VA Launches 10-Year Health Study of 60,000 New Veterans
WASHINGTON (June 22, 2009) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
has initiated a large, long-term study to look carefully at a broad
array of health issues that may affect Operation Enduring
Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans and their
counterparts who served during the same time period. VA's "National
Health Study for a New Generation of U.S. Veterans" will begin with
30,000 Veterans deployed to OEF/OIF and 30,000 comparison Veterans who
were not deployed.
"This study will help us fulfill President Obama's pledge to 'stand with
our Veterans as they face new challenges' by enabling us to understand
the health problems of our newest generation of combat Veterans," Dr.
Gerald M. Cross, VA's acting under secretary for health, said. "The
study's findings will help us plan more effectively to provide the best
care possible for these deserving Veterans."
The study will include Veterans who served in each branch of service,
representing active duty, Reserve, and National Guard members. Women
will be over-sampled to make sure they are represented and will comprise
20 percent of the study, or 12,000 women. A combination of mail
surveys, online surveys, telephone interviews, and in-person physical
evaluations will be used to collect data from the Veterans.
The study will compare the deployed and non-deployed Veterans in terms
of chronic medical conditions, traumatic brain injury (TBI), post
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological conditions,
general health perceptions, reproductive health, pregnancy outcomes,
functional status, use of health care, behavioral risk factors (smoking,
drinking, seatbelt use, speeding, motorcycle helmet use, and sexual
behavior), and VA disability compensation. VA has contracted with an
independent Veteran-owned research firm, HMS Technologies Inc., to
collect the data.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for providing federal
benefits to Veterans and their families. VA is the second largest of
the 15 cabinet departments and operates nationwide programs for health
care, financial assistance and burial benefits. The VA health care
system operates more than 1,400 sites of care. Nearly 5.5 million
people received care in VA health care facilities in 2008.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Veteran rebuilds life after brain injury
Veteran rebuilds life after brain injury
By Lindsay Wise - Houston Chronicle
Posted : Monday Jun 22, 2009 9:53:03 EDT
HOUSTON — Mark DeJaico hit rock bottom late last year at a Houston nightclub.
He had just worked up the nerve to chat with a cute girl when her friend interrupted them.
“She said: ‘What are you doing, talking to him? He’s kinda slow,’ ” DeJaico remembered. “Like I couldn’t even hear her.”
The 30-year-old Army veteran had developed a severe stutter after being knocked unconscious during a mortar attack in Afghanistan in 2006. Doctors diagnosed him with traumatic brain injury and generalized anxiety disorder.
Just getting his own name out of his mouth could take DeJaico half a minute. Every time he tried to talk, his heart thudded in his chest and his hands shook as his throat closed tight around the words. Sometimes, he just gave up and wrote things down.
For a military communications specialist who describes himself as talkative and happy-go-lucky, the impediment was devastating. “That’s why I didn’t talk to anybody anymore,” DeJaico said. “Especially civilians.”
A Rand Corp. study published last year estimated that out of 1.6 million troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 320,000 may have suffered a brain injury during deployment. The Defense Department reported in March that the number with brain injuries could be as high as 360,000, based on health screening programs that show 10 percent to 20 percent of returning troops experienced at least a mild concussion, most often caused by roadside bombs. Of those, 45,000 to 90,000 veterans have persistent symptoms that require specialized care, according to the Pentagon.
Earlier this year, DeJaico graduated from Project Victory, a collaborative between Houston’s TIRR Foundation and TIRR Memorial Hermann, which helps service members recover from traumatic brain injury.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_veteran_braininjury_061909w/
By Lindsay Wise - Houston Chronicle
Posted : Monday Jun 22, 2009 9:53:03 EDT
HOUSTON — Mark DeJaico hit rock bottom late last year at a Houston nightclub.
He had just worked up the nerve to chat with a cute girl when her friend interrupted them.
“She said: ‘What are you doing, talking to him? He’s kinda slow,’ ” DeJaico remembered. “Like I couldn’t even hear her.”
The 30-year-old Army veteran had developed a severe stutter after being knocked unconscious during a mortar attack in Afghanistan in 2006. Doctors diagnosed him with traumatic brain injury and generalized anxiety disorder.
Just getting his own name out of his mouth could take DeJaico half a minute. Every time he tried to talk, his heart thudded in his chest and his hands shook as his throat closed tight around the words. Sometimes, he just gave up and wrote things down.
For a military communications specialist who describes himself as talkative and happy-go-lucky, the impediment was devastating. “That’s why I didn’t talk to anybody anymore,” DeJaico said. “Especially civilians.”
A Rand Corp. study published last year estimated that out of 1.6 million troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 320,000 may have suffered a brain injury during deployment. The Defense Department reported in March that the number with brain injuries could be as high as 360,000, based on health screening programs that show 10 percent to 20 percent of returning troops experienced at least a mild concussion, most often caused by roadside bombs. Of those, 45,000 to 90,000 veterans have persistent symptoms that require specialized care, according to the Pentagon.
Earlier this year, DeJaico graduated from Project Victory, a collaborative between Houston’s TIRR Foundation and TIRR Memorial Hermann, which helps service members recover from traumatic brain injury.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_veteran_braininjury_061909w/
Maryland Therapeutic Riding needs money, horses and volunteers
Tough soldiers find gentle care at riding center
Annapolis Capital - Annapolis,MD,USA
Maryland Therapeutic Riding needs money, horses and volunteers
By EARL KELLY, Staff Writer
Published 06/21/09
A disabled soldier, back from fighting in Iraq, leaned forward and rubbed the small gray mare's neck. He whispered to the horse, as if confiding in a girlfriend.
Across the arena, another injured warrior, a larger man, was leaning back in his saddle and actually appeared to be dozing off as the gelding named Dakota walked along gently in the arena at Maryland Therapeutic Riding in Crownsville.
"Talk about being in the moment - when you are up there, everything else is blocked out, everything else goes away," the group's founder, Naomi Parry, said as she looked out over the riding area.
Tears came to Parry's eyes on one occasion as one of the disabled riders leaned forward and put his arms around the horse's neck.
"That's enough to make you cry," she said.
A week later, on the following Wednesday, these soldiers were back at MTR, ready for more riding therapy.
The soldiers were from Fort George G. Meade's Warrior Transition Unit, an outfit consisting of about 145 soldiers, half of whom were injured fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
click link for more
Annapolis Capital - Annapolis,MD,USA
Maryland Therapeutic Riding needs money, horses and volunteers
By EARL KELLY, Staff Writer
Published 06/21/09
A disabled soldier, back from fighting in Iraq, leaned forward and rubbed the small gray mare's neck. He whispered to the horse, as if confiding in a girlfriend.
Across the arena, another injured warrior, a larger man, was leaning back in his saddle and actually appeared to be dozing off as the gelding named Dakota walked along gently in the arena at Maryland Therapeutic Riding in Crownsville.
"Talk about being in the moment - when you are up there, everything else is blocked out, everything else goes away," the group's founder, Naomi Parry, said as she looked out over the riding area.
Tears came to Parry's eyes on one occasion as one of the disabled riders leaned forward and put his arms around the horse's neck.
"That's enough to make you cry," she said.
A week later, on the following Wednesday, these soldiers were back at MTR, ready for more riding therapy.
The soldiers were from Fort George G. Meade's Warrior Transition Unit, an outfit consisting of about 145 soldiers, half of whom were injured fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
click link for more
Shinseki Encourages Veterans, Families to Help Their Communities
VA Secretary Hits the Road to Highlight "United We Serve" Effort
Shinseki Encourages Veterans, Families to Help Their Communities
WASHINGTON (June 22, 2009) - Heeding President Obama's call for
Americans to commit themselves to meaningful, long-term service to their
communities as part of the "United We Serve" campaign, Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki spent part of his morning today
transporting patients to the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center.
"We, who enjoy liberty's blessings, will forever remain in debt of the
men and women who served our nation in uniform," Secretary Shinseki
said. "Volunteering on their behalf is one way we can show our respect,
regard and devotion for their service."
He noted that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a long
tradition of volunteering. Last year over 80,000 people volunteered
more than 11 million hours to service to VA. They drove patients to
medical appointments, welcomed returning combat Veterans home, helped
homeless Veterans and donated time to maintain VA's 128 national
cemeteries.
Shinseki was joined by several members of VA's senior leadership.
Assistant Secretary L. Tammy Duckworth addressed a group of youth
volunteers about "Knowing and Respecting Disabled Veterans" and helped
escort a patient to a rehabilitation appointment. Assistant Secretaries
John U. Sepulveda and Roger W. Baker escorted patients to their
appointments at the D.C. VAMC. Assistant Secretary Jose D. Riojas and
Acting Assistant Secretary Karen W. Pane served meals at a local D.C.
shelter.
"There is no better way to honor America's heroes than to spend time
every week giving back to those who have already given so much,"
Shinseki said.
VA's principals and other cabinet officials and senior federal leaders
across the country highlighted the President's summer service program,
which encourages Americans to recommit themselves to improving their
communities. The campaign runs through September 11, which will be
National Day of Service and Remembrance.
The campaign, coordinated by the Corporation for National and Community
Services, is encouraging Americans to develop their own service programs
that benefit their communities. Toolkits for developing projects are
available online at www.serve.gov
Shinseki Encourages Veterans, Families to Help Their Communities
WASHINGTON (June 22, 2009) - Heeding President Obama's call for
Americans to commit themselves to meaningful, long-term service to their
communities as part of the "United We Serve" campaign, Secretary of
Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki spent part of his morning today
transporting patients to the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center.
"We, who enjoy liberty's blessings, will forever remain in debt of the
men and women who served our nation in uniform," Secretary Shinseki
said. "Volunteering on their behalf is one way we can show our respect,
regard and devotion for their service."
He noted that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a long
tradition of volunteering. Last year over 80,000 people volunteered
more than 11 million hours to service to VA. They drove patients to
medical appointments, welcomed returning combat Veterans home, helped
homeless Veterans and donated time to maintain VA's 128 national
cemeteries.
Shinseki was joined by several members of VA's senior leadership.
Assistant Secretary L. Tammy Duckworth addressed a group of youth
volunteers about "Knowing and Respecting Disabled Veterans" and helped
escort a patient to a rehabilitation appointment. Assistant Secretaries
John U. Sepulveda and Roger W. Baker escorted patients to their
appointments at the D.C. VAMC. Assistant Secretary Jose D. Riojas and
Acting Assistant Secretary Karen W. Pane served meals at a local D.C.
shelter.
"There is no better way to honor America's heroes than to spend time
every week giving back to those who have already given so much,"
Shinseki said.
VA's principals and other cabinet officials and senior federal leaders
across the country highlighted the President's summer service program,
which encourages Americans to recommit themselves to improving their
communities. The campaign runs through September 11, which will be
National Day of Service and Remembrance.
The campaign, coordinated by the Corporation for National and Community
Services, is encouraging Americans to develop their own service programs
that benefit their communities. Toolkits for developing projects are
available online at www.serve.gov
Touched by an Angel
UPDATE June 23, 2008
Looks like I'm not so dumb after all,,,,but I may be forgetful. I was just doing a search and came across this. Reading it, I'm sure I read it before. I think you will want to read this too.
by
Chaplain Kathie
I am not talking about the series that used to be on TV about a well meaning angel coming to earth to help people understand God's love for them. I am talking about being touched by the angel trying to get you to find compassion within yourself enough so that you at least try to understand our veteran with PTSD.
My heart goes out to everyone suffering from this wounded spirit. Police, firefighters and emergency responders end up wounded trying to help others and being willing to risk their lives in order to do it. Regular citizens, just like you and me, end up wounded by PTSD after accidents, crimes and natural disasters yet we cannot understand how others, just like us, can end up with PTSD when they are serving the rest of us.
Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen, along with National Guardsmen, risk their lives all the time. In times of peace, the men and women in the military prepare to do it as they train to do it. National Guards train to rescue people when natural disasters hit and they train to fight. What no one ever thought about was training them to recover from what was required of them.
When regular citizens are exposed to traumatic events, the mental health community responds immediately. As a Chaplain, I'm trained to respond to all kinds of traumatic events to take care of the responders as well as the victims. Saturday I received further training from Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness (DEEP) to be even more prepared to help. My training never ends. Why? Why would so much time and funding be invested in responding to what happens here? Because we acknowledge it is necessary to take care of our fellow humans. We need to be asking why it is no one is doing the same when it comes to the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan or for our veterans.
They are exposed to traumatic events over and over and over again while they are deployed and as the campaigns go on in Iraq as well as Afghanistan, face being redeployed. Some have been on their 5th or more tour of duty. The chain of command seem to be stunned by the increase in PTSD, suicides and attempted suicides. What did they expect out of these humans?
All generations of veterans from every corner of the globe have faced this human wound. This is not some isolated illnesses nor is it simply generational but they have regarded it as unimportant until the last few years. Even now, they are taking the wrong steps to address the traumatic events of combat head on right after they happen, but the rest of us, well, we get help right away.
People like me spend time training on different programs to respond to humans in all walks of life following all kinds of traumatic events. The military however never saw the need to mobilize all the help they can get in helping our troops right after or even helping our veterans heal long after. Looking over their programs now they seem to be more focused on getting them to be tough enough to get thru what they are being sent into. This is all fine and dandy in part but they are not separating the battle training from the healing training. The troops end up getting mixed messages from programs like Battlemind telling them they can prepare to avoid the trauma getting to them.
DEEP training reminded me of the difference. When I hear something like "resilient" it sounds a lot different than the troops will hear the word.
The difference is, I've been trained to respond after the event while they are being trained to participate in the traumatic events. I hear the word and it translates into taking care of the responders and victims as fellow humans. When they hear the word, it translates into shutting down their emotions as humans. I hear the word and know I need to prepare for what I am to face so that I can take care of others. They hear the word and believe they have to be shut off from being human to kill others. Huge difference in how the word translates to these very two different paths.
A Marine in Afghanistan trained as a sniper aims at another sniper, but misses him, striking the child behind him. Can his training shut off the fact of what he just did? A National Guards solider, prepared to save lives, trains as a soldier to kill enemies. As he tosses a grenade into a home where it is believed a terrorist has been targeting the troops, he discovers there were women and children in that home and the terrorist cannot be found among the dead. Can his training shut off what he just did? He just spent most of his life training to save lives as a Guardsman but discovers he just killed a family much like his own back home.
