INTERNATIONAL STOP MILITARY RAPE AWARENESS DAY

May 30 - INTERNATIONAL STOP MILITARY RAPE AWARENESS DAY
One of the saddest realities I faced when my daughter joined the U.S. Army was that sexual abuse is an epidemic in our military. Both of my grandfather's were in the military, one being a Colonel and the other was a Sergeant, and both were good men. I heard the statistics, but thought I had raised a tough daughter, she could deal with anything they threw at her. I had no idea how many perpetrators and sex offenders lurk and hide in our military. I did not realize was that one out of every three women and one out of every five men in the U.S. Military are sexually assaulted. I still feel shocked by these numbers. And even worse is that it is rare that the perpetrator is prosecuted for the crime of rape/sexual assault.

There are some fundamental changes that need to change so that people can serve in our armed forces without fear of being sexually assaulted by their own fellow soldiers. One is hold the command responsible for any type of complaints that are generated. This means independent investigations into any type of complaint is absolutely crucial. All the policies and procedures and task forces in the world won't help iF the command is able to choose which one to enforce.

Informing young people before they sign away their rights about the statistics of rape in the military should be mandated. Informed and honest recruiting needs to be upheld and not a joke.

We must take a stand together to end the good ole' boy mentality of "boys will be boys" and demand a ZERO tolerance for sexual abuse in the military.
Peace~Sara Rich, M.S.W. and proud mom of Spc. Suzanne Swiftsuzanneswift.org

Fort Benning:PTSD to "recover" near bullets?

What lame brain decided sending PTSD soldiers next to firing range to "recover" would be a helpful thing? Are they out of their minds? Do they know anything about PTSD? What's next? Sending soldiers with amputations next to bombing ranges to "recover" and have them dodge targets as therapy?

Just when you think it's getting better for the wounded, (and yes that is exactly what they are) and there is hope for them to recover without screwing around anymore, they pull something like this! When will these reports get to the point when we can finally, once and for all know they are taking PTSD seriously? All of this leads to the rise in the death count from suicide and the rise in attempted suicides. Can't they understand this?

Sgt. Jonathan Strickland, 25, who has been diagnosed with PTSD, in barracks at Fort Benning that house wounded and are soldiers located across from several major firing ranges.

Firing ranges complicate vets' PTSD recoverySoldiers at Fort Benning say proximity to gunfire aggravates their disorder

By Ann Scott Tyson

updated 3:24 a.m. ET, Tues., June. 3, 2008
FORT BENNING, Ga. - Army Sgt. Jonathan Strickland sits in his room at noon with the blinds drawn, seeking the sleep that has eluded him since he was knocked out by the blast of a Baghdad car bomb.

Like many of the wounded soldiers living in the newly built "warrior transition" barracks here, the soft-spoken 25-year-old suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. But even as Strickland and his comrades struggle with nightmares, anxiety and flashbacks from their wartime experiences, the sounds of gunfire have followed them here, just outside their windows.

Across the street from their assigned housing, about 200 yards away, are some of the Army infantry's main firing ranges, and day and night, several days each week, barrages from rifles and machine guns echo around Strickland's building. The noise makes the wounded cringe, startle in their formations, and stay awake and on edge, according to several soldiers interviewed at the barracks last month. The gunfire recently sent one soldier to the emergency room with an anxiety attack, they said.

Soldiers interviewed said complaints to medical personnel at Fort Benning's Martin Army Community Hospital and officers in their chain of command have brought no relief, prompting one soldier's father to contact The Washington Post. Fort Benning officials said that they were unaware of specific complaints but that decisions about housing and treatment for soldiers with PTSD depend on the severity of each case. They said day and night training must continue as new soldiers arrive and the Army grows.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24942390/

Up to 180,000 gallons waste water released into Puget Sound

Lewis waste water released in Puget Sound

Staff report
Posted : Monday Jun 2, 2008 20:49:44 EDT

Up to 180,000 gallons of partially treated waste water was released into the Puget Sound between 11 p.m. Sunday and 2 a.m. Monday because of an electrical problem at the Fort Lewis, Wash., waste water treatment plant, officials announced Monday in a press release.

Officials emphasized that no completely untreated water was released during the incident. All the water that escaped had received at least primary treatment, meaning it had been stripped of solid wastes. In addition, about 45 minutes after the problem was detected, workers restored the secondary treatment process, which involves more sophisticated filtration. Chlorination, the last step in water treatment at the facility, was restored about 2 a.m.

Officials estimate that the event released up to 60,000 gallons of water that had only received the primary treatment and up to 120,000 gallons of water that had been fully treated but had not been chlorinated.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/army_lewis_wastewater_060208/

Marine Lance Corporal Robert Crutchfield killed for $8.00

Ohio Marine succumbs to injuries
Was shot, robbed of $8 at bus stop in early January
Ohio Marine succumbs to injuries
Was shot, robbed of $8 at bus stop in early January
The casket of Marine Lance Corporal Robert Crutchfield was carried out of Sacrificial Missionary Baptist Church after his funeral service in Cleveland last week. (Jamie-Andrea Yanak/Associated Press)
Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Thomas J. Sheeran
Associated Press / June 2, 2008
CLEVELAND - On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own hometown that he carried only $8 to avoid becoming a robbery target.

