Standoff at VA clinic ends with bullets for cigarette trade

Gunman surrenders after Kan. VA clinic standoff

The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Jul 12, 2009 15:33:53 EDT

TOPEKA, Kan. — Authorities say a gunman who entered a veteran’s administration medical center in Topeka, Kan., has surrendered after trading his ammunition for cigarettes.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported on its Web site that a SWAT team and multiple law enforcement agencies responded to a report of a gunman at Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center early Sunday afternoon.
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Gunman surrenders after Kan. VA clinic standoff

PTSD:What part of outreach didn't the VA understand?

Aside from the fact the VA only had to take the data from Vietnam veterans and PTSD, then use it to calculate how many more would come from Iraq and Afghanistan needing treatment for PTSD, what the hell did they expect would come when people across the country were moving mountains to get older veterans to seek help? I saw this coming years ago and all I needed was what was available online. The really sickening part is, most of what I've learned over the years came from the VA itself. What part of their own research didn't they understand? Why didn't they use any of it?

Veterans Affairs Faces Surge of Disability Claims

By JAMES DAO
Published: July 12, 2009

He jumped at loud noises, had unpredictable flashes of anger and was constantly replaying battle scenes in his head. When Damian J. Todd, who served two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps, described those symptoms to a psychiatrist in January 2008, the diagnosis was quick: he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Less swift was the government’s response when Mr. Todd submitted, a month later, a disability claim that would entitle him to a monthly benefit check. Nearly 18 months went by before the Department of Veterans Affairs granted his claim late last month, Mr. Todd said.

Mr. Todd, 33, is part of a flood of veterans, young and old, seeking disability compensation from the department for psychological and physical injuries connected to their military service. The backlog of unprocessed claims for those disabilities is now over 400,000, up from 253,000 six years ago, the agency said.
go here for more
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/us/13backlog.html?_r=1&em

Vets with post-traumatic stress are at high risk of dementia

Vets with post-traumatic stress are at high risk of dementia
By Mary Brophy Marcus, USA TODAY
Veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a significantly higher risk of developing dementia compared with veterans who don't have the disorder, a study reports today.

Using data from the Department of Veterans Affairs National Patient Care Database, scientists from the University of California-San Francisco analyzed files of 181,093 veterans ages 55 and older without dementia from 1997 to 2000. The mean age at the start of the study was 68, and 97% were male.


DRINKING:
Repeated deployments raise soldiers' stress and enrollment in alcohol treatment.

During the follow-up period from 2001 to 2007, the researchers learned that 53,155 veterans were diagnosed with dementia or cognitive impairment. Veterans who had post-traumatic stress developed dementia at a rate of 10.6% over seven years, while those who didn't have the disorder had a rate of 6.6%, the researchers reported.
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Vets with post-traumatic stress are at high risk of dementia

PTSD On Trail:Joseph "Pat" Lamoureux

Iraq war veteran awaits shooting trial as wife looks for help

Wife says husband's post-traumatic stress led to shootout with deputies
Joseph "Pat" Lamoureux couldn't erase from his mind the sight of the young Iraqi girl walking up to his heavy equipment transport truck and blowing herself up.

"Her body parts were all over his vehicle," his wife, Sue, said about the 2003 suicide bomber attack.

She said her husband was knocked down from the blast and later was evaluated for traumatic brain injury. In a benefits claim he filed with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Lamoureux wrote that the Iraqi girl, who was 12 to 14 years old, "came out of nowhere."

Then there was a firefight near the Baghdad airport and, later, an old man with a donkey who wouldn't stop when soldiers hollered at him. "He was 'lit up,'" Sue Lamoureux wrote in a July 1 e-mail. "To this day Pat believes the old man may have been deaf, and the image of him haunts Pat."

She said it was the weight of post-traumatic stress from these and other incidents that caused her 46-year-old husband to mentally collapse last September.
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Iraq war veteran awaits shooting trial as wife looks for help

Marine's wife, daughter die in Michigan crash

Marine's wife, daughter die in Michigan crash
The Associated Press
Posted: 07/11/2009 09:46:09 AM PDT
Updated: 07/11/2009 01:28:05 PM PDT


BLENDON TOWNSHIP, Mich.—The wife and new daughter of a Marine who was away at basic training in San Diego when the child was born were killed in a crash before he had a chance to meet the infant.
Morgan DeHaan, 19, and 4-week-old Hannah died following the crash Thursday in Ottawa County's Blendon Township, about 12 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. Another daughter, 21-month-old Jordyn, was injured.

Relatives were keeping vigil at a hospital for Jordyn, who was expected to recover.
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Marines wife and daughter killed in car crash

Please pray for the family and for Jordyn's recovery.

Bloggers help raise donations for homeless veterans

Bloggers help raise donations for homeless veterans
By Matt Gilmourt • Democrat staff writer • July 11, 2009
More than 10 bloggers from Tallahassee.com gathered at Lake Ella on Saturday to collect donations for an apartment complex for homeless veterans on Lake Bradford Road.

Glenn Walker, a former homeless veteran, said the housing project, which is being organized by the American Legion and Volunteers of America, will have enough bedrooms for 52 veterans.

“It’s going to be transitional housing to help more veterans move from the streets back into society,” Walker said. “This is a pilot program, the first of its kind in the country. That’s why we’re trying to do it right.”
read more here


Bloggers help raise donations for homeless veterans

When doctors get it wrong, keep looking and talking

I haven't been posting today because this morning I woke up to a big shock. I have a 13 year old Golden Retriever. His name is Brandon. He's one of the best dogs a person could ever hope for. Yesterday he seemed to really be having a problem. He never complains about pain, so it's always a guessing game. His appetite was great as usual, but he kept losing his balance. He's been treated for arthritis, so I assumed it was acting up again. Last night he still wanted to play with his favorite toy, a stuffed duck that quacks. He pounced around the house like he's a puppy again with the thing sticking out of his mouth as he shakes his head trying to "kill it" but then lays down when he's done playing and laps it. Last night he kept falling down but got right back up and kept on playing.

This morning, I got his food ready but he didn't come as soon as he heard the fork in the bowl. I put the bowl down and went to get him. He couldn't get up. Right away I thought it was his hips, so I picked him up. No easy task since he's a huge breed of Golden and weighs about 90 pounds. He couldn't stand up.

I called his vet and was advised to get him to the emergency Vet's office because they had all the right diagnostic equipment. We picked him up, carried him to the car and the techs at the vet's met us at the door. After several tests, they found a problem with compressed discs in his spine, which meant he needed something stronger than that other medicine he was taking. They found a little arthritis in his hips, which was a relief in a way. They also said he had Idiopathic vestibular disease. Read about that here.

Idiopathic Vestibular Disease in Dogs
veterinaryhelp Questions and Answers Thursday, 27 July 2006

Idiopathic vestibular disease is also referred to as old dog vestibular disease or geriatric vestibular syndrome because it is typically seen in older dogs. Clinical signs are acute in onset and are often described as a stroke. This is due to disruption of the peripheral vestibular system that controls balance.

Signs seen with this disease are consistent with those expected in other peripheral vestibular diseases - peripheral meaning not involving the brain but the vestibulocochlear nerve in the ear. Patients may be unable to stand, fall to one side, tilt the head to one side or have an abnormal flicking of the eyes called nystagmus.
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The poor dog is dizzy and his head is tilted to the side. There is no way of knowing when this disease really started but the vet said he'll get worse before he gets better. We are going to try to keep him home because we don't want him to be alone in a cage as the vet takes care of him. We'll see how this goes over the next day or so and then decide what to do. The Vet was sure that he'll recover well but may end up with a tilted head. It's also good to know that he needs to have the right medicine for his spine instead of his hips.

There is a point to all of this.

His regular vet is wonderful and she is very caring. She thought since large dogs have problems with their hips and arthritis, that was why he was having some problems. It's was an easy guess to make. It also didn't cause any questions when he seemed to be having an easier time walking on the medicine he was on. Naturally dogs can't tell you when we're wrong. Dogs like Brandon, very stoic when it comes to pain, usually don't let you know when there is something seriously wrong either. It's up to us to notice the changes in them and know when it's time to get them more help than we can give.

All of this boils down to humans being diagnosed as well. When it's PTSD, the doctors can get it wrong simply because if they are looking for depression, bingo, they find depression. If they are looking for bipolar, they find it. If they are looking for paranoia or schizophrenia, they find that too. The problem with PTSD is that PTSD comes after trauma. If the doctor doesn't really listen and we don't pay enough attention, then we walk away with the wrong diagnosis and most of the time medicine that seems to help for a time, but the real problem is getting worse.

