they cared, they would find the time. The most attention the media has paid on Iraq happens when it is an easy number to report on and they like to round it off to the nearest thousand.
The other thing we heard of from the media is the term "in vain" and when you get right down to it, they didn't die in vain or serve in vain. They were willing to lay down their lives for what their country asked them to do and for those they served with. What they were not willing to do was to be used, abused, abandoned there and then abandoned right back home when they are forced to fight to have their wounds tended to and their lost incomes replaced so they could provide for their own families.
I keep saying that people who know what's going on do really care, but there are very few who really do. It's very sad.
Remains found of Ronald Withrow and John Roy Young in Iraq
FBI recovers remains of two US contractors in Iraq
24 Mar 2008 19:52:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - The FBI said on Monday it had identified and recovered the remains of two kidnapped U.S. security contractors in Iraq.
They were identified as Ronald Withrow of Roaring Springs, Texas, who worked for JPI Worldwide when kidnapped on Jan. 5, 2007, and John Roy Young of Kansas City, Missouri, who worked for Crescent Security Group when kidnapped on Nov. 16, 2006.
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the bodies were found and turned over to the FBI in Iraq over the weekend, and that the families of the two men were notified late on Sunday night.
The FBI said in a statement that it "will continue to aggressively investigate every available lead in order to identify, apprehend, and bring to justice those responsible for this heinous criminal act."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24205951.htm
24 Mar 2008 19:52:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - The FBI said on Monday it had identified and recovered the remains of two kidnapped U.S. security contractors in Iraq.
They were identified as Ronald Withrow of Roaring Springs, Texas, who worked for JPI Worldwide when kidnapped on Jan. 5, 2007, and John Roy Young of Kansas City, Missouri, who worked for Crescent Security Group when kidnapped on Nov. 16, 2006.
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the bodies were found and turned over to the FBI in Iraq over the weekend, and that the families of the two men were notified late on Sunday night.
The FBI said in a statement that it "will continue to aggressively investigate every available lead in order to identify, apprehend, and bring to justice those responsible for this heinous criminal act."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24205951.htm
Train military to act like first responders
When a police officer is involved with a murder or a shoot out, they are debriefed and provide details of the incident. They are then debriefed to be able to talk about it from a personal level with a trauma responder. Yes, I'm talking about Chaplains. They go out when firefighters return from a fire when there was a loss of life. Emergency responders handling accidents and natural disasters are debriefed in the same way. While they are looking out for people, the Chaplains are looking out for them. So why isn't this being done in the military?
The troops need to be able to talk about this instead of just pushing it back in their minds. If they do not deal with what they experienced, they will only add to it the next time they go through something horrific and once again repeat it with silence and shock.
I was having lunch with a friend today and we were talking about a report she heard on NPR.
When they are heading home, the family wants them home as soon as possible, but what they do not understand is the rush to get back together is not the best thing that can happen sometimes.
One of the biggest things you'll hear Vietnam veterans say is that one day they were in Vietnam and the next day they were home. Home and expected to eat at the dinner table, take a shower in privacy, plop down in the chair with the TV remote in hand and just get back to normal. Some will have parties given in their honor so that family and friends can welcome them home and give them a hug, but even they expect the veteran to be right back to the way they were before they left. Someone in the group will be looking for signs that they are not the same. They do not do this in a proactive way in order to help, but in a way that will enable them to use the change as a way to cause harm. There is one jerk in every group and usually a couple within some families.
The WWII generation came home the slow way. They went on ships and were able to adapt to what they were going to face, talking to others about their fears and their human emotions. They returned the same way, slowly, again on ships and sharing what they had just been through. WWII, as with all other wars had delivered many with the extra wound of PTSD but it is thought the ability to debrief with others who had experienced the same traumas, compare them and address them aided in the recovery. In other words, no one had a chance to just push it all into the back of their minds. It could have helped but it may have had more to do with the fact that psychological problems were "stuffed" back in the brain and most people just didn't talk about any of it. When they did talk about it, it didn't make the news but was kept as a closely guarded secret.
Talk to children of WWII veterans and you will usually hear the same story. "My father drank too much." "My father never talked about anything." "He never cared what I did." All along those lines and what was at the bottom of it was the war brought home in their mind. It happened in the generations before that and after that. Korean War veterans kept their minds closely guarded as well but many of them said they thought that was what they were supposed to do because they used the WWII veterans as an example.
When Vietnam veterans came back they were alone.
Now we have them coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan on jets and right back home within days from combat. They come home with their units but they do not use this time to rehash what happened. They use it to talk about what they will do when they get home. They should be sharing what they are bringing back with them before they get home.
Once people talk about what is going on inside of them, they stop PTSD from getting worse. Like an infection, it stops spreading once it is treated. Even just talking about what happened helps to treat PTSD. Many will need the help of a psychologist and a psychiatrist to issue medication but the talking about it with people they trust helps and it especially helps when you know the person they are talking to walked in the same shoes.
As we deal with the emergency responders right here in this country taking care of the rest of us, we need to stop ignoring the troops who need the same kind of attention. We need to begin to debrief them as soon as possible or we will allow the wound to spread.
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
The troops need to be able to talk about this instead of just pushing it back in their minds. If they do not deal with what they experienced, they will only add to it the next time they go through something horrific and once again repeat it with silence and shock.
I was having lunch with a friend today and we were talking about a report she heard on NPR.
Dealing with Post Traumatic Stress After War
March 20, 2008 · Many active duty soldiers and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan return home with nightmares, flashbacks, and emotional hypersensitivity. Some of them are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
News & Notes , March 20, 2008 · Many active duty soldiers and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan return home with nightmares, flashbacks, and emotional hypersensitivity. Some of them are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Farai Chideya talks with June Moss, who served in Iraq in 2003 and was released from the Army two years later on early medical retirement due to her PTSD.
We also hear from Dr. Robert Jenkins, an attending psychologist at the Men's Trauma Recovery Program at the National Center for PTSD in Menlo Park's Department of Veteran Affairs Division.
When they are heading home, the family wants them home as soon as possible, but what they do not understand is the rush to get back together is not the best thing that can happen sometimes.
One of the biggest things you'll hear Vietnam veterans say is that one day they were in Vietnam and the next day they were home. Home and expected to eat at the dinner table, take a shower in privacy, plop down in the chair with the TV remote in hand and just get back to normal. Some will have parties given in their honor so that family and friends can welcome them home and give them a hug, but even they expect the veteran to be right back to the way they were before they left. Someone in the group will be looking for signs that they are not the same. They do not do this in a proactive way in order to help, but in a way that will enable them to use the change as a way to cause harm. There is one jerk in every group and usually a couple within some families.
The WWII generation came home the slow way. They went on ships and were able to adapt to what they were going to face, talking to others about their fears and their human emotions. They returned the same way, slowly, again on ships and sharing what they had just been through. WWII, as with all other wars had delivered many with the extra wound of PTSD but it is thought the ability to debrief with others who had experienced the same traumas, compare them and address them aided in the recovery. In other words, no one had a chance to just push it all into the back of their minds. It could have helped but it may have had more to do with the fact that psychological problems were "stuffed" back in the brain and most people just didn't talk about any of it. When they did talk about it, it didn't make the news but was kept as a closely guarded secret.
