Matt Bryant leads Bucs to emotional win
Sep 28, 2008 16:11 -0400
Updated: 55 minutes ago
A day after burying his 3-month-old son, Tampa Bay kicker Matt Bryant hit a 24-yard field goal with 2:26 to play, giving the Buccaneers the lead and pushing them to an emotional 30-21 home victory Sunday over the Green Bay Packers at sold-out Raymond James Stadium.
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Sunday, September 28, 2008
Gold Star Mother's Day needs to remember the suicides as well
How many mothers who have lost a son or daughter because of their service will not be remembered this day? How many will be left out of the "honor" others receive when a child is buried because they lost their lives in service to this nation?
If you think it's impossible for this to happen, it's happened hundreds of thousands of times, perhaps even millions of times since this nation formed. The sons and daughters lost because of the enemy within themselves. Post traumatic stress disorder, the wound no one can see with their eyes, has killed men and women with greater determination than any enemy could ever envision.
While we talk about the numbers on the Vietnam Memorial Wall, stunned by the loss, we refuse to acknowledge that hundreds of thousands of them took their own lives here back home where they were supposed to be safe and out of harms way. Could you imagine the size of the Vietnam Memorial Wall with hundreds of thousands of names on it? We also don't see the names of those who have died because of Agent Orange.
While we talk about the numbers of the loss of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan under 5,000 combined, we fail to acknowledge that there have been tens of thousands more who have ended their lives by suicide.
While I do not know if they allow parents of those who committed suicide to have the full honor as one who lost a child by a bullet or bomb, there are many in this country who believe that a suicide does not count as a loss due to service of this nation.
How many parents, wives, husbands and children are also left behind because someone they loved was willing to lay down their lives for the sake of this nation but came home, wounded by PTSD and lost hope enough that they saw their own way out of the pain they felt from this wound? Their way out was to end the life. They died as a result of this wound no less than those who have died as a result of a wound someone could see with their eyes.
We need to acknowledge all of the men and women who have lost their lives because of their service to this nation or we do not honor the loss at all.
We need to take action to save as many of them as we can and help them to heal this wound. If we do not, if we do not count all of them, take care of them, we have honored none of them.
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
Shortly after World War I the Gold Star Mothers Club was formed in the United States to provide support for mothers that lost sons or daughters in the war. The name came from the custom of families of servicemen hanging a banner called a Service Flag in the window of their homes. The Service Flag had a star for each family member in the military. Living servicemen were represented by a blue star, and those who had lost their lives were represented by a gold star. Gold Star Mothers are often politically and socially active. Today, membership in the Gold Star Mothers is open to any American woman who has lost a son or daughter in service to the United States. On the last Sunday in September, Gold Star Mother's Day is observed in the U.S. in their honor. USC Title 36 Sec. 111 The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Star_Mothers_Club
If you think it's impossible for this to happen, it's happened hundreds of thousands of times, perhaps even millions of times since this nation formed. The sons and daughters lost because of the enemy within themselves. Post traumatic stress disorder, the wound no one can see with their eyes, has killed men and women with greater determination than any enemy could ever envision.
While we talk about the numbers on the Vietnam Memorial Wall, stunned by the loss, we refuse to acknowledge that hundreds of thousands of them took their own lives here back home where they were supposed to be safe and out of harms way. Could you imagine the size of the Vietnam Memorial Wall with hundreds of thousands of names on it? We also don't see the names of those who have died because of Agent Orange.
While we talk about the numbers of the loss of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan under 5,000 combined, we fail to acknowledge that there have been tens of thousands more who have ended their lives by suicide.
Natural mothers, adoptive mothers or stepmothers, who are citizens or legal residents of the United States or of the territorial and insular possessions of the United States, and whose son or daughter has made the supreme sacrifice while in the service of the United States of America Armed Forces, or died as a result of such service are eligible for membership in American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.
http://www.goldstarmoms.com/Join/Requirements/Requirements.htm
While I do not know if they allow parents of those who committed suicide to have the full honor as one who lost a child by a bullet or bomb, there are many in this country who believe that a suicide does not count as a loss due to service of this nation.
How many parents, wives, husbands and children are also left behind because someone they loved was willing to lay down their lives for the sake of this nation but came home, wounded by PTSD and lost hope enough that they saw their own way out of the pain they felt from this wound? Their way out was to end the life. They died as a result of this wound no less than those who have died as a result of a wound someone could see with their eyes.
