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.

Does this look like what a grateful nation should do?

"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

With these words, I close out my posts when I have something to add to the articles I put up or when I write an entire article. These words come at the end of all the emails I send out. These words matter to me and should matter to every American.

"........how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." How do we treat them? How do we show we appreciate them?

Is any of the following showing appreciation from a grateful nation?

Redeployments, when it has been proven increases the risk of developing PTSD. When it takes away a soldier from their family again and again and again. When it puts National Guardsmen and Reservists in financial crisis over and over again.

Stop-loss, when they are kept and redeployed past the time they agreed to serve the nation. When they are told they are going back into Iraq or Afghanistan no matter what they agreed to do.

Wounded being sent back into combat when the doctors have already classified them as disabled and unable to work. When they have already been exposed to so much trauma they have their minds wounded and need medication just to function. When they have physical injuries that would prevent anyone from holding down a regular job, yet they are sent back into combat.

Wounded being told they entered into the military already wounded in their minds and what they are suffering from has nothing to do with their service, no matter if the flashbacks and nightmares along with all the other symptoms associated with PTSD all have to do with their service. When they are given dishonorable discharges for the simple fact they were wounded by honorably serving the nation doing what they were sent to do, doing their duty to their country. When they have to come back and fight the same country to have their wounds taken care of and be able to support themselves with the disability they were entitled to receive, yet are told they do not deserve it. When they are told they need therapy but they can come back in six months or longer. Or call a suicide hotline and are told to call back some other time. When they are told that they need to seek help as soon as possible to stop PTSD from getting worse, then being told that if they seek help it will ruin their career or keep them from getting security clearance or keep them from staying in the military if that is what they want to do and are still able to do.

When they are told all the money in the world is not too much to find in order to wage the combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan but it is too much money to fully fund the VA, provide them everything they need to do their jobs and take care of their families with a livable wage so they do not need to ask for food stamps and hand outs from families. When they are told they can go to college when they get out but then are told that to provide them with enough funding to do this, it is just too generous and may make it more attractive to leave the military than to stay in. This being said by a man running for the Presidency, who never voted against funding the occupations they are risking their lives in.

Does any of this resemble a grateful nation to you? I doubt it does to them. I doubt it does to the children of Vietnam veterans, now at an age when they too can serve the nation as their parents did, but won't because they saw their parents suffer for far too long neglected and abandoned to suffer in silence.


In a few days, we will honor, or are supposed to honor the fallen, for Memorial Day. Do you think we have done their lives justice by all we allowed to happen to this generation or the last, or the one before that? Do you think we honored their sacrifice by treating the veterans as if they should feel lucky enough just to have come home alive and should expect nothing more from us because it's too expensive or too generous? What possible reason could anyone in congress or the White House have for not supporting the veterans and what they need as token gestures of true appreciation for all they were willing to give up for us?

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos

Namguardianangel@aol.com

http://www.namguardianangel.org/

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

"Shame on you" and "May God forgive you." Yarmouth MA

Ruling may force hundreds out of Cape Cod motels
Panel suspends owner's license

By David Abel
Globe Staff / May 20, 2008
YARMOUTH - At the back of the motel room where Kerri Blackwell, her husband, and four young daughters have lived for more than a year, behind the mounds of laundry, the cans sorted for recycling, and the crib where the 10-month-old baby sleeps, the family has posted a handwritten sign.

It says: "Blackwell's Palace."

"It's not much, but it's the best we could find," said Kerri Blackwell, 37, who works at a nearby Dunkin' Donuts shop and says she cannot find a more affordable apartment in the area. "There should be a better place for us to live, but we can't afford the first month, last month, and security deposit to get in. Or the utilities. The rents we've seen are up to 2,000 a month."

The Blackwells don't want to leave the Cavalier Motel, but they may have no choice. Yesterday, the Board of Health in Yarmouth, citing a year-old law that prohibits motel owners from renting units beyond 30 consecutive days to customers without a permanent address, voted to suspend the motel's license, potentially forcing the Blackwells and 250 other low-income people from the Cavalier and two other motels in town.

Board officials have rejected pleas from community members, some of whom shouted from the audience yesterday, "Shame on you" and "May God forgive you." They said they had no choice and were just following laws passed by the town's selectmen, some of whom defended the board's vote after the meeting.

