Spc. Curtis Applegate death was because he served and should be counted

I use different pictures of the Archangel Micheal when addressing the deaths of the men and women that served this nation. Spc. Curtis Applegate was one of many dying because of war but not during it. He died of a wound inside of him that no one could see with their eyes, but a wound brought home all the same. We need to count all of them if we are to really honor all of them

Some heroes fall far from the front line
News - Columnists - Issac Bailey
Saturday, Mar. 21, 2009
Seven S.C. families will be traveling to Columbia on Wednesday to participate in a ceremony to honor the state's most recent fallen heroes.

At least one more family should be added to that list.

Army Spc. Curtis Applegate, an Iraq war veteran, died earlier this year. His parents, mother Cindy and stepfather Danny Patton, live in Surfside Beach. But they didn't get to see his body return home in a flag-draped coffin.


They received a call from Colorado that said he had killed himself. He had been fighting post-traumatic stress disorder, had been ushered from doctor to doctor, had been prescribed pill after pill. He had earned multiple medals - the Purple Heart and the Army Commendation Medal with Valor to name two.

He had watched people torn apart by roadside bombs and bullets, had to make gut-wrenching decisions about when his mission meant he needed to add to that carnage.

"Curtis jumped in, saved a ton of lives," Cindy Patton said. "He just couldn't take the pain no more."

But his name wasn't on the list sent out by the S.C. Senate Republican Caucus. David L. Leimbach of Taylors was on it. So was Danny E. Maybin of Columbia, Garrett T. Lawton of Beaufort, Matthew J. Taylor of Hanahan, Richard G. Cliff Jr. and Adam M. Wenger of Mount Pleasant, and our own Ronald Phillips Jr.

Applegate's name isn't on that list or on any number of media databases of U.S. soldier deaths in Iraq.

But he was added to another one. The Army recorded more suicides in 2008 than at any time during 28 years of record keeping, a trend that has continued.
go here for more
http://www.thesunnews.com/news/columnists/issac_bailey/story/830182.html

Brattleboro Retreat's mission on PTSD

New initiatives at Brattleboro Retreat will mean many more jobs for region
By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff



Monday, March 23
BRATTLEBORO -- For the past two years, the Brattleboro Retreat's chief executive officer has been ushering in a new era at the 175-year-old institution. At the same time, Rob Simpson is also bringing back what made the Retreat so special.

One of the simplest things -- and one of the most effective -- that he has implemented was a change in the name, from Retreat Healthcare to the Brattleboro Retreat.

"That's who we are. It's important to go back and be who we are," said Simpson.

Later this year, the Retreat is hosting its 175th anniversary.

This year, Simpson is introducing three new programs to the Retreat that will create new jobs and bring new patients to the facility.

"We will be bringing new jobs to Brattleboro," said Simpson, who wouldn't say exactly how many. "If these programs work, there will be a significant number of new employees added."

While he will be looking for those with highly specialized skills -- such as social workers, psychiatrists, counselors and nurses -- he will also be looking for new support staff.

The first program is for uniformed service workers, such as police, firefighters and emergency responders.

People in those career fields have a 300 percent higher incidence of post traumatic stress disorder than the general population, he said, and have a higher incidence of domestic violence, substance abuse, divorce and depression.
go here for more
http://www.reformer.com/ci_11975681

Al "soon to be senator" Franken to receive award for USO service

1/10th Mountain Division Soldiers, Spc. Chanelle Mikel, solder left, and 1st Lt. Shirley Zisen, both of 10th Brigade Support Battalion, talk with comedian Al Franken Dec. 21. Franken and other celebrities visited the troops in the Riva Ridge Moral Welfare and Recreation center a few days before Christmas. Stars and Stripes

Last update: March 23, 2009 - 12:59 PM
Franken to receive award for USO service


WASHINGTON -- Al Franken, still embroiled in a U.S. Senate recount battle with Norm Coleman, will travel to the nation's capital this week to pick up a volunteer award for his lengthy USO service.
click link for more

Death of Natasha Richardson spotlights veterans' traumatic brain injuries

Death of Natasha Richardson spotlights veterans' traumatic brain injuries
Darryl E. Owens COMMENTARY
March 21, 2009

Movie buffs were stunned by the sudden and tragic death of Natasha Richardson.

