Mysterious Fires in Massachusetts Town Kill 2
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (Dec. 28) -- Local and state authorities in Northampton, Mass., are investigating a string of suspicious fires that killed two people and left residents shaken, officials said Sunday.
In just more than an hour early Sunday, five structures -- including a single-family residence -- burned, in addition to "numerous cars," district attorney Betsy Scheibel told a news conference that included fire and police officials and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
Two people were found dead on the first floor of the residence, Scheibel said. Identities of the victims are being withheld pending autopsy results.
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Mysterious Fires in Massachusetts Town Kill 2
Apartment Blaze Kills 9; Kids Among the Dead
STARKVILLE, Miss. (Dec. 28) -- Nine people, including at least six children, died early Monday in an apartment fire, officials said.
The blaze was reported around 4 a.m., according to Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt. He and state Fire Marshal Mike Chaney confirmed the deaths.
Firefighters were still at the scene more than six hours later, and there was no word on how the blaze started.
"All I can tell you is we had a fire in one of the older apartment buildings," Starkville Fire Chief Rodger Mann said. "That's about all I can say. When a fatality is involved, things move a lot slower."
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Apartment Blaze Kills 9
Monday, December 28, 2009
At Fort Hood, Reaching Out to Soldiers at Risk
At Fort Hood, Reaching Out to Soldiers at Risk
By JAMES DAO
Published: December 23, 2009
FORT HOOD, Tex. — The day after a gunman killed 13 people here last month, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, the post’s commander, fired off an e-mail message to an unusual audience: local advocates for disaffected soldiers, deserters and war resisters. “I am told you may be able to help me understand where some of the gaps are in our system,” he wrote.
Last week, those advocates put General Cone’s offer to a test. A specialist who had deserted last year wanted to turn himself in. Would the general help the soldier, who has post-traumatic stress disorder, get care?
The general said yes.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said James Branum, a lawyer representing the specialist, Eric Jasinski. “It is very unusual for the commanding general to get involved.”
For years, Fort Hood has been an emblem of an overstretched military, with long deployments and combat-related stress contributing to rising numbers of suicides, divorces, spousal abuse and crime, mental health experts say.
Now, after the Nov. 5 shootings, the post is trying to show that it has another side, one that can care for its frailest and most battle-weary soldiers.
For the last month, the Pentagon has dispatched scores of psychologists, therapists and chaplains to counsel soldiers and their families, and bolster the post’s chronically understaffed mental health network. It has overseen the creation of a new system of trauma counseling. And it has pledged to speed the hiring of dozens of permanent new mental health specialists.
But the stepped-up efforts, while welcomed even by critics of the Army’s record in dealing with combat-related stress, are also seen as a test of its resolve to break with the past. Making change stick remains a challenge not just for Fort Hood, but the entire Army, as it struggles to improve care for its rising tide of deployment-strained soldiers.
read more here
At Fort Hood Reaching Out to Soldiers at Risk
By JAMES DAO
Published: December 23, 2009
FORT HOOD, Tex. — The day after a gunman killed 13 people here last month, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, the post’s commander, fired off an e-mail message to an unusual audience: local advocates for disaffected soldiers, deserters and war resisters. “I am told you may be able to help me understand where some of the gaps are in our system,” he wrote.
Last week, those advocates put General Cone’s offer to a test. A specialist who had deserted last year wanted to turn himself in. Would the general help the soldier, who has post-traumatic stress disorder, get care?
The general said yes.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said James Branum, a lawyer representing the specialist, Eric Jasinski. “It is very unusual for the commanding general to get involved.”
For years, Fort Hood has been an emblem of an overstretched military, with long deployments and combat-related stress contributing to rising numbers of suicides, divorces, spousal abuse and crime, mental health experts say.
Now, after the Nov. 5 shootings, the post is trying to show that it has another side, one that can care for its frailest and most battle-weary soldiers.
For the last month, the Pentagon has dispatched scores of psychologists, therapists and chaplains to counsel soldiers and their families, and bolster the post’s chronically understaffed mental health network. It has overseen the creation of a new system of trauma counseling. And it has pledged to speed the hiring of dozens of permanent new mental health specialists.
But the stepped-up efforts, while welcomed even by critics of the Army’s record in dealing with combat-related stress, are also seen as a test of its resolve to break with the past. Making change stick remains a challenge not just for Fort Hood, but the entire Army, as it struggles to improve care for its rising tide of deployment-strained soldiers.
read more here
At Fort Hood Reaching Out to Soldiers at Risk
Sunday, December 27, 2009
FDNY firefighter Jason Brezler spends Christmas in Afghanistan
Lombard for News
Firefighters of Ladder 58 hold a photo of Jason Brezler who is fighting in Afghanistan
FDNY firefighter Jason Brezler spends Christmas in Afghanistan fighting Taliban not fires
BY Stephanie Gaskell AND Barry Paddock
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Sunday, December 27th 2009, 12:20 PM
Bronx firefighter Jason Brezler usually volunteers at the firehouse on Christmas, but this year he spent the holiday fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
"If I wasn't here, 90 percent I'd probably be filling in for someone who has kids," Brezler told the Daily News from his combat outpost in Helmand province. "Those guys are all away from their families, too."
Brezler, 31, is a captain with the Marine Reserves, serving with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines.
He's been deployed four times since Sept. 11.
"I'm actually proud to be here," he said. "We all volunteered for this deployment. All of us wanted to come here and contribute to the fight in Afghanistan."
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FDNY firefighter Jason Brezler spends Christmas in Afghanistan
Troops' Return Can Be Challenge For Whole Family
Troops' Return Can Be Challenge For Whole Family
By JESSE LEAVENWORTH
The Hartford Courant
December 27, 2009
ENFIELD — - A woman at Jessica Keller's church — the wife of a Vietnam veteran and mother of their four children — told Keller that she spoke to her husband only once during his yearlong tour of duty.
Keller said that made her see how fortunate she has been.
While Maj. James "Jake" Keller served in Afghanistan last year, he and Jessica e-mailed each other every day. They also spoke every week by phone and even had a few video conversations over the Internet. Through regular mail, Jessica Keller sent her husband drawings from their two young daughters and sent pressed leaves in the fall to remind him of his Connecticut home.
"It's good just to hear that life is actually normal back in the real world," Jake Keller, a National Guard soldier, said, "knowing that you've got something to look forward to once you get out of there."
The Kellers say that constant contact helped them adjust and carry on when Jake Keller returned from his yearlong tour two days after Christmas in 2008. People who counsel returning service members and their families say that the ease and variety of modern communications have helped with the homecoming adjustment.
"Overall, more communication tends to be better than less communication," said Joseph Bobrow, executive director of the nonprofit Coming Home Project (cominghomeproject.net), which provides counseling and support for service members and their families.
Still, communication can't smooth every jagged patch caused by long separation and the brutality of war. Keller had a relatively easy return to family and work, but some service members travel a tougher road home.
"There are many, many challenges," Bobrow said. "The first is that the service member may be home physically, but they're not home emotionally, spiritually, mentally. They haven't begun to process all that they've been through. Getting home takes quite a bit of time."
read more here
Return Can Be Challenge For Whole Family
By JESSE LEAVENWORTH
The Hartford Courant
December 27, 2009
ENFIELD — - A woman at Jessica Keller's church — the wife of a Vietnam veteran and mother of their four children — told Keller that she spoke to her husband only once during his yearlong tour of duty.
Keller said that made her see how fortunate she has been.
While Maj. James "Jake" Keller served in Afghanistan last year, he and Jessica e-mailed each other every day. They also spoke every week by phone and even had a few video conversations over the Internet. Through regular mail, Jessica Keller sent her husband drawings from their two young daughters and sent pressed leaves in the fall to remind him of his Connecticut home.
"It's good just to hear that life is actually normal back in the real world," Jake Keller, a National Guard soldier, said, "knowing that you've got something to look forward to once you get out of there."
The Kellers say that constant contact helped them adjust and carry on when Jake Keller returned from his yearlong tour two days after Christmas in 2008. People who counsel returning service members and their families say that the ease and variety of modern communications have helped with the homecoming adjustment.
"Overall, more communication tends to be better than less communication," said Joseph Bobrow, executive director of the nonprofit Coming Home Project (cominghomeproject.net), which provides counseling and support for service members and their families.
Still, communication can't smooth every jagged patch caused by long separation and the brutality of war. Keller had a relatively easy return to family and work, but some service members travel a tougher road home.
"There are many, many challenges," Bobrow said. "The first is that the service member may be home physically, but they're not home emotionally, spiritually, mentally. They haven't begun to process all that they've been through. Getting home takes quite a bit of time."
read more here
Return Can Be Challenge For Whole Family
Thruway crash kills N. Tonawanda officer set to deploy to Iraq
Thruway crash kills N. Tonawanda officer set to deploy to Iraq
By Dan Herbeck and Jay Tokasz
NEWS STAFF REPORTERS
December 27, 2009
An Army lieutenant from North Tonawanda who expected to be deployed to Iraq within a few months was killed Saturday morning in a car crash on the Thruway in Chautauqua County.
Jordan A. Bunker, 24, a University at Buffalo graduate who was a former co-captain of the North Tonawanda High School football team, died after he lost control of the car at about 10:10 a. m. and hit a guardrail in the Town of Hanover.
State police said Bunker’s girlfriend — Audrey Brackett, 25, of Fort Knox, Ky. — was taken to Lake Shore Hospital in Irving for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.
Bunker, a second lieutenant stationed at Fort Knox, had spent Christmas week in North Tonawanda, visiting family and friends, according to his father, Daniel Bunker of North Tonawanda.
