PTSD, How Many Are Worthy Of The Grave?

Monday is Memorial Day. The day we honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives for this nation, what this nation asked them to do. Some went willingly, some were drafted, but when they stood side by side, all of them were in it for each other. They were their "brother's keeper" watching out for their friends. Some sacrificed their lives in order to save the life of someone else. We honor them because they gave their lives but we do not honor all of them.

After Vietnam, there were an additional 200,000, by the last attempt to count them, who died as a result of their wounds. These men an women suffered a horrible death and they suffered in silence. Everything they were slipped away. All their hopes and dreams faded, replaced by vengeful ghosts. The sights, sounds and smells they were surrounded by in combat, refused to die the day they faced death eye to eye. The battle they waged, was not fought with their brothers by their side. They were fought alone, too afraid to speak. Too stunned to scream for help. Too drained to fight to stay alive.

We speak of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder today, but when they came home, no one would discuss it in anything above whispering "There is something wrong with him." They became someone to stay away from instead of someone to reach out to. Had they been wounded by a visible wound, they would have received compassion and pity, but this wound could not be seen by a stranger. It was seen by those who loved the stranger who returned home in place of the man who left.

These men and women received no honor of a medal for the wound they would carry for the rest of their lives. A wound so deeply imbedded within them that they could not heal on their own and did not know where to go for help. Their bodies paid the price with illnesses caused by the constant stress of endless nights dreaming of death and destruction vividly resurrected. The days of flashbacks arising without warning. Their hearts suffered from the constant adrenaline rush. Their digestive system began to break down. Nerves jumped out of control. Muscles weakened. Livers were damaged by the self medication of choice, alcohol, so they could kill off the feelings they could no longer fight. Yet this wound was not done with the wounded. It sought to inflict the entire family. Families of these men and women also suffered from the constant trauma of daily living with them. The stress took such a strong hold that wives and children were constantly on edge. Without help, they wanted to get rid of the problem, the stranger in their home they could not control and could not depend on.

Thirty years ago, there was an excuse to not know what PTSD was. There is no excuse today. There is too much information, too many research documents, too many experts, to be able to dismiss or diminish this devastating wound.

When you go to the monuments for the war dead, understand that there are ghosts within the lines between the names. Men and women who died because of service to this nation, wounded by their service and died a lonely death by taking their own lives unable to fight off the enemy any longer.

There is a serious question being discussed all over the nation. The awarding of the Purple Heart for this wound. Arguments arise because some cannot see it as a wound, yet when you discover the word trauma means wound in Greek, there is no question what the cause was. Some want to see PTSD as a wound of a lesser degree of worthiness, when they can never be cured of this, when the scar cuts so deeply they will never be free of it, but can only be helped to live with it. Bullet wounds, can be sewn up, but PTSD can not be so easily treated. PTSD if anything, is a wound to a greater degree. A Purple Heart for the loss of a limb, is the same medal they award for a bullet wound, yet no one will diminish a tiny scar left behind when the bullet is removed. Yet with PTSD they diminish the scar that penetrated all the muscles, all the parts of the body and every part of the wounded's life.

The wounded by PTSD who could no longer fight, took their own lives because of the battles they were sent to fight in Vietnam, in Kuwait, in Korea, in the nations of WWII and WWI and all the way back to the beginning of this nation. Those who carry it within them are still regarded as "there is something wrong with them" instead of finally understanding there is something wrong with all of us that the wounded are not treated as wounded, but left to fight their own battles here at home. It's time we got this right for the sake of the living or next Memorial Day, there will be too many more who will also go unnoticed among the sea of headstones at your local cemetery. We need to ask how many of the over 1,000 a month trying to end their lives because of PTSD are worthy of the grave? Were those who ended their lives any less worthy of the honor we give to others on Monday? Do you really want to add more than the enemy did during combat?



Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos

International Fellowship of Chaplains

Namguardianangel@aol.com

www.Namguardianangel.org

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

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

Description from robertgreenwald:
There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!
Since we first released The Real McCain a year ago, our REAL McCain series has garnered close to 2 million views, with over 13,000 comments and tens of thousands more in petition signatures! Clearly, John McCain's record is something the public wants to discuss, and yet the corporate media is doing NOTHING to present the truth. We feel obliged to continue countering the mainstream media's love of McCain. And so we thought it was high time for a sequel: The Real McCain 2.
We're doing everything to get the facts out there about McCain. Join us in making a concerted effort to tell the story that corporate media refuses to tell. E-mail this video to all of your friends and family membe! rs, news blogs and other local media outlets. And don't forget to Digg it!
According to Cliff Schecter, author of

The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him And Why Independents Shouldn't:

"It is dangerous for a democracy when a presidential candidate can lie with impunity, change positions on a whim, and physically and verbally threaten others and virtually none of it is reported by a besotted media eagerly awaiting the next moment when he might slap their backs in friendship."
The mainstream press may not do their job, but we can surely do ours. It is crucial that we alert the public to the REAL McCain, and it is crucial we act now, before it's too late.
Watch the video →
Please forward this on to other people who might like it.

Senate passes Webb GI Bill

Senate passes Webb GI Bill

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 22, 2008 16:17:38 EDT

The Senate voted 75-22 for a GI Bill education benefits package that defense and service officials say would hurt the military but that veterans groups say is an overdue adjustment to make the benefit more like the World War II-era GI Bill.