One moment the 45-year-old actress is dusting off powder and joking after falling on a beginner's trail during a ski lesson at a Quebec ski resort; the next she's on life support in a New York hospital with a traumatic brain injury.

Richardson died Wednesday. Her untimely passing, as often is the case, shines a celebrity spotlight on an issue rarely given center stage: the devastating nature of closed-head trauma.

Tragic as her death was, it's a sad testament that Richardson's story already may have generated more buzz about traumatic brain injury, or TBI, than the abundant reports of brain-injured U.S. troops.

If a tumble on the bunny slopes can turn deadly, what of service members in Iraq and Afghanistan whose brains regularly are rattled by the rumble of mortars and makeshift bombs?

In concert with March's designation as Brain Injury Awareness Month, Pentagon officials conceded about 360,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war vets may have suffered brain injuries. And as many as 90,000 of those may be plagued with lingering symptoms that demand specialized care.

A traumatic brain injury, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a "blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain" and alters the way one thinks, speaks, feels and reacts emotionally.

Blasts are the primary culprit for brain injury among troops in war zones. The U.S. military estimates that about 600 roadside bombs explode in Iraq each month.
go here for more
Death of Natasha Richardson spotlights veterans' traumatic brain injuries

Crash of Air Force C-17 reported in Texas

Crash of Air Force C-17 reported in Texas
Story Highlights
The C-17 is a large, military transport aircraft

The plane is operated by a crew of three -- pilot, copilot and loadmaster

The C-17 measures 174 feet long, with a wingspan of 169 feet


(CNN) -- An Air Force C-17 transport plane crashed Monday near Olney, Texas, callers to police there said.


The C-17 is used for airlift of troops and cargo to operating bases.

The Olney Police Department reported that callers said the plane was flying low to the ground, and then crashed.
go here for more
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/23/texas.plane/index.html

Time to honor "I O U" to veterans

by
Chaplain Kathie
There are wounds you can see with your eyes.

Then there are wounds you can see part way with your eyes.

His hair will grow back in and cover the scar of his head wound, but you will not see what has happened to his life after.

But there are also wounds that cut so deeply you never manage to see what is right in front of your eyes.

You need to see these wounds, these hidden casualties of war, with your heart.


Sometimes they grieve and the pain fades while memories linger. For far too many the pain feeds on the sensitive soul within the heart of the warrior.

They come home, try to return to friends and family but they are not the same. They want to excuse it as everyone else has changed instead of them until they finally stop denying the nightmares and flashbacks have managed to change the way they think and react to others.

Paranoia takes over and trust erodes. They cannot trust what friends tell them or even what their spouse tells them anymore. They cannot trust strangers. When it's the government they cannot trust, it hits them like a knife in the back.

Imagine if you served your country, followed orders, did what you would not do of your own accord for the sake of others, risked your life and ended up finding that the war came home with you, but the government decided to ignore all of it. They ignore what they promised you to take care of your wounds and provide for your family when you were not able to. This would cause a deeper wound within you as well as resentment. It would eat you away. It would make any shred of hope within you evaporate. You would find it unnecessary to wake up in the morning because everyday would be one more never ending nightmare.

For too many, PTSD has been allowed to fester like gangrene on their soul. Every relationship they had begins to fall apart. They are blamed for all the turmoil in the family and financial difficulty. They are blamed for drinking too much or turning to drugs to kill off feelings they can no longer bear on their own. They are then abandoned by family and friends they used to have before the wound of PTSD took control over their lives.