Despite his caution, Lance Corporal Robert Crutchfield, 21, was shot in the neck at close range during a robbery at a bus stop. Feeding and breathing tubes kept him alive 4 1/2 months, until he died of an infection on May 18.

Two men have been charged in the attack, and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said the case was under review to decide whether to seek the death penalty.

"It is an awful story," said Alberta Holt, the young Marine's aunt and his legal guardian when he was a teenager determined to flee a troubled Cleveland school for safer surroundings in the suburbs.

Crutchfield was attacked on Jan. 5 while he and his girlfriend were waiting for a bus. He had heeded the warnings of commanders that a Marine on leave might be seen as a prime robbery target with a pocketful of money, so he only carried $8, his military ID card, and a bank card.
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Divorces inflict home front damage on US troops

Divorces inflict home front damage on US troops
David Smith (The Guardian)

2 June 2008



In an army base in Baghdad, in functional wooden booths in a white-walled room, a row of young men in uniform stare at computer screens. Many are emailing, instant messaging or playing online card games with their wives and girlfriends seven or more time zones away.


There is a background hum from others talking on a bank of phones. One soldier can be heard protesting: 'You have no idea what I'm going through out here.'

With the Iraq war in its sixth year, some of these American soldiers are on their third or fourth combat tour - 15 months away from home with just 18 days' leave. The strain is showing on their relationships and many will return home, exhausted, to find a disenchanted wife has walked out. Divorce rates among the US military are soaring.

Corporal Leonard Allen, 33, is missing his son's first year of life. A member of the 2-4 Infantry 'Warrior' Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, Allen served a nine-month stint in Afghanistan in 2006. Normally he could then have expected at least a year at home. But eight months later he and his comrades were training in Kuwait, then deploying for a long tour in Baghdad.

'There were a lot of deployment babies after Afghanistan,' Allen joked. His son Colton is eight months old. 'I've seen two and a half months of his life. My wife Andrea gives me daily progress reports - he's learning to crawl - but it's a shame when a father has to miss being there. Six or nine months here wouldn't be so bad, but these 15- month tours are killing everybody.'

Allen, a former bill collector now regularly on patrol in the streets of Baghdad, married two years ago in Las Vegas. 'We knew there was a chance I'd be sent to Iraq. She was pretty down for a while, quite sad, and she worries about me here. She knows why I'm here and she's glad, but she wants me to come home.'
go here for more
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/darticlen.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2008/June/theworld_June46.xml&section=theworld&col=
linked from ICasualties.org

Exposure Therapy Effective To PTSD

Exposure Therapy Effective To Prevent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Editor's Choice
Main Category: Anxiety / Stress
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry; Depression
Article Date: 02 Jun 2008 - 13:00 PDT

The progression from acute stress disorder to post-traumatic stress disorder may be prevented by exposure-based therapy, in which trauma survivors are guided to relive a troubling event. These reults were published in an article released on June 2, 2008 in the Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Acute stress disorder, sometimes called shock, involves the development of a strong stress response after a traumatic event. Symptoms are brought on when the sympathetic nervous system reacts, in the familiar fight or flight response. If this threat is perceived as unusually serious, a more intense and prolonged physiological response can results. The presence of shock after a traumatic event is linked to the subsequent development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder that involves prolonged reaction to the event or events. PTSD is associated with other mental and physical disorders, as well as a reduced quality of life and increased cost of health care.

Cognitive restructuring, which entails rebuilding the thoughts and responses to a traumatic event to be more accurate and beneficial for the patient, is one common form of therapy to help prevent PTSD in those with acute stress. Exposure therapy is another therapy used to this end in which the patient is re-exposed in some way to the source of the trauma, in the hopes of habituating the patient and thus decreasing the response. There is some evidence that many clinicians do not use the latter form of therapy because it can cause distress for recent survivors of trauma.

The study was completed by 63 of the participants. After the completion of treatment, the following proportions of patients met the criteria for PTSD: in the exposure therapy group, 33% (10 patients,); in the cognitive restructuring group 63% (19 patients,) and in the wait-list group 77% (23 patients.) After the six month follow-up, 37% (11 patients) in the exposure therapy group met the criteria for PTSD in contrast with the 63% (19 patients) in the cognitive restructuring group. Additionally, in the exposure group, 47% (14 patients) achieved full remission, while only 13% (4 patients) achieved this in the cognitive group. In all, this indicates relative success on the part of exposure therapy to prevent PTSD.

go here for more
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/109599.php

What we know is the sooner treatment begins, the better the result. This study seems to have proven it very well.

It is what people working in the field have been pushing for. The question is how do we get there from here?

Today and tomorrow I'm in CISM training. Critical Incident Stress Management at a local hospital. We're covering the need to address stressful/traumatic events head on. Chaplains know this works and so does every police department, fire department along with emergency responders and hospitals. Hurricane and tornado victims, survivors of all kinds of traumatic events know that if someone is looking out for them, they are a lot better off than if they go through it alone. To have another survivor does little good if that person is also under stress and suffering from the trauma. The other person has to be from outside the event itself. This is why it does not work very well when it is a unit under attack in combat.

