Symbol of the grateful appreciation this nation feels

The flag is folded and is then presented to next of kin, "As a representative of the United States Army, it is my high privilege to present you this flag. Let it be a symbol of the grateful appreciation this nation feels for the distinguished service rendered to our country and our flag by your loved one."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_funeral

"Symbol of the grateful appreciation this nation feels." Can this be measured with a flag? Is it to weigh more than all other ways to show appreciation? Can we, should we, will we honor the living with the same words but into action?

Today I heard how President Bush was upset over the fact he was called on not supporting the GI Bill along with Senator McCain. When you read the words they used to defend the fact they are against this bill, it is apparent they have nothing to complain about. It is in fact their view that the GI Bill is too generous, yet they defend their opposition of it by attacking anyone bringing up what they said. They do not deny they are against it because it is "too generous" and "would hurt retention" but they don't like being attacked for it. Amazing.

When the conditions at Walter Reed were reported to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, he ignored the conditions and excused them as being more about the fact they were planning on closing Walter Reed. This was supposed to excuse the conditions the wounded were being treated in. Yet it took the Washington Post to present these deplorable conditions to the public. Once this was accomplished, there was such an outrage across the nation, they were forced to react to it. No one was fired in the upper end of the chain of command.

When over 22,000 members of the armed forces were given dishonorable discharges under "personality disorder claims" instead of PTSD, no one was fired for doing this. The men and women who served this nation, were wounded by serving it were still discharged and unable to obtain any VA services or compensation.

When the fact the redeployments of troops already diagnosed with PTSD, were being sent back, again it took the media to bring this to the public's attention. Yet again the practice was defended as "necessity" to retain troop levels.

When the redeployments were found to increase the risk of developing PTSD by 50% for each time back, yet again the practice was defended to "retain" troop levels.

When the lack of rest time in between deployments was found to be a detriment to the mental health of the troops as well as an increased burden on the families, the practice was defended yet again under retaining troop levels.

Over and over again, we read account after account on how the same nation able to present a flag to the families of the fallen, lacks the ability to live up to those words when it comes to them still being alive and risking their lives. Are they less worthy of appreciation when they live to fight another day? Are they less worthy when they are forced to fight that other day the very nation they risked their lives for when they are in need of the nation because of their service?

What kind of symbol does all of this represent in reality to them? If you really want to honor them, then honor them while they live as well as when they gone.

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

For Women Warriors, Deep Wounds, Little Care

For Women Warriors, Deep Wounds, Little Care

By HELEN BENEDICT
Published: May 26, 2008
THIS Memorial Day, as an ever-increasing number of mentally and physically wounded soldiers return from Iraq, the Department of Veterans Affairs faces a pressing crisis: women traumatized not only by combat but also by sexual assault and harassment from their fellow service members. Sadly, the department is failing to fully deal with this problem.


Women make up some 15 percent of the United States active duty forces, and 11 percent of the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly a third of female veterans say they were sexually assaulted or raped while in the military, and 71 percent to 90 percent say they were sexually harassed by the men with whom they served.

This sort of abuse drastically increases the risk and intensity of post-traumatic stress disorder. One study found that female soldiers who were sexually assaulted were nine times more likely to show symptoms of this disorder than those who weren’t. Sexual harassment by itself is so destructive, another study revealed, it causes the same rates of post-traumatic stress in women as combat does in men. And rape can lead to other medical crises, including diabetes, asthma, chronic pelvic pain, eating disorders, miscarriages and hypertension.

The threat of post-traumatic stress has risen in recent years as women’s roles in war have changed. More of them now come under fire, suffer battle wounds and kill the enemy, just as men do.

As women return for repeat tours, usually redeploying with their same units, many must go back to war with the same man (or men) who abused them. This leaves these women as threatened by their own comrades as by the war itself. Yet the combination of sexual assault and combat has barely been acknowledged or studied.
click post title for more

North Carolina:Teaching doctors to spot PTSD

Local mental health group teaching doctors to spot PTSD in veterans
StarNewsOnline.com - Wilmington,NC,USA
By Vicky Eckenrode
Staff Writer


Published: Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 5:46 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 5:46 p.m.


When Dan Hickman left Iraq, there were stark differences from when he came home from Vietnam decades earlier.

There were no critical debriefings like today. No references for counseling services.