I know it sounds odd to compare a dog to a person with PTSD but when you think about it, it does make sense. People with PTSD are usually not looking for it since they don't know what it is. Doctors won't look for it unless they know something happened to the patient they are just meeting. The wrong medicine and the wrong treatment may mask the real problem and it's very important for the families to know the difference. PTSD patients often are in denial and too often never connect a traumatic event to what they are going through, so they don't communicate with doctors any better than a dog does with a Vet. It takes the right tests to know what they are dealing with. I've seen this happen too many times.

People suffer because we don't communicate well enough with doctors but most of that comes from our own lack of knowledge. Just as I was totally lost this morning with my beloved dog, we can all feel lost if we have no understanding at all. Had I not known what PTSD was before my husband was finally diagnosed, I would have settled for the original diagnosis of possible bipolar. I opened my mouth and told the doctor what I knew.

It's up to us as someone who knows them to make sure they are taken care of the right way. Just as my dog was in pain and I didn't know it, or at least knew the right cause of it, too many PTSD wounded are in pain and if we don't have a clue what it is, we make a lot of mistakes while they suffer. Make sure you know what PTSD and then open your mouth to the doctor so they can test for the right thing. Otherwise, the real problem is just being covered up.

I'll keep you posted on my dog as well. Pretty ironic though that one thing lead to another since this was not the original intent of this post.

Can you forgive when they have PTSD?

by
Chaplain Kathie

When Jesus talking about forgiving, it was not for the sake of the person that hurt you, but for your own sake He wanted you to forgive. Sometimes it seems impossible to forgive when you've been hurt, mistreated, abused and even after you've gone through traumatic events caused by someone else. Yet when you look at this passage in the Bible, nothing could be unforgivable.

Luke 23:34


(New International Version)
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing

Jesus forgave in his last moments on the cross. He preached of how important it was to forgive. It is something we all struggle with. How do you forgive someone after they have hurt you? How do you forgive someone after they caused you pain and suffering? How do you forgive someone when they have taken all the love you had to give and appeared to have taken it for granted or thrown it all away? This is one of the hardest parts of living with and loving someone with PTSD. If we do not understand it, understand what they are going through, we are the ones carrying around a lot of pain.


"They don't know what they are doing" when they have PTSD. They have no idea how much they are hurting you emotionally. They do not do what they do or say what they say on purpose. They think differently, process what we say to them differently and most of the time, mistrust us. Paranoia has them thinking everyone is out to get them or hurt them. They can change from very caring people into ambivalent, detached emotionally from people they loved. This is part of their protection, pushing people away, trying to not feel pain from the "next shoe dropping" or the next person they care about leaving them behind, or the ultimate abandonment of death. Some believe that if they refuse to let anyone get close to them, they will avoid more pain. Some feel they don't deserve anyone caring about them. Some, will have these two thoughts blended.

They can appear to be totally selfish, out of character for them. They seem to only care about what they want, what they need and to hell with everyone else. This comes from their own sense of worthlessness, as strange as that sounds.

Filling the parts inside of them where love used to live, they spend money on extravagances when there is not enough money to pay bills. Some normally very careful and responsible with money, no longer act rationally.

The list that comes with PTSD is almost endless. What is left behind are very hurt and confused family members and friends. We get angry but beneath that anger is a lot of pain. How could they do that to me? How could they treat me so badly? What did I do to deserve their hatred? All these questions and so much more flood through us as we search for the answers. What did we do wrong? We can turn that anger combined with pain and seek revenge. We make them leave the house, file for divorce or end all contact with them. If they end up homeless, it's their fault. If they end up in jail, it's their fault. If they drink themselves to death, it's their fault. Yet if we know what PTSD is, what it is doing to them, we can understand them, forgive them and find forgiveness for ourselves.

There is a video I want you to watch. It's one of the longest ones I put together. It was also one of the first so that I could explain what PTSD is and what family members face.

When you watch it, notice your own life in it. I can guarantee you that either whatever you're going through either I have lived it as well or have had contact with someone that went through something as bad. There is a remarkable thing that happens when we know what PTSD is. We end up helping the people that caused the pain we have inside. The way we react to them changes the outcome. We either help make PTSD stronger inside of them or we help them to heal. The choice is our's to make.

Even when families have fallen apart because they didn't know what PTSD was, relationships have been rebuilt in some cases. When that does not happen, or knowledge comes too late, there is at least our own emotional healing because we can understand them and why they did what they did, said what they said and treated us the way they did. We stop asking why and stop blaming ourselves. One more thing is that we finally understand that we did the best we could with what we knew at the time. Forgiving them at the very least, takes the weight out of our own soul.

Please watch this video and find a reason to forgive them. Then you can forgive yourself.

Wounded Minds Veterans and PTSD - watch more videos

Army captain reaches out to refugees from Iraq

Army captain reaches out to refugees from Iraq
By Saundra Amrhein, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, July 12, 2009
While the U.S. resettlement program remains one of the safest alternatives for thousands of Iraqi refugees fleeing sectarian violence, it is underfunded and relies on refugee self-sufficiency "in a reactive manner that lacks strategy, flexibility and compassion," concluded the International Rescue Committee in a June report titled "Iraqi Refugees in the United States: In Dire Straits.

Without jobs, the refugees, who are eager to work, quickly exhaust the resources available from refugee agencies that contract with the U.S. government. Private donations the program depends on have plummeted. Unable to pay the rent, Iraqis face homelessness. Some who worked as interpreters with U.S. troops have gone back, exposing themselves again to death threats by militias.

Into this mix stepped people like U.S. Army Capt. Jason Faler.
read more here
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article1017533.ece

Armed, and praying, lethal weapons in the church?

Lethal weapons in the church?
Armed, and prayingTAMPA — Beneath the dim glow of purple stage lights in the church's sanctuary, the choir sways and claps.

"God gave me authority to conquer the enemy! He wrote it in my destiny, and my name is victory!"

Just beyond them in the shadows of the pulpit, near an area set aside for former senior pastor Randy White and other ministers, an armed and uniformed Tampa Police Department officer scans the few hundred worshipers at Without Walls International Church. A 9mm Glock fills the holster on his belt.

When it's offering time, the officer escorts ushers from the altar to an undisclosed area. A few minutes later, he returns to his post, standing for the duration of the two-hour service.



It has long been common for churches to employ off-duty police officers to help with parking lot security and direct traffic. But shootings inside churches around the country in recent years has opened a debate to this question: Should lethal force be invited inside for protection?
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Florida couple who adopted 12 children found slain

Fla. couple who adopted 12 children found slain

The Associated Press

12:35 PM EDT, July 10, 2009


BEULAH - Investigators searched Friday for three men wanted for questioning about the Thursday night home-invasion deaths of the mother and father of 16 children.

The Escambia County Sheriff's Office said the men were driving a red full-size van when they were seen leaving the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings after the Escambia County couple were found shot to death in the bedroom of their home in Beulah, just west of Pensacola near the Alabama border.

Sgt. Ted Roy, a sheriff's office spokesman, said the men may have been involved in the slayings.

The couple were the parents of 16 children -- 12 adopted.

Roy said the children living in the home were found safe after the attack. Deputies had to wake some of the children who ranged in age from infants to 11 years old, he said
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Fla. couple who adopted 12 children found slain

Another Stolen Valor Case

At first, I was furious over this. Another case of Stolen Valor. Why do they do it? What do they really hope to gain? Do they think they will get respect for lying? How could they when they don't have enough respect for themselves already? Think about it. The ones charged, usually did serve in some capacity. You would think that would be enough for them to respect themselves, just for having served but no, they have to try to portray themselves as extreme heroes. Do they do it because they think they deserve what they did not earn or is it because they think what others think of them will give them what they lack inside? If that is the case then they will never find what they are looking for. If they respected themselves in the first place, they would already be proud of their real service and what they really did instead of making up stories to empress strangers.

His medals aren't real, but his search for honor is
Wracked by guilt, local veteran admits deception on his war record
By LINDSAY WISE
Copyright 2009 Houston Chonicle
July 11, 2009, 12:10AM
Houston native Charles Bass had told the story about how he survived a deadly snake bite in Vietnam so many times it seemed natural to tell it again, this time in front of a TV camera on the Fourth of July. He pointed at scars on his hand and the crook of his elbow, explaining how he'd stuck a hollow bamboo in the vein to stop the venom from reaching his heart.

