'Military doesn't care about people with mental issues'
By Nisa Islam Muhammad Staff Writer
Last updated: Nov 23, 2009
(FinalCall.com) - Vernelda Taylor-Harris is fighting mad about the tragedies at Ft. Hood, the tragedy that happened in early November with Major Nidal Hassan who is accused of killing 13 people and the tragedy with her daughter, PFC Sophia Taylor, while stationed at Ft. Hood.
“My daughter was diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) while she was deployed in Iraq. She broke down and was medivaced to Ft. Hood for treatment. They did not treat her at all. In fact they just threw her under the bus. The military has no compassion for people with PTSD,” she told The Final Call.
read more here
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/article_6586.shtml
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
U.S. soldiers struggle with torment of war
Have you ever gotten the idea in your head that there was help available for whatever you're facing? For our soldiers, that idea is always there but until they start to look for help, they never imagine the help they are seeking cannot be found. It happens all the time.
While we read about the military and the VA trying to play catch up to the long line of combat veterans needing help to heal, they are still trying to figure out why they need the help in the first place. A recent report came out on another study to figure this out. Amazing considering how many years of studies they have already paid for.
If they are still trying to figure it out then why have they been investing millions on "treating" what they do not understand? None of what we're seeing is new in PTSD. There are very few programs treating the whole veteran even though most research has shown treating the mind-body and soul have the best results.
They know PTSD only comes after traumatic events. The term actually means after trauma and trauma is Greek for wound. They know it strikes the part of the brain where emotions live. They know there is survival guilt so deep they are remorseful they "were chosen" and survived when someone else didn't. They know they feel like criminals when they are in positions where they have to decide to take a life or not, take it and then find out the one they killed was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They know the pack reactions after facing extreme events can cause them to forget the body in front of them is not less than human but their minds remind them of the fact constantly.
They know medication alters the way the mind reacts but in most cases, talk therapy with the right fully PTSD educated psychologist, has the best results. Once they are able to talk about what it haunting them, it is no longer allowed to keep control. They also know that reconnecting the spiritual soul back to God, faith, forgiveness, mercy and compassion, restores hope and healing.
There is much they already know but too much they still don't understand. That's frightening. When you consider what is being done in the civilian world addressing the whole person's needs after traumatic events as crisis teams rush in. Some deliver food and water, clothing, shelter, all depending on the need. Some deliver a calming presence to listen to survivors talk and they remind them someone does care. In times when what help is available at that moment is not enough, then they are sent to the help they need. This is not done in the military. It's almost as if they forget the troops are still humans and still have the same reactions and needs as everyone else.
So they come home, after not getting what they need as soon as they need it, try to adjust to life as humans again in their own country, then they must come to terms with the need they have for help. Once this step is taken, then they have to find the help they need. Too often they are being sent to Chaplains without a clue what PTSD is. They are sent to psychologists and psychiatrists without a clue and end up being misdiagnosed leading to being treated for the wrong mental health need. This happens all the time because whatever mental illness the doctors are looking for, they will find it.
If they are looking for bipolar, they'll find it, just as they will find depression, paranoia, schizophrenia and "personality disorder" which caused the erroneous dishonorable discharges of over 22,000 soldiers. Yes, sometimes help does more harm than good.
They will not be able to stop the escalation of suicides and attempted suicides until they finally understand what makes humans human. Otherwise, claiming to be doing everything possible will only lead to more of the same mistakes and mistreatments they have been doing all along.
While we read about the military and the VA trying to play catch up to the long line of combat veterans needing help to heal, they are still trying to figure out why they need the help in the first place. A recent report came out on another study to figure this out. Amazing considering how many years of studies they have already paid for.
If they are still trying to figure it out then why have they been investing millions on "treating" what they do not understand? None of what we're seeing is new in PTSD. There are very few programs treating the whole veteran even though most research has shown treating the mind-body and soul have the best results.
They know PTSD only comes after traumatic events. The term actually means after trauma and trauma is Greek for wound. They know it strikes the part of the brain where emotions live. They know there is survival guilt so deep they are remorseful they "were chosen" and survived when someone else didn't. They know they feel like criminals when they are in positions where they have to decide to take a life or not, take it and then find out the one they killed was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They know the pack reactions after facing extreme events can cause them to forget the body in front of them is not less than human but their minds remind them of the fact constantly.
They know medication alters the way the mind reacts but in most cases, talk therapy with the right fully PTSD educated psychologist, has the best results. Once they are able to talk about what it haunting them, it is no longer allowed to keep control. They also know that reconnecting the spiritual soul back to God, faith, forgiveness, mercy and compassion, restores hope and healing.