"When you came back from Vietnam, nobody asked you how you were," said Hickman, who in Iraq commanded the 30th Heavy Separate Brigade, North Carolina Army National Guard's largest brigade. "It wasn't a topic of conversation. Nobody even heard of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)."

Hickman, whose civilian job is executive vice president of Cape Fear Community College, said the culture was one that sidestepped discussions about mental health and the stress of returning from combat.

"I call it the John Wayne generation, you just sucked it up and moved on," he said. "Your only refuge was your buddies and for some alcohol and things like that."

Despite the changes, Hickman said more can be done to help soldiers who serve in Iraq, particularly for so-called citizen soldiers who aren't returning to careers on military bases, but are instead thrown back into their civilian jobs and communities.

For some, the transition is jolting.
click post title for more

It isn't just the doctors needing to know what PTSD and how to spot it. It's everyone. I was involved with training some Chaplains to know what to look for as well as what PTSD is at a local hospital. They wanted to know if there were ways to know what to look for. I gave them several ways, but the number one thing I suggested was that they listen to the family. If they hear the words, "suddenly changed" that should be their first clue what they may be dealing with. PTSD is caused by trauma but there are all different kinds of traumatic events. It's very hard to sit and ask people to think about these things when most will not even be aware of the cause.

Vietnam veterans found that while they thought they came home with problems, they were not aware of what it was. For some, they were able to cope with it while it was mild (as with my husband) until another stressor hit and they could not cope on their own any longer. They dealt with the nightmares and flashbacks, the divorces and job loss, the twitches along with everything else but stuffed it into the back of their minds. A secondary stressor sent them over the edge to the point where their lives were in danger. In this case, the family should be asked if the patient was a veteran. This will open up a series of follow up questions. It is not just Vietnam veterans within the older generation. It is also Korean veterans and the remaining WWII veterans. Gulf War veterans also need to be addressed and then there are the new generation veterans.

Within the population of others, there is a long list of traumatic events that can lead to the development of PTSD. If the doctors and providers pay attention to what the family and the patient are saying, they will have clues of what they are looking at. "Suddenly changed" is classic for PTSD.

Marine Chad Oligschlaeger lost fight against PTSD

At Memorial Day: Another Iraq Vet, With PTSD, Suicide

Posted May 25, 2008 09:01 AM (EST)

On Memorial Day weekend, yet another American family is mourning the death of son who survived the war in Iraq -- only to fall victim at home from post traumatic shock disorder.

The family lives in Corpus Christi, Texas, and the Marine was Chad Oligschlaeger, age 21, who committed suicide this week at the Twenty Nine Palms base in California.

While the cause of his death is still being investigated, family members say he was taking eight different types of medications to deal with post traumatic stress disorder after serving two tours in Iraq.

I've been chronicling these stories for nearly five years, and the surge in such reports in recent weeks is truly troubling.

Byron Smith, Oligschlaeger's uncle, told a local TV outlet, "the first tour he came back and he asked for help, and they sent him back over there. I guess that was their idea of help. He did what a marine does -- he went over there."

His father, Eric, said, "The second tour ... I don't think he was ready to go back. I think he was fighting it. I think he was afraid to go back."

"We sent these kids over there, we're putting them through things that we'll never see in our lifetimes. Things we see in the movies that are not real, it's real to them," said Christine Judan, a family friend of the Oligschlaegers.
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Sgt. Brian Rand worth training but not worth saving

Since the start of the Iraq war, Fort Campbell, a sprawling installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, has seen a spike in the number of suicides and soldiers suffering from severe post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Sgt. Brian Rand, shown here grilling chicken in Iraq, killed himself a few months after being discharged from his second tour of duty in Iraq. Rand believe he was being haunted by the ghost of the Iraqi man he killed.

Memories of Iraq haunted soldier until suicide
By HALIMAH ABDULLAH
McClatchy Newspapers

Until the day he died, Sgt. Brian Rand believed he was being haunted by the ghost of the Iraqi man he killed.

The ghost choked Rand while he slept in his bunk, forcing him to wake up gasping for air and clawing at his throat.

He whispered that Rand was a vampire and looked on as the soldier stabbed another member of Fort Campbell's 96th Aviation Support Battalion in the neck with a fork in the mess hall.

Eventually, the ghost told Rand he needed to kill himself.