The camera panned a display case full of his medals at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum on Southmore Boulevard. A placard explained that Sgt. Maj. Bass had earned the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star for gallantry and Purple Hearts for his wounds.

Bass, in a rumpled fatigue jacket, seemed humbled by the attention. “I thank God that I endured what I had to endure for my country,” he said.

The story on Channel 2 KPRC that day was less than three minutes long, but that's all the time it took for nearly 40 years of lies to unravel.

Five days later, a tearful Bass apologized for his dishonesty — not only about the snake, but also the rank of sergeant major, Special Forces status, and all of the medals at the museum. He'd bought them in military surplus stores, he said, and forged certificates from forms he found online.

“It's a hell of a load off my shoulders,” said Bass, 66. “It's pressure off me. Things that needed to be said for a lotta, lotta years.”
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Wracked by guilt, local veteran admits deception on his war record

Marine Spouse Battles Navy Over Contamination at Naval Base in Japan

Marine Spouse Battles Navy Over Contamination at Naval Base in Japan
Robert O'Dowd Salem-News.com
Shelly Parulis, wife of a retired Marine Master Sergeant, is engaged in a running battle with the Navy over dioxin and other toxins at NAF Atsugi, Japan.


(ATSUGI, Japan) - No one assigned to Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi, the home of Carrier Air Wing 5, would have suspected that duty in Japan could exposed them to toxic chemicals, including deadly dioxin, the carcinogen infamously associated with Agent Orange.


In fact, prior to the closure of Atsugi’s privately owned Envirotech (formerly Shinkampo) incinerators in 2001, that is exactly what happened to military, dependents, and civilian workers stationed at NAF Atsugi during the period 1985 to 2001. Your browser may not support display of this image.

NAF Atsugi is located on Honshu, the main island of Japan. The base, about 20 miles from Tokyo, was originally built in 1938 by the Japanese Imperial Navy as Emperor Hirohito's Naval Air Base to address the threat posed by foreseen American bombing raids of the Japanese mainland.

Shelly Parulis, a spouse of a retired Marine Master Sergeant who was stationed at Atsugi from 1995 to 1998, and her family suffered the results of toxic exposure and leads the effort to obtain compensation and health benefits for Atsugi veterans, dependents ad civilian workers.
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Marine Spouse Battles Navy Over Contamination at Naval Base in Japan

Cpl. Matthew Lembke died of wounds received in Afghanistan

Marine Matthew Lembke of Tualatin dies of injuries suffered in Afghanistan
by Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian
Friday July 10, 2009, 5:04 PM

Cpl. Matthew Lembke, a Tualatin man serving his third combat tour, died Friday at Bethesda Naval Hospital from complications from his blast injuries suffered in Afghanistan.

The 22-year-old Marine sniper had been patrolling on foot June 22 when an IED exploded. He lost both his legs and sustained internal injuries.


He was flown to the U.S. Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany where his parents, Claudia and Dale, and sister Carolyn, joined him. Last weekend, he was flown to Bethesda in Maryland where he underwent several surgeries.

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Marine Matthew Lembke of Tualatin dies of injuries suffered in Afghanistan

“Battle Buddy’s” for the veterans

“Battle Buddy’s” for the veterans
July 9, 1:44 PM

There is a need for wounded veterans to have help with daily activities after coming back from war. Freedom Service Dogs has joined with the Veterans Administration to create Operation Freedom. They train and place service dogs with the appropriate veteran or service member for their needs. Once a dog has passed the AKC Canine Good Citizen test they then endure a six week program. Each dog endures the same program but each is then individualized for the particular individual needs of the person they are going to. Sharon Wilson, executive director of Freedom Service Dogs says, “Operation Freedom has been more successful than we ever imagined”.Quotes noted in the Freedom Press Summer 2009 Edition.

Army Specialist Cameron Briggs finished the course with his dog Harper this past June. He is a client and a volunteer for FSD. He, as well as many others, resides in the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson. Cameron suffers from a traumatic brain injury and PTSD. He also suffers from physical injuries to his back, knees and ankles.
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Battle Buddy for the veterans

Here's to the Heroes: A Military Tribute

luckylucie
August 09, 2007

This is dedicated to all the men and women who continue to fight for our freedoms. Thank you!!!

I was sent a link to this video and must say it left me a bit weepy. This is one message I really wish all of our men and women serving today and those who served before, would totally understand.

When you call them heroes, they will tell you "I'm just doing my job." and then humbly walk away or change the subject. They don't see themselves as heroes. Considering what they go through in times of war, it weighs heavily on their hearts. It leaves them torn between the lives they saved and the memories of the lives they had to take.

We have friends with all kinds of medals honoring their service to this nation during Vietnam. Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, a Medal of Honor, several Purple Hearts, and every single one of them are about as down to earth as everyone else. They don't do it for rewards, or medals, they did it for their brothers. When you look up the records on many of these men, you will find many drafted into the military. It didn't matter how they got there, once there, they were putting their lives on the line and doing whatever it took to take care of each other. The truly magnificent thing is, even now, they still do it. They still put others first.

We see this when the Vietnam veterans manage to do whatever it takes to reach out to the newer veterans and fight just as hard for them to heal now as they have been doing for their brothers ever since they got back home. They fight to make sure the newer veterans receive the welcome home celebrations, parades and parties they didn't receive at the time of their return, just as they are now receiving them for themselves. They fight to make sure the government takes care of all veterans and have taken leadership positions in the service organizations across the nation.

The veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are no different than these graying veterans. So many of them risking their lives side by side no matter what their background is or what color skin they have, political party they support or if they came from a small town or big city, north or south, they act as a family. They do not see themselves as heroes.

It is very hard for most of them to come home with what they are carrying inside of them. The wound of PTSD, or what I think should be called Traumatic Recoil, will not release them from all they had to endure. They find it very hard to seek help as they look at others missing limbs or other visible wounds. They see themselves in the mirror and think help is for the others, not them. Again, quiet heroes, they suffer in silence with the same kind of courage they found within themselves in battle. They think they can just grit their teeth and push on beyond the pain, the nightmares and flashbacks. They think they can just get over it the way they got over boot camp and the way they got over their 5th deployment into Iraq or Afghanistan. The problem is they are confusing courage with denial. It takes more courage for them to seek help to heal and this they have within them but they do not understand this is a wound and not as most of them think, their fault or a flaw within them. As they spend days suffering they still think they can "get over it" but time is wasted suffering instead of healing simply because they do not understand it.

So many Vietnam veterans with this wound to their soul returned but did not seek help until recently. While with treatment they can heal, they will not fully recover. Had they received the help they needed when they first came home, it would have been healed instead of festering. This is why so many of them are making sure the newer veterans understand what PTSD is and get the help they denied for themselves all those years. They stand as an example that it is not too late to heal and are a testament to the need to heal instead of suffering. They don't want the newer veterans to waste endless days and nights they will live to regret wasting. Many of these veterans got the message and are taking the lead in getting their brothers and sisters to seek help to heal. There is no shame in having PTSD any more than there is any shame in being human. These are still normal humans suffering from the abnormal world of war in a foreign land few others would ever see.

They are all heroes because they put others first in battle. Now they still are because many veterans want to help others heal even before they are fully healed themselves. They have been thru the darkest days, suddenly finding themselves experiencing the feelings again they were not able to feel and they want to share that hope as soon as possible with others. They reach out their hands and say "I've been there and I want you where I am now." standing right by their side to help them get there.

I wish all of our veterans could know how wonderful they really are. For veterans with PTSD, these are truly remarkable people because others are able to just get on with their lives and careers, returning to being a citizen, but for these veterans, the war they carried home with them ends up with them still saving the lives of others out of the compassion filling them. They set aside their own lives for the sake of others everyday.

While I post about some that took their own lives, sadness fills me because a few posts earlier, there will be a news report about veterans saving the lives of others. I wonder why help did not come soon enough to save the lives of the others. If every veteran with PTSD knew what it was and received the help they need to fight it, there would be more standing at the side of those losing hope. Will you help all these heroes get to where they need to be for the sake of the others? Learn what PTSD is and help them heal. The life you save could end up being a chain of lives saved because you really thought of these men and women as heroes worthy of every effort on your part to learn and reach out to them.

"Did Anyone Survive the War?"

"Did Anyone Survive the War?"
"Did Anyone Survive the War?"

A few weeks ago while showing the Vietnam War Memorial to some out of town visitors, a young man's voice startled me. This ten or twelve year old surveyed the more than 58,000 names on the wall, Including 16 of my Air Force Academy classmates, and asked his dad "did anyone survive the war?"

