Brain Shock. Is it PTSD, TBI or both?

Brain shock: The new Gulf War syndrome
22 April 2009 by Michael Bond

ONE look at the effects of a bomb blast suggests that you'd have to be extremely lucky to emerge from one unscathed. If you were not burned by the explosion or blasted by shrapnel, the chances are you'd be hit by the shock wave. Travelling at several hundred metres per second, this causes massive fluctuations in air pressure which can knock you unconscious, rupture air-filled organs such as eardrums, lungs and bowels, and stretch and distort other major organs.

Soldiers serving with coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq know only too well how devastating bombs can be. The effect of shrapnel on bodies - amputated limbs, broken bones, lacerated and burned flesh - is plain enough. Less obvious and harder to understand are the long-term effects of the shock wave on the brain.

Weeks, months, or sometimes years after being concussed in an explosion, thousands of soldiers are reporting a mysterious clutch of problems. Dubbed post-concussion syndrome (PCS), symptoms include memory loss, dizziness, headaches, unexplained pains, nausea, disturbance of sleep, inability to concentrate and emotional problems.

The US military and veterans' groups see PCS as a growing problem, and the US government is pouring millions of dollars into investigating it. Some doctors, however, particularly in the UK, believe that for many patients the symptoms ascribed to PCS are not caused by concussion at all, but by the shock and stress of wartime events. It may even be getting mixed up with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an acknowledged psychological reaction to disturbing events. "Some people are saying it's a hideous mistake and that we're talking up a problem," says Simon Wessely, a psychiatrist and director of the King's Centre for Military Health Research at King's College London.

Simple concussion from a blow to the head is not a new problem, of course. Common causes are falls, car accidents or sports such as rugby and football. It can lead to a brief loss of consciousness, amnesia or confusion. Although longer-lasting symptoms are occasionally reported, sufferers usually recover within days or weeks.

Battlefield explosions are nothing new either. For soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the biggest threats they face is from roadside bombs, often improvised from cast-off artillery shells or other weapons. While more soldiers than ever are surviving such blasts, thanks to better body and vehicle armour, they are often left with concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) as it is usually termed in this context.

The other two papers are perhaps more significant as they involve large epidemiological studies in soldiers, rather than civilians, and looked at symptoms over the long term. Both research teams concluded that persistent cognitive problems after an mTBI were in most cases due to psychological causes such as depression and PTSD.

In the first study, researchers questioned more than 2500 US infantry soldiers three to four months after they returned from a year-long tour of duty in Iraq, asking them about their combat experience, any injuries they had suffered and any persistent symptoms. Around 15 per cent of them had suffered an mTBI, and these soldiers had significantly more mental and physical problems than those with other injuries (The New England Journal of Medicine, vol 358, p 453). Charles Hoge at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, who led the study, thinks the primary cause of their ill health was probably not concussion but "exposure to a very intense traumatic event that significantly increases the risk of PTSD".

Hoge reasons that PTSD is a more likely cause than mTBI, having many common symptoms. In addition, the psychological symptoms of PTSD persist, while the effects of concussion usually disappear quickly. "When a soldier gets concussed as a result of a blast on the battlefield, that is clearly a close call," says Hoge. "Such traumatic events can set up a cascade of neurochemical events that happen with PTSD, and that can lead to a host of symptoms."
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Brain shock: The new Gulf War syndrome

PTSD and a NY Cop, a life told for a lesson to be learned

I've read a lot of articles on PTSD attempting to lay it all out, but this one is one of the best. Cop Shock was a great book, so I'd expect nothing but a fine job from Kates, but this lays it all out and especially focuses on what I've been calling "secondary stressor" because that's what the experts in the 70's and 80's were calling it. While "delayed onset PTSD" is the term used in this article, I can only imagine it's what's been used for a while but there has been very little written about it even though many are suffering from it. When it hits, it's PTSD on steroids!

A Vietnam vet, oblivious that he had PTSD, got on with his life, masked the pain with smoking pot and felt he "adjusted" but PTSD was simply slumbering within him waiting for the next traumatic event. Several came to his life but it was something as simple as taking a trip to Washington to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall to awaken the beast. He fell to his knees wondering what just hit him.