"We're not pushing anyone out to the curb; we're just not going to issue motel licenses to those who aren't acting as motels," said Suzanne McAuliffe, chairwoman of Yarmouth's Board of Selectmen. "The living conditions of some of the people in these motels are horrendous. We want them to live in adequate places. This is about shutting down dangerous, substandard, health-hazard-inducing housing."
click post title for more

McCain says the legislation is too expensive on GI Bill

McCain says the legislation is too expensive and has proposed his own version, which would increase the monthly benefit available to most veterans to $1,500 from $1,100. It would not offer the equivalent of a full scholarship.

The ad by VoteVets.org Action Fund, features Iraq and Afghanistan veterans noting that both McCain and President Bush oppose the bill.

"McCain thinks covering a fraction of our education is enough," one veteran says. Another one, pictured recovering from head wounds, adds in a voiceover: "We didn't give a fraction in Iraq. We gave 100 percent."

"Senator McCain" an announcer concludes, "we respect your service. Please respect ours."http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/20/AR2008052000020.html

I heard this ad. McCain said the GI Bill was too generous in one of the speeches he gave. Can you imagine that? Too generous? For men and women who were willing to risk their lives, do what they were asked to do and always gave 100% while deployed doing their jobs! McCain doesn't think they are worth it. I don't think he's worth any support from any of them. Think about it. While McCain seems to be running on being a Vietnam Vet and POW, he has voted against the veterans and the troops while in the senate. He is no longer a POW and he is longer in the military, so that makes him a veteran, yet he cannot be bothered to vote in their best interests or in the interests of the troops serving now.

He is a Senator and must be held accountable for what he has done, along with what he has not done all these years serving in the Senate. That is what this election has to come down to. Yes, he deserves respect as any veteran does, but just because he is a veteran that does not mean he is not a jerk and a hothead who does not give a damn about any of the needs veterans have. Begin a veteran does not give him the rank of saint demanding unquestioning worship! Stop bowing down to him and hold him accountable.

I would be the first one backing him if he cared about the troops and the vetearns. After all, I voted for him when he ran against Bush in 2000. He is no longer that same man who cared more about the country than the power he could obtain from this country. He has found people more worthy of his attention than the troops and most of them are lobbyists.

Senate Armed Service Committee takes on Mental Health

SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
Defense Directives Have Wide Scope
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 20, 2008; Page A11

From experiments with hybrid vehicles to huge bonuses for psychologists to personal finance lessons, the Senate Armed Services Committee's recommended spending blueprint for fiscal 2009 illustrates how Defense Department funds go for lots more than weapons.

Few corners of government are untouched by the 560-page report, released last week, which represents the committee's recommendations on the defense authorization bill now working its way through both houses.

The Senate panel noted, for example, that a task force of the Defense Science Board reported in February that the Pentagon "systematically underestimates" the cost of fuel for weapons and the benefits that could arise from requiring fuel efficiency in vehicles.

One step being taken, the committee said, is that "designs for the manned ground combat vehicles of the Army's Future Combat System will use hybrid electric drives." The panel itself added $6 million to the advanced technology budget for combat vehicles to develop military hybrid engines and $10 million for an advanced military vehicle battery development and testing initiative.

The committee also recommended that the Defense Department pay bonuses of as much as $400,000 to psychologists who make active-duty commitments of at least four years to various branches of the military. The proposal is based on a report by the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health, which found that "38 percent of soldiers and 31 percent of Marines report psychological problems" and that "the number of active-duty psychologists is insufficient and likely to decrease further" without action by the Pentagon.
"We need to ensure that we have adequate numbers of uniformed mental health providers who can train and deploy with our troops and be there when they are needed," Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told the Senate committee in March. "And we must give our service members the tools they need to be able to cope with the stress of combat and the experiences that many of them face each and every day."

W. Patrick Lang, a retired Army colonel who specializes in military matters, said the recommendations for increased spending on personnel, including the recruitment of more psychologists, result because the Pentagon "feels completely responsible for everything that happens in your life, even when you go home or retire." He likened military service to joining a religious order.
click post title for more

House passes slew of bills for vets, troops

House passes slew of bills for vets, troops

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 20, 2008 17:59:01 EDT

The House of Representatives passed a bipartisan collection of seven bills and four resolutions in a pre-Memorial Day rush of legislation aimed at showing service members, veterans and their families that Congress cares.

Three more bills are scheduled for a vote Wednesday.