While it does tend to help to have someone to lean on, they are individually dealing with the event on their own terms or avoiding it. Having someone to go to, removed from the event but attached enough to show they care is vital. Most of the time if the survivor of trauma has someone to vent to, cry on the shoulder of or just have them sit by their side, it does a world of good. This would happened in every unit deployed into combat but that only happens in a perfect world. Most of the time there is no one to do this with them.

When a police officer is involved in a traumatic event, most departments have a Chaplain they can call upon to talk to. This way they unload what is going on inside of them and they face it. Otherwise, with no one to talk to, they tend to stuff it in the back of their brain and move on, believing they "got over it" yet only to have to face it later on when the damage is being done.

With a soldier this happens more than not. They may find their buddies back to normal when they are waking up in the middle of the night covered with sweat and shaking from the nightmare they just had so vivid it was like reliving the entire experience. If their buddies are sleeping soundly, they tend to be reluctant to say anything. As the changes become more and more deeply imbedded within them, they tend to close down even more, afraid to say anything. Again, in a perfect world, there would be a Chaplain or a mental health professional right there for them to go to.

When they come home, they have suffered from and stuffed it back in their memory, believing that back home they will "get over it" and move past it. This does not happen when it is the wound of PTSD they have carried back with them. The changes become apparent to the family but most of the time the family has no clue what it is.

Now think of what it would be like if the family were fully aware of the signs to watch out for. They would be the first to see the changes and help the veteran to face them, seek help for them and they could heal as a family together. What if the veteran knew when it was something beyond getting over on their own? They would seek treatment as soon as possible understanding that once they did, they would begin to heal and would not get worse.

There is so much that needs to be done but again, with PTSD, the sooner the better. These delays in therapy and treatment cut the wound deeper. Education has to be provided immediately and the stigma of PTSD has to be placed where it needs to be and that is on anyone getting in the way of these veterans from seeking help. The the next step is to educate all the family members what they need to watch out for when in communication with their soldier while deployed and what to watch out for when they get home.

We need more mental health professionals and we need more Chaplains dealing with the tsunami coming. Failing to do this will increase the suicide rate, the divorce rate, the homeless rate and the crime rate along with driving under the influence. We need to spend money wisely on this right now to save money later and at the same time save the veterans futures.

Buffalo NY offers treatment instead of jail for veterans

City launches treatment court for vets

By Matthew Daneman - USA Today
Posted : Monday Jun 2, 2008 12:42:38 EDT

BUFFALO, N.Y. — When police entered Tom Irish’s suburban Buffalo home March 9 responding to a call about a disturbance, the 59-year-old Army veteran says he did not see uniformed officers.

He says he was drunk on vodka, suffering from a flashback to his wartime experiences, and saw in his mind the Viet Cong soldiers he fought close to 40 years ago.

“I’m still in recovery, still facing myself,” Irish said as he stood last month before Buffalo City Court Judge Robert Russell in a courtroom half-filled with fellow military veterans in trouble with the law.

Instead of time behind bars, Irish is in counseling. The felony weapons possession charge against him — for brandishing a loaded shotgun at police — likely will be dropped if he finishes everything required of him by Buffalo’s veterans treatment court, according to Hank Pirowski, project director for Buffalo City Court.

Russell, who created Buffalo’s drug treatment court in 1995 and mental health treatment court in 2003, started holding sessions in January in what is, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Drug Court Institute, the nation’s first veterans’ treatment court.

The defendants all are military veterans or family members. The court typically handles nonviolent offenses, Russell said, with the veterans required to get mental health or addiction counseling, find jobs, stay clean and sober and get their lives back on track.

Court meets weekly or biweekly, with veterans reporting back about once a month to update the court on their progress, Russell said. The judge said that, based on his past experience with other treatment courts, the veterans tend to remain in treatment court a year or more before making enough progress to graduate and see their charges reduced or cases adjourned.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/gns_vetscourt_060208/

Back at home, war toll grows

Back at home, war toll grows
BY MARTHA BELLISLE • mbellisle@rgj.com • June 1, 2008


As Ryan Gorgoglione manned a gun on an Army Humvee during a patrol north of Baghdad, his best friend strolled out on point 5 feet in front of the vehicle, stepped on a buried bomb and disappeared in a flash of light.

"The blast threw me back, and I woke up on the deck," said Gorgoglione, a 24-year-old Hug High School graduate who spent more than a year in Iraq. "There was nothing but dust. You can't see anything. You can't hear anything. And they were still hitting us from across the river."

When the patrol regained control, Adam Frolic was found with his throat ripped out, a leg torn off and most of an arm gone, Gorgoglione said.

The look on the doctor's face said it all, Gorgoglione said. Frolic had just turned 21.

The bloody battle that ended his buddy's life is one of dozens of tales Gorgoglione can tell, when pressed, about his time in the war. He doesn't think about it much, he says, and goes about his days like a normal guy. He rejects the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by a psychologist at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Reno.

But after dark, he's plagued with nightmares that keep him awake. Soon after his return, he started drinking heavily to make himself pass out when he went to bed.

