By all accounts he was a good soldier, then committed suicide

Families are franticly searching for ways to help but find little hope as they watch someone they love get to the point they can find no hope things will get better tomorrow. How can they? When the men and women serving in the military come back home, families go from euphoria when they believe all is well now they're home to believing they have just entered into hell with a stranger causing all kinds of problems in the house and they have no clue how to cope or what to do to help. As a matter of fact, too many families don't understand they need help in the first place. They end up blaming the veteran simply because they don't know what they are dealing with.

Their lives fall apart and the veteran, well, he or she is left to hang onto whatever hope they can that tomorrow will bring a better day, some miracle will arrive in time to save them, or, the day they will "get over it" finally arrive. It won't come unless they get help to heal. The other problem is, too often either help does not come because the family does not know where to find it or no matter what they do, they cannot get the help that is supposed to be there waiting.

More often than not even when the veterans do receive help, it is in the form of pills and not therapy. So we here the military and the VA get it, came up with suicide prevention programs along with a list of "new programs" that will take care of the problem, but as evidence has shown, their programs have not worked enough to stop the rate of suicides and attempted suicides from rising. Too often an official will say that "we're saving lives" and then we believe they finally got it only to find out months later, what they've done has left a gaping wound left over few are able to recover from.

Pvt. Greg Tilton ran out of reasons to stay alive and we have ourselves to blame for this. Not his family and not Tilton himself, but the rest of us because they never received what they needed to recover from what was asked of him. When we talk about casualties as a price of war, Tilton and his family should also be found among them, but they won't be.

Family Seeks Answers From Army After Son Commits Suicide
Thursday, December 17, 2009 5:43 PM

WORTHINGTON, Ohio — After losing their son to suicide, one family was urging the U.S. military and other families to take action before more lives are lost, 10TV's Cara Connelly reported.

On the day before Thanksgiving, Army Private Greg Tilton, a Worthington native, shot and killed himself in his apartment near Fort Riley, Kan.

Tilton, 20, had recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.



"By all accounts he was a good soldier - he was an excellent soldier," Tilton's father Tim Tilton said.

The family has a box full of medals to prove it.

Tilton's father said his son was a sensitive young man, who told his parents he shot and killed an 11-year-old suicide bomber while on duty in Iraq.

Tim Tilton said that violence took a tool on his son and his mental health.

"There is a huge disconnect; he had a counseling session in Iraq but when he returned, up until the day he died, he never had another one," Tim Tilton said.

Tilton's wife Molly was calling 911 for help after she said he began having a flashback to Iraq, but authorities did not arrive in time.

"We don't need any more of our soldiers doing what my son did. He was in such a dark place and not in his right mind when this happened," Tim Tilton said.

Suicides among members of the military are expected to set a record this year, Connelly reported.

The Army said one in five soldiers returns home from war suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The Tilton's said the military needs more counselors and are urging military families to speak out and demand help.
read more here
Family Seeks Answers From Army After Son Commits Suicide

Burn pits could cause long-term damage to troops

We should be asking if the burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan could replace Agent Orange for Vietnam Vets, still being linked to more illnesses and Gulf War Syndrome for the Gulf War vets still leaving many without answers. It's bad enough they risk their lives with the "usual dangers" of war when bullets try to hit them and bombs try to blow them up. When you factor in things that were not delivered by enemy hands, but instead from the military itself, there are no excuses to not take care of what results from it.

Military: Burn pits could cause long-term damage to troops
By Adam Levine, CNN Pentagon Producer
December 18, 2009
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Pentagon health officials had said troops faced no long-term effects from burn pits
Military now says some troops exposed could be susceptible to long-term effects
Service members have complained of chronic bronchitis, asthma, sleep apnea
DoD and VA expanding investigations into the pits
Washington (CNN) -- The military is backing off its previous position and acknowledging that some troops exposed to the burning of refuse on military bases could be susceptible to long-term health effects.

Since the issue first arose two years ago, Pentagon health officials have insisted that, based on its analysis, troops who were near burn pits at Joint Base Balad in Iraq -- the largest base in that country -- faced no long-term health hazards. That covered most of the troops who passed through the base.

