Army identifies soldier found dead at Bamberg

Army identifies soldier found dead at Bamberg
Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, July 4, 2009
Army officials have identified the soldier from the 54th Engineer Battalion who was found dead Thursday outside Warner Barracks in Bamberg, Germany.

Spc. Levi Clark, 20, was found outside the barracks unresponsive at 6:30 a.m., a U.S. Army Europe release said. He was pronounced dead at the scene by a German doctor. U.S. and German authorities are investigating the cause of his death.

Army officials did not have information about Clark’s hometown in the States. He was among 300 soldiers who had returned Wednesday from a deployment to Camp Striker, Iraq, a USAREUR spokeswoman said.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=63583

Soldier Found Dead in Georgia, Baby Discovered Miles Away

Soldier Found Dead in Georgia, Baby Discovered Miles Away
FOXNews - USA
Friday, July 03, 2009


SAVANNAH, Ga. — Police say a 21-year-old soldier from Hunter Army Airfield was found dead on Savannah's Hutchinson Island, not long before his 1-year-old child was discovered unharmed in an abandoned car seat several miles away.

Police realized that 21-year-old Necco McCrawl's car and child were missing quickly after his body was found about 3:30 p.m. Thursday on a dirt road on the Savannah River island. Almost as soon as the search began, the child was found sitting in the car seat in Garden City and turned over to the mother.

On Friday, authorities were still searching for McCrawl's 2002 Cadillac Deville. They do not believe it was a random carjacking, but that McCrawl knew the killer.

Staff Sgt. Charles Edward Dane another life gone waiting for help

Staff Sgt. Charles Edward Dane, 15 years serving this country in the Marines. Think about that for a second. He gave this country 15 years of his life and what did he ask in return? Did he ask to be made rich? Did he ask for millions of dollars the way defense contractors get paid? Did he even ask for the thousands more civilians working for the contractors got paid? No. He asked nothing of us except that if he gave up his life in service to this nation, we would honor his life and take care of his family. He would have expected that should he become wounded, well then, we would at least take care of his wound and make sure he had enough money coming in to pay his bills. That's just about it really. That's really all any of them expect from us. So how is it those simple requests never seem to be provided to them?

Is PTSD so new we didn't know what to do to help him heal? Is it so rare the VA and the DOD had no way of knowing what they would have to take care of? Hell no! This was all known well before Staff Sgt. Dane even thought of entering into the military. Long before Afghanistan was invaded and long before the first set of boots ever set foot in Iraq. I've been working on it since 1982 to give you some idea of how long PTSD was known about. Others worked on it longer than I did or I wouldn't have had a clue when I met my husband. I learned from them. They were working on it since the late 70's and by 1978 they found 500,000 Vietnam veterans with PTSD. So there are no excuses for any of this.

What is even more sad is that his death will not be counted as a casualty of war. It will be listed as a non-combat death stateside. The DOD and the VA ran out of excuses a very long time ago. 6 combat tours!

Full Military Honors Planned For Marine
Family Questions Whether He Should Have Been Given More Help
POSTED: 11:19 pm EDT July 2, 2009


AUBURN, N.H. -- New Hampshire is preparing to lay a Marine to rest with full military honors.

Staff Sgt. Charles Edward Dane, known as Eddie to family and friends, served six combat tours, dedicating 15 years in service to the country.

Last week, 37-year-old Dane took his life in California where he was stationed. His family in Auburn questions if more could have been done to prevent his death.
go here for more
http://www.wmur.com/news/19934903/detail.html

VA clinic opens in Mount Vernon

VA clinic opens in Mount Vernon


Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Lake Stevens, joined with veterans and Veterans Affairs officials Thursday to mark the recent opening of a new outpatient clinic in Mount Vernon. The clinic serves some 2,200 Western Washington veterans, many of whom previously had to travel to the Puget Sound area for treatment.
go here for more
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009414526_webvaclinic03.html

Growing list of men with breast cancer linked to Camp Lejeune

Now 17 veterans with rare cancer or tumors with Camp Lejeune ties
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Jul 03, 2009 06:01 PM


Scientists studying drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune were startled when 11 men with breast cancer and ties to the North Carolina base were identified over the last two years.

Six more have been found in one week.

Five additional men with breast cancer and a sixth who had a double mastectomy after doctors found pre-cancerous tumors contacted the St. Petersburg Times last week after reading a story about the 11 men with the rare disease.

"This male breast cancer cluster is a smoking gun," breast cancer survivor Mike Partain said on Friday. "You just can't ignore it. You don't need science to tell you something is wrong. It's common sense. It begs to be studied."

Partain, 41, of Tallahassee, was born at the Marines Corps base and diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. He has worked for two years to find other men with breast cancer who lived at Camp Lejeune.

He found the first nine men before the Times profiled his search in a story on June 28, a story that noted the newspaper had found another man not on Partain's list.

go here for more and please pass this on to anyone you know stationed at Camp Lejeune
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article1015699.ece

Veterans' Court On the Way to Reno

Veterans' Court On the Way
KOLO - Reno,NV,USA

Reno
Posted: 9:24 PM Jul 2, 2009
Last Updated: 4:04 AM Jul 3, 2009
Reporter: Terri Russell


According to the specialty court judge, Veterans court will be run much like drug court.

For those entering drug court for the first time, he has this advice.

“Show up, tell the truth, don't makes excuses,” says Judge Peter Breen.

Judge Breen has been presiding over drug court for about 13-years now.
He says he can see between 60 to 80 defendants in drug court

“A person is put on probation. The judge never sees the defendant again until or unless they have big infraction and they maybe have to go to prison. This court provides immediate and frequent accountability,” says Judge Breen.

While the court does give these defendants another option to work their way through the judicial system, that does not mean it is a cake walk.