Talk to children of WWII veterans and you will usually hear the same story. "My father drank too much." "My father never talked about anything." "He never cared what I did." All along those lines and what was at the bottom of it was the war brought home in their mind. It happened in the generations before that and after that. Korean War veterans kept their minds closely guarded as well but many of them said they thought that was what they were supposed to do because they used the WWII veterans as an example.
When Vietnam veterans came back they were alone.
Now we have them coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan on jets and right back home within days from combat. They come home with their units but they do not use this time to rehash what happened. They use it to talk about what they will do when they get home. They should be sharing what they are bringing back with them before they get home.
Once people talk about what is going on inside of them, they stop PTSD from getting worse. Like an infection, it stops spreading once it is treated. Even just talking about what happened helps to treat PTSD. Many will need the help of a psychologist and a psychiatrist to issue medication but the talking about it with people they trust helps and it especially helps when you know the person they are talking to walked in the same shoes.
As we deal with the emergency responders right here in this country taking care of the rest of us, we need to stop ignoring the troops who need the same kind of attention. We need to begin to debrief them as soon as possible or we will allow the wound to spread.
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
Sunday, March 23, 2008
4,000 US Troops killed in Iraq
Smoke rises from the U.S.-protected Green Zone in central Baghdad on Sunday after it was targeted by a series of rockets or mortars.
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC News Services
updated 1 minute ago
BAGHDAD - Four U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad late Sunday, raising the death toll for American forces since start of the war to 4,000, according to the Pentagon.
The grim milestone was reached less than a week after the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion to topple former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and coincided with a spate of violence across Iraq on Sunday that left at least 61 people dead.
The attacks included rockets and mortars fired at Baghdad's U.S.-protected Green Zone and a suicide car bomb detonated at an Iraqi army post in the northern city of Mosul.
go here for the rest
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23771735/
03/23/08 MNF: 4MND-B Soldiers attacked by IED
Four Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers were killed at approximately 10 p.m. March 23 after terrorists attacked them with an improvised-explosive device in southern Baghdad while conducting a mounted vehicular patrol.
03/22/08 MNF: MND-B Soldiers attacked by IED
Three Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers were killed when an improvised explosive device struck their vehicle during a patrol northwest of Baghdad March 22. Two Iraqi civilians were also killed in the attack.
Mother fights Army over son's death
Mother fights Army over son's death
Wisconsin Woman Believes Son Was Victim of Iraqi War; Army Says His Death Is Undetermined
ROBERT IMRIE
AP News
Mar 23, 2008 13:04 EST
Joan McDonald believes her son was a casualty of the war in Iraq, but the Army says that while he did suffer a severe head wound in a bomb blast, the cause of his death is undetermined, keeping him off the casualty list.
She and her family are demanding more answers in the death of Sgt. James W. McDonald.
"I don't want it to be an undetermined cause of death," said Joan McDonald. "That is ridiculous."
McDonald, 26, was injured in a roadside bomb blast in Iraq last May. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment based at Fort Hood, Texas. After treatment in Germany, McDonald returned to Fort Hood and underwent extensive facial surgery in August.
His body was found in his barracks apartment Nov. 12, a Monday. He was last seen alive the previous Friday.
The Army ruled out suicide and accidental factors, but an autopsy could not determine the exact cause of death, in part because of the decomposition of the body, said Col. Diane Battaglia, a base spokeswoman.
As a result, McDonald's death is considered noncombat-related, with the caveat that medical experts couldn't rule out that "traumatic brain injury" may have been a factor, Battaglia said.
Joan McDonald, of Neenah, has no doubts about her son's death.
click post title for the rest
Sonoma County says PTSD Combat Vets someone else's problem
PTSD home opposed for fear of ‘deranged’ vets
By Scott Lindlaw - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Mar 23, 2008 10:01:06 EDT
GUERNEVILLE, Calif. — Merry Lane, a cul-de-sac shaded by redwoods in Sonoma County wine country, would seem a pleasant place to recover from the psychic wounds of war. Nadia McCaffrey’s dream is to set up a group home there for veterans plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder.
But she is running into stiff resistance from the neighbors. They not only object to the brand-new structure itself, which looks like a four-story apartment house wedged amid their cabins, they are also worried that deranged veterans will move in.
At a community meeting in December, “one person was concerned that even firecrackers would set these people off,” said Andrew Eckers, 54, who lives across the street.
McCaffrey, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, said she has tried to reassure the neighbors, but “they are afraid of it because they don’t want to understand it.”
Projects similar to McCaffrey’s have cropped up in other communities across the country, with some also raising concerns from neighbors, in part because of the many news accounts of traumatized veterans committing suicide or murder.
“We’re all, frankly, failing in properly educating society about what PTSD is and what its effects are,” said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org, a veterans advocacy group.
McCaffrey wants to set up at least three group homes around the country where vets with PTSD could live temporarily, and virtually for free, while they study at a college or work at a farm. Donations are paying for the projects, she said.
go here for the rest
Guess what? It can make someone who has survived a mud slide jump too. Did they ever think of that? It can make someone who survived fires, or hurricanes or tornadoes or violent crime do the same. Did they ever think of that? How many of their neighbors have PTSD and they don't even have a clue about them? Do they want to get rid of any neighbor who has PTSD because they were a victim of a violent crime or horrific accident too? How about a firefighter who entered into one too many burning buildings? Or a police officer who had one too many shoot outs or had just seen too much? Do they want to get rid of them too? Enough people! There are enough people in this nation who have PTSD and most of them live right next door to you already.
Prevalence and incidence statistics for Post-traumatic stress disorder:
see also prevalence and incidence page for Post-traumatic stress disorder
Prevalance of Post-traumatic stress disorder: 5.2 million adult Americans (NIMH); 3.6% adults (NIMH); about 30% of war veterans.
Prevalance Rate: approx 1 in 52 or 1.91% or 5.2 million people in USA [about data]
Incidence (annual) of Post-traumatic stress disorder: 3.6% adults annually (NIMH)
Incidence Rate: approx 1 in 27 or 3.60% or 9.8 million people in USA [about data]
Incidence extrapolations for USA for Post-traumatic stress disorder: 9,791,999 per year, 815,999 per month, 188,307 per week, 26,827 per day, 1,117 per hour, 18 per minute, 0 per second.
Prevalance of Post-traumatic stress disorder: PTSD affects about 5.2 million adult Americans. (Source: excerpt from Anxiety Disorders: NIMH)
Incidence of Post-traumatic stress disorder: About 3.6 percent of U.S. adults ages 18 to 54 (5.2 million people) have PTSD during the course of a given year. (Source: excerpt from Facts about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: NIMH)
Top
About statistics:This page presents a variety of statistics about Post-traumatic stress disorder. The term 'prevalence' of Post-traumatic stress disorder usually refers to the estimated population of people who are managing Post-traumatic stress disorder at any given time. The term 'incidence' of Post-traumatic stress disorder refers to the annual diagnosis rate, or the number of new cases of Post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosed each year.