The Department of Defense found that the burn pits, which are used instead of incinerators on some bases and outposts in Iraq and Afghanistan, could cause effects in the short term -- including irritated eyes and upper respiratory system problems -- that can lead to persistent coughing. But the department said "it is less clear what other longer-term health effects [there] may be."

But one of the top military health officials, Dr. Craig Postlewaite, signaled in a recent interview with the Salt Lake Tribune that certain troops, who have other medical conditions, may be at risk for long-term effects.
read more here
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/18/military.burn.pits/

Wounded troops and families feted for holiday at Haley VA

Wounded troops and families feted for holiday at Haley VA
By Robbyn Mitchell, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, December 18, 2009


TAMPA

The din rose higher and higher as more than 300 guests talked and chowed down on turkey, but Craig Remsburg was determined to speak his piece Thursday night.

"I just want to thank you for all you're doing for us," Remsburg said as he shook the hand of Bob Silah, the chairman of Operation Helping Hand. "This is all so wonderful."

The father of an Army Ranger in a coma, Remsburg was in awe of how the Tampa community came out in force to honor his son and nearly 30 other injured or wounded military personnel at Operation Helping Hand's monthly dinner at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center's Spinal Cord Injury Center.

People were listening to Christmas music and talking between forkfuls of turkey , mashed potatoes, bread, yams and fried plantains.

Santa Claus sat smilingly near the front of the room, welcoming children. The Tampa Bay Lightning's Thunderbug flitted from table to table working the littlest dinner guests into a frenzy with mimicry and gags.

Silah said the group had raised $12,000 during the dinner, the bulk — $8,000 — coming from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office clay pigeon shoot out.
read more here
Wounded troops and families feted for holiday at Haley VA

U.S. troops admit abusing prescription drugs

U.S. troops admit abusing prescription drugs
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — About one in four soldiers admit abusing prescription drugs, most of them pain relievers, in a one-year period, according to a Pentagon health survey released Wednesday.

The study, which surveyed more than 28,500 U.S. troops last year, showed that about 20% of Marines had also abused prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, in that same period.

The findings show the continued toll on the military from fighting wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. Those wars have required troops to serve multiple combat deployments.

"We are aware that more prescription drugs are being used today for pain management and behavioral health issues," Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force, said Wednesday. "These areas of substance abuse along with increased use of alcohol concern us."
read more here
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-12-16-milhealth_N.htm

Military members are a step closer to a 3.4 percent pay raise

House approves 3.4 percent pay raise

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Dec 16, 2009 17:25:38 EST

Military members are a step closer to a 3.4 percent pay raise, with House lawmakers’ passage of the 2010 defense spending bill Dec. 15.

House and Senate lawmakers agreed in conference to the 3.4 percent raise as part of the $636.3 billion Defense Appropriations bill. The Senate is expected to take up the bill later this week.

The raise is a half percentage point more than the administration requested, and was also included in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/military_appropriations_121609w/

Healing PTSD does not come exclusively from pills

One of the most troubling pieces of news not making the news is the fact most of the veterans going to the VA are not receiving therapy at all. Too many are simply seeing a psychiatrist, getting a wallet full of prescriptions to fill and sent away. When they complain they are not getting any better, they get their dosage increased or a another drug is added to the mix. Pills should be part of the healing to rewind the way their minds work but without therapy, pills do very little good.

What the military has gotten right is the Buddy Program, so that no one is alone, without someone watching over them and having someone to talk to. This however is not carried on after discharge when they return to their home states, more often than not, back to a family unable or unwilling to step in and help them heal.

Sporadic parts of the country are stepping up with programs to help provide the therapy these veterans need just as many new groups have formed on the Internet. The problem is there is no monitoring of the groups on the web and even less monitoring of the groups attempting to provide what the VA has not been doing. It would be a wonderful day if experts within the VA treating PTSD would step in and help these groups to make sure that the help is actually helping instead of harming. Good intentions are not enough when you are dealing with life and death.