We need to acknowledge all of the men and women who have lost their lives because of their service to this nation or we do not honor the loss at all.
We need to take action to save as many of them as we can and help them to heal this wound. If we do not, if we do not count all of them, take care of them, we have honored none of them.
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
What Happens When We Die?
This is a fascinating article in the sense that it misses much of what is obvious to religious people.
Scientist fail to see that the "mind" is not really what they think it is. The human brain is not capable of doing what science thinks it can. Just as we say that people "have a good heart" the heart is only an organ that pumps blood. It does not feel, it is not touched by love and does not cause acts of kindness. The mind is not what feels the treasured memories it holds. It does not form character. It miss-functions. It is taken off balance by chemical changes. It is hereditably/genetically damaged but the character comes from another place within each of us. Emotion is translated in the mind but it does not originate there. All of this begins and ends in Heaven.
Our soul, the soul that lives within each and every human comes from Heaven and will return to Heaven when these bodies are no longer alive. When the mind and heart shut down, the love, compassion, a beliefs live on within the soul.
We have proof of this in the Bible itself.
In Genesis we read "God breathed life" into Adam. The body was already formed but the life was the soul that God sent into the body of Adam.
The "you" is not the body but the soul. The soul formed in Heaven by God and sent to live within the body. The "life" that God breathed into Adam was the soul and Adam was already "alive" but without soul before that.
When scientist do not understand that we are not just what the see with their eyes and tests and machines, they will be more able to understand what makes us who/what we are.
Yesterday I had a very interesting conversation with a veteran. Clearly he was deeply troubled and PTSD was evident before he confirmed it. He said that he hated God. That God was evil because of what He refuses to do when men do evil things. When children suffer and starve all over the world and evil people seem to be rewarded. He said that there is no good in this world so in his mind, God is evil.
During our conversation I asked him what he thought God was doing when Christ surrendered His life on the cross, taking the world of sins upon Himself and being abandoned by His Father. He tried to change the subject but I could see he was thinking of this for the first time.
God couldn't have done what He did if there was any evil in God. The perception that God controls all is disproved when we read that God formed mankind the same way the angels were formed, with freewill. God did not want to force worship or obedience on anyone. Because of this, man is free to choose what they will or will not do. When people refuse to do good, God is blamed instead of Satin. Christ did not come to do evil upon this earth. Each act was done with love, compassion and mercy. Christ did this knowing that His life would end the way it did yet lived out His days filled with the glory of God's love for all of His children. If we believe that Christ did in fact come, did in fact do the acts reported in the Bible, did in fact suffer and die for our sake, then how could we ever think that God is evil?
The veteran began to think of what I was saying. I don't know how much of what I said got through to him but time will tell.
Veterans have a very difficult time dealing with their need to serve as being something good, yet having to do what they see as evil in order to do what they see as good. Serving the country, being willing to die for the sake of others, is the noblest calling, no matter if it is a veteran, a police officer or firefighter or anyone else willing to lay aside their own lives for the sake of others. They tend to look at all people the same way. There is the enemy they fight on one side and their counterparts on their side, but each has their own ability to be evil or good. Some say that those who serve are evil because they are willing to kill, but if you ask any veteran if they enjoyed killing it would take a sociopath to say they did. It is something they have to do because here is evil in this world.
God created a warrior before He created man and that was the Archangel Michael. God knew that freewill would have some turn away from Him just as some turned toward Him. There would have to be protectors for the faithful.
This does not mean that God created wars but created man with freewill to wage wars and blame God for all of them. Did God send men to wage wars? Some of them just as some of them were not what God wanted but what some men wanted claiming to have been God's will. This has never been more clear than the decision to invade Iraq when President Bush said during a presidential debate that " It's God's will that all men be free" but there has never been a case in the Bible when God said that all men shall be free but only that they have freewill. God and Christ addressed slaves and how to treat them. Even the Roman centurion had compassion for his servant when He went to Christ asking that he be healed.