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/p/post_traumatic_stress_disorder/stats.htm
Yes firecrackers will make them jump! That does not mean they are any more dangerous than anyone else in the neighborhood and statistically speaking the are more apt to offer a neighbor a helping hand than to do anything wrong to them.
The attitude of people really makes me sick sometimes. They treated people with AIDS the same way thinking they would "catch" it. They wouldn't want a bunch of combat veterans living near them so they can recover from serving them? They ought to be fully ashamed of themselves.
Chaplain 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
25 Fuel trucks in Afghanistan blown up
US Fuel Trucks Hit at Afghan Border
2 hours ago
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Twenty-five trucks carrying fuel to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have been destroyed in a possible bomb attack on the Pakistani border. Officials say that dozen of people have been injured.
Mohammed Sadiq Khan, a local government official, said that the explosions and blaze occurred on the Pakistani side of the Torkham customs post late Sunday. At least 50 people were injured, eight of them seriously.
Fida Mohammed, the commander of a paramilitary force that helps provide security at the crossing, said authorities suspect the blasts were caused by bombs, but were still investigating. He said 25 trucks carrying fuel to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan were destroyed.
Fuel tankers headed for U.S. and NATO bases in Afghanistan have been repeatedly targeted by militants close to the Pakistani border.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hzwT02p_F-tUr0TXK1_DXysYeMYAD8VJC8400
Two killed, 50 injured as bombs hit oil tankers
* 40 oil tankers carrying fuel for NATO forces destroyed near Torkham BorderLANDI KOTAL: Two people were killed and 50 others injured when six bomb blasts ripped through two parking lots, and destroyed 40 oil tankers in Khyber Agency on Sunday, Dawn News reported.According to the channel, the tankers were carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan, and were parked in the Bacha Mina area near the Torkham Border crossing.The political administration told the channel that most of the injured had been shifted to Landi Kotal hospitals and those with critical burns had been rushed to Peshawar. The administration declared emergency in local hospitals after the blasts.According to the channel, the administration beefed up security at the border crossing after the explosions and deployed heavy contingents of Khasadar force, frontier corps and levies force.
go here for the rest
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%
5C03%5C24%5Cstory_24-3-2008_pg7_5
2 hours ago
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Twenty-five trucks carrying fuel to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have been destroyed in a possible bomb attack on the Pakistani border. Officials say that dozen of people have been injured.
Mohammed Sadiq Khan, a local government official, said that the explosions and blaze occurred on the Pakistani side of the Torkham customs post late Sunday. At least 50 people were injured, eight of them seriously.
Fida Mohammed, the commander of a paramilitary force that helps provide security at the crossing, said authorities suspect the blasts were caused by bombs, but were still investigating. He said 25 trucks carrying fuel to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan were destroyed.
Fuel tankers headed for U.S. and NATO bases in Afghanistan have been repeatedly targeted by militants close to the Pakistani border.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hzwT02p_F-tUr0TXK1_DXysYeMYAD8VJC8400
Two killed, 50 injured as bombs hit oil tankers
* 40 oil tankers carrying fuel for NATO forces destroyed near Torkham BorderLANDI KOTAL: Two people were killed and 50 others injured when six bomb blasts ripped through two parking lots, and destroyed 40 oil tankers in Khyber Agency on Sunday, Dawn News reported.According to the channel, the tankers were carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan, and were parked in the Bacha Mina area near the Torkham Border crossing.The political administration told the channel that most of the injured had been shifted to Landi Kotal hospitals and those with critical burns had been rushed to Peshawar. The administration declared emergency in local hospitals after the blasts.According to the channel, the administration beefed up security at the border crossing after the explosions and deployed heavy contingents of Khasadar force, frontier corps and levies force.
go here for the rest
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%
5C03%5C24%5Cstory_24-3-2008_pg7_5
Who killed Sgt. James Musack?
Another U.S. Soldier Suicide in Iraq -- Or Was It Murder?
Posted March 23, 2008 01:59 PM (EST)
For almost five years, I have been chronicling the shocking number of suicides among U.S. troops in Iraq - and after they come home (it's a major component of my new book). They now number well over 1000, and a new one has come to light this past week. Or perhaps it was murder.
No matter, it can be said, as in the countless other cases, that he was "killed by Iraq."
Sgt. James Musack, 23, who hailed from Riverside, Iowa, died on Nov. 21, 2006, north of Baghdad. In an investigation completed in December 2007 - but only received by family members last week -- the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command determined Musack died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Oddly, he was due to finish his tour one week later.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported, "Musack's body was found in a secluded area used to make phone calls and as a bathroom at Patrol Base South, according to the report. Musack was found lying on his right side, his left arm cradling his M4 Carbine gun, a single bullet wound to his head. There were no defensive wounds on Musack and no signs of foul play, the report said. No suicide note was found.
"Several soldiers interviewed under oath during the investigation said they knew of no reason Musack would kill himself. He had no medical, financial or personal problems they were aware of. Some described him as a quiet person who held in his feelings. When asked what he thought happened, the sergeant told investigators: 'Honestly, I have no idea. Nothing he did was out of the norm.'"
Musack's friends and family say he had become upset by an incident he never fully described, beyond saying he had made someone angry. According to the report, his girlfriend, Melissa Martin, said he called her in mid-October and said, "Honey, I am being set up." At Musack's funeral, Martin said he had made her make a promise. that "if he did not come home, we would all keep doing what we were doing."
According to the report, Musack's aunt, DeeAnna Newlin, said he had said he saw a little girl killed. Family members are exploring options to get the Army to reopen the investigation.
click above for the rest
Did he kill himself, which looks like it is doubtful or did someone else? They should reopen the investigation.
Posted March 23, 2008 01:59 PM (EST)
For almost five years, I have been chronicling the shocking number of suicides among U.S. troops in Iraq - and after they come home (it's a major component of my new book). They now number well over 1000, and a new one has come to light this past week. Or perhaps it was murder.
No matter, it can be said, as in the countless other cases, that he was "killed by Iraq."
Sgt. James Musack, 23, who hailed from Riverside, Iowa, died on Nov. 21, 2006, north of Baghdad. In an investigation completed in December 2007 - but only received by family members last week -- the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command determined Musack died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Oddly, he was due to finish his tour one week later.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported, "Musack's body was found in a secluded area used to make phone calls and as a bathroom at Patrol Base South, according to the report. Musack was found lying on his right side, his left arm cradling his M4 Carbine gun, a single bullet wound to his head. There were no defensive wounds on Musack and no signs of foul play, the report said. No suicide note was found.
"Several soldiers interviewed under oath during the investigation said they knew of no reason Musack would kill himself. He had no medical, financial or personal problems they were aware of. Some described him as a quiet person who held in his feelings. When asked what he thought happened, the sergeant told investigators: 'Honestly, I have no idea. Nothing he did was out of the norm.'"