A combat veteran, assigned as part of the DEA, had horrific experiences in the drug wars. He too thought he had readjusted well and "got over it" until one of his younger brothers was killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He couldn't figure out what the hell happened to him after all he'd been thru already.

Their stories go on and on, just like my husband. He came home from Vietnam with mild PTSD. It was there and he was fully aware there was something wrong with him, but no one could talk him into doing anything about it. After all, he could work, drank a bit, smoked some pot now and then, but problems were not enough to get him to seek help. He had a job and could work so the nightmares and flashbacks were overlooked. He couldn't just bury it because it was too strong but he still managed to avoid facing it. It was not until I miscarried twins that the secondary stressor hit him so hard by that night I had to beg him to come back to the hospital to be with me. He changed that fast.

Now read this article about a cop from NY and understand what the police officers, firefighters and emergency responders face but more, translate it into being deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan over and over again, then maybe you'll know what far too many will be facing when they come home and the "next one" hits them.

PTSD can attack years later
Even with no previous symptoms

by Allen R. Kates, BCECR, MFAW
Author of CopShock, Second Edition: Surviving Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Editor’s note: Be sure to also read the new PoliceOne Series, “Tips for keeping it together after a bad call”

“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t think, I feel sick. I can’t do this anymore.”

Can you develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) months or even years after a traumatic event like 9/11? Without showing any previous symptoms?

There are studies of Word War II veterans and victims of motor vehicle accidents that say Yes.

This phenomenon is called “delayed onset PTSD,” according to the therapist’s diagnostic bible known as the DSM-IV-TR. It states that symptoms first appear at least six months after the traumatic event. That could mean months or even years later.

Yet some mental health professionals argue that the individual must have had symptoms early on, but didn’t recognize them. They also suggest that the PTSD sufferer delayed getting help for months or years, not that the PTSD itself was delayed.

Nevertheless, many law enforcement officers with no obvious previous symptoms do develop PTSD months or even years after a traumatic event.

As an example of delayed onset PTSD, here is the story of a police officer that developed the disorder five years after 9/11…

On the morning of September 11th, 2001, thirty-one-year old K9 officer Jonathan Figueroa was told to head down to the burning World Trade Center. As his team was crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, his cell phone rang. His wife said that his sister had called, and his brother-in-law, Mario Santoro, an EMT, was already there. She wanted Jonathan to find him and make sure he was okay.

They reached city hall, which was about three blocks from the World Trade Center, and “it was just a cloud of dust. You couldn’t see anything. It looked like a major snow storm, a blizzard,” said Jonathan. They didn’t know that the south tower had already crumbled to the ground.

“Then we heard this large boom. It was earthshaking and metal twisting.” He was listening to the north tower in the process of collapsing.

Jonathan went to the Woolworth Building where triage was underway and asked about his brother-in-law, Mario, but nobody knew anything.

A few days later, he was ordered to work on the pile of rubble that was once a thriving financial district. “My whole motivation for going down there was to see if I could find my brother-in-law.” Though he knew it was unlikely he was still alive.

“I did the bucket brigade for awhile. You get a line of guys digging down, throwing stuff in a bucket, trying to clear debris. We didn’t have enough shovels, and we dug by hand, trying to recover something, somebody.

“On the first day, I found a skull. No flesh, no skin, like right out of a biology science class. I brought it over to a supervisor, and he said, ‘We’re looking for living people right now, put that down.’ And I did.”

A month after 9/11, he still had no word about what had happened to his brother-in-law, and his family assumed that Mario had died in one of the towers. It was difficult to grieve without a body, without knowing, and this weighed heavily on Jonathan’s mind.

Then, two months almost to the day after 9/11, on November 12, 2001, another unthinkable event occurred. At 9:17 AM, a jetliner with 260 people aboard exploded just after takeoff, and bodies and pieces of the plane fell into the Queens neighborhoods of Belle Harbor and Rockaway Beach, part of Long Island, fifteen miles from Manhattan and the pile.

Jonathan was among the first responders to the disaster. “We were recovering the bodies… mothers holding their babies, charred, stuffed in the airplane seats,” he said. “You can’t block that out.”