Included in the pile are important bills such as
HR 5826, which would provide the annual cost-of-living adjustment in veterans disability and survivor benefits, and
HR 5856, which would approve construction and renovation at veterans medical facilities.

Those bills, along with a measure about reimbursing hospitals that treat veterans requiring emergency care, will be voted on Wednesday.

In the collection of bills that passed, only one is controversial. That measure, HR 6048, would give service members deployed on contingency operations protection from changes in child custody arrangements.

The bill would specifically prohibit a service members’ absence from being considered in determining the best interests of a child and would prevent a court from ordering or modifying an existing child custody order while a member is deployed, with the exception of a temporary order when the best interests of a child is at issue.

Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, ranking Republican on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said he wished the House had held hearings on the child custody bill or heard the Pentagon’s views before rushing to pass it, but he did not try to block it.

Other bills passed by the House include:

HR 5554, which would expand treatment and counseling programs for veterans with substance-abuse problems.

HR 3681, which would permit the Veterans Affairs Department to launch a media campaign, including paid advertisements, to tell veterans about available benefits.

HR 2790, which would create a new VA position of director of physician assistant services.

HR 5729, which would widen the health care provided for children of Vietnam veterans who are born with spina bifida, a disease linked to a parent’s exposure before conception to the herbicide Agent Orange.

HR 3889, which would order a study of whether vocational rehabilitation programs help veterans find employment.

HR 5664, which would require an update every six years of VA benefits for veterans who need housing adapted to accommodate their service-connected disabilities.

While the House rushed to pass the bills before the Memorial Day recess, none of the measures will become law in the near future because the Senate has not acted on any of them.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/military_veteranbills_052008w/

Senator John Cornyn didn't stand up for Vets, Vet Runs Against Him

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Tony Gray at 713-857-2069
DATE: May 20, 2008 Cara Morris Stern at 202-261-2387

New Vets Ad: Cornyn Should Stand Up for Troops
Troops Gave 100% and Deserve Leader Who Will Do the Same, Says Noriega
Veterans Group Highlights Cornyn’s failure to fight for our Troops

HOUSTON, TX – Yesterday it was announced that more Texas troops will be heading to Iraq this fall and in 2009 – some of them for their third or fifth tour of duty. U.S. Senate candidate and Texas State Representative Rick Noriega, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Texas Army National Guard, is continuing his fight to make sure these men and women are supported when they return home with the bipartisan Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Act which would cover full in-state tuition at public universities.

U.S. Senator John Cornyn, however, refuses to support the bipartisan GI bill that passed the House of Representatives and is supported by the majority of the Senate and instead supports a greatly watered down bill that would only cover a fraction of the tuition for returning veterans.

“Our brave men and women give 100% on the battlefield and they deserve 100% of our support when they return home, but Senator John Cornyn backs GI benefits that would only cover a fraction of the tuition for our veterans. Texans and our troops deserve better,” said Rick Noriega. “As a member of the Texas National Guard and an American, I am proud to give our troops the tools they need on the battlefield, but I know they will also need new tools when they return home.

That’s why I support the bipartisan Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Act that would give our brave men and women the kind of GI Bill education benefit they deserve.”

Votevets.org, a group of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, announced a television ad campaign today in Texas targeting John Cornyn and calling on him to support the bipartisan Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Act, which has the backing of most major veterans groups.

Cornyn’s Record of Shortchanging Our Troops and Veterans

• In May 2003, Cornyn voted against an amendment that would allow a 50 percent tax credit on the salaries employers pay workers who are in the National Guard or Reserves and have been put on active duty. [Vote 163, 5/15/03]

• In 2005 Cornyn voted against bringing to vote an amendment that would ensure that funding for the Veterans Health Administration takes into account changes in inflation [S AMDT 1937 to HR 2863].

• In the same year he voted against bringing to vote an amendment that would have appropriated $500 million annually from 2006-2010 for counseling, mental health, and rehabilitation services for veterans diagnosed with mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, or substance use disorder [S AMDT 2634 to S 2020].

• In 2006 Cornyn received a grade of D- by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and a rating of 60 by the Disabled American Veterans.

• In 2007 he voted against the Webb Amendment that would have mandated minimum intervals between deployments for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would have required that soldiers spend as much time at home as they do deployed in a combat zone (S AMDT 2909 to S AMDT 2011 to HR 1585, Vote #241, 7/11/07).