Defendants who do not work the program, fail a urine test, or don't show up to court, face time in jail. And that's pretty much how the Veterans Court would be run. Like drug court, there will be rehab options for vets who find themselves on the wrong side of the law. But resources unique to the vet will be available too, like services though the Veterans Administration or the veterans hospital. Judge Breen says it's been his experience most veterans don't identify themselves when in front of him or other judges, and he hopes Veterans Court will change that.

“I think it is great because it’s another alternative other than prison or jail and stuff like that,” says Mark Ross and Veteran.

Terry Dingman, another Veteran says, “I think it's a great idea. They should be doing more for the veterans anyway”

Judge Breen says he expects the court to start up in two to three months.
He's already getting inquiries from other judges and attorneys about Veterans court and defendants who could benefit from such a program.

Judge Breen expects to see 50 Veterans within the first 7 months of Veterans Court operation.

go here for video
Veterans Court On the Way

Homeless veteran found dead on York VA grounds

Homeless veteran found dead on York VA grounds
The body of an apparently homeless veteran was found Sunday afternoon at York VA Medical Center after the man apparently fell and sustained an injury, a sheriff’s official said.



The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call at 1:21 p.m. Sunday afternoon at York VA where the body of Christopher Pine was found.

Pine, born in 1961, was found outside one of the abandoned shop buildings where veterans and some homeless people are known to gather and was possibly homeless himself, authorities said.
go here for more
Homeless veteran found dead on York VA grounds

5,700 Patients in Colorado may have been exposed to Hepatitis C by fired lab tech

Colorado patients exposed to hepatitis C

DENVER, July 3 (UPI) -- Thousands of patients in Colorado may have been exposed to hepatitis C from syringes used by an infected former medical technician, officials say.

Rose Medical Center in Denver is offering free testing to more than 4,700 former patients. Another 1,000 people may have been exposed at Audubon Ambulatory Surgery Center in Colorado Springs where the technician worked after being fired from Rose in April, The Denver Post reported Thursday.

The technician was fired after having failed a drug test. Identified by The (Colorado Springs) Gazette newspaper as Kristen Diane Parker, 26, of Colorado Springs, based on Justice Department documents. The documents said she was in federal custody after allegedly swapping her used, dirty syringes, refilled with saline solution, for ones filled the painkiller fentanyl.
go here for more
Colorado patients exposed to hepatitis C

Doctors win law suit against Bay Pines VA

Federal jury orders Department of Veterans Affairs to pay $3.7-million for retaliation at Bay Pines hospital
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Jul 02, 2009 12:07 PM


TAMPA — A federal jury on Thursday decided the Department of Veterans Affairs retaliated against four employees at its Bay Pines hospital in St. Petersburg and awarded them $3.73-million in damages.

The four employees, three of them doctors, accused the VA of a broad pattern of discrimination against employees who file employment discrimination complaints.
go here for more
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article1015241.ece

Dr. Ira Katz award slaps veterans

I still believe in NAMI but I no longer believe in the NAMI Veterans Council. The decision to award Dr. Ira Katz for suicide prevention is akin to awarding a vampire for testing blood. Katz, as reported here countless times, was refusing to admit there was a problem with veterans committing suicide. Everything he did, what they are awarding him for, he was forced to do. The Veterans Council is giving him an award for what it took an act of Congress to do!

This is one of the stories about a soldier that committed suicide.

The Life and Lonely Death of Noah Pierce
text and photos by Ashley Gilbertson, from the Virginia Quarterly Review

Noah Pierce’s headstone gives his date of death as July 26, 2007, though his family feels certain he died the night before, when, at age 23, he took a handgun and shot himself in the head. No one is sure what pushed him to it. He said in his suicide note it was impotence—one possible side effect of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was “the snowflake that toppled the iceberg,” he wrote. But it could have been the memory of the Iraqi child he crushed under his Bradley. It could have been the unarmed man he shot point-blank in the forehead during a house-to-house raid, or the friend he tried madly to gather into a plastic bag after he had been blown to bits by a roadside bomb, or it could have been the doctor he killed at a checkpoint.



Noah grew up in Sparta, Minnesota, a town of fewer than 1,000 on the outskirts of the Quad Cities—Mountain Iron, Virginia, Eveleth, and Gilbert—on the Mesabi Iron Range. Discovered on the heels of the Civil War, the range’s ore deposit is the largest in the United States. Around the clock, deep metallic groans come out of the ground and freight trains barrel through, horns screeching. Locals are proud of their hardworking, hard-drinking heritage. There are more than 20 bars on Eveleth’s half-mile-long main street. On a typical night last May, loudspeakers affixed to lampposts blared John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and Harleys thundered through town. One bar closed early, when a drunk got thrown through the front window.

Noah was a quiet, sensitive kid. He kept a tight circle of friends and passed time with them building tree forts and playing army in the woods. Noah’s biological father separated from Noah’s mother shortly after she became pregnant, but Tom Softich, Noah’s stepfather, treated the thin-skinned boy as his own. When Noah turned 6, Tom took him hunting, and by 13 Noah had his own high-powered rifle. For practice, they went rabbit shooting together at a small clearing a mile from their house. It became such a regular place to find Noah that his family and friends began referring to the clearing simply as “the spot.”

When Noah went missing in July 2007, after a harrowing year adjusting to home following two tours in Iraq, police ordered a countywide search. His friend Ryan Nelson thought he might know where to look. When he pulled up to the spot, he immediately recognized Noah’s truck. Inside, Ryan found his friend slumped over the bench seat, his head blown apart, the gun in his right hand. Half a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Special Blend lay on the passenger seat, and beer cans were strewn about. On the dash lay Noah’s photo IDs; he had stabbed each photo through the face. And on the floorboard was the scrawled, rambling suicide note. It was his final attempt to explain the horrors he had seen—and committed.



