Campaign TALK BACK!
The U.S. Department of Transportation released new regulations under the Air Carrier Access Act on May 7, 2008. The new regulations require Psychiatric Service Dog handlers to notify the airlines 48 hours in advance every time they fly with their Service Dog. Additionally, handlers must submit a mental healthcare provider’s letter at least 48 hours in advance of travel that discloses they are mentally ill, explains the handler’s need for a Psychiatric Service Dog, provides evidence of the clinician’s status as a licensed mental health professional, and attests to the fact that the handler is his/her patient. No other disability group is subject to these new rules. In fact, the new regulations state explicitly that airlines are prohibited from requiring documentation from any disabled Service Dog handler, unless the individual has a mental health disability.
STIGMA
The Air Carrier Access Act is a federal civil rights law that is intended to remedy “…discriminatory, inconsistent and unpredictable treatment’ of air travelers with disabilities….” Nonetheless, DOT has decided that persons living with mental health disabilities who utilize a Service Dog in order to manage their disability must be controlled, identified, and otherwise discriminated against, selectively and systematically. In the press release that accompanied DOT’s release of the Final Rules, the U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said, “This revised rule expands the protections people with disabilities will enjoy while traveling by air”. It appears that Ms. Peters is either sleeping on the job or something sinister is brewing at DOT. Since when, in the post civil rights era of the United States, is it acceptable to single-out an entire class of disabled persons and impose restrictive measures selectively upon them in the name of ‘preventing potential abuse’ as the DOT claims these new regulations will do?
STIGMA
The Psychiatric Service Dog Society is collecting written statements from those who will be directly affected by these new rules. We encourage all Psychiatric Service Dog handlers to send us an email expressing your outrage and horror at the selective oppression these new regulations represent. In the name of ‘preventing potential abuse’ the U.S. Department of Transportation has abrogated its legal responsibility to uphold the Air Carrier Access Act, a major civil rights law. You may remember it from a long time ago.
STIGMA
Please ‘Talk Back’ to DOT in regards to the new regulations. Include your full name and snail mail address. All testimony will be presented to DOT officials in the near future. Please refrain from using slang or profanity in your correspondence. It undermines our collective efforts. Let the Psychiatric Service Dog Society be your VOICE in Washington, DC. Stay tuned for further updates.
Download the New Air Carrier Access Regulations Here (PDF)
Read pages182-209
On June 3, 2008, DOT sponsored a public forum for disability advocates so that they could learn about the new Air Carrier Access Act regulations. Dr. Joan Esnayra represented PSDS and the views of the PSD handler community to the panel of DOT experts on stage. Prior to the forum invitees were asked to submit written questions that they wanted addressed at the forum. PSDS submitted the document below. At the forum, DOT answered none of our submitted questions. Additionally, none of our objections to the new regulations were considered in earnest.
Download the Questions for DOT Forum Here (PDF)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
PTSD? It's normal to be strange
by
Chaplain Kathie
When fires claimed the lives of over 170 in Australia at last count, the media was reporting on the survivors facing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Recently we've been reading about what's been happening in New Orleans and the survivors of Hurricane Katrina facing everyday with the aftermath long after the cameras and reporters had returned home. We still read about the survivors of 9-11 in New York City and what they've been going through. In cities and towns across America and the rest of the world, local stories focus on survivors of tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods, mudslides, mass murders, violent crimes and terrorist attacks. The aftermath of all of these traumatic events is all too often PTSD. To have the events change you is normal considering what you survived and where you came from. The only problem is, the only other people your wound is normal to are other survivors of traumatic events. They are the only people capable of understanding what you're dealing with.
PTSD is a normal reaction to abnormal events. It's as simple as that. When a town is hit by a tornado, the town right next to it is left untouched. They will never know what it was like to see everything wiped out in a matter of seconds. They will remember the tornado coming into the area and the immediate sense of urgency worrying about it hitting them, but they walk away after with everything they had still there. They do not look over their shoulder every time the same kind of cloud appears in the sky or worry about where the rest of their family is at every moment of the day. They do not obsess about weather reports or weep going shopping to replace the things they lost wondering how they will pay for any of it while they try to rebuild their lives. They cannot understand why you "freak out" every time you see lightning bolts.
When you happen to be a combat veteran you are just as strange as a gorilla in a zoo to the rest of the people passing by. With a population of over 300 million in America, you are a rarity among only 24 million veterans and even less of them are combat veterans. If you happen to have been wounded by what you endured and have PTSD, you are even more rare but it's all normal to others with PTSD and the people that were where you came back from. Among other PTSD veterans, you are normal. If you are standing next to someone that never deployed into combat zones, you may look the same as they do, wear the same uniform, but what is inside of you, your memories and the changes that developed are something they will never fully understand. They will never know where you came from.
You could be back home and having a reunion with the members of your unit, talking about people you knew, events that happened and wonder why it seems they walked away untouched by all of it. They seem to enjoy telling stories about funny events almost as if they can't remember that your buddy lost a limb or how many were shipped back to the states with a flag draped coffin. When you remember them, a tear comes as your heart sinks deeper with the weight of the pain remembering them. If you mention their name, you notice the mood of the veteran you're talking to suddenly changes and they change the subject or end the conversation entirely. It's not that they didn't care but they couldn't care at the same depth you did.
There are some people that put themselves first. It's just the way they are. They are self-centered. They are the kind of people that will somehow always manage to turn any conversation into one focused on them. Then there are the middle kind of person that will care about others as well as themselves but never manage to grasp the emotional tug of someone else's pain. Then there is the type that you are. You are the kind of person heroes are usually made of. Most of you were the type of kid that would find a bird with a broken wing and rushed back to the house to take care of it. If the bird died, you'd hold a funeral for it as if the bird had been a part of your life for years instead of a day.
As a teenager, you had enough courage in you to take on the school bully when he was going after a tiny kid. You always seemed to rush to help someone else while your friends wanted to walk away. Helping was all normal to you but strange to them. Something they may have respected in you but never seemed to manage to understand why you were the way you were.
Being sensitive is a part of you and because of it, because you could feel the pain of someone else, you ended up with all of it wounding your spirit. You took on their pain within you. Over and over again as you saw the traumatic events of combat before your own eyes, each time it dug deeper and deeper inside of you. You still found the courage to do your duty, watch out for your brothers risking their lives and risked your own life for their sake. Later you found it very hard to understand that being courageous and sensitive were all part of what made you, you. You began to doubt if you were tough enough, brave enough or had enough courage to overcome it but that's because you misunderstand exactly what courage is and see being sensitive as a sign of weakness.
Courage is what compels us to set ourselves aside and put others first as humans. Firefighters have it within them to rush into burning buildings to save the life of someone else or even to save the life of a pet dog or cat. Police officers have it within them to be able to face off with a criminal who cares nothing for the life of someone else knowing it could be their moment to die in the line of duty. They have the courage to chase another car, pull them over and walk up to the driver knowing they could pull out a gun and kill them without hesitation. Warriors have that same courage. It gives you the ability to be willing to lay down your own life for the sake of someone else. Some of your brothers or sisters in the military are more self-centered than you are. They seem to have the ability to shrug off what happened while you carry it away with you because you have the ability to feel it all more deeply.
Just as you feel pain more deeply you also had the ability to feel good things more deeply. I tell the story often of my husband. I had watched him dying a slow death, trying to kill off feelings he did not want to feel at the same time he also killed off the feelings that were good. He began to heal with therapy and medication after years of suffering. While PTSD is still in him and the dark days still come along with nightmares and flashbacks, he is able to appreciate good things now as well. He will go out to the deck of our pool and scream for me to come and see the sunset lighting up the sky with spectacular dashes of color. Other people, well they would just look at the same sunset and forget about it without being touched by the wonder of it.
When it comes to walking away from traumatic events, especially in combat, you are normal considering where you came from if you are touched by it, wounded by it within you because you have the ability to feel things more deeply, good as well as bad. You are only strange to people that have never been like you.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Australia fire death toll hits 173
Sheer scale of bushfire devastation revealed as death toll rises
News-Medical.net - Sydney,Australia
Published: Monday, 9-Feb-2009
As Australians come to terms with the sheer scale of the destruction from the fires in Victoria, on an almost hourly basis the grisly search for survivors uncovers more victims.
Even though Australia has a lengthy history of coping with and surviving natural disasters, including bushfires, this latest catastrophe has stunned and shaken the country.
This time the scale and speed of the fires has shocked all involved and as the death toll climbs to 173 and the grim devastation is revealed, authorities warn that worse is yet to come.
According to the police 35 people have died at Kinglake, 26 at Strathewen and 22 in St Andrews, north of Melbourne and the Country Fire Authority (CFA) says the bodies have been found in several fire zones and spread through a number of areas and the numbers of fatalities are expected to rise throughout the day.
Experts warn that the fires remain a threat and alerts have been issued concerning the Yea-Murrindindi fire, which has broken containment lines along the eastern side of Black Ridge and residents around Healesville, Yarra Glen and Chum Creek, north-east of Melbourne and Toolangito have been alerted for heavy ember attack from the bushfires.
click link for more
News-Medical.net - Sydney,Australia
Published: Monday, 9-Feb-2009
As Australians come to terms with the sheer scale of the destruction from the fires in Victoria, on an almost hourly basis the grisly search for survivors uncovers more victims.
Even though Australia has a lengthy history of coping with and surviving natural disasters, including bushfires, this latest catastrophe has stunned and shaken the country.
This time the scale and speed of the fires has shocked all involved and as the death toll climbs to 173 and the grim devastation is revealed, authorities warn that worse is yet to come.
According to the police 35 people have died at Kinglake, 26 at Strathewen and 22 in St Andrews, north of Melbourne and the Country Fire Authority (CFA) says the bodies have been found in several fire zones and spread through a number of areas and the numbers of fatalities are expected to rise throughout the day.
Experts warn that the fires remain a threat and alerts have been issued concerning the Yea-Murrindindi fire, which has broken containment lines along the eastern side of Black Ridge and residents around Healesville, Yarra Glen and Chum Creek, north-east of Melbourne and Toolangito have been alerted for heavy ember attack from the bushfires.
click link for more
As bad as the PTSD rate is now, it's due to get a lot worse
Of the many conversations I've had with Paul about PTSD and what we're facing, this is one of topics that seems to shock the most people. Over a year ago, I said we would be looking at a million with PTSD from Iraq and Afghanistan, but I also offered a warning. It depended on when both occupations ended what the end result would be.
First and foremost, I take all of this very seriously, as if my life depended on it simply because it does. I live with PTSD in my house because it came home with my husband buried deep inside of him when he came home from Vietnam. By the time we met, he had undiagnosed PTSD for 11 years. For the last 26 years I've read everything that has come out about this wound. I can tell you that the data was already pointing to catastrophic outcomes of Vietnam veterans with PTSD by 1978 when the study commissioned by the DAV had found 500,000. Even back then they also offered a dire warning that those numbers would rise over the next ten years. But that was assuming the VA would do the work of letting the veterans know what PTSD was, assuming they would notify the veterans that there was help to heal and that it was not anything they did wrong and they were not tough enough to cope. What they didn't say in the study was that 30 years later, they would still see these veteran entering into the VA system for the first time.