• In July 2007, he voted against an amendment that would have limited the length of troop deployments in Iraq, with certain exceptions, beginning 120 days after enactment. It would have limited the deployment of soldiers in the Army and Army National Guard to 12 consecutive months. [HR 1585, Vote #243, 7/11/07]

.-30-
Paid for by Rick Noriega for Texas

Rick Noriega is a member of the Army National Guard. Use of his military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense


Moira Mack
Hildebrand Tewes Consulting Inc

Give An Hour Getting Million Dollar Grant From Lilly Foundation

American Psychiatric Foundation, Lilly Foundation and Give an Hour Join Forces to Provide Mental Health Care to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Heeding the call of a growing public health crisis -- the unmet mental health needs of returning soldiers and their families -- Give an Hour (GAH) and the American Psychiatric Foundation (APF) announced today a major expansion of a nationwide effort to help U.S. veterans returning fromIraq andAfghanistan.

GAH and APF, the philanthropic and educational arm of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), will be using a $1 million grant from the Lilly Foundation to recruit and educate volunteer mental health professionals, who will become part of a network aiming to bridge the gap in mental health services for soldiers returning from service, as well as their families. Among troops returning fromIraq andAfghanistan, approximately 40 percent of soldiers, a third of Marines, and half of the National Guard members report psychological problems, but mental health services are in short supply.

Details of today's announcement were made public by the three organizations at the Reserve Officers Association (ROA) building on Capitol Hill -- one week prior to the nation's Memorial Day holiday. The ROA represents the interest of the soldiers of the Army National Guard, who suffer high rates of post-combat psychological problems, exacerbated by repeat deployments, detailed front-line combat positions and little access to the services of military treatment facilities.

"This all-volunteer effort provides badly needed support to help our veterans, many of whom come home with mental health needs," said U.S. Representative Steve Buyer (R-Indiana), Ranking Member, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. "I applaud the hard work of Give an Hour, the American Psychiatric Foundation, and the Lilly Foundation, which are stepping up to help those who have selflessly served."

Efforts will be made to create a large, national, volunteer network over the next three years to address postwar mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), drug abuse, anxiety and depression.

"This grant will allow us to get out the message that help is available. We want to normalize what our military personnel and their families are experiencing and support the sacrifices that they are making by providing critical mental health support at no cost," said Barbara V. Romberg, Ph.D., founder and president of GAH. "We will be educating the military community and broader public about these mental health needs in hope of helping veterans keep their lives and families intact."

GAH is recruiting mental health professionals to volunteer one hour each week for a minimum of one year to provide direct services in person, by phone or in consultation with schools and community organizations that serve the military community. Services are wide-ranging and include marital and family therapy, substance abuse counseling and treatment for PTSD. APF brings strong ties to the psychiatric community and is actively encouraging psychiatrists to join the network.

"This grant will help us reach our goal of recruiting 10 percent of the 400,000 mental health professionals inthe United States by 2015 to assist in this effort," said Dr. Richard K. Harding, M.D., president of the APF. "It is an ambitious goal, but we are confident it can be achieved."

The Department of Defense (DoD) is making an unprecedented attempt to encourage personnel to seek mental health treatment, but a significant increase in demand, in some areas, has forced the rationing of services, created long waiting lists and limited individual counseling sessions. In addition, some members of military families such as parents, siblings and unmarried partners do not qualify for care through the Veterans Administration or DoD but are affected nonetheless by the mental health of the veteran.

"We're privileged to be able to give something back to our troops, but we know there's still much more to be done," said Steven Paul, M.D., executive vice president for science and technology and president of Lilly Research Laboratories. "Lilly is fully committed to assuring that the best possible medicinal treatments are available, but unfortunately, we also know that having access to the best care -- in this case mental health services -- is essential."

About Give an Hour

Give an Hour is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), founded in September 2005 by Dr. Barbara V. Romberg, a psychologist in theWashington, D.C., area. The organization's mission is to develop national networks of volunteers capable of responding to both acute and chronic conditions that arise within our society. Currently, GAH is dedicated to meeting the mental health needs of the troops and families affected by the ongoing conflicts inIraq andAfghanistan. Give an Hour now has approximately 1,200 providers across the nation and continues to recruit volunteer mental health professionals to its network. For more information or to volunteer to become part of the effort, please visit www.giveanhour.org.