Abandoned by the government they thought they could trust, by family they thought would love them no matter what, friends they thought they could trust, what's left? Faith? Faith in what or whom? Faith in God? Could you hold onto faith in God when everyone has turned their back on you? Could you hold onto faith when you believe that you've been judged and are being punished for what you had to do? Wouldn't you wonder where God is when everything is happening to you and inside of you without anything or anyone coming to help you? Pretty impossible when you think of all that is involved in claims denied or trapped in a backlog with hundreds of thousands of others reduced from human to a number.

When claims are denied while the veteran carries the wound inside of them, it entraps every part of the veteran's life. There is nothing that is not being consumed by PTSD. This is a battle against evil for the sake of the good but the good end up being disarmed by everything that comes with PTSD.

First came denial. They were told they could train their brains to deal with the traumas they would face in combat. They were told that only the weak would fall prey to the wound of the mind. They were told this by people without a clue that it is not really a wound to the mind and that the mind cannot be trained to do something it was never intended to do. PTSD is a wound to the soul. It is a wound that strikes the sensitive and sets off changes in how the mind functions protecting itself from further harm. If they are changed by trauma it has to be their fault. Unable to think of themselves as weak, they believe they can get over it if they try hard enough. After all, they know they are not weak and they know they are not a coward. They know they are just as strong as everyone else they served with. They'll just have to get over it, bury it inside of themselves and never allow anyone to see their wound. There can't be anything "wrong" with them.

Then comes anger. They can't get over it. They can't stop the flashbacks and nightmares. They can't calm their nerves. They are quick to react with anger because that is a sign of "toughness" masking the pain inside. They get angry with themselves because they cannot move on the way everyone else they know did. They take out what they see as their own weakness on everyone around them. They push friends away and disconnect from family as walls are being built brick by brick around their soul.

When someone finally gets to them to help them heal, when they finally understand PTSD is not a sign of weakness and it is not their fault, they must find the courage to seek help. They need to talk to strangers about what is in their hidden world of pain. The walls begin to come down because relief restores hope of healing but soon they discover the same government they risked their life for is denying ownership of everything that is happening to them. Claims are denied. They are chastised for being weak by commanders. They are punished for drinking or doing drugs to relieve the pain. They are discharged with the wound disregarded. They are told they will no longer have their base housing. They are told they will no longer have their basic needs taken care of. They are told they are no longer worthy of any of it and they are told their service to the nation is no longer needed. They have lost everything they had including themselves.

When PTSD is disregarded until they become a combat veteran civilian, they arrive at a point where they are able to seek help from the VA. They know they can no longer function on a job because of the gangrene of their soul, nightmares robbing them of rest and flashbacks draining them of strength. They turn to the VA to be treated so they can heal and financially compensated for when they cannot work but end up being told whatever is happening to them is not the fault of the government. They find their claims denied and any responsibility the VA doctors tell them belongs to the government is ignored by the government.

This is what we face when we finally get to them. This is what we face when we finally get them to the point where they understand PTSD is a normal reaction to the abnormal world of combat. How can we offer them any hope of healing when it is being denied and their lives are still falling apart? How can we tell them the devastation of their lives goes on with these denied claims but they need the government to treat them?

I can come up with videos to get them to understand PTSD is a wound. I can email back and forth with them and their families until my fingers are ready to fall off but all the education I can offer, all the hope I can demonstrate from coming thru the darkness in my own family, will do them virtually little good when the help they need is being denied to them.

I cannot replace hope when it is being denied by someone else. I cannot tell them to trust the VA or the DOD to take care of them when they are telling them "no" all the time. All the hope that is there for them is impossible for them to get to when doors are shut and they are told the responsibility for their state of life belongs to someone else.

It's time we paid the IOU we gave them the day they were sent to serve. It's time the DOD stopped telling them they can train their brain to be tough enough to take it when it is their soul that is attacked by the horrors of combat. Stop doing the same research that was done 30 years ago. Stop asking the same people the same questions settling for the same answers they heard 30 years ago.