A few days after the plane crash a friend of his on a midnight phoned him at home and told him they had found his brother-in-law in the wreckage. At least his family had a body, unlike so many other families. Now they could bury him and mourn.

Jonathan continued to work on the pile and didn’t think about what it was doing to him emotionally and psychologically. “You don’t stop to think because if you stop to think, you won’t be able to do it.”

Jonathan knows now that he was suppressing his emotions. “People at work, we’d sit around, we didn’t talk about it. No way. That’s icky. Talking about our feelings, our emotions? You’re a wuss if you do because we’re macho men, we’re police officers, we can handle anything, nothing affects us. You stuff your emotions.”

While Jonathan was at the pile, his frustration built. “We weren’t recovering anything, we felt like we weren’t doing anything. I worked twelve, thirteen, fourteen hours a day. I had to get back to a regular life, you know, pay the bills, have dinner.”

During this time, his sister was staying at his home. “She had lost her husband. I was trying to comfort her, trying to maintain the family. I’m on the pile, I had the plane crash. There’s a lot going on but I was doing it.

“Then we were allowed to adopt a baby boy, but he wasn’t sleeping through the night yet. Here I’m up all these hours working and worrying and he’s not sleeping either. So even if I wanted to get some sleep, I couldn’t. Everything converged at the same time.”

Jonathan worked on the pile from September 11th to December 17th, 2001, 98 hellish days. Then he left the pile and returned to his normal routine at work. He did not attend counseling or peer support.

Five years after 9/11, on January 16th, 2007, he went into work and his sergeant told him that his friend Ronnie, another K9 officer, was hit by a car during his midnight shift and they were going to see him at the hospital.

“You know, I’ve seen many cops bandaged, bruised, beat up, in the hospital. So it was just another day to go see how Ronnie’s doing. We get to the hospital, and he’s on a stretcher. I saw the emotion with his mother and father and wife and I got anxious, and that’s when it bubbled over.”

Jonathan’s wife called and he suddenly worried that maybe one of his babies was sick. She told him that her cousin’s wife was killed in a car accident.

“I started feeling shaky and nervous, and right on that day, I spiraled down, and everything from the past came out: 9/11, the plane crash, my brother-in-law, the first homicide I ever saw as a rookie.”

That began his night sweats, night terrors, anxiety, panic attacks, dry mouth, aches and pains, heart palpitations, nightmares and flashbacks of horrific images—except he became the victim.

“I was that first homicide on the street. I was my brother-in-law underneath the rubble. I was in the plane crash, strapped to a seat holding a charred baby.”

For the next three months, Jonathan couldn’t sleep, had difficulty eating, and lost weight. “And I became obsessive-compulsive about death because it seemed like that’s all I ever saw. Death on TV, death in my job, death in the newspaper.”

Jonathan began taking days off work. He didn’t tell anybody about the turmoil inside him. “Because I didn’t know what the heck was wrong with me. I didn’t think depression or anxiety, no way. I figured it would pass. You know, let me get a good night’s sleep. I was trying to rationalize it all. I didn’t know anything about PTSD.”
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PTSD can attack years later

Pullling duty at Walter Reed ended up causing trouble at home

Barrington father hopes his ‘mistakes’ will teach others

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, April 23, 2009

By Linda Borg

Journal Staff Writer

BARRINGTON — A contrite John Place said his son was wrong to allow teenagers in his house while he and his wife were away recently and added that he hopes that parents and teenagers will learn from his mistakes.

“I am not going to make excuses for my son,” Place said in an interview Tuesday night. “He was wrong, and I regret leaving him home alone. He has screwed up before. He should have known better.”

On Friday, April 10, more than 20 youths, many of them minors, turned up at Place’s house on Sowams Avenue and allegedly threw a party in his basement.

When the police arrived that night, they could hear music and laughter coming from the basement, and, when they opened the exterior bulkhead door, they said that the smell of beer and alcohol was overwhelming.

But when the police contacted Place by cell phone and asked for permission to enter his house, he refused. Police Chief John M. LaCross said that his officers could not enter the house without permission unless they believed that someone’s life was in danger.