If you have twenty volunteers helping, fully up to speed about PTSD and doing great work, that can all be undone by one hack giving the wrong information or taking the wrong approach. Since most of the work being done is done in private, how can anyone know what is being said behind closed doors? Do these groups have someone checking on what is being provided?

We make a huge mistake when we assume people are experts on what they are supposed to be dealing with, but the truth is, psychiatrists and psychologists may not be experts on PTSD even though they are treating it. Many chaplains report they know very little about PTSD but are supposed to be able to provide spiritual care/council to soldiers with it. Most of the misdiagnosis being reporter are not done for any other reason than the providers are not experts on PTSD because no matter what they may suspect, if they look for it, they will find it in PTSD.

Bipolar, paranoid, schizophrenia, personality disorders, alcoholism, drug addiction, you name it, the symptoms can all be found in PTSD. The provider won't know for sure unless they are looking for the key words "suddenly changed" and then back that up to looking for a traumatic event. PTSD comes only after trauma. A person does not change drastically for no reason at all. Instead of the providers looking for the source of the changes in the first place, they hunt around for the usual suspects. Medications even for the wrong illness can mask what is at the root of the illness, or in the case of PTSD, the wounding.

Most veterans view events with tunnel vision, unable to take in the whole picture of what brought on the event eating away at them. They cannot change their focus because the pull is too strong and no one is helping them to see beyond the event. If they are allowed to continue to feel "evil" holding onto the pain, the pain gets stronger and they get weaker. Medication is increased in response instead of talking them thru it.

Can there be any more telling evidence of this than this article? They are trying to fill in the gaps anyway they can. They want to heal, not be just medicated into numbness. They want to feel good things again. They can't get there from here unless they receive the help they really need instead of just what is the easiest to provide.

Soldiers find comfort at tattoo shops, churches and other refuges
Service members at Fort Hood battered by war and last month's shootings.
By Jeremy Schwartz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, December 13, 2009

KILLEEN — In the ink embedded in his arms, Army Sgt. Ryan Witko carries the scars of war. The Cincinnati native did two tours in Iraq, providing security for ambulances in Baghdad. He's cleaned out body parts and blood from damaged Humvees. He's watched fellow soldiers arrive at the hospital he worked at in the Green Zone shattered and stunned by attacks. And in 2007, Witko was in a Humvee that was blown apart by a roadside bomb.

The 27-year-old now walks with the assistance of a curved black cane and gets through the day thanks to a cocktail of medications prescribed for his degenerative disc disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and sleeplessness. He says he's "floating around" Fort Hood until his scheduled medical discharge next month.

For Witko, comfort and solace now come from an unlikely place: La Rude's Tattoo Studio, on a gritty avenue filled with pawn shops and convenience stores in downtown Killeen. On his right arm, Witko has the words "Only God Can Judge Me," a phrase, he says, meant to "cleanse me of the guilt of the things that I had to do while in Iraq."

"When I can't find relief anywhere else, I come here and get a tattoo," he said on a recent evening. "There are three or four guys here on a regular basis who are going through the same thing, and this is like a meeting spot."

With Fort Hood soldiers routinely serving multiple tours in two wars and still reeling from the Nov. 5 shootings that left 13 dead and dozens injured at the post, their mental health is being taxed in unprecedented ways. Since the shooting, Army officials have increased services available to soldiers, but some are still reluctant to talk to a therapist. For soldiers like Witko, help comes from a phalanx of informal counselors — tattoo artists, coffee shop owners and clergy members.
read more hereSoldiers find comfort

Milblogs Go Silent Across the Internet

Milblogs Go Silent Across the Internet
Submitted by kpaul.mallasch
CYBERSPACE - On Wednesday, December 16 2009, many military blogs (milblogs) have decided to go silent for the day, while others are choosing to go silent for a longer period of time. This is happening because milblogs are facing an increasingly hostile environment from within the military.