The House of Representatives passed the bill last week, meaning the fate of the proposal — which would pay full tuition at a four-year public college or university plus living expenses and a book allowance — rests on whether President Bush vetoes the measure, as Pentagon officials have recommended and White House officials have threatened.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., chief sponsor of the bill, said he hoped the president would listen to veterans groups and sign it, which he said would be a boost to recruiting and a reward for those who have served in the military since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The main Pentagon objection, and there are several, is that the benefits package does not include an administration proposal that would blunt the draw of leaving the service to use GI Bill benefits by giving those who stay for six years or longer the option of transferring benefits to a spouse or children.

The benefits package, called the 21st Century GI Bill of Rights, is attached to a wartime supplemental funding bill that has been loaded with billions of dollars for nondefense proposals, including extended unemployment compensation, aid for farmers and highway construction funds — which gives President Bush a variety of reasons to veto the bill even though defense officials are begging for money for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/military_gibill_passescongress_052208w/

Montana National Guard, Picking Up The Pieces

Picking up the Pieces (PDHRA)

This is the link to the video the Montana National Guard is showing. I've been posting about it for a couple of days now and it is very important that it not only be seen, but duplicated across the country.

Guard stresses PTSD symptoms at meetings
By ERIC NEWHOUSE • Tribune Projects Editor • May 21, 2008

LEWISTOWN — Montana's National Guard expanded its PTSD outreach efforts this week, hosting a series of 20 public meetings in armories across the state.


As part of its effort to familiarize the public — and veterans in particular — with post-traumatic stress disorder, it played a video produced at Fort Harrison entitled "Picking Up the Pieces." That had Tiffany Kolar wiping her eyes.

"It raised a lot of questions for me," Kolar said after Monday night's meeting. "I have a brother who served with the Idaho National Guard and who later committed suicide. Now I'm learning a lot about what must have been happening."

Kolar's husband is currently serving his second tour of duty in Iraq, and she and her mother-in-law need to understand the danger signs, she said.

"There were some things we didn't recognize the last time he came home, so we want to be better informed this time," said Darlene Kolar, his mother.

Only a handful of people showed up for the meeting here, but the Guard's personnel officer, Col. Jeff Ireland, said he was happy for any attention.

"If these meeting are able to help even one person, for all the time and effort we've expended, it's been worth it," Ireland said.

The Guard has sent out personal invitations and videos to 2,000 behavioral health care specialists in Montana, as well as to all the veterans' organizations, he said. Next on the list is a mass mailing to all ministers and religious leaders in the state, he added.

The meetings are the result of the suicide of Spec. Chris Dana of Helena, who shot himself in March 2007 after returning from combat with the 163rd Infantry. He was not able to handle weekend guard drills, and was given a less-than-honorable discharge as a result.

As a direct result, Ireland said, Montana is now providing longer mental health assessments after return from combat, strengthening its family support units, creating crisis readiness teams to investigate abnormal behavior, requiring a personal investigation by the adjutant general before any soldier is discharged less than honorably, and producing and promoting its own video. go here for more

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/NEWS01/805210309

The video interviews hit all the points. Getting the clergy involved, how it hits the members of the family trying to understand and be supportive, what goes on inside of the veteran, how it's not their fault. The beginning of the video, I have to say I was no impressed. The graphics moved too fast and blurred when on full screen but as soon as the interviews began, I knew they hit the mark. Get passed the beginning and pay attention to the value in the interviews. It's a shame more people did not attend this.

VA message to older vets "If you flip out call 911" not them

VA Capacity Crisis Hits California - Older Veterans Feel Forced Out of Counseling by Newer Veterans

Mark Muckenfuss


Press - Enterprise (California)

May 21, 2008
May 20, 2008 - A group of older military veterans in the Inland region says the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is pushing it out of counseling programs to make room for an expected influx of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans.

Albert Cruz, 59, of Hesperia, said officials at the Victorville Veterans Center told him and other members of a post-traumatic stress disorder therapy group that "they have to bring (the group) to an end."

Cruz, a veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm, and his colleagues are convinced that their government is abandoning them.

"It's like a slap in the face," he said.

When he asked the veterans officials what he should do about treatment, he said, "They said, 'Well, if you flip out again, call 911.' "

Lois Krawczik, a psychologist who oversees post-traumatic stress programs for the VA Medical Center in Loma Linda, said Cruz is mistaken. She said the VA has no plans to eliminate programs at the Victorville clinic. In fact, the clinic is expanding, she said.

"There may be some changes," Krawczik said, but "we're not discontinuing or cutting back services."

Budget figures provided by the Loma Linda medical center show that funding earmarked for mental health has increased dramatically in recent years, from $70,000 in 2004 to $3.1 million in 2007. During the same period, the number of patients seen each month for mental health went from 6,700 to 9,600.

Cruz, and others, insist they have been told they'll have to go. Whether it is a misunderstanding or not, there seems to be a pervasive suspicion among older veterans, particularly those with post-traumatic stress disorder, both locally and in other parts of the country, that the VA is interested in pushing them out.
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10180

If this shocks you, you have not been paying attention. The new veterans, well the media is focused on them so the older veterans can just fend for themselves, like they always did before. No one ever paid attention to them while they were being denied claims, turned away from the VA, ignored when they were becoming homeless and committing suicide. Had it not been for them fighting for what little they received, none of the newer veterans would stand a chance in hell of being treated for PTSD or any of the other conditions they managed to get put into law that they should be treated for as a price of war. They fought for the benefits and treatment for PTSD and too many paid the price with their own lives. They fought for the illnesses attached to Agent Orange, yet again, too many paid for with their lives. The older veterans, well, maybe the VA's attitude is their time has come and gone and it's the media's fault for not paying attention to any of them. After all, what's an older veteran's life worth these days? There are too many of them getting in the way of the new veterans the media has been winning awards for reporting about.