Place came under heavy criticism on the Internet and on talk radio this week because he left his 19-year-old son, Corey, home alone while he and his wife, Susan, spent the beginning of the Easter weekend in Maryland.

Place wasn’t on vacation. Rather, he said he had been called to active duty at the Walter Reed Army Hospital, where he is a psychiatric nurse who helps wounded soldiers recover.
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Barrington father hopes his ‘mistakes’ will teach others

Toby Keith: More celebs should visit troops

Toby Keith: More celebs should visit troops
By: Jeff Dufour and Kiki Ryan
Examiner Columnist
04/21/09 4:22 PM
Country superstar Toby Keith will leave D.C. for Afghanistan on Tuesday night to add to the 100-plus USO shows he’s played throughout the past seven years. But at the National Press Club earlier in the day, Keith lamented that more celebrities don’t make similar trips to back the troops.

He said when they’re being paid to make movies, few stars want to leave “Disneyland” and “go to a war zone.”

Not that the danger isn’t real. “I’ve raced Marines to a bunker when the sirens go off,” he said. “It took me 100 shows to learn to trust how good our guys really are.”

But “you don’t have to go to a war zone,” he implored any celebs who were listening. “Go to Walter Reed Hospital.”
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Toby Keith: More celebs should visit troops

Frederick police officer recovering from injuries in Iraq

Frederick police officer recovering from injuries in Iraq
by Erica L. Green Staff Writer

While her husband may be growing restless, Heather Preece is just settling down enough to finally rest.

Reed Preece, a Frederick Police officer serving in Iraq, is recovering nicely from injuries he suffered when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device on April 12, his wife said.

"He's really bored," Heather said. "He's pushing to be cleared to get back out there. I'm just settling and trying to get back to normal."

Heather received a phone call on Easter Sunday informing her that her husband was "injured, but alive," then another call less than 24 hours that said he was "bloody, but OK."

Preece, 24, a first lieutenant in the Army National Guard, had suffered second-degree-burns to left side of body, shrapnel wounds to neck, left shoulder, and left leg. He also suffered a fractured knee and had to be treated for smoke inhalation from helping pull soldiers out of a burning vehicle.
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http://www.gazette.net/stories/04232009/frednew153958_32535.shtml

Col. Janis Karpinski 'vindicated' by Senate report

April 22, 2009
Army officer 'vindicated' by Senate report


WASHINGTON (AP) - An Army Reserve colonel demoted from brigadier general because of prisoner abuses at the Abu Ghraib facility in Iraq said Wednesday a new Senate report supports her contention that uniformed military people were made scapegoats for Bush administration policies.

Col. Janis Karpinski said that "from the beginning, I've been saying these soldiers did not design these techniques on their own."

Karpinski said she felt vindicated and said she thought it had taken "far too long" for the information about the history of the interrogation policy to surface publicly.

Eleven U.S. soldiers have been convicted and five officers, including Karpinski, have been disciplined in the Abu Ghraib scandal. Karpinski was demoted to colonel for alleged dereliction of duty - a charge she has vehemently denied. The only soldier still imprisoned for Abu Ghraib is former Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., who received a 10-year sentence for assault, battery, conspiracy, maltreatment, indecent acts and dereliction of duty.

Army documents released in May 2005 substantiated Karpinski's assertions that she was innocent of two principal allegations lodged against her by officer who initially investigated abuses at Abu Ghraib.

The 232-page Senate report released late Tuesday found that the brutal treatment of terror detainees and prisoners by members of the U.S. military, both at Abu Ghraib and the Guantanamo prison facility, wasn't simply the work of "a few bad apples"
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Army officer 'vindicated' by Senate report

Veterans hope to rebuild their lives through Conservation Corps

Veterans hope to rebuild their lives through Conservation Corps
The Veterans Conservation Corps, a state-financed program, is helping veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan tackle two big challenges of civilian life — finding new employment and coping with psychic battle scars. The focus is on outdoor jobs in forestry, wildlife management and other natural-resource fields.

By Hal Bernton

Seattle Times staff reporter



COVINGTON — At a subdivision in Southeast King County, nine people wield shovels, picks and machetes to hack down blackberry thickets that have overgrown a tiny wetland.