Does the military see why the National Guardsmen and women are presenting with rates as high as 50% for PTSD? Do they really think telling them to become resilient will have them walk away as if things like this didn't just happen? Do they think it will work when they end up seeing someone they were just joking with blown up right in front of them?
Adrenalin can get them through it but it also comes back to bite them in the ass if they do not honor the human inside of them.
This is why when a flashback comes, the response of their body is the same as when it happened.
If they do not get the same kind of help other humans get after traumatic events, the body and mind take over to fill in the gaps, often years later. The mind will reinvent the event itself until it is faced head on and acknowledged, treated and healed from. While time moves on and the event takes hold, more damage is done as the body and mind continue to get the person to pay attention to it and take action. While this is going on, other events cut the wounded spirit deeper forcing the body and mind to fight off the added traumatic event. Piled on and piled on, events become too much for the body and mind to attempt to take care of and they crash.
This happens all the time when a veteran is able to stuff all of this in the back of their minds and mask the symptoms with anything and everything to avoid it taking over their lives. Many veterans will spend years, as in the case of Vietnam veterans, stuffing it until the last straw is cast and mild PTSD becomes like a monster inside of them taking over every aspect of their lives.
One veteran reached out to me trying to understand because he had experienced an event in Vietnam he thought he coped with until he went to the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington and saw the names of the men fallen on that day. His secondary stressor hit him that hard, that fast and he never saw it coming. Looking back months later he discovered that he was masking the wound inside of him by smoking pot to calm his nerves. Had he received help to heal years before, his mild PTSD would not have become so all consuming he could no longer ignore any of it. He was and still is unable to work, unable to have a healthy relationship, avoids people and has developed a total lack of trust in others.
My husband came home with clear PTSD but had avoided it. My father was a Korean veteran and said "that guy has shell shock" the day he met him. What we didn't know back then because research was just beginning, was that it would get worse. That came with his secondary stressor and my best friend turned into a total stranger the day I miscarried the twins I was carrying.
Another Vietnam vet was working as a DEA agent. Again, he thought he managed to deal with what he went through until one of his brothers was killed in Iraq. All the stressors in between Vietnam and the death of his brother had piled on each other until his body and mind were no longer able to protect him from them.
WWII veterans, Korean veterans, Vietnam veterans, Gulf War veterans, veterans of Bosnia and Somalia are seeking help this many years after because their wounds were not addressed when they happened and other events in their lives took hold. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are seeking help after their umpteenth deployment again because the first one was not addressed. While you can see a pattern here, the military and the VA cannot see it.
Some researchers are just as bad. I keep hoping to find the answer in what they "discover" but only find it is more of the same studies they have been doing all along. Finding the same answers known 30 years ago. They will only find what they are looking for. They cannot understand this. The answer is right in front of their face in what other groups have been doing to address traumatic events in citizens. If the military would take the same approach to responding to traumatic events there wouldn't be this complex traumatic wounding in our veterans or the troops.
The problem is the military has not considered the fact the men and women in their ranks are still humans after all is said and done.
What I've found in all these years, is the men and women most wounded by PTSD, is they were always the type wanting to help others. They enter into the military with the thought of protecting their nation first and killing down on the list of reasons. National Guards, police officers, firefighters, all have this in common. The first thought is to save. They have been touched by the angels and this calling is from their soul to act, enabled with the courage to face whatever comes to save the lives of others. While others are not as emotionally pulled, they can walk away feeling differently than those with the more caring souls. This is what makes them different. Just as some of us are more caring, so are they. Some of us are more selfish, just as they are.
There is a difference between what we participate in and what is thrust upon us. Responders, the military and police officers face a different kind of trauma than firefighters and victims. While firefighters save lives, victims are also not challenged with taking lives either willingly. This adds to what comes next after trauma and it's time to look at them differently than we do others we find it so much easier to accept are wounded by what they go through. They have heard the call of greater angels to act for the sake of others. The military needs to acknowledge this and remember that they are still humans in need of us to act for their sake. The military will not understand this, but you can because they see uniforms and you see other humans.
Looks like I'm not so dumb after all,,,,but I may be forgetful. I was just doing a search and came across this. Reading it, I'm sure I read it before. I think you will want to read this too.
Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD symptoms, survivor guilt and trauma caused by bullying, harassment, abuse and abusive life experiences
What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
How do I recognise the symptoms of PTSD? How do I recover from PTSD?
Updated 4 November 2005
Please link to this page: stress/ptsd.htm
by
Chaplain Kathie
I am not talking about the series that used to be on TV about a well meaning angel coming to earth to help people understand God's love for them. I am talking about being touched by the angel trying to get you to find compassion within yourself enough so that you at least try to understand our veteran with PTSD.
My heart goes out to everyone suffering from this wounded spirit. Police, firefighters and emergency responders end up wounded trying to help others and being willing to risk their lives in order to do it. Regular citizens, just like you and me, end up wounded by PTSD after accidents, crimes and natural disasters yet we cannot understand how others, just like us, can end up with PTSD when they are serving the rest of us.
Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and Airmen, along with National Guardsmen, risk their lives all the time. In times of peace, the men and women in the military prepare to do it as they train to do it. National Guards train to rescue people when natural disasters hit and they train to fight. What no one ever thought about was training them to recover from what was required of them.
When regular citizens are exposed to traumatic events, the mental health community responds immediately. As a Chaplain, I'm trained to respond to all kinds of traumatic events to take care of the responders as well as the victims. Saturday I received further training from Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness (DEEP) to be even more prepared to help. My training never ends. Why? Why would so much time and funding be invested in responding to what happens here? Because we acknowledge it is necessary to take care of our fellow humans. We need to be asking why it is no one is doing the same when it comes to the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan or for our veterans.
They are exposed to traumatic events over and over and over again while they are deployed and as the campaigns go on in Iraq as well as Afghanistan, face being redeployed. Some have been on their 5th or more tour of duty. The chain of command seem to be stunned by the increase in PTSD, suicides and attempted suicides. What did they expect out of these humans?
All generations of veterans from every corner of the globe have faced this human wound. This is not some isolated illnesses nor is it simply generational but they have regarded it as unimportant until the last few years. Even now, they are taking the wrong steps to address the traumatic events of combat head on right after they happen, but the rest of us, well, we get help right away.
People like me spend time training on different programs to respond to humans in all walks of life following all kinds of traumatic events. The military however never saw the need to mobilize all the help they can get in helping our troops right after or even helping our veterans heal long after. Looking over their programs now they seem to be more focused on getting them to be tough enough to get thru what they are being sent into. This is all fine and dandy in part but they are not separating the battle training from the healing training. The troops end up getting mixed messages from programs like Battlemind telling them they can prepare to avoid the trauma getting to them.
DEEP training reminded me of the difference. When I hear something like "resilient" it sounds a lot different than the troops will hear the word.
characterized or marked by resilience: as a: capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture b: tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change
The difference is, I've been trained to respond after the event while they are being trained to participate in the traumatic events. I hear the word and it translates into taking care of the responders and victims as fellow humans. When they hear the word, it translates into shutting down their emotions as humans. I hear the word and know I need to prepare for what I am to face so that I can take care of others. They hear the word and believe they have to be shut off from being human to kill others. Huge difference in how the word translates to these very two different paths.
A Marine in Afghanistan trained as a sniper aims at another sniper, but misses him, striking the child behind him. Can his training shut off the fact of what he just did? A National Guards solider, prepared to save lives, trains as a soldier to kill enemies. As he tosses a grenade into a home where it is believed a terrorist has been targeting the troops, he discovers there were women and children in that home and the terrorist cannot be found among the dead. Can his training shut off what he just did? He just spent most of his life training to save lives as a Guardsman but discovers he just killed a family much like his own back home.
Does the military see why the National Guardsmen and women are presenting with rates as high as 50% for PTSD? Do they really think telling them to become resilient will have them walk away as if things like this didn't just happen? Do they think it will work when they end up seeing someone they were just joking with blown up right in front of them?
Adrenalin can get them through it but it also comes back to bite them in the ass if they do not honor the human inside of them.
Adrenalin
Definition: Also known as epinephrine, adrenalin is a naturally occurring hormone. During the fight-or-flight response, the adrenal gland releases adrenalin into the blood stream, along with other hormones like cortisol, signaling the heart to pump harder, increasing blood pressure, opening airways in the lungs, narrowing blood vessels in the skin and intestine to increase blood flow to major muscle groups, and performing other functions to enable the body to fight or run when encountering a perceived threat.
This is why when a flashback comes, the response of their body is the same as when it happened.
If they do not get the same kind of help other humans get after traumatic events, the body and mind take over to fill in the gaps, often years later. The mind will reinvent the event itself until it is faced head on and acknowledged, treated and healed from. While time moves on and the event takes hold, more damage is done as the body and mind continue to get the person to pay attention to it and take action. While this is going on, other events cut the wounded spirit deeper forcing the body and mind to fight off the added traumatic event. Piled on and piled on, events become too much for the body and mind to attempt to take care of and they crash.
This happens all the time when a veteran is able to stuff all of this in the back of their minds and mask the symptoms with anything and everything to avoid it taking over their lives. Many veterans will spend years, as in the case of Vietnam veterans, stuffing it until the last straw is cast and mild PTSD becomes like a monster inside of them taking over every aspect of their lives.
One veteran reached out to me trying to understand because he had experienced an event in Vietnam he thought he coped with until he went to the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington and saw the names of the men fallen on that day. His secondary stressor hit him that hard, that fast and he never saw it coming. Looking back months later he discovered that he was masking the wound inside of him by smoking pot to calm his nerves. Had he received help to heal years before, his mild PTSD would not have become so all consuming he could no longer ignore any of it. He was and still is unable to work, unable to have a healthy relationship, avoids people and has developed a total lack of trust in others.
My husband came home with clear PTSD but had avoided it. My father was a Korean veteran and said "that guy has shell shock" the day he met him. What we didn't know back then because research was just beginning, was that it would get worse. That came with his secondary stressor and my best friend turned into a total stranger the day I miscarried the twins I was carrying.
Another Vietnam vet was working as a DEA agent. Again, he thought he managed to deal with what he went through until one of his brothers was killed in Iraq. All the stressors in between Vietnam and the death of his brother had piled on each other until his body and mind were no longer able to protect him from them.
WWII veterans, Korean veterans, Vietnam veterans, Gulf War veterans, veterans of Bosnia and Somalia are seeking help this many years after because their wounds were not addressed when they happened and other events in their lives took hold. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are seeking help after their umpteenth deployment again because the first one was not addressed. While you can see a pattern here, the military and the VA cannot see it.
Some researchers are just as bad. I keep hoping to find the answer in what they "discover" but only find it is more of the same studies they have been doing all along. Finding the same answers known 30 years ago. They will only find what they are looking for. They cannot understand this. The answer is right in front of their face in what other groups have been doing to address traumatic events in citizens. If the military would take the same approach to responding to traumatic events there wouldn't be this complex traumatic wounding in our veterans or the troops.
The problem is the military has not considered the fact the men and women in their ranks are still humans after all is said and done.
What I've found in all these years, is the men and women most wounded by PTSD, is they were always the type wanting to help others. They enter into the military with the thought of protecting their nation first and killing down on the list of reasons. National Guards, police officers, firefighters, all have this in common. The first thought is to save. They have been touched by the angels and this calling is from their soul to act, enabled with the courage to face whatever comes to save the lives of others. While others are not as emotionally pulled, they can walk away feeling differently than those with the more caring souls. This is what makes them different. Just as some of us are more caring, so are they. Some of us are more selfish, just as they are.
There is a difference between what we participate in and what is thrust upon us. Responders, the military and police officers face a different kind of trauma than firefighters and victims. While firefighters save lives, victims are also not challenged with taking lives either willingly. This adds to what comes next after trauma and it's time to look at them differently than we do others we find it so much easier to accept are wounded by what they go through. They have heard the call of greater angels to act for the sake of others. The military needs to acknowledge this and remember that they are still humans in need of us to act for their sake. The military will not understand this, but you can because they see uniforms and you see other humans.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Research claims to shed light on post-traumatic stress disorder
Reading this and looking back on my own life, leaves me to believe this is yet another load of crap study they are trying to pull off all over again. So many of these studies have been done to death and have lead to nowhere.
First, I'm sure you've noticed I am a female. This study suggests childhood and environment along with IQ? Well, considering my father was a violent alcoholic very experienced with beating my older brother and breaking almost everything in the house, along with constant load shouting matches with my Mom, according to this study, I must have PTSD. See my life was begun with this kind of upbringing, followed by getting pushed off a slide at the age of 4 onto concrete fracturing my scull and resulting in a concussion. This wasn't the worst but I very well could have died because the idiot at the emergency room didn't know how to read an X-ray properly and told my Mom to just take me home. My scull was cracked all the way around and the next morning, my eyelid was swollen shut. I was rushed to the emergency room and was admitted right away.
This wasn't the last of the trauma for me. It was followed by more nights of my father's violence and the fact I tried to crack my scull again so that my parents would stop fighting. Later in life I was in a terrible car accident and this was followed by an ex-husband who tried to kill me one night by beating me. Divorce filed for and he then ended up stalking me for over a year. This was followed by the miscarriage of twins when I was married to my current husband for two years and I would have bled to death had the doctors not stopped it. This was followed by an infection after giving birth to our daughter that ended up going thru my entire system and I almost died yet again. There were other times but I won't go into more because I think so far, the point has been proven.
While I don't have PTSD, the difference is not that I am stronger or any better than anyone else. I am still searching for the reason but all indications point to faith and my own understanding of God. It's not that people have weak faith but they just understand things differently than I do.
I share all the characteristics with the people I've met over the years including my husband and I wondered why they had PTSD but I didn't. I am compassionate, sympathetic and empathetic. There are times when some of the stories I hear and the stress I'm under doing what I do result in nightmares and terrible dreams but they fade away. I get depressed and cry, just as I get angry and get over it. I tend to not hold onto bad thoughts or emotions even though I've had plenty of reason to hang onto all of it. Even at this moment writing this I'm wondering yet again what the answer is. But the difference between me and veterans is that I have never been in combat. What I faced was different than their stressors.
I can also tell you that each time my life was on the line, recovering from it was harder and harder to manage. This report does not take into account the prevalence of PTSD after multiple tours of duty. It also does not take into account people like me. My husband was the perfect young child according to his family and I,,well let's just say I was a trouble maker. It was my way of coping with the life I had.