All the VA and the DOD had to do was take a serious look at the numbers from Vietnam veterans to know what they should expect the outcome to be. The data of the suicides was done a few years after this study in the early 90's and later. The data of the homeless was available as well as the incarcerated veterans for issues spanning from drugs to murder, most of them could have been tied to PTSD but no one ever connected the dots.
There is only one difference between then and now and it frightens the hell out of me just thinking about it. As bad as the numbers were for Vietnam veterans, there is a catch this time. Each redeployment increases the risk of PTSD by 50%. Most of these men and women are pulling multiple tours and a lot of them are members of the National Guards and Reservists returning home to isolation. They also face another factor with the backlog of claims, claims denied and appeals to file for only adding to all the stress they are under.
The usual rate of PTSD is 1 out of 3, about 30% of people exposed to traumatic events. With these redeployments over and over again, it would not shock me if next year there was a figure of 80% of the men and women deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan. There have already been over 1.7 million deployed. Yes, that means over a million in the near future and we're far from the end of either occupation. Naturally these numbers as bad as they are do not even begin to address secondary PTSD which is caused by living with someone with PTSD and the traumatic situations that arise in households across the nation.
This is from Paul Sullivan. He hasn't given up on getting this right either. Thank God he is doing he does because most of what the media is reporting on is because of his efforts to find out.
First and foremost, I take all of this very seriously, as if my life depended on it simply because it does. I live with PTSD in my house because it came home with my husband buried deep inside of him when he came home from Vietnam. By the time we met, he had undiagnosed PTSD for 11 years. For the last 26 years I've read everything that has come out about this wound. I can tell you that the data was already pointing to catastrophic outcomes of Vietnam veterans with PTSD by 1978 when the study commissioned by the DAV had found 500,000. Even back then they also offered a dire warning that those numbers would rise over the next ten years. But that was assuming the VA would do the work of letting the veterans know what PTSD was, assuming they would notify the veterans that there was help to heal and that it was not anything they did wrong and they were not tough enough to cope. What they didn't say in the study was that 30 years later, they would still see these veteran entering into the VA system for the first time.
All the VA and the DOD had to do was take a serious look at the numbers from Vietnam veterans to know what they should expect the outcome to be. The data of the suicides was done a few years after this study in the early 90's and later. The data of the homeless was available as well as the incarcerated veterans for issues spanning from drugs to murder, most of them could have been tied to PTSD but no one ever connected the dots.
There is only one difference between then and now and it frightens the hell out of me just thinking about it. As bad as the numbers were for Vietnam veterans, there is a catch this time. Each redeployment increases the risk of PTSD by 50%. Most of these men and women are pulling multiple tours and a lot of them are members of the National Guards and Reservists returning home to isolation. They also face another factor with the backlog of claims, claims denied and appeals to file for only adding to all the stress they are under.
The usual rate of PTSD is 1 out of 3, about 30% of people exposed to traumatic events. With these redeployments over and over again, it would not shock me if next year there was a figure of 80% of the men and women deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan. There have already been over 1.7 million deployed. Yes, that means over a million in the near future and we're far from the end of either occupation. Naturally these numbers as bad as they are do not even begin to address secondary PTSD which is caused by living with someone with PTSD and the traumatic situations that arise in households across the nation.
This is from Paul Sullivan. He hasn't given up on getting this right either. Thank God he is doing he does because most of what the media is reporting on is because of his efforts to find out.
Feb 9, VCS Publishes Report About VA Based on FOIA Research: 'Looking Forward - The Status and Future of VA'
VCS Staff
Veterans for Common Sense
Feb 09, 2009
For Immediate Release: February 9, 2009Contact: Paul Sullivan (202) 558-4553paul@veteransforcommonsense.org
VA Data Reveals New High of 400,000 Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran PatientsVA Needs Accurate Forecasting to Handle Surge of Patients and Claims
February 9, 2009, Washington, DC - The number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans receiving treatment at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities skyrocketed from 13,000 to over 400,000 in the last four years, according to VA data obtained exclusively by Veterans for Common Sense (VCS).
Of the Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans treated by VA, nearly 178,000 were diagnosed with a mental health condition, including 105,000 diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The percentage of recent war veterans returning home with a mental health condition continues to climb steeply, from 14 percent in 2004 to 45 percent in 2008.
Despite the enormous growth in healthcare demand, VCS found little evidence that VA is correctly forecasting future demand among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. This could mean VA may be ill-equipped to handle a sharply increasing patient and disability claim load. An analysis by VCS indicates the number of veterans of these two wars receiving care from VA could soar to between 700,000 and one million within 10 years.
Read the full VCS report here.
VCS obtained dozens of VA reports using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) during the past two years. The VA data shows high rates of suicides and suicide attempts among younger veterans as well as growing incidents of drug use. VCS remains concerned that the backlog of disability claims at VA is more than 800,000, a figure that includes more than 50,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans’ claims. All veterans wait, on average, more than six months for an initial disability claim decision from VA. Of the 105,000 veterans diagnosed with PTSD by VA, only 42,000 receive disability benefits for PTSD.
“We can – and we must – do better speeding up the delivery of high-quality healthcare and benefits to our veterans,” said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense.
“The new administration should compel VA to more accurately and consistently forecast future demand to avoid lengthy delays. Our veterans are not in a position to wait a month to see a doctor or six months to receive disability benefits. Our veterans and their families deserve better, especially during the economic recession exacerbated by the two current wars.”
Our new VCS report, “Looking Forward – The Status and Future of VA,” contains many previously unreported VA statistics about Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. VCS documents the status of VA at the end of 2008 so the information can be used as a yardstick to measure VA performance during the next four years.
Read the full VCS report here.
About Veterans for Common Sense: VCS is a non-profit 501(c)3 based in Washington, DC. VCS and our 14,000 members provide advocacy and publicity about policies related to veterans’ healthcare, veterans’ disability benefits, national security, and civil liberties.
Westboro Baptist Church to protest Caylee Anthony's Memorial?
The same people showing up to protest at funerals for our service men and women plan to protest at a memorial for a murdered child? What is wrong with these people?
Kansas-based group to protest Caylee Anthony's memorial
Amy L. Edwards Sentinel Staff Writer
4:30 PM EST, February 9, 2009
Members of a controversial Kansas church known for protesting military funerals plan to picket Caylee Marie Anthony's memorial Tuesday.Westboro Baptist Church detailed its plans in a recent news statement, which concludes with the phrase "GOD HATES AMERICA."The Topeka church claims that U.S. troops killed in combat are God's punishment for a nation harboring homosexuals.Westboro Baptist Church is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Hard Evidence, Duty, Death Dishonor
Last night on Investigation Discovery Channel I watched this program. All I could think about was the movie In the Valley of Elah. But this wasn't a movie and the parents are real. The suffering of the soldiers coming back was real, as real as many are going thru today. If you ever want to know more about what some of them go thru, I really suggest you watch this program the next time it is on.
Parents of U.S. soldier blame unit members for murder
November 17th, 2003
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The body was almost a skeleton when
investigators found it, hidden in the woods for nearly four months
and so decomposed that knife marks etched in its bones were the
only way to tell the man had been stabbed.
Spc. Richard Davis had survived the war in Iraq, where he turned
25 during the march to Baghdad, only to be slain after celebrating
his homecoming at a topless bar near Fort Benning.
With the discovery of his body earlier this month came an even
more disturbing twist. The four men accused of turning on him with
fists and a blade, then hiding his body, had served beside him in
the same infantry unit.
Now the Army is on the defensive, accused by Davis’ family
of writing him off as AWOL instead of quickly investigating his
disappearance.
Some people are also questioning the investigators’
conclusion that the killing was simply the result of a brawl gone
bad, wondering if trauma from the battlefield could have led to
bloodshed at home.
48 Hours: Hard Evidence
Duty, Death, Dishonor
TV-14 (V), CC
In July of 2003, 25-year-old U.S. Army Specialist Richard Davis disappeared after celebrating his homecoming from Iraq with four army buddies. Nearly four months later, the four soldiers who were last seen with Davis were arrested
AP PHOTO Remy Davis and her husband hold a photo of their son U.S. Army Spc. Richard Davis.
Kate Green
Parents of U.S. soldier blame unit members for murder
November 17th, 2003
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The body was almost a skeleton when
investigators found it, hidden in the woods for nearly four months
and so decomposed that knife marks etched in its bones were the
only way to tell the man had been stabbed.
Spc. Richard Davis had survived the war in Iraq, where he turned
25 during the march to Baghdad, only to be slain after celebrating
his homecoming at a topless bar near Fort Benning.
With the discovery of his body earlier this month came an even
more disturbing twist. The four men accused of turning on him with
fists and a blade, then hiding his body, had served beside him in
the same infantry unit.
Now the Army is on the defensive, accused by Davis’ family
of writing him off as AWOL instead of quickly investigating his
disappearance.
Some people are also questioning the investigators’
conclusion that the killing was simply the result of a brawl gone
bad, wondering if trauma from the battlefield could have led to
bloodshed at home.
One hand in time of need works for AA, why not the DOD and the VA?
One hand in time of need works for AA, why not the DOD and the VA?
by
Chaplain Kathie
Being a Chaplain, especially an online Chaplain, can be very lonely as well as draining. I've cut back on the hours I do online from 16 back down to about 10. I couldn't keep up with the grueling pace anymore. As it is, I am a Chaplain 24/7. I never know where I'll be lead or who I will come into contact with that needs so spiritual help. It happens at the VA Clinic in Orlando. It happens in grocery stores, amusement parks and on the street when there is a car accident. It also happens in restaurants.
The other day, we took a tour of the Kennedy Space Center. (I posted about this with pictures) and we stopped for lunch at a sports bar on Merritt Island. They had just reopened that morning and they were having a rough time getting things to work right. The manager was making rounds going from table to table checking to make sure we were all happy. I could see he wasn't. I offered to say a prayer for him, the staff and the restaurant as well as the customers. He called over a few waitresses and the waitress we had for our table thought she had done something wrong because I had taken off my sweat shirt revealing my black Chaplain shirt with the official logo that looks like a sheriff's badge. I assured her that I was a Chaplain and not an officer. Most people spot the badge and not the word Chaplain right underneath. We joined hands as I prayed and a look of relief immediately came to the managers face.
The group of Chaplains I'm with in Brevard County call it the ministry of presence. Somehow just showing up in the middle of turmoil offers calmness. Often we don't have to say much of anything. Just being there to listen helps tremendously. This happens when I'm online and get emails from people that need to just be listened to.
It gets very hard when your life is falling apart. You wonder if anyone can hear you. If they cannot hear you, they cannot help you and hope fades, faith is tested to the breaking point and doubt takes over. We could be balling our eyes out in the middle of a crowded room, but if no one approaches us, we feel as if we are invisible to everyone as well as God. When things seem to be getting worse, no matter how hard or how much we pray, we wonder if God can see us, hear us, or we have been forgotten by Him as well. My own faith is tested and tried on a daily basis with my own personal problems. Mostly they are financial ones. It gets extremely hard to do what I do without financial support. I end up asking God why it is that I'm expected to help others if no help comes for us. Days on end with no help at all are like torture. Then a day comes when someone offers to help and I'm stunned. I know that God does in fact hear my pleas for help.