"Yes," I thought. "I did but barely."

But the question deserves a better answer, especially in light of the recent death of Robert S. McNamara, the architect of the Vietnam War and later its remorseful critic.

It is an axiom that no one who goes to war returns as the same person. The changes can be as trivial as the thrill of a first view of a new country thousands of miles from home. Or it can be as profound as holding a dying friend or staring into the eyes of someone you have killed. But in a very real sense, no one survives the war.

The changes wrought by war are often so small as to be undetectable except on close examination by those who knew the individual before the war. A certain ease to anger. A reluctance to discuss the experience. A frequent sense of being in another place. But too often the returning soldier is a far different person even if there are no visible wounds. This is especially true of those who have seen combat. Another axiom of war is that soldiers do not fight for King or country, nor for God or flag. Those in battle fight for themselves and their comrades, to achieve victory and bring the group home intact.
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Veteran's Thunder Motorcycle Ride rolls into town Saturday

Veteran's Thunder Motorcycle Ride rolls into town Saturday

By Gary Nelson / gnelson@crossville-chronicle.com

Everyone needs a hero.

For one Vietnam veteran that hero is Ron Dyer, president and founding member of the Cumberland County Vietnam Veterans chapter.

"I'm not ashamed to tell you this man is my hero. With what he did, getting the Welcome Home (event) together — I will never forget it — He saved my life," Larry Bates of Monterey said.

Bates, who is nicknamed "Tin Man" due to the leg braces and crutches he is forced to wear, says the Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home event in 2008 and earlier this year gave him a reason to want to live.

"I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and have been fighting cancer. I was in a wheelchair, but I've gotten better, I've gotten on the crutches and it's because of this," he said as he put his arm around Dyer's neck.

Bates met Dyer at the Waffle House in Crossville a few years ago.

"I overheard these guys, Vietnam vets, talking about organizing this event. I went up to him and I said, 'I want to be a part of it, whatever you're planning,'" Bates said.

Bates and Dyer became friends and the group of vets soon began affectionately calling Bates the Tin Man.
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http://www.crossville-chronicle.com/local/local_story_191090506.html

What do veterans groups really stand for

Category: History - Military - Vietnam War
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
On Sale: September 26, 2006
Price: $32.95
ISBN: 978-1-84603-020-8 (1-84603-020-X)

A bad thunderstorm rolled through Central Florida this afternoon so I took off to Borders Books. I just bought this book for $4.99 and frankly, I'm stunned. I can't believe a book like this was at such a low price. It only came out in 2006.

When I am working on videos, I find pictures from several places. Online, from people sending me their pictures, my husband's pictures and from books.

This picture got to me and I wanted to share it with you.





What really got to me about this picture was this

"A GI holds protectively a badly wounded buddy. In Vietnam, out in the field racial conflicts were minimal. Soldiers were neither black nor white, but green. You depended on your comrades to cover you, and they depended on you do to the same. (Larry Burrows, Life, Time Life)

This is what I've been trying to get across but not doing a good enough job of it.

Because I'm involved with so many groups, what I hear all too often is the division of committed people when it comes to politics. I often wonder what really matters the most to some of these people. Is it the veterans from all political parties and demographics, or is it the political ideology they hold?

The men and women veterans along with those serving today come from all thoughts and backgrounds. What makes all of them united is that they are the smallest percentage of Americans and they were willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the rest of us. They are not all Republicans and they are not all Democrats, but they are all veterans.

Attending some of the events and gatherings I do, too often I heard "We need to support the president" when the President happened to have been Bush, a Republican. It didn't seem to bother many people there what I knew to be facts as far as how he was not supporting them, but only claiming to do it. The facts were there for anyone to find but some of them just didn't bother. Now that the President happens to be a Democrat, the talk has changed to attacking the President and bumper stickers show up on the backs of their cars against the President they used to say they needed to support because "He was the Commander-in-Chief."

No group will agree on everything, but when it comes to veterans, they need to agree on truth and what they were willing to risk their lives for in the first place. There are a lot of rumors out there about President Obama, just as there were a lot of rumors out there about President Bush and every other President before them. The facts are there to find for anyone interested enough in looking for them. While President Obama has increased the VA budget more than it has been done in over 30 years, he has been accused of being against veterans. Yet when President Bush cut VA funding, had less doctors and nurses working for the VA than there were after the Gulf War, with two military campaigns going on, they said we needed to support the President. It didn't matter what the truth was. It mattered more what party he belonged to.

What good did this do? Were the wounded taken care of properly? Were the veterans treated with the care they were promised? Were politicians held accountable for what they did not do? What about the service organizations claiming to be about veterans but clearly with an agenda of more political power than putting veterans, all veterans, first?

This is the part that I will never understand. They are supposed to be fighting to get it right no matter which party is in control. They are supposed to be standing up for all veterans no matter what party they come from and not making them feel as if they don't belong there simply because they happen to be a Democrat among Republicans or a Republican among Democrats. The truth is the truth no matter which party hears it.

It should never matter what party is in control. These groups need to fight to make sure the veterans are taken care of and stop all the nonsense about party loyalty. Things got as bad as they did because some people in these groups only cared one of their own was in power and to tell you the truth, it's one of my fears now. I don't want to see more of a repeat of the time when President Clinton was in office and too many Democrats would not complain and the Republicans managed to spread rumors that were not true. I don't want to see a repeat of the last eight years when some want to support President Obama no matter what he does nor do I want to see more of the false rumors being allowed to be spread out without correction.

If these groups really care about veterans, all veterans, and the troops, then they need to support the truth and not participate in party over any of them. Our veterans fight for the entire nation and not just parts of it and they are looking to the service organizations to support them no matter what party or person they vote for. If I feel as uncomfortable as I do at some of these events when I hear what I hear, imagine being a veteran and hearing one of your own attacking your thoughts because you happen to vote differently than they do. If we are not a nation where all are equal, the right to have your own opinion and vote according to your conscience, then what are the troops defending? What does it actually mean to be "free" when they cannot be embraced by these groups as a veteran because they vote the "wrong" way? If service groups and veterans groups cannot keep political opinion out of group events, then they need to stop saying they are working for veterans because that means, they are only working for the ones they agree with.

I have heard from too many veterans not wanting to join any of these groups because of this reason. It's time for all of them to open their eyes and decide if they are more about party or people. They all serve the same nation side by side with members from all walks of life. They should be welcomed into any group the same way.

Military police seek mom of abandoned baby

Military police seek mom of abandoned baby

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jul 10, 2009 10:49:46 EDT

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Military police at a North Carolina Army post are asking for the public's help in finding the mother of a newborn baby boy who was abandoned on a doorstep in a housing area.

Fort Bragg officials said the baby was discovered about 4 p.m. Thursday in the St. Mere Eglise neighborhood. The baby's umbilical cord still was attached.

The baby was taken to Womack Army Medical Center.

Officials say the baby last was seen with a young woman who had dirty blonde hair and was believed to be in her early 20s.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_abandoned_baby_071009/

VA overdose problems still exist, report says

VA overdose problems still exist, report says

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jul 10, 2009 12:05:24 EDT

WASHINGTON — Two years after an Iraq war veteran overdosed on medication at a Veterans Affairs facility, the problems blamed in his death have not been corrected at many of the VA’s residential treatment sites, a government study found.

The VA’s inspector general ordered the review as part of legislation passed to fix problems after the 2007 death of 27-year-old Justin Bailey in a Los Angeles residential facility.

Bailey, a Marine, had surgeries for a groin injury he sustained during the first part of the Iraq war and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
read more here
VA overdose problems still exist, report says

Guard units strained by chaplain shortage

Guard units strained by chaplain shortage

By Nomaan Merchant - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jul 10, 2009 7:38:42 EDT

MINNEAPOLIS — When patriotism inspired the Rev. Jerry Fehn a decade ago to serve soldiers in combat zones abroad, the 45-year-old was afraid he had waited too long.

He needn't have worried. The National Guard, wrestling with a chronic shortage of priests, cleared the roadblocks that might have kept Fehn out.

"They didn't really want to take someone over 40," Fehn said. "But because there's such a shortage of Catholic priests in the military, they said they would grant me a waiver if I could pass the physical."

Fehn went on to serve in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. Meanwhile, the guard has made significant strides in adding chaplains to its ranks, though many units still struggle to recruit for a position seen as crucial to morale. About 200 positions are open in the Army National Guard and 45 in the Air National Guard.