In my opinion for what it's worth, this is yet again another study that is a pure waste of time when they could actually be doing something that was not already done in the last 30 years!
First, I'm sure you've noticed I am a female. This study suggests childhood and environment along with IQ? Well, considering my father was a violent alcoholic very experienced with beating my older brother and breaking almost everything in the house, along with constant load shouting matches with my Mom, according to this study, I must have PTSD. See my life was begun with this kind of upbringing, followed by getting pushed off a slide at the age of 4 onto concrete fracturing my scull and resulting in a concussion. This wasn't the worst but I very well could have died because the idiot at the emergency room didn't know how to read an X-ray properly and told my Mom to just take me home. My scull was cracked all the way around and the next morning, my eyelid was swollen shut. I was rushed to the emergency room and was admitted right away.
This wasn't the last of the trauma for me. It was followed by more nights of my father's violence and the fact I tried to crack my scull again so that my parents would stop fighting. Later in life I was in a terrible car accident and this was followed by an ex-husband who tried to kill me one night by beating me. Divorce filed for and he then ended up stalking me for over a year. This was followed by the miscarriage of twins when I was married to my current husband for two years and I would have bled to death had the doctors not stopped it. This was followed by an infection after giving birth to our daughter that ended up going thru my entire system and I almost died yet again. There were other times but I won't go into more because I think so far, the point has been proven.
While I don't have PTSD, the difference is not that I am stronger or any better than anyone else. I am still searching for the reason but all indications point to faith and my own understanding of God. It's not that people have weak faith but they just understand things differently than I do.
I share all the characteristics with the people I've met over the years including my husband and I wondered why they had PTSD but I didn't. I am compassionate, sympathetic and empathetic. There are times when some of the stories I hear and the stress I'm under doing what I do result in nightmares and terrible dreams but they fade away. I get depressed and cry, just as I get angry and get over it. I tend to not hold onto bad thoughts or emotions even though I've had plenty of reason to hang onto all of it. Even at this moment writing this I'm wondering yet again what the answer is. But the difference between me and veterans is that I have never been in combat. What I faced was different than their stressors.
I can also tell you that each time my life was on the line, recovering from it was harder and harder to manage. This report does not take into account the prevalence of PTSD after multiple tours of duty. It also does not take into account people like me. My husband was the perfect young child according to his family and I,,well let's just say I was a trouble maker. It was my way of coping with the life I had.
In my opinion for what it's worth, this is yet again another study that is a pure waste of time when they could actually be doing something that was not already done in the last 30 years!
Research sheds light on post-traumatic stress disorder
By Jean-Louis Santini, AFP
February 16, 2009
CHICAGO - Research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can haunt former soldiers and survivors of catastrophes, is shedding light on who may be more vulnerable, and how best to treat each case.
"Interestingly, there are some individuals who, when confronted with extreme stress, their hormone profile is rather unique," said Deane Aikins, a psychiatrist at Yale University in Connecticut, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) which ends Monday.
"It doesn't reach the same peak as the rest of us. So we are ready to scream in our chair, and there are certain individuals who just don't get as stressed. Their stress hormones are actually lower and the peptides that down regulate that stress are quite higher," he explained."For example for rape, about 50 per cent of women developed PTSD and why is that? One issue is the severity of the trauma but we also found that early childhood and genetic factors influence who develop PTSD much later in life," she said.She and her colleague found factors such as low IQ early as age 5, difficult temperament at age 3 and then family environment factors such as growing up in poverty, having a depressed mother, moving often or being separated from parents at a young age all could help predispose people to developing the condition.
Also "some people have genetic variants that make them more vulnerable to the effects of trauma," so now "basically we know now that PTSD is not just about the trauma, that early child characteristics, family environment and genetic factors influence how people respond to horrible events during their life," she said.go here for the rest
Armed Forces Day: the heroes who are just like us
Armed Forces Day: the heroes who are just like us
Our servicemen and woman are ordinary people who have chosen an extraordinary job, says Andy McNab
Published: 5:00PM BST 21 Jun 2009
It is all too easy to think of the Armed Forces as belonging to a different tribe from us “pencil necks” (one of the many terms used by our services to describe civilians). Despite the occasional differences in language and culture, however, they are made up of regular people. They’re just like us.
But, according to a recent statistic, the average Briton is more likely to know a copper in the Metropolitan Police than a soldier in the British Army.
One reason for this lack of integration is that servicemen and women had to go off-radar during the years of conflict in Northern Ireland. When the Provisional IRA started to target our forces and their families, our servicemen and women had no choice: they simply had to disappear from public view in order to avoid getting shot or blown up. When out and about on the streets, they were even instructed not to wear uniform, to reduce the potential of becoming targets.
They have had to keep a “low profile” for more than 30 years, and consequently, they have fallen out of the public’s consciousness, and this, inevitably, has led to them being considered with less regard – simply, because we don’t know them.
Get to know some of the individuals as I have, in the past and most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you find people who make you feel proud.
go here for more
The heroes who are just like us
Our servicemen and woman are ordinary people who have chosen an extraordinary job, says Andy McNab
Published: 5:00PM BST 21 Jun 2009
It is all too easy to think of the Armed Forces as belonging to a different tribe from us “pencil necks” (one of the many terms used by our services to describe civilians). Despite the occasional differences in language and culture, however, they are made up of regular people. They’re just like us.
But, according to a recent statistic, the average Briton is more likely to know a copper in the Metropolitan Police than a soldier in the British Army.
One reason for this lack of integration is that servicemen and women had to go off-radar during the years of conflict in Northern Ireland. When the Provisional IRA started to target our forces and their families, our servicemen and women had no choice: they simply had to disappear from public view in order to avoid getting shot or blown up. When out and about on the streets, they were even instructed not to wear uniform, to reduce the potential of becoming targets.
They have had to keep a “low profile” for more than 30 years, and consequently, they have fallen out of the public’s consciousness, and this, inevitably, has led to them being considered with less regard – simply, because we don’t know them.
Get to know some of the individuals as I have, in the past and most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you find people who make you feel proud.
go here for more
The heroes who are just like us
A Father’s Day meditation on the invisible costs of war
The inheritance
A Father’s Day meditation on the invisible costs of war - and their family legacy.
By Thomas Childers
June 21, 2009
My father Tom Childers and Willis Allen, my best friend Gary’s father, were veterans of the Second World War, prototypes of what we have come to call “the Greatest Generation.” Raised in modest circumstances during the Great Depression, with little in the way of social or economic advantages, they fought and survived the war, returned home, had families, and built successful careers. They prospered, joined social clubs, watched their sons play Little League, took their families on vacations to Florida. They were model veterans, model family men.
A Father’s Day meditation on the invisible costs of war - and their family legacy.
By Thomas Childers
June 21, 2009
My father Tom Childers and Willis Allen, my best friend Gary’s father, were veterans of the Second World War, prototypes of what we have come to call “the Greatest Generation.” Raised in modest circumstances during the Great Depression, with little in the way of social or economic advantages, they fought and survived the war, returned home, had families, and built successful careers. They prospered, joined social clubs, watched their sons play Little League, took their families on vacations to Florida. They were model veterans, model family men.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was not diagnosed until 1980, but the US suffered over 1 million psychiatric casualties in World War II, and in 1947 half the beds in VA hospitals were occupied by men with “psychoneurotic disorders.” Depression, recurring nightmares, survivor guilt, outbursts of rage, most frequently directed at family members, “exaggerated startle responses,” and anxiety reactions - all of which are recognized today as classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder - were as common as they were unnerving
go here for more
The inheritance
Stolen Valor:Jeffrey Muller couldn't make up his mind what name to use using others
You have to read this whole story! Aside from the great job Howard Frank did writing it, it's one of the best reports I've read over Stolen Valor. Why is it people think they can pass themselves off as, not just veterans, but as heroes? I know so many real ones and they will hardly ever talk about the medals they earned or what they did to earn them. They would rather humbly take care of someone else or tell a joke than to discuss themselves. Then comes along a total fraud, trying to make themselves look braver than they really are. These frauds, while able to lie well, never learned to live well and will never, ever come close to the real heroes in this country.
Vietnam vets accuse Blakeslee man of taking something he doesn't deserve: The tribute paid to warriors
By HOWARD FRANK
Pocono Record Writer
June 21, 2009
Billy Russo was a smart, well-liked boy growing up in Elizabeth, N.J. He went to Jefferson High School, where he studied architectural drawings and art. "He was very good at that," his younger brother, Ray, who's from Blakeslee, remembered.
Billy joined the Marines in 1966, right after high school. "He was patriotic. He was proud to be a Marine," Ray said.
In 1967, he was sent to Vietnam as a machine gunner.
Billy Russo was killed in action on Memorial Day, May 28, 1968. It happened during heavy fighting up north near the demilitarized zone. Billy had just three weeks left in his tour of duty.
While other kids were going to drive-ins and falling in love for the first time, Billy died serving his country. He was only 19 years old.
For his family, and his younger brother Ray, all Billy left behind were memories of a shortened life, his patriotism and his valor.
Now, Ray says, someone is trying to steal that from Billy. And from the more than 58,000 other Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Friend or foe
Members of a local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter believe a man by the name of Jeffrey Muller — aka Jeffrey Cornplanter, Jeffrey Carhoota, Jeffrey Caringheart and Jeffrey Carhoota Cornplanter — has been falsely passing himself off as a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, currying favor, and cash, from local groups.
They say he's been passing himself off as a Seneca Indian chief and a Special Forces warrant officer who flew helicopters in Vietnam.
go here for more
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090621/NEWS/906210304
Harvard professor deploys to Afghanistan with 10th Mountain Div.
Harvard professor deploys to Afghanistan
By Fisnik Abrashi - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jun 21, 2009 8:38:24 EDT
FORWARD OPERATING BASE AIRBORNE, Afghanistan — Last year, Kit Parker was a Harvard professor. Today, he is a U.S. Army major in Afghanistan.
Parker has spent his career juggling two unlikely professions: Teaching and fighting. He returned in December to Afghanistan, where he has been involved in firefights and roadside bomb attacks on his convoys.
His unusual career path has put the 43-year-old in what he calls “the two extremes of human condition.”
“You have Afghanistan, where you have ... 90 percent illiteracy, people living in mud huts, roughly the 12th century,” says Parker, a towering man with a shaved head, darting blue eyes, a southern drawl and an apparently strong command of just about any subject he talks about. “And then you got people at Harvard, where supposedly we are all literate and have all kinds of education available to us. How more different can these two environments be?”
And yet, he says, one thing is the same — the relentless pace of the work. Nothing prepared him better for Harvard than his first deployment.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_army_professor_afghanistan_062109/
By Fisnik Abrashi - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jun 21, 2009 8:38:24 EDT
FORWARD OPERATING BASE AIRBORNE, Afghanistan — Last year, Kit Parker was a Harvard professor. Today, he is a U.S. Army major in Afghanistan.
Parker has spent his career juggling two unlikely professions: Teaching and fighting. He returned in December to Afghanistan, where he has been involved in firefights and roadside bomb attacks on his convoys.
His unusual career path has put the 43-year-old in what he calls “the two extremes of human condition.”
“You have Afghanistan, where you have ... 90 percent illiteracy, people living in mud huts, roughly the 12th century,” says Parker, a towering man with a shaved head, darting blue eyes, a southern drawl and an apparently strong command of just about any subject he talks about. “And then you got people at Harvard, where supposedly we are all literate and have all kinds of education available to us. How more different can these two environments be?”
And yet, he says, one thing is the same — the relentless pace of the work. Nothing prepared him better for Harvard than his first deployment.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_army_professor_afghanistan_062109/
Deception and betrayal went hand and hand with Bush
by
Chaplain Kathie
While the US Congress fails to find out exactly what was behind the invasion of Iraq along with everything else during the Bush presidency, the British people seem to believe that finding out what caused the death and destruction is well worth the effort of fully investigating. They are in the process of doing just that.
The push to go to war would not be anything new in the history of nations. Excuses are found all the time. Bush pushing to invade Iraq and the result we are dealing with today though shows a complete and total disregard for the people sent to do it as well as the Iraqi people themselves.
There was already an active military campaign going on in Afghanistan and proving fairly successful at the time. The perplexing thing is that even with an active military campaign, there were less doctors and nurses working for the VA than following the Gulf War. Considering wars usually do produce wounded soldiers along with killed in action, this was already a dangerous sign.
Following the attacks of 9-11, there was an increased reaction in veterans already. Most of them were living with PTSD but denying they needed help. 9-11 sent a lot of them flocking to the VA and mental health care. This further complicated the situation of an active campaign without the proper staffing.
All of this was not bad enough. Bush cut the VA budget. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Nicholson didn't see the need to increase staff or claims processors. What made this worse was the fact when there was a flood of veterans seeking care, Nicholson returned some of the funds intended to take care of our veterans.
With all of this, then add in this piece of further information there was a push to invade Iraq no matter what the evidence was. Where were the doctors and nurses and claims processors with there was already a backlog, a waiting line and two active military campaigns?
History had already shown the administration this would be a long drawn out deadly campaign. Dick Cheney, after all was the Secretary of Defense during the last time the US had gone up against Saddam. Cheney used the excuse of not going after Saddam to remove him from power as getting the US tied up in a "quagmire" if they had. The media however treated this term by Cheney as something new as if he never used it before.
Knowing what they were getting the men and women in the military involved with, we need to seriously be asking how they could be so callous they betrayed them? Had they really appreciated their service as they frequently claimed, wouldn't they have made sure everything was in place to care for the wounded? If they really valued the families as much as they said they did, wouldn't they have made sure families of the wounded wouldn't have to suffer needlessly without incomes waiting for claims to be approved and the wounded spouse treated with the respect and care they earned? Had the Republican elected in control been really concerned with the needs of the troops, wouldn't they have demanded the administration take action on gearing up the VA and the medical services of the DOD to meet the need? They didn't. No one with the power to do anything proved they really cared at all.
No vital need to invade Iraq with troops already in Afghanistan, but no one thought of the troops they were sending in and this, this is the ultimate betrayal of all.
Has there been proper staffing in the VA would we be seeing so many suicides today? Would we be seeing so many waiting months and years for claims to be approved? Would we be seeing a backlog of those claims approaching a million? Did anyone really think of any of this?