Often in the dark days of waiting for help, one of the Chaplains in my group sends out one of his daily devotionals and it hits me hard. Papa Roy did it again today.
We talk a lot about the fact so many of our troops and veterans are suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the wound of the warriors, because their need is so great. They are suffering from the same emotional turmoil we all do but their burden in added to by the simple fact they are serving others and suffering on top of it. If we, in our lives suffer while thinking of ourselves, think of how much it hurts when they have set themselves aside for the sake of others and suffer for doing so. They suffer for forfeiting their own needs and wants because they know they are needed by others. They wonder where their help is, where their heroes are, as they see hope slip away wondering why no help comes for them.
As you read about the suffering they go thru, the numbers are stunning but they don't see the vast flood of wounded. They see only themselves suffering in tremendous pain wondering why no one can see them. It is not until they begin to talk to others going thru the same trials and turmoil they see they are not alone. But what about between now and then? Who is there for them? Who is fighting for them and taking their burden upon their own shoulders for their sake? Do they get a Papa Roy sending out daily reminders of God's love for them when they need it the most? Do they get a phone call from someone in the DOD or the VA wanting to find out how they are, if they are doing ok or if they need anything? Is that too much to ask?
When people join Alcoholics Anonymous, they are put into contact with someone they can call when they need to talk or need support as well as someone that will call them to check on them. The troops and the veterans are not provided with anyone. In a perfect world, they have friends to care and watch over them but too often these friends have no idea what to say or do finding it virtually impossible to know the depth of the pain their friend is in. It's not that they don't want to understand. It's a matter of if they have not been in their place, they simply cannot grasp the complexity of the wound. How can a PTSD veteran gain strength from a clueless, although well meaning friend? They can't. They need someone to understand them and know what that kind of pain actually feels like.
Support groups are wonderful but too often they will go but feel unable to connect to a bunch of strangers. It takes the comfort of a person for many instead of a group so they don't feel lost in a crowd of other people suffering especially when they have it within them in their core to help others. They are then left with wanting to know "who is helping me" because instead of receiving they are yet again the one giving. They end up wondering if anyone can see them, see their pain and focus on them for a change. If God loves them then why doesn't God send someone to help them? If the government respects and appreciates their service, then why do they suffer without help? How can they trust anyone when no one can hear them?
They are not just suffering with the weight of the world on their shoulders, they suffer with claims denied and financial burdens they can do nothing about but somehow find the strength to keep fighting to have their claim honored and their wounds taken care of. They see their family under the financial strain begin to doubt them as they themselves lose hope of better days and prayers answered. Help does not come and hope does not come soon enough for too many. They cannot hold themselves up any longer and they take their own life. Why? Why when so many others have been thru the valley of despair could have comforted them do they feel so totally alone?
I know a lot of support groups out there and they are doing wondrous things but they do not offer one on one help the way AA does. This is what I want to see. I want to see a Papa Roy for every wounded service man and woman needing it. Is that too much to ask for them? You'd think that if the Army can get in contact with every soldier they want to deploy, they could do the same with every soldier they want to help. If the National Guards can mobilize individuals in emergencies and for deployments, they can do the same to help mobilize one person for the sake of another when they have an emergency or need help in a crisis. Is that too much to ask? What would it take to do this? It would only take the time to do it and the desire to do it for their sake.
If I, having tremendous faith in God and His ability, find myself so invisible in the darkest days of need, how can anyone expect them to endure if their own faith is weak and no one comes to help them? Believe me I struggle to hang onto hope and a reason to do what I feel I've been called to do more often than the rain comes into Central Florida. I need to be reminded that God does in fact know I'm still here and trying my best to do what is expected of me. Think of how they feel when no one comes to help them. If we offer one hand in their time of need, we not only help them heal, we help them to find a reason to live and we help their family find hope once more. Just think of that. Saving a warrior's life and his family at the same time you do what God said to do in the Ten Commandments when He said to love they neighbor as thyself. Time to move some mountains!
by
Chaplain Kathie
Being a Chaplain, especially an online Chaplain, can be very lonely as well as draining. I've cut back on the hours I do online from 16 back down to about 10. I couldn't keep up with the grueling pace anymore. As it is, I am a Chaplain 24/7. I never know where I'll be lead or who I will come into contact with that needs so spiritual help. It happens at the VA Clinic in Orlando. It happens in grocery stores, amusement parks and on the street when there is a car accident. It also happens in restaurants.
The other day, we took a tour of the Kennedy Space Center. (I posted about this with pictures) and we stopped for lunch at a sports bar on Merritt Island. They had just reopened that morning and they were having a rough time getting things to work right. The manager was making rounds going from table to table checking to make sure we were all happy. I could see he wasn't. I offered to say a prayer for him, the staff and the restaurant as well as the customers. He called over a few waitresses and the waitress we had for our table thought she had done something wrong because I had taken off my sweat shirt revealing my black Chaplain shirt with the official logo that looks like a sheriff's badge. I assured her that I was a Chaplain and not an officer. Most people spot the badge and not the word Chaplain right underneath. We joined hands as I prayed and a look of relief immediately came to the managers face.
The group of Chaplains I'm with in Brevard County call it the ministry of presence. Somehow just showing up in the middle of turmoil offers calmness. Often we don't have to say much of anything. Just being there to listen helps tremendously. This happens when I'm online and get emails from people that need to just be listened to.
It gets very hard when your life is falling apart. You wonder if anyone can hear you. If they cannot hear you, they cannot help you and hope fades, faith is tested to the breaking point and doubt takes over. We could be balling our eyes out in the middle of a crowded room, but if no one approaches us, we feel as if we are invisible to everyone as well as God. When things seem to be getting worse, no matter how hard or how much we pray, we wonder if God can see us, hear us, or we have been forgotten by Him as well. My own faith is tested and tried on a daily basis with my own personal problems. Mostly they are financial ones. It gets extremely hard to do what I do without financial support. I end up asking God why it is that I'm expected to help others if no help comes for us. Days on end with no help at all are like torture. Then a day comes when someone offers to help and I'm stunned. I know that God does in fact hear my pleas for help.
Often in the dark days of waiting for help, one of the Chaplains in my group sends out one of his daily devotionals and it hits me hard. Papa Roy did it again today.
Good morning Friends,
You can be
You can be fruitless and dying, or you can be fruitful and powerful. A lot of doubt comes into play when we are not walking close to God, when we are playing around with sin. James tells us, James 1:6-8 ...Ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. If your life is fruitless, your prayers also are powerless. On the other side of that coin, if you are walking mightily and fruitfully with God, then your prayers will be in accordance with His will. You will find that as your prayers are directed towards His will, they will always be granted to you. (Ron Daniels)
Mark 11:23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
You may wonder why you should say what God says in the Bible about you. First, God is looking for faith, and second, it is the Word planted in your life that will make you free. Speaking God's Word is a way of planting it in you. Yes, it can take faith to say what the Bible says about you. Especially when you don't feel like it and the circumstances don't agree, either. But we have to choose: will we rely on our feelings, or God's Word? Do we trust the circumstances more than God's Word?
Pray for our nation
Loving Lord, You call us into families and You often use our families to accomplish Your will in our lives—to instruct and nurture children, to care for our elderly and to give us glorious glimpses of Your great love for us. We praise and bless You for this marvelous plan, and for the joy and pleasure our families give us.
In God we trust: O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success.
Papa Roy
We talk a lot about the fact so many of our troops and veterans are suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the wound of the warriors, because their need is so great. They are suffering from the same emotional turmoil we all do but their burden in added to by the simple fact they are serving others and suffering on top of it. If we, in our lives suffer while thinking of ourselves, think of how much it hurts when they have set themselves aside for the sake of others and suffer for doing so. They suffer for forfeiting their own needs and wants because they know they are needed by others. They wonder where their help is, where their heroes are, as they see hope slip away wondering why no help comes for them.
As you read about the suffering they go thru, the numbers are stunning but they don't see the vast flood of wounded. They see only themselves suffering in tremendous pain wondering why no one can see them. It is not until they begin to talk to others going thru the same trials and turmoil they see they are not alone. But what about between now and then? Who is there for them? Who is fighting for them and taking their burden upon their own shoulders for their sake? Do they get a Papa Roy sending out daily reminders of God's love for them when they need it the most? Do they get a phone call from someone in the DOD or the VA wanting to find out how they are, if they are doing ok or if they need anything? Is that too much to ask?
When people join Alcoholics Anonymous, they are put into contact with someone they can call when they need to talk or need support as well as someone that will call them to check on them. The troops and the veterans are not provided with anyone. In a perfect world, they have friends to care and watch over them but too often these friends have no idea what to say or do finding it virtually impossible to know the depth of the pain their friend is in. It's not that they don't want to understand. It's a matter of if they have not been in their place, they simply cannot grasp the complexity of the wound. How can a PTSD veteran gain strength from a clueless, although well meaning friend? They can't. They need someone to understand them and know what that kind of pain actually feels like.
Support groups are wonderful but too often they will go but feel unable to connect to a bunch of strangers. It takes the comfort of a person for many instead of a group so they don't feel lost in a crowd of other people suffering especially when they have it within them in their core to help others. They are then left with wanting to know "who is helping me" because instead of receiving they are yet again the one giving. They end up wondering if anyone can see them, see their pain and focus on them for a change. If God loves them then why doesn't God send someone to help them? If the government respects and appreciates their service, then why do they suffer without help? How can they trust anyone when no one can hear them?
They are not just suffering with the weight of the world on their shoulders, they suffer with claims denied and financial burdens they can do nothing about but somehow find the strength to keep fighting to have their claim honored and their wounds taken care of. They see their family under the financial strain begin to doubt them as they themselves lose hope of better days and prayers answered. Help does not come and hope does not come soon enough for too many. They cannot hold themselves up any longer and they take their own life. Why? Why when so many others have been thru the valley of despair could have comforted them do they feel so totally alone?
I know a lot of support groups out there and they are doing wondrous things but they do not offer one on one help the way AA does. This is what I want to see. I want to see a Papa Roy for every wounded service man and woman needing it. Is that too much to ask for them? You'd think that if the Army can get in contact with every soldier they want to deploy, they could do the same with every soldier they want to help. If the National Guards can mobilize individuals in emergencies and for deployments, they can do the same to help mobilize one person for the sake of another when they have an emergency or need help in a crisis. Is that too much to ask? What would it take to do this? It would only take the time to do it and the desire to do it for their sake.