Musack's friends and family say he had become upset by an incident he never fully described, beyond saying he had made someone angry. According to the report, his girlfriend, Melissa Martin, said he called her in mid-October and said, "Honey, I am being set up." At Musack's funeral, Martin said he had made her make a promise. that "if he did not come home, we would all keep doing what we were doing."
According to the report, Musack's aunt, DeeAnna Newlin, said he had said he saw a little girl killed. Family members are exploring options to get the Army to reopen the investigation.
click above for the rest
Did he kill himself, which looks like it is doubtful or did someone else? They should reopen the investigation.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Annie Okerlin's Yogani Studios Exalted Warrior Foundation
Reaching Out To Heal
By JAMIE PILARCZYK
The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 22, 2008
Updated: 03/20/2008 05:33 pm
HYDE PARK - The young veterans walk into Annie Okerlin's Yogani Studios, some with their disabilities visible, others with them hidden.
John Shahin limped a bit and used a cane but otherwise looked much like any other 23-year-old.
The retired Marine corporal served two tours in Iraq. In 2004, his Humvee was hit by a bomb, collapsing the side of the military vehicle into Shahin and leaving him with shoulder, back and hip injuries. He also suffered traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder and needed reconstructive surgery to remove shrapnel from his nose and ear.
When his therapists at James A. Haley VA Medical Center said he would be leaving the North Tampa facility last week for a South Tampa yoga studio, Shahin wasn't sure what to think. But by the time the yoga mats were rolled up and the stretch bands put away, he was feeling better and relaxed.
"I have a limited range of motion in my arm, and this made me work hard," the Riverview man said of the hourlong therapy. "I'd recommend it. Part of that is the staff, though; they were really nice, and they kept correcting me."
Through her Exalted Warrior Foundation, Okerlin provides yoga therapy, coined warrior yoga, to military personnel at Haley and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The foundation came about through two of her Yogani clients and a little bit of kismet.
Tom Steffens, a retired Navy rear admiral who is a consultant from Virginia Beach, attended classes with his wife, Ellie, while serving as the chief of staff of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base from 1997 to 2001.
The 6-foot-2 Navy SEAL is "twice as wide as the door frame," Okerlin joked. "You meet him and he's Mr. America."
"I have legs that weigh more than Annie," Steffens said of the 5-foot-1 yogi.
The unlikely duo have a shared belief: the power of yoga to heal. Steffens, a 10-year yoga veteran, talked with Okerlin about bringing yoga to Walter Reed.
"God puts things in the right places," Steffens said. "She's a naturally uplifting person. She draws out the best in people, and that's what she does with these soldiers: draws the best out in them. These are life-saving, marriage-saving techniques."
In April 2006, a month after Steffens arranged the military connections, Okerlin was on a plane to Washington, worried about how she would be perceived by the soldiers. She went to Banana Republic to buy a "military hospital pretense outfit."
"I expected them to be thinking, 'Where are the Birkenstocks? Where are the feather earrings?'" said Okerlin, 36, whose mother served in Britain's Royal Navy and father was a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman. "But there was no pretense."
She was greeted by soldiers who had amputations of every kind - big, gruff veterans who left her star-struck.
"It was trial by fire," said Okerlin, mother of a toddler.
She has to limit the swearing in class and breaks assumptions that yoga won't make you sweat.
"They are strong, young and fit, but we're teaching them the art of relaxation," the Davis Islands resident said. "We are helping them to achieve more comfort ... reconnecting the soldier to his body, teaching him that he is whole, just different."
go here for the rest
http://centraltampa2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/22/st-reaching-out-to-heal/
By JAMIE PILARCZYK
The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 22, 2008
Updated: 03/20/2008 05:33 pm
HYDE PARK - The young veterans walk into Annie Okerlin's Yogani Studios, some with their disabilities visible, others with them hidden.
John Shahin limped a bit and used a cane but otherwise looked much like any other 23-year-old.
The retired Marine corporal served two tours in Iraq. In 2004, his Humvee was hit by a bomb, collapsing the side of the military vehicle into Shahin and leaving him with shoulder, back and hip injuries. He also suffered traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder and needed reconstructive surgery to remove shrapnel from his nose and ear.
When his therapists at James A. Haley VA Medical Center said he would be leaving the North Tampa facility last week for a South Tampa yoga studio, Shahin wasn't sure what to think. But by the time the yoga mats were rolled up and the stretch bands put away, he was feeling better and relaxed.
"I have a limited range of motion in my arm, and this made me work hard," the Riverview man said of the hourlong therapy. "I'd recommend it. Part of that is the staff, though; they were really nice, and they kept correcting me."
Through her Exalted Warrior Foundation, Okerlin provides yoga therapy, coined warrior yoga, to military personnel at Haley and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The foundation came about through two of her Yogani clients and a little bit of kismet.
Tom Steffens, a retired Navy rear admiral who is a consultant from Virginia Beach, attended classes with his wife, Ellie, while serving as the chief of staff of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base from 1997 to 2001.
The 6-foot-2 Navy SEAL is "twice as wide as the door frame," Okerlin joked. "You meet him and he's Mr. America."
"I have legs that weigh more than Annie," Steffens said of the 5-foot-1 yogi.
The unlikely duo have a shared belief: the power of yoga to heal. Steffens, a 10-year yoga veteran, talked with Okerlin about bringing yoga to Walter Reed.
"God puts things in the right places," Steffens said. "She's a naturally uplifting person. She draws out the best in people, and that's what she does with these soldiers: draws the best out in them. These are life-saving, marriage-saving techniques."
In April 2006, a month after Steffens arranged the military connections, Okerlin was on a plane to Washington, worried about how she would be perceived by the soldiers. She went to Banana Republic to buy a "military hospital pretense outfit."
"I expected them to be thinking, 'Where are the Birkenstocks? Where are the feather earrings?'" said Okerlin, 36, whose mother served in Britain's Royal Navy and father was a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman. "But there was no pretense."
She was greeted by soldiers who had amputations of every kind - big, gruff veterans who left her star-struck.
"It was trial by fire," said Okerlin, mother of a toddler.
She has to limit the swearing in class and breaks assumptions that yoga won't make you sweat.
"They are strong, young and fit, but we're teaching them the art of relaxation," the Davis Islands resident said. "We are helping them to achieve more comfort ... reconnecting the soldier to his body, teaching him that he is whole, just different."
go here for the rest
http://centraltampa2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/22/st-reaching-out-to-heal/
700,000 Homeless Veterans
STRIPES: Helping vets resume civilian lives
March 23, 2008
By Rena Fulka, Staff writer
Former airman Michael White considers himself a success story.
"I was in the Air Force for almost 21 years, and when I retired, I couldn't find a job," said White, who spent most of his military career stationed in Europe.
"I felt disassociated from civilian life, and I had trouble fitting in. I was depressed, and I wanted to talk, but I had no network. After 20 years, when you have to put the Mr. back in your name, it's not as easy as you thought it would be."
With help from the Rev. Al Garcia at New Life Oak Forest Church, White made a successful transition back to private citizen.