Today we hear McCain and Republicans talking on TV demanding tough talk on the Iranian elections. The same tough talk they used to support the invasion of Iraq. Do they stop to think of how wrong they have been in the past? Do they stop and think about the price that may have to be paid by the men and women in the military as a result of any of the demands they are making? Do they really want a war with Iran now? North Korea? What's next for all their tough talk? These are many of the same people in charge when the troops were betrayed already! This in no way leaves the Democrats off the hook for what happened because they were too afraid to speak out in public. They managed to give passionate pleas on the floor of Congress to fund the VA but publicly they were not showing up on cable news shows making the same kind of passionate plea for action.
There are many Republican voters totally appalled by all that has been going on because they have been paying attention. They care about the men and women in the military and our veterans enough to actually prove it instead of just talking about it. They are demanding the veterans are taken care of. Whatever is preventing the rest of the Republicans from doing the same is beyond explanation.
Chaplain Kathie
While the US Congress fails to find out exactly what was behind the invasion of Iraq along with everything else during the Bush presidency, the British people seem to believe that finding out what caused the death and destruction is well worth the effort of fully investigating. They are in the process of doing just that.
Confidential memo reveals US plan to provoke an invasion of IraqBuzz up!
Digg it
Jamie Doward, Gaby Hinsliff and Mark Townsend The Observer, Sunday 21 June 2009 Article historyA confidential record of a meeting between President Bush and Tony Blair before the invasion of Iraq, outlining their intention to go to war without a second United Nations resolution, will be an explosive issue for the official inquiry into the UK's role in toppling Saddam Hussein.
The memo, written on 31 January 2003, almost two months before the invasion and seen by the Observer, confirms that as the two men became increasingly aware UN inspectors would fail to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) they had to contemplate alternative scenarios that might trigger a second resolution legitimising military action.
Bush told Blair the US had drawn up a provocative plan "to fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft painted in UN colours over Iraq with fighter cover". Bush said that if Saddam fired at the planes this would put the Iraqi leader in breach of UN resolutions.
The president expressed hopes that an Iraqi defector would be "brought out" to give a public presentation on Saddam's WMD or that someone might assassinate the Iraqi leader. However, Bush confirmed even without a second resolution, the US was prepared for military action. The memo said Blair told Bush he was "solidly with the president".
go here for more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/21/iraq-inquiry-tony-blair-bush
The push to go to war would not be anything new in the history of nations. Excuses are found all the time. Bush pushing to invade Iraq and the result we are dealing with today though shows a complete and total disregard for the people sent to do it as well as the Iraqi people themselves.
There was already an active military campaign going on in Afghanistan and proving fairly successful at the time. The perplexing thing is that even with an active military campaign, there were less doctors and nurses working for the VA than following the Gulf War. Considering wars usually do produce wounded soldiers along with killed in action, this was already a dangerous sign.
Following the attacks of 9-11, there was an increased reaction in veterans already. Most of them were living with PTSD but denying they needed help. 9-11 sent a lot of them flocking to the VA and mental health care. This further complicated the situation of an active campaign without the proper staffing.
All of this was not bad enough. Bush cut the VA budget. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Nicholson didn't see the need to increase staff or claims processors. What made this worse was the fact when there was a flood of veterans seeking care, Nicholson returned some of the funds intended to take care of our veterans.
With all of this, then add in this piece of further information there was a push to invade Iraq no matter what the evidence was. Where were the doctors and nurses and claims processors with there was already a backlog, a waiting line and two active military campaigns?
History had already shown the administration this would be a long drawn out deadly campaign. Dick Cheney, after all was the Secretary of Defense during the last time the US had gone up against Saddam. Cheney used the excuse of not going after Saddam to remove him from power as getting the US tied up in a "quagmire" if they had. The media however treated this term by Cheney as something new as if he never used it before.
Knowing what they were getting the men and women in the military involved with, we need to seriously be asking how they could be so callous they betrayed them? Had they really appreciated their service as they frequently claimed, wouldn't they have made sure everything was in place to care for the wounded? If they really valued the families as much as they said they did, wouldn't they have made sure families of the wounded wouldn't have to suffer needlessly without incomes waiting for claims to be approved and the wounded spouse treated with the respect and care they earned? Had the Republican elected in control been really concerned with the needs of the troops, wouldn't they have demanded the administration take action on gearing up the VA and the medical services of the DOD to meet the need? They didn't. No one with the power to do anything proved they really cared at all.
No vital need to invade Iraq with troops already in Afghanistan, but no one thought of the troops they were sending in and this, this is the ultimate betrayal of all.
Has there been proper staffing in the VA would we be seeing so many suicides today? Would we be seeing so many waiting months and years for claims to be approved? Would we be seeing a backlog of those claims approaching a million? Did anyone really think of any of this?
Today we hear McCain and Republicans talking on TV demanding tough talk on the Iranian elections. The same tough talk they used to support the invasion of Iraq. Do they stop to think of how wrong they have been in the past? Do they stop and think about the price that may have to be paid by the men and women in the military as a result of any of the demands they are making? Do they really want a war with Iran now? North Korea? What's next for all their tough talk? These are many of the same people in charge when the troops were betrayed already! This in no way leaves the Democrats off the hook for what happened because they were too afraid to speak out in public. They managed to give passionate pleas on the floor of Congress to fund the VA but publicly they were not showing up on cable news shows making the same kind of passionate plea for action.
There are many Republican voters totally appalled by all that has been going on because they have been paying attention. They care about the men and women in the military and our veterans enough to actually prove it instead of just talking about it. They are demanding the veterans are taken care of. Whatever is preventing the rest of the Republicans from doing the same is beyond explanation.
When doctors get PTSD wrong, it could be because you did too
by
Chaplain Kathie
It is very easy for us to feel so overwhelmed when it comes to mental health that it is difficult to take active participation in the treatment of our own mental health or the treatment of someone we love. Understanding mental illness is often something we find impossible. This inadequacy gets in the way of proper treatment and above all, proper diagnosis.
There have been cases where someone is misdiagnosed because either someone did not know the right things to say or the doctor did not know the right questions to ask.
When average people are dealing with mental health professionals, we tend to not tell them everything they need to know. We just take their expert findings and settle for what they say. The problem with this is that if we do not really listen, take the time to read the information they give us, we could very well end up in a worse situation.
With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder the symptoms can be dismissed, disguised and denied for many years. PTSD follows a traumatic event. The term itself means "after trauma" but too often we do not connect a traumatic event with the changes. This is easy to happen especially when sometimes it takes years for PTSD to require medical intervention. How can this happen? Easy when PTSD is in a mild state. The VA has been seeing veterans as far away from the traumas of combat as World War II veterans presenting for the first time. Some of it is due to publicity focused on Iraq and Afghanistan veterans bringing understanding of this wound to them for the first time. Some of it is also due to age, life changes and another traumatic event in their lives. This is called a "secondary stressor" (Not to be confused with "secondary PTSD" which comes from living with someone with PTSD.)
Vietnam veterans are the same as older veterans, dealing with the same lack of connecting what is going on with their quality of life and relationships and what they went thru in combat. Many of them dismissed the changes in them, self-medicated or buried it all inside of them in a denial state believing they could hide what they were thinking. Changes witnessed by their families were misunderstood because of lack of knowledge and the veteran was blamed for the chaos they were perceived as causing instead of what was happening inside the veteran.
When years pass between the traumatic events and the admission there is a problem to be addressed by a doctor, we tend to withhold information from the doctor unknowingly because we do not connect something that happened so long ago with what we are seeing in now. This can cause a lot of problems with getting the right diagnosis and treatment.
The following is from the National Institute of Mental Health. It shows clearly how psychologist should be trained to look for what they specialize in, but if you are going to the wrong doctor because of lack of knowledge and do not tell them everything they need to know, you could end up with the wrong diagnosis.
Looking at the symptoms of bipolar or even personality disorder and compare them to PTSD, they can be easily confused. If you do not listen to the doctor explain bipolar and hear
"A long period of feeling "high," or an overly happy or outgoing mood" which does not come with PTSD unless they are self-medicating, then you will not be able to tell them that is not the case with someone you love or yourself. There are mood-swings with PTSD, but the happy feeling does not last long. Depression lasts longer. If you simply tell the doctor about mood-swings and do not disclose the periods of being overly happy come with drinking or doing drugs, they will not know. Then you end up with the wrong diagnosis. If you do not know what PTSD and do not look for a truly traumatic event in the life, then you will not feel the need to share the information dismissing the event. They need to know! You have to not only know the right questions to ask, you need to know the right information to share with the doctor.
Take an active part by finding the information you need to know to share with the doctor. There is nothing wrong with telling a doctor "too much" because the more you share with them, the more they will understand someone you know a lot better than they do. Read what is part of the mental illnesses they have been trained to treat and if you know there is something else going on, you need to share it with them. If they were not trained to understand PTSD, they will not be looking for it.
Chaplain Kathie
It is very easy for us to feel so overwhelmed when it comes to mental health that it is difficult to take active participation in the treatment of our own mental health or the treatment of someone we love. Understanding mental illness is often something we find impossible. This inadequacy gets in the way of proper treatment and above all, proper diagnosis.
There have been cases where someone is misdiagnosed because either someone did not know the right things to say or the doctor did not know the right questions to ask.
When average people are dealing with mental health professionals, we tend to not tell them everything they need to know. We just take their expert findings and settle for what they say. The problem with this is that if we do not really listen, take the time to read the information they give us, we could very well end up in a worse situation.
With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder the symptoms can be dismissed, disguised and denied for many years. PTSD follows a traumatic event. The term itself means "after trauma" but too often we do not connect a traumatic event with the changes. This is easy to happen especially when sometimes it takes years for PTSD to require medical intervention. How can this happen? Easy when PTSD is in a mild state. The VA has been seeing veterans as far away from the traumas of combat as World War II veterans presenting for the first time. Some of it is due to publicity focused on Iraq and Afghanistan veterans bringing understanding of this wound to them for the first time. Some of it is also due to age, life changes and another traumatic event in their lives. This is called a "secondary stressor" (Not to be confused with "secondary PTSD" which comes from living with someone with PTSD.)
Vietnam veterans are the same as older veterans, dealing with the same lack of connecting what is going on with their quality of life and relationships and what they went thru in combat. Many of them dismissed the changes in them, self-medicated or buried it all inside of them in a denial state believing they could hide what they were thinking. Changes witnessed by their families were misunderstood because of lack of knowledge and the veteran was blamed for the chaos they were perceived as causing instead of what was happening inside the veteran.
When years pass between the traumatic events and the admission there is a problem to be addressed by a doctor, we tend to withhold information from the doctor unknowingly because we do not connect something that happened so long ago with what we are seeing in now. This can cause a lot of problems with getting the right diagnosis and treatment.
The following is from the National Institute of Mental Health. It shows clearly how psychologist should be trained to look for what they specialize in, but if you are going to the wrong doctor because of lack of knowledge and do not tell them everything they need to know, you could end up with the wrong diagnosis.
How is bipolar disorder diagnosed?
The first step in getting a proper diagnosis is to talk to a doctor, who may conduct a physical examination, an interview, and lab tests. Bipolar disorder cannot currently be identified through a blood test or a brain scan, but these tests can help rule out other contributing factors, such as a stroke or brain tumor. If the problems are not caused by other illnesses, the doctor may conduct a mental health evaluation. The doctor may also provide a referral to a trained mental health professional, such as a psychiatrist, who is experienced in diagnosing and treating bipolar disorder.
The doctor or mental health professional should conduct a complete diagnostic evaluation. He or she should discuss any family history of bipolar disorder or other mental illnesses and get a complete history of symptoms. The doctor or mental health professionals should also talk to the person's close relatives or spouse and note how they describe the person's symptoms and family medical history.
People with bipolar disorder are more likely to seek help when they are depressed than when experiencing mania or hypomania.17 Therefore, a careful medical history is needed to assure that bipolar disorder is not mistakenly diagnosed as major depressive disorder, which is also called unipolar depression. Unlike people with bipolar disorder, people who have unipolar depression do not experience mania. Whenever possible, previous records and input from family and friends should also be included in the medical history.
How is PTSD detected?
A doctor who has experience helping people with mental illnesses, such as a psychiatrist or psychologist, can diagnose PTSD. The diagnosis is made after the doctor talks with the person who has symptoms of PTSD.
To be diagnosed with PTSD, a person must have all of the following for at least 1 month:
At least one re-experiencing symptom
At least three avoidance symptoms
At least two hyperarousal symptoms
Symptoms that make it hard to go about daily life, go to school or work, be with friends, and take care of important tasks.
What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder?
People with bipolar disorder experience unusually intense emotional states that occur in distinct periods called "mood episodes." An overly joyful or overexcited state is called a manic episode, and an extremely sad or hopeless state is called a depressive episode. Sometimes, a mood episode includes symptoms of both mania and depression. This is called a mixed state. People with bipolar disorder also may be explosive and irritable during a mood episode.
Extreme changes in energy, activity, sleep, and behavior go along with these changes in mood. It is possible for someone with bipolar disorder to experience a long-lasting period of unstable moods rather than discrete episodes of depression or mania.
A person may be having an episode of bipolar disorder if he or she has a number of manic or depressive symptoms for most of the day, nearly every day, for at least one or two weeks. Sometimes symptoms are so severe that the person cannot function normally at work, school, or home.
Symptoms of bipolar disorder are described below.
Symptoms of mania or a manic episode include: Symptoms of depression or a depressive episode include:
Mood Changes
A long period of feeling "high," or an overly happy or outgoing mood
This is not usually part of PTSD but the rest could be
Extremely irritable mood, agitation, feeling "jumpy" or "wired."
Behavioral Changes
Talking very fast, jumping from one idea to another, having racing thoughts
Being easily distracted
Increasing goal-directed activities, such as taking on new projects
Being restless
Sleeping little
Having an unrealistic belief in one's abilities
Behaving impulsively and taking part in a lot of pleasurable,
high-risk behaviors, such as spending sprees, impulsive sex, and impulsive business investments.
Mood Changes
A long period of feeling worried or empty
Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, including sex.
Behavioral Changes
Feeling tired or "slowed down"
Having problems concentrating, remembering, and making decisions
Being restless or irritable
Changing eating, sleeping, or other habits
Thinking of death or suicide, or attempting suicide.