His drinking led to his first driving under the influence charge, then a second. He awaits a court hearing to determine punishment and counseling to ensure he doesn't get a third DUI citation, a felony in Nevada.

Help before the crisis

Gorgoglione's story has become increasingly common as more young men and women return from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health issues and physical ailments that sometimes land them in jail.

The VA hospital in Reno has begun working with the Washoe County public defender's office to identify veterans who might be struggling with PTSD or traumatic brain injuries and get them help, said Alicia Adams, manager for the hospital's Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom program.

"The idea is to be proactive and get to them before they end up in crisis," Adams said. "When they come back home, in their mind they're fine, but within a year or two, they're in crisis, and often a family member steps in and says, 'Get in and get help or I'm going to leave you.' It doesn't need to be that way."

Kathy O'Leary, a chief deputy public defender, said the effort has helped the staff and attorneys understand the veterans' special needs.

"We are trying to ask the right questions at an early stage," O'Leary said. "That way we can connect our clients with appropriate services and make sure they get the screenings they need."

The Demon of Brian Rand

The Toll - 6/1/08 - The Demon of Brian Rand


by Dave McGill
June 01, 2008 08:25 PM EDT

You generally hear of multiple demons in the minds of those who are severely tormented, but there was only one ghost haunting Brian Rand as he held the rifle in his hands. He was sitting in a picturesque setting at the Cumberland River Center Pavilion in Clarksville, Tennessee, just a few steps from where he and his wife, Dena, had been married.

The shadows of twilight were lengthening as he wrestled with that one demon. He was undoubtedly also thinking of his pregnant wife and the joys and responsibilities of raising his as yet unborn child. But the ghost wouldn't go away, the ghost of an Iraqi man he had killed while on guard duty in the Green Zone during his first deployment.

According to an article published today by McClatchy Newspapers, that particular ghost wouldn't leave Brian alone. It choked him "while he slept in his bunk, forcing him to wake up gasping for air and clawing at his throat. It whispered that Brian was a vampire and looked on (during his second deployment) as Brian stabbed another (service) member...in the neck with a fork in the mess hall (the soldier was only slightly injured). Eventually, the ghost told Brian he needed to kill himself."

Brian's sister, April Somdahl, was quoted as saying: "The spirit of the man that he killed didn't leave him, it kept harassing him. He said 'this guy is following me around in the mess hall, he's trying to kill me. I told him to leave me alone but he says he wants to take me with him.' "

At first, like many soldiers afflicted with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, Brian avoided asking for help, fearing the negative impact on his career. The McClatchy article quoted the Rand family as attributing the depth of his condition to this fear and the military culture that caused it, as well as to the Army's stop-loss policy which is designed to keep soldiers on the battlefield longer than one normal tour.
go here for more
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977359118

Jonathan Michael Boucher succumbed to wound of war

At home, but locked in war
Haunted by what he saw in Iraq, a former soldier takes his life

By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer
Click byline for more stories by writer.
First published: Monday, June 2, 2008

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The war in Iraq never ended for Jonathan Michael Boucher. Not when he flew home from Baghdad, not when he moved to Saratoga Springs for a fresh start and, especially, not when nighttime arrived.

Tortured by what he saw as an 18-year-old Army private during the 2003 invasion and occupation, Boucher was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and honorably discharged from the military less than two years later.



On May 15, three days before his 24th birthday, the young veteran committed suicide in his apartment's bathroom, stunning friends and family, including more than three dozen cousins. There was no note. He was buried in the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery just days before Memorial Day.

His death came even as Pentagon officials prepared to release numbers showing an increase in suicide and PTSD rates among active-duty troops. Some 115 killed themselves in 2007 -- a 20 percent increase since 2005.

PTSD, an anxiety- and stress-related disorder, has afflicted some 40,000 American troops since 2003. The military, in last week's report, acknowledged lengthy and repeated deployments are taking their toll.

"I (have) been shot at by AK-47s, rocket launchers, mortars and tanks," Boucher wrote to his family in May 2003. "I didn't think I was going to make it."

Boucher's short but intense life was marked by an adventurous spirit and a love for his family, his country and its military. He grew up with a zest for the outdoors and snowboarding and often visited family in the Saratoga area. He had an enormous work ethic and moral compass, family members said.

"He really loved angels," said his mother, Janet Boucher, 50, of Corinth. Mom and son spent weekends walking together in downtown Saratoga Springs and admiring his favorite art piece, the Spirit of Life statue in Congress Park.
go here for more
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=692776&category=REGION&newsdate=6/2/2008

When they come home and commit suicide, we just simply call it suicide. Some of us will dare to call it non-combat death, but usually that is reserved when they take their own lives while deployed. For years, I've wrestled with the right word and now I think I've found it. Succumbed. He was carrying a wound that penetrated into every fiber of his being. He died as a result of that wound and that wound was caused by combat. There is no excuse to keep using non-combat wound or non-combat death, other than it's the lazy way out. Who will do a search for succumbed or put out an alert on that word? No one.

We've all grown so accustomed to reading about them and slapping the label of non-combat death associated with their name. Does this help the family when they know full well that their sons, daughters, husbands and wives would not be suffering had it not been for the trauma war created?