"Al kept me uplifted, got me through the hard times, and I got a job," said the medical administrator from Oak Forest.
Now, White wants to do the same for other returning soldiers through STRIPES, a community forum designed to help able-bodied veterans acclimate to civilian life.
"An able-bodied vet can be just as disabled as anyone who got shot, but he hides it better. He looks fine and smiles, but he's a mess," White said.
National statistics show 700,000 veterans are homeless, unemployed or a combination of both, White said.
"And the homeless ratio is growing and being filled with vets coming out of the service."
White and the Rev. Rob Schoon, of Orland Park, are laying the groundwork for the new Oak Forest ministry, which is an acronym for "Surviving trauma, receiving inner peace, enjoying salvation."
Schoon is a Marine veteran who now serves as a chaplain with the Marine Corps League. He visits veterans organizations and hospitals on a regular basis.
"Veterans are people who had such productive lives before the service," Schoon said. "They served their country honorably and did what they were supposed to do. Now, they're back, they're hurting, and someone has to help them. And most people in the civilian world don't understand the problem these guys and girls are having."
go here for the rest
http://www.southtownstar.com/lifestyles/852080,032308VETSTRIPES.article
When we get figures from the government, we need to think twice if we believe them or not. 700,000 comes from a more realistic rate because some veterans are homeless at some point during the year. This is not a new trend but it is a higher one. There are chronically homeless veterans who never find a place to live and there are some who find a place with family or friends. Their luck usually runs out if they happen to have other issues like PTSD and are not getting help. While the government would want us to believe they have suddenly reduced the number of homeless veterans below 200,000, we still have not seen the data on where the other homeless veterans went to.
March 23, 2008
By Rena Fulka, Staff writer
Former airman Michael White considers himself a success story.
"I was in the Air Force for almost 21 years, and when I retired, I couldn't find a job," said White, who spent most of his military career stationed in Europe.
"I felt disassociated from civilian life, and I had trouble fitting in. I was depressed, and I wanted to talk, but I had no network. After 20 years, when you have to put the Mr. back in your name, it's not as easy as you thought it would be."
With help from the Rev. Al Garcia at New Life Oak Forest Church, White made a successful transition back to private citizen.
"Al kept me uplifted, got me through the hard times, and I got a job," said the medical administrator from Oak Forest.
Now, White wants to do the same for other returning soldiers through STRIPES, a community forum designed to help able-bodied veterans acclimate to civilian life.
"An able-bodied vet can be just as disabled as anyone who got shot, but he hides it better. He looks fine and smiles, but he's a mess," White said.
National statistics show 700,000 veterans are homeless, unemployed or a combination of both, White said.
"And the homeless ratio is growing and being filled with vets coming out of the service."
White and the Rev. Rob Schoon, of Orland Park, are laying the groundwork for the new Oak Forest ministry, which is an acronym for "Surviving trauma, receiving inner peace, enjoying salvation."
Schoon is a Marine veteran who now serves as a chaplain with the Marine Corps League. He visits veterans organizations and hospitals on a regular basis.
"Veterans are people who had such productive lives before the service," Schoon said. "They served their country honorably and did what they were supposed to do. Now, they're back, they're hurting, and someone has to help them. And most people in the civilian world don't understand the problem these guys and girls are having."
go here for the rest
http://www.southtownstar.com/lifestyles/852080,032308VETSTRIPES.article
When we get figures from the government, we need to think twice if we believe them or not. 700,000 comes from a more realistic rate because some veterans are homeless at some point during the year. This is not a new trend but it is a higher one. There are chronically homeless veterans who never find a place to live and there are some who find a place with family or friends. Their luck usually runs out if they happen to have other issues like PTSD and are not getting help. While the government would want us to believe they have suddenly reduced the number of homeless veterans below 200,000, we still have not seen the data on where the other homeless veterans went to.
Father Bill's Place Home for Homeless
Not just shelter, but home, for the homeless
By Bella English
March 23, 2008
The homeless veteran, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had been living in a tent behind a plaza in Plymouth for nearly a decade.
A woman struggling with serious mental health issues had been homeless for three years, in and out of shelters on the South Shore.
Thanks to the Housing First program started three years ago by Father Bill's Place, an emergency shelter in Quincy, the man and the woman - and many more like them - are now in their own apartments or lodging house rooms. For many, it is the first home they've had in years.
It makes good sense, giving the homeless homes. The hard-core homeless come off the grates, out of the woods and emergency shelters, and move into places of their own, with support services. It's both compassionate and cost-effective, since that population tends to cycle through expensive court visits, detox, jail, and/or hospital stays.
Father Bill's has been ahead of the curve in what is becoming a nationwide trend. Governor Deval Patrick has recently proposed spending $10 million to place thousands of homeless people in their own apartments or rooms over the next five years.
Though some of the chronically homeless don't make it on their own, the majority do. "The woman had been sleeping in a tent, off and on, for years," says John Yazwinski, executive director of Father Bill's, which merged with MainSpring in Brockton last summer. "When we first moved her into an apartment, she slept on the floor in her sleeping bag." She has been connected with mental health services and is reunited with her family.
The vet who pitched his tent in the Plymouth woods calls his new place "the Taj Mahal," says Yazwinski.
click post title for the rest
By Bella English
March 23, 2008
The homeless veteran, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had been living in a tent behind a plaza in Plymouth for nearly a decade.
A woman struggling with serious mental health issues had been homeless for three years, in and out of shelters on the South Shore.
Thanks to the Housing First program started three years ago by Father Bill's Place, an emergency shelter in Quincy, the man and the woman - and many more like them - are now in their own apartments or lodging house rooms. For many, it is the first home they've had in years.
It makes good sense, giving the homeless homes. The hard-core homeless come off the grates, out of the woods and emergency shelters, and move into places of their own, with support services. It's both compassionate and cost-effective, since that population tends to cycle through expensive court visits, detox, jail, and/or hospital stays.
Father Bill's has been ahead of the curve in what is becoming a nationwide trend. Governor Deval Patrick has recently proposed spending $10 million to place thousands of homeless people in their own apartments or rooms over the next five years.
Though some of the chronically homeless don't make it on their own, the majority do. "The woman had been sleeping in a tent, off and on, for years," says John Yazwinski, executive director of Father Bill's, which merged with MainSpring in Brockton last summer. "When we first moved her into an apartment, she slept on the floor in her sleeping bag." She has been connected with mental health services and is reunited with her family.
The vet who pitched his tent in the Plymouth woods calls his new place "the Taj Mahal," says Yazwinski.
click post title for the rest
Celebrating Easter at Kandahar Airfield
U.S. and Canadian soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force leave after Easter prayers at the Kandahar air base on Sunday. (SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)
Celebrating Easter at Kandahar Airfield
JAMES MCCARTEN
Canadian Press
March 23, 2008 at 10:31 AM EDT
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — It's a tiny, unassuming but immaculately maintained church, with thin plywood walls, a modest flower garden — and a gun rack where soldiers can check their rifles at the door.
Perhaps nowhere else is the notion of faith more important than in a war zone such as Afghanistan, where life itself can be a fragile commodity and a day's work is often shrouded in violence and death.