There is much they already know but too much they still don't understand. That's frightening. When you consider what is being done in the civilian world addressing the whole person's needs after traumatic events as crisis teams rush in. Some deliver food and water, clothing, shelter, all depending on the need. Some deliver a calming presence to listen to survivors talk and they remind them someone does care. In times when what help is available at that moment is not enough, then they are sent to the help they need. This is not done in the military. It's almost as if they forget the troops are still humans and still have the same reactions and needs as everyone else.
So they come home, after not getting what they need as soon as they need it, try to adjust to life as humans again in their own country, then they must come to terms with the need they have for help. Once this step is taken, then they have to find the help they need. Too often they are being sent to Chaplains without a clue what PTSD is. They are sent to psychologists and psychiatrists without a clue and end up being misdiagnosed leading to being treated for the wrong mental health need. This happens all the time because whatever mental illness the doctors are looking for, they will find it.
If they are looking for bipolar, they'll find it, just as they will find depression, paranoia, schizophrenia and "personality disorder" which caused the erroneous dishonorable discharges of over 22,000 soldiers. Yes, sometimes help does more harm than good.
They will not be able to stop the escalation of suicides and attempted suicides until they finally understand what makes humans human. Otherwise, claiming to be doing everything possible will only lead to more of the same mistakes and mistreatments they have been doing all along.
Military suicides increase as U.S. soldiers struggle with torment of war
By Star-Ledger Staff
November 22, 2009, 1:30PM
Reported by Tomas Dinges & Mark Mueller
Written by Mark Mueller
"His whole body just shut down," said Bean’s older brother, Nick. "He said he felt like he was being strangled by nothing."
The nightmares came back, too. And the rages, so intense they sometimes drove him to look for fights. Bean began drinking again, dulling the anxiety and the memories.
He’d seen women and children reduced to charred husks in a burning bus. He’d shot up a car as it charged a military checkpoint, finding afterward that he and his squad had killed not a suicide bomber but a child. He’d survived mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and snipers.
"The things he saw in Iraq ate at him," said his father, Greg Bean. "He was just drifting. And little by little, bits of hope dropped away."
On the morning of Sept. 6, 2008, after a late-night crash and his second arrest for driving under the influence, Army Sgt. Coleman Bean killed himself with a single shot to the head in his South River apartment. He was 25.
read more here
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/us_military_suicides_increase.html
Killeen police investigate Sunday murder of Ft. Hood soldier
Killeen police investigate Sunday murder of Ft. Hood soldier
By AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, November 23, 2009, 04:29 PM
According to a statement by the Killeen Police Department:
Killeen Police are investigating the death of a 20 year old Fort Hood soldier that occurred on Sunday, November 22, 2009, just before 5:00am.
By AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, November 23, 2009, 04:29 PM
According to a statement by the Killeen Police Department:
Killeen Police are investigating the death of a 20 year old Fort Hood soldier that occurred on Sunday, November 22, 2009, just before 5:00am.
The victim, David Lester Middlebrooks, was pronounced deceased by Justice of the Peace Garland Potvin at 6:50am; an autopsy was ordered to be performed at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas.
read more here
Killeen police investigate Sunday murder of Ft. Hood soldier
Police Chase Leads Reported Iraq War Vet to Jail
Police Chase Leads Reported Iraq War Vet to Jail
Suspect facing attempted murder charges
By ASHLEY E. BROWN and JANE WATREL
Updated 9:41 PM EST, Mon, Nov 23, 2009
A man reported to be an Iraq War veteran is behind bars in Prince George's County for allegedly leading police on a high-speed pursuit on the Beltway, from Prince George's County to Baltimore.
The driving was crazy enough to prompt witnesses to make frantic calls to police Saturday morning.
"If you use the term 'aggressive driver,' this would be it at its absolute worst," said Lt. C.D. Miller of Maryland State Police.
Christopher Miller, 30, weaved between cars for about 30 miles before he slammed his car into the side of a Maryland State Police cruiser on I-495, according to authorities. That cruiser spun out of control and hit another cruiser. The wreck put two troopers and another driver in the hospital. All three were back home recovering by Monday night.
read more here
Police Chase Leads Reported Iraq War Vet to Jail
Monday, November 23, 2009
Woman awarded $3M in assault claim against KBR
Woman awarded $3M in assault claim against KBR
By JUAN A. LOZANO (AP) – 3 days ago
HOUSTON — A woman who claimed she was raped in 2005 while working in Iraq for a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary has been awarded nearly $3 million by an arbitrator to settle her case.