When abolitionists sought to free the slaves in America, they did this with compassion seeing them as God's children living up to the ideals of the formation of this nation that all men are created equal. Yet again people went to war doing what they believed in. The southerners, who wanted to keep slaves did not see themselves as evil but the northerners did and visa versa. There were evil acts just as there were heroic acts on both sides. While their minds convinced them they were on the right side, it was not their minds that gave them the ability to be willing to lay down their lives for what they believe in. That came from their soul and what they believed God wanted of them. Still what this also involved for some was that God was supporting one side over another. Thinking God chooses sides when all of His children are involved because there were cases in the Bible when God did pick sides, wipes out the personal relationship with God. This is where we mess things up the most.
It is easy to hate and see someone as an enemy. It gives us the ability to no longer see them as another imperfect human trying to do the best they can with what they've been given. It's harder to try to understand them, find compassion for them, hold off judgment of them and see them as other people with the soul from God within them.
After studying veterans with PTSD there is a common factor within the majority of them. They are caring people, sensitive of others. This is one of the basic factors in compelling them to want to help, protect and serve. That willingness comes from deep within their foundation. When they think of risking their lives for others, this is foremost in their thoughts. They are not thinking of killing another human as the first thought. They see saving others as their first thought. What comes after is what wounds them.
When scientists finally understand that the mind is not the origin of this wound, they will begin to find the way to help them heal. If they continue to misunderstand what makes all of us human, ignoring the soul, they will prolong the suffering.
They need to all come together with the other researchers studying the connection between the soul of faith and the healing of the body to fully understand what connects all the parts of us together.
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
What Happens When We Die?
By Ashley Neglia
Is the mind an extension of the brain or its own entity?
The relationship of the mind to the body has been a debate that’s raged on for centuries. Dr. Sam Parnia, critical care doctor, director of the Human Consciousness Project and author of “What Happens When We Die,” seeks to settle this debate through AWARE (AWAreness during Resuscitation), a division of the Human Consciousness Project. Find out what Parnia had to say when AOL Health sat down with him for an interview.
go here for more
http://www.aolhealth.com/health/what-happens-when-we-die/1
Scientist fail to see that the "mind" is not really what they think it is. The human brain is not capable of doing what science thinks it can. Just as we say that people "have a good heart" the heart is only an organ that pumps blood. It does not feel, it is not touched by love and does not cause acts of kindness. The mind is not what feels the treasured memories it holds. It does not form character. It miss-functions. It is taken off balance by chemical changes. It is hereditably/genetically damaged but the character comes from another place within each of us. Emotion is translated in the mind but it does not originate there. All of this begins and ends in Heaven.
Our soul, the soul that lives within each and every human comes from Heaven and will return to Heaven when these bodies are no longer alive. When the mind and heart shut down, the love, compassion, a beliefs live on within the soul.
We have proof of this in the Bible itself.
In Genesis we read "God breathed life" into Adam. The body was already formed but the life was the soul that God sent into the body of Adam.
Jeremiah 1
4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
The "you" is not the body but the soul. The soul formed in Heaven by God and sent to live within the body. The "life" that God breathed into Adam was the soul and Adam was already "alive" but without soul before that.
When scientist do not understand that we are not just what the see with their eyes and tests and machines, they will be more able to understand what makes us who/what we are.
Yesterday I had a very interesting conversation with a veteran. Clearly he was deeply troubled and PTSD was evident before he confirmed it. He said that he hated God. That God was evil because of what He refuses to do when men do evil things. When children suffer and starve all over the world and evil people seem to be rewarded. He said that there is no good in this world so in his mind, God is evil.
During our conversation I asked him what he thought God was doing when Christ surrendered His life on the cross, taking the world of sins upon Himself and being abandoned by His Father. He tried to change the subject but I could see he was thinking of this for the first time.
God couldn't have done what He did if there was any evil in God. The perception that God controls all is disproved when we read that God formed mankind the same way the angels were formed, with freewill. God did not want to force worship or obedience on anyone. Because of this, man is free to choose what they will or will not do. When people refuse to do good, God is blamed instead of Satin. Christ did not come to do evil upon this earth. Each act was done with love, compassion and mercy. Christ did this knowing that His life would end the way it did yet lived out His days filled with the glory of God's love for all of His children. If we believe that Christ did in fact come, did in fact do the acts reported in the Bible, did in fact suffer and die for our sake, then how could we ever think that God is evil?
The veteran began to think of what I was saying. I don't know how much of what I said got through to him but time will tell.
