Court to focus on vet substance issues

Court to focus on vet substance issues

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 1, 2008 7:01:36 EST

TULSA, Okla. — A proposed new Veterans Treatment Court in Tulsa will focus on people with military backgrounds who are experiencing alcohol or drug addiction.

The therapeutic court program represents an opportunity to “give back to the people who have stood for us,” Tulsa County Special District Judge Sarah Smith said.

“I feel like it is an honor to be able to offer some assistance to veterans who need help to get back on their feet,” Smith said.

A specialized focus on treating veterans opens the door to additional resources available through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies that would not be available for a program dealing with nonveterans.

Under the umbrella of the well-established Tulsa County Drug Court, the court will deal with people who are accused of nonviolent felony offenses and who have substance-abuse issues.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_veteranstreatmentcourt_120108/

Some vets exploring Chinese healing for PTSD

While it is easier to understand PTSD is not one size fits all when it comes to different levels of it, or "level of cuts" I often discuss, the treatment is not one size fits all either. Different medications work differently person to person. Doctors understand this and if a medication is not working, they try something else. It is the same with therapy. There needs to be a wide variety of treatments to use just as there are a wide variety of medications. If something is not working for you, talk to your doctor and your therapist so that they can try something else. Mention this and see if they think it could be right for you.

Some vets exploring Chinese healing

By Carol Ann Alaimo - Arizona Daily Star via The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 1, 2008 7:17:25 EST

TUCSON, Ariz. — Can ancient Chinese healing rites help Iraq war veterans cope with combat trauma?

A Tucson-area therapist believes they can, and is offering free treatments for local Iraq vets to test an approach that involves tapping on the acupuncture points used in Chinese medicine.

The Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, relatively little known and not widely embraced in traditional therapy circles, has been used to successfully treat crime victims, disaster responders and witnesses to the World Trade Center attacks, according to recent articles in psychology and traumatology journals.

It also is being used to treat troops for combat stress at a handful of veterans’ hospitals around the country, though not in Tucson.

Mary Stafford of Oro Valley is one of a dozen or so therapists nationwide taking part in a clinical trial of the method to assess its effectiveness on returning veterans.

Stafford, who has used the technique for a decade, is approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors to teach it to other therapists.

“This is a counselor’s dream because of how quickly it works and how much you can help people,” Stafford said.

She and other practitioners say the technique takes the sting out of trauma memories, in some cases after years of traditional therapy could not.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_chinesemedicine_120108/

Kingsport veteran closer to proving he has Gulf War Syndrome

Kingsport veteran closer to proving he has Gulf War Syndrome
Published 11/30/2008 By Rick Wagner


KINGSPORT — Gulf War veteran Todd Sanders and his family are looking forward to less uncertainty this holiday season than last year.

His blackouts, as recounted in a Kingsport Times-News article in August 2007, have grown worse, and he still has issues with short-term memory and getting too hot.

However, he qualified in September for Social Security disability almost two years after applying and 16 years after his military service, from 1987 to 1992, ended.

Sanders, age 42, believes he may be close to proving he has Gulf War Syndrome, something he’s believed for more than two years.

“We’re looking a lot better than we were the last time (the newspaper interviewed them),” said his wife, Paula Sanders.

And the disabled automobile mechanic said the biggest victory to date for him and others who served in the Gulf War in the early 1990s is that the federal government a few weeks ago acknowledged the existence of Gulf War Syndrome. Sanders hopes to prove next month he has the syndrome from his military service so he can receive military disability and Veterans Administration medical care for himself and his wife.

He likened the delay to the 20 years it took for the federal government to acknowledge the ill health effects of Agent Orange on Vietnam War veterans.

“They’ve (federal officials) finally acknowledged it,” Todd Sanders said during a recent interview. “Even though they’ve owned up to it ... you still have to prove your case.”

The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illness compared the foot-dragging and denials to the treatment of earlier troops who claimed that they had been dangerously exposed to Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides in Vietnam and to radiation during World War II.

In both cases, the claims turned out to be true.
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http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9009258

Aaron Glantz's new book takes a look at when War Comes Home

"A must-read for anyone who wants to make the phrase, 'Support the Troops,' more than a slogan."--Former US Senator Max Cleland

The War Comes Home is the first book to systematically document the U.S. government's neglect of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Aaron Glantz, who reported extensively from Iraq during the first three years of this war, interviewed more than one hundred recent war veterans, and here he intersperses their haunting first-person accounts with groundbreaking investigative journalism. This timely book does more than provide us with a personal connection to those whose service has cost them so dearly. It compels us to confront how America treats its veterans and to consider what kind of nation deifies its soldiers and then casts them off as damaged goods.
http://www.aaronglantz.com/

Attack on soldier by police caught on CCTV

Mr Aspinall, who returned from Afghanistan in February and was working his notice in the Army at the time of the attack, told the Sunday Mirror: "I went into the Army thinking this country was worth fighting for. I put my life on the line every day in Afghanistan, so to come back and be treated like this for no reason was just so depressing."

Attack on soldier caught on CCTV

An investigation has been launched into two police officers and a special constable who were caught on camera attacking a soldier.

CCTV footage shows Lance Corporal Mark Aspinall being punched on the floor by one officer while under restraint from two others.

Mr Aspinall, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was set upon after a night out in his home town of Wigan, Lancashire, in July. He was then charged and convicted on two counts of attacking police officers - until last week when he won an appeal at Liverpool Crown Court.

The turnaround has sparked an investigation with one officer's duties already restricted.

Terry Sweeney, Assistant Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, said: "Greater Manchester Police's professional standards branch is investigating the conduct of the officers on the Wigan division.

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