"It makes it harder to provide religious support," said Chaplain Samuel J.T. Boone, commandant of the U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School at Fort Jackson, S.C. "There are some people who we can't provide their religious rites and sacraments as we can back here in the States."
read more here
Guard units strained by chaplain shortage
The answer is,,,,change the rules to allow Chaplains with the traning to work with the National Guard,,,,,like maybe the IFOC Chaplains I belong to, but even with over 25 years of experience with veterans and PTSD, I'm not good enough. Go figure!

Specialty PTSD clinic planned for east Tennessee servicemen

Specialty PTSD clinic planned for east Tennessee servicemen
Anthony Welsch Updated: 7/10/2009


The mantle in Captain Mark Brogan's west Knoxville home is filled with memories of his time in the military and Iraq, although he can't remember some of it.

"In the beginning, it was survival really. The emotional part just wasn't there," Brogan said.

After a month-long coma, time at Walter Reed Medical Center, and surgery to install a plate to replace the piece of skull blown off by a suicide bomber, life started to return to normal.

The Purple Heart recipient returned to Knoxville, and the emotional toll of war started to surface.

"Over time, I was having nightmares. I would wake up in the middle of the night, accidentally punch my wife," he said.

Deciding he needed help was one thing, but receiving it was another.

"You have the clinic here in Knoxville, but it's rather small," he said. "We saw a person at the VA clinic here, and I was told they'd get me a gym membership so I could go work out. That'll make me feel better."

"I think the people living back home that are living comfortably without having to worry if they are going to get shot or not, we need to think what can we do for these people when they get here," State Representative Richard Montgomery, a Republican from Seymour said.

Now, in what will soon be the old Fort Sanders Hospital in Sevierville, a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder specialty clinic is in the works.

It will be a place for servicemen, law enforcement, or firefighters to get help, drastically changing how veterans are cared for.
read more here
Specialty PTSD clinic planned for east Tennessee servicemen

Urn Accompanied By American Flag, Silver Mug Left at Marine Recruiting Center

Owner Of Urn Left At Marine Recruiting Center Found
Urn Accompanied By American Flag, Silver Mug
POSTED: 9:30 am EDT July 8, 2009


KEENE, N.H. -- The owner of an urn left a U.S. Marines recruitment center in Keene has been found.

Police began an investigation after the urn, along with a heavy silver mug and a folded, framed American flag, was dropped off at the recruitment center on Winchester Street over the weekend.

"The officers collected the property, and they tried to contact the owner and determine what were the circumstances, why they were left there," Lt. Jay Duguay said. "At the time, there was no note to determine why it was at the recruiting center."

Police found that the urn belongs to an active Marine, Sgt. Scott Mastyk, who is currently stationed at Camp Lejuene in North Carolina. (They must mean Camp)
read more here
http://www.wmur.com/news/19989926/detail.html

Former Marine fighting for his life after argument over dog

Former Marine fighting for his life after argument over dog

ABINGTON, Mass. -- A former Marine is in a fight for his life after an argument outside an Abington coffee shop took a violent turn.

Brian Cherry, 48, was having coffee with a friend at Mary Lou's coffee shop.

Police said Cherry became concerned that a fellow customer's dog was frightening people; from there, things took a life threatening turn.
read more here
http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO118456/

Army Guardsman Named 'Chaplain of the Year'

Army Guardsman Named 'Chaplain of the Year'
National Guard Bureau
Story by Sgt. Patrick McCollum
Date: 07.09.2009
Posted: 07.09.2009 06:46

ARLINGTON, Va. – Chaplains have a myriad of reasons for serving their country, but recognition is usually not one of them.

"Chaplains are often in the position where we love to serve so much, it's always a surprise to be rewarded for it," said Army Capt. Rebekah Montgomery, who will receive the "Chaplain of the Year" award from the Military Chaplains' Association July 17.

A Unitarian Universalist chaplain serving at both the Army National Guard Readiness Center, Arlington, Va., and Maryland's 58th Troop Command, Montgomery, she has been a student of religion since high school.

She found that religion fascinated her. "I was always drawn to how people negotiate their daily lives with the experience of the spiritual," said Montgomery, who grew up in Bethesda, Md. "I got so much stimulation out of understanding other faith traditions and I still do."

After an 18-month tour in Afghanistan, Montgomery found herself back in Maryland with two jobs. One weekend a month, she is the brigade chaplain in the 58th TC, a job that she says keeps her grounded in the "M-Day" unit mentality.

read more here

Army Guardsman Named Chaplain of the Year

Program pays family members for taking care of Mom and Dad

Program pays family members for taking care of Mom and Dad
Written by Debra Sorensen news@toledofreepress.com
Looking for a way to help Mom and Dad pay for home care or assisted living? Perhaps you are their caregiver. Wouldn’t it be nice to receive some extra income to help you provide their care? There is financial help available for senior veterans and their spouses.

For veterans who served during a time of war, or for their surviving spouses, the Veterans Aid & Attendance Pension will pay additional income to cover long-term care costs. The great news about this program is that the VA will allow veterans’ households to include the annual cost of paying any person such as family members, friends or hired help for care when calculating the pension benefit.

Pension can provide an additional monthly income of up to $1,949 a month for a couple, $1,644 a month for a single veteran or $1,056 a month for a single surviving spouse of a veteran. This money can be used to help pay the cost of home care, adult day services, assisted living or nursing home services.

To reduce income to meet the income test for pension, a rating for “aid and attendance” or “housebound” is crucial. Not only does the rating significantly increase the benefit amount, but without a rating, room and board costs for assisted living are not deductible for purposes of reducing income. Only the much smaller assisted-living medical costs are deductible.
read more here
Program pays family members for taking care of Mom and Dad

Enhancing care for women Veterans is one of Secretary Shinseki's top priorities

VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans Visits Dallas

WASHINGTON, July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) upgrade of programs and services for women Veterans, the Department's Advisory Committee on Women Veterans, an expert panel that advises VA on issues and programs affecting women Veterans, recently traveled to the VA North Texas Health Care System in Dallas.


"Enhancing care for women Veterans is one of Secretary Shinseki's top priorities," said Dr. Irene Trowell-Harris, director of VA's Center for Women Veterans. "Our Dallas meeting helped us develop new and innovative ideas for providing a full spectrum of improved care for women Veterans."


Intent on improving VA programs and services for women Veterans, the advisory committee heard views on facets of physical and mental health care, benefits, access, processing military sexual trauma claims, women-specific health needs, and services for returning troops. In addition, Carl E. Lowe II, director of VA's Waco Regional Office, gave an overview of new benefits programs.


Members also had the opportunity to tour the Dallas VA Medical Center, Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, the Sam Rayburn Memorial Veterans Center and the State Veterans Home in Bonham. The visit concluded with a town hall meeting at the Dallas Hilton Anatole that was open to the community.


VA accomplishments for women Veterans already in place include:

More than $32.5 million in Fiscal Year 2008 supplemental funding was sent to facilities for women's health equipment, training and supplies (including DEXA scans, mammography machines, ultra-sound and biopsy equipment).
Women Veterans' program managers, advocates and advisors for women Veterans were made full-time positions at every VA facility, as of Dec. 1, 2008, to improve women Veterans' access, to coordinate necessary services and to assist in planning for comprehensive primary care at each VA facility.

Women Veterans are one of the fastest growing segments of the Veteran population. There are approximately 1.8 million women Veterans. They comprise 7.5 percent of the total Veteran population and nearly 5.5 percent of all Veterans who use VA health care services.


VA estimates women Veterans will constitute 10 percent of the Veteran population by 2020.


The Advisory Committee on Women Veterans reviews VA's programs, activities, research projects and other initiatives designed to meet the needs of women Veterans, then makes recommendations to the Secretary on ways to improve, modify and affect change in programs and services for women.





SOURCE U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Army Releases June Suicide Data

UPDATE


Suicides in US Army rise in first half of 2009

In about 90 percent of previous cases, suspected suicides have been confirmed, officials say.

"Every soldier suicide is different and tragic in its own way," said Brigadier General Colleen McGuire, director of the Army's suicide prevention task force.

"Although suicide can impact anyone, we're finding that male soldiers, in combat-arms occupational specialties, between ages 18 and 27 are more vulnerable," McGuire said.

The army has responded to the growing problem with more suicide prevention programs, efforts to screen soldiers for mental health problems and campaigns to reduce the stigma that prevents soldiers from seeking treatment.