Veterans have a very difficult time dealing with their need to serve as being something good, yet having to do what they see as evil in order to do what they see as good. Serving the country, being willing to die for the sake of others, is the noblest calling, no matter if it is a veteran, a police officer or firefighter or anyone else willing to lay aside their own lives for the sake of others. They tend to look at all people the same way. There is the enemy they fight on one side and their counterparts on their side, but each has their own ability to be evil or good. Some say that those who serve are evil because they are willing to kill, but if you ask any veteran if they enjoyed killing it would take a sociopath to say they did. It is something they have to do because here is evil in this world.
God created a warrior before He created man and that was the Archangel Michael. God knew that freewill would have some turn away from Him just as some turned toward Him. There would have to be protectors for the faithful.
This does not mean that God created wars but created man with freewill to wage wars and blame God for all of them. Did God send men to wage wars? Some of them just as some of them were not what God wanted but what some men wanted claiming to have been God's will. This has never been more clear than the decision to invade Iraq when President Bush said during a presidential debate that " It's God's will that all men be free" but there has never been a case in the Bible when God said that all men shall be free but only that they have freewill. God and Christ addressed slaves and how to treat them. Even the Roman centurion had compassion for his servant when He went to Christ asking that he be healed.
When abolitionists sought to free the slaves in America, they did this with compassion seeing them as God's children living up to the ideals of the formation of this nation that all men are created equal. Yet again people went to war doing what they believed in. The southerners, who wanted to keep slaves did not see themselves as evil but the northerners did and visa versa. There were evil acts just as there were heroic acts on both sides. While their minds convinced them they were on the right side, it was not their minds that gave them the ability to be willing to lay down their lives for what they believe in. That came from their soul and what they believed God wanted of them. Still what this also involved for some was that God was supporting one side over another. Thinking God chooses sides when all of His children are involved because there were cases in the Bible when God did pick sides, wipes out the personal relationship with God. This is where we mess things up the most.
It is easy to hate and see someone as an enemy. It gives us the ability to no longer see them as another imperfect human trying to do the best they can with what they've been given. It's harder to try to understand them, find compassion for them, hold off judgment of them and see them as other people with the soul from God within them.
After studying veterans with PTSD there is a common factor within the majority of them. They are caring people, sensitive of others. This is one of the basic factors in compelling them to want to help, protect and serve. That willingness comes from deep within their foundation. When they think of risking their lives for others, this is foremost in their thoughts. They are not thinking of killing another human as the first thought. They see saving others as their first thought. What comes after is what wounds them.
When scientists finally understand that the mind is not the origin of this wound, they will begin to find the way to help them heal. If they continue to misunderstand what makes all of us human, ignoring the soul, they will prolong the suffering.
They need to all come together with the other researchers studying the connection between the soul of faith and the healing of the body to fully understand what connects all the parts of us together.
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
John McCain calls taking care of veterans a "burden"
While McCain had the nerve to repeat his tired old line of how much he cares about veterans, the truth is shown in his votes. The post on The Bruce Blog is right on what it claims about McCain. I've been reading about all of this for years, almost as long as McCain has been in the Senate.
McCain enjoyed education provided by the VA/Government and because tax payers believed it was a non-negotiable debt we owed those willing to serve. He enjoyed VA disability benefits, again because tax payers believed taking care of the veterans was a priority our conscience would not allow us to ignore. While McCain never had to worry about having his medical care taken care of, paying bills or working in the private sector, or dealing with anything our veterans face on a daily basis, he was never concerned with the condition of their lives.
While McCain has about 9 homes and 13 cars, too many of our veterans have no home and sleep in their one car. McCain's answer to his abundance is reminding people that "he had no home" when he was a POW. This statement is his answer for everything regarding veterans and his votes against their needs. While veterans simply assume he deserves their support simply because he is one of them, McCain has never earned that right. How is it that every other politician has been held accountable by veterans but McCain gets a free pass to do damage to them?
Veterans are a loyal bunch. They want to take care of each other because they have a commitment to each other. They are not stupid but their hearts refuse to look at McCain's record of votes against them. Is it so hard to believe they would be so deplorably betrayed by one of their own?
America can no longer afford to ignore the facts that cannot be spun. We cannot afford to believe false claims that have been proven to be false while the media stars ignore it all and just let these kind of statements pass as if they were true. They have an obligation to report facts. The veterans in this country deserve it and were willing to die for it. They did not risk their lives to be lied to especially by someone they trusted as one of their own.