About The American Psychiatric Foundation

The American Psychiatric Foundation is the charitable and educational subsidiary of the American Psychiatric Association. The mission of the foundation is to advance understanding that mental illnesses are real and can be effectively treated. For more information, please visit the foundation's web site at www.psychfoundation.org.

About Lilly

Lilly, a leading innovation-driven corporation, is developing a growing portfolio of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products by applying the latest research from its own worldwide laboratories and from collaborations with eminent scientific organizations. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., Lilly provides answers -- through medicines and information -- for some of the world's most urgent medical needs. Additional information about Lilly is available at www.lilly.com.

http://newsblaze.com/story/2008051907331000006.pnw/newsblaze/POLITICS/Politics.html

Middle class mom lives in car with her dogs

Mom forced to live in car with dogs
Story Highlights
Mother of three grown children says, "This is my life in this car right now"

Santa Barbara, California, allows homeless to sleep in cars in 12 parking lots

Affluent city has seen a rise in homelessness during California's housing crisis

Advocate for homeless: "It's just amazing the people that are becoming homeless"

By Thelma Gutierrez and Wayne Drash
CNN


SANTA BARBARA, California (CNN) -- Barbara Harvey climbs into the back of her small Honda sport utility vehicle and snuggles with her two golden retrievers, her head nestled on a pillow propped against the driver's seat.

A former loan processor, the 67-year-old mother of three grown children said she never thought she'd spend her golden years sleeping in her car in a parking lot.

"This is my bed, my dogs," she said. "This is my life in this car right now."

Harvey was forced into homelessness earlier this year after being laid off. She said that three-quarters of her income went to paying rent in Santa Barbara, where the median house in the scenic, oceanfront city costs more than $1 million. She lost her condo two months ago and had little savings as backup.

"It went to hell in a handbasket," she said. "I didn't think this would happen to me. It's just something that I don't think that people think is going to happen to them is what it amounts to. It happens very quickly, too."

Harvey now works part time for $8 an hour, and she draws Social Security to help make ends meet. But she still cannot afford an apartment, and so every night she pulls into a gated parking lot to sleep in her car, along with other women who find themselves in a similar predicament. Watch women who live in their cars and to read more
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/index.html

UK has to pass law to stop discrimination against troops?

Discrimination against military to be outlawed
· Shops that ban uniforms will face legal sanctions
· Ministers want more cadet forces in schools

Richard Norton-Taylor The Guardian, Tuesday May 20 2008

Shops, hospitals and other public institutions will in future be committing a criminal offence if they refuse to serve armed forces personnel in uniform, ministers announced yesterday.

An offence outlawing discrimination against the wearing of military uniforms is among 40 recommendations designed to promote greater protection and understanding of the armed forces. They include promoting cadet forces in schools.

The proposals are contained in a report, National Recognition of our Armed Forces, ordered by Gordon Brown and drawn up by Quentin Davies, the former Conservative MP who switched to Labour last year. Davies called yesterday for a "new era of greater openness and public involvement of the [armed] services".

The armed forces minister, Bob Ainsworth, said the government was engaged in discussions about how the new law could be introduced, since discrimination against personnel in military uniform was "totally and utterly unacceptable".

The report cited a number of cases of discrimination, including a Harrods security assistant in 2006 preventing an army officer from entering the store after a Remembrance Day ceremony.

Staff at Birmingham airport last year told troops returning from Afghanistan to change into civilian clothes, and troops passing through Edinburgh airport were directed away from public areas.

Patients from the armed forces rehabilitation centre at Headley Court in Surrey were subjected to abuse by members of the public at a swimming pool, and abuse levelled at RAF personnel in parts of Peterborough led to restrictions on their wearing uniform in public.

Davies proposed the appointment of a "cadet ambassador" to liaise with schools.

Yesterday's report noted that of 6,400 secondary schools in the UK, only 260 had combined cadet forces and all but 60 were grammar and independent schools. However, there must be "no sense of compulsion at all", Davies said.
click post title for more
linked from ICasualties.org

Appeal: War trauma in Iraq led GI to kill

Appeal: War trauma in Iraq led GI to kill


By BILL RANKIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 05/20/08

When Pfc. Alberto Martinez returned from heavy combat in Iraq in 2003, he reported tightness in his chest, memory loss and sleeplessness. He would not go to bed without his gun. He repeatedly checked his windows and doors to make sure they were locked.