Hour by hour, they clear more of the brambles, revealing cedar and other native plants that had been enveloped by the thorny bushes.

Every person on this crew is a military veteran, most of whom served in Iraq or Afghanistan. All are hoping to forge new careers through the Veterans Conservation Corps, a state-financed program that helps them tackle two big challenges of civilian life — finding new employment and coping with the psychic battle scars of war.

The focus is on outdoor jobs in forestry, wildlife management and other natural-resource fields that can put the veterans outside, where it's hoped they can tap some of the healing powers of nature. The veterans combine classroom work at community colleges with weekly forays to restore waterways, monitor pollution and tackle other tasks.

On this day, they are laboring at one of many small wetlands created by developers to compensate for marshland filled in for housing. Most of these spots are overgrown with blackberries and other invasive species, and the restoration work is tough labor that often leaves scratched-up arms.

"It's been like a breath of fresh air," said Jeremy Grisham, the leader of the crew. "When I first got back, I couldn't find work and gained so much weight. When I started getting outside, it was the first time I felt good about things."

Grisham was a Navy medic who took part in the initial U.S. invasion of Iraq. One of his most harrowing tasks was helping civilians suffering from burns and wounds. As Grisham was medically retired in 2005, he was diagnosed with a disabling case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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Veterans hope to rebuild their lives through Conservation Corps

Tammy Duckworth confirmed for veterans post finally!

Duckworth confirmed for veterans post

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 23, 2009 8:38:33 EDT

CHICAGO — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Iraq war helicopter pilot Tammy Duckworth's nomination as an assistant secretary at the Veterans Affairs Department.

Duckworth will direct the Office of Public Affairs and Intergovernmental Communications. Among other things, the Illinois National Guard major will oversee VA's public affairs operations, as well as programs for homeless veterans.

"President Obama and America's veterans now have Tammy Duckworth as their advocate and champion," Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said in a statement. "I know Tammy will bring the same level of commitment to the VA that she has shown in fighting for her country and representing Illinois veterans."
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Duckworth confirmed for veterans post

Deluded need to wake up fast!

This person (below) wrote an opinion piece and it was printed. The problem is, she is so wrong it's beyond belief but too many people will agree with her simply because they have not paid attention in all these years. That's right! Years! She is blaming Obama for the deplorable conditions veterans have been subjected to for years but President Obama has not even been in office for a hundred days yet.

Where was she and others when the veterans and the wounded troops were being subjected to this appalling treatment since 2001 and the first troops were sent to Afghanistan?

Where was she when Bush cut the VA so there were less doctors and nurses working for the VA than there were following the Gulf War but we had two military campaigns producing more and more wounded joining the veterans already in line for the care they were promised?

Where was she as the backlog of claims jumped from 400,000 to almost 900,000?

Where was she when PTSD wounded were being dishonorably discharged under "personality disorders" instead of being treated for this war born wound?

Where was she when Nicholson returned funds out of the VA budget as wounded soldiers returned to this soil, turned away from the VA when they sought help for PTSD and committed suicide? Did she weep at their graves?

The list of offenses Bush committed on our veterans is so long it would take hours to list, yet people like the writers of this opinion piece fail to acknowledge any of this. While she said " Over the last year" it was before Obama took office but she did not mention all of this happened while Bush was President. She also did not notice the fact that it was not "over the last year" but over all the years Bush was in office. Never once did she mention what the Democrats have accomplished since they managed to finally get in charge of the Veterans Affairs committee or the fact that Obama was on that committee.

She raised the point of the "private insurance" that Obama was considering but when he listened to the voices of the veterans he abandoned any thoughts of doing this. Again the key word is "thought" and not plan. While something like this would help veterans needing treatment but having their VA claims denied, since if they happen to have jobs they are charged for their care without an approved claim and a recognized "service connected disability" they pay out of their pocket because insurance companies can deny paying because as they put it "it's the responsibility of the government to cover this care." just as they did in the 90's when congress changed the rules under Bill Clinton. Again, she failed to pay attention.