When I hear McCain say how much he supports veterans it makes me ill. How this man can get up and lie to the American people as easily as he tells the truth means his conscience is so twisted and corrupted that he can never be trusted by anyone. He hasn't earned the support he gets from veterans and should have been held to a higher standard because he is one of us. Veterans and their families deserve a lot more out of him but he's failed us every time he's had the chance to prove how he feels about veterans in this country.
McCain enjoyed education provided by the VA/Government and because tax payers believed it was a non-negotiable debt we owed those willing to serve. He enjoyed VA disability benefits, again because tax payers believed taking care of the veterans was a priority our conscience would not allow us to ignore. While McCain never had to worry about having his medical care taken care of, paying bills or working in the private sector, or dealing with anything our veterans face on a daily basis, he was never concerned with the condition of their lives.
While McCain has about 9 homes and 13 cars, too many of our veterans have no home and sleep in their one car. McCain's answer to his abundance is reminding people that "he had no home" when he was a POW. This statement is his answer for everything regarding veterans and his votes against their needs. While veterans simply assume he deserves their support simply because he is one of them, McCain has never earned that right. How is it that every other politician has been held accountable by veterans but McCain gets a free pass to do damage to them?
Veterans are a loyal bunch. They want to take care of each other because they have a commitment to each other. They are not stupid but their hearts refuse to look at McCain's record of votes against them. Is it so hard to believe they would be so deplorably betrayed by one of their own?
America can no longer afford to ignore the facts that cannot be spun. We cannot afford to believe false claims that have been proven to be false while the media stars ignore it all and just let these kind of statements pass as if they were true. They have an obligation to report facts. The veterans in this country deserve it and were willing to die for it. They did not risk their lives to be lied to especially by someone they trusted as one of their own.
When I hear McCain say how much he supports veterans it makes me ill. How this man can get up and lie to the American people as easily as he tells the truth means his conscience is so twisted and corrupted that he can never be trusted by anyone. He hasn't earned the support he gets from veterans and should have been held to a higher standard because he is one of us. Veterans and their families deserve a lot more out of him but he's failed us every time he's had the chance to prove how he feels about veterans in this country.
McCain won’t give up on the idea of privatization, even as new funding for veterans’ care has been made available. According to a report last month by Inter Press Service, McCain called for privatizing veterans’ medical care and for ending universal health care for veterans.
Describing these guaranteed services as a “burden,” McCain stated that privatized care would be more efficient.
click post title for link to this
Two Canadians hurt during outpost attack in Afghanistan
Two Canadians hurt during outpost attack in Afghanistan
Tom Blackwell , Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, September 28, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Two Canadian soldiers were hurt, one of them seriously, when Taliban insurgents attacked an outpost west of Kandahar City on Saturday with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
One of the soldiers has been released from hospital, and the other is in stable condition but will be transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
"I just came from speaking with him. The soldier is in very good spirits," said Colonel Jamie Cade, deputy commander of Canada's mission in Kandahar. "He's going to be OK."
click post title for more
linked from ICasualties.org
Tom Blackwell , Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, September 28, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Two Canadian soldiers were hurt, one of them seriously, when Taliban insurgents attacked an outpost west of Kandahar City on Saturday with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
One of the soldiers has been released from hospital, and the other is in stable condition but will be transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
"I just came from speaking with him. The soldier is in very good spirits," said Colonel Jamie Cade, deputy commander of Canada's mission in Kandahar. "He's going to be OK."
click post title for more
linked from ICasualties.org
Teen survives, 4 killed in medevac crash
Teen survives, 4 killed in medevac crash
Story Highlights
Medevac helicopter crashes on way to hospital; 4 dead
Teenage patient survives the crash and is taken to hospital
Pilot said he was diverting around bad weather before radio contact was lost
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A medical evacuation helicopter crashed in suburban Washington late Saturday night, leaving four people dead, a Prince George's County Fire Department spokesman said.
The Maryland State Police helicopter was en route to Prince George's Hospital with two patients who had been critically injured in a Charles County, Maryland, car crash.
The copter went down in the Ritchie, Maryland, area, spokesman Mark Brady said.