Montana National Guard puts focus on PTSD

Guard's road show puts focus on post-traumatic stress
By ZACH BENOIT
Of The Gazette Staff

In an effort to increase awareness and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder in military personnel returning from combat, the Montana National Guard has been holding a series of public presentations in 20 communities across the state.

At St. Vincent Healthcare's Marillac Auditorium on Wednesday night, the Guard presented resources and information on PTSD and talked about what people can do to help those afflicted with it.

"If you understand what the signs and symptoms are and you know somebody who may be suffering, you can refer them to get help," Col. Jeffrey Ireland said. Ireland is the director of personnel and manpower for the Montana National Guard.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can occur after someone experiences or witnesses traumatic events. Many returning soldiers develop PTSD, and it often goes untreated. Efforts to increase awareness of PTSD in Montana began after the suicide of Guardsmen Christopher Dana of Helena in March 2007. He had been home from duty in Iraq for 16 months when he shot himself. Family members said he was suffering from PTSD.

After Dana's death, the Guard and state officials vowed to re-evaluate PTSD treatment in Montana and work to prevent more such tragedies, said John Allen, a Montana Air National Guard chaplain from Great Falls.

"The governor appointed a task force to look into it," he said. "The National Guard also appointed a working group to find out about the processes we go through to see if there's any way we can do a better job."

Studies and evaluations determined that the Montana Guard was meeting or exceeding the basic requirements for returning soldiers and airmen, but Guard officials wanted to do more.

It took a number of steps to aid in recognizing and treating PTSD. In every other state, troops undergo a post-deployment assessment within 90 to 180 days of returning. Montana standards now include more frequent and longer monitoring for up to two years.

"Those that come back don't develop PTSD right away," Ireland said. "We don't want to let anyone slip through."

Crisis response teams in Helena and Great Falls were created, the Guard mandated enrollment into the Veterans Affairs system upon returning from duty, created suicide prevention and PTSD training programs, beefed up reintegration programs to help troops return to daily life and expanded family resource centers across the state to aid military members and their families.

"We've accomplished a tremendous amount of things in the last few months," Ireland said. He added that the Montana National Guard has become a leader in diagnosing and treating PTSD.

At the presentation, Ireland showed a DVD produced by the Montana National Guard called "Picking Up the Pieces. Operation Outreach: A Community Effort." The DVD details the effects of PTSD on service members and their families. It includes detailed interviews with several Guardsmen who have undergone or are in treatment for PTSD. It also includes interviews with Matt Kuntz, Dana's stepbrother. Ireland said the Montana National Guard hopes to use the video to help returning soldiers and airmen and increase community awareness.

"We are very proud of this," he said. "It's so useful in sending a message to service members and the community. We use it to tell our story."

Ireland said one of the most important steps in treating PTSD is erasing the stigma often associated with seeking treatment.

"We have so many that are reluctant to step forward because they're afraid of seeming weak," he said. "But we treat it as we would any other battle injury."

Presentations on PTSD by the Montana National Guard will be tonight at 7 in Malta, Miles City, Livingston and Missoula. On May 28, they will be in Helena and Butte and in Great Falls and Belgrade on May 29, all at 7 p.m.


Published on Thursday, May 22, 2008.
Last modified on 5/22/2008 at 1:19 am


Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/05/22/news/local/38-ptsd.txt

Is John McCain Able or is he Cain?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Veteran
by don mikulecky [Subscribe]
Wed May 21, 2008 at 04:56:50 PM PDT
Is it disrespectful of a veteran's service if one wonders about certain behavior patterns and the possibility that they are related to combat experience? I wrote a diary in December of 2007 reviewing the book: Achilles in Vietnam: Combat trauma and the undoing of character by Johnathan Shay, M. D. Ph.D. I think the subject needs to be brought up again relative to certain behavior exhibited by a well known public figure who is also a Vietnam War Veteran and was a POW during that war. The book jacket tells us that Shay is a staff psychiatrist in the Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Boston. His patients were Vietnam combat veterans with severe, chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Shay examines the devistation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer's Iliad with Vietnam veterans suffering from PTSD. Allthough the Iliad was written twenty-seven centuries ago it has much to teach about combat trauma, as do the more recent, compelling voices and experiences of Vietnam vets. The historical legacy of war goes back at least that far yet we still tend to wish it away. Denial is of little value to anyone when the issue becomes pertinant to our Nation's future. Let us look at what Shay learned about this horrible effect of combat experience.
(go below for link and more of this)

My reply

McCain must have it
First time

But one Saturday morning, while practicing take-offs in his A-6 Skyraider off the Texas Gulf Coast, the engine suddenly quits. McCain’s plane plunges into Corpus Christi Bay.

Then there was the Forestal. The following is from Against All Odds

On the Forestal John McCain prepares for war.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): We'd only been in combat for a few days, so the adrenaline and excitement was still quite high.

On July 29, 30-year-old McCain climbs into his A-4e Skyhawk.

After a pre-flight check, his plane gets into take-off position.

But as captured in this real-life video, another plane's rocket ignites and soars across the flight deck. It punctures McCain’s external fuel tank, which erupts into a huge fireball.