“I’ve never seen him happier in his entire life. I think it was because he was in love with [Brackett],” Bunker said. “Jordan arrived here on [Dec. 19] and had the most wonderful week visiting with his family and friends. There were about 70 people who stopped by to see him Wednesday night. On Christmas night, I never saw him stop smiling.”
By Dan Herbeck and Jay Tokasz
NEWS STAFF REPORTERS
December 27, 2009
An Army lieutenant from North Tonawanda who expected to be deployed to Iraq within a few months was killed Saturday morning in a car crash on the Thruway in Chautauqua County.
Jordan A. Bunker, 24, a University at Buffalo graduate who was a former co-captain of the North Tonawanda High School football team, died after he lost control of the car at about 10:10 a. m. and hit a guardrail in the Town of Hanover.
State police said Bunker’s girlfriend — Audrey Brackett, 25, of Fort Knox, Ky. — was taken to Lake Shore Hospital in Irving for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening.
Bunker, a second lieutenant stationed at Fort Knox, had spent Christmas week in North Tonawanda, visiting family and friends, according to his father, Daniel Bunker of North Tonawanda.
“I’ve never seen him happier in his entire life. I think it was because he was in love with [Brackett],” Bunker said. “Jordan arrived here on [Dec. 19] and had the most wonderful week visiting with his family and friends. There were about 70 people who stopped by to see him Wednesday night. On Christmas night, I never saw him stop smiling.”
“He joined the Army last year because the job market here isn’t so good,” Bunker said. “He made a three-year commitment. He was in an armored unit. He told me he expected to be sent to the Middle East and was willing to take that risk to serve his country. My son was a great kid. . . . He touched a lot of lives.”
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http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/905864.html?imw=Y
Mall solicitors dressed like soldiers irk local veterans groups
Mall solicitors dressed like soldiers irk local veterans groups
Richard Liebson and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon • GANNETT / rliebson@lohud.com • December 27, 2009
WESTCHESTER, N.Y. — They kind of look like soldiers, standing in The Westchester mall in their store-bought camouflage fatigues. But they aren't.
The first hint that they have nothing to do with the military is that their "uniforms" bear no rank, insignia or unit patches. The dead giveaway comes when they ask you for a cash donation to help veterans — active-duty service members are prohibited from panhandling.
For the past several weeks, members of the Veterans Service Organization have been soliciting money at The Westchester and other Lower Hudson Valley sites, claiming that they're providing holiday meals for local homeless veterans and making donations to veterans hospitals and other local programs to help veterans.
The fact is, 25 percent to 30 percent of what they collect goes into their pockets, as part of what the VSO describes as a "work program." The group's founder admits that many members have never served in the armed forces and could not provide proof that the VSO has made any contributions to local veterans.
Financial records obtained by The Journal News show that about 31 percent of the more than $1 million they took in annually nationwide in 2007 and 2008 went to veterans assistance and services. Much of the rest is listed as "programs" expenses used to pay for rent and office supplies, travel costs, subcontractors and compensation for VSO executives.
read more here
http://www.app.com/article/20091227/NEWS06/91227010/Mall-solicitors-dressed-like-soldiers-irk-local-veterans-groups
Richard Liebson and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon • GANNETT / rliebson@lohud.com • December 27, 2009
WESTCHESTER, N.Y. — They kind of look like soldiers, standing in The Westchester mall in their store-bought camouflage fatigues. But they aren't.
The first hint that they have nothing to do with the military is that their "uniforms" bear no rank, insignia or unit patches. The dead giveaway comes when they ask you for a cash donation to help veterans — active-duty service members are prohibited from panhandling.
For the past several weeks, members of the Veterans Service Organization have been soliciting money at The Westchester and other Lower Hudson Valley sites, claiming that they're providing holiday meals for local homeless veterans and making donations to veterans hospitals and other local programs to help veterans.
The fact is, 25 percent to 30 percent of what they collect goes into their pockets, as part of what the VSO describes as a "work program." The group's founder admits that many members have never served in the armed forces and could not provide proof that the VSO has made any contributions to local veterans.
Financial records obtained by The Journal News show that about 31 percent of the more than $1 million they took in annually nationwide in 2007 and 2008 went to veterans assistance and services. Much of the rest is listed as "programs" expenses used to pay for rent and office supplies, travel costs, subcontractors and compensation for VSO executives.
read more here
http://www.app.com/article/20091227/NEWS06/91227010/Mall-solicitors-dressed-like-soldiers-irk-local-veterans-groups
Studies find breakthrough in PTSD treatment
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Studies find breakthrough in PTSD treatment
Submitted by admin on Sun, 12/27/2009 - 07:40
Two new studies seem to provide more evidence that post-traumatic stress disorder is a chemical change in the brain caused by trauma — and that it might be possible to diagnose, treat and predict which troops are most susceptible to it using brain scans or blood tests.In one study, Christine Marx of the Duke University Medical Center and Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center wondered why PTSD, depression and pain often occur together.
Researchers already knew that people with PTSD show changes in their neurosteroids, which are brain chemicals thought to play a role in how the body responds to stress. Previous animal studies showed that blood neurosteroid levels correlated to brain neurosteroid levels, so Marx measured the blood neurosteroid levels of 90 male Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. She found that the neurosteroid levels correlated to symptom severity in PTSD, depression and pain issues, and that those levels might be used to predict how a person reacts to therapy, as well as to help develop new therapies.
Marx is researching treatment for people with traumatic brain injuries using the same kind of brain chemical, and early results show that increasing a person’s neurosteroid level decreases his PTSD symptoms. Marx’s work was funded by the Veterans Affairs Department, National Institutes of Health, Defense Department and NARSAD, an organization that funds brain and behavior research.A second study, conducted by Alexander Neumeister of Yale University School of Medicine, found that veterans diagnosed with PTSD along with another syndrome, such as depression, alcohol abuse, substance abuse or suicidal ideation, had different brain images on a CT scan than did those who had been diagnosed only with PTSD.Neumeister became curious after realizing that veterans dealing only with PTSD responded differently to treatment than did those with PTSD and another diagnosis.
go here for more
http://navyexperience.com/navy-news/studies-find-breakthrough-ptsd-treatment
Studies find breakthrough in PTSD treatment
Submitted by admin on Sun, 12/27/2009 - 07:40
Two new studies seem to provide more evidence that post-traumatic stress disorder is a chemical change in the brain caused by trauma — and that it might be possible to diagnose, treat and predict which troops are most susceptible to it using brain scans or blood tests.In one study, Christine Marx of the Duke University Medical Center and Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center wondered why PTSD, depression and pain often occur together.
Researchers already knew that people with PTSD show changes in their neurosteroids, which are brain chemicals thought to play a role in how the body responds to stress. Previous animal studies showed that blood neurosteroid levels correlated to brain neurosteroid levels, so Marx measured the blood neurosteroid levels of 90 male Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. She found that the neurosteroid levels correlated to symptom severity in PTSD, depression and pain issues, and that those levels might be used to predict how a person reacts to therapy, as well as to help develop new therapies.
Marx is researching treatment for people with traumatic brain injuries using the same kind of brain chemical, and early results show that increasing a person’s neurosteroid level decreases his PTSD symptoms. Marx’s work was funded by the Veterans Affairs Department, National Institutes of Health, Defense Department and NARSAD, an organization that funds brain and behavior research.A second study, conducted by Alexander Neumeister of Yale University School of Medicine, found that veterans diagnosed with PTSD along with another syndrome, such as depression, alcohol abuse, substance abuse or suicidal ideation, had different brain images on a CT scan than did those who had been diagnosed only with PTSD.Neumeister became curious after realizing that veterans dealing only with PTSD responded differently to treatment than did those with PTSD and another diagnosis.
go here for more
http://navyexperience.com/navy-news/studies-find-breakthrough-ptsd-treatment
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Passenger stops terrorist on plane
Device was on fire in terror suspect's lap, plane passenger says
December 26, 2009 7:46 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Passenger says he grabbed device, subdued suspect
Nigerian in custody "talking a lot," U.S. official says after incident
Flight crew put out small fire on plane with extinguishers
Obama orders "all appropriate measures" to increase security
Romulus, Michigan (CNN) -- A Nigerian man is "talking a lot" to the FBI, said a senior U.S. official, after what the United States believes was an attempted terrorist attack on an inbound international flight.
The initial impression is that the suspect was acting alone and did not have any formal connections to organized terrorist groups, said the official, who is familiar with the investigation.
The suspect, identified by a U.S. government official as 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, ignited a small explosive device Friday, shortly before a Northwest flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, landed at Detroit Metro Airport in Michigan.
Passenger Jasper Schuringa told CNN that with the aid of the cabin crew, he helped subdue and isolate Abdulmutallab.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/26/airline.attack/index.html
December 26, 2009 7:46 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Passenger says he grabbed device, subdued suspect
Nigerian in custody "talking a lot," U.S. official says after incident
Flight crew put out small fire on plane with extinguishers
Obama orders "all appropriate measures" to increase security
Romulus, Michigan (CNN) -- A Nigerian man is "talking a lot" to the FBI, said a senior U.S. official, after what the United States believes was an attempted terrorist attack on an inbound international flight.
The initial impression is that the suspect was acting alone and did not have any formal connections to organized terrorist groups, said the official, who is familiar with the investigation.
The suspect, identified by a U.S. government official as 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, ignited a small explosive device Friday, shortly before a Northwest flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, landed at Detroit Metro Airport in Michigan.