The soldier in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division had classic symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, according to court records. But he did not get help for it.


Instead, a few days after returning to Fort Benning, Martinez and four other soldiers who had fought side by side during some of the most violent battles in Iraq, went out for a night of hard drinking in Columbus. They first hit Hooters, then drove to the Platinum Club, a strip club.

By the end of the night, one soldier, Spc. Richard R. Davis, 24, was a tattered corpse, stabbed more than 30 times by Martinez.

The Georgia Supreme Court today will hear the appeal of Martinez, 27, convicted in 2006 of Davis' murder and serving life in prison.

Martinez's jury was never told his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may have explained his murderous act. His lawyer, David West of Marietta, argues Martinez deserves a new trial because his lawyers failed him by not adequately investigating an insanity defense.

Muscogee County prosecutors reject the notion that Martinez was delusional when he killed Davis on July 13, 2003. They argue there was bad blood between Martinez and Davis dating back to their tour in Iraq and that animosity, fueled by alcohol, triggered the slaying.

They note Roger Enfield, director of forensic services at West Central Georgia Regional Hospital, interviewed Martinez before the trial and concluded the soldier knew what he was doing when he killed Davis.

"I think there's a possibility that he had some degree of PTSD," Enfield testified. "The question is what role did it play."

Martinez's trial lawyers, called to testify on Martinez's motion for a new trial, rejected the insanity defense as well. Both attorneys said they did not believe the jury would have accepted it.

"Basically we felt like the jury would feel that he was admitting to the act, which was rather gruesome and also that it was very prolonged," attorney Thomas Flournoy III testified. "It wasn't just a ... sudden impulse."
go here for more
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/05/20/soldier_0520.html
linked from ICasualties.org

Exonerated Chaplain Yee, Obama Delegate

Cleared ex-chaplain Yee now Obama delegate

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday May 20, 2008 9:35:25 EDT

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A former Army chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who was cleared of spy accusations is now a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Former Capt. James J. Yee, a Muslim, was among the delegates pledged to Sen. Barack Obama who were elected by precinct representatives Saturday. He’s representing the state’s 9th Congressional District at the party’s convention in Denver in August.

The West Point graduate was accused in 2003 of being part of a spy ring at the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay.

After spending 76 days in solitary confinement, he eventually was exonerated, resigned from the Army and received an honorable discharge.

NY Advocates Hope For Stronger Timothy’s Law

Advocates Hope For Stronger Timothy’s Law
By Patrick Fanelli pfanelli@post-journal.com


The law that forbids insurance companies from discriminating against mental health disorders is set to expire in 2009, and advocates hope a stronger law will soon be adopted that includes illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder.

Timothy’s Law has been on the books in New York state since late 2006, when the state Senate and Assembly finally cut a deal on mental health parity in the insurance industry. But a sunset clause was added and the law must be renewed for health insurance providers to continue treating mental health illnesses no differently than other disorders.

‘‘Everything we have heard indicates it’s working very well,’’ said Jeff Keller, National Alliance on Mental Illness state deputy director. ‘‘But I don’t know if the insurance industry will oppose it or not.’’

Timothy’s Law was named after Timothy O’Clair, who suffered from a very severe emotional disorder and hung himself in his bedroom closet at the age of 12.

For years, Tom and Donna O’Clair, Timothy’s parents, struggled to pay for their son’s treatment since they quickly used up their health insurance policy’s limited mental health benefits.

After Timothy’s death, they began fighting to end discrimination against mentally ill disorders by the health insurance industry and succeeded by convincing legislators and former Gov. George Pataki to enact Timothy’s Law.
go here for more
http://post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/501568.html?nav=5057

Vietnam Vet, Dr. Joseph Boscarino on front line of PTSD

Doc helps raise PTSD awareness
BY DANIEL AXELROD
STAFF WRITER
05/20/2008
The survivor’s guilt, the pain and the nightmares of Vietnam combat revisited Joseph Boscarino following 9/11.


He and other commuters safely rode away on subway trains minutes before deadly debris filled the PATH station below the World Trade Center. At the time, Dr. Boscarino, an Army artillery unit corporal in Vietnam combat missions from 1964 to 1966, was a resear-cher studying post-traumatic stress disorder for the New York Academy of Medicine in Manhattan.