Video cameras mounted on the flight deck record the raging inferno surrounding McCain’s plane.

Timberg: McCain is essentially engulfed in it. Very quickly and very cooly he realizes that his only way out is to pop open the cockpit. He climbs out, and there's this lake of fire. He drops into it, rolls and rolls through it.

But just as he turns around to help his fellow pilots escape, the first bomb goes off.

Timberg: Planes are exploding and rockets are exploding. Men are coming out and trying to put the fire out only to have the explosions kill them.

McCain is blown backward by the explosion. Dazed, but conscious, he drags himself to sickbay.

Sen. McCain: And I went up to the sickbay and I walked in and there were a whole lot of people lying around that had been terribly burned, third-degree burns, unrecognizable. And one of them called me over and he said, "Mr. McCain, Mr. So-and-so, he didn't make it, did he?" And I said, "Well yeah, he did I just saw him around in the other room. And he said, "Oh thank God." And he died.

The fire rages for hours. Planes are tossed overboard to prevent even further explosions. A curtain of fire-retardant foam is pumped out onto the deck in a desperate attempt to save the ship.

Down in sickbay, McCain looks on in helpless horror as a video monitor plays the scene.

Joe McCain: Here was this disaster occurring all around him, in which he could see his fellows, his comrades, his pilots, his beloved enlisted men just get cooked, and he's in the middle of this enormous chaos. This disaster was happening to everybody else.

Finally, after 24 hours, the fire is brought under control. The ship is saved, but at great human cost; 134 men lose their lives.

McCain is one of the lucky ones.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...

The POW time is really the only time mentioned when talking about McCain and PTSD. We forget about the other times.

100% of people who have been tortured develop PTSD. No question about that. This I discovered when training to be a Chaplain.

He shows the signs of it as well. I've been working with PTSD vets for over 25 years now, as well as being married to one of them.

Shay's first book got right to the point. I have it on my blog as my favorite book. He got nothing wrong in any of it.

Aside from the fact I think McCain would be very dangerous as a President, he is also the least likely to take care of the veterans and the troops. He has shown no regard for their lives, even early on as you read above. He wants to run as a veteran, but he runs away from what other veterans need. Check his voting record.

by Kathie Costos on Thu May 22, 2008 at 05:55:36 AM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/21/17840/8730/798/519924

PTSD and body wounds, wound sexual intimacy

Is sex over? Badly hurt vets and sexual intimacy
By KIMBERLY HEFLING – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — When B.J. Jackson lost both his legs to an Iraq war injury, his doctors talked about a lot of things, but they didn't mention how it might affect his sex life.

Jackson's less-bashful wife brought it up. But even then the couple didn't get the answers they sought.

Jackson and his wife, Abby, say it's time to get the issue out in the open in both military medical settings and at home. And they got a lot of agreement at a conference Wednesday, billed as the first of its kind, that focused on wounded troops and intimacy with their partners — in the bedroom and outside it.

This is no minor matter.

About 3,000 of the troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered major physical impairment, said former Sen. Bob Dole, who served last year on a presidential commission that examined the treatment of wounded war veterans. Dole, who lost full use of his right arm to a combat injury during World War II, was among the speakers at the conference.

Vets who have lost a quality-of-life function, such as sexual ability, should be given quality-of-life compensation in addition to other payment, he said, because the magnitude of their disabilities will fully sink in as they age.

It's serious at any age, suggested Mitchell S. Tepper, assistant project director at the Center of Excellence for Sexual Health at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, which organized the conference.

Tepper said badly injured patients are extremely interested in the subject, even if they're shy about asking. He said studies of the general population of people with spinal cord injuries find that some rank the desire to have sex above the ability to walk again.

Healthy intimate relationships add meaning to life and can aid in recovery from other injuries, he said. And the loss of a relationship can be detrimental, even a factor in suicide.

As for injured troops, keeping feelings bottled up can be a problem for any couple, said Jackson, who is 26.

"My feeling is the sooner it's discussed and the more it's discussed, the more chance of having less arguments, less confusion, less frustration," he said in an interview. "The more you communicate among yourselves the better off you'll be, instead of well, 'I'm mad, so I'm just going to roll over.'"

The Jacksons' appearance Wednesday underscored the painful aftermath of war and stood as a stark reminder this Memorial Day of the sacrifices borne by many soldiers, veterans and their families. More than 30,000 troops have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than half of them 24 and under at the time.

Said Dole: "Most of us go through this transition from able-bodied to disabled, and it's tough. And I worry about these young men and women ... who are 17, 18, 19, because I don't think it's really going to hit them until they're 20, 25, 30 years of age."

For the injured, questions of self-worth and a fear of rejection because of physical or other changes they've undergone can form barriers in their relationships.

Tepper said doctors often aren't bringing up sex, but patients aren't always asking about it either.

"There's this gap where the doctors know that it's an issue, but don't feel they're prepared or if it's appropriate to ask about it," Tepper said. "Patients, it's on their mind but they're not talking about it. They're afraid."

Experts say issues of sexual intimacy don't affect just the relationships of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with physical wounds, but also those who come home with mental health problems.

A recent Rand Corp. study estimated that about 300,000 of the 1.6 million troops who have served in the recent wars have symptoms of major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. About one in five said they might have experienced a possible traumatic brain injury while deployed.

Psychological and neurological disorders can interfere with behaviors necessary for successful intimacy, such as experiencing and expressing emotion and understanding someone else's needs, the study noted. And anger and aggression, including domestic violence, have been associated with mental disorders.
click post title for more

YEP!