When it came to what Napolitano had to defend herself and the administration over, again she failed to acknowledge the fact that under Bush the recruitment problems escalated to the point where they lowered the requirements so far down criminals were allowed to enter into the military. These criminals are heavily armed and serving right next to the rest of the troops who wanted to join because they wanted to serve the country instead of wanting to avoid time in jail. Gang members were allowed to join as well. Ever think about how violent gang members are when it comes to them getting their hands on the training the military offers?

The "tea party" was something else she avoided when it came to veterans around the country being part of the taxes they don't want to pay since the VA is paid by tax dollars and the budgets have been increased since the GOP has been out of control over it or the fact that they were responsible for the VA budget falling short every year. I wonder if she ever watched CSPAN when the budget was being debated and the GOP kept saying they couldn't afford to increase the VA because of all the money being spent in Iraq and Afghanistan? When it came to what Bush wanted, everything was vital, but when it came to what our veterans needed, well, there just wasn't enough money for it and then they managed to fight for tax cuts for the wealthy. Wonder if she noticed how this made veterans feel as they were sitting in their living rooms holding yet another denial from the VA telling them they could file an appeal?

She also avoided mentioning the fact that when our troops are wounded by PTSD and untreated, left abandoned by the nation they were willing to risk their life for, left to suffer financially and emotionally, it can lead to a lot of problems for the rest of society as it has already when they are suffering from PTSD driven flashbacks and nightmares that put them back into battle mode. If she cannot even consider the fact they have been treated so poorly by Bush and his leadership they could turn into disgruntled veterans, then she has a real problem.

There are so many needing help right now that have been unjustly treated, denied the care they were promised and left to suffer for serving it should make any American sickened but too many in this country would rather avoid knowledge of how it got this bad and who was responsible for all of this. It's easier to just jump on whatever the Obama Administration gets tripped up over instead of what they have been really trying to fix. We avoid the facts at our peril because this nation depends on the men and women serving it. They should never be used as part of some kind of twisted political game. If this woman had paid attention to facts instead of claims made by some talking heads on a certain cable channel, she would not be so deluded.

Letter: Obama isn't proving to be veteran-friendly
Thursday, April 23, 2009


President Barack Obama’s mantra to our veterans is: “I will take care of you.”

Upon taking office, Obama immediately set out to attempt to force veterans to pay for their own health coverage. Outcry and outrage surfaced in Washington, forcing Obama to relent.

Over the last year, the Veterans Administration has been trying to get all its psychiatrists and psychologists to deny veterans a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress syndrome in hopes of preventing permanent disability payments for them and their family members.

When this surfaced, Obama’s secretary of veterans affairs, Eric K. Shinseki, refused to comment.

Now we have Secretary of Homeland Security Janet A. Napolitano categorizing veterans as potential violent extremists who may be future threats who may join terrorist cells. Officials base this claim on Timothy McVeigh’s attack on the Oklahoma City federal building.

When veterans’ groups expressed outrage at this news, Napolitano tried to save face by stating that the Obama administration “honors” veterans.

During the Tea Party demonstration in Vero Beach, two-thirds of 3,500 members of the crowds were veterans. Not a single violent act disrupted this demonstration.

Every veteran brings honor, dignity, commitment and sacrifice on behalf of our great nation. As a veteran of the U.S. Navy, I am sickened and devastated by the Obama administration’s attitude and stance.

If this is President Obama’s example of how he will “take care” of our veterans, he definitely has a long way to go.

Letter: Obama isn't proving to be veteran-friendly

If you want to know who wrote the rant above, click on link.

U.S. Representative Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) visited four Arizona counties

With so many in congress getting an ear full of suffering veterans and PTSD, you'd think they would have found out what has to be done by now. At least Kirkpatrick is listening.

Kirkpatrick makes several stops in Rim Country
Wednesday, 22 April 2009 13:13
By Carolyn Wall
Gazette Correspondent
And Pat Rollins
Gazette Columnist


U.S. Representative Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) visited four Arizona counties on her nine-day “Get Arizona Back on Track” tour earlier this month and included several venues in Payson Thursday, April 16.