The trauma of combat combined with the effect of repeated tours has led to a record rise in suicides across the armed services and particularly the US Army -- which has carried the heaviest burden in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. click above for more

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 497-09
July 09, 2009



Army Releases June Suicide Data


The Army released suicide data for the month of June today. Among active-duty soldiers there were no confirmed suicides and nine potential suicides. In May, the Army reported one confirmed suicide and 16 potential suicides among active-duty soldiers. Since that time, seven have been confirmed and nine remain under investigation.



There have been 88 reported active-duty suicides in the Army during calendar year 2009. Of these, 54 have been confirmed, and 34 are pending determination of manner of death. For the same period in 2008, there were 67 confirmed suicides among active-duty soldiers.



During June 2009, among reserve component soldiers not on active duty, there were no confirmed suicides and two potential suicides; to date, among that same group, there have been 16 confirmed suicides and 23 potential suicides currently under investigation to determine the manner of death. For the same period in 2008, there were 29 confirmed suicides among reserve soldiers not on active duty.



“Every soldier suicide is different and tragic in its own way,” said Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director, Army Suicide Prevention Task Force. “Our current research and prevention efforts are identifying common denominators that lead soldiers to take their own life. It’s often a combination of many factors that overwhelm an individual.



“Although suicide can impact anyone, we’re finding that male soldiers, in combat-arms occupational specialties, between ages 18 and 27 are more vulnerable,” McGuire said. “That’s why we’re looking at existing programs and other institutional safety nets to see what works, and what needs to be changed to enhance the support network of trained leaders and behavioral healthcare providers who can identify and treat risk factors before young soldiers get to the point where they feel there’s no way out.”



The Army will complete the second phase of a three-phased service-wide suicide stand-down and chain teach program, July 15, 2009. Phases one and two included an interactive training program, that features a video, and a small unit leader training effort which began on February 15, 2009. The third phase of the Army program will include sustained annual suicide prevention training for all soldiers, emphasizing common causes of suicidal behavior and the critical role Army leaders, friends, co-workers and families play in maintaining behavioral health.



The Army’s Suicide Prevention Task Force will continue implementation of the Army Campaign Plan for Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention to further enhance suicide prevention and behavioral health programs that directly affect our Army community and save soldiers’ lives.



Soldiers and families in need of crisis assistance should contact Military OneSource or the Defense Center of Excellence (DCOE) Outreach Center. Trained consultants are available from both organizations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.



The Military OneSource toll-free number for those residing in the continental U.S. is 800-342-9647, their Web site address is http://www.militaryonesource.com/ . Overseas personnel should refer to the Military OneSource Web site for dialing instructions for their specific location.



The DCOE Outreach Center can be contacted at 866-966-1020, via electronic mail at Resources@DCoEOutreach.org and at http://www.dcoe.health.mil/resources.aspx




The Army’s most current suicide prevention information is located at

http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/
linked from
http://icasualties.org/oef/

VA seeks clinic site for Putnam County Florida

VA seeks clinic site

By Chris DeVitto
Published: Thursday, July 9, 2009 1:07 AM EDT
Palatka, Putnam County and local business leaders are still looking for a building to house a Veterans Administration outpatient clinic that would serve 4,000 area veterans.

During a phone conference Wednesday with U.S. Rep. John Mica, Veterans Affairs officials, Palatka officials and county officials discussed options for housing the clinic.

"We are still looking at a neighborhood of 10,000 gross square feet and probably 70 to 100 parking spaces?" Mica, R-Winter Park, asked veterans officials during a 30-minute phone conference.

In 2008, a spokeswoman for the VA said the new clinic would offer an opportunity for local residents to receive basic treatment without driving 30-40 miles to an existing facility and would be similar in nature to what would be offered at a large doctor's office. More complicated specialty care would remain with one of the larger VA facilities in Jacksonville, Lake City or Gainesville.
read more here
VA seeks clinic site

Vietnam vets hope to reach new generation

Vietnam vets hope to reach new generation
Support group makes push to connect with returning troops

By Joe Goldeen
Record Staff Writer
July 09, 2009 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - The country called, and some young men went to war. They were kids, mostly - 18 and 19 years old - thrust into a dark and foreboding place known as Vietnam.

Upon their return, some were taunted as "baby killers," rejected for jobs by employers who looked at them as misfits or long-haired, wild-eyed pot smokers. The Veterans Administration - the federal agency charged with helping them after they left military service - had nothing for them if they didn't suffer from an obvious physical injury. Even family members who had gone to war in Europe, the South Pacific or Korea a generation earlier rejected them, telling them to "suck it up."

On a recent Tuesday morning, 11 Vietnam-era combat veterans met for breakfast in the back room at UJ's Family Restaurant on Pacific Avenue.
go here for more
Vietnam vets hope to reach new generation

PTSD has not changed since Vietnam. It did not change before Vietnam when it was called other things. It is a human wound. Unlike the change is the technology, humans are still pretty much under the same design, with all the same dreams and fears, courage and compassion, same style body, same kind of mind and same kind of soul. No one can ever make humans stop being human.

There is no excuse the newer veterans can use to tell a Vietnam veteran they do not understand what it's like for them. They've already been there. What this group of Vietnam veterans is doing is not new but there are far too few doing the same thing. A couple of years ago I made this video talking about how Vietnam veterans are helping the newer veterans heal and in the process, healing themselves.

Hero After War - watch more videos

This video used to be on YouTube and Google.

Advocates raise alarm about rise in mentally ill prisoners

Advocates raise alarm about rise in mentally ill prisoners


By Kate Santich

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 9, 2009
The number of people with mental illness filling Florida's jails and prisons is growing at an alarming rate, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and threatening to exhaust the entire budget for mental-health programs, advocates warned Wednesday.

State Rep. William D. Snyder, R-Stuart, announced a renewed push for legislative changes that would redirect money to community-based programs aimed at stopping the "almost madness" of the current system.

"We know the cost of constantly incarcerating and re-incarcerating the mentally ill is ... huge," said Snyder, whose previous attempt to change the system died in the 2009 legislative session. "And this is a human-rights issue."

The proposed legislation was based on well-researched treatment strategies at pilot initiatives across the state that Snyder said are already showing reduced repeat-arrest rates and increased public safety.

About 9,000 inmates leave Florida prisons each year with "very serious mental illnesses," Leifman said, and without community follow-up treatment, half of them wind up back in prison within 18 months, typically for violating parole. They have become the fastest-growing group of the prison population.

The number of state prison beds serving inmates with mental illnesses is projected to more than double in the next decade from 17,000 to more than 35,000, requiring one new prison to be built each year to house them and costing taxpayers at least $3.6 billion, Leifman said.

read more here

Advocates raise alarm about rise in mentally ill prisoners

Charles Heard of Freeport, decorated Vietnam veteran, has died

Charles Heard of Freeport, decorated Vietnam veteran, has died
BY SID CASSESE
July 8, 2009

Charles Heard, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, former Roosevelt business owner, longtime foster parent and community activist, died Friday at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Ocean-side from stroke complications.

He was 63 and had lived on Long Island 40 years, 17 in Hempstead and the last 23 in Freeport.

Heard, who saw action as a paratrooper in Vietnam, where he lost an eye and won a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star, had enlisted when he was 18 and served three years before gaining a medical discharge in 1967.
go here for more
Charles Heard of Freeport, decorated Vietnam veteran, has died

Former Camp Lejeune resident sues feds citing contaminated drinking water

Veteran’s Administration News - Former Camp Lejeune contaminated drinking water!
2009-07-09 01:43:31 (GMT) (JusticeNewsFlash.com - Justice News Flash, Personal Injury)

Former Camp Lejeune resident sues feds citing contaminated drinking water.

Dallas, TX (JusticeNewsFlash.com)–Star News reported, a personal injury lawsuit was filed against the U.S. government on July 4, in federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The lawsuit is seeking an upwards of $10,000 in personal injury damages. The plaintiff alleges she consumed polluted drinking water during the time she was living at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, Florida. Attorneys for the plaintiff and former Lejeune resident, Laura J. Jones, asserts the United States government, and agents of the Department of Defense, knowingly and willfully exposed Marines, sailors, their families, and civilian employees to highly polluted drinking water contained at the military base.
go here for more
Former Camp Lejeune contaminated drinking water

VA workers charged with fraud lowest of lows

First when you read the headline it appears that veterans are to blame here but when you read the story, it is a limited number of employees and service officers involved. These people are the lowest of lows. Not just because they thought they could take money from the VA, but because they ended up hurting veterans with legitimate claims. The very people these leaches were supposed to be helping.