According to Mr. Wolf of Blackfive.net, "While senior leadership has embraced blogging and social media, many field grade officers and senior NCOs do not embrace the concept. From general apathy in not wanting to deal with the issue to outright hositility to it, many commands are not only failing to support such activities, but are aggressively acting against active duty milbloggers, milspouses, and others. The number of such incidents appears to be growing, with milbloggers receiving reprimands, verbal and written, not only for their activities but those of spouses and supporters."
read more here
http://www.munciefreepress.com/node/21612

Two-legged dog gives hope to disabled Army vets

Two-legged dog gives hope to disabled Army vets
By SUE MANNING Associated Press
For several years, Jude Stringfellow and her Lab-chow mix have toured the country with a simple message: Faith walks.
Born without front legs to a junkyard dog around Christmas 2002, Faith the puppy was rejected and abused by her mother. She was rescued by Reuben Stringfellow, now an Army E-4 specialist, who had been asked to bury other puppies in the litter.

"Can we fix her? Stringfellow, then 17, asked his mom. "No, but maybe we can help her," she said.
read more here
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/79445672.html

Band of sisters: PTSD

Band of sisters: PTSD
Posted: 04:40 PM ET

By Lindy Hall
Senior Producer

Women are joining the military in record numbers. Of the 1.8 million troops that have been deployed in the Iraq–Afghanistan conflict, 200 thousand of them are women. 120 of them have died, over 600 have been wounded. But hundreds more have come home with wounds that are harder to see. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, “is best thought of as a disorder of recovery,” says Dr. Natara Garovoy who runs the Women’s Mental Health Clinic at the Veteran’s Administration in Palo Alto, California, and women are twice as likely as men to suffer from it. She says that when “someone experiences something traumatic, basically life threatening in some way” that event can really stay with them and make sleeping, socializing and working difficult. “Lives are lost, relationships are damaged-people have a hard time working…they drop out of school and they start to isolate…the very life they were hoping to lead kind of disappears,” she adds.


Women are facing a lot of “unique stressors”. Often they are the only women in their unit, many of them are mothers and many of those are single mothers. “As primary caregivers…being deployed and still having that responsibility” is unique to them, Garovoy says.

She also adds that “One traumatic event is enough…but the more trauma exposures you have, the more likely you are to suffer from PTSD.” And even though women aren’t technically in combat roles because they aren’t actually on the “front lines”, women are putting their lives on the line every day, but it is frustrating and stressful to many women who don’t feel they are recognized for their contributions. Corporal Shiloh Morrison is 24 years old and is a reservist in the U.S. Marine Corps. She says she is frustrated when people infer that, just because you’re a woman, you wouldn’t have been in combat.

read more here
Band of sisters PTSDlinked from ICasualties.org

An army of volunteers helps build home for disabled soldier's family

Now this kind of thing is what really shows them they are supported more than anything else a community can do!

An army of volunteers helps build home for disabled soldier's family
By JIM McCONVILLE • STAFF WRITER • December 14, 2009


UNION BEACH — Soon, Army Staff Sgt. Michael Minard finally will have his own bed to sleep in.

Minard, his wife, Lynda, and their two children will take ownership of their new house next week. The one-story, 2,400-square-foot ranch was built by Homes For Our Troops, with the help of countless volunteers around the state.

The four-bedroom house, now in the final touch-up stage for its grand opening, is a roughly four-month labor of love that began Aug. 18.

For Minard, it's been a long and painful two-year journey since he was injured in Iraq.


Minard was on his third tour in Iraq in October 2007 when his legs were severely injured by an improvised explosive device detonated in the Sadr City section of Baghdad by the Stryker armored vehicle he was riding in.

Minard eventually was transported to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He awoke in the hospital to find that his legs had been amputated above the knee as a result of the explosion.

Now nearly two years later, Minard finds himself perpetually stunned by the kindness of volunteers, many of them strangers, who have donated their time or money to help build his house, which is completely handicapped accessible, inside and out.
read more here
An army of volunteers helps build home for disabled soldier

Fort Bragg Special Forces soldiers to receive Silver Stars

Special Forces soldiers to receive Silver Stars

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Dec 16, 2009 13:26:22 EST

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Two Special Forces soldiers based in North Carolina will be awarded for repeatedly risking their lives to help their unit mates during battles in Afghanistan.

Master Sgt. Anthony Siriwardene and Staff Sgt. Lindsey W. Clarke will be awarded the Silver Star on Wednesday.