If I, having tremendous faith in God and His ability, find myself so invisible in the darkest days of need, how can anyone expect them to endure if their own faith is weak and no one comes to help them? Believe me I struggle to hang onto hope and a reason to do what I feel I've been called to do more often than the rain comes into Central Florida. I need to be reminded that God does in fact know I'm still here and trying my best to do what is expected of me. Think of how they feel when no one comes to help them. If we offer one hand in their time of need, we not only help them heal, we help them to find a reason to live and we help their family find hope once more. Just think of that. Saving a warrior's life and his family at the same time you do what God said to do in the Ten Commandments when He said to love they neighbor as thyself. Time to move some mountains!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Fort Carson continues bad behavior with deadly endings
When Graham took command of Carson, it didn't take long for me to change my mind about hoping he would turn around the deadly endings of the men and women in his command when they made it back home from combat. All the words I've been eating ever since have left a huge lump in my throat. Use the search at the top of this blog and find Fort Carson just to get some idea of how many problems were talking about. What all of this boils down to is that they can claim whatever they want but while we still have them being mistreated instead of treated, punished instead of provided with the mental health care they were promised, charge for "bad behavior" instead of helped, there will be many more they will have to answer to the families of. They still don't get it. I wonder if they will ever notice their own bad behavior has done more damage to the military than anything else ever could have?
Salon"The Death Dealers took my life!"
Salon - USA
Adam Lieberman tried to kill himself when he returned from Iraq. Only then did the Army take his mental health seriously.
Editor's note: This is the first story in a weeklong series called "Coming Home." Read an introduction to the series here; see photos of Heidi Lieberman painting over her son's suicide note, and a copy of the "Hurt Feelings Report," here.
By Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna
Feb. 9, 2009 FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The day before Halloween 2008, Army Pvt. Adam Lieberman swallowed handfuls of prescription pain pills and psychotropic drugs. Then he picked up a can of black paint and smeared onto the wall of his room in the Fort Carson barracks what he thought would be his last words to the world.
"I FACED THE ENEMY AND LIVED!" Lieberman painted on the wall in big, black letters. "IT WAS THE DEATH DEALERS THAT TOOK MY LIFE!"
Soldiers called Lieberman's unit, the 1st Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, the Death Dealers. Adam suffered serious mental health problems after a year of combat in Iraq. The Army, however, blamed his problems on a personality disorder, anxiety disorder or alcohol abuse -- anything but the war. Instead of receiving treatment from the Army for his war-related problems, Adam faced something more akin to harassment. He was punished and demoted for his bad behavior, but not treated effectively for its cause. The Army's fervent tough-guy atmosphere discouraged Adam from seeking help. Eventually he saw no other way out. Now, in what was to be his last message, he pointed the finger at the Army for his death.
click link for more
Right: Courtesy Heidi Lieberman
Army Pvt. Adam Lieberman attempted suicide on October 30, 2008, leaving a suicide note scrawled on the wall of his Fort Carson, Colorado barracks.
"You know," Heidi fired at Phelps, "I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that my son is being charged with defacing government property and you people are more concerned about your wall than my son," she stammered. Then she threatened, half jokingly, "I will paint that wall and make this stupidity go away."
Salon"The Death Dealers took my life!"
Salon - USA
Adam Lieberman tried to kill himself when he returned from Iraq. Only then did the Army take his mental health seriously.
Editor's note: This is the first story in a weeklong series called "Coming Home." Read an introduction to the series here; see photos of Heidi Lieberman painting over her son's suicide note, and a copy of the "Hurt Feelings Report," here.
By Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna
Feb. 9, 2009 FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The day before Halloween 2008, Army Pvt. Adam Lieberman swallowed handfuls of prescription pain pills and psychotropic drugs. Then he picked up a can of black paint and smeared onto the wall of his room in the Fort Carson barracks what he thought would be his last words to the world.
"I FACED THE ENEMY AND LIVED!" Lieberman painted on the wall in big, black letters. "IT WAS THE DEATH DEALERS THAT TOOK MY LIFE!"
Soldiers called Lieberman's unit, the 1st Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, the Death Dealers. Adam suffered serious mental health problems after a year of combat in Iraq. The Army, however, blamed his problems on a personality disorder, anxiety disorder or alcohol abuse -- anything but the war. Instead of receiving treatment from the Army for his war-related problems, Adam faced something more akin to harassment. He was punished and demoted for his bad behavior, but not treated effectively for its cause. The Army's fervent tough-guy atmosphere discouraged Adam from seeking help. Eventually he saw no other way out. Now, in what was to be his last message, he pointed the finger at the Army for his death.
click link for more
Military Family Loses Son , a Combat Vet and a HERO
When my daughter was young, she asked me what a hero was. I told her a hero is someone that puts themselves after others. She thought I meant that they were last in line. I told her, in a way, they were. They are all too often the last people in the world that consider themselves a hero. Thinking of others comes naturally to them. Feeling as if they should care about others before themselves, seems the right thing to do and many, far to many, never think twice about it.
More and more stories come out about the men and women wounded by PTSD and more and more, they have the common calling to rise above "self" and think of the greater good, of others, of what others need of them instead of what they need from others. Twenty-six years of reading their stories along with my own husband has removed the notion of "anecdotal" evidence of this. All anyone has to do is talk to them to know what I'm saying is true.
This same ability that allows them to be so unselfish, is also the reason they feel the pain so deeply they need help to heal but often find it hard to ask for help. Aside from the stigma of it that remains to this day, they are reluctant to think of themselves. Some feel they don't deserve to be helped instead of thinking they don't deserve to live with so much pain in them. They feel it all more deeply than others and they also have a sense of courage that goes far beyond normal human bravery. It is that desire to rush to help others they often overlook.
When they crash because of PTSD, they say that they are damaged, no longer brave, no longer helping anyone. They fail to see that when they were needed, they were there to answer the call and when they were out of danger, when others were out of danger, then and only then, their minds took over and the wound began to hurt.
Well here is one more story of a hero that did not need to die. A hero who put others before himself and one that carried the pain of others with them along with his own. How many of these heroes are we willing to lose before the people in charge are held accountable for failing them?
Military Family Loses Son , a Combat Vet and a HERO
By: Jan A. Igoe February 08, 2009
The Patriot Guard Riders who stood outside Goldfinch Funeral Home Beach Chapel in the rain on that gray Saturday afternoon had never met Larry "Curtis" Applegate. But they embraced him as one of their own.
A group of Coastal Carolina Blue Star Mothers, who have children serving in the military, came to console and support the family. They didn't know Applegate either, but they understood his family's grief and prayed it would never be theirs.
Applegate's heartbroken mother sobbed hysterically, clutching a photo of Curtis, her only son. Seated two pews away from the flag-draped coffin, she rocked back and forth as her husband tried in vain to ease her sorrow.
"I want my baby back," she cried. "I just want my baby."
The 27-year-old Army specialist, a decorated combat veteran stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., had come home to be buried next to his grandmother at Ocean Woods Cemetery in Myrtle Beach. Applegate was being treated for post-traumatic stress and doing well in the program, his superiors said. No one could explain why he took his own life.
Applegate's good friend and best man at his July 2007 wedding, Eric Shuping of Murrells Inlet, had just spoken to him days before. They were making plans to visit each other's families and everything sounded good - except for the killer headaches Applegate had been suffering since his deployment. click link for more
DOD:2 non-combat deaths in Iraq
02/08/09 MNF: MND-B Soldier dies in non-combat related incident
A Multi-National Division–Baghdad Soldier died from a non-combat related incident Feb. 8. The Soldier’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin
02/07/09 MNF: Soldier dies from non-combat related injury
A U.S. Soldier died as a result of a non-combat related injury near Balad Ruz, Iraq, Feb. 6. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense
A Multi-National Division–Baghdad Soldier died from a non-combat related incident Feb. 8. The Soldier’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin
02/07/09 MNF: Soldier dies from non-combat related injury
A U.S. Soldier died as a result of a non-combat related injury near Balad Ruz, Iraq, Feb. 6. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense
Why would the GOP want Obama to fail?
This coming from the very same people that told us their plan would lead to prosperity for the last eight years!!!!! We see where listening to them got us. Do they have a clue what they've done or the fact that if they really want Obama to fail, it also means they want America to fail just so they think they gain power by it?
Stimulus will lead to 'disaster,' senator says
Leading Republicans warned Sunday that the Obama administration's $800 billion-plus economic stimulus effort will lead to what one called a "financial disaster." full story
Come on now! Are they so greedy for power they don't care if they are taking us into the ashbin? The fire department is never cheered after the house burns to the ground. They are only cheered when they stop it from happening.
Stimulus will lead to 'disaster,' senator says
Leading Republicans warned Sunday that the Obama administration's $800 billion-plus economic stimulus effort will lead to what one called a "financial disaster." full story
Come on now! Are they so greedy for power they don't care if they are taking us into the ashbin? The fire department is never cheered after the house burns to the ground. They are only cheered when they stop it from happening.
William Beaumont Army Medical Center Put Patients At Risk
Mistake At William Beaumont Hospital Puts Thousands At Risk
Video: Derek Shore Reports: Doctor Weighs in On Patient Risk
Video: Derek Shore Reports: WBAMC Patients May Be At Risk
Story: William Beaumont Patients Possible Exposure; Doctor Weighs In
Derek Shore-KFOX News Reporter
Thursday, February 5, 2009 – updated: 11:18 am MST February 6, 2009
EL PASO, Texas -- William Beaumont Army Medical Center announced Thursday that 2,114 diabetic patients treated at the hospital may be at risk for contracting blood-borne illnesses.
"I would like to say that the staff of William Beaumont Army Medical Center deeply regrets that this situation has occurred," Col. Jim Baumchauk, of William Beaumont, said.
Hospital administrators told KFOX, diabetic patients at the hospital were being injected with insulin improperly. A medical injection pen was being used on more than one patient. Even though the needle was changed with each patient, there are fears the insulin reservoir may have contained diseases from past patients, which has sparked the fear of contamination.
click links for more
Video: Derek Shore Reports: Doctor Weighs in On Patient Risk
Video: Derek Shore Reports: WBAMC Patients May Be At Risk
Story: William Beaumont Patients Possible Exposure; Doctor Weighs In
Derek Shore-KFOX News Reporter
Thursday, February 5, 2009 – updated: 11:18 am MST February 6, 2009
EL PASO, Texas -- William Beaumont Army Medical Center announced Thursday that 2,114 diabetic patients treated at the hospital may be at risk for contracting blood-borne illnesses.
"I would like to say that the staff of William Beaumont Army Medical Center deeply regrets that this situation has occurred," Col. Jim Baumchauk, of William Beaumont, said.
Hospital administrators told KFOX, diabetic patients at the hospital were being injected with insulin improperly. A medical injection pen was being used on more than one patient. Even though the needle was changed with each patient, there are fears the insulin reservoir may have contained diseases from past patients, which has sparked the fear of contamination.
click links for more
Deploy, deny, dishonor, repeat. Vietnam to Afghanistan
The year listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall and other monuments is 1975. That was the year people assumed the dying stopped due to the Vietnam War. Oh, how very, very wrong they are. It's been suggested that if we were to count all the death associated with combat in Vietnam, between PTSD and Agent Orange, the Wall would have to be big enough to hold over 300,000 names, plus the names that have been acceptable combat related deaths.
The Vietnam War did not end when 1973 rolled around and documents were signed. As of this very day, they are still dying because of Vietnam. PTSD is still killing them as they succumb to the elements of life on the street homeless and abandoned. While they self-medicate. While they find themselves so hopeless, they can no longer find another reason to want to wake up tomorrow morning. While they run out of options as their claims are yet again denied and yet again they feel dishonored for their service to this nation. They die a slow death because they were exposed to the enemy in Vietnam and the enemy sent to Vietnam in the form of Agent Orange. Their children carry the chemicals within them and perhaps their children's children. All of this adding to the finally tally of Vietnam that is still not concluded.