He is still on the front line of such research today as a senior medical investigator for Geisinger Health System in Danville. And, he is part of a companywide effort to raise awareness among clinicians about post-traumatic stress disorder — an anxiety disorder that can follow a terrifying ordeal.

Federal agencies often attempt to screen and treat soldiers for the condition. But many local veterans — who are often older, part-time soldiers returning from multiple deployments — only see family doctors, Dr. Boscarino said. So, Geisinger will soon add whether patients are military veterans and if they have a history of the disorder to their electronic medical files.

“We’re supposed to screen 100 percent of patients for cardiovascular disease; we screen for depression,” said Dr. Boscarino, 62, a Paterson, N.J., native. “We should screen all veterans” for the disorder.

Someday, Dr. Boscarino hopes Geisinger will add the same information to medical files for anyone who suffers from the stress disorder, including victims of domestic abuse.

Some vets returning home not receiving proper care in PA

Some vets returning home not receiving proper care in PA
BY BORYS KRAWCZENIUK
TIMES SHAMROCK WRITER

05/20/2008
PITTSTON TOWNSHIP — Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder are turning elsewhere for help because the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Plains doesn’t have the staff to handle all of them, a local psychiatrist told a veterans roundtable Monday.

Dr. Matthew Berger, a psychiatrist who treats soldiers with the disorder, said they started coming to him because they can’t get treatment through Veterans Affairs quickly enough. Dr. Berger suggested allowing veterans to obtain care from private providers and paying for it with their veterans benefits.

“I don’t understand why there isn’t freedom of choice for veterans. Why can’t a vet say, ‘I’ve been to the VA, I wasn’t happy with the services and I’m going to go down the road and have the VA pay for it or have the veterans system pay for it?” Dr. Berger told the roundtable hosted by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

Jack Cleary, a veteran who advocates for veterans and whose son Michael was killed in Iraq, agreed the VA doesn’t have enough staff to handle PTSD sufferers.

“We have veterans that may have PTSD that are being redeployed,” said Richard S. Wren, director of veterans affairs for Luzerne County.
click post title for more

1st Sgt. Travis Twiggs wife hears of death on the news

Lily Casura is doing what a good reporter should do if they really care about the suffering of veterans more than getting the story in print and then dropping it as if the person really didn't matter at all. Well they did matter. They matter to their family, friends, neighbors and everyone else they came into contact with. Those who served with them have had tributes to him. Those who tried to help him in the VA have paid tribute to him. Yet we would know none of this if not for the tireless efforts of Lily. Now we know his wife did not even know he died or how he died until she saw the report on the news. How very sad it is that a hero falls due to wounds and the media finds nothing wrong with not giving us the rest of the story.

May 19, 2008
The Tragic Last Days of Travis "T-Bo" Twiggs:
Well, the national reporting on this story that we broke on Tuesday of last week has finally dribbled in – some of it good, most of it painfully mediocre – and none of it frankly enlightening, if you’ve been following his story here. (And btw, CNN hasn't covered it yet, though logically at some point they will have to, if only to keep up with the Joneses. It's pretty embarrassing to see what they deem worth covering instead, versus treating this American hero's death with any coverage at all.
Here is a slate of what CNN deemed more worthy of coverage just today (the breathless exclamation points are mine, but they seem in keeping with the "Mad magazine meets Entertainment Tonight!" reportage topics -- or is it becoming, "News of the World," with a little political commentary thrown in? More worth covering than Travis Triggs, four tours of duty and PTSD sufferer, we have: "Cancer survivor pitches no-hitter!" "Photographer snaps own javelin-spearing!" "Autistic boy, 13, banned from church!" "Wealthy Town Wants Its Own Currency!" and best/worst of all: "Yearbook [staff] switches kids' heads, bodies [in yearbook]!" I'm firmly convinced CNN is now staffed by 13 year old boys, who consider anything they'd talk about on at a sleepover camp, and how they'd talk about, to be the rule of thumb for how they choose the news.

A hard shock in the recent, actual news coverage about Travis Triggs was learning that his wife, Kellee, though she knew her husband was deeply troubled by PTSD, didn’t realize he was in Arizona, and didn’t learn that he killed himself, until she saw it on a news report. That has to just add to the horror of the whole situation. (At the end of this entry, we'll share some nice things people have been saying in Travis Twiggs' memory, about the man and the Marine.)
go here for more
http://www.healingcombattrauma.com/2008/05/t-bo-twiggs-tra.html

Insurance payments on hold saves lives?