According to family members and police reports, on Feb. 20, 2007, just a few months after being discharged from his second tour of duty in Iraq, Rand smoked half of a cigarette as he wrote a suicide note, grabbed a gun and went to the Cumberland River Center Pavilion in Clarksville, Tenn. As the predawn dark pressed in, he breathed in the wintry air and stared out at the park where he and his wife, Dena, had married.

Then he placed the gun to his head and silenced his inner ghosts.

"My brother was afraid to ask for help," said April Somdahl. "And when he finally did ask for help the military let him down."

Since the start of the Iraq war, Fort Campbell, a sprawling installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, has seen a spike in the number of suicides and soldiers suffering from severe post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

In 2007, nine soldiers from Fort Campbell committed suicide - three during the first few weeks of October, according to a letter sent to base personnel by the 101st Airborne Division's commander, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser.

"As our soldiers fight terrorism, the sacrifices asked of them and their families have increased significantly," Schloesser said in the letter. "... Regrettably, under such circumstances, it is natural for our people to feel the stress of these demands and to be overwhelmed at times. Tragically, these pressures too often end in suicide."

Fort Campbell spokeswoman Cathy Gramling said post officials were unable to track the suicides referred to in the letter and declined to give additional suicide figures. The Pentagon said it does not track suicides by military installation.
go here for more
http://www.kansascity.com/440/story/635463.html

It costs a lot of money to get a soldier and even more to train them.

The military spends a fortune on recruitment advertising but relatively little on retention of trained soldiers. Substantially more money needs to be shifted from recruitment to retention. The reasoning: it can cost as much as $250,000 to properly train a soldier for a skilled assignment -- only to have them leave after one term of service.
http://www.politics1.com/jcoc.htm

It costs even more to outfit them.

It Ain't Cheap to Outfit a Soldier
Modern soldiers, with their night-vision goggles and high-tech vests, are starting to look more and more like they might have dropped out of a popular video game. But it's a pretty expensive one:

It now costs 100 times more to outfit a soldier than it did during World War II. Back then, it cost $170, even adjusted for inflation. These days, The Associated Press reports, it costs $17,000 and could reach $28,000 or even $60,000 by 2015.

In the 1940s, a GI went to war with little more than a uniform, weapon, helmet, bedroll and canteen. He carried some 35 pounds of gear that cost $170 in 2006 inflation-adjusted dollars, according to Army figures. That rose to about $1,100 by the 1970s as the military added a flak vest, new weapons and other equipment during the Vietnam War.

Today, troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are outfitted with advanced armor and other protection, including high-tech vests, anti-ballistic eyewear, earplugs and fire-retardant gloves. Night-vision eyewear, thermal weapons sights and other gear makes them more deadly to the adversary.


These days, soldiers are responsible for more than 80 items, weighing a total of 75 pounds. And in the future, their gear could include "a weapon that can shoot around corners so soldiers don't have to expose themselves to their enemy and a helmet-mounted 1.5-inch computer screen showing maps of the battlefield."

All this new technology stands to increase the pressure on the military to retain well-trained personnel because of the cost to train and equip new ones.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/2007/10/it_aint_cheap_to_outfit_a_sold.html

When it comes to the price tag on getting them ready for combat, it seems as if the sky is the limit. So where is the money when they are done doing the risking of life? Why are they no longer of value? Sgt. Brian Rand was still the same person the military trained, spent a lot of money on and depended on. He was still the same person who left his family and friends to serve the nation and still the same person they loved. Why is it that when they come back home, no one seems to take what happens seriously enough in the chain of command? Is it because they were willing to risk their lives that the military has taken this long to care what happens to them and felt their deaths by their own hands was no great loss? Aside from the moral question, we have the financial one. Sgt. Rand, along with all the others who took their own lives because of being wounded, have to be replaced. You would think it would be in the financial interest of the military to take care of them and get them help as soon as humanly possible in order to retain the trained and not have to replace them. Think of what kind of symbol taking care of them would provide for those who are contemplating joining the military or not. It would go a long way for them to truly believe their lives were valued. Think about it. It's too late for Sgt. Rand and all the others. But what about the next one?

Honored soldier is plagued by memories of war

Video: Honored soldier is plagued by memories of war
David Edwards
Published: Saturday May 24, 2008


He was honored by President Bush with the second-highest award in the military, but Sgt. Christopher Corriveau does not feel like a hero.

CBS' David Martin reports that after his sniper team was ambushed and outnumbered 10 to one, Corriveau fought his way out. But his two best friends did not make it..