On this Easter Sunday, the pews at Kandahar Airfield's Fraise Chapel were filled with a multinational cross-section of Catholic and Protestant faithful as American padre Rev. Jim Connolly reminded the congregation that the work they do is for a greater good.
“You're living on the edge of life and death, and you've got to ask some hard questions,” Rev. Connolly said after Sunday's Easter service.
“On many occasions, people are saying, ‘Is it really worth it? Is it really this important?' My basic hope is that I can help them come to a sense that yes, it is important, it does matter, because every single one of us counts.”
Sunday's services capped a difficult three weeks for Canadian forces in Kandahar province where three Canadian soldiers lost their lives in three separate incidents.
The ramp ceremony commemorating the most recent death, that of Sgt. Jason Boyes of 2 Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was one of four this past week alone for the multinational NATO coalition known as the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF. Two Americans and a Romanian also died.
“Every time that we lose soldiers ... the whole coalition is losing soldiers,” said Rev. Bastien Leclere, who's originally from Edmonton and who assisted in Connolly's Sunday service.
“We're all in this together, and we all pray together, and we keep up each other. It is important that we support each other in this journey. It's a marathon, not a sprint.”
go here for the rest
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4742487410373715914
I still say that if the troops were not sent to Iraq, I doubt there would be all of this still going on in Afghansitan. What happened to finishing the mission in Afghanistan? Do any of the elected even talk about it at all anymore?
So much for public's right to know
Published: March 23, 2008 6:00 a.m.
So much for public's right to know
Commentary by Sylvia A. Smith
Washington editor
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration wants to pick and choose what you are permitted to know when it comes to spending your tax dollars.
A brash, sweeping statement? You bet. True? Sadly, yes.
How else to explain the White House’s continued acceptance of a 2001 memo written by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft telling federal agencies to withhold documents whenever they could – and that the Justice Department would defend them in court.
This is a sharp contrast to the Clinton-era standard. During that administration, federal documents were censored only when their publication would result in real harm.
If you need any convincing, consider the fragments of a report I received from the Veterans Administration last week.
You spent $530,000 for a 78-page assessment of the recommendation to close the outpatient services at the Fort Wayne VA Medical Center and direct veterans to Indianapolis for their care.
But you will never see the consultant’s recommendations or the information used to reach those suggestions.
click post title for the rest
So much for public's right to know
Commentary by Sylvia A. Smith
Washington editor
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration wants to pick and choose what you are permitted to know when it comes to spending your tax dollars.
A brash, sweeping statement? You bet. True? Sadly, yes.
How else to explain the White House’s continued acceptance of a 2001 memo written by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft telling federal agencies to withhold documents whenever they could – and that the Justice Department would defend them in court.
This is a sharp contrast to the Clinton-era standard. During that administration, federal documents were censored only when their publication would result in real harm.
If you need any convincing, consider the fragments of a report I received from the Veterans Administration last week.
You spent $530,000 for a 78-page assessment of the recommendation to close the outpatient services at the Fort Wayne VA Medical Center and direct veterans to Indianapolis for their care.
But you will never see the consultant’s recommendations or the information used to reach those suggestions.
click post title for the rest
McCain won't back GI bill for veterans
Webb: McCain Refuses to Co-Sponsor GI Bill for Post-9/11 Veterans
Think Progress
Mar 22, 2008
March 20, 2008 - On his first day in office in January 2007, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) introduced the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007, intended to be “a mirror image of the WW II G.I. Bill.” A new version with broad bipartisan support was introduced in February to help fund education for service members who had served in active duty since Sept. 11, 2001. Veterans would receive education benefits equaling the highest tuition rate of the most expensive in-state public college or university and a monthly stipend for housing.
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America hailed Webb’s bill, calling educational benefits “the military’s single most effective recruitment tool” and emphasizing that “an expanded GI Bill will play a crucial role in ensuring that our military remains the strongest and most advanced in the world.”
Today, The Hill reports that Webb is still waiting for an important co-sponsor who could help push other Republicans to approve the bill: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ):
“McCain needs to get on the bill,” Webb told reporters after a Christian Science Monitor breakfast meeting on Wednesday. He said legislation mirroring the post-World War II GI bill should not be considered a “political issue.” […]
Webb’s bill has 51 co-sponsors, including nine Republicans. Webb, a former secretary of the Navy, said he may have to get 60 co-sponsors to ensure Senate passage, but then added that many more Republicans could vote for the bill if McCain endorsed it.
McCain prides himself on being “a tireless advocate of our military.” Yet this is hardly the first time that Webb has taken McCain to task when it comes to veterans’ advocacy.
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9640
McCain wants to be seen as a "war veteran" but never acts like one when it comes to what they need from him.
Think Progress
Mar 22, 2008
March 20, 2008 - On his first day in office in January 2007, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) introduced the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007, intended to be “a mirror image of the WW II G.I. Bill.” A new version with broad bipartisan support was introduced in February to help fund education for service members who had served in active duty since Sept. 11, 2001. Veterans would receive education benefits equaling the highest tuition rate of the most expensive in-state public college or university and a monthly stipend for housing.
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America hailed Webb’s bill, calling educational benefits “the military’s single most effective recruitment tool” and emphasizing that “an expanded GI Bill will play a crucial role in ensuring that our military remains the strongest and most advanced in the world.”
Today, The Hill reports that Webb is still waiting for an important co-sponsor who could help push other Republicans to approve the bill: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ):
“McCain needs to get on the bill,” Webb told reporters after a Christian Science Monitor breakfast meeting on Wednesday. He said legislation mirroring the post-World War II GI bill should not be considered a “political issue.” […]
Webb’s bill has 51 co-sponsors, including nine Republicans. Webb, a former secretary of the Navy, said he may have to get 60 co-sponsors to ensure Senate passage, but then added that many more Republicans could vote for the bill if McCain endorsed it.
McCain prides himself on being “a tireless advocate of our military.” Yet this is hardly the first time that Webb has taken McCain to task when it comes to veterans’ advocacy.
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9640
McCain wants to be seen as a "war veteran" but never acts like one when it comes to what they need from him.
Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond says "mistakes" sent wounded back to Iraq
Follow Up: Army General Says 'Mistakes' Made Sending Injured Carson Troops Back to Battle
Tom Roeder
The Gazette
Mar 22, 2008
March 20, 2008 - The commander of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, said Thursday "mistakes" were made in sending injured Fort Carson soldiers to Iraq. Note: The Denver Post originally broke this story, and VCS was interviewed about this scandal.
Hammond, who now oversees all troops in Baghdad, gave an upbeat report on war progress in a satellite news conference Thursday, but admitted problems with ordering soldiers to war who had been deemed medically unfit to fight, including some who were unable to get medical care they needed in the Middle East.
"I take full responsibility for their deployment," Hammond said. "The decision to deploy those soldiers was made in the best interest of mission, soldier, family, team."