Tracy Barker had sued U.S. contractor KBR Inc, its former parent company Halliburton and several affiliates in May 2007, claiming she was sexually attacked by a State Department employee while working as a civilian contractor in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
A federal judge in Houston had dismissed Barker's lawsuit in January 2008, ruling she had to abide by an employment agreement she signed that said any claims she made against the companies would have to be settled through arbitration and not the courts.
Court records filed this week show Barker was awarded a judgment of $2.93 million to settle her arbitration claim against KBR.
The Associated Press doesn't usually identify those who report they were sexually assaulted, but Barker made her identity public in her lawsuit.
go here for more
Woman awarded 3M in assault claim against KBR
By JUAN A. LOZANO (AP) – 3 days ago
HOUSTON — A woman who claimed she was raped in 2005 while working in Iraq for a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary has been awarded nearly $3 million by an arbitrator to settle her case.
Tracy Barker had sued U.S. contractor KBR Inc, its former parent company Halliburton and several affiliates in May 2007, claiming she was sexually attacked by a State Department employee while working as a civilian contractor in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
A federal judge in Houston had dismissed Barker's lawsuit in January 2008, ruling she had to abide by an employment agreement she signed that said any claims she made against the companies would have to be settled through arbitration and not the courts.
Court records filed this week show Barker was awarded a judgment of $2.93 million to settle her arbitration claim against KBR.
The Associated Press doesn't usually identify those who report they were sexually assaulted, but Barker made her identity public in her lawsuit.
go here for more
Woman awarded 3M in assault claim against KBR
The Messenger of death only comes sometimes
Watching the trailer for The Messenger, two officers arrive to notify families their husbands and wives, their sons and daughters, will not be walking in the door. Death is the end for the Soldier, the Marine, the Sailor, the Airman. It is also the end for the life the family used to have. It's all gone with this knock at the door.
When civilians are notified by a police chaplain someone they love is not coming home, they have to get past the shock, plan a funeral, make phone calls, decide what suit or dress to use for the last image they will ever have of someone they loved. After the funeral, they go back to their homes, deal with insurance polices and social security. Take names off bank accounts, then look at the empty chair in their living room.
Aside from funeral attire for the coffin, pretty much the military families have to go through the same things except when they go home, they have to wonder where they will move to now they are no longer able to live on government property. They have to move out to make room for another soldier's family to move in.
Sound painful? It is. One of the things we never seem to think about when the families live on base or post. With the deaths at Fort Hood recently, maybe this rule will end up being a blessing because they will not have to drive past where their soldier died at the hands of one of their own.
Military messengers do not always come. They do not come when a soldier has been discharged but died as a result of service. When they take their own lives, they are not counted as a war casualty. It doesn't matter that the suicide would not have happened if they had continued to live as a civilian far removed and detached from what few will ever know. The price paid is not paid in full until they are no longer alive. They will never really be a civilian again. They become Veteran. A veteran with a story still being written that few will ever read.
We don't think of what happens to the families after the flag is folded and handed off to the family member on "behalf of a grateful nation" any more than we know what happens to the rest of them after they come home.
If you go to see The Messenger, please keep this in mind as you watch. I have not seen the movie yet so I do not know if they address the fact families have to move away from their friends when they need support from them the most, but in case it does not, we need to think of this.
Synopsis
In his most powerful performance to date, Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will's emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.
Featuring tour-de-force performances from Foster, Harrelson and Morton, and a brilliant directorial debut by Moverman, 'The Messenger' brings us into the inner lives of these outwardly steely heroes to reveal their fragility with compassion and dignity.
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-messenger/36286/synopsis
When civilians are notified by a police chaplain someone they love is not coming home, they have to get past the shock, plan a funeral, make phone calls, decide what suit or dress to use for the last image they will ever have of someone they loved. After the funeral, they go back to their homes, deal with insurance polices and social security. Take names off bank accounts, then look at the empty chair in their living room.
Aside from funeral attire for the coffin, pretty much the military families have to go through the same things except when they go home, they have to wonder where they will move to now they are no longer able to live on government property. They have to move out to make room for another soldier's family to move in.
Sound painful? It is. One of the things we never seem to think about when the families live on base or post. With the deaths at Fort Hood recently, maybe this rule will end up being a blessing because they will not have to drive past where their soldier died at the hands of one of their own.