NIMH Bipolar
Borderline Personality Disorder
A brief overview that focuses on the symptoms, treatments, and research findings. (2001).
Raising questions, finding answers
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior. This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and the individual's sense of self-identity. Originally thought to be at the "borderline" of psychosis, people with BPD suffer from a disorder of emotion regulation. While less well known than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), BPD is more common, affecting 2 percent of adults, mostly young women.1 There is a high rate of self-injury without suicide intent, as well as a significant rate of suicide attempts and completed suicide in severe cases.2,3 Patients often need extensive mental health services, and account for 20 percent of psychiatric hospitalizations.4 Yet, with help, many improve over time and are eventually able to lead productive lives.
Symptoms
While a person with depression or bipolar disorder typically endures the same mood for weeks, a person with BPD may experience intense bouts of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last only hours, or at most a day.5 These may be associated with episodes of impulsive aggression, self-injury, and drug or alcohol abuse. Distortions in cognition and sense of self can lead to frequent changes in long-term goals, career plans, jobs, friendships, gender identity, and values. Sometimes people with BPD view themselves as fundamentally bad, or unworthy. They may feel unfairly misunderstood or mistreated, bored, empty, and have little idea who they are. Such symptoms are most acute when people with BPD feel isolated and lacking in social support, and may result in frantic efforts to avoid being alone.
People with BPD often have highly unstable patterns of social relationships. While they can develop intense but stormy attachments, their attitudes towards family, friends, and loved ones may suddenly shift from idealization (great admiration and love) to devaluation (intense anger and dislike). Thus, they may form an immediate attachment and idealize the other person, but when a slight separation or conflict occurs, they switch unexpectedly to the other extreme and angrily accuse the other person of not caring for them at all. Even with family members, individuals with BPD are highly sensitive to rejection, reacting with anger and distress to such mild separations as a vacation, a business trip, or a sudden change in plans. These fears of abandonment seem to be related to difficulties feeling emotionally connected to important persons when they are physically absent, leaving the individual with BPD feeling lost and perhaps worthless. Suicide threats and attempts may occur along with anger at perceived abandonment and disappointments.
People with BPD exhibit other impulsive behaviors, such as excessive spending, binge eating and risky sex. BPD often occurs together with other psychiatric problems, particularly bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and other personality disorders.
NIMH Personality Disorder
Looking at the symptoms of bipolar or even personality disorder and compare them to PTSD, they can be easily confused. If you do not listen to the doctor explain bipolar and hear
"A long period of feeling "high," or an overly happy or outgoing mood" which does not come with PTSD unless they are self-medicating, then you will not be able to tell them that is not the case with someone you love or yourself. There are mood-swings with PTSD, but the happy feeling does not last long. Depression lasts longer. If you simply tell the doctor about mood-swings and do not disclose the periods of being overly happy come with drinking or doing drugs, they will not know. Then you end up with the wrong diagnosis. If you do not know what PTSD and do not look for a truly traumatic event in the life, then you will not feel the need to share the information dismissing the event. They need to know! You have to not only know the right questions to ask, you need to know the right information to share with the doctor.
Take an active part by finding the information you need to know to share with the doctor. There is nothing wrong with telling a doctor "too much" because the more you share with them, the more they will understand someone you know a lot better than they do. Read what is part of the mental illnesses they have been trained to treat and if you know there is something else going on, you need to share it with them. If they were not trained to understand PTSD, they will not be looking for it.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Take a break,,,,we all need it
Lately it seems that I am in one meeting or training than doing anything else. Today it was DEEP Training,,,,Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness. It is to help first responders and be there for them and when they are not in need, for the survivors. Thursday nights it's NAMI Family to Family training to help support families living with mental illness. This came after a conference call with NAMI Veterans Council. Seems like there are weeks when it just never ends.
The point to all of this is the mood I'm in right now. Usually I get to have Friday to do something fun with my husband. Yesterday I had a meeting to go to instead, so all we ended up just getting a late lunch and then back home, back to work online. The difference is that I really needed a break this week. It's very important for anyone working with stressful situations they take a break! I'm emotionally exhausted and drained physically. We all need a break, to step away from what we do, what we read and yes, even helping others.
I'm great at lecturing friends when they feel they need to keep going no matter how they feel, what they are dealing with or how stressed out they are. Great at giving the advice but not at taking it.
This will be the only post today because I am forcing myself to listen to what all the experts say about doing this kind of work. I'm taking a break tonight. I plan on playing a game online, then having something to eat and then, finding some kind of funny movie on cable and just relax. If you work with others, trying to give your all away to help them, take some time to refill your tank too or you won't do them any good at all.
The point to all of this is the mood I'm in right now. Usually I get to have Friday to do something fun with my husband. Yesterday I had a meeting to go to instead, so all we ended up just getting a late lunch and then back home, back to work online. The difference is that I really needed a break this week. It's very important for anyone working with stressful situations they take a break! I'm emotionally exhausted and drained physically. We all need a break, to step away from what we do, what we read and yes, even helping others.
I'm great at lecturing friends when they feel they need to keep going no matter how they feel, what they are dealing with or how stressed out they are. Great at giving the advice but not at taking it.
This will be the only post today because I am forcing myself to listen to what all the experts say about doing this kind of work. I'm taking a break tonight. I plan on playing a game online, then having something to eat and then, finding some kind of funny movie on cable and just relax. If you work with others, trying to give your all away to help them, take some time to refill your tank too or you won't do them any good at all.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Veterans suffer when claims are tied up or denied
Every time I read reports like this, it takes me back to the days when it seemed everyone knew my husband had PTSD, including the people working at the VA hospital but the only people out of the loop were the very people our lives depended on. Claims processors!
Don't get me wrong here, they have rules they have to go by even though most of the rules are pretty stupid. An MOS can trap a veteran out if it's the wrong type. Go figure. An MOS that is not combat related, but more support related, was never considered to have been able to become wounded by PTSD. Even though, much like today, no one is exempt from traumatic events. Not in Vietnam and not in Iraq or Afghanistan. Yet if a claims processor was allowed to finish reading the claim, they would find things like "shrapnel" or bullet wound, or even in some cases, missing limbs. We faced this catastrophe for six years between the time I finally managed to get my husband to even go to the VA and the time they finally honored his claim. It is the worst thing to go thru while dealing with a life threatening actual combat related disability and having the people in charge of your life denying all of it.
In this article you'll read about a disabled veteran, finally having his claim approved, after he lost his home. Again, a reminder here, these are men and women trusted enough to be fully armed and trained to hold the future of this nation in their hands. They were trusted enough to go where they were sent but they are not trusted enough to process their claims before it's too late to save their homes, their financial standing, their families and in too many cases, save their lives.
Are there some capable of fraud? Absolutely but they are a tiny fraction of the honorable claims being presented and with each number of waiting claim, comes a veteran and a family. This is wrong.
On this blog you've read countless stories of how Vietnam veterans are finally being honored for their service in cities and towns across the nation with celebrations, parades and parties. Yet look at how many years it took us to do this for them. How many years are you willing to wait to really honor them and the newer veterans seeking treatment and compensation for the wounds they came home with?
Don't get me wrong here, they have rules they have to go by even though most of the rules are pretty stupid. An MOS can trap a veteran out if it's the wrong type. Go figure. An MOS that is not combat related, but more support related, was never considered to have been able to become wounded by PTSD. Even though, much like today, no one is exempt from traumatic events. Not in Vietnam and not in Iraq or Afghanistan. Yet if a claims processor was allowed to finish reading the claim, they would find things like "shrapnel" or bullet wound, or even in some cases, missing limbs. We faced this catastrophe for six years between the time I finally managed to get my husband to even go to the VA and the time they finally honored his claim. It is the worst thing to go thru while dealing with a life threatening actual combat related disability and having the people in charge of your life denying all of it.
In this article you'll read about a disabled veteran, finally having his claim approved, after he lost his home. Again, a reminder here, these are men and women trusted enough to be fully armed and trained to hold the future of this nation in their hands. They were trusted enough to go where they were sent but they are not trusted enough to process their claims before it's too late to save their homes, their financial standing, their families and in too many cases, save their lives.
Are there some capable of fraud? Absolutely but they are a tiny fraction of the honorable claims being presented and with each number of waiting claim, comes a veteran and a family. This is wrong.
On this blog you've read countless stories of how Vietnam veterans are finally being honored for their service in cities and towns across the nation with celebrations, parades and parties. Yet look at how many years it took us to do this for them. How many years are you willing to wait to really honor them and the newer veterans seeking treatment and compensation for the wounds they came home with?
Backlog of VA claims and appeals is nearing 1 million
Over 80,000 cases are added monthly
By Lou Michel
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs is closing in on a milestone, and it’s not a happy one.
It’s approaching the 1 million mark in the number of outstanding claims by veterans.
The VA’s Web site shows more than 722,000 current claims, along with more than 172,000 appeals, for a total of about 900,000. That is up from about 800,000 total claims in January, according to the site.Even though the VA says the average wait for a claim is 120.9 days, Welch, a Vietnam veteran, says he works with veterans who are “waiting anywhere from six to 14 months.”
It’s a disaster for them financially, he added.
“Part of the issue that’s happening with traumatic brain-injured veterans is they are unable to work and what happens is some lose their homes,” Welch said.
One of the vets who lost his home was Kreiger, he noted.
Kreiger, an Iraq veteran who eventually was classified 100 percent disabled, said he has been approached by dozens of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans denied benefits for post traumatic stress claims.
“Easily 50 veterans have come to me because the VA proved their PTSD was something they had before going to war, which makes them now ineligible for the benefit. The VA doesn’t even call it PTSD anymore. They refer to it as a personality disorder,” he said in citing bureaucratic struggles faced by returning veterans.go here for more
US Horse Soldiers story told in best seller
Prologue: UPRISING
by Doug Stanton,
Author of Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan
Qala-i-Janghi Fortress
Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan
November 24-25, 2001
Trouble came in the night, riding out of the dust and the darkness. Trouble rolled past the refugee camp, past the tattered tents shuddering in the moonlight, the lone cry of a baby driving high into the sky, like a nail. Sunrise was no better; at sunrise, trouble was still there, bristling with AKs and RPGs, engines idling, waiting to roll into the city. Waiting.
These were the baddest of the bad, the real masters of mayhem, the death dealers with God stamped firmly in their minds. The city groaned and shook to life. Soon everyone knew trouble had arrived at the gates of the city.
Major Mark Mitchell heard the news at headquarters nine miles away and thought, You're kidding. We got bad guys at the wire?
He ran downstairs, looking for Master Sergeant Dave Betz. Maybe he would know what was happening.
But Betz didn't know anything. He blustered, "One of the Agency guys came down and told us we got six hundred Taliban surrendering. Can you believe that?"
Surrendering? Mitchell couldn't figure out why. He thought the Taliban had fled from the approaching forces of the Northern Alliance to Konduz, miles away. American Special Forces and the Northern Alliance had been beating them back for weeks, in battle after battle, rolling up territory by coordinating airstrikes from the sky and thousands of Northern Alliance soldiers on the ground. They now stood on the verge of total victory. Konduz was where the war was supposed to go next. Not here. Not in Mazar. Not at Club Mez.
Besides, these guys didn't surrender. They fought to the death.
Die fighting and you went to paradise.
Mitchell stood at the dirty plate-glass windows and watched. Here they came, a motley crew of the doomed, packed into six big trucks, staring out from the rancid tunnels of their scarves. Mitchell could see their heads over the barricade that ringed his headquarters, a former schoolhouse at the junk-strewn edge of the city. The prisoners -- who surely included some Al Qaeda members -- were still literally in the drivers' seats, with Northern Alliance soldiers sitting next to them, their AKs pointed at the drivers' heads. The prisoners turned and stared and Mitchell thought it was like looking at hundreds of holes punched in a wall.
"Everybody get away from the windows!" said Betz.
Major Kurt Sonntag, Captain Kevin Leahy, Captain Paul Syverson, and a dozen other Special Forces soldiers knelt behind the black and white checked columns in the room, their M-4 rifles aimed at the street. Behind them, in the kitchen, the local cook was puttering -- the air smelled of cooked rice and cucumber -- and a radio was playing more of that god-awful Afghan music that sounded to Mitchell like somebody strangling a goose.
He had been looking forward this morning to overseeing the construction of the medical facility in town, and the further blowing up of mines and bombs that littered the area like confetti. Each day, a little bit more of the war seemed to be ending. Mitchell had even started to wonder when he would get to go home. He and a team of about a dozen Special Forces soldiers had moved into the schoolhouse only forty-eight hours earlier. Their former headquarters inside the Qala-i-Janghi Fortress, nine miles off, in Mazar's western quarter, had given them the shits, the croup, and the flu, and Mitchell was glad to have moved out. It seemed a haunted place. Known as the House of War, the fortress rose like a mud golem from the desert, surrounded by struggling plots of wind-whipped corn and sparse cucumber. Its walls towered sixty feet high and measured thirty feet thick under the hard, indifferent sun.
The Taliban had occupied the fortress for seven years and filled it with weapons -- grenades, rockets, and firearms, anything made for killing. Even Enfield rifles with dates stamped on the bayonets -- 1913 -- from the time that the Brits had occupied the area. Before their hurried flight from the city two weeks earlier, the Taliban had left the weapons and smeared feces on the walls and windows. Every photograph, every painting, every rosebush had been torn up, smashed, stomped, ruined. Nothing beautiful had been left behind.
After three years of Taliban rule, there were old men in Mazar with stumps for hands. There were women who'd been routinely stoned and kicked on street corners. Young men who'd been imprisoned for not wearing beards. Fathers who'd been beaten in front of their sons for the apparent pleasure of those swinging their weapons.
The arrival of Mitchell and his soldiers on horseback had put an end to that. The people of Mazar-i-Sharif, the rugmakers and butchers, the car mechanics and schoolteachers, the bank clerks and masons and farmers, had thrown flowers and kisses and reached up to the Americans on their horses and pulled affectionately at the filthy cuffs of their camo pants. The locals had welcomed the balding, blue-eyed Mitchell and two dozen other Special Forces soldiers in a mile-long parade lining the highway that dropped into town out of the snowy mountains. Mitchell had felt like he was back in World War II, his grandfather's war, riding into Paris after the Nazis fled.