Was cause of military pneumonia deaths ever found

Earlier today I was listening to the Rachel Maddow show and she mentioned a new report about bronchial problems hitting the troops hard. While looking for more information, I came across the following.

News Archives
Military Vaccine Education Center.

[NEWS] Death of soldier from Missouri will be investigated amid spike in pneumonia cases
Associated Press - Friday August 01, 2003
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Epidemiologists are investigating two unusual deaths from illness among troops in the Middle East to see whether they are related to 10 cases of severe pneumonia, The Springfield News Leader reported.
A Missourian, Spc. Joshua Neusche, 20, of Montreal, Mo., died of an illness July 12. His parents said the disease caused various organs to break down.
..."The doctor said (Josh) got into some type of toxin that began degenerating his muscles," Mark Neusche said Friday.
...The investigation comes at a time of overall concern about pneumonia. DeFraites said there has been a noticeable increase in pneumonia cases among soldiers since the war in Iraq began.

http://www.jca.apc.org/~altmedka/2003eng/engl-030805-2.html

When I was researching the non-combat deaths, there seemed to be a lot of deaths like this. How many more are there and what has been done to stop this from happening? This was reported in 2003.

No Clues In Iraq Mystery Illness
At Least 100 U.S. Troops In Iraq Have Been Sickened; Two Are Dead

WASHINGTON, August 5, 2003


(CBS/AP) The Army is still trying to figure out what's causing a rash of serious pneumonia cases, including two fatalities, among troops serving in Iraq.

At least 100 soldiers have been sickened, 14 of them so severely that they ended up on ventilators; two men died from the disease.

Col. Robert DeFraites of the Army Surgeon General's Office said Tuesday that officials have found that two of the cases – not the fatalities – resulted from common bacteria. The cause of the other cases remains unknown.

A medical team is in Iraq, searching for the cause of the outbreak. At this point, investigators know more about what isn't causing the illnesses than what is.

"There's been no positive findings of any anthrax or smallpox or any other biological weapons," said DeFraites. There's also no evidence the respiratory disease SARS was involved or Legionnaire's Disease, he said.

No clear pattern has emerged among the stricken soldiers; no common times or places or Army units have been detected and there's been no person-to-person spread.

The Army is urging soldiers in Iraq to take new precautions while officials try to find the cause of the outbreak. Soldiers are being advised to avoid dehydration, to be careful when dealing with dust and to stop smoking.

DeFraites says those types of environmental issues can cause pneumonia.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/01/iraq/main566292.shtml?source=search_story

Sgt. Andrew Perkins remembered at Fort Bragg

All-American Week returns as 82nd Airborne mourns
By KEVIN MAURER | Associated Press Writer
2:07 PM EDT, May 21, 2008

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - The return of the steady tromp of 16,000 jogging soldiers this week means the rhythm of life is right again at Fort Bragg, home to the Army's storied 82nd Airborne Division.

All-American Week is back at the base, a renewal of the 82nd's traditional homecoming that was canceled last year because the entire division was fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The celebration also provides a balm this year, which follows a particularly tough one for the division -- the 82nd lost 87 paratroopers in 2007. About 150 members of "Gold Star" families, relatives of those killed, are to join President Bush on Thursday for the division's review ceremony and a rededication of a growing granite memorial to the 82nd's fallen.

Among those to be remembered is Andrew Perkins, a 27-year-old sergeant whose father clings to the stories of his son's heroism in Samarra, north of Baghdad. How he grabbed the fire extinguisher. How he rushed into the explosion three times. How the equipment was melting in his hands before a second blast hit.


"I'd go to Samarra if I could just to stand on the same ground," Walter Perkins said.

He has come instead to Fort Bragg, to stand among the dozens of other fathers without sons, wives without husbands, children without parents.

"Did I come here to get some closure? Yep. Am I getting it? Yep. And it surprises me how easy it is coming to me," Perkins said. "It helps that I am talking to guys who knew him."

The 82nd Airborne's 87 fatalities last year are more than in any other year since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. Three separate times in Iraq last year, seven or more paratroopers were killed at once. Sgt. Andrew Perkins died March 5 with six others outside of Samarra.

The paratroopers were on patrol when their lead truck hit a roadside bomb. The blast killed four of the paratroopers almost instantly. Perkins and two other paratroopers searched the flaming wreckage for survivors, a second bomb detonated -- killing them and wounding several others.
click post title for more

"They lost their lives trying to help one another" on the Madeleine

Leaked argon gas in ship kills three at Florida port
By Brian Haas and Andrew Tran / South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

PORT EVERGLADES, Fla. - One by one, the workers descended into the hold of the Madeleine at Dock 31, undeterred by the possibility of a gas leak below.

As the third and final worker went down the ladder to try and save his two co-workers, he was warned.

"I told him don’t go down," recalled Tarson Bodden. "You won’t come back up."


Bodden watched the third man descend and then scramble half-way up the ladder only to collapse. His body landed next to his two colleagues.

"They were trying to help each other," Bodden said, gripping his hardhat. "They lost their lives trying to help one another. It’s terrible."

Three fathers,

Hayman Sooknanan, 47;

James Cason, 43; and

Rene Robert Dutertre Jr., 25,

died in the bowels of the cargo ship Tuesday, suffocated by argon gas, which made the air in the hold unbreathable.

Local, state and federal authorities are investigating what caused a leak in the tank of argon, and whether anyone broke safety laws or regulations.