Military messengers do not always come. They do not come when a soldier has been discharged but died as a result of service. When they take their own lives, they are not counted as a war casualty. It doesn't matter that the suicide would not have happened if they had continued to live as a civilian far removed and detached from what few will ever know. The price paid is not paid in full until they are no longer alive. They will never really be a civilian again. They become Veteran. A veteran with a story still being written that few will ever read.
We don't think of what happens to the families after the flag is folded and handed off to the family member on "behalf of a grateful nation" any more than we know what happens to the rest of them after they come home.
If you go to see The Messenger, please keep this in mind as you watch. I have not seen the movie yet so I do not know if they address the fact families have to move away from their friends when they need support from them the most, but in case it does not, we need to think of this.
Synopsis
In his most powerful performance to date, Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Samantha Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will's emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival.
Featuring tour-de-force performances from Foster, Harrelson and Morton, and a brilliant directorial debut by Moverman, 'The Messenger' brings us into the inner lives of these outwardly steely heroes to reveal their fragility with compassion and dignity.
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-messenger/36286/synopsis
Sunday, November 22, 2009
2nd lt. overcomes severe combat wounds
2nd lt. overcomes severe combat wounds
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Nov 22, 2009 8:54:18 EST
One of 2nd Lt. Peter Sprenger’s goals in life is to lead soldiers in the 75th Ranger Regiment. He eventually wants to command a battalion and even a brigade.
His goals are not unusual for a young officer candidate who has already led men in combat, but Sprenger, 26, was not supposed to make it this far. On Nov. 19, when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, he beat the odds — and the naysayers.
He was blinded by a car bomb blast in Iraq on Dec. 9, 2003, after nearly nine months in country, with 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry. The attack also shattered his teeth, blew out his eardrums and peppered him with shrapnel.
The suicide driver of a car laden with explosives smashed a jagged ribbon of concertina wire around the perimeter of the soldiers’ outpost and rammed through concrete barriers before one of Sprenger’s fellow soldiers, a squad automatic weapon gunner, sprayed the driver with gunfire. But he still blew his 1,000 pounds of TNT near an open door where Sprenger was sitting on duty. As Sprenger turned to run for the radio, the blast rocked his body and knocked him down.
Dozens of others were also wounded in the attack. As he was being medically evacuated from Tal Afar in northern Iraq, Sprenger remembers thinking he didn’t want to leave because he hadn’t helped the battalion finish its mission.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/army_sprenger_112209w/
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Nov 22, 2009 8:54:18 EST
One of 2nd Lt. Peter Sprenger’s goals in life is to lead soldiers in the 75th Ranger Regiment. He eventually wants to command a battalion and even a brigade.
His goals are not unusual for a young officer candidate who has already led men in combat, but Sprenger, 26, was not supposed to make it this far. On Nov. 19, when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, he beat the odds — and the naysayers.
He was blinded by a car bomb blast in Iraq on Dec. 9, 2003, after nearly nine months in country, with 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry. The attack also shattered his teeth, blew out his eardrums and peppered him with shrapnel.
The suicide driver of a car laden with explosives smashed a jagged ribbon of concertina wire around the perimeter of the soldiers’ outpost and rammed through concrete barriers before one of Sprenger’s fellow soldiers, a squad automatic weapon gunner, sprayed the driver with gunfire. But he still blew his 1,000 pounds of TNT near an open door where Sprenger was sitting on duty. As Sprenger turned to run for the radio, the blast rocked his body and knocked him down.
Dozens of others were also wounded in the attack. As he was being medically evacuated from Tal Afar in northern Iraq, Sprenger remembers thinking he didn’t want to leave because he hadn’t helped the battalion finish its mission.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/army_sprenger_112209w/
DOD task force confronts suicide
DOD task force confronts suicide
By Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, November 24, 2009
SEOUL, South Korea — They’re often young, male, in the Army, and recently had their hearts broken.
Another thing they have in common: They fit the profile of many servicemembers who kill themselves.
The military has yet to understand thoroughly why more troops are committing suicide, or whether multiple deployments contribute to them, said Maj. Gen. Philip Volpe, co-chairman of the new Defense Department suicide prevention task force conducting a study on the problem.
The 14-member task force, which includes seven civilians and seven servicemembers, began meeting about a month ago and will present its findings to the secretary of Defense next summer.
Volpe said the military tracks suicides only among current servicemembers. That means if a former servicemember with post-traumatic stress disorder or other deployment-related mental health problems commits suicide, the military doesn’t record it.
read more here
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