Now thirty-six, Mitchell was the ground commander of the Fifth Special Forces Group/Third Battalion's Forward Operating Base (FOB). It had been a distinguished nearly fifteen-year career headed for the top of the military food chain. His best friend, Major Kurt Sonntag, a thirty-seven-year-old former weekend surfer from Los Angeles, was the FOB's executive officer, which technically meant he was Mitchell's boss. In the tradition of Special Forces, they treated each other as equals. Nobody saluted, including less senior officers like Captain Kevin Leahy and Captain Paul Syverson, members of the support company whose job it was to get the postwar operations up and running, such as providing drinking water, electricity, and medical care to the locals.
Looking at the street now, Mitchell tried to figure out why the Taliban convoy was stopping. If anything went bad, Mitchell knew he was woefully outnumbered. He had maybe a dozen guys he could call on. And those like Leahy and Syverson weren't exactly hardened killers. Like him, these were staff guys, in their mid-thirties, soldiers who had until now been largely warless. He did have a handful of CIA operators living upstairs in the schoolhouse and eight Brits, part of a Special Boat Service unit who'd landed the night before by Chinook helicopter, but they were so new that they didn't have orders for rules of engagement -- that is, it wasn't clear to them when they could and could not return fire. Doing the math, Mitchell roughly figured that he had about a dozen guys available to fight. The trained-up fighters, the two Special Forces teams that Mitchell had ridden into town with, had left earlier in the day for Konduz, for the expected fight there. Mitchell had watched them drive away and felt that he was missing out on a chance to make history. He'd been left behind to run the headquarters office and keep the peace. Now, after learning that 600 Taliban soldiers had massed outside his door, he wondered if he'd been dead wrong.
The street bustled with beeping taxis; with donkeys hauling loads of handmade bricks to the city-center bazaar; with aged men gliding by on wobbling bicycles and women ghosting through the rising dust in blue burkhas. Afghanistan. Never failed to amaze him.
Still the convoy hadn't moved. Ten minutes had passed.
Without warning, a group of locals piled toward the trucks, angrily grabbing at the prisoners. They got hold of one man and pulled him down -- for a moment he was there, gripping the battered wooden side of the truck, and then he was gone, snatched out of sight. Behind the truck, out of sight, they were beating the man to death.
Every ounce of rage, every rape, every public execution, every amputation, humiliation -- every ounce of revenge was poured back into this man, slathered on by fist, by foot, by gnarled stick. The trucks lurched ahead and when they moved on, nothing remained of the man. It was as if he'd been eaten.
The radio popped to life. Mitchell listened as a Northern Alliance commander, who was stationed on the highway, announced in broken English: The prisoners all going to Qala-i-Janghi.
Remembering the enormous pile of weapons cached at the fortress, Mitchell didn't want to hear this. But his hands were tied. The Afghan commanders of the Northern Alliance were, as a matter of U.S. strategy, calling the shots. No matter the Americans' might, this was the Afghans' show. Mitchell was in Mazar to "assist" the locals in taking down the Taliban. He figured he could get on a radio and suggest to the Afghan commander presiding over the surrender that the huge fortress would not be an ideal place to house six hundred angry Taliban and Al Qaeda soldiers. But maybe there was a good reason to send them there. As long as the prisoners were searched and guarded closely, maybe they could be held securely within the fort's towering mud walls.
And then Mitchell thought again of the weapons stockpiled at Qala-i-Janghi, the piles and piles of rockets, rifles, crates of ammo -- tons of violence ready to be put to use.
Not the fort, he thought. Not the damn fort!
Belching smoke, grinding gears, the convoy of prisoners rumbled past the fortress's dry moat and through the tall, arched entrance. The prisoners in the trucks craned around like blackbirds on a wire, scanning the walls, looking for guards, looking for an easy way out.
In deference to the Muslim prohibition against men touching other men intimately, few of the prisoners had been thoroughly searched. No hand had reached deep inside the folds of their thin gray gowns, the mismatched suit coats, the dirty khaki vests, searching for a knife, a grenade, a garrote. Killer had smiled at captor and captor had waved him on,Tashakur. Thank you. Tashakur.
The line of six trucks halted inside the fort, and the prisoners stepped down under the watchful eye of a dozen or so Northern Alliance guards. Suddenly one prisoner pulled a grenade from the belly-band of his blouse and blew himself up, taking a Northern Alliance officer with him. The guards fired their rifles in the air and regained control. Then they immediately herded the prisoners to a rose-colored, plaster-sided building aptly nicknamed "the Pink House," which squatted nearby in the rocks and thorns. The structure had been built by the Soviets in the 1980s as a hospital within the bomb-hardened walls of the fortress.
The fort was immense, a walled city divided equally into southern and northern courtyards. Inside was a gold-domed mosque, some horse stables, irrigation ditches encircling plots of corn and wheat, and shady groves of tall, fragrant pine trees whipping in the stiff winds. The thick walls held secret hallways and compartments, and led to numerous storage rooms for grain and other valuables. The Taliban had cached an enormous pile of weapons in the southern compound in a dozen mud-walled horse stables, each as big as a one-car garage and topped with a dome-shaped roof. The stables were crammed to the rafters with rockets, RPGs, machine guns, and mortars. But there were more weapons. Six metal Conex trailers, like the kind semitrucks haul down interstates in the United States, also sat nearby, stuffed with even more guns and explosives.
The fortress had been built in 1889 by Afghans, taking some eighteen thousand workers twelve years to complete, during an era of British incursions. It was a place built to be easily defended, a place to weather a siege.
At each of the corners rose a mud parapet, a towerlike structure, some 80 feet high and 150 feet across, and built strong enough to support the weight of 10-ton tanks, which could be driven onto the parapet up long, gradual mud ramps rising from the fortress floor. Along the parapet walls, rectangular gunports, about twelve inches tall, were cut into the three-foot-thick mud -- large enough to accommodate the swing of a rifle barrel at any advancing hordes below.
In all, the fort measured some 600 yards long -- about one third of a mile -- and 300 yards wide.
At the north end, a red-carpeted balcony stretched high above the courtyard. Wide and sunlit, it resembled a promenade, overlooking a swift stream bordered by a black wrought-iron fence and rose gardens that had been destroyed by the Taliban. Behind the balcony, double doors opened onto long hallways, offices, and living quarters.
At each end of the fort's central wall, which divided the interior into the two large courtyards, sat two more tall parapets, equally fitted for observation and defense with firing ports. A narrow, packed foot trail, about three feet wide, ran around the entire rim along the protective, outer wall. In places, a thick mud wall, waist-high, partially shielded the walker from the interior of the courtyard, making it possible to move along the top of the wall and pop up and shoot either down into the fort, or up over the outer wall at attackers coming from the outside.
In the middle of the southern courtyard, which was identical to the northern one (except for the balcony and offices overlooking it), sat the square-shaped Pink House. It was small, measuring about 75 feet on each side, too small a space for the six hundred prisoners who were ordered by Northern Alliance soldiers down the stairs and into its dark basement, where they were packed tight like matchsticks, one against another.
There, down in a dank corner, on a dirt floor that smelled of worms and sweat, brooded a young American. His friends knew him by the name of Abdul Hamid. He had walked for several days to get to this moment of surrender, which he hoped would finally lead him home to California. He was tired, hungry, his chest pounding, skipping a beat, like a washing machine out of balance. He worried that he was going to have a heart attack, a scary thought at age twenty-one.
Around him, he could hear men praying as they unfolded hidden weapons from the long, damp wings of their clothing.
The above is an excerpt from the book Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan by Doug Stanton. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.
From Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. Copyright © 2009 by Reed City Productions, LLC. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc, NY.
Author Bio
Doug Stanton, author of Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan, is the author of the New York Times bestsellerIn Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors. A former contributing editor at Esquire, Sports Afield, and Outside, Stanton is now a contributing editor at Men's Journal and has written on travel, entertainment, and adventure, during which time he nearly drowned in Cape Horn waters, played basketball with George Clooney, and took an acting lesson from a gracious Harrison Ford.
Stanton lives in his hometown of Traverse City, Michigan, where he is a member of the advisory board of the Interlochen Center for the Arts' Motion Picture Arts Program and a trustee of the Pathfinder School.
He has taught writing at the college level and worked as a commercial sports fisherman and caretaker of Robert Frost's house in Vermont. Stanton graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and Hampshire College in Massachusetts, and also received an MFA the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. He and his wife, the investigative reporter Anne Stanton, have three children. For more information please visit: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Horse-Soldiers/Doug-Stanton/9780743580816
Julie Harabedian
Publicist
by Doug Stanton,
Author of Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan
Qala-i-Janghi Fortress
Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan
November 24-25, 2001
Trouble came in the night, riding out of the dust and the darkness. Trouble rolled past the refugee camp, past the tattered tents shuddering in the moonlight, the lone cry of a baby driving high into the sky, like a nail. Sunrise was no better; at sunrise, trouble was still there, bristling with AKs and RPGs, engines idling, waiting to roll into the city. Waiting.
These were the baddest of the bad, the real masters of mayhem, the death dealers with God stamped firmly in their minds. The city groaned and shook to life. Soon everyone knew trouble had arrived at the gates of the city.
Major Mark Mitchell heard the news at headquarters nine miles away and thought, You're kidding. We got bad guys at the wire?
He ran downstairs, looking for Master Sergeant Dave Betz. Maybe he would know what was happening.
But Betz didn't know anything. He blustered, "One of the Agency guys came down and told us we got six hundred Taliban surrendering. Can you believe that?"
Surrendering? Mitchell couldn't figure out why. He thought the Taliban had fled from the approaching forces of the Northern Alliance to Konduz, miles away. American Special Forces and the Northern Alliance had been beating them back for weeks, in battle after battle, rolling up territory by coordinating airstrikes from the sky and thousands of Northern Alliance soldiers on the ground. They now stood on the verge of total victory. Konduz was where the war was supposed to go next. Not here. Not in Mazar. Not at Club Mez.
Besides, these guys didn't surrender. They fought to the death.
Die fighting and you went to paradise.
Mitchell stood at the dirty plate-glass windows and watched. Here they came, a motley crew of the doomed, packed into six big trucks, staring out from the rancid tunnels of their scarves. Mitchell could see their heads over the barricade that ringed his headquarters, a former schoolhouse at the junk-strewn edge of the city. The prisoners -- who surely included some Al Qaeda members -- were still literally in the drivers' seats, with Northern Alliance soldiers sitting next to them, their AKs pointed at the drivers' heads. The prisoners turned and stared and Mitchell thought it was like looking at hundreds of holes punched in a wall.
"Everybody get away from the windows!" said Betz.
Major Kurt Sonntag, Captain Kevin Leahy, Captain Paul Syverson, and a dozen other Special Forces soldiers knelt behind the black and white checked columns in the room, their M-4 rifles aimed at the street. Behind them, in the kitchen, the local cook was puttering -- the air smelled of cooked rice and cucumber -- and a radio was playing more of that god-awful Afghan music that sounded to Mitchell like somebody strangling a goose.
He had been looking forward this morning to overseeing the construction of the medical facility in town, and the further blowing up of mines and bombs that littered the area like confetti. Each day, a little bit more of the war seemed to be ending. Mitchell had even started to wonder when he would get to go home. He and a team of about a dozen Special Forces soldiers had moved into the schoolhouse only forty-eight hours earlier. Their former headquarters inside the Qala-i-Janghi Fortress, nine miles off, in Mazar's western quarter, had given them the shits, the croup, and the flu, and Mitchell was glad to have moved out. It seemed a haunted place. Known as the House of War, the fortress rose like a mud golem from the desert, surrounded by struggling plots of wind-whipped corn and sparse cucumber. Its walls towered sixty feet high and measured thirty feet thick under the hard, indifferent sun.
The Taliban had occupied the fortress for seven years and filled it with weapons -- grenades, rockets, and firearms, anything made for killing. Even Enfield rifles with dates stamped on the bayonets -- 1913 -- from the time that the Brits had occupied the area. Before their hurried flight from the city two weeks earlier, the Taliban had left the weapons and smeared feces on the walls and windows. Every photograph, every painting, every rosebush had been torn up, smashed, stomped, ruined. Nothing beautiful had been left behind.
After three years of Taliban rule, there were old men in Mazar with stumps for hands. There were women who'd been routinely stoned and kicked on street corners. Young men who'd been imprisoned for not wearing beards. Fathers who'd been beaten in front of their sons for the apparent pleasure of those swinging their weapons.
The arrival of Mitchell and his soldiers on horseback had put an end to that. The people of Mazar-i-Sharif, the rugmakers and butchers, the car mechanics and schoolteachers, the bank clerks and masons and farmers, had thrown flowers and kisses and reached up to the Americans on their horses and pulled affectionately at the filthy cuffs of their camo pants. The locals had welcomed the balding, blue-eyed Mitchell and two dozen other Special Forces soldiers in a mile-long parade lining the highway that dropped into town out of the snowy mountains. Mitchell had felt like he was back in World War II, his grandfather's war, riding into Paris after the Nazis fled.
Now thirty-six, Mitchell was the ground commander of the Fifth Special Forces Group/Third Battalion's Forward Operating Base (FOB). It had been a distinguished nearly fifteen-year career headed for the top of the military food chain. His best friend, Major Kurt Sonntag, a thirty-seven-year-old former weekend surfer from Los Angeles, was the FOB's executive officer, which technically meant he was Mitchell's boss. In the tradition of Special Forces, they treated each other as equals. Nobody saluted, including less senior officers like Captain Kevin Leahy and Captain Paul Syverson, members of the support company whose job it was to get the postwar operations up and running, such as providing drinking water, electricity, and medical care to the locals.
Looking at the street now, Mitchell tried to figure out why the Taliban convoy was stopping. If anything went bad, Mitchell knew he was woefully outnumbered. He had maybe a dozen guys he could call on. And those like Leahy and Syverson weren't exactly hardened killers. Like him, these were staff guys, in their mid-thirties, soldiers who had until now been largely warless. He did have a handful of CIA operators living upstairs in the schoolhouse and eight Brits, part of a Special Boat Service unit who'd landed the night before by Chinook helicopter, but they were so new that they didn't have orders for rules of engagement -- that is, it wasn't clear to them when they could and could not return fire. Doing the math, Mitchell roughly figured that he had about a dozen guys available to fight. The trained-up fighters, the two Special Forces teams that Mitchell had ridden into town with, had left earlier in the day for Konduz, for the expected fight there. Mitchell had watched them drive away and felt that he was missing out on a chance to make history. He'd been left behind to run the headquarters office and keep the peace. Now, after learning that 600 Taliban soldiers had massed outside his door, he wondered if he'd been dead wrong.