There are quiet heroes all over this nation fighting for themselves, but also for every other veteran that has "borne" the wounds of battle and of combat with all it entailed. They fight for women that were raped by their own "brothers" in arms while they were deployed to tend to the wounded. They fight on. One more case of deploy, deny, dishonor and repeat.
I want you to meet one of them. She is a tiny terror! She's also very well known if you travel in Veteran's circles. Irish has gone to Washington several times to offer testimony on what she's been going thru but also brining testimonies of women and men that would not have had their stories heard otherwise. Most reporters say that Vietnam is old news and they are only interested in the newer veterans but as the saying goes, those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it. If they do not report on what is still happening to the veterans of Vietnam, then we will be facing the same problems thirty years from now with the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. As it is, between claims being denied, misdiagnosed PTSD, contaminations to toxic chemicals, along with everything we are failing these veterans for, it looks as if it will all be an endless nightmare for them.
This is the testimony Irish gave and I really want you to read it. Then understand as her claim is continually denied, documents lost, she has been suffering all these years but instead of just caring about herself and her own problems, she's been standing as a hero to others not as bold as she is.
Agnes “Irish” Bresnahan)testimony before VA disability commission
I came here today to address the total and intentional failure of the VA in
processing and approving service connected entitlements for women and men exposed to weapons of mass destruction in the performance of their military duties both stateside and overseas.
Exposed and lied to and denied proper medical attention. Unknowingly we women and men in uniform were used as experiments dating back to the 1950's exposing us to chemical agents which include but are not limited to PCB, mustard gas, nerve gas, seran gas and many other chemicals containing dioxin/Agent Orange.
I wish to address the VA's hierarchy’s constant, immoral and intentional denial of
service connected compensation and entitlements to veterans exposed to these
chemical agents and total disregard to the regulations pertaining to this exposure.
And to their widows/widowers and most of all the innocent, who bear our service, the
children and grandchildren who die from Agent Orange or those who lived and
bear the scars of their parents or grandparents service. The Agent Orange babies. I am one of those Agent Orange (Dioxin) victims, service connected, who have been denied entitlements, medical care and compensation. Diagnosed at Walter Reed Medical Hospital, on active duty, source of exposure identified as Fort McClellan, Alabama. Fort Ritchie, Maryland and Fort Drum, NY have also been identified as Agent Orange sites and I have served on these Installations also. I have had this poison of multiple chemical exposure, including Agent Orange, in my body since I was 20 years old and I will be 56 years old next month.
There is no such thing as Agent Orange... a colored stripe on a 55 gallon drum. Yet
there were many other colored stripes on Legislation: Carolyn Tyler hundreds of thousands of 55 gallon drums.
All had one thing, Dioxin. This is what is killing those who were exposed. And Dioxin
is why the reproductive systems of women and men in uniform pass on to our children
and grandchildren. Our DNA is mutated and our immune systems are compromised. Yes both for women and men and in many ways more for women.
The Dioxin, after traveling and destroying each and every organ of our bodies, takes
and destroys the reproductive system.
And I know the suffering of men who have bore this. But only in the past few months
have I come to understand so deeply the pain and sorrow that women in uniform
have suffered.
The medical conditions of Agent Orange do not discriminate. AO doesn't care where you were exposed. AO is an equal opportunity poison. I have the same brain
damage, nerve damage, bone disease, multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic pain,
chronic fatigue and a long list of other AO illnesses as anyone who served in Viet
Nam, Korea, Cambodia and Laos.
I have come here at a great financial expense, because the VA Commission does not post when it will be convening in advance. Those of us who come to be heard are unable to take advantage of hotel and airline discounted prices. This short notice of the hearings has precluded many from coming here today. These women and men who cannot be here today have asked that I bring their testimonies with me. I am honored to do so and request that these statements be read out loud and entered into the official record of these hearings.
I have been in a Leave Without Pay status since September 21, 2005 from my position
as a GS12/9 Computer System Analyst with the Department of the Treasury, Internal
Revenue Service, Andover, Massachusetts.
I have a pending reconsideration of Disability Retirement with the Office of
Personnel Management. As OPM required PAGE 8 THE FOUR FORTY EIGHTHE EIGHTER
causation of the Agent Orange diagnosis supported by clinical and scientific
evidence which" my doctors" used, the VA Hospital, Office of the Chief of Staff
advised him that he was advised by the legal department that he could not do that because it would amount to "expert testimony". Including my active duty and my IRS Federal Service, I have over 30 years of service. My position at the IRS was
eliminated due to a reduction in force and was a violation of OPM regulations and
laws that protect active duty disabled 30% or more, including the Viet Nam
Readjustment Act of 1974.
The Viet Nam Readjustment Act was the law that I was hired under at the IRS in
August of 1983. During the reduction in force, I was placed in a position and shift
that management knew that I could not physically do. The VA Hospital and Parkland Medical Center submitted letters to support my medical condition and my limitations. But they were ignored by all levels of management. My medical conditions worsened after 2 and a half days of working after the RIF stand up date of September 19, 2005. Since that date I have been homebound and require assistance from my friends and family in all aspects of daily routines. The only money I receive is the $870.00 VA compensation and much of that is used for medical services and medications which the VA will not provide or cover.
My military career came to an end as the physical pain, chronic fatigue, the multiple
chemical sensitivity, brain and nerve damage and other AO illnesses was so great that I could no longer do my job as a Combat Support Signal Officer. If not for
the exposure the Army would have been my career, as I loved being a soldier.
A civilian again and walking wounded and dying, My outward appearance remained
unchanged until 2001 when I went through "wasting again" and the Dioxin, which is
stored in fatty tissue, once again traveled through my body. Since my exposure,
internally my body raged with poison. Outside it appeared normal.
The challenge to find a good paying job, that I could perform with the chronic pain
and fatigue and other AO illnesses, took years. And I went from a GS 4 in 1983 and I
crawled my way in pain to a ladder position 7/9/11/12 Computer System Analyst. This was a job that I could do and excel in and I did and I received the maximum performance ratings for years.
Overcoming the physical obstacles of my AO illnesses with the pain. Never pain free
but manageable pain. Pain and fatigue was my motivation to work each day.
Every day that I went to work was another day that I lived and the Agent lost. I was
productive and had the dignity of a pay check and I was not a burden. On the
days and sometimes for a week, that I could not work, due to the pain, the Agent
did not win, I would tell myself that my body needed to rest and this is how it must
be.
All those who are chemically exposed must reach far into themselves to pull all
that is there and push away smells, visual memories of service and sounds that send
fear and hate to our minds and heart. To search our minds for words, to search for
the name of a common object or the name of a loved one or how to spell a simple word. We must work around the brain damage. How well it is done depends on where the brain damage is.
We must do this in order to survive and to function. And many do so and for those
that don't there is comfort for them in other veterans who understand. Been there,
done that. Then comes the VA, established by Abraham Lincoln, that the real battle
begins. And in many ways it is more painful then any battle ever fought. To have to beg and plead for their compensation and entitlements only to be told to prove it and the proof is ignored and rejected and slapped down. And when the entitlement is for a spouse or a child that the pain is so intense that it eats away the soul.
Those of us who have PTSD and the brain and nerve damage, which Admiral E.R.
Zumwalt Jr. stated in his classified report to the Secretary of the Department of
Veterans Affairs dated May 5,1990 and other writings of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt Jr...
the label of PTSD does not address the brain and nerve damage which is a significant attribution to PTSD, but rather the label of PTSD is a stigma of mental frailty and/or a personality defect and not a valid condition. PTSD carries a stigma which the VA and other government agencies have used to negate valid and life threatening conditions to prevent the filing of service connected illnesses.
Dealing with the VA will cause PTSD and I am serious about that because you go
back to every day that you served. For me it was back 36 years.
The VA assignment of 30% disability for central nervous system disorder, effective
June11, 1977, is not adequate nor was I given proper medical care for the other
illnesses which triggered other medical conditions, such as immune diseases and
disorders.
In 1994 I received the Agent Orange form letter from the VA which states that you
were exposed to herbicides and pesticides used in Viet Nam. (Agent Orange)
When I reopened my claim and filed for Degenerating Bone Disease and Disc Disease, it was denied. "Your 214 does not show service in Viet Nam". I reopened my claim for the brain and spinal, central nervous system...DENIED "it is as likely as not" that your neurological condition is caused by anxiety and depression and your military medical records are silent for anxiety and depression. This was refuted by a complete neurological exam done by Derry Neurological Associates and the damage I have is not a result of anxiety and depression. My MRI and neurological exams by both the VA and civilian doctors confirm and validate the diagnosis made by Walter Reed Hospital.
And my fight with the VA goes on. I went before the Decision Review Officer, Appeals on May 10, 2005. As my medical exposure was diagnosed on active duty and the denials of the VA were so blatant, I still brought medical documentation to support my claim. But I ask this commission why that was necessary and still I have been denied over and over again by the VA. The decision of the DRO increased my service connection compensation from thirty to sixty percent. But it was not retroactive to June, 1977. I filed papers for entitlement to 100% unemployability. The VA rating guide states that the employment will not be held against the veteran. It also states to err on behalf of the veteran.
I also submitted for entitlement for my mother, who will be 81 in January, for loss
of my financial aid. I have always been able to assist my family with financial,
emotional and physical support until my second wasting. Also my entitlement for
my primary care taker. Entitlement for assisted living and adapted housing which
was all denied by the VA. Why, because the veteran is gainfully employed even
though I have not been able to work since September, 2005. This veteran has not
been able to do many things and I have to hire people to maintain my home and
yard. The many things I used to love to do myself, like cook and garden, are long
gone. I am confined to the first floor of my home and among the things that I cannot
do, unless someone is with me, is to walk up the stairs and take a bath.
Where is the dignity, the honor, the self esteem and the self worth of the officer
and the soldier I was and still am-- denied by the VA. DELAY, DENY UNTIL WE ALL DIE.
This replaces the words of Abraham Lincoln----TO BIND THE NATION'S WOUNDS, TO CARE FOR HIM WHO SHALL HAVE BORNE THE BATTLE, AND FOR HIS WIDOWS AND ORPHANS.
Remembering Hero's Sacrifice In Vietnam
Riverhead soldier honored for Vietnam sacrifice
BY MICHELLE TRAURING Special to Newsday
February 8, 2009
Above the heads of four solemn military honor guards hung an American flag that flew at President Barack Obama's inauguration Jan. 20.
That was almost 40 years to the day Pfc. Garfield M. Langhorn, 20, sacrificed his life to save his comrades in Vietnam, later earning him a Medal of Honor, one of only 88 ever given to an African-American.
In honor of Black History Month, the Suffolk County Historical Society museum unveiled a temporary exhibit yesterday in Riverhead commemorating Langhorn and his transformation from a Riverhead High School graduate to a soldier.
"It was such an honor to create," said Kathryn Curry, who designed the exhibit. "To remember this local hero, to think about that moment ... " She trailed off as her eyes filled with tears.