The pilot, a paramedic, an emergency medical services technician and one of the patients were killed, he said.
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/28/medivac.crash/index.html
Story Highlights
Medevac helicopter crashes on way to hospital; 4 dead
Teenage patient survives the crash and is taken to hospital
Pilot said he was diverting around bad weather before radio contact was lost
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A medical evacuation helicopter crashed in suburban Washington late Saturday night, leaving four people dead, a Prince George's County Fire Department spokesman said.
The Maryland State Police helicopter was en route to Prince George's Hospital with two patients who had been critically injured in a Charles County, Maryland, car crash.
The copter went down in the Ritchie, Maryland, area, spokesman Mark Brady said.
The pilot, a paramedic, an emergency medical services technician and one of the patients were killed, he said.
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/28/medivac.crash/index.html
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Congress Passes Sweeping Veterans' Mental Health Legislation
Congress Passes Sweeping Veterans' Mental Health Legislation
Akaka notes that bill is a tribute to Justin Bailey, an Iraq War veteran lost to suicide
By Jesse Broder Van Dyke, 9/27/2008 11:37:38 AM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, expressed great satisfaction with Senate passage of S. 2162, a sweeping veterans’ mental health care bill. S. 2162, the Veterans Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008, passed the Senate today by unanimous consent. The bill makes various improvements to veterans’ mental health care and other forms of health care, and is a tribute to Iraq war veteran Justin Bailey.
“Justin’s story is far too common: he survived the war in Iraq only to be lost to PTSD and substance abuse-related suicide,” said Akaka. “Invisible wounds such as PTSD are an injury - and an enemy - that many veterans face when they return home from war. This bill will provide better mental health support for our wounded warriors.”
S. 2162’s improvements to veterans’ mental health care include:
Setting a standard minimum level of care for substance use disorder, and creating innovative enhancements to treatment
Improving treatment to veterans with multiple disorders, such as PTSD and substance use disorder
Mandating a review of VA’s residential mental health care facilities, to ensure that they are adequately staffed
Creating a research program on PTSD and substance use disorder, in cooperation with the National Center for PTSD
Enabling VA to provide mental health services to veterans’ families, and setting up a program to aid the families of returning servicemembers
click post title for more
Text of this Bill
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-s2162/text
Akaka notes that bill is a tribute to Justin Bailey, an Iraq War veteran lost to suicide
By Jesse Broder Van Dyke, 9/27/2008 11:37:38 AM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, expressed great satisfaction with Senate passage of S. 2162, a sweeping veterans’ mental health care bill. S. 2162, the Veterans Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008, passed the Senate today by unanimous consent. The bill makes various improvements to veterans’ mental health care and other forms of health care, and is a tribute to Iraq war veteran Justin Bailey.
“Justin’s story is far too common: he survived the war in Iraq only to be lost to PTSD and substance abuse-related suicide,” said Akaka. “Invisible wounds such as PTSD are an injury - and an enemy - that many veterans face when they return home from war. This bill will provide better mental health support for our wounded warriors.”
S. 2162’s improvements to veterans’ mental health care include:
Setting a standard minimum level of care for substance use disorder, and creating innovative enhancements to treatment
Improving treatment to veterans with multiple disorders, such as PTSD and substance use disorder
Mandating a review of VA’s residential mental health care facilities, to ensure that they are adequately staffed
Creating a research program on PTSD and substance use disorder, in cooperation with the National Center for PTSD
Enabling VA to provide mental health services to veterans’ families, and setting up a program to aid the families of returning servicemembers
click post title for more
Text of this Bill
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-s2162/text
4-legged prescription for veterans' stress
4-legged prescription for veterans' stress
John Koopman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Abelardo Rosas served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He'd been hit by 13 improvised bombs, suffered head trauma and was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
A couple of months ago, he barely spoke to anyone. He was sullen and surly and not responding to treatment at the PTSD clinic at the Veterans Affairs health center in Menlo Park.
Then he met Vegas, a sweet, good-natured golden retriever with a shiny coat and sad eyes.
Rosas had volunteered to participate in a pilot program - veterans at the clinic would train canines to become assistance dogs to aid disabled veterans, those who had lost limbs or are confined to wheelchairs.
