DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt 1st Class Miguel A. Wilson, 36, of Bonham, Texas, died Nov. 21 in Abu Sayf, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a rescue attempt of another soldier while their unit was conducting a dismounted reconnaissance mission. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.
The incident remains under investigation.
Injured veterans engaged in new combat
Dixon Family
Marine Cpl. James Dixon in Iraq.
In a little-noticed regulation change, the Pentagon's definition of combat-related disabilities is narrowed, costing some wounded veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits.
By David Zucchino
5:56 PM PST, November 24, 2008
Marine Cpl. James Dixon was wounded twice in Iraq -- by a roadside bomb and a land mine. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, a concussion, a dislocated hip and hearing loss. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Army Sgt. Lori Meshell shattered a hip and crushed her back and knees while diving for cover during a mortar attack in Iraq. She has undergone a hip replacement and knee reconstruction and needs at least three more surgeries.
In each case, the Pentagon ruled that their disabilities were not combat-related.
In a little-noticed regulation change in March, the military's definition of combat-related disabilities was narrowed, costing some injured veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits -- and triggering outrage from veterans' advocacy groups.
The Pentagon said the change was consistent with Congress' intent when it passed a "wounded warrior" law in January. Narrowing the combat-related definition was necessary to preserve the "special distinction for those who incur disabilities while participating in the risk of combat, in contrast with those injured otherwise," William J. Carr, deputy undersecretary of Defense, wrote in a letter to the 1.3-million-member Disabled American Veterans.
The group, which has called the policy revision a "shocking level of disrespect for those who stood in harm's way," is lobbying to have the change rescinded.
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"This is a place where intolerance is not tolerated," Malmberg said.
I know this from experience. Two of my closest friends have committed suicide as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, and many more have suffered terribly for years. My SAS troop, 7 Troop, was never more than 12-strong, so we knew each other very well. Frank Collins and Nish Bruce were a bit older than me and they became my heroes. I operated with both of these men in South East Asia, as well as under cover in Northern Ireland. Frank eventually left the SAS, got ordained into the Anglican Church and became an Army Padre.
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Study: PTSD rates higher for troops who kill
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 22, 2008 12:51:21 EST
CHICAGO — New research presented at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies shows post-traumatic stress disorder rates are higher in service members who have had to kill someone.
Shira Maguen, health sciences assistant clinical professor at the University of California, began her research when she realized that the Vietnam vets she treated at the San Francisco VA Medical Center were “really struggling with taking another life,” she said, adding that they often told her: “Killing really changed me.”
She started hearing the same complaint from veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but found “there’s not much discussion” about the issue in VA and Pentagon research. She and her colleagues decided to look into past research to see if there was a correlation between those who had killed and those who had mental health issues. They found that killing is “strongly predictive of PTSD.”
She talked to 259 veterans involved in the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, and found that if a person had killed someone, they were 3½ times more likely to have symptoms of PTSD than someone who hadn’t killed.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/military_ptsdkill_112208w/
Subject:
New Yorker Magazine interview
Date:
7/9/2008 6:02:58 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From:
billfinn@rcn.com
Reply To:
To:
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Please give me a call or drop me an email if you might be willing to chat.
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William Finnegan
Staff Writer The New Yorker Magazine 4 Times Square New York, NY 10036 USA
Sergeant Travis Triggs: Driven over the edge
Times Online - UK
A US soldier tried to drive himself and his brother over the rim of the Grand Canyon. When that failed, he blew their brains out. What did the war do to Sergeant Travis Twiggs?
William Finnegan
When the Twiggs brothers got to the Grand Canyon, on May 12, Willard called his girlfriend, a married woman in Louisiana, on Travis’s mobile phone. She had to see the canyon someday, he said. “It will make the hair on your arms stand up.” A few minutes later, driving east along the South Rim past a spot called Twin Overlooks, Travis took a sharp left and drove his Toyota Corolla straight towards the 5,000ft drop. The Corolla jumped over the kerb, but did not take the plunge. It got caught in a small fir tree clinging just below the rim.
Travis and Willard Twiggs were not in trouble with the law. Willard, 38, was a former maritime-logistics specialist in New Orleans. He had been working in construction, intermittently, since Hurricane Katrina. Travis, 36, was a Marine Corps staff sergeant, a decorated combat veteran with one tour of duty in Afghanistan and four tours in Iraq. In January 2008 he had created a minor stir by writing an article about his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the Marine Corps Gazette.
Twiggs emphasised his recovery; he soon found himself working with a new unit, the Wounded Warrior Regiment, spreading the word about the treatment and prevention of PTSD. In late April, he met President Bush at the White House. Rather than shake the president’s hand, Twiggs bear-hugged him, proclaiming: “Sir, I’ve served over there many times — and I would serve for you any time.”
Three weeks later, he tried to drive into the Grand Canyon. Witnesses said the brothers behaved oddly after the crash. They tried to reverse the Toyota out of the tree branches but could gain no traction. They did not want anyone to call for help. One seemed interested only in finding his cigarettes. They put on backpacks, said they were going to continue with their plans, and set off on foot before park rangers arrived. More likely, they went across the road and waited in the scrubby conifer forest while the rangers cleared the wreck.
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Laney Cope and her father, Joshua, test the water in the pool at their new Oakland home this week. (Gary W. Green, Orlando Sentinel)