Kirkpatrick arrived late at The Rim Club because of a traffic accident on the Beeline. In the interim, Payson Mayor Kenny Evans praised the first term Representative, especially for her accessibility.

He said they have exchanged 54 emails and some phone calls in the short time she has been in office.

Evans was also asked about the stimulus money and how quickly it would be coming into our area. He indicated projects would probably be starting around late May.

Gila County Supervisor Tommie Cline Martin said the county will be looking at three stimulus projects, a green library in Pine, CBG grants for weatherization, and septic systems clean-up.

Evans said he is trying to keep it quiet and low key, but Arizona State University is seriously considering Payson for an outreach campus. The campus could be open on a limited basis by 2010.

When Kirkpatrick arrived, she explained the committees she serves on, including the Small Business Committee, which is pouring more money into the Small Business Administration for additional loans.

She also serves on the Homeland Security Committee and talked about the great need for intelligent immigration reform. She is also on the Veteran Affairs Committee.

Her next stop was at the American Legion Hall where she had an informal discussion with military veterans and their family members.

The subject then turned to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which many veterans coming out of the service don’t even know they have.

Kirkpatrick commended Misti Isley DeCaire of Veterans Helping Veterans, who has taken veterans into her home since 1993, providing shelter, transportation for medical appointments and other necessities without any official status or sanction from the Veterans’ Administration.

DeCaire, in her 80’s, a 22-year veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, said, “When you’ve been there, done that …”. Her voice trailed off, but those sitting at the table knew that all the veterans in the area know to go to her.

“Thank you for your shelter,” Kirkpatrick said.

Jim Muhr, a Vietnam vet, said that he goes for counseling for PTSD every two weeks.

“We have Iraqui vets and they say Vietnam vets are helping them. We understand where they’re coming from.”

Linda Muhr, his wife, talked about other casualties of the war – the wives and families.

“We have secondary PTSD as wives,” she said. “We’re kind of forgotten. PTSD can never be cured, but it can be treated.”

Muhr and three other women in Payson started a support group for wives of veterans a year ago. There are now eight in the group.

“The wife doesn’t get any counseling for any of this,” Muhr said.

Wives and children of veterans are, however, entitled to be treated at a veterans’ hospital, according to DeCaire.

Kirkpatrick said there will be 65,000 returning veterans from Iraq in the next two years.

“We’ve got an opportunity to do something right,” she said.

The PTSD Women’s and Family Support Group of Payson meets Mondays at 6 p.m. at St. Paul Church on Easy Street. For information, contact Linda Muhr at (928) 474-4530.
Kirkpatrick makes several stops in Rim Country

Orlando VA hospital needs lawmakers' backing and no more yakking!

The groundbreaking was a big event around here last year. I went to it, listened to the speeches and walked away scratching my head. The groundbreaking came before the election, no big surprise there but what stunned me was how obvious it was. This is not about what veterans need in Florida or it wouldn't have taken this long to get this hospital built. We have over 400,000 veterans in this state and the veterans of central Florida have to rely on a clinic. While it is the size of a hospital, it is far from being large enough or staffed enough to take care of all of the veterans here, especially when the snow birds come swooping in and getting in line for care.

A few months ago I posted how I had taken my husband to one of his appointments because parking was a huge issue. It was so bad there were security guards directing traffic behind the building. There were over 3,000 cars! We needed a hospital years ago and the veterans deserved a lot more than lip service about getting one when it seems the rest of the country is still waiting as well. When do we get any of this right? When the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan all come home and need help? Why will it take until 2012 to get this hospital up and running?

VA hospital needs lawmakers' backing
Mark Schlueb Sentinel Staff Writer
April 22, 2009
With construction of a veterans hospital under way in east Orlando, congressional lawmakers pledged Tuesday to secure the money needed to finish the job. U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, hosted a meeting in Orlando to talk about the Lake Nona hospital. Filner, of San Diego, brought the committee to Florida at the behest of fellow Democrat and committee member Corrine Brown of Jacksonville. It was a chance for members of Florida's delegation to sit in and talk about the hospital. The hospital is scheduled for completion in 2012. It needs another $371 million appropriation, and Filner has grown accustomed to hearing freshman Democrats Alan Grayson of Orlando and Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach mouth the number "371" in the halls.
VA hospital needs lawmakers' backing

VA submits statements late, cannot testify

VA submits statements late, cannot testify

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Apr 22, 2009 17:39:19 EDT

Department of Veterans Affairs officials were barred Wednesday from providing testimony before a Senate subcommittee because they didn’t deliver their prepared statements far enough ahead of time.