"They were some of the best friends I've ever had," he said. "I almost wanted to die on that roof that day with my brothers."

Corriveau's unit returns to Iraq this fall, but he will be staying in the US to attend college.

This video is from CBS's Evening News, broadcast May 22, 2008.
go here for video
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CBS_Honored_soldier_plagued_by_memories_0524.html

My friend Jen

My friend Jen passed away between last night and early this morning. Her husband called to tell me a little while ago. Over the last couple of days, it's been very difficult to concentrate on much more than her. Before I go on, please offer a prayer for her family. Jen, well she needs no more prayers because she has returned to where love began. She no longer has to feel cancer trying to take over her life and no longer has to battle for the next breath.

If you ever read AOL Political Conundrum you would have read a lot of what Jen did. She posted there and on a couple of other message boards for a long time. She was a powerhouse! There was not much she didn't know about the government or what was going on in this country. She posted as FloridaBeachBum.

After 9-11, I was fully invested in PTSD and what we were headed for when it came to it in our new veterans that would come. Jen was already up on all the questions that should have been asked but never were by anyone who would have made the answers matter. Both of us ended up focusing on the 2004 election and the rest of what was going on, but it was the way we started that proved what a intelligent woman she was along with a loving one.

Jen had emailed me a very, very long post about 9-11 too soon for us to know each other well enough. I emailed her back and told her that I couldn't use any of it because I had to deal with facts, not speculation. (She should have smacked me) Jen turned around and spent hours upon hours finding what she thought I needed to read and then she opened my eyes to things I didn't want to see, things I didn't want to know or even think were possible. She's probably the reason why it finally dawned on me that either this nation had such a massive failure of all our defense systems, all at the same time, the same day we needed them, or someone made them fail.

Anyway, setting that aside, Jen and I got very close after that. She managed to do the same to people who agreed with her on the PC board as well as people who did not agree with her. No one ignored Jen, that's for sure and she earned their respect.

When she was first diagnosed with cancer, I drove down to Stuart to see her in the hospital. We hadn't met yet. I walked into the hospital room and as soon as I did it was as if she just saw a movie star show up at her doorway. Her face lit up. Believe me, I'm not that big of a deal. When I returned home, I posted on the PC board to let people know what was going on and within a couple of hours, there were a lot of messages from people praying for her, even the people she argued with. Two thought it was inappropriate that I posted "such personal information" on the board, but considering I was doing what Jen asked me to do, I basically told the two people where to go and how to arrive there swiftly.

Time never allows me to go in there anymore. It's too hard to post anything there and then go back over and over again to reply to replies. It just never ends. I do miss most of the people in that group and Jen was responsible for brining a lot of the people there together.

The arrangements have not been made yet. Her parents have to come from California. I don't know when I will have to go back to Stuart. Traveling down there the other day and back took 5 hours, so whenever the day is, I won't post that day or very little if at all. Now think of this. Jen meant a lot to me and to all the people she came into contact with on line. Naturally she meant a lot to her family. Think of all the lives this woman touched. Jen's life ended because of cancer. It ended because she didn't have health insurance and didn't go for check ups until she had problems. We need to do something so that the next time someone like Jen comes into this world with the ability to bring people together, make them think and encourage them to do something about it, we do not let them go through life without the medical care that could save their lives.

We need to make sure that all our troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the veterans already here, do not come back to a system designed to help them heal, end up being the reason they die.

This world is filled with too many selfish people who see nothing wrong with making more and more money while other people have to suffer for it. We cannot afford to loose more like Jen so early in life. She had too much more to give. Gifts we will never have because she is no longer here.

Financial reality of ignoring PTSD

American Psychiatric Foundation, Lilly Foundation And Give An Hour Join Forces To Provide Mental Health Care To Iraq And Afghanistan Veterans

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 a major expansion of a nationwide effort to help U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

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 from Iraq and Afghanistan, 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."
go here for more
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/108689.php

Aside from the emotional costs when families fall apart, this is a glimpse of what it costs the nation.

April 15, 2008
Study: Single parents cost taxpayers $112 billion
Story Highlights
New study says divorce, unwed childbearing cost taxpayers

Says $112 billion spent on welfare, healthcare, criminal justice

Study sponsors want more funding for strengthening marriages
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/04/15/fragmented.families.ap/index.html

We cannot save all marriages and some marriages should not be saved. Yet this is not about the rest of the nation. This is about families trying to cope with Post Traumatic Stress. There are too many who have no idea what PTSD is, what the cause of the changes in their family life comes from or why someone they loved suddenly turned into a stranger.