Passenger Jasper Schuringa told CNN that with the aid of the cabin crew, he helped subdue and isolate Abdulmutallab.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/26/airline.attack/index.html
Firefighter tackles 1,000 miles for wounded vets
Firefighter tackles 1,000 miles for wounded vets
By Melissa Slager
For The Herald
A marathon is one thing. Climbing a mountain is another.
But try the equivalent of 38 marathons. And three mountains. Oh, and add a 35-pound pack to your back and some combat boots.
Who the hell would do that?
Paul Cretella, a Serene Lake firefighter and former British paratrooper, is embarking on a yearlong effort to log 1,000 miles under just those conditions to raise awareness of the pain endured by wounded combat veterans.
Cretella recalled an elderly man he met on one of his aid calls, a veteran who was wounded three times in the Korean War and who still deals with chronic pain.
“Those guys coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan now are, 50 years from now, going to still be feeling the effects. … We need to do better for them,” Cretella said.
He calls his odyssey Brothers in Arms 1,000 Mile Challenge and is taking donations for two nonprofits, the Florida-based Wounded Warrior Project and its UK counterpart Help for Heroes.
read more here
Firefighter tackles 1,000 miles for wounded vets
By Melissa Slager
For The Herald
A marathon is one thing. Climbing a mountain is another.
But try the equivalent of 38 marathons. And three mountains. Oh, and add a 35-pound pack to your back and some combat boots.
Who the hell would do that?
Paul Cretella, a Serene Lake firefighter and former British paratrooper, is embarking on a yearlong effort to log 1,000 miles under just those conditions to raise awareness of the pain endured by wounded combat veterans.
Cretella recalled an elderly man he met on one of his aid calls, a veteran who was wounded three times in the Korean War and who still deals with chronic pain.
“Those guys coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan now are, 50 years from now, going to still be feeling the effects. … We need to do better for them,” Cretella said.
He calls his odyssey Brothers in Arms 1,000 Mile Challenge and is taking donations for two nonprofits, the Florida-based Wounded Warrior Project and its UK counterpart Help for Heroes.
read more here
Firefighter tackles 1,000 miles for wounded vets
Friday, December 25, 2009
Shepherds still among us as Vietnam vet takes care of the forgotten
Shepherds still among us
By Krista Ramsey • kramsey@enquirer.com • December 25, 2009
Lining the banks of the Ohio River is one of Cincinnati's sadder secrets. People - tucked into cardboard boxes, tents and cobbled-together wooden structures hardly bigger than a doghouse.
There are addicts and felons. There are also mothers and children. Altogether they are a band of lost souls, many of whom - having struggled with the outside world so long - are not looking to be found.
Into this pocket of misery goes Jim Murphy, several times each week. The Vietnam veteran slings a backpack full of milk, baby formula, flashlights, bread onto the back of his wheelchair. He makes his way to the people in need, often getting stuck in the mud along the way.
The riverbank dwellers trust Jim Murphy. They let him into their carefully camouflaged encampment and, more surprisingly, into their lives. He knows who struggles with addiction, and who with mental illness. He has seen a young woman in the last stages of AIDS reunited with her family from California. He has met the 3-week-old baby just born into the "community."
read more here
Shepherds still among us
By Krista Ramsey • kramsey@enquirer.com • December 25, 2009
Lining the banks of the Ohio River is one of Cincinnati's sadder secrets. People - tucked into cardboard boxes, tents and cobbled-together wooden structures hardly bigger than a doghouse.
There are addicts and felons. There are also mothers and children. Altogether they are a band of lost souls, many of whom - having struggled with the outside world so long - are not looking to be found.
Into this pocket of misery goes Jim Murphy, several times each week. The Vietnam veteran slings a backpack full of milk, baby formula, flashlights, bread onto the back of his wheelchair. He makes his way to the people in need, often getting stuck in the mud along the way.
The riverbank dwellers trust Jim Murphy. They let him into their carefully camouflaged encampment and, more surprisingly, into their lives. He knows who struggles with addiction, and who with mental illness. He has seen a young woman in the last stages of AIDS reunited with her family from California. He has met the 3-week-old baby just born into the "community."
read more here
Shepherds still among us
Salvation Army major killed in front of his children on Christmas Eve
When we read stories like this we know there is evil in this world. Someone so cold and uncaring would kill a man working to help others on Christmas Eve in front of his own children. Did they think about the people this man tried to help? Did they think of what this action would do to these children? It's a safe bet to think none of that mattered at all. At least not to the one willing to kill for what they wanted to take.
As horrible as this deed was, we need to remember that this type of person is not the majority. They are forgettable. We read about them because what they do is so hard to understand because they are odd. We know this type of person is about taking what they did not earn, taking from others just because they can but they will never know what it was like to touch the heart of someone else, to be able to help someone in need and change their lives, to show compassion and mercy or what it is like to feel the love of God within them. They condemn all that is good because they have never known any of it.
As horrible as this deed was, we need to remember that this type of person is not the majority. They are forgettable. We read about them because what they do is so hard to understand because they are odd. We know this type of person is about taking what they did not earn, taking from others just because they can but they will never know what it was like to touch the heart of someone else, to be able to help someone in need and change their lives, to show compassion and mercy or what it is like to feel the love of God within them. They condemn all that is good because they have never known any of it.
Salvation Army major shot dead in Arkansas on Christmas Eve
December 25, 2009 8:41 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Maj. Philip Wise, 40, is gunned down in front of his three children
Police: Two men carrying handguns approach dad, kids and demanded money
Coroner: "My heart goes our for the family"
Shooting happens Christmas Eve in North Little Rock, Arkansas
(CNN) -- A Salvation Army major was shot dead in front of his three children on Christmas Eve in North Little Rock, Arkansas, authorities said.
Maj. Philip Wise, 40, was gunned down Thursday. He was found lying by the back entrance of a Salvation Army facility, said police spokesman Sgt. Terry Kuykendall.
Wise apparently dropped two bell ringers off at home and returned to the Salvation Army building with his three children, ages 4, 6 and 8. Two men carrying handguns approached them and demanded money before shooting Wise, Kuykendall said.
The suspects fled on foot.
Police received a 911 call at 4:17 p.m. Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper said Wise's wife, Cindy, made the call from inside the building.
Salvation Army major shot dead in Arkansas on Christmas Eve
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Can your soul feel its worth after PTSD?
Can your soul feel its worth after PTSD?
by
Chaplain Kathie
PTSD strikes after trauma. That is the only way a person's life changes eventually changing the whole family. It is a wound to the soul, the home of our character, where all emotions begin. It is from our soul we feel and not our hearts no matter how many poets tied emotions to the heart.
While believing the brain of a mouse can be compared to the brain of a man or woman seems wrong, at least this study showed the area of the brain where emotions live. The study also seems to prove what people have said all along regarding PTSD, that it is a deep wound. It is so deep it changes people. What adds to the cutting of the soul is feeling abandoned or judged by God as well as others.
People walk away from traumatic events one of two ways. God saved them or God did it to them. They have to live with the memories at the same time they are struggling with why they were there, "why me" questions that can never really be answered, how could God allow it and how can they get over it the same way others seem to have been able to. As they try to fight off the changes in the way they think and react, they end up fighting the people in their lives because no one really understands what is the cause of the changes.
When we live our lives with a belief system, this chain is broken after traumatic events. We can either feel so blessed by God nothing can hurt us or end up wondering what a lifetime of believing was all about when we are left suffering, feeling abandoned by or judged by God. We take on the guilt thinking if God condemned us, no one should love us. We push others away feeling unworthy at the same time we push them away trying to prevent further pain.
When we're talking about men and women in the military, this human reaction is complicated even more by the facts of multiple traumatic events resulting from the intent to serve others. A noble calling followed by visions from hell.
Up until Vietnam, some enlisted but others were drafted. They were placed into combat unwillingly, perhaps into what God never intended them to do. When men and women enlist, they answer the calling from their soul and are equipped to defend themselves against horrific situations better than others, although not perfectly, especially when they were always compassionate people. The door to their soul is wide open and PTSD takes advantage of this striking the caring and avoiding the callous.
The same holds true today when men and women serve in the National Guards. They intend to help their communities recover from traumatic events such as natural disasters, but they usually do not enter not the Guards with the thought of having to kill someone in order to save lives. God did not call them into the military and did not equip them spiritually to be able to take lives any more than He enabled firefighters to enter into law enforcement where they encounter an whole different demographic and situations. Each one of us have different places to take and each one comes into the world with different gifts. It is up to us to use those gifts the way it was planned or do it all our way and hope for the best.
We are all human and only human. Each time something happens in our lives, it goes into forming how we think, feel, heal and grieve. It also goes into how we react for the rest of our lives.
There is a whole family now suffering because one of them could not heal his soul. "He had seen too much."
By all accounts, he came from a military family. Do you really think no one in his family could be able to understand what was happening to him? Too often, we find it impossible to ask for help. We would rather have people think badly of us than to have them think we are failing. Just as many would rather be thought of as a drug addict or alcoholic, instead of having PTSD and self-medicating so they will feel nothing.
Think of your own lives and how difficult it is to ask family and friends for help, emotionally or financially or spiritually. When someone in our family dies, it is obvious we need them around us to grieve with us but when a part of ourselves dies, we don't want anyone to know. We just try to hide it, hide the pain, do anything other than allow anyone to "feel sorry for us" for what we are no longer able to be and for what we wish they could still see within us.
Families see changes but they don't know what it is, what they can do to help and things keep getting worse. We lose the ability to see the worth of our own soul.