Something about the dog touched Rosas. He'd grown up with dogs; he has seven of his own back in Texas. He's the kind of guy who picks up strays from the side of the road. When he had to take care of Vegas, and learn to train him, his emotions re-emerged.
"He has a constant need for attention," Rosas said of Vegas. "You can't ignore him. All I want to do is hang out with Vegas."
Rosas is one of nine veterans at the clinic who have been learning to train the dogs as part of a program called "Paws for Purple Hearts." The program is the brainchild of Rick Yount, a trainer with the Assistance Dog Institute of Santa Rosa.
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John Koopman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Abelardo Rosas served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He'd been hit by 13 improvised bombs, suffered head trauma and was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
A couple of months ago, he barely spoke to anyone. He was sullen and surly and not responding to treatment at the PTSD clinic at the Veterans Affairs health center in Menlo Park.
Then he met Vegas, a sweet, good-natured golden retriever with a shiny coat and sad eyes.
Rosas had volunteered to participate in a pilot program - veterans at the clinic would train canines to become assistance dogs to aid disabled veterans, those who had lost limbs or are confined to wheelchairs.
Something about the dog touched Rosas. He'd grown up with dogs; he has seven of his own back in Texas. He's the kind of guy who picks up strays from the side of the road. When he had to take care of Vegas, and learn to train him, his emotions re-emerged.
"He has a constant need for attention," Rosas said of Vegas. "You can't ignore him. All I want to do is hang out with Vegas."
Rosas is one of nine veterans at the clinic who have been learning to train the dogs as part of a program called "Paws for Purple Hearts." The program is the brainchild of Rick Yount, a trainer with the Assistance Dog Institute of Santa Rosa.
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Jamie Dolan survived being shot
Claims and denials
Jamie Dolan survived being shot. And the new house reduced his struggle. He has learned to live in darkness, but he struggles with an enemy as unexpected as the gunman: His insurance company.
ST. PETERSBURG
Jamie Dolan arrives at a Starbucks clutching his wife's arm and the first thing you notice is he seems fragile, weighted, broken. His left eye is covered with a patch; his fingernails are long. Four years ago, a gunman walked into the Gateway Mall RadioShack where Dolan worked and started shooting. Three people died, including the shooter. One bullet traveled into Dolan's temple and took out both his eyes.
The community rallied around the young husband and father of three. The television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition built him a 3,500-square-foot home. The episode ended with a joyful, overwhelmed Dolan surrounded by family, cheered by his neighbors, optimistic about the future.
But he is no longer the man you saw on the show. Since then, the Dolans have almost lost the house, and the community donations are long spent.
"We had to borrow from everyone we knew to keep food on the table for the kids," Dolan says at Starbucks, surrounded by his four attorneys.
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Jamie Dolan survived being shot. And the new house reduced his struggle. He has learned to live in darkness, but he struggles with an enemy as unexpected as the gunman: His insurance company.
ST. PETERSBURG
Jamie Dolan arrives at a Starbucks clutching his wife's arm and the first thing you notice is he seems fragile, weighted, broken. His left eye is covered with a patch; his fingernails are long. Four years ago, a gunman walked into the Gateway Mall RadioShack where Dolan worked and started shooting. Three people died, including the shooter. One bullet traveled into Dolan's temple and took out both his eyes.
The community rallied around the young husband and father of three. The television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition built him a 3,500-square-foot home. The episode ended with a joyful, overwhelmed Dolan surrounded by family, cheered by his neighbors, optimistic about the future.
But he is no longer the man you saw on the show. Since then, the Dolans have almost lost the house, and the community donations are long spent.
"We had to borrow from everyone we knew to keep food on the table for the kids," Dolan says at Starbucks, surrounded by his four attorneys.
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McWounded: John McCain and PTSD
McWounded: John McCain and PTSD
In the first Presidential debate, Senator John McCain exhibited an emotionally flat "shutdown" response when he did not appear irritable and cross. He refused to make eye contact with Obama, favored grandstanding over dialogue, and stated that he would refuse to come to the table with world leaders who don't agree with him. If in place of the Paris Peace Talks, Henry Kissinger, McCain's hero, had displayed similar attitudes back in the 1970's, we might still be in Vietnam.
McCain's posturing has a mothball whiff, like the contents of a time capsule from the 1950's. But before we renew our subscription to that particular brand of leadership and heroism, let's take a closer look.