In Hospitals, Simple Reminders Reduce Deadly Infections
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Published: May 19, 2008

Loose strands of sweaty dark hair fell across the woman’s face, but she was too sick to push them back. She was in respiratory failure, and nurses were rushing her to intensive care. They grabbed a sheet under her body and heaved her from the gurney onto a bed as if she were a fish in a net, then attached her to a beeping monitor, hand-pumped oxygen into her lungs and got ready to administer an intravenous sedative.


“Timeout!” a first-year resident called, as the medical team at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn was about to insert a catheter into the woman’s jugular vein.

Then he reminded everyone to wash their hands.

Timeouts to wash hands and put on hairnets, a simple checklist to ensure that such seemingly obvious precautions are done, and advertising campaigns directed at everyone from the most senior doctors to the poorest of patients have been credited with drastically reducing the number of serious infections at New York City’s public hospitals.

Since 2005, central-line bloodstream infections, which stem from bacteria invading a catheter leading to the heart and can often be fatal, have fallen 55 percent in adult intensive care units at the city’s 11 public hospitals, according to statistics released last week. Ventilator-associated pneumonia, caused by bacteria in breathing tubes and which also can be fatal, declined by 78 percent.
go here for more
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/nyregion/19hospital.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

19 year old Daniel Bateman hero saves neighbor from fire

Heroic neighbor saves man from burning S.F. apartment
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, May 19, 2008


(05-19) 17:45 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Daniel Bateman came to San Francisco from the San Fernando Valley to study nursing, but after Monday, he is thinking about a career change - to firefighting.

Bateman, a gangly 19-year-old who moved from Woodland Hills four months ago and spends his time skateboarding and flipping burgers at the In-N-Out at Fisherman's Wharf, is being called a hero. Fire officials said it was his quick thinking that saved a neighbor's life after the man's kitchen caught fire around 4 a.m. Monday in their Richmond District apartment building.

The victim, Jim Moyles, 50, was in critical condition late Monday at St. Francis Memorial Hospital with second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent of his body.
click post title for more

UK:Soldier's wedding saved by comrade

Soldier takes friend's place on tour of Afghanistan so he can get married
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:31 PM on 19th May 2008

The date was set, venue booked and dress chosen.


But then duty called for soldier Scott McNamee and it looked as though he was going to miss his big day due to a tour in Afghanistan.


That is until comrade Paul Wheatman, who has 21 years service, stepped forward to take the 24-year-old's place.


Thanks to Paul's selfless offer, Scott married his sweetheart of four years Angela Lewis at Oakley Country Club in Brewood last weekend.

Scott, who attended St Edmunds Catholic School in Compton Park, Wolverhampton, is a vehicle mechanic in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and said the only thing that would have made the day better was for his comrades to be there.


Mr McNamee, of Aldersley, Tettenhall, said: "I was meant to be in Afghanistan today. I told them I was getting married and asked if there was any chance I didn't have to go but they said no I had to.


"Then Paul Wheatman volunteered to go in my place. I can't thank him enough."
click post title for more

Kissimmee doctors prove, it's not always about money

Kissimmee free clinic helps working poor, homeless
Kissimmee doctors care for uninsured, homeless
Mari Robyn Jones Special To The Sentinel
May 18, 2008

KISSIMMEE - They're called the working poor.

They have jobs but lack medical insurance. It's either too expensive to purchase through their company, or their jobs don't offer coverage.

Just a doctor's visit without insurance could cost them at least $100.

At the Osceola Christian Ministry Center, residents can step through the doors of its medical clinic and find four doctors and about a half-dozen nurses waiting to help them.

For free.

With just one doctor, the medical clinic began in a small room at the center at 700 Union St. Since then, three more doctors have volunteered their time, and two years ago the center added about a 1,000 square feet to its building, giving the clinic three exam rooms and a dispensary.

"It's a big benefit to everyone here in town," said John Cimermancic, who needed to use the clinic after feeling intense stomach pains. "If I hadn't gone in there, it might have been very severe. I would have ended up [needing] surgery."

Last year, more than 600 visits were made to the clinic, which the center's assistant director said is equivalent to $120,000 in medical care.

To qualify for help, patients cannot have insurance and must earn less than double the poverty line, or $41,300 for a family of four, assistant director Richard Burton said.
click post title for more