We still owe Vietnam veterans the truth. We still owe them the knowledge they were denied over 30 years ago and compensate them for the wounds they brought home with them. It’s too late to save most of their families from falling apart but it’s not too late to restore relationships they had. In many cases it’s too late to save the homes they lost because they couldn’t earn income to cover their mortgages as PTSD claimed more parts of their lives but we can provide them with the compensation to secure their futures. In doing so, we will honor the debt that should have been pain long ago but we will also restore within them the belief their service was honored, their sacrifice was worth it because this country honored it.

Vietnam Veterans Day is March 29. The last accountable death was in May of 1975 but the fatalities truly connected to the Vietnam War are still happening today. They die from Agent Orange exposure related illnesses. They die on the streets and in shelters across this nation. They still die from reaching for alcohol and drugs to cope with untreated wounds. They die when they can no longer find the strength to carry the burden their service caused by their own hand. None of their deaths are counted as the price paid by them. We need to get this right for them and stop ignoring them within the growing numbers of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan flooding the system seeking the same help that was not available when Vietnam veterans came home. None of the accomplishments reached for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder would have been begun had it not been for Vietnam Veterans fighting for it and all other veterans.

We can build them monuments from coast to coast but if we do not honor the living monuments of sacrifice to this nation they are all reduced to hunks of rock. We can give them parades and all the flags in the world, but until their sacrifice to that flag is truly honored, they are all empty gestures. We can place all the flowers we want at their graves but until we honor all the living the lives already gone will have disregarded.

As we try as a nation to honor the IOU to the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, we must pay the original debt we owed to the Vietnam Veterans. This is not an option. Taking care of them is not something that can be put off any longer or we further assault their service to this nation. We further deny them justice. We further allow them to pay a price for a debt we owed to them.

3 Police officers dead in Oakland, 1 officer brain dead

Oakland police officer pronounced brain dead after shootings
Story Highlights
NEW: Police officer being kept on life support until decision on organs made

Three of his fellow officers killed in shootings in Oakland, California

Shootings occurred in two different locations in Oakland neighborhood

Suspect died in exchange of gunfire with police, police say

(CNN) -- An Oakland, California, police officer critically injured in one of two Saturday shootings that killed three fellow officers was pronounced brain dead on Sunday, a police spokesman told CNN.




Initially, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said John Hege, 41, was the fourth officer to die after a man being pulled over in a traffic stop opened fire and then battled SWAT officers at a nearby building Saturday.

However, Thomason clarified later Sunday that Hege was pronounced brain dead about noon Sunday, but being kept on life support until a decision is made on organ donation.

The man who police said was the gunman -- Lovelle Mixon, 26, of Oakland -- was fatally shot in a gunbattle with SWAT officers in an apartment complex Saturday.

go here for more

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/22/california.officers/index.html

17 killed in Montana plane crash

FAA: 17 killed in Montana plane crash
A single-engine airplane crashed close to this cemetery near Butte, Montana, on Sunday, killing at least 17 people, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said. "We drove into the cemetery to see if there was any way my husband could help someone," crash witness Martha Guidoni said. "We were too late -- there was nothing to help." full story

Army dropped Lariam finally!!

Army scales back use of anti-malaria drug

Concerns centered on soldiers with brain injury, anxiety
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Mar 22, 2009 14:53:47 EDT

The Army has dropped Lariam — the drug linked to side effects including suicidal tendencies, anxiety, aggression and paranoia — as its preferred protection against malaria because doctors had inadvertently prescribed it to people who should not take it.

Lariam, the brand name for mefloquine, should not be given to anyone with symptoms of a brain injury, depression or anxiety disorder, which describes many troops who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

The Army’s new choice for anti-malarial protection is doxycycline, a generic antibiotic.