The street bustled with beeping taxis; with donkeys hauling loads of handmade bricks to the city-center bazaar; with aged men gliding by on wobbling bicycles and women ghosting through the rising dust in blue burkhas. Afghanistan. Never failed to amaze him.
Still the convoy hadn't moved. Ten minutes had passed.
Without warning, a group of locals piled toward the trucks, angrily grabbing at the prisoners. They got hold of one man and pulled him down -- for a moment he was there, gripping the battered wooden side of the truck, and then he was gone, snatched out of sight. Behind the truck, out of sight, they were beating the man to death.
Every ounce of rage, every rape, every public execution, every amputation, humiliation -- every ounce of revenge was poured back into this man, slathered on by fist, by foot, by gnarled stick. The trucks lurched ahead and when they moved on, nothing remained of the man. It was as if he'd been eaten.
The radio popped to life. Mitchell listened as a Northern Alliance commander, who was stationed on the highway, announced in broken English: The prisoners all going to Qala-i-Janghi.
Remembering the enormous pile of weapons cached at the fortress, Mitchell didn't want to hear this. But his hands were tied. The Afghan commanders of the Northern Alliance were, as a matter of U.S. strategy, calling the shots. No matter the Americans' might, this was the Afghans' show. Mitchell was in Mazar to "assist" the locals in taking down the Taliban. He figured he could get on a radio and suggest to the Afghan commander presiding over the surrender that the huge fortress would not be an ideal place to house six hundred angry Taliban and Al Qaeda soldiers. But maybe there was a good reason to send them there. As long as the prisoners were searched and guarded closely, maybe they could be held securely within the fort's towering mud walls.
And then Mitchell thought again of the weapons stockpiled at Qala-i-Janghi, the piles and piles of rockets, rifles, crates of ammo -- tons of violence ready to be put to use.
Not the fort, he thought. Not the damn fort!
Belching smoke, grinding gears, the convoy of prisoners rumbled past the fortress's dry moat and through the tall, arched entrance. The prisoners in the trucks craned around like blackbirds on a wire, scanning the walls, looking for guards, looking for an easy way out.
In deference to the Muslim prohibition against men touching other men intimately, few of the prisoners had been thoroughly searched. No hand had reached deep inside the folds of their thin gray gowns, the mismatched suit coats, the dirty khaki vests, searching for a knife, a grenade, a garrote. Killer had smiled at captor and captor had waved him on,Tashakur. Thank you. Tashakur.
The line of six trucks halted inside the fort, and the prisoners stepped down under the watchful eye of a dozen or so Northern Alliance guards. Suddenly one prisoner pulled a grenade from the belly-band of his blouse and blew himself up, taking a Northern Alliance officer with him. The guards fired their rifles in the air and regained control. Then they immediately herded the prisoners to a rose-colored, plaster-sided building aptly nicknamed "the Pink House," which squatted nearby in the rocks and thorns. The structure had been built by the Soviets in the 1980s as a hospital within the bomb-hardened walls of the fortress.
The fort was immense, a walled city divided equally into southern and northern courtyards. Inside was a gold-domed mosque, some horse stables, irrigation ditches encircling plots of corn and wheat, and shady groves of tall, fragrant pine trees whipping in the stiff winds. The thick walls held secret hallways and compartments, and led to numerous storage rooms for grain and other valuables. The Taliban had cached an enormous pile of weapons in the southern compound in a dozen mud-walled horse stables, each as big as a one-car garage and topped with a dome-shaped roof. The stables were crammed to the rafters with rockets, RPGs, machine guns, and mortars. But there were more weapons. Six metal Conex trailers, like the kind semitrucks haul down interstates in the United States, also sat nearby, stuffed with even more guns and explosives.
The fortress had been built in 1889 by Afghans, taking some eighteen thousand workers twelve years to complete, during an era of British incursions. It was a place built to be easily defended, a place to weather a siege.
At each of the corners rose a mud parapet, a towerlike structure, some 80 feet high and 150 feet across, and built strong enough to support the weight of 10-ton tanks, which could be driven onto the parapet up long, gradual mud ramps rising from the fortress floor. Along the parapet walls, rectangular gunports, about twelve inches tall, were cut into the three-foot-thick mud -- large enough to accommodate the swing of a rifle barrel at any advancing hordes below.
In all, the fort measured some 600 yards long -- about one third of a mile -- and 300 yards wide.
At the north end, a red-carpeted balcony stretched high above the courtyard. Wide and sunlit, it resembled a promenade, overlooking a swift stream bordered by a black wrought-iron fence and rose gardens that had been destroyed by the Taliban. Behind the balcony, double doors opened onto long hallways, offices, and living quarters.
At each end of the fort's central wall, which divided the interior into the two large courtyards, sat two more tall parapets, equally fitted for observation and defense with firing ports. A narrow, packed foot trail, about three feet wide, ran around the entire rim along the protective, outer wall. In places, a thick mud wall, waist-high, partially shielded the walker from the interior of the courtyard, making it possible to move along the top of the wall and pop up and shoot either down into the fort, or up over the outer wall at attackers coming from the outside.
In the middle of the southern courtyard, which was identical to the northern one (except for the balcony and offices overlooking it), sat the square-shaped Pink House. It was small, measuring about 75 feet on each side, too small a space for the six hundred prisoners who were ordered by Northern Alliance soldiers down the stairs and into its dark basement, where they were packed tight like matchsticks, one against another.
There, down in a dank corner, on a dirt floor that smelled of worms and sweat, brooded a young American. His friends knew him by the name of Abdul Hamid. He had walked for several days to get to this moment of surrender, which he hoped would finally lead him home to California. He was tired, hungry, his chest pounding, skipping a beat, like a washing machine out of balance. He worried that he was going to have a heart attack, a scary thought at age twenty-one.
Around him, he could hear men praying as they unfolded hidden weapons from the long, damp wings of their clothing.
The above is an excerpt from the book Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan by Doug Stanton. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.
From Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. Copyright © 2009 by Reed City Productions, LLC. Reprinted by permission of Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc, NY.
Author Bio
Doug Stanton, author of Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan, is the author of the New York Times bestsellerIn Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors. A former contributing editor at Esquire, Sports Afield, and Outside, Stanton is now a contributing editor at Men's Journal and has written on travel, entertainment, and adventure, during which time he nearly drowned in Cape Horn waters, played basketball with George Clooney, and took an acting lesson from a gracious Harrison Ford.
Stanton lives in his hometown of Traverse City, Michigan, where he is a member of the advisory board of the Interlochen Center for the Arts' Motion Picture Arts Program and a trustee of the Pathfinder School.
He has taught writing at the college level and worked as a commercial sports fisherman and caretaker of Robert Frost's house in Vermont. Stanton graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and Hampshire College in Massachusetts, and also received an MFA the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. He and his wife, the investigative reporter Anne Stanton, have three children. For more information please visit: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Horse-Soldiers/Doug-Stanton/9780743580816
Julie Harabedian
Publicist
Congressman Paul Hodes Suicide Prevention Legislation for Reservists and National Guard
Congressman Paul Hodes Introduces Suicide Prevention Legislation for Reservists and National Guard
June 11, 2009
Washington, DC--- Congressman Paul Hodes introduced legislation that would implement the Connect/Frameworks Suicide Post-vention Program which trains key service providers and community members to provide an integrated community response to reduce risk and promote healing in the aftermath of a suicide.
Effective post-vention is an essential component of suicide prevention, and the legislation recognizes that post-vention training should be incorporated into any comprehensive suicide prevention effort.
"It is tragic that our service members who sacrifice for our country don’t have all the necessary resources to deal with post traumatic stress and confront suicide prevention," Congressman Paul Hodes. "This program has proven successful for the New Hampshire National Guard and I believe it can be successful to prevent suicides for National Guard members and Reservists across the country."
The focus of the training is to create an integrated, coordinated community response that
(1) enhances collaboration and coordination to provide the most effective intervention
(2) assures outreach and prevention through rapid and comprehensive communication, including best practices, safe messaging, appropriate memorial services, and media guidelines; and,
(3) engages resources to help survivors and the community with grieving and healing.
The Connect/Frameworks Postvention protocols were developed through coordination and facilitation of statewide, interdisciplinary working groups that included a variety of stakeholders and experts. Training activities and materials based on these protocols were developed by Connect/Frameworks staff in consultation with experts in training and best practices in suicide prevention, and then tested and evaluated prior to implementation.
http://hodes.house.gov/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1713#.
June 11, 2009
Washington, DC--- Congressman Paul Hodes introduced legislation that would implement the Connect/Frameworks Suicide Post-vention Program which trains key service providers and community members to provide an integrated community response to reduce risk and promote healing in the aftermath of a suicide.
Effective post-vention is an essential component of suicide prevention, and the legislation recognizes that post-vention training should be incorporated into any comprehensive suicide prevention effort.
"It is tragic that our service members who sacrifice for our country don’t have all the necessary resources to deal with post traumatic stress and confront suicide prevention," Congressman Paul Hodes. "This program has proven successful for the New Hampshire National Guard and I believe it can be successful to prevent suicides for National Guard members and Reservists across the country."
The focus of the training is to create an integrated, coordinated community response that
(1) enhances collaboration and coordination to provide the most effective intervention
(2) assures outreach and prevention through rapid and comprehensive communication, including best practices, safe messaging, appropriate memorial services, and media guidelines; and,
(3) engages resources to help survivors and the community with grieving and healing.
The Connect/Frameworks Postvention protocols were developed through coordination and facilitation of statewide, interdisciplinary working groups that included a variety of stakeholders and experts. Training activities and materials based on these protocols were developed by Connect/Frameworks staff in consultation with experts in training and best practices in suicide prevention, and then tested and evaluated prior to implementation.
http://hodes.house.gov/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1713#.
HUD and VA announce $75 million for homeless veterans
Recent VA News ReleasesTo view and download VA news release, please visit the followingInternet address: http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel
Secretaries Shinseki and Donovan Host First Meeting of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness under the Obama Administration
Secretary Donovan Elected New Chair of the Council
HUD and VA announce $75 million for HUD-VASH program to provide rental housing and support for homeless veterans
WASHINGTON (June 18, 2009) - The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) met today for the first time under the Obama Administration. U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki chaired the meeting, at which U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan was elected rotating Chair for the upcoming yearand U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was elected Vice Chair. U.S.Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Melody Barnes, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, attended themeeting.
The mission of the USICH is to coordinate the federal response tohomelessness and to create a national partnership with every level ofgovernment and the private sector to address homelessness in the nation."It is simply unacceptable for individuals, children, families, and our nation's Veterans to be faced with homelessness in this country," said President Obama. "I am confident that the Interagency Council on Homelessness, under Secretary Donovan's leadership, will have a renewedfocus on coordinating efforts across federal agencies and working closely with our state, local, community-based, and faith-based partnersto address these serious issues."
"Ending the continuing tragedy of homelessness demands thoughtful and focused leadership," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "President Obama and I are committed to working through the USICH, the agencies it represents and our state, local and non-profit partners to build athoughtful and compassionate response to this crisis. The bottom lineis that through our combined efforts every man, woman and child in thisnation should have access to a safe, affordable place to lay their headat night."
Secretaries Donovan and Shinseki also announced the allocation of $75million to local public housing authorities across the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam to provide permanent supportive housing and dedicated VA case managers for an estimated10,000 homeless Veterans. This innovative joint initiative is called Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH). This funding will provide local public housing agencies with approximately 10,000 rental assistance vouchers specifically targeted to assist homelessVeterans in their area. Public housing authorities, that administer HUD's Housing Choice Voucher Program, work closely with Department of Veteran Affairs medical centers to manage the program. In addition tothe rental assistance, VA medical centers provide supportive servicesand case management to eligible homeless Veterans. "It is shameful that after serving our nation so well, some of ourVeterans leave their military life only to fall into homelessness," said Donovan. "
Working closely with the Department of Veterans Affairs, we're able to offer a permanent home, along with critically needed supportive services, to the very people to whom we owe so much." "No one, especially Veterans who have faithfully served our country should become homeless," said VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. "This council's work is critical to providing for those at risk and on thestreets. This interagency partnership allows us to leverage ourresources, programs, talent and experience to create viable solutionsthat will eliminate homelessness.""With new service members returning home every day and the economy sputtering, we must step up our efforts to provide all Veterans with housing and the dignity that comes with it," said Senator Murray,Chairman of the Senate Housing Appropriations Subcommittee.
"For too long homeless Veterans have been forgotten heroes. HUD-VASH grants are making a real difference in ensuring that those who have sacrificed for our nation are not coming home to sleep on our streets."
Under HUD-VASH, HUD will provide housing assistance through its Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) which allows Veterans to rent privately owned housing. The VA will provide to eligible homelessVeterans clinical and supportive services through its health care systemacross the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.VA addresses the needs of the more than 100,000 homeless Veterans whoaccess VA health care annually. The USICH is an interagency council made up of members from federal agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department ofEnergy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of HomelandSecurity, Department of Interior, Department of Justice, Department ofLabor, Department of Transportation, Corporation for National andCommunity Service, Social Security Administration, General ServicesAdministration, and United States Postal Service.
M-88 armored vehicle fire burns 3 Fort Stewart Soldiers
3 Ga. soldiers injured in Army vehicle fire
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
Associated Press
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Fort Stewart — Three Fort Stewart soldiers are being treated for injuries from an explosion inside an armored vehicle on the southeast Georgia Army post.
Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said Wednesday none of the injuries are life-threatening. One soldier was taken to the Augusta burn center with second-degree burns. The others were treated at Fort Stewart for minor burns and dehydration.
Larson said the soldiers were driving an M-88 armored vehicle on a tank trail when they heard a hissing sound, followed by an explosion inside the crew compartment. The blast threw one of the soldiers out of the vehicle.
The M-88 is an armored tow truck used to move tanks and other heavy vehicles.
The Army is investigating what caused the blast. The soldiers’ identities were not immediately released.
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
Associated Press
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Fort Stewart — Three Fort Stewart soldiers are being treated for injuries from an explosion inside an armored vehicle on the southeast Georgia Army post.
Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said Wednesday none of the injuries are life-threatening. One soldier was taken to the Augusta burn center with second-degree burns. The others were treated at Fort Stewart for minor burns and dehydration.