It is nearly impossible to hold a family together when we know what PTSD is and why everything is falling apart, yet when we do not know the cause of it, the veteran is blamed for all of it. Families fall apart, but it does not stop there.

The veteran, still suffering from PTSD, from the wound they brought home with them, is suffering alone because his/her family could not deal with the way they acted any longer. Jobs are very hard to keep when there is no support and they lost their home life. The financial burden on them to support themselves along with child support and financial obligations to their family, adds stress to a veteran trying to survive.

Yet when they know what PTSD is, what is causing the upheaval in the home, the changes in the person they love, they are armed to fight it all. They are given the tools to cope until they get the treatment they desperately need. When anyone says that the price is too high, they should have considered this when the war was planned out. When they say it costs too much money to take care of all the veterans with PTSD, they better reconsider anything they knew about accounting because the money they spend now, early on, is a lot less than they will have to pay for years to come by doing nothing.

Give An Hour volunteers are giving up a lot of money for the time they donate. They understand that failing to act will cost lives, marriages and futures for far too many.

What are you doing?

Vets taking PTSD drugs die in sleep

May 24, 2008
Vets taking PTSD drugs die in sleep
Hurricane man's death the 4th in West Virginia
By Julie Robinson
Staff writer
By Julie Robinson

jul...@wvgazette.com

A Putnam County veteran who was taking medication prescribed for post-traumatic stress disorder died in his sleep earlier this month, in circumstances similar to the deaths of three other area veterans earlier this year.

Derek Johnson, 22, of Hurricane, served in the infantry in the Middle East in 2005, where he was wounded in combat and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder while hospitalized.

Military doctors prescribed Paxil, Klonopin and Seroquel for Johnson, the same combination taken by veterans Andrew White, 23, of Cross Lanes; Eric Layne, 29, of Kanawha City; and Nicholas Endicott of Logan County. All were in apparently good physical health when they died in their sleep.

Johnson was taking Klonopin and Seroquel, as prescribed, at the time of his death, said his grandmother, Georgeann Underwood of Hurricane. Both drugs are frequently used in combination to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Klonopin causes excessive drowsiness in some patients.
go here for more
http://wvgazette.com/News/200805230640

linked from
http://www.paxilprogress.org/forums/showthread.php?t=36129

Personal note on life

Yesterday and today, I haven't been posting much. To tell you the truth it's been very hard to concentrate.

I woke up yesterday planing on finally tackling repainting my office at the house. A few hours later, I received a phone call from one of the daughters of a very close friend. She's been battling cancer for a few years now. It spread into many parts of her body. Jen's daughter told me they were taking her to a hospice because she was not doing well at all and couldn't breathe. I went on painting assured they would keep me informed and planned on heading out to Stuart Florida today to spend some time with Jen and her family. The phone rang again and Jen's daughter told me that she may not make it through the night. I drove down there last night.

Jen is surrounded by her daughters, her son-in-law and her husband. She is in and out of sleep and pain. They have her medicated and are watching over her. The people who work in a hospice are angel sent, that is for sure. To be able to comfort people finishing this part of their journey here, is something very rare. I've seen their compassion many times before.

Today, I half heartedly finished painting. My attention span was not into it. Then my sister-in-law called and told me my brother back in Massachusetts is in the hospital because he had a small stroke. He should be fine. It's just impossible to concentrate on reading everything about PTSD at this moment. I tried to read and pay attention to what I'm reading but it just isn't working.

Please keep Jen in your prayers and my brother. It's a rough time for everyone. I should be posting again more tomorrow, God willing.

Marines:5 deaths in 8 days Pendleton and Twentynine Palms

5 in 8 days worsen 1st MEF's bad year
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 23, 2008

CAMP PENDLETON – Three servicemen from Camp Pendleton and two from Twentynine Palms have died in the past eight days, and the confirmed or probable causes are homicide, suicide and traffic accidents.

None of the Marine officials interviewed for this story could remember a worse week in terms of noncombat losses.

Camp Pendleton is home to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, commonly called the 1st MEF, which includes troops at Twentynine Palms and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

At least 13 Marines from the 1st MEF – most of them stationed at Camp Pendleton – have died this year. Most of the causes are believed to have been vehicle crashes, homicides and suicides, although some cases are still being investigated.