Clarke exposed himself to enemy fire to save his teammates during an ambush in 2009. Siriwardene flanked enemy machine guns repeatedly during a 56-hour gunfight in 2005.
Special Forces soldiers to receive Silver Stars

Grinch Steals Gifts From War Veteran

Grinch Steals Gifts From War Veteran
Army Sgt. David Frappier Just Back From Afghanistan When Burglar Takes Everything
Elizabeth Erwin
Reporter, KPHO.com

PHOENIX -- An Army veteran just back from overseas fell victim to a crime that left him scratching his head and his family scrambling for Christmas presents.

Sgt. 1st Class David Frappier was on leave from his third deployment to Afghanistan. The Army man decided to surprise his kids at a church function at the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Phoenix. He parked the family van under a well-lit carport, knowing what was inside was valuable.
read more here
http://www.kpho.com/news/21966660/detail.html

Jacksonville Home Donated to Disabled Veteran's Family

Jacksonville Home Donated to Disabled Veteran's Family
Roger Weeder Ann Butler

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A local family found out what it means to live in a city that prides itself on being military-friendly.

The Shield Foundation Home for Veterans program selected Jacksonville and a Jacksonville family to receive a home.

Louis and Loyda Hamilton and their five children got the keys to their home on Myrtle Avenue during a presentation at City Hall.

The Shield Foundation is associated with Pinnacle Property Solutions, which specializes in the sale of foreclosed property. The home being donated is in foreclosure and was renovated for the Hamilton family.
read more here
Jacksonville Home Donated to Disabled Veteran

Heaven Knows They Need You

When someone in your family returns from war, what do you expect? Do you expect them to come home the same way they were when they left? Do you think to yourself, they are home and they are safe so there is no need to worry about them anymore?

Too many times what happens is they come home, cover the scars they carry easily while they are treated to their favorite meals, welcome home parties and spending time with the people in their lives they care about the most. Young soldiers want to hang out with their buddies. Servicemen/women want to spend time with their kids and spouses. They want to get back into the "normal" world they always knew. The problem is, for some, that normal world is feeling as foreign as the world they just left.

Sometimes it just takes time to recover but other times, time is not their friend. You may notice days, weeks or months after their return, they are doing things, saying things totally out of character for them. You may notice they seem to zone out while you are talking to them, they drink more, talk less and suffer from nightmares. Somehow we manage to forget where they were and what their lives were like away from us. So we make excuses.

Parents, after knowing them all their lives, being there since their first step, will look at their veteran son/daughter, and wonder why they are acting the way they are. They will see the changes and get angry, feeling frustrated, Jack and Jill came back from the "hill" with buckets filled with woes. They want them back the way they were but as they wait, as they get into arguments, if they are dealing with a PTSD veteran, that kind of response only adds to the problem.

A spouse has the same issue going on. They want them back the way they were. They wish, hope, wait, wonder what magic words to use to get their husband or wife to return to the way they were before. Time is now the enemy. Frustration builds. If the issue is PTSD, it is also time lost when they could be healing, waiting allows PTSD to gain more control over them.

If they come home with drastic changes in their personality, you will be the first to notice, but if you don't understand what PTSD is, you don't know what you're looking at.

Heaven Knows They Need You

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on December 14, 2009

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You need to understand what they dealing with. The sooner they get help, the better. If you love them, if you don't want them to leave then help them heal. With any other illness, you'd make sure they go to the doctors for help. This is not just an illness, it is a wound. It is a wound to their soul and can claim every part of them. Fight for them. If you watch the following video and suspect they have PTSD, then get them to go for help. If you are wrong, you have one less thing to worry about but if you are right, you may have just saved their life. Understand that changes after trauma are something to worry about. Be their advocate as you have been with everything else in their life.

PTSD I Grieve

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 11, 2009

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PTSD is a wound. They may wish to be the way they were before. You may wish they were the way they were before. All of what they were is still there behind a wall of pain searching for a way to come out from behind it. Help break that wall down so they can get out. Stop wanting and start doing. Learn what PTSD. Heaven knows they need you now!