“In areas where doxycycline and mefloquine are equally efficacious in preventing malaria, doxycycline is the drug of choice,” Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker said in a memo dated Feb. 2.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/army_lariam_032209w/

Disabled veterans get legal help

27 years of saying been there done that and I'm still not there yet. I am determined more than ever to make sure the claims on file with the VA reach the level where they finally understand what a tsunami looks like!

The American people let out a shriek when they heard about the Rand Study declaring 300,000 with PTSD. They thought this would be catastrophic especially considering the VA had not been able to take care of the relatively few seeking treatment and compensation for PTSD. "You ain't seen nothin yet!"

We've already seen what an uninvolved populace coupled with an unresponsive government did when Vietnam veterans came home. We've seen the results in them, their spouses but more in the generation that came after them. We saw the incarcerations. We saw the drug overdoses. We saw the divorces, the homelessness and all that came with what Vietnam veterans brought home with them but we also saw funerals because casualties of PTSD had to end their suffering their own way with suicide. We watched them die as we made mistakes. We watched them suffer as we studied them. We asked all the wrong questions and heard what we wanted to hear. Been there and done that too many years ago.

By the time the first set of boots came back from Afghanistan, we knew what needed to be done but did not do it. Some of us were screaming before they were even sent but no one would listen. They are still not listening as hope slips away and so do their lives.

There are about a hundred other things I could be doing instead of this. I can tell you they would be a lot more fun and far more financially rewarding. The issue I have is that I know what hope looks like. I know what miracles look like. I know what is possible when they have the help they need and their families find the support they need. I know what it's like to hear a veteran, long estranged from family and friends finding that connection again as they restore relationships and bad feelings are laid to rest. To hear the sound of happy tears rejoicing because they found out how much they are loved by God and He had not abandoned them. What it's like for a father to once again hold his child and the look of love beams from his eyes.

While I've seen the devastation and heartbreak, I've also seen how the human spirit of these men and women can come out on the other side, changed but more alive than they were before. This is what I want to flood the VA with. This is the tsunami they have been trying to hold off with a beach shovel. I'm not greedy. I want to share and spread the love. I want every family to have what I ended up having. I want every veteran with PTSD to end up wanting to be alive instead of wanting to die. We've all heard the expression of the "I got mine screw you club" when people feel as if only they are entitled to be happy but since I have mine, I want everyone else to have their's. If I didn't feel this way, I never would have become a Chaplain because there would have been no reason to be doing any of what I do.

Now please read the following and know that along with the hundreds of others stories on this blog, there are armies gearing up to take on this fight and will not give up until we finally get this all right!

Disabled veterans get legal help
Sunday, March 22, 2009
BY CHRIS STURGIS
Special to the Times
Three lawyers, two of whom are disabled, are joining forces to help veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars get what is due them from the Veterans Administration.

To that end, Lawyers C. Patterson McKenna, Melissa A. Gertz and Lisa A. Turowski last week held an open house at the Community Justice


"There is a backlog of 750,000 cases before the VA of people seeking disability benefits, primarily for post traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury," said McKenna, who has been blind since age 5.

And the problem is likely to grow, McKenna said.

Gertz said post-traumatic stress disorder cases are complicated by the fact that seeking treatment carries a stigma in the military.

"Patients don't want to seek treatment for fear of the stigma in case they want to re-enlist," she said.

Often they apply after several years have passed and they have had trouble functioning in civilian life, she said.

More veterans are surviving traumatic brain injuries than ever before because of life-saving advances in medicine, she said. However, they need assistance in living with the resulting disabilities, she said.
click link for more

Killeen Police officer shoots, kills Fort Hood soldier

Police officer shoots, kills Hood soldier

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Mar 21, 2009 16:34:55 EDT

KILLEEN, Texas — A Killeen police officer early Saturday morning fatally shot a Fort Hood soldier driving an sport utility vehicle after authorities said the officer was dragged through a parking lot as he tried to detain a man while others inside the vehicle were trying to pull the man inside.

The name of the 21-year-old soldier was being withheld until his family was notified, authorities said.