Commanders had said the soldiers would fill desk jobs and gave assurances that troops could get the same rehabilitation in Iraq and Kuwait that would be available at Fort Carson. Seventy-nine soldiers from a pool of 130 who had been judged temporarily unfit for war duty were re-evaluated and pressed into rear-echelon jobs, from counting soldiers entering chow halls in Iraq to straightening out paperwork at bases in Kuwait.
Some of the soldiers, though, didn't get the help they needed in Iraq and Kuwait to recover from their injuries, Hammond said.
"I made those mistakes in deploying those soldiers," Hammond said. "I sent those soldiers home as soon as we realized we couldn't care for them in Kuwait."
In January, commanders at lower levels took responsibility, but Thursday's admission was Hammond's first on the subject.
Hammond didn't dwell on the issue, moving to his division's successes in Baghdad. While the city has been more violent in recent days, including the bombing deaths of two Fort Carson soldiers, Hammond said soldiers are making a dent in insurgent groups.
"We're making a difference," Hammond said.
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9646
What would Hammond have done if the Denver Post didn't get ahold of this story? Would he have corrected himself all on his own? I doubt it. I also doubt the choice of sending them back wounded was in the best interest of any of the above. How could it be in the best interest of any of them but the brass to be able to send as many as requested?
Tom Roeder
The Gazette
Mar 22, 2008
March 20, 2008 - The commander of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, said Thursday "mistakes" were made in sending injured Fort Carson soldiers to Iraq. Note: The Denver Post originally broke this story, and VCS was interviewed about this scandal.
Hammond, who now oversees all troops in Baghdad, gave an upbeat report on war progress in a satellite news conference Thursday, but admitted problems with ordering soldiers to war who had been deemed medically unfit to fight, including some who were unable to get medical care they needed in the Middle East.
"I take full responsibility for their deployment," Hammond said. "The decision to deploy those soldiers was made in the best interest of mission, soldier, family, team."
Commanders had said the soldiers would fill desk jobs and gave assurances that troops could get the same rehabilitation in Iraq and Kuwait that would be available at Fort Carson. Seventy-nine soldiers from a pool of 130 who had been judged temporarily unfit for war duty were re-evaluated and pressed into rear-echelon jobs, from counting soldiers entering chow halls in Iraq to straightening out paperwork at bases in Kuwait.
Some of the soldiers, though, didn't get the help they needed in Iraq and Kuwait to recover from their injuries, Hammond said.
"I made those mistakes in deploying those soldiers," Hammond said. "I sent those soldiers home as soon as we realized we couldn't care for them in Kuwait."
In January, commanders at lower levels took responsibility, but Thursday's admission was Hammond's first on the subject.
Hammond didn't dwell on the issue, moving to his division's successes in Baghdad. While the city has been more violent in recent days, including the bombing deaths of two Fort Carson soldiers, Hammond said soldiers are making a dent in insurgent groups.
"We're making a difference," Hammond said.
go here for the rest
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9646
What would Hammond have done if the Denver Post didn't get ahold of this story? Would he have corrected himself all on his own? I doubt it. I also doubt the choice of sending them back wounded was in the best interest of any of the above. How could it be in the best interest of any of them but the brass to be able to send as many as requested?
Military Kin Struggle With Loss and a Windfall
Military Kin Struggle With Loss and a Windfall
By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: March 22, 2008
For some relatives of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the money feels, at first, like an affront, as if the government were putting a price tag on a loved one’s life. Others are thrown off balance by the sudden infusion of $500,000, spending with abandon to assuage grief or finding themselves besieged by hard-up friends and relatives. And the newfound wealth often strains relations among in-laws.
Three years ago, advocates for military families succeeded in winning a significant expansion in survivor benefits, which include life insurance, a death gratuity, medical care and housing and education assistance. But the increases have left some widows and next of kin clearly rattled by the collision of mourning and money.
“It’s like winning the lottery, and your relatives all look at you like you’re a cash cow,” said Kathleen B. Moakler, director of government relations for the National Military Family Association, a nonprofit advocacy organization. “Money makes people do strange things.”
The parents of Sgt. Eli Parker of the Marines, killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, used the $500,000 to finance their retirement, remodel their house near Syracuse and travel to Washington for the Marine Corps Marathon. After Sgt. Dominic J. Sacco of the Army was killed three years ago by an insurgent attack on his tank, his widow, Brandy, fielded requests for cash from family members she had not talked to for years — as well as from her husband’s ex-wife and a woman in prison who claimed that Sergeant Sacco had fathered her son.
Kayla Avery, whose husband was killed seven months after their West Point wedding, invested most of the payout, but not before buying new bedroom furniture, a Louis Vuitton wallet and a purple Coach bag to match her funeral clothes.
“I thought, ‘Well, this is my husband’s last Christmas gift to me,’ ” said Ms. Avery, 25, a graduate student in psychology who lives in Tennessee, near Fort Campbell, where her husband, First Lt. Garrison C. Avery, was an Army platoon leader.
It is impossible to know how many survivors of the service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan have struggled with managing the benefits, and in interviews with dozens of military families, only a handful were willing to talk specifically about how they spent the money. Many families use the money to secure children’s futures, pay off mortgages, or otherwise make up for a long-term loss of income. But experts on military families say that they are seeing a growing number of problems, and that young widows — often naïve about finance and easily seduced by the glamorous accouterments of pop culture — seem to be especially vulnerable, trying to somehow fill emotional gaps with material things and ending up in debt instead.
go here for the rest
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/nyregion/
22benefits.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp
Linked from ICasualties.org
3,996 killed in Iraq
487 killed in Afghanistan
When they get their orders to go, you may be thinking about them leaving you again, worry about that this time they may not come home. What you don't think about is, if the worst happens, then what? You need to make sure their affairs are really in order and that includes making sure you as their spouse are the beneficiary. Do not assume you are. Too often talking about something like this is very difficult, especially when they are packing to redeploy but it is necessary. Just as you would talk about where to be buried, who takes care of the kids, this needs to be done as well. It may be hard but it is the responsible thing to do.
As this report points out, too often people do very strange things when it comes to money. A mother was left as beneficiary on a life insurance policy. She got the bulk of the money while the wife and kids got a lot less. Families will fight over money especially when there are divorces and children from previous marriages. You need to discuss what are the wishes and intent of all involved ahead of time. $500,000 doesn't go as far as it used to when you think about the mortgage and college funds. No widow or widower should think of it as a whole lot of money instead of security for their future.
Too often, young wives especially, will think they will get married again so they don't want to think about their futures. They think they can worry about all that later but they don't think about beginning a new relationship with kids they will also have to consider. Talk about this while your husband or your wife is still here so that there are no shockers or surprises later on. You will be dealing with enough pain if they don't come home.
By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: March 22, 2008
For some relatives of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the money feels, at first, like an affront, as if the government were putting a price tag on a loved one’s life. Others are thrown off balance by the sudden infusion of $500,000, spending with abandon to assuage grief or finding themselves besieged by hard-up friends and relatives. And the newfound wealth often strains relations among in-laws.