"If you were following OSHA standards, you would not have accidents or deaths," said Michael Wald, spokesman for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Federal regulations require gases like argon be kept only in well-ventilated areas to avoid safety issues.

The three men’s employer, Florida Transportation Services, is one of about a dozen companies at Port Everglades that helps ships dock and move cargo. The company has been subject to dozens of safety complaints over the past five years and had at least one other death in an industrial accident during that time.
click post title for more

Soon, The Name "Carmelo Rodriguez" Will Be Heard In Congress

Case Sheds Light On Military Law
Soon, The Name "Carmelo Rodriguez" Will Be Heard In Congress

WURTSBORO, N.Y., May 19, 2008


(CBS) Today the name Carmelo Rodriguez marks a modest grave in upstate New York, where his family still visits, and still mourns.

But soon - as early as Tuesday - that name will be introduced on the floor of the U.S. Congress, CBS News correspondent Byron Pitts reports.

"The bill is called the Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Malpractice and Injustice Act," said Rep. Maurice Hinchley.

CBS News reported exclusively on the life and death of Marine Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez last January. While he was serving as a platoon leader in Iraq, his family says a military doctor there "misdiagnosed" the sergeant's skin cancer, calling it instead "a wart."

A condition first diagnosed in 1997 during Rodriguez's original medical exam from his enlistment.

But doctors did not inform him or recommend any follow-up.

Untreated for years, the melanoma worsened. By the time Pitts met Sgt. Rodgriquez, the once-fit, gung-ho Marine had lost nearly 100 pounds. As we were preparing to interview him … he died.

His death sparked a rush of e-mails, letters and calls to CBS News and members of Congress. Due to what's known as the Feres Doctrine, Rodriguez's family, including his 7-year-old son, cannot sue the military for medical practice.

Unlike every other U.S. citizen, the Feres Doctrine forbids active military from suing the federal government for malpractice. One argument: it would disrupt military order and discipline.

"No Congress has ever changed it," said Maj. Gen. John D. Altenburg. "They've had 50-some years to have opportunity to change the federal tort claims act and to effect the Feres Doctrine, and they chose not to do that and I think for good reason."
go here for more
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/19/eveningnews/main4109454.shtml

Woman lies about daughter killed in Iraq, she never had

Woman invented dead soldier daughter


Published: May 21, 2008 at 6:02 PM
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C., May 21 (UPI) -- A North Charleston, S.C., woman has admitted to inventing a daughter she claimed was slain in Iraq to convince creditors to give her more time to pay bills.

Melanie Grant, 39, said she fed a false story about a daughter who was killed while serving in Iraq to Suburban Funeral Home, which took out a $242.77 obituary in The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier for the fictional Lt. Melissa Hope Grant, The Post and Courier reported Wednesday.

Grant said she decided to come clean about the fabrication after the obituary was published and comments were posted online expressing sympathy for the death.
go here for more

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2008/05/21/
woman_invented_dead_soldier_daughter/4388/

Veterans Attest to PTSD Neglect by VA

Veterans Attest to PTSD Neglect by VA
Wednesday 21 May 2008
by: Maya Schenwar and Matt Renner, t r u t h o u t Report

Firsthand Accounts of PTSD Crisis

Kristofer Goldsmith, a former Army sergeant who was forced to stay in the military beyond his contract because of the "stop loss" order given by the president, testified about his experience with mental health care at Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We were told that if we were to seek mental health, we would be locked away and our careers would not advance. If I admitted that I had severe chronic depression, if I thought I had PTSD ... my career could have been ruined," Goldsmith said.

He received an adjustment disorder diagnosis after experiencing a panic attack in March 2007. Because he was not granted the PTSD label - despite displaying many symptoms of the disorder - he was ordered to deploy to Iraq for a second tour.

What Goldsmith described as a "sharp downward spiral" came to a head the day before he was scheduled to ship back to Iraq with his unit.

"The day before I was supposed to deploy, Memorial Day, I went out onto a field in Fort Stewart and tried to take my own life ... I took pills and drank vodka until I couldn't drink anymore. The next thing I knew I was handcuffed to a gurney in the hospital. The cops had found me and literally dragged my body into an ambulance," Goldsmith said in his testimony.

Finally, in October 2007, months after his suicide attempt, Goldsmith received a PTSD diagnosis from the VA.

According to Goldsmith, his experience was far from unique.

"While undergoing psychiatric treatment, I heard of many people being diagnosed with personality disorder and adjustment disorder instead of PTSD," Goldsmith told Truthout. "I believe this is a way for the Army to hide the levels of PTSD among its ranks, through the usage of misdiagnoses."
click above for more

Read more about here
Wounded Times: Sgt. Kristofer Goldsmith another face of PTSD
Last Memorial Day, Sgt. Kristofer Goldsmith tried to kill himself.
He had just been stop-lossed along with 80000 other soldiers as part of the surge of U.S

'Welcome, America, to the Second Vietnam.'

"That Dream Turned Into Nightmares"
By Spencer Ackerman 05/15/2008 12:02PM

"That blue Arabic graffiti right there is on the side of a school somewhere in Sadr City. I didn't know until three days ago when I had a good friend of mine who is Iraqi translate it for me, but in 2005, an Iraqi spraypainted that. And it translates directly to, 'Welcome, America, to the Second Vietnam.' Vietnam and Iraq have been compared not only by Iraq Veterans Against The War and Vietnam Veterans Against The War, but by the very people in Iraq who Americans think are too ignorant to realize what's going on in the world. These are smart, educated people that are dying every day."