Larson said the soldiers were driving an M-88 armored vehicle on a tank trail when they heard a hissing sound, followed by an explosion inside the crew compartment. The blast threw one of the soldiers out of the vehicle.
The M-88 is an armored tow truck used to move tanks and other heavy vehicles.
The Army is investigating what caused the blast. The soldiers’ identities were not immediately released.
VA's Suicide Prevention Message Carried on 21,000 Buses
VA's Suicide Prevention Message Carried on 21,000 Buses
WASHINGTON (June 19, 2009) - The telephone number for the suicide
prevention "lifeline" of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is now
being carried on more than 21,000 city buses in 124 communities across
the United States and will run until Sept. 1, 2009.
The advertisements carry a message of hope for those who have served
their country and are undergoing an emotional crisis.
"We continue to look for new, innovative ways to reach our Veterans,"
Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth said. "VA wants to make sure to
exhaust all avenues to reach those in need of our services."
VA is partnering with Blu Line Media, an outdoor advertising company
which specializes in helping businesses and government tell their
stories through educational outreach campaigns, cause-related social
marketing and integrated communications.
Since its inception in July 2007, the VA Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1
800-273-TALK, has rescued more than 3,000 Veterans and provided
counseling for more than 120,000 Veterans and their loved ones at home
and overseas. The lifeline is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week
by trained mental health professionals prepared to deal with immediate
crises.
Marketing the lifeline through mass transit campaigns was piloted in the
Washington D.C. area during the summer of 2008 with great success.
VA has also promoted awareness of the toll-free number through national
public service announcements featuring actor Gary Sinise and television
journalist Deborah Norville. The bus advertisement and public service
announcements are available for download via YouTube and at
www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention
.
Suicide Prevention
Suicide Prevention is everyone's business, and VA is enhancing its efforts in this vital area of veteran health.
Blue Ribbon Report on Suicide Prevention in the Veteran PopulationKnow the SignsWatch for these key suicide warning signs, and provide the Lifeline number to anyone exhibiting them.
Talking about wanting to hurt or kill oneself
Trying to get pills, guns, or other ways to harm oneself
Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide
Hopelessness
Rage, uncontrolled anger, seeking revenge
Acting in a reckless or risky way
Feeling trapped, like there is no way out
Saying or feeling there's no reason for living.
How to recognize when to ask for help (MS Word) Signs, Myths and Realities
Suicide Risk Assessment Guide (pdf pocket card)
WASHINGTON (June 19, 2009) - The telephone number for the suicide
prevention "lifeline" of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is now
being carried on more than 21,000 city buses in 124 communities across
the United States and will run until Sept. 1, 2009.
The advertisements carry a message of hope for those who have served
their country and are undergoing an emotional crisis.
"We continue to look for new, innovative ways to reach our Veterans,"
Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth said. "VA wants to make sure to
exhaust all avenues to reach those in need of our services."
VA is partnering with Blu Line Media, an outdoor advertising company
which specializes in helping businesses and government tell their
stories through educational outreach campaigns, cause-related social
marketing and integrated communications.
Since its inception in July 2007, the VA Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1
800-273-TALK, has rescued more than 3,000 Veterans and provided
counseling for more than 120,000 Veterans and their loved ones at home
and overseas. The lifeline is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week
by trained mental health professionals prepared to deal with immediate
crises.
Marketing the lifeline through mass transit campaigns was piloted in the
Washington D.C. area during the summer of 2008 with great success.
VA has also promoted awareness of the toll-free number through national
public service announcements featuring actor Gary Sinise and television
journalist Deborah Norville. The bus advertisement and public service
announcements are available for download via YouTube and at
www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention
Suicide Prevention
Suicide Prevention is everyone's business, and VA is enhancing its efforts in this vital area of veteran health.
Blue Ribbon Report on Suicide Prevention in the Veteran PopulationKnow the SignsWatch for these key suicide warning signs, and provide the Lifeline number to anyone exhibiting them.
Talking about wanting to hurt or kill oneself
Trying to get pills, guns, or other ways to harm oneself
Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide
Hopelessness
Rage, uncontrolled anger, seeking revenge
Acting in a reckless or risky way
Feeling trapped, like there is no way out
Saying or feeling there's no reason for living.
How to recognize when to ask for help (MS Word) Signs, Myths and Realities
Suicide Risk Assessment Guide (pdf pocket card)
Vets Who Repress Traumatic Memories May Not Be Worse Off
Knowing the way the blog world has reacted to articles like this, I'm sure you're about to see this headline all over the place, so I decided that I would post the rest of the report they will probably not even pay attention to. Also notice that this study does not in anyway, shape or form, dismiss PTSD or suggest talking about it is not a good thing. It only implies that in some cases, not talking about it is not always going to make it worse,,,,,this part,,,more has to be done on.
Vets Who Repress Traumatic Memories May Not Be Worse Off
06.19.09, 04:00 PM EDT
New study finds they fared as well as those who unearthed the pain
FRIDAY, June 19 (HealthDay News) -- Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may not be plagued by poor health and shortened lives if they repress their combat experiences, new research suggests.
"The finding goes against the grain," acknowledged study author and Vietnam army veteran Joseph Boscarino, a senior investigator at the Geisinger Center for Health Research in Danvillle, Pa. "Because the concept that talking about your trauma and analyzing your fears and emotions is always the best policy goes back to Sigmund Freud, and for decades it's kind of been taken as a given."
"But this has never really been truly validated," Boscarino noted, "and it may be an overgeneralization. And we found that in some cases not talking about it and actually repressing traumatic thoughts and experiences may not translate into a more adverse outcome."
Dr. Matthew J. Friedman, executive director of the department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, took a cautious view of the findings.
"Over the last 10 to 15 years, we've found how complex memory really is," he said. "And I don't think that there is any longer a widely held belief in the classic psychoanalytic theory that suggests that somehow if you suppress your stress and angst that the distress will manifest itself in negative symptoms."
"Certainly, difficulty in retrieving memories can be adaptive and promote good health and longer life in some cases, and can be maladaptive in others," noted Friedman, who is also a professor in Dartmouth Medical School's department of psychiatry and department of pharmacology and toxicology. "But this paper suffers from a lack of conceptual clarity. The notion of 'repression' connotes different things to different people. The concept is fuzzy. So the authors should be commended for opening up a very interesting line of inquiry. But at the same time I think we need to be very, very careful about how we interpret these results."
go here for more
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/06/19/hscout628249.html
Couple hid ownership of other homes from charity
Nonprofit won’t give home to injured vet
The Associated Press Posted : Friday Jun 19, 2009 11:43:42 EDT
PASADENA, Md. — A nonprofit group that builds homes for injured U.S. troops won't be turning over the keys to a Maryland home to a family of an Iraq veteran as planned because officials say the family concealed that they already own two homes.
Taunton, Mass.-based Homes for Our Troops planned to present Sgt. David Battle with the $800,000 home built by hundreds of volunteers in Pasadena, Md., on Thursday.go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_amputee_home_061909/
UPDATE
Sgt. David Battle's side
Charity Denies Injured
Vet Donated Home
Updated: Saturday, 20 Jun 2009, 11:08 PM EDT
Published : Saturday, 20 Jun 2009, 9:33 PM EDT
Chris Shaw
FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX Atlanta) - The family of Army Sgt. David Battle said confusion over a charity's gift and their use of injury pay from the Army has placed a dark cloud over the injured veteran's homecoming and his future.
Two years ago, Sgt. Battle lost an arm and two legs when he stepped on a roadside bomb during his second tour in Iraq.
On his first trip back to Georgia, he wasn't sure if he would be cheered or booed.
As soon as Battle touched down in Atlanta, there was applause. A patriot guard escorted him home to Fayette County where everyone from the fire department to the neighbor kids, stopped by with gifts.
It was not what he and his family expected.
"I've been on the Internet, looking at blogs from different people, and one that hit me the most was, 'Sgt. David Battle: Hero or Fraud?'" said Battle. It was a painful question for the soldier.
Battle has been getting treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center. Because he still has years of therapy ahead him, a non-profit charity, "Homes For Our Troops," built a $800,000 house in a Baltimore suburb, near the hospital, for the Battles and their four children.
However, the day before they were set to get the keys to their new home, the charity decided not to give it to the family -- calling them deceptive.
"I'm not a fraud. I didn't hide anything," said Battle.
go here for more
I don't know what to think now. First, all of these people stepped up to build this house thinking Battle did not have a place to live, a home of his own. Then they find out they owned two of them but they said they were not going to live in either of them. The point is, they had two homes they could live in, when other veterans have nothing at all. When they are in the military, they live on base with their families or are given funds to help house them. When they are wounded and discharged, that's it. They are left to find their own.
PTSD study shows little chiropractic relief for PTSD veterans
Chiropractic in Military Medicine
June 19, 2009 — Chiropractic services are offered at several United States military bases and veterans healthcare locations; however some healthcare providers are not aware that chiropractic services are available or when to refer patients for chiropractic care.
An article in the June 2009 issue of the journal Military Medicine addresses these issues in an effort to increase awareness and improve interdisciplinary collaboration. The article titled “Chiropractic in US military and veterans’ health care” by Drs. Bart Green, Claire Johnson, and Anthony Lisi provides a brief overview of chiropractic services and helps to inform readers and healthcare providers who may be unfamiliar with how chiropractic services are utilized within the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare environments.
June 19, 2009 — Chiropractic services are offered at several United States military bases and veterans healthcare locations; however some healthcare providers are not aware that chiropractic services are available or when to refer patients for chiropractic care.
An article in the June 2009 issue of the journal Military Medicine addresses these issues in an effort to increase awareness and improve interdisciplinary collaboration. The article titled “Chiropractic in US military and veterans’ health care” by Drs. Bart Green, Claire Johnson, and Anthony Lisi provides a brief overview of chiropractic services and helps to inform readers and healthcare providers who may be unfamiliar with how chiropractic services are utilized within the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare environments.
This study found that patients with post-traumatic stress disorder had significantly lower levels of improvement than those without post-traumatic stress disorder on self-reported outcome measures of neck and low back disability.
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Chiropractic in Military Medicine
Army veteran accused of faking paralysis
How does this happen? Real claims trapped in a backlog and this fake claim gets approved?
Army veteran accused of faking paralysis
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/18/2009
EAST ST. LOUIS -- Federal prosecutors have accused an Army veteran of faking paralysis to receive disability benefits and avoid deploying to Iraq.
Jeffrey W. Rush was indicted on four charges: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, making false statements to the Social Security Administration, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud. His wife, Amy L. Rush, was indicted on five charges: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud and making false statements to both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The indictment, handed down by a grand jury in federal court in East St. Louis and made public Thursday, lays out the case this way:
Jeffrey Rush was involved in a one-vehicle accident on Nov. 5, 2004, while stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., with the 24th Transportation Company.
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Army veteran accused of faking paralysis
Serbia:Years After the War, Veterans relive Nightmares
Years After the War, Veterans Relive Nightmares
Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade 17 June 2009 By Nidzara Ahmetasevic, Merima Husejnovic, Goran Jungvirth and Zelimir Bojovic
Many ex-fighters in the Yugoslav conflict now suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Some are working together, fighting to recover their mental health and their rights.
Ivan J, aged 52, and Milan, aged 54, may well have fought each other in 1991. What they have in common is their past life in the same country and the war that brought them to the frontlines.
Today, Ivan from Croatia and Milan from Serbia have other things in common: nightmares and a syndrome known a post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.
“The worst thing is dreaming about my friends being shattered to pieces,” Ivan explains. “At one stage everything was fine. The weather was sunny and we were playing card games… but a moment later there was shooting and explosions… and then we were carrying their shattered bodies wrapped in canvas.”
Milan’s traumas started shortly after he returned from the battlefields in Vukovar, eastern Croatia.
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http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/analysis/20310/
Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade 17 June 2009 By Nidzara Ahmetasevic, Merima Husejnovic, Goran Jungvirth and Zelimir Bojovic
Many ex-fighters in the Yugoslav conflict now suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Some are working together, fighting to recover their mental health and their rights.
Ivan J, aged 52, and Milan, aged 54, may well have fought each other in 1991. What they have in common is their past life in the same country and the war that brought them to the frontlines.
Today, Ivan from Croatia and Milan from Serbia have other things in common: nightmares and a syndrome known a post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.
“The worst thing is dreaming about my friends being shattered to pieces,” Ivan explains. “At one stage everything was fine. The weather was sunny and we were playing card games… but a moment later there was shooting and explosions… and then we were carrying their shattered bodies wrapped in canvas.”
Milan’s traumas started shortly after he returned from the battlefields in Vukovar, eastern Croatia.
go here for more
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/analysis/20310/
Health Effects Of 2008 Floods On Iowa Students
Health Effects Of 2008 Floods On Iowa Students
Submitted by ruzik_tuzik on Jun 17th, 2009
Posted under: General Health Articles
The historic floods of 2008 hit the University of Iowa campus hard, closing buildings, halting classes and displacing numerous programs and departments. Because natural disasters can have significant health effects on affected populations, researchers from the UI Injury Prevention Research Center distributed a university-wide survey to better understand students' flood experiences and the impact on health.
Submitted by ruzik_tuzik on Jun 17th, 2009
Posted under: General Health Articles
The historic floods of 2008 hit the University of Iowa campus hard, closing buildings, halting classes and displacing numerous programs and departments. Because natural disasters can have significant health effects on affected populations, researchers from the UI Injury Prevention Research Center distributed a university-wide survey to better understand students' flood experiences and the impact on health.
The survey also asked about the health impacts of the flood. Although few students (3 percent) reported physical injury during the flood, the toll on mental health was greater. The researchers found that 7 percent of the respondents had symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The most commonly reported PTSD symptom was feeling emotionally upset, which was experienced half the time or almost always by nearly 12 percent of students. About 7 percent of students indicated increased drug and/or alcohol use after the flood.
"College-aged youth are particularly vulnerable to the mental health effects of a disaster such as a flood since the majority are living independently for the first time without direct parental guidance and support," Ramirez said.
In addition, the researchers found students whose job was disrupted, who were evacuated, or whose home was damaged were four to six times more likely to experience symptoms of PTSD than students who were not affected by any of these factors.go here for more
http://www.emaxhealth.com/2/24/31780/health-effects-2008-floods-iowa-students.html
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