Three years ago, advocates for military families succeeded in winning a significant expansion in survivor benefits, which include life insurance, a death gratuity, medical care and housing and education assistance. But the increases have left some widows and next of kin clearly rattled by the collision of mourning and money.
“It’s like winning the lottery, and your relatives all look at you like you’re a cash cow,” said Kathleen B. Moakler, director of government relations for the National Military Family Association, a nonprofit advocacy organization. “Money makes people do strange things.”
The parents of Sgt. Eli Parker of the Marines, killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, used the $500,000 to finance their retirement, remodel their house near Syracuse and travel to Washington for the Marine Corps Marathon. After Sgt. Dominic J. Sacco of the Army was killed three years ago by an insurgent attack on his tank, his widow, Brandy, fielded requests for cash from family members she had not talked to for years — as well as from her husband’s ex-wife and a woman in prison who claimed that Sergeant Sacco had fathered her son.
Kayla Avery, whose husband was killed seven months after their West Point wedding, invested most of the payout, but not before buying new bedroom furniture, a Louis Vuitton wallet and a purple Coach bag to match her funeral clothes.
“I thought, ‘Well, this is my husband’s last Christmas gift to me,’ ” said Ms. Avery, 25, a graduate student in psychology who lives in Tennessee, near Fort Campbell, where her husband, First Lt. Garrison C. Avery, was an Army platoon leader.
It is impossible to know how many survivors of the service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan have struggled with managing the benefits, and in interviews with dozens of military families, only a handful were willing to talk specifically about how they spent the money. Many families use the money to secure children’s futures, pay off mortgages, or otherwise make up for a long-term loss of income. But experts on military families say that they are seeing a growing number of problems, and that young widows — often naïve about finance and easily seduced by the glamorous accouterments of pop culture — seem to be especially vulnerable, trying to somehow fill emotional gaps with material things and ending up in debt instead.
go here for the rest
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/nyregion/
22benefits.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp
Linked from ICasualties.org
3,996 killed in Iraq
487 killed in Afghanistan
When they get their orders to go, you may be thinking about them leaving you again, worry about that this time they may not come home. What you don't think about is, if the worst happens, then what? You need to make sure their affairs are really in order and that includes making sure you as their spouse are the beneficiary. Do not assume you are. Too often talking about something like this is very difficult, especially when they are packing to redeploy but it is necessary. Just as you would talk about where to be buried, who takes care of the kids, this needs to be done as well. It may be hard but it is the responsible thing to do.
As this report points out, too often people do very strange things when it comes to money. A mother was left as beneficiary on a life insurance policy. She got the bulk of the money while the wife and kids got a lot less. Families will fight over money especially when there are divorces and children from previous marriages. You need to discuss what are the wishes and intent of all involved ahead of time. $500,000 doesn't go as far as it used to when you think about the mortgage and college funds. No widow or widower should think of it as a whole lot of money instead of security for their future.
Too often, young wives especially, will think they will get married again so they don't want to think about their futures. They think they can worry about all that later but they don't think about beginning a new relationship with kids they will also have to consider. Talk about this while your husband or your wife is still here so that there are no shockers or surprises later on. You will be dealing with enough pain if they don't come home.
Sgt. Michael Butler fighting Army
Soldier found himself fighting Army
Jackson Clarion Ledger - Jackson, MS,USA
Michael Butler faced court-martial for refusing to go on "suicide mission"
Jimmie E. Gates
• jgates@clarionledger.com
• March 21, 2008
Then-Sgt. Michael Butler of Jackson took a stand in October 2004 - against a military order.
Butler and 22 other members of an Army Reserve unit refused to go on a fuel transport mission in Iraq carrying nine 5,000-gallon tanks of fuel in vehicles with only cloth tops. Their actions set off an international stir about the equipment U.S. military personnel had to use.
Butler was jailed and faced a court-martial after the incident. He eventually was reassigned and served in five different units before returning to Jackson.
"They gave us no choice," Butler said last week, explaining the action the soldiers on took Oct. 13, 2004, in his first interview about the experience.
"As a military man, I would never just not obey an order," he said. But, "It would have been a suicide mission."
Butler's story was first told in The Clarion-Ledger, after his wife contacted the newspaper. Since his return, he says he has been denied medical benefits and wishes he had never seen Iraq.
Butler said last week that the convoy didn't have air and ground support and their superiors didn't want to listen to their concerns.
Amid the international debate that followed over poorly equipped Humvees in combat zones, the military admitted the unit's vehicles were not properly armored.
Butler hopes the action he and the other reservists took made it better for soldiers who came behind them in Iraq.
"It's just like it happened yesterday," Butler said of memories of his tour of duty in Iraq.
Butler is now retired from the military after a 25-year career, but he saaid his battles continue.
Butler said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, has memory loss and other ailments. He said he has been denied benefits for medical claims by the Veterans Benefits Administration office in Jackson with the exception of one claim: He was approved for 10 percent disability benefits for a shoulder injury.
Butler's medical claims include stress, anxiety, hypertension, memory loss, lower back pain, a leg injury, high cholesterol and the shoulder injury.
In one instance, Butler said he received a claim rejection letter where the examiner mentioned he was dressed too nicely.
click above for the rest
Jackson Clarion Ledger - Jackson, MS,USA
Michael Butler faced court-martial for refusing to go on "suicide mission"
Jimmie E. Gates
• jgates@clarionledger.com
• March 21, 2008
Then-Sgt. Michael Butler of Jackson took a stand in October 2004 - against a military order.
Butler and 22 other members of an Army Reserve unit refused to go on a fuel transport mission in Iraq carrying nine 5,000-gallon tanks of fuel in vehicles with only cloth tops. Their actions set off an international stir about the equipment U.S. military personnel had to use.
Butler was jailed and faced a court-martial after the incident. He eventually was reassigned and served in five different units before returning to Jackson.
"They gave us no choice," Butler said last week, explaining the action the soldiers on took Oct. 13, 2004, in his first interview about the experience.
"As a military man, I would never just not obey an order," he said. But, "It would have been a suicide mission."
Butler's story was first told in The Clarion-Ledger, after his wife contacted the newspaper. Since his return, he says he has been denied medical benefits and wishes he had never seen Iraq.
Butler said last week that the convoy didn't have air and ground support and their superiors didn't want to listen to their concerns.
Amid the international debate that followed over poorly equipped Humvees in combat zones, the military admitted the unit's vehicles were not properly armored.
Butler hopes the action he and the other reservists took made it better for soldiers who came behind them in Iraq.
"It's just like it happened yesterday," Butler said of memories of his tour of duty in Iraq.
Butler is now retired from the military after a 25-year career, but he saaid his battles continue.
Butler said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, has memory loss and other ailments. He said he has been denied benefits for medical claims by the Veterans Benefits Administration office in Jackson with the exception of one claim: He was approved for 10 percent disability benefits for a shoulder injury.
Butler's medical claims include stress, anxiety, hypertension, memory loss, lower back pain, a leg injury, high cholesterol and the shoulder injury.
In one instance, Butler said he received a claim rejection letter where the examiner mentioned he was dressed too nicely.
click above for the rest
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