In April 2008, Ira R. Katz, deputy chief patient care services officer for mental health at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, became embroiled in scandal when a memo surfaced in which he instructed members of his staff to suppress the results of an internal investigation into the number of veterans attempting suicide. Based on their surveys, along with tabulations from the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control, Katz estimated that between 550 and 650 veterans were committing suicide each month. It pains Noah’s family and friends that the Pentagon will never add him—nor the thousands like him—to the official tally of 4,000-plus war dead.

Likewise, PTSD and minor traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) are excluded from the count of 50,000 severe combat wounds—even though PTSD and MTBI often have far greater long-term health effects than bullet wounds or even lost limbs. A study by the RAND Corporation found that approximately 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans—one in five—suffer from depression or stress disorders and another 320,000 suffer from MTBIs that place them at a higher risk for depression and stress disorders.

Noah’s mother, Cheryl Softich, believes her son’s death could have been avoided had he received counseling. Statistically, veterans outside the VA system are four times more likely to attempt suicide than those within the system. Now Cheryl’s mission is to have a clause inserted into every standard military contract that would require veterans to visit a therapist every two weeks of the first year after a combat deployment. “Soldiers are taught to follow orders,” she says. “It needs to be mandatory. Noah was an excellent soldier, and if it was mandatory, he would have gone faithfully to every appointment.”
http://www.utne.com/print-article.aspx?id=25408

Yet this is what the Veterans Council released for the award to Katz

NAMI Veterans Council Dedication To Veterans Mental Health Care Award

Ira Katz, MD

Dr. Ira Katz left a comfortable position at the University of Pennsylvania and the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia to join the Department of Veterans Affairs. Within two years of his arrival, members of Congress and the press were calling for his resignation or termination over the issue of rising suicides among veterans, especially veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In spite of blistering criticism, Dr. Katz worked tirelessly behind the scenes to launch the VA's first ever suicide prevention initiative, including a nation wide crisis call line in conjunction with SAMHSA that has intervened in thousands of potential suicides by veterans. While managing this delicate task and fending off critics, Dr. Katz spearheaded VA-wide approval of a dramatic reform of its mental health programs to embrace recovery principles. All veterans receiving mental healthcare in the VA are better served today because of the work of Dr. Ira Katz. We are proud to honor him for his dedication to improving the mental health and the mental health care of veterans.
NAMI Convention

I am so furious over this that yesterday I resigned from the Veterans Council. I can no longer participate or support any group so oblivious to the facts, they saw fit to award Katz for this. NAMI giving award to Dr. Katz for being forced to change?

When you read the stories about other people in NAMI and how much they are doing for the veterans, this is an appalling decision. Matt Kuntz is a member of NAMI. He has done more for the troops and the National Guard, in turn, for the veterans as well. We tend to forget that when the members of the National Guard come back they are once again citizens and fall into the veteran role. This is what Matt Kuntz did.

Thursday, April 9, 2009
Support the The Post Deployment Health Assessment Act of 2009
Matt Kuntz, the keynote speaker at our upcoming Annual Education Conference, has asked us to take a few minutes to contact our Congressional Representatives and Senators to ask them to support comprehensive mental health screenings for our returning soldiers.Two years ago, Matt, the Executive Director of NAMI Montana and one of President Obama's "18 Ordinary Americans Making an Extraordinary Difference," lost his step-brother Chris Dana to a post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) induced suicide sixteen months after he returned from Iraq.

The events around Chris’s death led Governor Brian Schweitzer and the Montana National Guard to develop the premier program in the country for caring for National Guard members suffering from PTSD. Matt says, "The foundation of this successful system is a series of five face-to-face mental health screenings that every returning service member must complete upon their return home from combat."This broad screening program overcomes the traditional barriers that have kept service members from receiving treatment for PTSD. Over forty percent of the individuals that have completed the screening asked for help in dealing with their combat stress injuries.

Senator Max Baucus introduced “The Post Deployment Health Assessment Act of 2009” to implement this common sense screening program throughout our fighting force. The Act would require face-to-face screening before deployment, upon return home, and then every six months for two years. This basic and effective program will help safeguard the mental health of our entire fighting force for approximately the same price tag as a single F-22 Fighter. The Act is supported by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the National Guard Association, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

Please take a few minutes out of your day to contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators to ask them to support this critical legislation. Our military suicide rates are at record levels and climbing. We can’t afford to wait any longer to help our heroes get the care they deserve. You can follow this link to find your Representatives’ and Senators’ contact information: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/.

President Obama met with Matt while he was still a senator.

Barack Talks to Vets in BillingsBy Zach in Helena - Aug 28th, 2008 at 1:52 pm EDT

Senator Obama spoke to a group of veterans and military families yesterday at Riverfront Park in Billings. He spoke at length on the failures of the current administration to take care of the nation’s veterans, before taking questions from the audience on a variety of issues. You can watch his remarks about veterans, energy, and the VA system here.What's going on right now, the simple fact is we're not doing right by our veterans. Not here in Montana, and not anywhere in the United States, and I want you to know that one of the reasons I'm running for president of the United States is because I want to make sure that today's veterans are treated like my grandfather was, when he came home, he got the GI Bill and was able to go to college and got FHA loans to go to school and was treated with honor. As President I'm going to make sure that the VA system in Montana gets the oversight, direction, and resources it needs to do the job. [Watch the video]

Then Senator Obama laid blame where it belonged

In Billings, Obama blames GOP for veteran troubles
In Billings, Obama blames GOP for veteran troubles
By TOM LUTEY
Billings Gazette
BILLINGS - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, speaking Wednesday in Billings, faulted Republican leaders for chronically underfunding veteran services for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.“I have some significant differences with McCain and George Bush about the war in Iraq,” Obama said. “But one thing I thought we'd agree to is when the troops came home, we'd treat them with the honor and respect they deserve.”Several trends indicate veterans are not getting the health care and other benefits they need to succeed at home, Obama told a group of around 200 people during an invitation-only morning listening session in Riverfront Park.