Can we really wonder why it is so many veterans never file claims? Can we really wonder why so many don't trust the VA? These actions matter to them. Their real claims are tied up as they are suffering physically, emotionally and financially waiting for their claims and their service to be honored while people like this decide the others can just suffer. Do you understand what kind of time a scam like this takes? Imagine if they had been spending time taking care of real wounded veterans instead of themselves! These people are the lowest of lows and not fit to ever stand next to a real disabled veteran. They just dragged the VA and the DAV reputations down with them.

Probe Finds VA Vulnerable to Fraud
Review in Wake of Case at Ky. Office Detects Security Lapses

By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 9, 2009

An investigation in the wake of a major fraud case involving the Department of Veterans Affairs regional office in Louisville has found that other VA offices around the country suffer security shortfalls that leave them vulnerable to the same type of alleged fraud.

The review by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General found no similar allegations of fraud, but its report warns that gaps in VA's internal controls mean that "opportunities exist . . . to generate fraudulent large benefits payments."

A VA spokeswoman said yesterday that the department has taken actions to correct the problems. "VA has implemented safeguards to protect the integrity of benefit payments and actively monitors our payment processes for compliance," said Katie Roberts, press secretary for VA. "We remain committed to taking all actions necessary to eliminate the potential for fraud and ensure our veterans receive every benefit to which they are entitled."

In November, acting after an investigation based on a tip from a confidential source, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky indicted 14 people in connection with a scheme to defraud VA by submitting altered or counterfeit medical records.

The government accused Jeffrey Allan McGill, a former veteran service representative at the Louisville VA office, of working with co-conspirators, including 11 veterans, to submit fraudulent claims for military-related disabilities. McGill and co-defendant Daniel Ryan Parker, a former officer with the Disabled American Veterans service organization, are accused of falsifying documents to ensure that those claims were approved.

Five of the defendants have pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the case. The remaining defendants, including McGill and Parker, have pleaded not guilty and are set to go to trial in September, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Louisville.

"These results mean we can say with 90 percent confidence that this particular type of fraud is unlikely to be occurring at the VAROs selected for review during the sampled period," said the IG report, which was released June 30.
read more here
Probe Finds VA Vulnerable to Fraud

Children shocked with stun guns at Florida prisons

Report Shows Stung Guns Used on Children in Florida Prisons
07/08/09 - 11:02 AM

Associated Press

Tallahassee, Fla:

New reports indicate Florida correctional officers may have used stun guns to shock children as part of demonstrations at prisons in the past, perhaps as far back as six years ago.

That contradicts what Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil said in May when he announced that 43 children were shocked with stun guns by corrections employees at three prisons during this year’s annual “Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day.”

The Corrections Department has completed its investigation of the incidents and released nearly 300 pages with photos of children who were shocked with stun guns in April.
read more hereReport Shows Stung Guns Used on Children in Florida Prisons

Soldier survived Afghanistan but died saving friend

Spc. fatally shot while trying to rescue pal

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 9, 2009 7:08:19 EDT

TULSA, Okla. — The family of an Oklahoma soldier who was fatally shot in Tennessee says he was trying to rescue a friend from a crime-ridden neighborhood when he was killed.

Army Spc. Brandon Buettner, who was stationed in Fort Campbell, Ky., died Saturday.

Steven and Denise Buettner say their 25-year-old son and another soldier went to the Clarksville, Tenn., neighborhood to pick up his girlfriend and attend a fireworks display.
read more here
Spc. fatally shot while trying to rescue pal

Wanted Central Florida Veterans Charity Paying Attention

Wanted Central Florida Veterans Charity Paying Attention

It's no secret I need income to keep me going since I lost my job in January of 2008. I am in the process of setting up a charter of my favorite organization. (More on this later but it will be soon) Since I track the news reports coming out on our veterans and what they need all across the country, I am aggravated with the lack of things being done for veterans right here in Central Florida. There are things being done but compared to the rest of the country, Florida is not doing enough.

I have been looking for an organization or foundation in Central Florida that I would go to work for. This is no easy task considering they all seem to be doing different things, which are good and fine, but they are not what is needed when it comes to mental health or heading off a lot of what can be avoided with PTSD.

If you know of a charity or foundation in the Orlando area, this is what I'm looking for;
Provides education to veterans and their families on what PTSD is
Provides education to the community of the unique issues veterans face
Provides local clergy with a full understanding of PTSD so they can help their congregations
Provides support groups for veterans as well as their families
Provides day care while parents are in support groups
Provides day care when parents have doctors appointments
Provides support for families living with disabilities with home aid
Has connections with other organizations helping veterans to fill the gap in what they cannot provide
Believes in cooperation instead of competition with other service organizations

If you know of any like this, please let me know.
email me at Namguardianangel@aol.com or leave a comment here

PTSD On Trail:War vet cleared for murder trial

War vet cleared for murder trial
Psychiatrist deems Horner competent

By Phil Ray, pray@altoonamirror.com
POSTED: July 8, 2009
HOLLIDAYSBURG - The Iraqi War veteran accused of killing a high school senior during the robbery of a Subway restaurant and a retired insurance executive during his subsequent getaway attempt is troubled but competent to stand trial, according to a psychiatrist's report filed in the Blair County Courthouse.

Nicholas A. Horner is in the Blair County Prison awaiting trial for the homicides of Scott Garlick, 19, and Raymond Williams, 64. His attorney, David S. Shrager of Pittsburgh, has asked that his client be moved to a state mental health facility at least until his trial.

Shrager argues that Horner, 28, cannot obtain the ongoing mental health treatment he needs in the county jail.

District Attorney Richard A. Consiglio said Tuesday his office is reviewing the suggestion.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 14 before Blair County President Judge Jolene G. Kopriva.

Dr. Edwin Tan, a Hollidaysburg psychiatrist, performed the court-ordered mental health assessment.

In his report, he stated that Horner suffers from war-related post-traumatic stress disorder as well as depression, panic disorder and sleep problems.
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War vet cleared for murder trial

Study: No best way to deal with stress

Study: No best way to deal with stress

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 7, 2009 16:59:12 EDT

After several studies showed that people who react emotionally during a stressful event are more likely to develop symptoms for post-traumatic stress disorder later, researchers wanted to see whether the obverse was true: Are people who react to a stressful situation by problem-solving, rather than by becoming numb or feeling as if they’re in a daze, less likely to develop acute stress symptoms that could lead to PTSD?

The logical answer might seem to be yes. But researchers were surprised to find that’s not necessarily the case.

Researchers from the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego tried to figure out how much the way a person interacts with his environment can affect his mental health. They also wondered whether behavior during stressful training situations might be a possible predictor for PTSD.

“A central premise of leading theories of human stress is that the stress response results from a complex interaction of the human with his or her environment,” lead researcher Marcus Taylor wrote in a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress.
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Study: No best way to deal with stress
Do you think the military will get that what they have been doing is wrong and finally understand their programs don't work?

Family of Federal Way veteran settles VA suit for $700,000

Family of Federal Way veteran settles VA suit for $700,000
The family of a veteran whose suicide at the Veterans Affairs hospital on Beacon Hill in 2006 helped expose unsafe conditions in the facility's psychiatric ward has settled a lawsuit against the government for $700,000, according to court documents and the family's attorney.

By Mike Carter

Seattle Times staff reporter

The family of a veteran whose suicide at the Veterans Affairs hospital on Beacon Hill in 2006 helped expose unsafe conditions in the facility's psychiatric ward has settled a lawsuit against the government for $700,000, according to court documents and the family's attorney.

Gordon Whitcomb, of Federal Way, had a history of psychiatric disorders when he admitted himself to the VA hospital in November 2006 because he was hearing voices and was paranoid and delusional, according to the lawsuit.

The 49-year-old veteran had been discharged from the military in 1987, had a 100 percent service-connected disability for chronic psychiatric problems, and had been treated at the hospital before, according to the family's attorney, John Greaney, of Kent.

For two days, according to the lawsuit, staff in the psychiatric ward documented that Whitcomb was delusional, paranoid and at serious risk for suicide. He was hearing voices and said his neighbors were plotting to kill him. Twice on Nov. 9, the lawsuit said, nurses put notes in his file saying that Whitcomb was suicidal and delusional.

Yet, the staff never took away his belt. Just hours after the last note was written, he hanged himself with the belt on a non-breakaway shower bar in a bathroom, Greaney said.
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Family of Federal Way veteran settles VA suit for $700,000

Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich faces trail for slaying two soldiers

Sgt. accused of killing NCOs to face trial

By Russ Bynum - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 8, 2009 7:05:43 EDT

SAVANNAH, Georgia — An Army sergeant accused of slaying his superior and another U.S. soldier in Iraq will face a court-martial and could be sentenced to death if convicted, the military said Tuesday.