Back in the 1950's, children of the Great Generation fathers found their Dads to be cold, angry, unknowable, and/or out-of-touch. What we didn't know then but do know now is that in the aftermath of World War II, many brave men who saw intense action came back from the war to start families still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) --a then-misunderstood illness that will endure life-long if left untreated. A hair-trigger temper, impulsive behavior, numbed emotions, disassociated responses, and flat expression are all hallmarks of this real disease.
The person's original traumatic experience (and their neurological response to it) become hardwired into the body, causing ongoing deterioration in key areas of the brain. In PTSD, to protect itself from the external dangers, the body will neurologically freeze or over-activate or both, releasing a cascade of neurochemicals and hormones that shut down many normal responses and functions for the sake of survival. Once the dangers pass, the responses still continue permanently.
click link for more
I don't know if McCain has PTSD or not but he does show there is a possibility he has it. 100% of people who have been tortured develop PTSD, at different levels, so it is very possible he does have it, but that is not the most troubling thing about McCain to me. The most troubling fact, what I know for sure, is that McCain was tortured, but ended up approving of Bush torturing detainees under what he called anything but out and out torture. It was clear this was being done and now, McCain admitted it was being done in the debate with Obama, then added that he didn't approve of it.
McCain said he supports veterans, but has not been on the Senate Veterans Committee and in fact, voted against veterans funding bills for most of his career. Service organizations give McCain a failing grade when it comes to what veterans need and real support.
McCain voted against the dwell time between deployments all experts said was needed for the sake of the troops. Yet again, McCain put his views ahead of the troops and what they needed.
McCain loves to remind people he is a veteran but is never reminded of the fact he was supported by tax payer funds to go to college and was treated for his wounds along with collecting a disability check every month. Checks and treatment he can count on but others can't.
These are the things I find more troubling about McCain than the conclusion most people are making about his mental fitness to head this nation.
In the first Presidential debate, Senator John McCain exhibited an emotionally flat "shutdown" response when he did not appear irritable and cross. He refused to make eye contact with Obama, favored grandstanding over dialogue, and stated that he would refuse to come to the table with world leaders who don't agree with him. If in place of the Paris Peace Talks, Henry Kissinger, McCain's hero, had displayed similar attitudes back in the 1970's, we might still be in Vietnam.
McCain's posturing has a mothball whiff, like the contents of a time capsule from the 1950's. But before we renew our subscription to that particular brand of leadership and heroism, let's take a closer look.
Back in the 1950's, children of the Great Generation fathers found their Dads to be cold, angry, unknowable, and/or out-of-touch. What we didn't know then but do know now is that in the aftermath of World War II, many brave men who saw intense action came back from the war to start families still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) --a then-misunderstood illness that will endure life-long if left untreated. A hair-trigger temper, impulsive behavior, numbed emotions, disassociated responses, and flat expression are all hallmarks of this real disease.
The person's original traumatic experience (and their neurological response to it) become hardwired into the body, causing ongoing deterioration in key areas of the brain. In PTSD, to protect itself from the external dangers, the body will neurologically freeze or over-activate or both, releasing a cascade of neurochemicals and hormones that shut down many normal responses and functions for the sake of survival. Once the dangers pass, the responses still continue permanently.
click link for more
I don't know if McCain has PTSD or not but he does show there is a possibility he has it. 100% of people who have been tortured develop PTSD, at different levels, so it is very possible he does have it, but that is not the most troubling thing about McCain to me. The most troubling fact, what I know for sure, is that McCain was tortured, but ended up approving of Bush torturing detainees under what he called anything but out and out torture. It was clear this was being done and now, McCain admitted it was being done in the debate with Obama, then added that he didn't approve of it.
McCain said he supports veterans, but has not been on the Senate Veterans Committee and in fact, voted against veterans funding bills for most of his career. Service organizations give McCain a failing grade when it comes to what veterans need and real support.
McCain voted against the dwell time between deployments all experts said was needed for the sake of the troops. Yet again, McCain put his views ahead of the troops and what they needed.
McCain loves to remind people he is a veteran but is never reminded of the fact he was supported by tax payer funds to go to college and was treated for his wounds along with collecting a disability check every month. Checks and treatment he can count on but others can't.
These are the things I find more troubling about McCain than the conclusion most people are making about his mental fitness to head this nation.
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