Armed services veterans are seven times more likely to be homeless than Americans who don't serve. In Montana, roughly half the veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder go untreated for the psychological condition, Obama said.

Before speaking, the candidate met for several minutes with the family of Spec. Chris Dana, a Montana National Guard veteran suffering from PTSD who committed suicide in March 2007, several months after returning from Iraq. Dana's stepbrother, Matt Kuntz, became a vocal advocate for better treatment of PTSD after Dana's death.

Jess Bahr, a Vietnam veteran, drove more than 200 miles from Great Falls to hear Obama. Before being bused to the event with a veteran-heavy crowd, Bahr said the number of homeless U.S. veterans was inexcusable and that the needs of retired warriors across the country were being ignored by communities.“In Great Falls, they're building a $6.5 million animal shelter and we don't have a shelter for veterans. What does that tell you about priorities?” asked Bahr, a 1967 Army draftee who survived the Tet Offensive, a nine-month series of battles that resulted in more than 6,000 deaths and 24,000 injuries among American and allied troops during the Vietnam War.
click post title for more

If you ever listened to the hearings on CSPAN, you would know what kind of a crisis the veterans were in. Joshua Omvig was one more of many committing suicide because the help they needed was not there. The suicide prevention Katz is being award for took and act of Congress to begin.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Bush Signs Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Bill into Law
With the stroke of a pen President George W. Bush signed the Joshua Omvig bill into law, ending a drawn-out political chapter that overcame a procedural hold in the Senate. The bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, who named the bill after one of his constituents, Joshua Omvig of Grundy Center. Omvig committed suicide in Dec. 2005 after returning from an 11-month deployment in Iraq.

“By directing the Veterans Administration (VA) to develop a comprehensive program to reduce the rate of suicide among veterans the law will help thousands of young men and women who bravely served our country,” Boswell said in a press release following Bush’s Monday signing. “The Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act not only honors Joshua’s service to his country but ensures that all veterans receive the proper mental health care they need.”

The Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act (H.R. 327) is designed to help address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among veterans by requiring mental health training for Veterans Affairs staff; a suicide prevention counselor at each VA medical facility; and mental-health screening and treatment for veterans who receive VA care. It also supports outreach and education for veterans and their families, peer support counseling and research into suicide prevention. The VA had been implementing a number of these programs, but not in a timely manner, whereas the Joshua Omvig bill mandates these programs and subsequent deadlines as a means of expediting the process for returning veterans.

Bush Signs Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Bill into Law

It took law suits from groups to do, like Veterans for Common Sense, to call attention to the pain and suffering the veterans were going through.


With all of this, awarding Katz for what he was forced to do ignores what he did not do when he had the chance. Did he answer reporters questions honestly without trying to cover up the facts? No. He had the chance right there to fight for the veterans he was supposed to be working for instead of the administration causing the problems. All it would have taken was honesty. Imagine what that would have done for the veterans! If Katz put the veterans first instead of his job, he would have been a hero and truly deserving of such an honor. His courage would have caused such and uproar in this nation that there would be no way possible for him to be fired for doing the right thing for our veterans. He decided instead to fight for the administration and the veterans paid the price.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Tim Bowman

Mitchell takes on the stigma of vets' mental-health issues
The message reads: "It takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help."It goes on to list the VA's suicide prevention hotline number: 800-273-TALK (8255).Mitchell takes on the stigma of vets' mental-health issuesby E.J. Montini - Jul. 22, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona RepublicLate last year at a congressional hearing in Washington, Rep. Harry Mitchell listened to a couple named Mike and Kim Bowman tell the story of their 23-year-old son, Tim, a soldier who had returned safely from his yearlong deployment in Iraq only to commit suicide at home."We already were hearing that suicide among veterans who were between 20 and 24 years old was 2½ times higher than non-veterans," Mitchell told me. "And I remember thinking to myself: 'We can't do this again.' "

Lucas Senescall

VA Refused Medical Care to Suicidal Veterans

July 20, 2008, Spokane, Washington - A distraught 26-year-old Navy veteran who had a history of mental illness hanged himself within three hours of seeking help at Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The July 7 death of Lucas Senescall was the sixth suicide this year of a veteran who had contact with the Spokane VA, a marked increase in such deaths.

Last year, there were two suicides among veterans treated at the local VA.

Last year I went to the NAMI convention and then interviewed Paul Sullivan over the law suit filed against the VA.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Paul Sullivan clears up rumors on VA law suit

What caused Veterans for Common Sense to file the law suit against the VA?

Jonathan Schulze and Jeffrey Lucey, two Gulf War combat veterans with PTSD, were refused VA medical care even though they physically came to VA medical facilities with their families and told VA staff they were suicidal. Congress may legislate and perform oversight, yet the Court can force immediate action: one of our top priorities was to force VA from turning away suicidal veterans.

VCS initially filed Freedom of Information Act requests earlier in 2007 about suicides, and VA responded that they had no information. VCS also filed suit because the number of disability claims waiting for review has doubled in the past few years, and the length of time has increased from five months to more than six months.