By comparison, six Camp Pendleton-based Marines have died from combat in Iraq during the same time period, according to the Defense Department.

Officials for Camp Pendleton and the 1st MEF didn't immediately provide or confirm the death toll for 2008 or past years. They also didn't say whether the recent deaths may have been linked to drug or alcohol abuse, gang activity or suicide.

They said those questions must be submitted as a Freedom of Information Act request or, in the case of gang problems, to Marine Corps headquarters at the Pentagon.

Then Camp Pendleton-based Lance Cpl. Samuel Stucky, 19, died Saturday. A day earlier, he had been found unconscious in his Camp Pendleton barracks with a gunshot wound.

Also on Saturday, Camp Pendleton-based Lance Cpl. Noah Cole, 25, died from injuries suffered in an apparent motorcycle accident. Cole, who was visiting relatives in Grand Rapids, Mich., was scheduled to deploy on his second combat tour early next month.

And again Saturday, Twentynine Palms-based Pfc. Jack Kenner, 22, died in Upland after he tried to maneuver his motorcycle between two vehicles, struck one of them and crashed.

Finally, on Tuesday, Cpl. Chad Oligschlaeger, 21, was found dead in his barracks room at Twentynine Palms. Camp Pendleton officials said the cause of death is under investigation.

go here for more

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20080523-9999-1m23marines.html

Soldiers with combat experience wanted as counsellors

Soldiers with combat experience wanted as counsellors, therapists


ARGHANDAB DISTRICT, Afghanistan — Cpl. Darrell Rostek has been there and done that.

Now almost half way into his fourth overseas tour with its mad kaleidoscope of intense and sometimes bloody experiences, Rostek also knows what it's like to go home, almost lose himself and finally pull himself up by the boot straps.

He had served three times in Bosnia before coming to Afghanistan.

It's the kind of experience very few have, one that those who've been through it find tough to convey, especially to someone who hasn't been there.

The Defence Department is planning a pilot program to encourage soldiers who have done to tours abroad to take up mental-health counselling.

Rostek, who expects to do one more six-month tour of Afghanistan in 2009, says he's very interested in pursuing the opportunity as a way to give back to the guys and gals who have watched his back, literally and figuratively.

"I want to get into counselling because it's someone who's roughly my own age group and they can see I've been there," he said in a recent interview at an undisclosed forward operating base.

"We can talk about things we may have done, things we may have seen ... we've got some common ground with what we've done. We've shared the same Earth."

Rostek, a Winnipeg native, freely admits he had a problem with drinking after serving in Bosnia - something he has now licked.

The Canadian military has poured more resources and emphasis into mental health programs and counselling since the Afghan war became more intense two years ago.

Over the next couple years, $98 million has been set aside to improve post-traumatic stress care for soldiers returning from the battlefield, including hiring more psychiatrists and social workers.

An additional $9 million is going into opening more operational stress injury clinics across the country.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser issued a stern rebuke last year to the Department of National Defence over the way it has handled mental-health programs, especially the practice of out-sourcing care to civilian centres.

The military's surgeon-general and chief of personnel expressed frustration to a House of Commons committee last winter, saying one of the biggest impediments is actually getting soldiers to come forward and talk about their experiences.

Rostek says he know why.

He says some of the civilian counsellors and even military ones back in Canada have never done overseas tours.

Rostek acknowledges he's generalizing, but he says many of the social workers to whom soldiers are expected to pour out their hearts are women in the late 40s or 50s.

"It's more like looking at Mom, talking about your problems," said Rostek, 34, a rifleman in 7 Platoon, Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

If soldiers were doing the counselling instead, he said, they would not be regarded as just a stranger.

The opportunity to move into counselling involves four years of schooling and a degree, paid for by the military, followed by a four-year period as a uniformed counsellor.

Rostek says one downside is that he would be promoted to an officer - something he believes could potentially put some distance between him and ordinary soldiers.

The army has given soldiers in each unit limited training to help them spot post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, among their buddies. If someone is showing signs, it's the job of these individuals to encourage their friends to seek help.

Early intervention is seen as the key to battling PTSD.

A Veterans Affairs Canada report noted that the number of former soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress has more than tripled since Canada first deployed troops to Afghanistan.

The Commons defence committee is studying post traumatic stress treatment in the military.
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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.
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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.
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"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.
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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."
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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.
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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."
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54941