How many times do we need to read their stories and see "they suddenly changed" or "they didn't come home the same" before we let any of this really sink into our own brains, once and for all allowing us the opportunity to do far more than we have ever thought of doing? How many more lives will be sacrificed to this wound that far too few are trying to treat?

Colonel Pete Petronzio worries Afghanistan will become a 'forgotten war'

U.S. marine leader worries Afghanistan will become a 'forgotten war'
KATHERINE O'NEILL

Globe and Mail Update

June 1, 2008 at 5:28 PM EDT

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The highest-ranking U.S. Marine in Afghanistan is worried he's losing the battle when it comes to getting Americans interested in the war.

“I get concerned some days that, as Americans, we are a military at war, not a nation at war,” Colonel Pete Petronzio told Canadian reporters Sunday during a frank and wide-ranging interview at Kandahar Air Field.

“Afghanistan is not a story that's being told as much as it should be,” added the 47-year-old marine colonel, who leads the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Already dubbed the “forgotten war” by many Americans, the conflict has long been overshadowed by the U.S. military's on-going and much bloodier battle in Iraq.

The commanding officer said that it doesn't help that U.S. residents are currently more captivated by stories about the presidential campaign and rising gas prices.


Col. Petronzio said that over the weekend, marines were engaged in the heaviest fighting since they arrived in Afghanistan in March. About 2,400 troops are currently in Afghanistan, with the majority stationed in Helmand province, an area along the Pakistani border that remains held by Taliban militants. The province, located in southern Afghanistan, neighbours Kandahar province, where Canadian soldiers are deployed.

Col. Petronzio hopes the marines' efforts have reduced insurgent activity in Kandahar this spring.
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Col. Petronzio is right, but it's already happened. No one is talking about Afghanistan on the TV or cable news. It's very hard to even find reports on Afghanistan. Other than ICasualties.org, there are not many reports to be found at all. While we were all talking about the death count in Iraq being at an all time high for 2007, it was also at an all time high in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, they are doing some fantastic things but hardly none of it gets reported on the nightly news if they report on any part of either occupation. I think the lack of reports are by design. The vast majority of the American people still agreed with the need to address Afghanistan so there is no story there as far as the media goes. We fight over Iraq and all the talking heads only seem to want to discuss and debate Iraq while ignoring Afghanistan.


These reports are just from this weekend alone

06/01/08 Reuters: Scores of Taliban killed in operation
Scores of Taliban militants were killed last week in an operation involving Afghan and foreign troops in Afghanistan, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

06/01/08 AP: 1 killed in Kabul blast against Afghan army bus
Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says a remote-controlled bomb detonated as a bus carrying Afghan soldiers passed by, killing one civilian and wounding five people.

06/01/08 AP: Roadside bomb wounds 2 ISAF soldiers in Paktia province
Two other ISAF soldiers were wounded in a roadside bombing on Saturday in Paktia province, a troubled region in the country's east bordering Pakistan, ISAF spokesman Carlos Branco said.

06/01/08 AP: U.S. authorities release citizen held in Afghanistan
U.S. authorities in Afghanistan have released a German citizen who had been held since January accused of being on a U.S. base without authorization, the German Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

06/01/08 AFP: Japan may send troops to Afghanistan
Japan is considering whether to send its first troops to Afghanistan on a reconstruction mission, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Sunday. Tokyo has been a major donor to Afghanistan, pledging 1.3 billion dollars since the fall...

06/01/08 AP: Suicide bomb kills 2 soldiers in Afghanistan
A suicide car bomb attack against a NATO convoy Saturday killed two soldiers and wounded four others...The bomb attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad hit a contingent of NATO's International Security Assistance Force

05/31/08 : DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Sgt. 1st Class David Nunez, 27, of Los Angeles, Calif., died May 29 in Shewan, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he encountered small arms fire while conducting combat operations. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion...

05/31/08 AP: NATO soldier killed in Afghan bombing
A suicide car bomber killed one NATO soldier and wounded at least seven other people, an Afghan official said on Saturday. The attack targeted a convoy of international troops in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

05/31/08 AFP: Suicide car bomb targets foreign troops - 4 wounded
A suicide car bomb exploded Saturday near an international military convoy in eastern Afghanistan, injuring four coalition troops, officials said.

05/31/08 Reuters: Two insurgents in killed in Farah province
The Afghan National Army, with air support from international forces, killed and wounded a number of insurgents in two separate districts in the western province of Farah on Friday, during an operation to clear the area of insurgents...

05/31/08 Reuters: Afghan soldier killed, 2 wounded in Sangin District
One Afghan soldier was killed and two others wounded when they came under fire from insurgents at a military checkpoint on Friday in Sangin District in the southern province of Helmand, the defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

05/30/08 M&C: Frenchman kidnapped in Afghanistan
A French national, two Afghan associates and their chauffeur have been kidnapped by a group linked to the Taliban, the web site of the daily Le Figaro reported on Friday.

05/30/08 AFP: US-led soldier killed in Afghanistan, district falls
A soldier in the US-led coalition and several militants have been killed in separate clashes in Afghanistan...The soldier was killed "in action" Thursday near the western town of Farah, the coalition said in a statement.