However, VA executives paid themselves nearly $4 million in bonuses for their dismal performance. Furthermore, VA’s IG reported three times that 25 percent of veterans waited more than one month to see a doctor. VA testified under oath twice that the figure was less than 5 percent. Clearly, VA has a capacity crisis – too many veterans and not enough doctors or claims processors. Furthermore, the 23-page claim form and several healthcare enrollment forms are overly complex, especially for our veterans with PTSD or TBI. For more detailed information, please go to http://www.veteransptsdclassaction.org/.




What caused Veterans for Common Sense to join forces with Veterans United for Truth?

VUFT is another non-profit veteran advocacy group, and they are based in California.



How were the emails from Dr. Katz discovered?


After more than 8 months of delays, the Federal Court ORDERED VA to turn over the e-mails to our attorneys in our lawsuit as part of the discovery process.



What did Dr. Katz say to explain these emails?


He admitted they were true and that he wrote them. You can read his testimony at the SVAC web site where he offers evasive explanations.



What were the facts discovered as a result of these emails being found?


1. VA says they are monitoring completed and attempted suicides to see if there is a difference in suicide rates between veterans, war veterans, and non-veterans.


2. VA essentially confirmed the CBS study that found veterans are more likely to complete a suicide, and for younger veterans aged 18 – 24, they were three to four times more likely to complete a suicide..


3. VA completes “suicide incident reports” and “root cause analysis” reports for each completed suicide, yet then declares them confidential “quality assurance” and places them off limits to Congress, veterans’ families, and attorneys. It is very important for Congress and the Courts and the public to see these reports (with privacy protections of course) so that we can better understand why the veterans killed themselves, and how VA can be improved to prevent and reduce suicides.



How many suicides does the VA know about since the beginning of the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq?


There is no national “veteran completed suicide” reporting system now, yet VA is under considerable pressure to begin working to identify all of them. VCS provided a methodology to Congress to identify as many as possible by starting with the list of 1.7 million deployed and then checking all federal, state, and local death certificates.


Currently, VA looks at death certificates where the document reports the person as a veteran. This is incomplete because many families do not know if a person was a veteran or the funeral home / coroner don’t ask. DoD only reports active duty suicides and excludes Reserve and National Guard suicides because they are not on Active Duty.. Our VCS methodology would identify all completed suicides among all 1.7 million, not just the incomplete pieces of the puzzle the DoD and VA currently look at.



How many attempted suicides does the VA know about during the same period?


See above. VA knows about attempted suicides only among those veterans receiving VA care, and that is about 1,000 per month, or 12,000 per year, based on Katz’ e-mail.



How did the emails end up with Senator Akaka and his committee?


The Katz e-mails were produced at trial in April 2008, and then journalists reported them to the public. I not exactly sure, yet I believe Sen. Akaka’s staff saw them in the widely reported press accounts of our trial.



Do you know about the Freedom of Information request to the VA by CREW and VoteVets?


Yes. It is too bad that VA still plays games with FOIA. VA should be forced to turn over the information. Embarrassing information is never a reason to deny a FOIA, as VA frequently does.



How did the email from Norma Perez end up in the hands of congress?


The Perez e-mail discouraging diagnoses for PTSD among veterans was sent by Perez to several VA staff, who in turn sent it to other VA staff, who in tern sent it to a veteran advocate in Texas. That person turned it over to VoteVets and CREW. VCS did not play a role in uncovering the e-mail, yet VCS did play a role in publicizing the e-mail.



What did the entire email suggest?


I would suggest reading the e-mail, as it speaks for itself.



How did that email end up with the congress and then incorporated into the law suit filed by Veterans For Common Sense?


The Perez e-mail and news articles were forwarded from me to our attorneys with a request that they investigate it. They did investigate it by sending a letter to the Dept. of Justice, who then authenticated it and confirmed that VA Secretary James Peake’s office knew about the Perez e-mail on April 7, 2008 – a full two weeks before our trial began, yet VA failed to provide it to our attorneys under discovery. Our attorneys then asked the judge to add the Perez e-mail to the body of evidence we introduced at trial. At a hearing earlier this month, the judge agreed with our attorneys, and the judge also admitted the entire Senate hearing transcript about the Perez e-mail into evidence – a victory for veterans. Sen. Akaka would know for sure, yet I believe he and his staff learned of the Perez e-mail from the press.



What is your view of these findings regarding the treatment of our veterans by the VA after these emails were discovered?


Nearly all VA employees are well-intended and want to assist veterans. I know this because I worked at VA and still know many VA employees. However, the system is overly complex, the system is overloaded, and the system is mired in a deep financial, leadership, and capacity crisis.

Compounding the problem is the disappointing fact that the current political appointees in Washington are incompetent at best, and malicious toward veterans at worst. This combination causes very serious adverse problems for VA, veterans, and families. The solution remains the obvious. VA needs an massive overhaul immediately.


VA needs new leaders, full mandatory funding, and significantly streamlined procedures so veterans can get fast and high-quality medical care and benefits. The situation is bad now, with 325,000 new and unplanned casualties from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars flooding into VA hospitals and clinics, plus 288,000 unanticipated disability claims from recent war veterans. If the crisis is not addressed immediately with aggressive action, the current administration will be held responsible for crashing VA on the rocks.


Although VA had systemic problems in the 1990s and early 2000s, the situation spiraled out of control when Jim Nicholson became Secretary in early 2005. Nicholson, who had no experience with VA, healthcare, or disability claims, served as Karl Rove’s and Grover Norquist’s personal partisan wrecking ball to tear apart VA, bust up the unions, and privatize it. In the end, our only recourse was to file suit because veterans were literally completing suicide, yet VA leaders appeared oblivious to this life-or-death crisis.


In my view, we can learn the lessons from the Vietnam and Gulf wars, where many veterans with psychological trauma were neglected, and improve the situation. Or, we can take the current approach by VA: pinch pennies, bury your head in the sand, and leave the disaster to the next administration. The decision to fix VA was straightforward, yet the battle to fix VA is very hard.