When veterans are carrying PTSD in their soul, they forget they are still a good person because other than the pain they feel, the only safe emotion to let out is anger. Anything else can hurt too much to show. A compassionate person will stop acting as if they care about anyone other than themselves. The truth is, they lost the ability to care enough about themselves because they no longer know "who they are" inside their own skin. Nothing makes sense anymore. Not the belief system they had, not the fact their family and friends loved them, not the capacity of their mind to think things thru or the courage of their spirit to do what they did, when they did it and with all they had within them to accomplish it.
They are lost within their own bodies, strangers within their own homes and enemy to their own heart.
All of this goes on until one day, someone says the right thing, the right set of circumstances leads them or enough support comes, when they are finally willing to ask for help. When this day comes, they release the burden they have been carrying alone. They swallow their pride and reach out their hand. Their families once more see them with clear eyes and they know there is pain there and not the anger they had been showing.
The soul feels its worth.
When we read about the life of Christ, the miracles He made happen, the hope restored, the lame walking, the hungry fed, the deaf hearing, the blind seeing, we tend to not see the changes in their souls as well. Each person Christ healed was not just changed according to their weakness, but their strength was changed as well.
Knowing the power of God's love for us, no matter how evil, no matter how guilty, no matter how unlovable we feel about ourselves, finding God loving us despite all of it gives us a sense that it is not so impossible to heal, to find worth within us, to love again, feel again, try again and even to feel joy again. There is nothing on this earth that is so bad we cannot be forgiven for and Christ proved that when He forgave the very people with His blood still on their hands after nailing Him to the cross.
Can your soul feel its worth after PTSD? Yes it can. Many want to be made whole after they begin to heal, to be the way they were before but this won't happen. No event in our lives allows us to be the way we were before. We are forever changed by it but in turn, healing has that same ability. Humans can come out on the other side of this darkness better, stronger, happier, kinder and better than they were before. The ability to heal is already within us but we need help finding it, getting it to work and support to arrive on the other side of this abyss.
"The weary heart rejoices" when the pain locked away is healed. When families begin to understand so they can help with the healing and friends are able to understand enough they stay by your side instead of feeling as if you've shoved them away.
"A new and glorious morning" comes when you find out that you are safe to feel love, hope and compassion again and be true to the soul within your body. When you know evil comes from evil and good comes from God. When you are able to see past the image frozen in your dreams and you can see it all from beginning to end knowing you survived for a reason even though friends were welcomed back home into the Kingdom of Heaven for another reason.
The pain you feel is not from weakness but from the strength of your soul and the ability you have to love others. Let your soul feel its worth and begin to heal from within.
Christmas is about love, the gift of love from God to the world and to you. It is about miracles that can happen and hope arriving when we need it if we reach for it and ask. Talk to your family and let them know what you've been trying to hide. Let them know you need help to find yourself again and that your soul is still in there behind the pain.
by
Chaplain Kathie
PTSD strikes after trauma. That is the only way a person's life changes eventually changing the whole family. It is a wound to the soul, the home of our character, where all emotions begin. It is from our soul we feel and not our hearts no matter how many poets tied emotions to the heart.
From Mouse to Man
What the latest basic science research is telling us about the human mind
by Philip Newton
The anatomy of posttraumatic stress disorder
What parts of the brain are involved in posttraumatic stress disorder? A recent study of Vietnam veterans used a novel and clever strategy to produce some unexpected results.
Recent developments in brain imaging have allowed scientists to study the brains of patients afflicted with a variety of disorders. Identifying the parts of the brain that are involved in those disorders is key to understanding how the disorders arise and are maintained.
Brain imaging studies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have identified a few key brain regions whose function appears to be altered in PTSD, most notably the amygdala, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the hippocampus.
The amygdala is an almond-shaped region ("amygdala" is greek for almond) that is key to the normal expression of emotions, especially fear. Brain imaging studies see high activity in the amygdala when subjects experience anxiety, stress or phobias.go here for more
While believing the brain of a mouse can be compared to the brain of a man or woman seems wrong, at least this study showed the area of the brain where emotions live. The study also seems to prove what people have said all along regarding PTSD, that it is a deep wound. It is so deep it changes people. What adds to the cutting of the soul is feeling abandoned or judged by God as well as others.
People walk away from traumatic events one of two ways. God saved them or God did it to them. They have to live with the memories at the same time they are struggling with why they were there, "why me" questions that can never really be answered, how could God allow it and how can they get over it the same way others seem to have been able to. As they try to fight off the changes in the way they think and react, they end up fighting the people in their lives because no one really understands what is the cause of the changes.
When we live our lives with a belief system, this chain is broken after traumatic events. We can either feel so blessed by God nothing can hurt us or end up wondering what a lifetime of believing was all about when we are left suffering, feeling abandoned by or judged by God. We take on the guilt thinking if God condemned us, no one should love us. We push others away feeling unworthy at the same time we push them away trying to prevent further pain.
When we're talking about men and women in the military, this human reaction is complicated even more by the facts of multiple traumatic events resulting from the intent to serve others. A noble calling followed by visions from hell.
Up until Vietnam, some enlisted but others were drafted. They were placed into combat unwillingly, perhaps into what God never intended them to do. When men and women enlist, they answer the calling from their soul and are equipped to defend themselves against horrific situations better than others, although not perfectly, especially when they were always compassionate people. The door to their soul is wide open and PTSD takes advantage of this striking the caring and avoiding the callous.
The same holds true today when men and women serve in the National Guards. They intend to help their communities recover from traumatic events such as natural disasters, but they usually do not enter not the Guards with the thought of having to kill someone in order to save lives. God did not call them into the military and did not equip them spiritually to be able to take lives any more than He enabled firefighters to enter into law enforcement where they encounter an whole different demographic and situations. Each one of us have different places to take and each one comes into the world with different gifts. It is up to us to use those gifts the way it was planned or do it all our way and hope for the best.
We are all human and only human. Each time something happens in our lives, it goes into forming how we think, feel, heal and grieve. It also goes into how we react for the rest of our lives.
There is a whole family now suffering because one of them could not heal his soul. "He had seen too much."
Military family comes to grips with soldier's suicide
By PAT KINNEY, pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com
WATERLOO - Brandon Shepherd served two tours of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division. He saw some of the worst combat of the war and survived.
Until Memorial Day weekend. That's when Brandon Shepherd became a casualty of war.
Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he took his own life. He was found hanging from a tree on Park Road near flag-decorated Fairview Cemetery. His Army boots were at the base of the tree.
Military family comes to grips with soldier suicide
By all accounts, he came from a military family. Do you really think no one in his family could be able to understand what was happening to him? Too often, we find it impossible to ask for help. We would rather have people think badly of us than to have them think we are failing. Just as many would rather be thought of as a drug addict or alcoholic, instead of having PTSD and self-medicating so they will feel nothing.
Think of your own lives and how difficult it is to ask family and friends for help, emotionally or financially or spiritually. When someone in our family dies, it is obvious we need them around us to grieve with us but when a part of ourselves dies, we don't want anyone to know. We just try to hide it, hide the pain, do anything other than allow anyone to "feel sorry for us" for what we are no longer able to be and for what we wish they could still see within us.
Families see changes but they don't know what it is, what they can do to help and things keep getting worse. We lose the ability to see the worth of our own soul.
When veterans are carrying PTSD in their soul, they forget they are still a good person because other than the pain they feel, the only safe emotion to let out is anger. Anything else can hurt too much to show. A compassionate person will stop acting as if they care about anyone other than themselves. The truth is, they lost the ability to care enough about themselves because they no longer know "who they are" inside their own skin. Nothing makes sense anymore. Not the belief system they had, not the fact their family and friends loved them, not the capacity of their mind to think things thru or the courage of their spirit to do what they did, when they did it and with all they had within them to accomplish it.
They are lost within their own bodies, strangers within their own homes and enemy to their own heart.
All of this goes on until one day, someone says the right thing, the right set of circumstances leads them or enough support comes, when they are finally willing to ask for help. When this day comes, they release the burden they have been carrying alone. They swallow their pride and reach out their hand. Their families once more see them with clear eyes and they know there is pain there and not the anger they had been showing.
The soul feels its worth.
O Holy Night
O Holy Night
O holy night,
The stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of
Our dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world
In sin and error pining,
Till He appeared
And the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope,
The weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks
A new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees,
O hear the angel voices!
O night divine,
O night when Christ was born!
O night divine, O night,
O night divine!
Led by the light of Faith
Serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts
By His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star
Sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men
From Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus
In lowly manger,
In all our trials
Born to be our Friend!
He knows our need,
To our weakness no stranger;
Behold your King!
Before the lowly bend!
Behold your King! your King!
Before Him bend.
Truly He taught us
To love one another;
His law is love and
His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break
For the slave is our brother
And in His name
All oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in
Grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us
Praise His holy name!
Christ is the Lord,
Oh praise His name forever,
His pow'r and glory evermore proclaim
His pow'r and glory
Evermore proclaim.
When we read about the life of Christ, the miracles He made happen, the hope restored, the lame walking, the hungry fed, the deaf hearing, the blind seeing, we tend to not see the changes in their souls as well. Each person Christ healed was not just changed according to their weakness, but their strength was changed as well.
Knowing the power of God's love for us, no matter how evil, no matter how guilty, no matter how unlovable we feel about ourselves, finding God loving us despite all of it gives us a sense that it is not so impossible to heal, to find worth within us, to love again, feel again, try again and even to feel joy again. There is nothing on this earth that is so bad we cannot be forgiven for and Christ proved that when He forgave the very people with His blood still on their hands after nailing Him to the cross.