He continued to the next slide, which showed more graffiti this time in English. THE US AND ALLAWI ARE TERRORMEN.

"That is the feeling in Sadr City. They feel they have been let down by America and by their own government that George Bush's administration put in power.


"Before I go on I want to say that I do not blame you, as Congress-members, for not ending the war, as many Americans do. I do not blame the president for not ending the war. I blame the people of America and their apathy, because they are -- you are responsible for following what they say. And they have not done a good enough job to convince the rest of your peers -- namely Republicans -- to fight to bring our troops home and save lives in both America and Iraq."
click above for more

No it isn't a second Vietnam. Most of the Vietnam veterans did one tour and the war, officially anyway, was over for them. Drafted or enlisted, DEROS came and they got onto planes headed for home. They thought they could just pick up their lives where they left off. Go back to their jobs, their wives and girlfriends, their friends or finally head for college just like everyone else. They thought they were still like everyone else but they didn't know the war still laid claim to their lives. They were done with Vietnam, but Vietnam was not done with them. She followed many of them home like a scorn woman, heartless but oh so patiently waiting to finally claim their lives. Little by little, Vietnam took one more piece of their soul until they would welcome death or find the strength to fight here off. Their battle goes on even today. But for the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, it is not one tour, one year, it's many tours and many years raising the risk of being eaten alive by PTSD by 50% each time they return to combat.

I wanted to see if there was more on Sgt. Goldsmith when I came across this site.

Daughters of Vietnam Veterans
DOVV.net is an online publication for Children of Veterans.
I’m your biggest war wound Dad. I’m covered in your battle scars. I’m stuck in the middle of a war that ended six years before I was even conceived. That war is the only thing I’m ever going to carry inside me, carry on my back.

So don’t you dare tell me to shut up about it. I need to believe this neverending fucking fight is worth it.

Do you understand me, Dad? We’re on the same side. Give me something. I’m your ally.
-Kate Mulvany, "The Seed" A Daughter of a Australian Vietnam Veteran

Daughters of Vietnam Vets. They still pay the price for what combat did to their fathers after all these years. I knew it was happening but I didn't know this site was there. It's one more reminder that combat does not end just because the President calls the troops home.

When will the daughters of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans begin their sites trying to find support and understanding enough so they can vent their frustration and find a shoulder to cry on? No this is not another Vietnam. This is opening the doors of hell to far too many they were not ready to take care of. Now obviously it was not from lack of understanding the depth of the wound or the numbers that would need help. This was neglect, callously planned to carry out and we have the evidence thanks to people like Paul Sullivan and the law suit filed against the VA.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
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 war on the streets of Oakland

War on the streets
Violence in Oakland creates symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder
Unresolved trauma, anger creating cycle of violence
By Angela Woodall
Oakland Tribune
Article Created: 05/20/2008 08:23:22 PM PDT
OAKLAND

For many on the streets of Oakland, violence has become so commonplace, death so expected, there exists a sense of chilling resignation.

An almost sinister acceptance of violence persists, leaving generations inflicted with symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, similar to those of a soldier returned from combat.

"It feels like at times like the Iraq war is right here on the streets," said Franceyez, an 18-year-old rapper. "More and more violence has been created over the years. It's getting repetitive."

The tragic irony is that the people most in need of coordinated, sustained support services to deal with the trauma that violence inflicts most often do not have access to those services until after they hurt themselves or someone else, experts say.

Jail, prison or juvenile hall are the most common entry points for getting help, a sign that necessary services are lacking in communities, these experts contend.

Many others who need help fall through the cracks.

Many who don't get the support they need never commit a serious violent crime. But a common thread among adults and youths who do get help is that they were subject to abuse, neglect and a lack of nurturing, experts say.

Frequently, generations of the same family suffer from undiagnosed mental health issues, such as depression or anxiety, caused by the stress of urban poverty, racism, community and domestic violence, poor-quality schools and limited access to health care.

They feel helpless or powerless, as if they "didn't get theirs and have to do for themselves,'' said Madeleine Nelson, chief psychiatric social worker for Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services, which oversees the county's mental health and substance abuse programs.

"Putting a gun in their hand makes them feel like they can rule the world," even if the power comes at the expense of others and fuels revenge killings, Nelson said.
go here for more

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_9327607

Study Finds High Ground Zero Stress

Study Finds High Ground Zero Stress
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Published: May 21, 2008
A new study by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests that the percentage of ground zero workers who suffered post-traumatic stress is roughly the same as for airline crash recovery workers and returning Afghanistan war veterans.

The study of 10,132 workers, published in the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives and released Tuesday, showed that roughly one in 10 rescue and recovery workers who toiled at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center in 2001 and 2002 reported disturbing flashbacks and recurring nightmares.

The results are based on self-reported symptoms provided by workers when they filled out a questionnaire during the study period, which began 10 months after the twin towers collapsed and continued for five years.

Workers with post-traumatic stress reported experiencing symptoms associated with the disorder — intrusive memories, insomnia and numbness of emotions — in the month before they were interviewed.

The study also found that stress can exacerbate a range of medical conditions, including heart, lung, stomach and autoimmune disorders, caused by environmental exposures.

Of the workers who participated in the study, 11.1 percent met the scientific criteria for probable post-traumatic stress. That is about the same percentage as for returning war veterans and is significantly higher than the 3 to 4 percent found in the general adult population.
go here for more
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/nyregion/21mental.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Their bodies walked away,,,,,,,

but their minds never left.