Paul Sullivan
Executive Director
Veterans for Common Sense
Post Office Box 15514
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 558-4553
Paul@VeteransForCommonSense.org
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/




I want to thank Paul for his time and for all he has done for the veterans in this country. Think about the numbers of veterans his actions will make a difference for. He doesn't want more families to have to bury another son or daughter because the VA just didn't have room for them when they needed their wounds to be treated. We've all read too many stories like Jonathan's and Jeffrey's, or Tim Bowman, or Joshua Omvig, along with the hundreds of others we found in the media. Far too much suffering that did not need to happen.

Saving lives because it was the right thing to do came from other people and not Katz. By the interviews he had done, it's obvious that had he not been forced to act, he would have been happy denying the problem and "staying the course" as Bush often loved to say.

So what exactly is behind this award? Why award it to Katz of all people? Can the NAMI Veterans Council be so oblivious to the facts and what was behind what Katz was forced to do, they think he's the one to glorify? Can they be that ignorant? I doubt it. I met a lot of the people on the council and they are bright as well as deeply committed to our veterans. There are heroes all over this country doing great work for our veterans and they are on the council. So what is behind all of this? Are they sucking up to the VA? If this was the case then I'm sure they could have found someone else more worthy of this award in the VA. Whatever the reason behind this, whatever excuse for it, they have just done more damage to our veterans and slapped suffering families in the face. They have just decided that families like the ones you just read about are insignificant. If they really wanted to give an award to a hero they could have picked Matt or Paul Sullivan or any of the families with the courage to stand up and talk about their heartbreak.

PTSD: NAMB chaplains get biblical training

Today must be the day of my vindication. This is one more article written about the connection between PTSD and the spirit. You would think with what the military knows they would actually see what they know and understand it, but they don't. This is a wound to the soul, the spirit of the warrior and has been documented throughout history. Why is it the military seems all so willing to dismiss all of this when they are treating soldiers with the technology but not the spiritual needs where all of this arises from?

"Psyche means soul" in the words of Dr. Tick, author of War and The Soul. No one seems to know why the DOD and the VA have ignored so much of this. I've made more progress in the last five years than I have dreamt of before. Why? Because after I wrote my book, For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle, I stopped just looking at the spiritual needs I had met by God but saw how the wound set in on our veterans in the first place. I understood that what my husband was saying, was what most of them were saying. I trusted that understanding enough to allow me to talk more freely about the wounded souls. I stopped approaching it as a distant, disconnected teacher and allowed the human to rise up.

When I write about the spiritual needs of healing, I am either ignored or treated to rambling emails about the proselytizing going on in the military instead of reaching out to all of God's children. Non-religious friends of mine cannot understand we are all spiritual creatures, no matter what faith we claim and all of us have the same needed of reconnecting to God, no matter which way we seek it. I don't care what church anyone decides to go to, or what religious group they belong to. That is not my job and is not my place to decide for them. I am simply trying to get them to look at another aspect of being human. A side they have forgotten in all of this screaming out for help.

Right now, to all the people dismissing the spiritual aspect of PTSD, they need to either pay attention from this point on or get out of the way. Ancient people knew better how to treat PTSD than they do but our troops and veterans have been paying the price for their ignorance of the soul and the need to be fed.

Edward Tick's Story
The warrior returns

"PTSD is a soul wound."

Dr. Ed Tick, author of War and the Soul, discusses how ancient cultures dealt with returning warriors, and the modern veteran’s place in society today.
Dr. Edward Tick, author of the groundbreaking book “War and the Soul” and founder of Soldier’s Heart, is a practicing psychotherapist specializing in veterans with PTSD. Ed received his master’s in psychology from Goddard College, Vermont and his doctorate in communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Ed has been in private psychotherapy practice since 1975 and began focusing on veteran’s issues in 1979.

http://www.notalone.com/the-warrior-returns-2065.htm

PTSD: NAMB chaplains get biblical training

Posted on Jul 2, 2009 by Ann Lovell
SEOUL, South Korea (BP)--Chaplain (Major) Ed Choi understands the reality of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Deployed as a U.S. Army chaplain in Iraq for tours of duty in 2004-05 and 2006-07, Choi lost more than 30 soldiers and conducted 18 memorial services. He returned from combat burnt out, angry and frustrated.

"I was on my knees in my living room, crying out to God," Choi said. "I read Matthew 12:18-21, and verse 20 spoke to me -- 'a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.' I knew I needed help, but then my wife also told me I needed help. When she speaks, I listen."

Choi attended the Advanced School for Chaplains at Fort Jackson, S.C., also known as the Captain Chaplain's Career Course or C4. At the Advanced School, he realized that he was suffering from compassion fatigue, and he was diagnosed with PTSD.

"At C4," Choi said, "I realized I was not alone."

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder affects approximately 5.2 million people in any given year. The National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder estimates that 70 percent of the general population will experience a traumatic event in their lives. Of that 70 percent, 20 percent are likely to develop PTSD symptoms, which include reliving the event, avoiding situations that trigger memories of the event and feeling numb or jumpy. Those who live and work in dangerous situations are at greater risk. Military chaplains are certainly no exception.
go here for more
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=30826

Fort Campbell Soldiers spending 4th of July at White House

Campbell soldiers to spend July 4 with Obama

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 2, 2009 6:51:03 EDT

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Some soldiers from Fort Campbell will spend July Fourth with President Barack Obama at the White House.

The post on the Kentucky-Tennessee border says 25 soldiers and family members will join the president Saturday during the White House Salute to the Military.