05/30/08 Reuters: Taliban insurgents capture remote Afghan town
Taliban insurgents seized a remote Afghan town overnight, patrolling the streets for some hours before withdrawing ahead of a government operation to retake it on Friday, residents and officials said.

05/30/08 AP: Afghanistan seeks to revive farming sector
Afghanistan will ask international donors next month for $4 billion to revive its agricultural sector, but it could be a hard sell with another massive crop of opium expected this year.

05/30/08 NYTimes: NATO Chief - Pakistan’s Tack on Militants Is Not as Expected
The departing American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Dan K. McNeill, raised concerns on Thursday that Pakistan had not followed through on promises to tackle militancy on its side of the border...

05/30/08 paktribune: Taliban claim US chopper shot down in Afghanistan
Taliban in Afghanistan on Thursday claimed to have shot down a chopper of a United States private security company, Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), in the restive province of Khost.

05/30/08 Reuters: Several militants killed near Sangin
Afghan security forces and U.S.-led coalition troops killed several militants near Sangin in the southern province of Helmand on Thursday after coming under fire, the U.S. military said on Friday.

05/30/08 Reuters: Several militants killed, 16 detained in Ghazni province
U.S.-led coalition forces killed several militants and detained 16 during search operations in Ghazni province, south of Kabul on Thursday, the U.S. military said on Friday.

05/30/08 Reuters: Several militants killed in Farah province
U.S.-led coalition forces killed several militants with small arms fire and air strikes after coming under fire from a house in the western province of Farah on Wednesday, the U.S. military said on Friday.

05/30/08 Reuters: Suicide car bomber attacks convoy - no military casualties
A suicide car bomber blew himself up alongside a convoy of military engineers in the eastern province of Khost on Friday, the U.S. military said. No soldiers were wounded and no equipment was damaged in the incident, it said.
38 US were killed this year and 40 Coalition
http://icasualties.org/oef/

"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few"

From Bible Gateway

Matthew 9

12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

The Workers Are Few
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Luke 10
Jesus Sends Out the Seventytwo
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.
2 He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.'
6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.
7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.
9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'
10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say,
11 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.'
12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

As with the time of Jesus walking upon the earth, too many get it wrong. They think the mission of "workers" for Christ is to force faith upon them, but it isn't. You can see clearly what the thoughts of Jesus was when he gave instructions to his disciples. Their mission was to heal them to show the love of God and the mercy of Christ who sent them. The harvest was plenty because there were some many people hurting and in need of comfort, compassion, love, hope and healing. The workers were those who made the choice to follow Christ, but there were too few of them at the time to reach everyone in need.

Today we see that being repeated yet again. The workers in this case are the people who work for the VA. The vast majority of them are fine people who were willing to work for a lot less money in order to help the veterans as a way of paying them back in their own way. Yet today, even still, there are less workers in the VA than there were following the Gulf War. There are less psychiatrist and psychologist, less mental health nurses and not enough Chaplains. 20% of the facilities use Chaplains. This fact I found devastating when I posted it the other day on this blog. The needs of them many cannot be filled by the few.

While there is a problem with the fact there are people more interested in getting more members into their own branch of Christianity and evangelizing more than they are serving the needs of people as Christ commanded, I do not have a problem with Chaplains serving. Big difference. As a Chaplain I am required to take care of the spiritual needs of all people no matter which branch they belong to and no matter what faith they have. This means that if they have no faith at all, I am still required to serve them equally as one of God's children. I am not there to condemn them, embarrass them or walk away from them if they lack faith. Just as Christ sent out the 72, if they want my help, I have to give it. If they do not, then that's up to them.

Working with veterans, the first thing is to get them to understand that PTSD is a wound, has nothing to do with their bravery or courage, their patriotism or anything other than the fact they are normal people exposed to abnormal events and having a normal reaction to what most people never see. It's my job to get them to understand what comes with PTSD and it is also my duty to get them to stop feeling as if God abandoned them or condemned them. I am there to support them no matter if they agree with what they did serving or not, no matter if they are practicing Christians, or any other faith or of no faith at all. They are wounded people who need help and if they see the compassion of Christ within me and the love of God, then I am doing my job. Where they go and what they do after is up to them but they will walk away knowing a side of God they may not have known before. Too many remember the parts of the Old Testament and know very little from the New Testament. It's very hard for them to understand all the love there is within the pages of the Bible.

When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, the wounded man did not say what he believed, did not say he was a member of any faith at all. The Samaritan was helping someone in need and took care of a stranger everyone else just avoided. In this is love. In this is mercy. In this is compassion. When Christ said that we were to treat others as we would want to be treated, he added nothing to that. It was not commanded we first ascertain their faith base before we help them. This again is the mission and the duty of a Chaplain. Yet some will condemn the "heathens" with no faith, will condemn the homeless and the poor and the needy as if they have no right to live at all.

Jesus told the doubters that if they did not believe in who he was then they should believe in the work he did. It's about time we got to work the way he intended us to do the jobs he called us to do. It's about time we returned to the original mission and let God lead them where He wants to take them after.