Can your soul feel its worth after PTSD? Yes it can. Many want to be made whole after they begin to heal, to be the way they were before but this won't happen. No event in our lives allows us to be the way we were before. We are forever changed by it but in turn, healing has that same ability. Humans can come out on the other side of this darkness better, stronger, happier, kinder and better than they were before. The ability to heal is already within us but we need help finding it, getting it to work and support to arrive on the other side of this abyss.
"The weary heart rejoices" when the pain locked away is healed. When families begin to understand so they can help with the healing and friends are able to understand enough they stay by your side instead of feeling as if you've shoved them away.
"A new and glorious morning" comes when you find out that you are safe to feel love, hope and compassion again and be true to the soul within your body. When you know evil comes from evil and good comes from God. When you are able to see past the image frozen in your dreams and you can see it all from beginning to end knowing you survived for a reason even though friends were welcomed back home into the Kingdom of Heaven for another reason.
The pain you feel is not from weakness but from the strength of your soul and the ability you have to love others. Let your soul feel its worth and begin to heal from within.
Christmas is about love, the gift of love from God to the world and to you. It is about miracles that can happen and hope arriving when we need it if we reach for it and ask. Talk to your family and let them know what you've been trying to hide. Let them know you need help to find yourself again and that your soul is still in there behind the pain.
Groundhog Day for Danny Claricoates with PTSD
Groundhog Day for Danny Claricoates, the warrior with invisible wounds
Tom Coghlan
As Danny Claricoates was walking past some roadworks last week, a workman switched on a tarmac-flattening machine. He froze. Sweat began to pour off him and his heart started to race with shock.
He could hear the unmistakable sound of an incoming Chinook helicopter. He was back in Afghanistan on November 12 last year as the vehicle in front of him blew apart, then weeping as he carried the bodies of two close friends to a waiting helicopter.
Danny is trapped in a dystopian version of Groundhog Day. Particular sounds trigger the same flashback, and though the experience is always the same, it never loses any of its horror.
It is deeply debilitating. He is perpetually on edge and unable to shake off deep feelings of guilt.
What makes Danny unusual, however, is that not only is he willing to talk openly about the still-taboo subject of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which he now has a diagnosis, but that he is also a winner of one of Britain’s highest awards for gallantry: the Military Cross.
In 2007, aged 27, he spent seven months in Helmand. All but five weeks of that time was spent on the front line. He was awarded the MC for his exceptional courage under fire on three occasions.
When Danny returned from Afghanistan he was, his mother said, a different person. He was troubled, above all, by a sense of guilt. There had been a moment when a Marine was hit beside him and Danny didn’t stop to help him. The man was only shot in the wrist but Danny always blamed himself.
read more here
Groundhog Day for Danny Claricoates
Tom Coghlan
As Danny Claricoates was walking past some roadworks last week, a workman switched on a tarmac-flattening machine. He froze. Sweat began to pour off him and his heart started to race with shock.
He could hear the unmistakable sound of an incoming Chinook helicopter. He was back in Afghanistan on November 12 last year as the vehicle in front of him blew apart, then weeping as he carried the bodies of two close friends to a waiting helicopter.
Danny is trapped in a dystopian version of Groundhog Day. Particular sounds trigger the same flashback, and though the experience is always the same, it never loses any of its horror.
It is deeply debilitating. He is perpetually on edge and unable to shake off deep feelings of guilt.
What makes Danny unusual, however, is that not only is he willing to talk openly about the still-taboo subject of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which he now has a diagnosis, but that he is also a winner of one of Britain’s highest awards for gallantry: the Military Cross.
In 2007, aged 27, he spent seven months in Helmand. All but five weeks of that time was spent on the front line. He was awarded the MC for his exceptional courage under fire on three occasions.
When Danny returned from Afghanistan he was, his mother said, a different person. He was troubled, above all, by a sense of guilt. There had been a moment when a Marine was hit beside him and Danny didn’t stop to help him. The man was only shot in the wrist but Danny always blamed himself.
read more here
Groundhog Day for Danny Claricoates
Medal of Honor, Vietnam Vet Col. Robert Lewis Howard passed away
Decorated Army colonel, MoH recipient dies
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 24, 2009 8:46:38 EST
WACO, Texas — Retired Col. Robert Lewis Howard, a man considered to be the country’s most decorated soldier, died Wednesday. He was 70.
Howard was battling pancreatic cancer and died about noon at a hospice, his friend Benito Guerrero, a Vietnam veteran and retired sergeant major, told the San Antonio Express-News.
The Army veteran died in Waco, according to Oak Crest Funeral Home. At the time of his death he was the most decorated American soldier, the funeral home obituary said. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. No date has been set, the funeral home said.
Howard grew up in Opelika, Ala., and served in the Army from 1956 to 1992. He was part of the U.S. Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets, and ran cross-border operations in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam. He was wounded 14 times in Vietnam and was awarded eight Purple Hearts.
He was nominated three times for the Medal of Honor, the nation’s most prestigious award for combat veterans. President Richard M. Nixon presented him with the honor at the White House in 1971 for his bravery in Vietnam during a mission to rescue a missing soldier in enemy territory.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_colonel_dies_122309/
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 24, 2009 8:46:38 EST
WACO, Texas — Retired Col. Robert Lewis Howard, a man considered to be the country’s most decorated soldier, died Wednesday. He was 70.
Howard was battling pancreatic cancer and died about noon at a hospice, his friend Benito Guerrero, a Vietnam veteran and retired sergeant major, told the San Antonio Express-News.
The Army veteran died in Waco, according to Oak Crest Funeral Home. At the time of his death he was the most decorated American soldier, the funeral home obituary said. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. No date has been set, the funeral home said.
Howard grew up in Opelika, Ala., and served in the Army from 1956 to 1992. He was part of the U.S. Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets, and ran cross-border operations in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam. He was wounded 14 times in Vietnam and was awarded eight Purple Hearts.
He was nominated three times for the Medal of Honor, the nation’s most prestigious award for combat veterans. President Richard M. Nixon presented him with the honor at the White House in 1971 for his bravery in Vietnam during a mission to rescue a missing soldier in enemy territory.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_colonel_dies_122309/
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Veterans find peace working on San Diego-area farm
Veterans find peace working on San Diego-area farm
The Associated Press
Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009 9:51 p.m.
When Carlos Rivera returned from fighting in Iraq and found work as an electrician, he felt co-workers who knew about his military experience were gawking at him. He went home angry each day.
That's not a problem at his current job working alongside other combat veterans picking avocados, mixing organic fertilizers and gathering basil amid northern San Diego County's undulating ochre hills.
"I'm outdoors, not stuck inside somewhere feeling suffocated," said Rivera, 25, who returned from Iraq in 2007 after four years as a Marine. "There's always someone to talk to, someone there to understand."
Rivera works at Archi's Acres, a 3-acre high-tech organic farm owned by Colin Archipley, who served three tours in Iraq and is trying to help other combat vets shake the trauma of war by turning swords to plowshares.
Working the earth has long been recognized as good therapy for war veterans. About 20 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs centers have gardening programs, said Anthony Campinell, the VA's national director for work therapy programs. He said Archi's Acres is the only fully commercial enterprise of which he was aware.
Veterans have grown fruits, vegetables and flowers on a 12-acre parcel at the VA hospital in west Los Angeles since 1986. They sold their produce at farmers markets until April, when administrators had them take a break while they work out a deal for a nonprofit group to take over the commercial parts of that program.
read more here
Veterans find peace working on San Diego area farm
The Associated Press
Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009 9:51 p.m.
When Carlos Rivera returned from fighting in Iraq and found work as an electrician, he felt co-workers who knew about his military experience were gawking at him. He went home angry each day.
That's not a problem at his current job working alongside other combat veterans picking avocados, mixing organic fertilizers and gathering basil amid northern San Diego County's undulating ochre hills.
"I'm outdoors, not stuck inside somewhere feeling suffocated," said Rivera, 25, who returned from Iraq in 2007 after four years as a Marine. "There's always someone to talk to, someone there to understand."
Rivera works at Archi's Acres, a 3-acre high-tech organic farm owned by Colin Archipley, who served three tours in Iraq and is trying to help other combat vets shake the trauma of war by turning swords to plowshares.
Working the earth has long been recognized as good therapy for war veterans. About 20 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs centers have gardening programs, said Anthony Campinell, the VA's national director for work therapy programs. He said Archi's Acres is the only fully commercial enterprise of which he was aware.
Veterans have grown fruits, vegetables and flowers on a 12-acre parcel at the VA hospital in west Los Angeles since 1986. They sold their produce at farmers markets until April, when administrators had them take a break while they work out a deal for a nonprofit group to take over the commercial parts of that program.
read more here
Veterans find peace working on San Diego area farm
Homeless female vets find few services
Homeless female vets find few services
By Kimberly Hefling
The Associated Press
Updated: 12/18/2009
Long Beach, Calif.
The $15,000 that former Army Pvt. Margaret Ortiz had in the bank when she left Iraq is long gone, spent on alcohol and cocaine.
By the time she found her way to a program run by the nonprofit U.S. Vets for homeless female veterans in this Southern California city, she had slept in San Diego on the beach or anywhere she could find after a night of partying. One morning, she woke up behind a trash bin, her pants torn, with no memory of what happened.
Instead of helping her forget her six months in Iraq, where she said she faced attacks on her compound and sexual harassment from fellow soldiers, the alcohol and drugs brought flashbacks and raging blackouts. She said she tried to kill herself.
"You knew something was wrong with you, but you didn't know what was wrong with you. Nobody knew, and so you couldn't really handle it," said Ortiz, 27, from atop her twin bed in a plain dorm-style room, a black 4th Infantry Division ball cap on her head.
Ortiz is one of the new faces among America's homeless veterans.