Members of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Division Special Troops Battalion and the Warrior Transition Unit will attend the celebration on the South Lawn of the White House.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_campbell_obama_july4_070209/

Another suicide with rented gun in Florida

Police identify man who killed himself at shooting range
The man died after shooting himself at Rieg's Gun Shop on South Orange Blossom Trail.


Sarah Lundy

Sentinel Staff Writer

1:45 PM EDT, July 2, 2009
A man who died Wednesday night after renting a gun and shooting himself at Rieg's Gun Shop on South Orange Blossom Trail has been identified as Valentin Pepelea, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.

Pepelea, 43, is from Canada, according to the Sheriff's Office. No other information about Pepelea is available.

Authorities said he walked into Rieg's and rented a gun for target practice.

After firing at targets, he turned the gun on himself about 6:40 p.m., shooting himself in the head, the Sheriff's Office said.

Pepelea was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
go here for more
Police identify man who killed himself at shooting range

Deployed soldier takes new oath,,,,as a lawyer

Deployed soldier sworn in as lawyer over video

By David Eggert - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 2, 2009 15:20:22 EDT

LANSING, Mich. — Before being deployed to Iraq, Army Reserve Maj. Miles Gengler needed Red Bull energy drinks to survive his schedule.

Wake up at 4 a.m. Drive over an hour to work while listening to legal CDs. Come home. Squeeze in time with his wife and three kids. Pack for Iraq. Settle other matters before leaving the country for at least a year. Oh — and study for Michigan’s two-day bar exam.

Gengler, 35, was rewarded Wednesday when he was sworn in as a new lawyer while standing more than 6,000 miles away in Baghdad’s Green Zone. Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly administered the 240-word oath during a unique long-distance ceremony at the state National Guard headquarters in Lansing.

“I’m just in awe,” Gengler, of Grand Blanc, told reporters. “I’m just a soldier like 120,000 or so others here in Iraq.”

The chief justice said she could not help but get emotional during the swearing-in, partly because of the time delay between when she stated the oath and when Gengler could repeat it.
go here for moreDeployed soldier sworn in as lawyer over video

The warrior returns, PTSD and Soldier's Soul

For anyone out there that still thinks I'm nuts talking about the soul and PTSD, you really need to read this and listen to Dr. Tick. He's not the first one to talk about it, but it will give you some clue what I've been talking about all these years.

This week's story
The warrior returns
Dr. Edward Tick, author of the groundbreaking book “War and the Soul” and founder of Soldier’s Heart, is a practicing psychotherapist specializing in veterans with PTSD. Ed received his Master’s in Psychology from Goddard College, Vermont and his Doctorate in Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Ed has been in private psychotherapy practice since 1975 and began focusing on veteran’s issues in 1979. His pioneering work with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or, in his words, ‘loss of the soul’, is the basis for his recent book War and the Soul . He continues his healing work with veterans and other trauma survivors with innovative yet time-honored methods. Ed has extensively studied both classical Greek and Native American traditions and successfully integrates their methods into modern clinical work.
More information about Soldier's Heart can be found at www.soldiersheart.net.

You can listen to Ed's story on our story site here.

Families should watch for signs a veteran is repressing emotions

The occupation of Iraq is winding down as troops are withdrawn from the cities. Plans are in place to pull out most of the troops. While some will have to be trained for deployment to Afghanistan, others will be returned home to bases, cities and towns, as combat veterans. Many of these men and women no longer on the cycle of redeployments, will have the time they need to rest and recover from the endless months of risking their lives. The problem is, too many people right back here are still clueless about what they went through and what they can carry back home inside of them because of all of it.

Citizen soldiers, the National Guards and Reservists, returning to their families, no longer have the same connection they had to the people they deployed with. The support services are still not in place in too many states. They are expected to simply return to their "normal" lives just as veterans are expected to return to their lives as citizens instead of soldier. What is it they are coming back to?

After the welcome home banners have come down, after the parties and the parades, what exactly is it we are willing to do for them after asking every kind of sacrifice out of them? The great news has been posted here on this blog with service groups, churches and veterans groups stepping up to help. Charity organizations formed to take care of the dire need. This is all good news, but the truth is, too many in this country remain with their heads buried in the latest political scandal, reality TV show or their own problems to notice what has been happening for far too long.

We are nowhere near ready to take care of the veterans we already have needing help. The biggest issue is that families are the first ones to know when something is wrong but if they don't know what PTSD is, they will not know what to do.

Families should watch for signs a veteran is repressing emotions
Queens Chronicle - Rego Park,NY,USA
by Victor Epstein, Chronicle Contributor
07/02/2009

Our servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan are no strangers to hardship. Yet one challenge they might not expect — but most probably look forward to — is the challenge of coming home.

Returning home from combat is a lot more then tearful reunions and heartfelt embraces. Many veterans find it a difficult challenge, one they are entirely unprepared for.


“When I came home it took a while to adjust,” said veteran Ed Diez, who works in Woodside. “You’re used to being always alert, every day, all the time. And you come home; everybody is very relaxed, telling you ‘Calm down,’ and you can’t seem to fit in properly, in the beginning at least.”

Diez served in Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004 as a specialist and at various times a squad leader with the 10th Mountain Division, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry. Now he takes history classes at Queens College and works for the Vietnam Veterans of America as a service officer, counseling veterans about their benefits at the QVC in Woodhaven.

When he returned from combat, Diez said he personally experienced stress, social anxiety and trouble finding work or readjusting to his old life. These problems are common for returning veterans, and for some can be more serious. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, an anxiety disorder that can develop after traumatic experiences, is fairly common among returning veterans. “I would say probably close to 100 percent of those returning from combat would have some level of PTSD, though what level differs,” said retired Sgt. First Class Marvin Jeffcoat.

PTSD came to the public attention in the 1970s as Vietnam veterans returned and was formally recognized in 1980.