I am Greek Orthodox, yet was administrator of Christian Ed for a Presbyterian Church, my best friend is Methodist and I have a lot of Catholic friends as well as some family members. Do you think I would say to any of these people I care about their faith is not as worthy as mine? Do you think I would tell them they are wrong? Who am I to judge any of them? Jesus started one church and one Christian faith, not many. After all there was only one of him who died on the cross and the faith is named after him.

We need to get back to the original mission and that is to serve those in need. The VA needs to utilize these people to serve the far too many in need today, not months and years from now.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos

Universal Studios should give firefighters free passes

Blaze Erupts on Universal Studios Lot
By GREG RISLING,AP
Posted: 2008-06-01 15:03:03
Filed Under: Nation News
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (June 1) - A large fire tore through a back lot at Universal Studios early Sunday, destroying a set from "Back to the Future," the King Kong exhibit and a video vault containing more than 40,000 videos and reels.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/blaze-erupts-on-universal-studios-lot/20080601095209990001?icid=1615988631x1203356749x1200308531

Go to the above site and take a look at some of the photographs of the firefighters risking their lives like they always do. Several pictures have them on top of roofs as the smoke rises showing how brave these people are. They do their jobs everyday but this day they were there to save Universal Studios and did a great job of keeping the fire for spreading. The least Universal Studios can do is provide these brave men and women free passes for a year for them and their families. That would be the least they could do to say thank you for saving most of Universal Studios and allowing it to reopen already.

Getting rid of spin on Purple Heart Award

The Badge of Military Merit/the Purple Heart awarded for service

The Badge of Military Merit/the Purple Heart
At his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, on August 7, 1782, General George Washington devised two new badges of distinction for enlisted men and noncommissioned officers. To signify loyal military service, he ordered a chevron to be worn on the left sleeve of the uniform coat for the rank and file who had completed three years of duty "with bravery, fidelity, and good conduct"; two chevrons signified six years of service. The second badge, for "any singularly meritorious Action," was the "Figure of a Heart in Purple Cloth or Silk edged with narrow Lace or Binding."
This device, the Badge of Military Merit, was affixed to the uniform coat above the left breast and permitted its wearer to pass guards and sentinels without challenge and to have his name and regiment inscribed in a Book of Merit. The Badge specifically honored the lower ranks, where decorations were unknown in contemporary European Armies. As Washington intended, the road to glory in a patriot army is thus open to all."


The award fell into disuse following the Revolution and was not proposed again officially until after World War I. On October 10, 1927, Army Chief of Staff General Charles P. Summerall directed that a draft bill be sent to Congress "to revive the Badge of Military Merit."
For reasons unclear, the bill was withdrawn and action on the case ceased on January 3, 1928, but the Office of The Adjutant General was instructed to file all materials collected for possible future use.
The rough sketch accompanying this proposal showed a circular disc medal with a concave center in which a relief heart appeared. The reverse carried the legend: For Military Merit.
A number of private interests sought to have the medal reinstituted in the Army. One of these was the board of directors of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum in New York.
On January 7, 1931, Summerall’s successor, General Douglas MacArthur, confidentially reopened work on a new design, involved the Washington Commission of Fine Arts. His object was medal issued on the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth.
Miss Elizabeth Will, an Army heraldic specialist in the Office of the Quartermaster General, was named to redesign the newly revived medal, which became known as the Purple Heart. Using general specifications provided to her, Ms. Will created the design sketch for the present medal of the Purple Heart. Her obituary , in the February 8, 1975 edition of The Washington Post newspaper, reflects her many contributions to military heraldry.
The Commission of Fine Arts solicited plaster models from three leading sculptors for the medal, selecting that of John R. Sinnock of the Philadelphia Mint in May 1931.
As described in Army Regulations 600-35 of November 10, 1941, the design consisted of a purple enameled heart within a bronze quarter-inch border showing a relief profile of George Washington in Continental uniform. Surmounting the enameled shield is Washington’s family coat of arms, the same used by the heart shape and the coat of arms of the obverse is repeated without enamel; within the heart lies the inscription, For Military Merit, with space beneath for the engraved name of the recipient. The device is 1-11/16 inches in length and 1-3/8 inches in width, and is suspended by a rounded rectangular length displaying a vertical purple band with quarter-inch white borders.
The War Department announced the new award in General Order No. 3, February 22, 1932:
By order of the President of the United States, the Purple Heart established by General George Washington at Newburgh, August 7, 1782, during the War of the Revolution, is hereby revived out of respect to his memory and military achievements.
http://www.ct.gov/mil/cwp/view.asp?a=1351&q=258456

In 1932 the connection to that legacy was revived. President Herbert Hoover had decided to honor the bicentennial of Washington's birth, and instructed Gen. Douglas MacArthur to re-introduce the Badge of Military Merit.After turning the badge into a medal, MacArthur stuck with the original design and color. But he made one significant change.

Deciding that those wounded or killed in the line of duty were worthy of an award of merit, he altered the criteria to include the combat wounded and made the honor retroactive to World War I.

Having been injured in battle, MacArthur received the first Purple Heart medal.