Army prosecutors say Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, 39, shot his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson, and Sgt. Wesley Durbin on Sept. 14 at a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol base south of Baghdad. Witnesses have said Bozicevich opened fire on the soldiers when they tried to counsel him for poor performance.

Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division based at Georgia's Fort Stewart, ordered a general court-martial for Bozicevich on charges of murder. His decision Tuesday was based on preliminary evidence heard in April at the accused soldier's Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury.

If Bozicevich is convicted but not sentenced to death, he would face life in prison without parole, said Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson. No trial date has been set.

Bozicevich's attorney, Charles Gittins, said Tuesday evening he had no comment.

Dawson's stepmother, Maxine Mathis, said she was thankful the military was moving forward with the case. But she said she couldn't support the death penalty for Bozicevich.

"If they could just send him to prison, that wouldn't bother me one bit," Mathis said by phone from Pensacola, Fla. "I just feel in my heart something snapped in that man. I don't know what those young men go through over there."
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_fragging_case_bozicevich_070709/

This is one amazing woman to be able to look past her pain and find compassion for the one accused of killing her step-son.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund honors first 2 killed in Vietnam

First 2 killed in Vietnam War to be honored

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 8, 2009 7:09:14 EDT

WASHINGTON — The first two Americans to lose their lives during the Vietnam War are being honored.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the deaths of Army Master Sgt. Chester Ovnand and Maj. Dale Buis during a special ceremony Wednesday at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The two men were watching a movie when their residential compound in Bien Hoa, Vietnam, was attacked. Ovnand, of Texas, was a month away from finishing up his tour of duty, and Buis, a Californian, had arrived in Vietnam two days before he was killed.

More than 58,000 Americans were killed in combat during the war.

Jan Scruggs, president of the Memorial Fund, says he hopes the ceremony will cause people to remember all the fallen soldiers — as well as those fighting now.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/ap_vietnam_casualties_070809/

Alarming spike of military children hospitalized for mental health reasons

More military children seeking mental care

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jul 7, 2009 19:35:31 EDT

WASHINGTON — Two million children with parents in the military sought outpatient mental health care last year, twice the number from the start of the Iraq war, internal Pentagon documents show.

The documents, obtained by The Associated Press, also reveal an alarming spike in the number of military children hospitalized for mental health reasons.

From 2007 to 2008, 20 percent more children of active duty troops used inpatient mental health services, many of them under age 14, the documents show. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, inpatient visits among military children have increased 50 percent.

The total number of outpatient mental health visits for children of those on active duty doubled from 1 million in 2003 to 2 million in 2008. During the same period, the total yearly bed days for children of active duty personnel 14 and under increased from 35,000 in 2003 to 55,000 in 2008, the documents show.
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More military children seeking mental care

'The soul of a real American hero'

'The soul of a real American hero'
Hundreds gather at funeral for Steilacoom man

MIKE ARCHBOLD; The News Tribune
Published: 07/07/09

The more than 600 people who gathered Monday to celebrate the war-shortened life of Lt. Brian N. Bradshaw heard in his own words the secret of a life well-lived.

“Service (to others) is the foundation of life,” Bradshaw wrote in a paper read at the celebration at St. John Bosco Catholic Church in Lakewood. He had written it as a junior at Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma.

“Without service our lives have the same impact and meaning as a stick lying on the ground. No one remembers the sticks stepped on in the woods, but everyone remembers the flowers ... If we serve and work throughout our lives, we will be the flowers that everyone remembers.”

The 24-year-old U.S. Army first lieutenant from Steilacoom died June 25 of wounds suffered in Kheyl, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device exploded near him.

He was the first Pierce County service member to die in Afghanistan in more than a year. He was also the first member of his unit – 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team – to die there since the unit was deployed in February.
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http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/802721.html

The story behind HR 2647 is Sgt.Coleman Bean

Legislation would help some returning veterans
Coda • GREG BEAN
This Fourth of July was certainly a bittersweet holiday in our home. Those who know me know that our son Coleman, an Army sergeant who served two tours in Iraq, took his own life last September.




In the months since, our family has learned a lot about the problems faced by returning vets, and the difficulties they sometimes have finding and obtaining services like psychological and career counseling.

We don't know that better availability of services would have changed our own personal outcome, and we will never know. But we did make a decision to do whatever is in our power to make a difference for some other soldiers and those soldiers' families.

As part of that effort, I reached out to U.S. Rep. Rush Holt this spring and I found him to be a truly caring man.And at the end of one of our conversations, he told me that he would begin working on legislation to address some of the problems, and he put me in touch with Patrick Eddington, his Senior Policy Advisor for Defense and Intelligence Issues. I spoke with Patrick Eddington at some length, and he assured me of the congressman's commitment to the issue and his determination to do something meaningful.

That conversation was several months ago, and I don't know that I believed anything would ever come of it. So I was overjoyed last week when Rep. Holt called me to tell me that an amendment he had proposed had passed the House and has a good shot at becoming law. First, however, it must pass a conference committee with the Senate, but there's great optimism the amendment will survive intact.

The amendment to H.R. 2647 would require the Secretary of Defense to call returning Individual Ready Reserve veterans once every 90 days to determine the emotional, psychological, medical and career needs of the veterans. It would also require any IRR veteran identified as being at risk of selfcaused harm to be referred to the nearest military medical treatment facility or accredited TRICARE provider for immediate evaluation and treatment by a qualified mental health care provider.
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http://ems.gmnews.com/news/2009/0708/greg_bean/016.html

Veteran gets help after his wheelchair was stolen

Someone had absolutely no compassion for Bill Lamb when they decided to take his wheelchair. What type of person is so self-absorbed they would do something like this? I have no clue. I wonder if the person knew God was watching him/her when this was done? Does this person read the news reports and feel guilt? Does this person look at the money gained if the wheelchair was sold and think they deserve to hold that money in their hand more than this disabled veteran deserved to be able to get around? Does this person have any conscience at all?

The good news is that compassionate people stepped up to help and to make Bill Lamb's life easier after this. Their acts of compassion are greater than any act of selfishness the criminal could ever hope to know.

Veteran gets help after his wheelchair was stolen
By By JESSICA SCHREIFELS MILLER
Standard-Examiner Staff

FARR WEST -- Bill Lamb couldn't have received a better birthday present.

After having his electric Jazzy wheelchair stolen from his carport last week, Lamb wasn't sure how he'd get around. A U.S. Air Force veteran, Lamb suffers from arthritis that makes it impossible to walk more than 15 feet at time.

Today, on his 67th birthday, his luck changed when a man called his home, offering the use of his wife's Jazzy wheelchair, until he can replace it through the Department of Veteran Affairs.
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Veteran gets help after his wheelchair was stolen

Veterans Help Other Vets Cope With Trauma of War

Veterans Help Other Vets Cope With Trauma of War
July 7, 2009 Reported By: Tom Porter

Mainers have a strong tradition of serving in the military. Indeed the state has one of the highest percentages of veterans in the country, around 16 percent of the population. The Maine Army National Guard meanwhile ranks in the top ten states for frequency of deployments, with thousands being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

According to the Veterans Administration, around 40 percent of those returning from war zones in recent years have sought some kind of psychological help to deal with after-effects of combat. Now, more help is available in the form of a counseling program recently launched in Maine called Veterans Helping Veterans.

On this day, Rob Pfeiffer welcomes a group of veterans into his office in the midcoast town of Camden. For the past couple of months now, Pfeiffer's been holding weekly counseling sessions for vets who feel they need help in putting the trauma of war behind them.

Pfeiffer has over 30 years experience as a mental health counselor, but it's another part of his life story that he feels makes him better-suited than most counselors for this job.

"I was a Marine lieutenant and captain in the Vietnam era, and managed to survive," Pfeiffer says. "I'm a disabled vet -- I got shot. But other than that I came through with an appreciation for what war does to us as veterans, and I think that's the place where we can connect that takes other people longer to do, because we've already got a built-in understanding of what veterans have experienced."

Pfeiffer says that upon returning, he was was unable to talk about his combat experiences for 13 years. Like many returning from war, he bottled up his feelings - something which often only worsens the post-traumatic stress suffered by a lot of vets.

I used to have nightmares. When there's mortars exploding around you 24/7 it's hard not to be twitchy," says Ben, who declined to give his last name. Ben got back from Iraq in 2005 after a 14-month tour.
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Veterans Help Other Vets Cope With Trauma of War