Jeffcoat, 44, was a soldier for 22 years and served in the Persian Gulf War. Born in South Jamiaca and now living in Woodside, he was recently elected to oversee the 26 Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in Queens. Jeffcoat said PTSD is not limited to veterans who have been in combat, mentioning accidental shootings, car crashes and a number of other traumatic scenarios as possible catalysts for the disorder.

“I had a roommate commit suicide,” he said. “His death was more disturbing to me than any number of dead Iraqis I saw.”

Dr. Paulette Peterson, who has worked for 24 years at the QVC, described PTSD as a great burden. “You don’t feel safe, you want to avoid thinking about the war, but it’s always on your mind,” she said. The QVC is a federally funded program started in 1979 by the Department of Veteran Affairs to help veterans deal with psychological issues.
click link for more

Churches come to aid of PTSD veterans

When the War Never Ends
Many vets are ambushed by post-traumatic stress disorder. But some churches are coming to their defense.
Jocelyn Green posted 7/02/2009 09:05AM
Nate self's military record was impeccable. A West Point graduate, he led an elite Army Ranger outfit and established himself as a war hero in March 2002 for his leadership during a 15-hour ambush firefight in Afghanistan. The battle resulted in a Silver Star, a Purple Heart, and a position as President Bush's guest of honor for the 2003 State of the Union. But by late 2004, Self had walked away from the Army. In another surprise attack, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had taken his life captive.

"I just hated myself," says Self. "I felt like I was somebody different. And since I didn't feel like I could be who I was before, and hated who I was now, I just wanted to kill the new person. I felt like I had messed up everything in my life. The easiest way, the most cowardly way to escape, was to just depart."

When Andrea Westfall returned from her 10-month deployment in Kuwait with the Oregon Army National Guard in 2003, she too found herself fighting an invisible battle with ptsd. Unable to cope with the enemy, she isolated herself and drank every night to numb the pain and aid sleep.

Self and Westfall are among the untold number of soldiers who leave the battlefield only to fight another war in their mind and spirit. Studies show that nearly one in five returnees from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from ptsd, an anxiety disorder introduced into the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980. Reported wartime PTSD cases jumped roughly 50 percent in 2007; Army statistics showed there were nearly 14,000 newly diagnosed cases in 2007, compared with more than 9,500 new cases the previous year and 1,632 in 2003. About 40,000 troops have been diagnosed with PTSD since 2003. Officials believe the actual number may be much higher—possibly as high as 30 percent of all U.S. vets—and think many are in denial or keep their illness hidden for fear that it could harm or end their military careers and preclude future benefits.
go here for more
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/july/14.48.html?start=1

A chaplain in the right place

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
A chaplain in the right place
Posted by tmatt
I was stunned the other day by the total lack of interest in the religion elements of the big story here in Washington, D.C., as in the tragedy on our Metro subway system. The coverage has been major league, as you would expect, and the story on which I focused was one out of many worthy of discussion.

(Sound of crickets on a still night)

OK, I don’t care.

I’m going to write about this subject again, because the Washington Post had a follow-up story the other day that was simply baptized in religious themes and images, for a totally valid, journalistic reason. You see, one of the survivors from that first Metro car, the one that was crushed to one third its size, was — wait for it — was a military chaplain with two tours worth of experience in Iraq. He was in the wrong place at the right time.

In the end, the Post turned Car 1079 into a kind of urban version of “The Bridge of San Luis Rey.” Who was in that car at the crucial moment, when it was “Three Minutes to Fort Totten”?

I do have a few questions, however.

With this kind of anecdotal story, any feature writer has to ask two questions right up front: (1) What’s the symbolic story that gives me a lede? And (2) What’s the over-arching principle that provides the structure (and how does the lede fit into that)?

Now, it’s clear to me that Dave Bottoms, the chaplain who has just arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, provides most of the information and insights that provide the structure of the story. Yet, the lede starts somewhere else, with Tom Baker, a doctor, and the last man to step onto the train before the doors closed and it began its short, final trip. I understand that choice. Yet I also wonder if leading with the chaplain was, oh, too religious? Did the editorial team conclude that this would be too focused on the faith element of the story?

click link for more

UK Report Cognitive Behavioural Therapy a waste of money

Government wasting money on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy suggests study
Written by Lautaro Vargas
Thursday, 02 July 2009
New research from the University of Hertfordshire has concluded that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) represents is of no value to sufferers of schizophrenia and has limited effect on depression.

Developed from a mix of cognitive and behavioural therapy, CBT is designed to systematically help solve problems in people’s lives, such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or drug misuse.

Professor Keith Laws, at the University’s School of Psychology, is a lead author on a paper entitled: Cognitive behavioural therapy for major psychiatric disorder: does it really work?

This meta-analytical review of well-controlled trials, published online in the journal Psychological Medicine, reviews the use of CBT in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.

The results of the review suggest that not only is CBT ineffective in treating schizophrenia and in preventing relapse, it is also ineffective in preventing relapses in bipolar disorder.

The review also suggests that CBT has only a weak effect in treating depression, but it has a greater effect in preventing relapses in this disorder.

The authors focused particularly on methodologically rigorous trials that compared CBT to a ‘psychological placebo’ and also investigated the impact of ‘blinding’, i.e. whether or not the people who assessed the patients knew if they were receiving active treatment or not.

Both factors are considered essential before a drug treatment is approved for use in psychiatric disorders.
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Government wasting money on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy suggests study

Women veterans find Grace After Fire

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Visit www.graceafterfire.org and read the stories of women veterans from all eras past and present to learn about their strengths and the struggles they face every day. You will find a unique community where women veterans finally have a private online home of their own to share their stories, thoughts, and issues.

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