Since then, over 800,000 Purple Heart medals have been awarded, some in formal ceremonies, others as intimate as a medal pinned to a hospital gown. The qualifications have expanded during that time as well, to include injuries to servicemen and women from terrorist attacks, friendly fire and from being part of a peacekeeping force.
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/purpleheart/index.html

By order of the President of the United States , the Purple Heart established by General George Washington at Newburgh, August 7, 1782, during the War of the Revolution, is hereby revived out of respect to his memory and military achievements.
By Order of the Secretary WarDouglas MacArthurGeneralChief of Staff
Purple Heart (obverse)
Army regulations specified the design of the medal as an enamel heart, purple in color and showing a relief profile of George Washington in Continental Army uniform within a quarter-inch bronze border. Above the enameled heart is Washington 's family coat of arms between two sprays of leaves. On the reverse side, below the shield and leaves, is a raised bronze heart without enamel bearing the inscription “For Military Merit.” The 1 11/16 inch medal is suspended by a purple cloth, 1 3/8 inches in length by 1 3/8 inches in width with 1/8-inch white edges.
Army regulations' eligibility criteria for the award included:
Those in possession of a Meritorious Service Citation Certificate issued by the Commander-in Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. (The Certificates had to be exchanged for the Purple Heart.)
Those authorized by Army regulations to wear wound chevrons. (These men also had to apply for the new award.)
The newly reintroduced Purple Heart was not intended primarily as an award for those wounded in action -- the “wound chevron” worn by a soldier on his sleeve already fulfilled that purpose. Establishing the Meritorious Service Citation as a qualification for receiving the Purple Heart was very much in keeping with General Washington's original intent for the award.
Purple Heart (reverse)
However, authorizing the award in exchange for “wound chevrons” established the now familiar association of the award with injuries sustained in battle. This was reinforced by Army regulations, which stated that the award required a "singularly meritorious act of fidelity service" and that "a wound which necessitates treatment by a medical officer and which is received in action with an enemy, may, in the judgment of the commander authorized to make the award, be construed as resulting from a singularly meritorious act of essential service."
Until Executive Order 9277 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in December 1942 authorized award of the Purple Heart to personnel from all of the military services (retroactive to December 7, 1941), the medal was exclusively an Army award. The Executive Order also stated that the Purple Heart was to be awarded to persons who “are wounded in action against an enemy of the United States, or as a result of an act of such enemy, provided such would necessitate treatment by a medical officer.”
In November 1952, President Harry S. Truman issued an Executive Order extending eligibility for the award to April 5, 1917, to coincide with the eligibility dates for Army personnel.
President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11016 in April 1962 that further extended eligibility to "any civilian national of the United States, who while serving under competent authority in any capacity with an armed force…, has been, or may hereafter be, wounded" and authorized posthumous award of the medal.
Executive Order 12464 signed by President Ronald Reagan in February 1984, authorized award of the Purple Heart as a result of terrorist attacks or while serving as part of a peacekeeping force subsequent to March 28, 1973. The 1998 National Defense Authorization Act removed civilians from the list of personnel eligible for the medal.
The Purple Heart is ranked immediately behind the bronze star and ahead of the Defense Meritorious Service Medal in order of precedence.
Possession of the Purple Heart medal does not by itself qualify veterans for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation. However, since November 1999, Purple Heart recipients have been placed in VA's enrollment priority group 3, unless eligible for the higher priority groups (1 or 2) based on service-connected disabilities. Recipients are also exempt from co-payments for VA hospital care and medical outpatient care, but not from pharmacy co-payments for medications prescribed for non-service connected conditions.

Sources: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration; U.S. Army Center of Military History
http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/celebrate/purple-heart.asp

Trauma is Greek for wound. If they did not go into combat, no trauma caused by combat with the enemy. No trauma, no wound. Should be end of story, but I doubt it. It was not designed to be about a wound but about service to the nation. It became an award to acknowledge a wound caused by serving the nation. As such, being wounded in your mind, body and spirit, because of service in a time of war, this should qualify. The VA does not separate those who have a physical wound that can be seen against one that cannot be seen when they pay disability compensation ratings. They only deal with the severity of the wound.

Marine from Waterbury dies in Iraq

Marine from Waterbury dies in Iraq
May 31, 2008

Connecticut military deaths. May be updated.

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) _ A 21-year-old Marine from Waterbury has died during his first tour in Iraq, according to his family's pastor.

The military notified Christian Cotner's family on Friday about his death. Details about how and when he died had not been released Saturday, and the military had not publicly announced his death.

He is the 40th military member with ties to Connecticut who has died in Iraq and Afghanistan since U.S. operations began in those countries in 2003 and 2002, respectively. Two civilians from the state have also died.

The Cotner family's pastor, the Rev. Kenneth Frazier Jr. of the First Congregational Church of Waterbury, said Saturday that the family was too grief-stricken to make public statements, but planned to do so soon.

"They would like for the public to respect their grieving process and they will make themselves available at some point when they are ready and able," Frazier said.
go here for more
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--marinedeath0531may31,0,7401126.story

DoD Identifies Marine Casualty


The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Cpl. Christian S. Cotner, 20, of Waterbury, Conn., died May 30 from a non-hostile incident in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Wing Support Squadron 172, Marine Wing Support Group 17, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan.

The incident is currently under investigation.