Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Iraq Veteran reaches plea agreement with OIA over bomb parts

Man accused of trying to smuggle bomb parts on OIA flight reaches plea agreement
Willoughby Mariano and Amy L. Edwards Sentinel Staff Writers
July 1, 2009

A man accused of trying to carry bomb parts onto a plane at Orlando International Airport last year will enter a plea to a misdemeanor after experts concluded he did not pose as serious a security threat as first thought.

Kevin Brown, 33, faces up to 12 months in prison on a charge of entering an aircraft or airport area in violation of security requirements but has already spent 14 months in jail awaiting trial. Originally, he was charged with attempting to place an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft, which carries a sentence of 20 years.

Brown, a troubled U.S. Army veteran from Jamaica who served in the Iraq war, was not a terrorist, his attorney Wayne Golding said.
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Man accused of trying to smuggle bomb parts on OIA flight reaches plea agreement

PTSD program answers need for comprehensive treatment

A couple of points that should be paid attention to here;
The first one that struck me is that they are paying attention to the fact nothing works for all of them the same way, so they have a variety of programs going on.
They are keeping the groups small, and this also helps them to feel connected instead of being lumped into such a large group, they would feel lost.
They are using EMDR and yoga, two of the latest programs being used.

To me, this is all good even though it's early on in this program. It seems they are doing everything right and should be seriously considered.

New PTSD program answers need for comprehensive treatment

by Capt. Bryan Lewis
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center Public Affairs

7/1/2009 - LANDSTUHL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER, Germany (AFNS) -- Symptoms of combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder for wounded warriors include continual nightmares, avoidance behaviors, denial, grief, anger and fear.

Some servicemembers battling these and other symptoms, can be treated successfully as an outpatient while assuming their normal duties, but for others; however, returning to work and becoming their old selves again were challenges recognized by several mental health professionals across the European theater.

"We were looking at how we can best meet the needs of our clientele, and we were identifying that a lot of the Soldiers needed more than once a week outpatient, individual therapy and probably needed more than once or twice a week group therapy," said Joseph Pehm, the chief of Medical Social Work at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

The solution came in the creation of an intensive eight-week therapeutic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Day Treatment Program called "evolution" that began in March 2009 at LRMC. During the eight-hour days, patients enrolled in the program participate in multiple disciplines and interests, including art therapy, yoga and meditation classes, substance abuse groups, anger and grief management, tobacco cessation, pain management and multiple PTSD evidence-based practice protocols.

"I am a great believer in the kitchen sink, meaning I throw everything, including the kitchen sink, and something will stick," said Dr. Daphne Brown, chief of the Division of Behavioral Health at LRMC. "And so we've come with all the evidence-based treatment for PTSD that we know about. We've taken everything that we can think of that will be of use in redirecting symptoms for these folks and put it into an eight-week program."

Doctor Brown, Mr. Pehm and Sharon Stewart, a Red Cross volunteer who holds a Ph.D. in psychology, said the program is designed from research into the effects of traumatic experience and mirrors successful PTSD programs at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as programs run by psychologists in the U.S.

"We are building on the groundbreaking work that some of our peers and colleagues have done and just expanding it out," Doctor Brown said.
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http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123156957

Wounded Warriors Return to Iraq

Wounded Warriors Return to Iraq
June 29, 2009

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (American Forces Press Service) – Six wounded soldiers, all amputees, returned here last week hoping to close the door on the combat that changed them forever.

The last time Sgt. Christopher A. Burrell was in Iraq, he was pulled from a burning vehicle in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood. A tourniquet applied by another soldier saved his life, but a nurse here at the Air Force Theater Hospital had to break the tragic news—his left leg was gone, taken by an explosively formed projectile.

Now, almost a year and a half later, and after months of rehabilitation and physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Burrell returned to Iraq with five other amputee combat veterans as part of Operation Proper Exit.

”I don’t remember much, but I remember my nurse,” Burrell said. ”Shelly. She was an angel, there to comfort me when I was in a difficult spot.“

Operation Proper Exit, a United Service Organizations pilot program sponsored by the Army and the Troops First Foundation, allows soldiers wounded in combat to return to Iraq. The goal of the program is to give the soldiers an opportunity for closure, and to see the progress made in securing and stabilizing the country, Burrell said.

”It kind of helps you heal mentally and emotionally, to close that chapter in your life so you can move on,” he said. ”The progress that’s been made—it shows that we made a sacrifice but it was for a reason.”
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http://www.army.com/news/item/5539

Star Wars Society steps up for Wounded Warriors of Ward 57

Star Wars society raises funds for wounded warriors at Walter Reed
by J.H. Freeman
Jun 30, 2009

J.H. Freeman/Medill




The Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi graces the front of the Pennsylvania Star Wars Collecting Society's medallion to raise money for patients in Walter Reed's Ward 57


WASHINGTON - Injured soldiers recuperating in Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Ward 57 are getting special assistance from a galaxy far, far away.

The Pennsylvania Star Wars Collecting Society is selling a one-time run of 1,000 souvenir medallions inspired by the films, with proceeds going to Operation Ward 57—a group dedicated to raising money for DVD players and electronic gaming consoles, like Xbox and Playstation, for the wounded.

The 24-bed Ward 57, known as the “amputee ward,” is home to some of the most severely wounded soldiers in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We decided as a group that we wanted to do some sort of fundraiser for Operation [Ward] 57,” said Bill Cable, president and founder of the 350-member Star Wars society.
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http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=135331

Child strangled by python in Florida

Child Strangled By Python
Wednesday, July 01, 2009 11:37:48 AM

OXFORD -- News 13 has just confirmed that a young child is dead after being strangled by a python.
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http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/7/1/child_strangled_by_python.html

UPDATE

Child Suffocated By Python
Wednesday, July 01, 2009 4:15:58 PM
OXFORD -- News 13 has confirmed that a 2-year-old girl is dead after being suffocated by a python.

Shaiunna Hare died in her home in Oxford, just off of County Road 466, east of The Villages.

The snake was a 12-foot long albino Burmese python and was a pet of the family.

According to Lt. Joy Hill with Florida Fish and Wildlife, Charles Darnell, the boyfriend of the child's mother, Jaren Hare, put the python away in an aquarium and when he woke up around 9 a.m., he found the aquarium was empty. He ran to Shaiunna's bedroom and found the snake on top of the her.

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