The moment: On Jan. 15, 1969, Langhorn, of Riverhead, was on a mission with his unit to save two pilots of a downed helicopter near Plei Djereng, only to find they were dead. While carrying the bodies, the unit came under fire from North Vietnamese soldiers and was surrounded. A grenade fell next to a group of wounded soldiers. Langhorn threw himself onto it, saving many lives but giving up his own. click link for more
(Extensions of Remarks - January 08, 2009)
HONORING PFC GARFIELD M. LANGHORN, MOH
[Page: E50] GPO's PDF
---SPEECH OF HON. TIMOTHY H. BISHOP
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009
Mr. BISHOP of New York. Madam Speaker, our brave men and women in uniform are all heroes. But the exceptional few who make the supreme sacrifice to protect the lives of their brothers-in-arms become more than heroes; they become legends. Today, I rise to honor U.S. Army Private First Class Garfield M. Langhorn, a resident of Riverhead in Eastern Long Island who received the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in Pleiku Province, Vietnam, 40 years ago this month.
As they attempted to rescue the crew of a downed helicopter, PFC Langhorn's unit was trapped under intense enemy fire. As night fell and U.S. air support was called off, enemy fighters began to probe their perimeter. The citation for PFC Langhorn's Medal of Honor reads:
``An enemy hand grenade landed in front of PFC Langhorn and a few feet from personnel who had become casualties. Choosing to protect these wounded, he unhesitatingly threw himself on the grenade, scooped it beneath his body and absorbed the blast. By sacrificing himself, he saved the lives of his comrades. PFC Langhorn's extraordinary heroism at the cost of his life was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.''
Madam Speaker, PFC Langhorn's sacrifice half a world away remains a credit to the Riverhead community, which is proud to celebrate his achievements on the 40th anniversary of his death. May his example continue to inspire all those who aspire to service ``beyond the call of duty.''
Medal of Honor citation
Private Langhorn's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Langhorn distinguished himself while serving as a radio operator with Troop C, near Plei Djereng in Pleiku province. Pfc. Langhorn's platoon was inserted into a landing zone to rescue 2 pilots of a Cobra helicopter shot down by enemy fire on a heavily timbered slope. He provided radio coordination with the command-and-control aircraft overhead while the troops hacked their way through dense undergrowth to the wreckage, where both aviators were found dead. As the men were taking the bodies to a pickup site, they suddenly came under intense fire from North Vietnamese soldiers in camouflaged bunkers to the front and right flank, and within minutes they were surrounded. Pfc. Langhorn immediately radioed for help from the orbiting gunships, which began to place minigun and rocket fire on the aggressors. He then lay between the platoon leader and another man, operating the radio and providing covering fire for the wounded who had been moved to the center of the small perimeter. Darkness soon fell, making it impossible for the gunships to give accurate support, and the aggressors began to probe the perimeter. An enemy hand grenade landed in front of Pfc. Langhorn and a few feet from personnel who had become casualties. Choosing to protect these wounded, he unhesitatingly threw himself on the grenade, scooped it beneath his body and absorbed the blast. By sacrificing himself, he saved the lives of his comrades. Pfc. Langhorn's extraordinary heroism at the cost of his life was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
Canine companions graduate, help veteran partners adjust to life at home
Canine companions graduate, help veteran partners adjust to life at home
By Jon Pilsner
Loveland Reporter-Herald
Samba is good at becoming a little barrier between her owner, Paul, and the people around him.
Paul Bang-Knudsen sometimes needs that little barrier. He needs Samba, a black Labrador retriever, to keep an eye on what’s behind him and peek around corners for people who might be there.
Samba is Bang-Knudsen’s service dog, and she helps him cope through the days while he battles post-traumatic stress disorder.
While Bang-Knudsen works on keeping calm in social situations — such as going to the store or in a crowded, public place — Samba helps make sure Bang-Knudsen relaxes when strangers come up to him or behind him.
She also has helped him get comfortable with a society that sometimes would raise his anxiety as he balanced his past as a corporal in the Marines with the present day.
click link for more
American Legion web group Courage Carries On
Legion using Web to aid vets
In-Forum - Fargo,ND,USA
JAMESTOWN, N.D. – As it celebrates turning 90 years old, the North Dakota American Legion is looking to the future.
By: Katie Ryan, Jamestown (N.D.)
JAMESTOWN, N.D. – As it celebrates turning 90 years old, the North Dakota American Legion is looking to the future.
The branch – established in 1919 – is using online social-networking sites for serious purposes, such as finding help for veterans with mental illness and preventing suicide.
The North Dakota American Legion an-nounced its campaign, Courage Carries On, at the Legion’s winter conference Saturday in James-town.
Mental illness, whether caused by war or other traumatic experiences, is not only devastating, but can be deadly, said Jim Deremo, department service officer for the North Dakota American Legion. The results affect both soldier and family, he said.
“There’s a lot of people in these little, bitty communities that kind of suffer in silence,” he said.
According to Associated Press reports, suicide rates have risen since 2004 because of increasing stress on veterans from long and repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Seven confirmed suicides were reported last month, compared with five a year earlier, and an additional 17 cases from January are under investigation, the AP reported.
click link for more
In-Forum - Fargo,ND,USA
JAMESTOWN, N.D. – As it celebrates turning 90 years old, the North Dakota American Legion is looking to the future.
By: Katie Ryan, Jamestown (N.D.)
JAMESTOWN, N.D. – As it celebrates turning 90 years old, the North Dakota American Legion is looking to the future.
The branch – established in 1919 – is using online social-networking sites for serious purposes, such as finding help for veterans with mental illness and preventing suicide.
The North Dakota American Legion an-nounced its campaign, Courage Carries On, at the Legion’s winter conference Saturday in James-town.
Mental illness, whether caused by war or other traumatic experiences, is not only devastating, but can be deadly, said Jim Deremo, department service officer for the North Dakota American Legion. The results affect both soldier and family, he said.
“There’s a lot of people in these little, bitty communities that kind of suffer in silence,” he said.
According to Associated Press reports, suicide rates have risen since 2004 because of increasing stress on veterans from long and repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Seven confirmed suicides were reported last month, compared with five a year earlier, and an additional 17 cases from January are under investigation, the AP reported.
click link for more
Tough choices for America's hungry
Tough choices for America's hungry
It's hard to look for a job when your stomach is rumbling. Walter Thomas started skipping meals when his savings were running out and his cabinets were almost empty. He didn't want to turn to food stamps, but eventually applied for aid. With the economy in meltdown, Thomas is not alone.
In October, more than one in 10 people -- about 31 million -- were using food stamps, according to the government. full story
Utah Police Learn 5 Words To Save A Veteran
Are You A Combat Veteran? Five words that can save a life when a veteran is in such pain they want to commit suicide by cop. How long does it take to ask that 5 word question and is the time spent asking that question worth the life of a combat veteran? You bet it is! It would be great if every police department across the country had the same training but department heads are reluctant to even listen about what they can do to save a veteran's life.
Domestic violence issues of combat veterans are usually tied to PTSD and self-medicating, but they are treated like criminals instead of wounded warriors. Police responding to a domestic violence call could prevent a veteran from going to jail if they asked this question as well. They could get them the help they need instead of locking them up for being wounded.
While this question will not save all of them, it's a good start. Even if it saves one life, the question is worth asking.
Utah VA creating movie to help police deal with combat veterans
February 6th, 2009 @ 7:05pm
By Jed Boal
There's a training video in the works, targeting a troubling trend among American combat veterans. Some who struggle with mental health issues end up in deadly standoffs with police, and the state Department of Veterans Affairs hopes the video will do something to prevent it.
Here's the scenario: A recent combat veteran walks into a convenience store with an assault rifle. He orders the clerk to call the police and kicks her out. This vet struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and wants a confrontation with police. He may even want to die in a hailstorm of police bullets.
"These folks are still in combat mode. So as a result, they are more aggressive than someone might normally be," said Terry Schow, director of the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs.
Last year, at least three young vets committed suicide by cop. The Utah VA is making the video to better train law enforcement for those situations and these individuals.
"As they approach a situation, hopefully one of the questions they ask is: ‘Are you a combat veteran?'" Schow said.
click link for more
Domestic violence issues of combat veterans are usually tied to PTSD and self-medicating, but they are treated like criminals instead of wounded warriors. Police responding to a domestic violence call could prevent a veteran from going to jail if they asked this question as well. They could get them the help they need instead of locking them up for being wounded.
While this question will not save all of them, it's a good start. Even if it saves one life, the question is worth asking.
Utah VA creating movie to help police deal with combat veterans
February 6th, 2009 @ 7:05pm
By Jed Boal
There's a training video in the works, targeting a troubling trend among American combat veterans. Some who struggle with mental health issues end up in deadly standoffs with police, and the state Department of Veterans Affairs hopes the video will do something to prevent it.
Here's the scenario: A recent combat veteran walks into a convenience store with an assault rifle. He orders the clerk to call the police and kicks her out. This vet struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and wants a confrontation with police. He may even want to die in a hailstorm of police bullets.
"These folks are still in combat mode. So as a result, they are more aggressive than someone might normally be," said Terry Schow, director of the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs.
Last year, at least three young vets committed suicide by cop. The Utah VA is making the video to better train law enforcement for those situations and these individuals.
"As they approach a situation, hopefully one of the questions they ask is: ‘Are you a combat veteran?'" Schow said.
click link for more
Sen. Tom Udall gets it half right for veterans
I agree that there should be a push on to hire veterans. I even posted about this several times, but Senator Udall is only half right. The problem is, this should be for ALL veterans and not just the newer ones.
Older veterans are having a hard time finding and keeping jobs. Disabled veterans spouses qualify to use the status of their spouse if the veteran is unable to work. Congress needs to stop separating one generation of veterans from all other veterans. Either they are all worthy of the efforts of this nation or none of them are.
I ran into this problem last year when I lost my job. The church I worked for did not pay into unemployment because they are tax exempt and didn't think to do the right thing for the people they employ. I went to the unemployment office anyway looking for help finding a job. Lines were long and then I spotted the veterans table. I went over there and said my husband was a disabled veteran. The man said he could help then asked if my husband served in Iraq or Afghanistan. I said, "Vietnam" and the expression on his face changed from hopeful to all is lost. He said they were only trying to help the new veterans and their families. I walked away.
The push is on to help new veterans and their families to understand what PTSD is, seek help to heal and know what benefits are available for them. The problem here again is that the older veterans and their families feel forgotten about.
Stop and think that had it not been for the Vietnam veterans coming back, fighting for research and compensation for PTSD, none of the newer veterans would receive what they are receiving, as limited as it is. All other generations before them had the same wound, but no one fought to have all veterans treated, compensated for this wound of combat besides the Vietnam veterans. That's right. All veterans!
Now these same veterans are being pushed aside to make room for new veterans. Is any of this right? When will they actually be honored and treated equally? We owe them a lot more than lip service. We owe them a lot more than just taking their efforts for granted while we push them away.
Plan for hiring vets tacked on stimulus bill
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 6, 2009 17:35:47 EST
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An amendment worked into the national economic stimulus bill would expand tax incentives to employers who hire veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said the measure is needed because the current generation of soldiers and sailors are returning home after military discharge to find a shrinking work force.