That may have stopped some fireworks; the testimony included strong objections to legislation pending before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, including a bipartisan bill to increase benefits to family members who become significant caregivers to disabled veterans by providing specialized training, some health care benefits and a monthly stipend.

VA officials also wanted to express concerns about a bill that would make Iraq and Afghanistan veterans eligible for readjustment counseling — officials say it would give those veterans access not available to other veterans — and sought to oppose a rural health care proposal for veterans because it would have the government pay for air transportation when that is the best way to get to a veterans hospital, which could be costly.

The veterans committee, like most other congressional committees, wants to receive administration testimony several days before a scheduled hearing so the staff has time to review it and come up with questions.
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VA submits statements late, cannot testify

UK:Female soldier succumbs to wound of PTSD

Will we ever learn the price of war does not end when they make it back home? Looks like the UK hasn't either.

Chanice Ward


29-year-old war hero dies



DAVID BALE
21 April 2009 11:03



A distraught family was today mourning the death of their war hero daughter.

Today, the father of Chanice Ward, 29, told how her daughter had suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from her time in the army and he believes this may have led her to take her own life.

Ms Ward, of Barford, near Hethersett, was discharged from the army against her wishes and was pursuing a case for compensation with the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency when she died.

Earlier this year, she spoke to the Evening News about the horrific experiences she witnessed in Bosnia and Kosovo that left her suffering from PTSD.

Her father Ivor Ward, 57, who served 22 years in the army himself, plans to drape a Union Jack over her coffin at the funeral tomorrow . He said her case for compensation was still ongoing and that the family still could get the compensation.

Her death comes at a time when the issue of PTSD and the army's treatment of the condition has come under close scrutiny.

Last month an unprecedented 'suicide watch' was launched by commanders at Britain's main military base in Iraq following the deaths of three soldiers during a ten-week.
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29-year-old war hero dies

Female soldier death at Fort Sam Houston probed

Soldier's fatal shooting probed
By Sig Christenson - Express-News
Web Posted: 04/21/2009 11:02 CDT
A soldier was found dead in her barracks Tuesday night at Fort Sam Houston after a caller told post police that someone there had fired a weapon.

The victim suffered a single gunshot wound, but police were not saying where the GI had been shot or if her death was an apparent suicide.

“I haven't even seen a police report yet,” Fort Sam spokesman Phil Reidinger said late Tuesday, adding that police had provided few details to him in the case. “Without the police report and without confirmation of next-of-kin notification, I don't have any more details than I am able to provide you now.”

Fort Sam police arrived at the 32nd Medical Brigade training barracks around 6:30 p.m., moments after receiving the call. They found a body in the barracks, which has an open bay configuration and accommodates an average of about 60 GIs.

Virtually nothing was known about the victim. Reidinger said police had not given him her name, rank or age, and added that it wasn't known if her relatives had been notified. Though he did not know her job specialty, those in the barracks are at Fort Sam for training as combat medics.

“I don't know how long she had been assigned here,” he said.
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Soldier's fatal shooting probed

UPDATE
Sam Houston soldier apparently killed self

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Apr 22, 2009 19:28:40 EDT

SAN ANTONIO — The military says a soldier who flunked out of combat medic training has been found dead in an apparent suicide at the Fort Sam Houston barracks.

Spokesman Phil Reidinger at the base in Texas says Pfc. Jaynie May Askew was found Tuesday on her bed, next to a note and a .45-caliber handgun.

Reidinger says only two of the 60 training medics living at the barracks were there at the time of the shooting. He says the gun was not military issued, and he doesn't know how she got the gun into the barracks.

The 43-year-old Askew was being sent back to a military police unit of the Arizona National Guard after failing a required emergency medical technician test.
Sam Houston soldier apparently killed self