With PTSD, they travel back in time. They see it all as if time became a magnet pulling them back to the event that changed them in an instant. The smell of the debris returns. The sounds of the crunching under their feet, the sounds of the equipment running, the voices of their friends, all of it reverberates in their ears. They feel their strength being drained from them, muscles ache from being tightened under the stress of the urgency. The disbelief of what they witnessed returns. It's like a horror movie replaying over and over again, only with this, they are there.

We are all just humans. No matter how much training provided to do jobs very few are willing to do, no training can dehumanize any of us enough to be untouched, unmoved, unchanged.

Soldiers train to kill but no one can train them to escape all that makes them human.

Police officers are trained to protect citizens and often this places their own life in danger. They are placed in positions when they have to make a life or death decision, but often they cannot simply deal with what comes after.

Firefighters and emergency responders, are trained to rescue and take care of citizens but there is no amount of training that can make them immune to the carnage they find after an accident or after a fire.

So how is it that so few of us understand what any of them go through? Is it because we depend on them to take care of us that we forget they sometimes need someone to take care of them?

Army surgeon Maj. Felix Oduwa lobbies hard to save Iraqi girl’s life

The medical rules of engagement
Army surgeon lobbies hard to save Iraqi girl’s life with treatment at American hospital
By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, May 20, 2008

JISR DIYALA, Iraq — Puss oozes from the gaping hole drilled behind her right ear.

A tube intended to drain excess fluid around the brain protrudes into a ridge that runs down the side of the skull to her abdomen. The scarred and malnourished 7-month-old looks like the victim of a back alley surgical hack job.

Marian, who comes from a village south of Baghdad, is running out of time.

"This is not good at all," Maj. Felix Oduwa mutters to himself as he conducts his examination.

For Army doctors, who spend a portion of their time doing medical outreach, such cases are agonizing. Oduwa, a doctor serving with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, knows what this child needs. He just doesn’t know whether he can deliver it.

To send an Iraqi to a U.S. military hospital, rules of eligibility dictate that life, limb or eyesight must be at immediate risk of being lost. But determining immediate danger isn’t an exact science. There are gray areas, and it’s not yet clear if Marian meets the standard.
go here for more
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54941

Mexican soldiers shoot at Marine's car

Mexican soldiers shoot at Marine's car

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

(05-20) 16:23 PDT PLAYAS DE ROSARITO, Mexico (AP) --

A Mexican official says soldiers shot at the car of a U.S. Marine who allegedly sped through a military checkpoint outside the beach town of Playas de Rosarito.

Police Chief Jorge Eduardo Montero says the gunfire shattered Pfc. Joshua Kendall Monnet's window around 4 a.m. Tuesday and sent a small piece of glass into his eye. He was being treated at a Tijuana hospital, where U.S. Consulate officials were interviewing him.

U.S. military officials say Monnet is assigned to Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. Playas de Rosarito is about 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the California border.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/20/state/n160545D85.DTL&tsp=1

Marine son is wounded, woman lobbies to expand family leave act

After Marine son is wounded, woman lobbies to expand family leave act
By Emily Brown ,Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, May 22, 2008


PITTSBURGH — Marcia Chmill was able to bring her son John, a corporal in the Marine Reserves, home to Pittsburgh after he had spent a month at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

He was alive. She was so happy, she never mourned the loss of her son’s left eye or dwelled on the fact that two-thirds of his left hand was gone. His physical therapy was going well. John was making progress after several surgeries. A halo stabilized his shattered right leg.

But then came her own setback.

Her employer, the University of Pittsburgh, denied her coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act and said if she took any more time off to help her son, her job would be terminated. Her three-year battle was just beginning.

"How am I going to take care of my son?" Chmill asked. "In my heart I knew a mother can get her son to heal better [than a stranger] by tending to him."

She needed a lawyer to say her rights had been denied, but she could never get that confirmation. So she started writing letters and e-mails: one to the Department of Labor, one to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, one to the Chief of Naval Operations, one to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The list goes on, from congressmen and senators right up to the president.

Then she went to work taking care of her son.

John Chmill was bedridden and needed his mom to change the bandages on his hand, seal a plastic bag around his knee halo before he took a bath, put antibiotic drops in his eye socket and use a bone growth stimulator on his leg. He was on seven medications and needed transportation to regular doctor appointments.

The injuries were a result of a suicide bomb. His Marine Reserve truck company was activated in 2004 for a second tour, and he was attached to an Army brigade in Ramadi, Iraq, driving armored trucks with equipment or transporting soldiers on their missions.

While carrying about 20 soldiers in a seven-ton armored truck in November 2004, an Iraqi police car strapped with a bomb rammed into his driver’s side door. Amazingly, no one was killed. Chmill took the brunt of the hit, losing his left eye (which is now replaced by an acrylic eye) and all but the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. His right leg was shattered.
go here for more
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54979

USS Kitty Hawk, Seaman Phillip Simmons saves Japanese man

USS Kitty Hawk sailor honored for risking his life to save Japanese man
Japanese train stations chime a little tune when a train is about to arrive. On the morning of April 8, that was the last thing Seaman Phillip Simmons wanted to hear. The USS Kitty Hawk sailor was on the tracks with an injured leg — the result of hopping off the platform to rescue a Japanese man who had fallen seconds before. Simmons pulled the man out and handed him over to waiting Japanese bystanders, but his injury kept him from climbing out on his own.