The amendment was approved Friday as the Senate worked on the recovery package. The measure would apply to veterans who are discharged from September 2001 through December 2010.
To qualify for the tax credit, employers would need to hire a post-9/11 veteran who has received unemployment benefits for at least four weeks within the past year. The veteran would need to work at least 120 hours for the employer to be eligible.
click link
Older veterans are having a hard time finding and keeping jobs. Disabled veterans spouses qualify to use the status of their spouse if the veteran is unable to work. Congress needs to stop separating one generation of veterans from all other veterans. Either they are all worthy of the efforts of this nation or none of them are.
I ran into this problem last year when I lost my job. The church I worked for did not pay into unemployment because they are tax exempt and didn't think to do the right thing for the people they employ. I went to the unemployment office anyway looking for help finding a job. Lines were long and then I spotted the veterans table. I went over there and said my husband was a disabled veteran. The man said he could help then asked if my husband served in Iraq or Afghanistan. I said, "Vietnam" and the expression on his face changed from hopeful to all is lost. He said they were only trying to help the new veterans and their families. I walked away.
The push is on to help new veterans and their families to understand what PTSD is, seek help to heal and know what benefits are available for them. The problem here again is that the older veterans and their families feel forgotten about.
Stop and think that had it not been for the Vietnam veterans coming back, fighting for research and compensation for PTSD, none of the newer veterans would receive what they are receiving, as limited as it is. All other generations before them had the same wound, but no one fought to have all veterans treated, compensated for this wound of combat besides the Vietnam veterans. That's right. All veterans!
Now these same veterans are being pushed aside to make room for new veterans. Is any of this right? When will they actually be honored and treated equally? We owe them a lot more than lip service. We owe them a lot more than just taking their efforts for granted while we push them away.
Plan for hiring vets tacked on stimulus bill
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 6, 2009 17:35:47 EST
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An amendment worked into the national economic stimulus bill would expand tax incentives to employers who hire veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said the measure is needed because the current generation of soldiers and sailors are returning home after military discharge to find a shrinking work force.
The amendment was approved Friday as the Senate worked on the recovery package. The measure would apply to veterans who are discharged from September 2001 through December 2010.
To qualify for the tax credit, employers would need to hire a post-9/11 veteran who has received unemployment benefits for at least four weeks within the past year. The veteran would need to work at least 120 hours for the employer to be eligible.
click link
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Tour of Kenndy Space Center today
This will probably be the only post for today unless there is something earth shattering between now and the time I get thru the rest of the emails. I took today off and had a tour of Kennedy Space Center. We have several friends working there and today was a special day for them to take in people to see what they do. It was wonderful. We had the opportunity to see what most people never see. Here are just a few of the pictures.
Talking to some of the workers there, there was the attitude from some that "it's no big deal" until they began to talk about what goes on at the center and their eyes lit up. Often people get so involved in what they do, they forget about the whole picture and what they are a part of. It's really amazing when you talk to someone that has been there 10, 20 years or more, still have that sense of awe when they have time to think about all of it.
We all need to be reminded every now and then that what we may see as mundane parts of our lives, others find fascinating. Some of the workers said that when tourists come in and they witness their reaction of seeing the same things they see everyday, it reminds them of the fact "wow this is cool and I work here" then they take another look at things they had just forgotten about with fresh eyes.
To be able to love your job as much as they do must really be a blessing.
I've posted in the past that we've had a lot of benefits from the space program and most of the things we use today were created in answer to some of the problems the astronauts face in space. This program is not a waste, it's a wonder.
I'm really exhausted tonight so forgive me if this is the only post for today,,,,,but it was sooooo worth it.
Talking to some of the workers there, there was the attitude from some that "it's no big deal" until they began to talk about what goes on at the center and their eyes lit up. Often people get so involved in what they do, they forget about the whole picture and what they are a part of. It's really amazing when you talk to someone that has been there 10, 20 years or more, still have that sense of awe when they have time to think about all of it.
We all need to be reminded every now and then that what we may see as mundane parts of our lives, others find fascinating. Some of the workers said that when tourists come in and they witness their reaction of seeing the same things they see everyday, it reminds them of the fact "wow this is cool and I work here" then they take another look at things they had just forgotten about with fresh eyes.
To be able to love your job as much as they do must really be a blessing.
I've posted in the past that we've had a lot of benefits from the space program and most of the things we use today were created in answer to some of the problems the astronauts face in space. This program is not a waste, it's a wonder.
I'm really exhausted tonight so forgive me if this is the only post for today,,,,,but it was sooooo worth it.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Another family shares pain of soldier son's suicide
Thomasville veteran ends his struggle with PTSD. His family tells their story
WALB-TV - Albany,GA,USA
Posted: Feb 6, 2009 06:53 PM EST
By Christian Jennings - bio email
February 6, 2009
THOMASVILLE, GA (WALB) - Soldier suicide rates are up drastically and are continuing to grow. The Army reported that 24 soldiers are believe to have committed suicide in January alone.
And many veteran suicides are a result of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. One family in Thomasville knows first hand what it's like to loose a son struggling with PTSD.
Pvt. Joseph McMath died at the young age of 24 on January 13, 2009, from a drug overdose.
Proud parents David and Linda McMath can only smile at the memory of their beloved son.
"He was just a good hearted person," said Joseph's mother Linda McMath.
Pvt. Joseph Aaron McMath was a veteran of the United States Army. He served in the Striker Brigade Unit in Iraq.
"It was 9/11/2001...he signed up, and went to Iraq in 2004, and he did 2 tours of duty, back to back," she said.
He was stationed in Ft. Lewis, Washington for three years....but it was his year overseas that changed him forever.
click link for more
WALB-TV - Albany,GA,USA
Posted: Feb 6, 2009 06:53 PM EST
By Christian Jennings - bio email
February 6, 2009
THOMASVILLE, GA (WALB) - Soldier suicide rates are up drastically and are continuing to grow. The Army reported that 24 soldiers are believe to have committed suicide in January alone.
And many veteran suicides are a result of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. One family in Thomasville knows first hand what it's like to loose a son struggling with PTSD.
Pvt. Joseph McMath died at the young age of 24 on January 13, 2009, from a drug overdose.
Proud parents David and Linda McMath can only smile at the memory of their beloved son.
"He was just a good hearted person," said Joseph's mother Linda McMath.
Pvt. Joseph Aaron McMath was a veteran of the United States Army. He served in the Striker Brigade Unit in Iraq.
"It was 9/11/2001...he signed up, and went to Iraq in 2004, and he did 2 tours of duty, back to back," she said.
He was stationed in Ft. Lewis, Washington for three years....but it was his year overseas that changed him forever.
click link for more
President Obama meets with families of 9/11, Cole victims
Obama meets with families of 9/11, Cole victims
By Lara Jakes - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 6, 2009 15:06:45 EST
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama was spending time with families of 9/11 victims and the 17 sailors killed in the bombing of the Cole after a senior Pentagon judge dropped charges against an al-Qaida suspect in the Cole attack being held at Guantanamo Bay.
The legal move Thursday by Susan J. Crawford, the top legal authority for military trials at Guantanamo, upholds Obama’s Jan. 22 executive order to halt terrorist court proceedings at the Navy base in Cuba. The charges against suspected al-Qaida bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri marked the last active Guantanamo war crimes case.
Groups representing victims’ families were angered by Obama’s order, charging they had waited too long already to see the alleged attackers brought to court.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold, the commanding officer of the Cole when it was bombed in Yemen in 2000, said he would be among family members of Cole and 9/11 victims who are meeting with Obama at the White House on Friday afternoon.
click link for more
By Lara Jakes - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 6, 2009 15:06:45 EST
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama was spending time with families of 9/11 victims and the 17 sailors killed in the bombing of the Cole after a senior Pentagon judge dropped charges against an al-Qaida suspect in the Cole attack being held at Guantanamo Bay.
The legal move Thursday by Susan J. Crawford, the top legal authority for military trials at Guantanamo, upholds Obama’s Jan. 22 executive order to halt terrorist court proceedings at the Navy base in Cuba. The charges against suspected al-Qaida bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri marked the last active Guantanamo war crimes case.
Groups representing victims’ families were angered by Obama’s order, charging they had waited too long already to see the alleged attackers brought to court.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold, the commanding officer of the Cole when it was bombed in Yemen in 2000, said he would be among family members of Cole and 9/11 victims who are meeting with Obama at the White House on Friday afternoon.
click link for more
$3.6 billion hike urged for VA health care
$3.6 billion hike urged for VA health care
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 6, 2009 15:11:06 EST
Four leading veterans groups called Friday for a $4.5 billion increase in veterans programs, including $3.6 billion for health care.
This is an even bigger increase than the groups asked for a year ago, and puts added pressure on President Barack Obama to keep campaign promises for full funding of Veterans Affairs Department programs.
The increase, which would result in a $54.6 billion discretionary VA budget, comes in the so-called “independent budget” prepared each year by AmVets, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The $54.6 billion budget includes health care, administrative and construction funds and some costs related to the administration of benefits, but not the costs of the benefits themselves.
Recommendations made in the independent budget often become a benchmark used by members of Congress to judge the adequacy of administration budget requests. Its timing — before the Obama administration makes its first budget submission — sets the stage for criticism if Obama asks for an increase of less than $3.6 billion.
click link for more
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 6, 2009 15:11:06 EST
Four leading veterans groups called Friday for a $4.5 billion increase in veterans programs, including $3.6 billion for health care.
This is an even bigger increase than the groups asked for a year ago, and puts added pressure on President Barack Obama to keep campaign promises for full funding of Veterans Affairs Department programs.
The increase, which would result in a $54.6 billion discretionary VA budget, comes in the so-called “independent budget” prepared each year by AmVets, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The $54.6 billion budget includes health care, administrative and construction funds and some costs related to the administration of benefits, but not the costs of the benefits themselves.
Recommendations made in the independent budget often become a benchmark used by members of Congress to judge the adequacy of administration budget requests. Its timing — before the Obama administration makes its first budget submission — sets the stage for criticism if Obama asks for an increase of less than $3.6 billion.
click link for more
Spc. earns DSC for heroism during ambush
Spc. earns DSC for heroism during ambush
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 6, 2009 10:45:26 EST
Spc. Erik Oropeza doesn’t remember hearing a thing when the 13 155mm howitzer rounds exploded beneath his Stryker.
“I remember seeing a white light and then it went dark,” said Oropeza, who had been driving his Stryker on a dirt road 10 kilometers north of Taji, Iraq.
The soldier from 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment regained consciousness a few minutes later and climbed out of his blown-open hatch.
The sharp crack of enemy automatic weapons fire snapped him out of his daze.