They're younger than homeless male veterans and more likely to bring children. Their number has doubled in the past decade, and there are an estimated 6,500 homeless female veterans on any given night -- about 5 percent of the total homeless veterans population.
read more here
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14030471
By Kimberly Hefling
The Associated Press
Updated: 12/18/2009
Long Beach, Calif.
The $15,000 that former Army Pvt. Margaret Ortiz had in the bank when she left Iraq is long gone, spent on alcohol and cocaine.
By the time she found her way to a program run by the nonprofit U.S. Vets for homeless female veterans in this Southern California city, she had slept in San Diego on the beach or anywhere she could find after a night of partying. One morning, she woke up behind a trash bin, her pants torn, with no memory of what happened.
Instead of helping her forget her six months in Iraq, where she said she faced attacks on her compound and sexual harassment from fellow soldiers, the alcohol and drugs brought flashbacks and raging blackouts. She said she tried to kill herself.
"You knew something was wrong with you, but you didn't know what was wrong with you. Nobody knew, and so you couldn't really handle it," said Ortiz, 27, from atop her twin bed in a plain dorm-style room, a black 4th Infantry Division ball cap on her head.
Ortiz is one of the new faces among America's homeless veterans.
They're younger than homeless male veterans and more likely to bring children. Their number has doubled in the past decade, and there are an estimated 6,500 homeless female veterans on any given night -- about 5 percent of the total homeless veterans population.
read more here
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14030471
At Fort Hood, a 'sense of sorrow' clouds holidays
At Fort Hood, a 'sense of sorrow' clouds holidays
By Donna Leinwand and Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
For the first time in 22 years, Sheryll Pearson won't put up a Christmas tree. Suddenly, the holiday she's always loved is "horrible."
Pearson's son, Mikey — Army Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, who specialized in defusing bombs — is dead, gunned down last month in the rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others. Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is charged with the slayings.
For families of the victims, for the injured and for the many who call the post at Fort Hood home, the Nov. 5 tragedy remains a fresh, stinging wound in what should be a joyous holiday season. Injured soldiers are wrestling with rehab as their units deploy overseas. Soldiers who live at Fort Hood have put on a brave face as they regain their sense of security. Professional counselors and chaplains are trying to help everyone make sense of it all.
read more here
At Fort Hood, a 'sense of sorrow' clouds holidays
By Donna Leinwand and Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
For the first time in 22 years, Sheryll Pearson won't put up a Christmas tree. Suddenly, the holiday she's always loved is "horrible."
Pearson's son, Mikey — Army Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, who specialized in defusing bombs — is dead, gunned down last month in the rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others. Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is charged with the slayings.
For families of the victims, for the injured and for the many who call the post at Fort Hood home, the Nov. 5 tragedy remains a fresh, stinging wound in what should be a joyous holiday season. Injured soldiers are wrestling with rehab as their units deploy overseas. Soldiers who live at Fort Hood have put on a brave face as they regain their sense of security. Professional counselors and chaplains are trying to help everyone make sense of it all.
read more here
At Fort Hood, a 'sense of sorrow' clouds holidays
Friends, neighbors pray for wounded Pierce Co deputies
Friends, neighbors pray for wounded Pierce Co deputies
By KOMO Staff
EATONVILLE, Wash. -- With candles in hand, dozens of local residents gathered on Tuesday night to pray for the two Pierce County deputies who were shot at a home near Eatonville on Monday night.
Pierce County sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer said Deputy Kent Mundell and Sgt. Nick Hausner ran into trouble after responding to a domestic violence call.
Investigators said David E. Crable was concealing a gun in clothes he was holding and fired about 10 shots at the two deputies from just a few feet away. Mundell, 44, was hit multiple times, but managed to shoot back and kill Crable, Troyer said.
By KOMO Staff
EATONVILLE, Wash. -- With candles in hand, dozens of local residents gathered on Tuesday night to pray for the two Pierce County deputies who were shot at a home near Eatonville on Monday night.
Pierce County sheriff spokesman Ed Troyer said Deputy Kent Mundell and Sgt. Nick Hausner ran into trouble after responding to a domestic violence call.
Investigators said David E. Crable was concealing a gun in clothes he was holding and fired about 10 shots at the two deputies from just a few feet away. Mundell, 44, was hit multiple times, but managed to shoot back and kill Crable, Troyer said.
Friends say Hausner served in the U.S. Marine Corps before joining law enforcement.
read more here
Veterans Still Waiting For GI Bill Payments, Colleges Unpaid
Veterans Still Waiting For GI Bill Payments, Colleges Unpaid
KIMBERLY HEFLING 12/22/09
WASHINGTON — Universities and colleges are still waiting for tuition payments for thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who attended school last fall under the new GI Bill, leaving the veterans panicked that they'll be unable to return to class in January.
Veterans Affairs Department officials promise to get them back into the classroom. The VA says the number of veterans with claims unprocessed is now fewer than 5,000 – down from tens of thousands – and the goal is to have them all processed by the end of the year.
"We continue to work on a daily basis with schools to make sure that no student is denied attending class as a result of delayed tuition payments," Katie Roberts, a VA spokeswoman, said Tuesday. "It's a top priority for VA to make sure that students can focus on their studies rather than their bank accounts."
But after being besieged by delays and financial hardship last semester that left them struggling to make rent payments and pay for textbooks, many veterans are frantically contacting veterans service organizations such as the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America for guidance.
Clay Hunt, a former Marine corporal who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, attends Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He said he and his wife have racked up about $4,000 in credit card debt because his university won't release student loans he needs for living expenses until tuition is fully paid. Hunt, 27, said under the GI Bill the school is still owed about $6,000 and he personally is owed about $1,700 for housing and books.
"I am disappointed about it," Hunt said. "I'm very disappointed about the way it was implemented. I feel like the VA had ample time to figure out how they were going to disperse these payments and make sure this transition to the new GI Bill went smoothly, and they definitely failed to do that."
read more here
Veterans Still Waiting For GI Bill Payments
KIMBERLY HEFLING 12/22/09
WASHINGTON — Universities and colleges are still waiting for tuition payments for thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who attended school last fall under the new GI Bill, leaving the veterans panicked that they'll be unable to return to class in January.
Veterans Affairs Department officials promise to get them back into the classroom. The VA says the number of veterans with claims unprocessed is now fewer than 5,000 – down from tens of thousands – and the goal is to have them all processed by the end of the year.
"We continue to work on a daily basis with schools to make sure that no student is denied attending class as a result of delayed tuition payments," Katie Roberts, a VA spokeswoman, said Tuesday. "It's a top priority for VA to make sure that students can focus on their studies rather than their bank accounts."
But after being besieged by delays and financial hardship last semester that left them struggling to make rent payments and pay for textbooks, many veterans are frantically contacting veterans service organizations such as the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America for guidance.
Clay Hunt, a former Marine corporal who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, attends Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He said he and his wife have racked up about $4,000 in credit card debt because his university won't release student loans he needs for living expenses until tuition is fully paid. Hunt, 27, said under the GI Bill the school is still owed about $6,000 and he personally is owed about $1,700 for housing and books.
"I am disappointed about it," Hunt said. "I'm very disappointed about the way it was implemented. I feel like the VA had ample time to figure out how they were going to disperse these payments and make sure this transition to the new GI Bill went smoothly, and they definitely failed to do that."
read more here
Veterans Still Waiting For GI Bill Payments
VA clerk's bright idea leads to White House visit
VA clerk's bright idea leads to White House visit
President Obama meets with winner of contest on how to reduce federal government waste
By Doug Beizer Dec 22, 2009
A Veterans Affairs Department clerk met with President Barack Obama at the White House Dec. 21 as a reward for her idea on how the VA can save money.
Nancy Fichtner, a support clerk at the VA hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., won the Securing Americans Value and Efficiency (SAVE) Award for her idea on how to cut waste at VA medical centers, according to the White House.
Partially used medical supplies, such as inhalers and eye drops, used at VA hospitals are thrown away when veterans are discharged, according to White House officials. Fichtner’s idea is to find a way to let patients to take those supplies with them after being discharged.
read more here
http://fcw.com/articles/2009/12/22/save-award-winner.aspx
President Obama meets with winner of contest on how to reduce federal government waste
By Doug Beizer Dec 22, 2009
A Veterans Affairs Department clerk met with President Barack Obama at the White House Dec. 21 as a reward for her idea on how the VA can save money.
Nancy Fichtner, a support clerk at the VA hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., won the Securing Americans Value and Efficiency (SAVE) Award for her idea on how to cut waste at VA medical centers, according to the White House.
Partially used medical supplies, such as inhalers and eye drops, used at VA hospitals are thrown away when veterans are discharged, according to White House officials. Fichtner’s idea is to find a way to let patients to take those supplies with them after being discharged.
read more here
http://fcw.com/articles/2009/12/22/save-award-winner.aspx
General Backs Off Court-Martial Threat for Pregnant Soldiers
General Backs Off Court-Martial Threat for Pregnant Soldiers
By JIM DAO
It didn’t take long. Just three days ago Stars and Stripes broke the story that the commander of United States forces in northern Iraq had threatened to court-martial military personnel under his command who became pregnant, or impregnated someone else. The order applied also to married couples who are deployed together.
But on Tuesday, the commander, Maj. Gen. Anthony A. Cucolo III, told ABC News that he would use only lesser, nonjudicial punishments to enforce the order. Courts-martial can lead to loss of all benefits and jail time.