The officer, whose name also was not disclosed, was able to free himself from the SUV and fell to the ground. He was treated at a hospital and released and was placed on administrative leave.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_hood_soldier_shot_032109/

About 15 percent of Oregon's deploying soldiers are on stop-loss

Stop loss hits home
by The Oregonian Editorial Board
Saturday March 21, 2009, 11:09 AM
About 15 percent of Oregon's deploying soldiers are on stop-loss, roughly twice the military average



The 41st Brigade Combat Team patch
When Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced last week that the Army will end its practice of extending soldiers' contracts beyond their end dates, he said such stop-loss orders "break faith" with service members.

But the deployment next month of Oregon's 41st Brigade Combat Team will include 479 soldiers affected by stop-loss, according to the Oregon Military Dept. That means that about 15.3 percent of the brigade could be deployed involuntarily. That's a rate a little more than twice that of stop-lossed troops currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nobody likes stop loss, the policy that allows the Army to order soldiers to active duty when they would otherwise be able to leave the service. The people it hurts most are families and soldiers who intended to serve one or two hitches, then quit. For some, this stop loss order will force some to drive the highways of Iraq for the next year rather than working or attending school in Oregon. For them, stop-loss is, indeed, a policy that "breaks faith" with volunteer soldiers.

To be sure, some portion of Oregon's stop-lossed component includes soldiers who have every intention of re-enlisting when they get to Iraq, knowing retention bonuses are tax-free. Others among the stop-lossed may not deploy for medical reasons. But the fact remains that Oregon's ratio of stop-lossed soldiers is substantially higher than typical.
go here for more
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/03/stop_loss_hits_home.html

Gary Sinise Commentary: We can't do enough for our veterans

Commentary: We can't do enough for our veterans
Story Highlights
Gary Sinise: I agreed to help produce a film made by man with two brothers in military

He says "Brothers at War" shows side of military rarely seen

Sinise: We can't do enough to honor military for sacrifices on our behalf

By Gary Sinise
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Actor and director Gary Sinise has appeared on film in "Forrest Gump," "Truman" and "Apollo 13" and on television in "CSI: NY." He co-founded the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago.


Actor Gary Sinise says we can't do enough for veterans who sacrifice to protect America.

(CNN) -- A while back, a friend of mine suggested that I take a look at a film that a buddy of his had made about his two brothers serving in Iraq.

Having spent some time there myself, I was eager to see it. Once I did, I wanted to do all I could to help the filmmakers find a distributor and get this wonderful film into the theaters.

I was honored to be asked to come on board as executive producer of the film, "Brothers at War," an honest and inside look at our military service members. It's told through the point of view of one brother who is in search of answers as to why his two younger brothers are serving in Iraq and what they and their families are doing during these long deployments.

I got involved with the film "Brothers at War" because I believe it shows a side of our military that is rarely seen. The call to duty that many of our military members share is depicted in the film through Isaac and Joe Rademacher.
go here for the rest
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/21/sinise.military/index.html

Borat star fools Ala. Guard into training stint

Borat star fools Ala. Guard into training stint

By Jay Reeves - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 17, 2009 20:28:00 EDT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The actor best known as “Borat” tricked the Alabama National Guard into allowing him onto a post, giving him a military uniform and briefly letting him train — all, supposedly, for a German TV documentary.

The ruse, which included comedian Sacha Baron Cohen exposing his thong underwear while changing clothes, was going well until a young cadet recognized Cohen and notified older officers who weren’t familiar with the actor.

“It’s an embarrassment to the Alabama National Guard,” Staff Sgt. Katrina Timmons said Monday. “Since then we have put in protocols to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

A film crew pulled the stunt Feb. 13 at the Alabama Military Academy, which trains officer candidates from across the nation. The school is located at the Army’s old Fort McClellan in Anniston, about 65 miles east of Birmingham.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_borat_guardsmen_031609/