“I could hear the bullets whizzing by; I pretty much jumped from my driver hatch to the back right hatch of the Stryker” and ducked inside,” he recalled.
click link for more
Note to the GOP, Get out of the way
People like me have been listening to the GOP members of Congress for far too long to be willing to put up with this nonsense any longer. Even the Daily Show managed to point out last night the same people whining now about the stimulus bill were the same ones not giving a damn about billions missing in Iraq. Knock it off people! You are the same ones that managed to whine moan and complain when Democrats wanted to use the only ability they had to stop some of these devastating disaster bills you wanted to pass. Now, suddenly it's ok to filibuster? In case you didn't notice the election was about what all of you had been doing and we're fed up! We've had enough suffering so that you can turn around and just keep demanding to torture us. What's up with you people anyway and the torture thing? Do you really like to see people suffering? How "Christian" is that?
Last year I lost my job working for a church because of your decisions to fund the rich and expected them to take care of the rest of us. That didn't happen. We just suffered more. My brother had a high paying construction job. He lost his job in October and less than a week later, he died at the age of 56 of a massive heart attack. AND YOU EXPECT US TO JUST LISTEN TO YOU? Your the ones that got us into this mess in the first place!
We listened to your speeches and Bush's speeches demanding an up or down vote. Live with it and live up to what you yourselves demanded. Give these bills and up or down vote and get out of the way! We're tired of suffering and waiting for you guys to wake up!
Last year I lost my job working for a church because of your decisions to fund the rich and expected them to take care of the rest of us. That didn't happen. We just suffered more. My brother had a high paying construction job. He lost his job in October and less than a week later, he died at the age of 56 of a massive heart attack. AND YOU EXPECT US TO JUST LISTEN TO YOU? Your the ones that got us into this mess in the first place!
We listened to your speeches and Bush's speeches demanding an up or down vote. Live with it and live up to what you yourselves demanded. Give these bills and up or down vote and get out of the way! We're tired of suffering and waiting for you guys to wake up!
Family forced to sue VA for lack of care
It's not just the VA that failed this Marine. He took steroids to build himself up for redeployment according to his parents. He didn't want to get out, he wanted to stay in. It didn't matter he had PTSD from a prior deployment. He just wanted to serve his country. The problem is, the DOD didn't see it that way and kicked him out with a dishonorable discharge. When he turned to the VA for help, they didn't want him either because of the discharge.
In a perfect nation, the men and women like Robert Cafici would be valued. Their loyalty to the country would compel them to work with them, get them treated for substance abuse and find out what's behind the use of drugs. After all, these are not your average citizen. These are people so dedicated to the country, they are willing to die for it. But this is not a perfect nation. Far from it when the troops and our veterans get to the point where they have just taken too much abuse, lost too much hope and cannot find one reason to stay alive in this country.
In a perfect nation, the men and women like Robert Cafici would be valued. Their loyalty to the country would compel them to work with them, get them treated for substance abuse and find out what's behind the use of drugs. After all, these are not your average citizen. These are people so dedicated to the country, they are willing to die for it. But this is not a perfect nation. Far from it when the troops and our veterans get to the point where they have just taken too much abuse, lost too much hope and cannot find one reason to stay alive in this country.
Parents of ex-Marine who killed himself sue VA
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
BY MARTIN C. EVANS martin.evans@newsday.com
February 5, 2009
The Oak Beach parents of a 21-year-old ex-Marine who died of a heroin overdose are suing the Department of Veterans Affairs, saying admissions personnel at a VA hospital in Pennsylvania incorrectly advised their son that he was ineligible for medical coverage assistance when he sought treatment there the day before he died. The suit alleges that VA officials told Robert Cafici he was ineligible because of his less than honorable discharge.
Cafici had gone to a VA hospital in Lebanon, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2007, complaining of symptoms of jaundice, according to his parents, Vincent and Concetta Cafici.
The lawsuit claims that a routine check of VA medical records would have shown VA personnel in Pennsylvania that Cafici was being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and other unspecified ailments at the Veterans Administration Medical Center at Northport. Doctors there considered him a suicide risk because of a similar overdose six months earlier, according to the records.
The lawsuit, which was drafted last year, comes amid allegations by veterans groups that Washington has been incompetent in addressing the psychological needs of U.S. troops and veterans stressed by more than seven years of war. Last month, both the Army and the Marines released figures showing sharp increases in suicides among uniformed personnel.
"I don't know if the public is informed about how our boys are being treated," Vincent Cafici said. "A lot of them need help, and I don't know if they are getting it."
A spokesman for the VA, Phil Budahn, said the department does not routinely comment on pending lawsuits.
He also said "for most veterans, the VA will only care for problems caused by or aggravated during their military service, and that in some circumstances, a less than honorable discharge can limit a veteran's eligibility for medical care and other VA services."
Cafici's parents said their son, who lost 100 pounds in order to join the Marines, and served between December 2003 and March 2006, began struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder while he was stationed in Iraq. Concetta Cafici said her son was particularly distraught after having to pull the bodies of two Marines from a Humvee that was immolated during an attack.
She said her son fell into a depression after receiving a less than honorable discharge when he was discovered to have used an illegal steroid to bulk up as he prepared to again be deployed to Iraq.click link for more
Thursday, February 5, 2009
When it comes to PTSD, how many times can Congress get it wrong?
If they understood why a lot of the domestic violence issues even begin, they would know this is not the answer. While Veterans' Courts are wonderful, it's awareness that is the real answer.
Take a PTSD vet with a wife and neither of them having a clue what it is. Toss in a flashback and a screaming wife in arms distance. You have a domestic violence case waiting to happen. Take a PTSD veteran in the middle of a nightmare and a wife, yet again, not having a clue what PTSD is, yet again in striking distance, yet again an angry wife tired of being woken up in the middle of the night, and yet again, you have a domestic violence case that did not need to happen. Congress can do whatever they want but unless and until they actually know what needs to be done, none of it will work and may in fact do more harm than good. This is an attempt to provide the support needed but they need to fund the original problem before they can try to fix it.
Take a PTSD vet with a wife and neither of them having a clue what it is. Toss in a flashback and a screaming wife in arms distance. You have a domestic violence case waiting to happen. Take a PTSD veteran in the middle of a nightmare and a wife, yet again, not having a clue what PTSD is, yet again in striking distance, yet again an angry wife tired of being woken up in the middle of the night, and yet again, you have a domestic violence case that did not need to happen. Congress can do whatever they want but unless and until they actually know what needs to be done, none of it will work and may in fact do more harm than good. This is an attempt to provide the support needed but they need to fund the original problem before they can try to fix it.
Domestic abuse bill brings men's rights to light
Filed Under: Civil Rights, General Assembly, Local Government, State Government
Topics: Beth McCann, John Morse
February 5, 2009
Face the State Staff Report
A bill proposing to increase fees in order to support domestic violence service agencies was heard Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. If passed, the bill would designate a percentage of funds specifically for organizations that provide domestic abuse services for military members and veterans.
Senate bill 68, sponsored by Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, seeks a fee increase on all applications for marriage or divorce. The bill specifies a percentage of the money collected would fund domestic abuse services provided by nongovernmental agencies or units of local government and specifically designates a percentage of the money to organizations that provide domestic abuse services to military families.
The bill's language regarding funding for military domestic abuse organizations was a source of dispute. Frequently soldiers returning from war are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, and as a result have abusive tendencies that may not have existed previous to their service.
"It is a disgrace to incarcerate more of our veterans for injuries sustained defending our country," testified military veteran and practicing psychotherapist Victor Alvarez. "Expanding these laws is not working. We're simply wasting time. If you really want to fix the problem, get people in counseling. We can't just continue to single out the accused perpetrators."
Opponents of the bill voiced concerns the current funding for domestic abuse services has done little to prevent abuse. Many of the men who testified also thought the proposed legislation would promote a misconception that men cannot be victims of abuse.
According to Dr. Charles Corry, president of the Equal Justice Foundation, domestic violence cases have nearly doubled over the last decade, meanwhile the state's population has grown by just 23 percent during this same time period. Corry maintains this disproportionate increase proves current funding is not being used effectively. click link for more
Veterans service officer is coming to a location near you Bronson FL
Veterans service officer is coming to a location near you
By Lou Elliott Jones
BRONSON — If you are a military veteran Mike Engle wants to meet you.
He’s recruiting, but not to send folks back into military service, he’s looking for veterans to help them claim any services they are entitled to from the Veterans Administration.
Engle is the Levy County Veterans Service Officer and with his staff of two he helps veterans file claims and get transportation to the VA Clinic in Gainesville.
And with economic hardship hitting many veterans, Engle has seen an uptick in a request for services.
“We are seeing some veterans who would not have filed a claim before saying give it to someone else who is worse off than me, come in to file a claim,” Engle said.
The Veterans Administration says there are 5,000 veterans living in Levy County, and there are those snowbirds who are also veterans living here part of the year. Engle has made contact with about 2,500 veterans. He said the VA, while telling him how many veterans live here does not provide him with names and addresses so he can contact them.
That’s part of the challenge of his job, finding the other 2,500 or so veterans
click link for more
By Lou Elliott Jones
BRONSON — If you are a military veteran Mike Engle wants to meet you.
He’s recruiting, but not to send folks back into military service, he’s looking for veterans to help them claim any services they are entitled to from the Veterans Administration.
Engle is the Levy County Veterans Service Officer and with his staff of two he helps veterans file claims and get transportation to the VA Clinic in Gainesville.
And with economic hardship hitting many veterans, Engle has seen an uptick in a request for services.
“We are seeing some veterans who would not have filed a claim before saying give it to someone else who is worse off than me, come in to file a claim,” Engle said.
The Veterans Administration says there are 5,000 veterans living in Levy County, and there are those snowbirds who are also veterans living here part of the year. Engle has made contact with about 2,500 veterans. He said the VA, while telling him how many veterans live here does not provide him with names and addresses so he can contact them.
That’s part of the challenge of his job, finding the other 2,500 or so veterans
click link for more
Army sees significant rise in January suicides
Do I really need to say anything more than I've said before?
Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'
CNN - USAStory Highlights
Two dozen soldiers believed to have killed themselves in January, official says
The number of likely suicides more than those killed in combat last month
Army psychologist says long, cold months of winter might have contributed to spike
Army takes rare step of releasing figures for month rather than waiting till end of year
From Barbara Starr and Mike Mount
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year.
The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone -- six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.
The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.
If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.
"This is terrifying," an Army official said. "We do not know what is going on."
Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said that the long, cold months of winter could be a major contributor to the January spike.
"There is more hopelessness and helplessness because everything is so dreary and cold," she said.
click link for more
Army sees significant rise in January suicides
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 5, 2009 15:57:13 EST
Seven soldiers committed suicide in January and the cause of death in 17 other cases is still pending, Army officials announced Thursday, marking a significant increase in soldier suicides from the same time period in previous years.
Last month’s numbers are six times higher than those from January 2008 and eight times higher than in 2004. click link for more
Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'
CNN - USAStory Highlights
Two dozen soldiers believed to have killed themselves in January, official says
The number of likely suicides more than those killed in combat last month
Army psychologist says long, cold months of winter might have contributed to spike
Army takes rare step of releasing figures for month rather than waiting till end of year
From Barbara Starr and Mike Mount
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year.
The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone -- six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.
The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.
If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.
"This is terrifying," an Army official said. "We do not know what is going on."
Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said that the long, cold months of winter could be a major contributor to the January spike.
"There is more hopelessness and helplessness because everything is so dreary and cold," she said.
click link for more
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