“I see absolutely no circumstance where I would punish a female soldier by court-martial for a violation … none,” General Cucolo told ABC News.
read more here
General Backs Off Court Martial Threat for Pregnant Soldiers
By JIM DAO
It didn’t take long. Just three days ago Stars and Stripes broke the story that the commander of United States forces in northern Iraq had threatened to court-martial military personnel under his command who became pregnant, or impregnated someone else. The order applied also to married couples who are deployed together.
But on Tuesday, the commander, Maj. Gen. Anthony A. Cucolo III, told ABC News that he would use only lesser, nonjudicial punishments to enforce the order. Courts-martial can lead to loss of all benefits and jail time.
“I see absolutely no circumstance where I would punish a female soldier by court-martial for a violation … none,” General Cucolo told ABC News.
read more here
General Backs Off Court Martial Threat for Pregnant Soldiers
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Burned Florida teen out of hospital
Burned Florida teen out of hospital
December 22, 2009 5:59 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Michael Brewer, 15, allegedly set on fire by other teens, faces more surgery
He and his family are not returning home, but to an undisclosed location
Brewers mother plans to speak to reporters on Wednesday
Fort Lauderdale, Florida (CNN) -- A 15-year-old boy who was burned over 65 percent of his body in October when he was set on fire, allegedly by a group of teenagers, was released from the hospital Tuesday, officials said.
Michael Brewer was discharged from the University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn Center, spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson said in a written statement.
Doctors and Brewer's mother, Valerie, will speak to reporters Wednesday, Nelson said.
read more here
Burned Florida teen out of hospital
December 22, 2009 5:59 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Michael Brewer, 15, allegedly set on fire by other teens, faces more surgery
He and his family are not returning home, but to an undisclosed location
Brewers mother plans to speak to reporters on Wednesday
Fort Lauderdale, Florida (CNN) -- A 15-year-old boy who was burned over 65 percent of his body in October when he was set on fire, allegedly by a group of teenagers, was released from the hospital Tuesday, officials said.
Michael Brewer was discharged from the University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn Center, spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson said in a written statement.
Doctors and Brewer's mother, Valerie, will speak to reporters Wednesday, Nelson said.
read more here
Burned Florida teen out of hospital
Army Turns To Resilience Training Again?
The Army must have forgotten about almost half a million on this report since the news was just released this week 2 million have been deployed. The Army also seems to have forgotten that PTSD is not new, although it's been in the news. Eight years is mentioned in this article. Eight years of blah, blah, blah and billions of dollars to redo what was done over the last 30 years. At least the Army is now talking as if they get the message now.
Mind, body and spirit being addressed? Absolutely needed but do they understand why it is?
They don't seem to be able to understand why some end up attacked by PTSD and others manage to walk away. Maybe when they understand this, what sets some veterans apart, then they'll be able to figure out what to do to help them heal. Not too long ago, they still thought that men and women could train their brains to stop being human. Oh, well, looks like they still don't get this one either since resilience training and Battle Mind are both mentioned in this article as well.
If average people like me can figure this out, what's wrong with these "professionals" that they cannot figure out what most of us already know?
Trauma strikes humans and there is only one way to end up with PTSD. That's after a traumatic event. If you are human, you walk away from it one of two ways. Feeling you are one lucky son of a bitch and God was watching over you, or you were just abandoned-blamed-found guilty and PTSD is your punishment. Our brains are designed to make sense out of things but our brains only have what is already in them to use to understand situations beyond the "normal" world we were supposed to be living in.
Can they be made to be resilient? Sure if it all began when they were born. If all the dots all their lives were all connected in order without a smudge. They could be if their character was one of not caring about others very much, putting themselves first and only caring about their own needs. If it's later in life, trying to make them resilient has to be adapted to go with the baggage already on their backs.
The way the Army has been going at it, they begin with basically telling the troops if they end up with PTSD, it's their fault. This is not intentional but this is the way the message has been getting thru to them. Most of the other parts of the programs they have are good but try getting a young soldier, or even harder, a young Marine, to hear anything after "you can train your brain" to prevent PTSD. That tells them right there if they do are not tough enough to train their brain, then PTSD is because they are weak and it is their fault.
PTSD has nothing to do with strength of character or brain power. It has everything to do with who they are inside, in their soul, how they feel about others, what drives them, what caused them to find the courage within themselves they were willing to die for someone else. All this goes into the package the military is trying to "train" the brains of. It is compassion.
When they survive but others didn't they label it "survivors guilt" and this eats them deeper than just seeing the aftermath of the event itself.
When they have to take a life, this eats at them no matter how well they were prepared especially when it was an innocent person/civilian and non-combatant, carried even deeper when it was a child they ended up killing.
Witnessing these things will cut them and then added onto all of this is the fact no one knew who was the enemy no matter where they went. They come home and cannot trust anyone. The enemy is already inside of them buried in their memory.
They can heal but they can do it with therapy and medications but they have to be on the right medications and getting the right therapy or it's doing more harm than good.
If you needed brain surgery, would you go to a podiatrist? No, you'd see a neurosurgeon. Why is it then we expect the service men and women to get proper care from psychologists and psychiatrists with absolutely no background in PTSD? This happens all the time. It's one of the biggest reasons there are so many misdiagnosed cases and discharges. If they are looking for any other mental illness but are actually looking at PTSD, they'll find what they are looking for. The symptoms of PTSD are in most major mental illnesses. The key they need to use is to see if there were traumatic events in their lives or not.
They come home and if they are lucky enough to get into the VA, they are handed medications and depending on what part of the country they live in, most of the time, they are not getting any therapy at all. You cannot heal PTSD without therapy either by a member of the mental health community or a member of the clergy, as long as they are experts in this field. Otherwise more harm than good is done,
The other huge factor in all of this is the involvement of the family. If they are not included in all of this, they can make the situation worse instead of helping them heal. The families are usually left out of all treatment even though they are the ones living with these veterans 24/7. How can anyone expect them to be able to live in a household with all they have going on and leave the family out of all of it to work? It won't. Families need education and support to help the veteran heal.
Unless everything is all being done, taking into account there is no one size fits all solution, then we'll keep seeing the numbers of suicides rise just as we see the numbers of attempted suicides rise.
Mind, body and spirit being addressed? Absolutely needed but do they understand why it is?
They don't seem to be able to understand why some end up attacked by PTSD and others manage to walk away. Maybe when they understand this, what sets some veterans apart, then they'll be able to figure out what to do to help them heal. Not too long ago, they still thought that men and women could train their brains to stop being human. Oh, well, looks like they still don't get this one either since resilience training and Battle Mind are both mentioned in this article as well.
If average people like me can figure this out, what's wrong with these "professionals" that they cannot figure out what most of us already know?
Trauma strikes humans and there is only one way to end up with PTSD. That's after a traumatic event. If you are human, you walk away from it one of two ways. Feeling you are one lucky son of a bitch and God was watching over you, or you were just abandoned-blamed-found guilty and PTSD is your punishment. Our brains are designed to make sense out of things but our brains only have what is already in them to use to understand situations beyond the "normal" world we were supposed to be living in.
Can they be made to be resilient? Sure if it all began when they were born. If all the dots all their lives were all connected in order without a smudge. They could be if their character was one of not caring about others very much, putting themselves first and only caring about their own needs. If it's later in life, trying to make them resilient has to be adapted to go with the baggage already on their backs.
The way the Army has been going at it, they begin with basically telling the troops if they end up with PTSD, it's their fault. This is not intentional but this is the way the message has been getting thru to them. Most of the other parts of the programs they have are good but try getting a young soldier, or even harder, a young Marine, to hear anything after "you can train your brain" to prevent PTSD. That tells them right there if they do are not tough enough to train their brain, then PTSD is because they are weak and it is their fault.
PTSD has nothing to do with strength of character or brain power. It has everything to do with who they are inside, in their soul, how they feel about others, what drives them, what caused them to find the courage within themselves they were willing to die for someone else. All this goes into the package the military is trying to "train" the brains of. It is compassion.
When they survive but others didn't they label it "survivors guilt" and this eats them deeper than just seeing the aftermath of the event itself.
When they have to take a life, this eats at them no matter how well they were prepared especially when it was an innocent person/civilian and non-combatant, carried even deeper when it was a child they ended up killing.
Witnessing these things will cut them and then added onto all of this is the fact no one knew who was the enemy no matter where they went. They come home and cannot trust anyone. The enemy is already inside of them buried in their memory.
They can heal but they can do it with therapy and medications but they have to be on the right medications and getting the right therapy or it's doing more harm than good.
If you needed brain surgery, would you go to a podiatrist? No, you'd see a neurosurgeon. Why is it then we expect the service men and women to get proper care from psychologists and psychiatrists with absolutely no background in PTSD? This happens all the time. It's one of the biggest reasons there are so many misdiagnosed cases and discharges. If they are looking for any other mental illness but are actually looking at PTSD, they'll find what they are looking for. The symptoms of PTSD are in most major mental illnesses. The key they need to use is to see if there were traumatic events in their lives or not.
They come home and if they are lucky enough to get into the VA, they are handed medications and depending on what part of the country they live in, most of the time, they are not getting any therapy at all. You cannot heal PTSD without therapy either by a member of the mental health community or a member of the clergy, as long as they are experts in this field. Otherwise more harm than good is done,
The other huge factor in all of this is the involvement of the family. If they are not included in all of this, they can make the situation worse instead of helping them heal. The families are usually left out of all treatment even though they are the ones living with these veterans 24/7. How can anyone expect them to be able to live in a household with all they have going on and leave the family out of all of it to work? It won't. Families need education and support to help the veteran heal.
Unless everything is all being done, taking into account there is no one size fits all solution, then we'll keep seeing the numbers of suicides rise just as we see the numbers of attempted suicides rise.
Army Turns To Resilience Training
By Kris Antonelli
© Stephens Media LLC 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 9:11 AM CST
As 30,000 troops prepare for deployment to Afghanistan, some for the second time, military officials stateside are working overtime to set up new mental health programs and resources to prevent and treat soldiers with a signature war injury: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
The latest in a long line of Army programs to deal with PTSD is called Resilience Training, by which soldiers are taught to alter negative thought patterns and challenge ingrained negative thought patterns that can trigger the illness. Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center will conduct the training with first-line sergeants who interact directly with new recruits.
“The time to train is not immediately before you are deployed,” says Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, who heads the new Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program, which includes resiliency training. “Drill sergeants are the key to this; they have a huge impact on new soldiers.”
An estimated 25 to 40 percent of the more than 1.6 million troops who deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan before December 2008 were suffering from some kind of psychological and neurological injuries associated with PTSD or Traumatic Brain Injury, according to a report posted by the National Council on Disability on its Web site.
read more here
http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2009/12/22/news/news122209_02.txt
A soldier's wife and babies not welcome to call USA home
A soldier's wife and babies are being kept from the U.S. despite DNA tests that prove the girls are his. KBTX reports.
Wounded, uprooted find solace at Fisher House
Wounded, uprooted find solace at Fisher House
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 22, 2009 11:04:51 EST
WASHINGTON — Michelle Ford had newborn twins and a husband severely wounded in Afghanistan when she got the offer to move into a group home on the campus of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Living with other families made her apprehensive, but she agreed. It turned out to be a wise decision.
While the rest of Washington is wrapped up in its holiday hustle, the Ford family is finding the homey atmosphere and camaraderie of Fisher House to be a salve and a source of support as husband Derrick recovers from injuries suffered during a roadside bombing in Afghanistan in mid-August. The couple and 3-month-old twins Trinity and Dennis live with 10 other families, each of whom has a service member or relative being cared for at the hospital.
read more here
Wounded uprooted find solace at Fisher House
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 22, 2009 11:04:51 EST
WASHINGTON — Michelle Ford had newborn twins and a husband severely wounded in Afghanistan when she got the offer to move into a group home on the campus of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Living with other families made her apprehensive, but she agreed. It turned out to be a wise decision.
While the rest of Washington is wrapped up in its holiday hustle, the Ford family is finding the homey atmosphere and camaraderie of Fisher House to be a salve and a source of support as husband Derrick recovers from injuries suffered during a roadside bombing in Afghanistan in mid-August. The couple and 3-month-old twins Trinity and Dennis live with 10 other families, each of whom has a service member or relative being cared for at the hospital.
read more here
Wounded uprooted find solace at Fisher House
New lawsuit filed in shower electrocution
New lawsuit filed in shower electrocution
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 22, 2009 8:39:02 EST
PITTSBURGH — The mother of a soldier electrocuted in an Army barracks shower in Iraq has filed a second lawsuit targeting another military contractor.
Cheryl Harris on Monday sued Washington Group International of San Francisco, which allegedly did electrical work in her son’s barracks from 2003 to 2005.
Army investigators say a water pump shorted out, electrocuting Harris’ son while he showered. Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, is one of 18 people electrocuted at Iraq military facilities since 2003.
read more here
New lawsuit filed in shower electrocution
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 22, 2009 8:39:02 EST
PITTSBURGH — The mother of a soldier electrocuted in an Army barracks shower in Iraq has filed a second lawsuit targeting another military contractor.
Cheryl Harris on Monday sued Washington Group International of San Francisco, which allegedly did electrical work in her son’s barracks from 2003 to 2005.
Army investigators say a water pump shorted out, electrocuting Harris’ son while he showered. Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, is one of 18 people electrocuted at Iraq military facilities since 2003.
read more here
New lawsuit filed in shower electrocution
Vets motorcycle group has fun while helping community
Bikes, beards and brotherhood
Vets motorcycle group has fun while helping community
By Lauri Harvey Keagle
Anyone dropping by the Lowell Veterans of Foreign Wars post on a Saturday night might think they accidentally stepped into a biker bar.
The parking spaces closest to the door are filled with motorcycles flying American and Prisoner of War flags. Inside, long-haired, leather-clad, tattooed and bearded bikers with names like Moose, Dracula and Snowman are bellied up to the bar in the dark room, beers in hand, under a cloud of smoke.
Some tease each other about not riding their bikes there on a brisk winter night.
"You wimp," one says to another. "What, did your mommy drop you off?"
But no bar brawls break out among the group. Beneath the tough veil are local military vets and their supporters, all members of the American Veterans Motorcycle Riders Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting veterans and others in the community in need. The group raises about $3,000 annually for various organizations.
"Nobody does enough," said Roselawn resident Larry Midkiff, an Army veteran who serves as commander of the group. "The government doesn't do enough. We need to help fill that void."
read more here
Bikes beards and brotherhood
Vets motorcycle group has fun while helping community
By Lauri Harvey Keagle
Anyone dropping by the Lowell Veterans of Foreign Wars post on a Saturday night might think they accidentally stepped into a biker bar.
The parking spaces closest to the door are filled with motorcycles flying American and Prisoner of War flags. Inside, long-haired, leather-clad, tattooed and bearded bikers with names like Moose, Dracula and Snowman are bellied up to the bar in the dark room, beers in hand, under a cloud of smoke.
Some tease each other about not riding their bikes there on a brisk winter night.
"You wimp," one says to another. "What, did your mommy drop you off?"
But no bar brawls break out among the group. Beneath the tough veil are local military vets and their supporters, all members of the American Veterans Motorcycle Riders Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting veterans and others in the community in need. The group raises about $3,000 annually for various organizations.
"Nobody does enough," said Roselawn resident Larry Midkiff, an Army veteran who serves as commander of the group. "The government doesn't do enough. We need to help fill that void."
read more here
Bikes beards and brotherhood
Toledo Vietnam veterans work to serve others
Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 12, 2009
Vietnam veterans seem to always be showing up in the news like in this following report. They show up to do motorcycle rides for charities ranging from helping kids feel special on Christmas to helping disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans feel appreciated. They show up on Veterans day just as much as they show up in Washington and around the nation to honor the fallen on Memorial Day. Vietnam veterans show up, no matter what the need is or who is in need, but these acts of kindness did not always make the news. What they did wrong did. Mostly because we didn't know what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was, so when they self-medicated or drank too much, we blamed them.
By the time Vietnam veterans were coming home, the availability of reporters was staggering. They seemed to be everywhere. Vietnam combat came into our living rooms every night and it was in our newspapers everyday. Before Vietnam, when veterans came home, they came home to become well kept secrets families held when Dad was drinking too much or was a nasty person not to be messed with. They came home just like their fathers did. After the parades and parties, they faded into their own private hell. Vietnam veterans would not let the rest of their lives become suffering in silence.
They fought for the healing available today. They pushed the government to invest in the research the rest of the population are assisted with today. The findings from investigations into PTSD ended up resulting in crisis responders showing up right after traumatic events, police officers, firefighters and emergency responders having someone to turn to and when survivors are shattered by loss. They pushed for the VA to compensate for this invisible wound they carried inside of their skin but touched every part of their lives.
The Vietnam veterans are still showing up to help. They show up to help others heal in whatever way they can. They show up to make a difference as they take leadership positions in all the service organizations as well as in businesses. They show up when one of their brothers needs someone to care and they show up when one of them is still sleeping in the woods or on the streets. They show up when they are at the other end of the phone looking for clothing to be donated to give the homeless veterans something warmer and cleaner to wear.
It is a joy to post a report like the following because when it comes to them, the next time you need help or some stranger to care, the chances are, it's a Vietnam veteran showing up.
Toledo Vietnam veterans work to serve others
Written by Chris Schmidbauer sports@toledofreepress.com
With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it is easy to forget the true meaning of Christmas. Often times we become so consumed with shopping, baking holiday treats, and planning family parties, that we often overlook the true meaning of the yuletide season.
Gene Shurtz sees the holidays in a different light these days. The 66 year old, who was a 1st Lieutenant in the Army, spent his Christmas 30 years ago stationed in Vietnam.
“Well the saying always goes ‘you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone,’” Shurtz said. “When you are isolated like that in deployment overseas, you spent a whole year, if you weren’t evacuated or injured in battle, away from your family and friends. It is very difficult.”
Shurtz is also the chapter president of the Vietnam Veterans of Greater Toledo, and he and his fellow veterans are working to make this Christmas a little brighter for service men and women and their families.
“We wanted to do some social functions, and we are trying to achieve some fellowship with some social functions,” Shurtz said. “The idea is to connect veterans with each other, and a Christmas party is a nice way to do that.”
The Christmas party will be held Monday December 21 at the Hooters restaurant on Monroe Street, but the party designed to bring some extra holiday cheer is just on part to the group’s mission.
The greater Toledo chapter is an arm of the Vietnam Veterans of America (V.V.A), whose mission has been not to forsake a group of veterans the way Vietnam veterans were.
read more here
Toledo Vietnam veterans work to serve others
Monday, December 21, 2009
Multiple Deployments Raises Risk of PTSD by Three Times
When the last straw broke the camels back, the owner thought the camel was doing just fine although his tongue must have been hanging out and his knees must have been buckling under all the weight. He didn't notice simply because he didn't want to. This is what's been happening to our military and while some want to say they are just not tough enough, others want to say they should have known what they were getting into and others just want to hide their heads in the sand, these men and women, no matter how well trained and determined to do their duty, have had the weight added to them for far too long.
Maybe they could have been able to take even more if the rest of us had bothered to show up and help them carry their load, but we didn't. Maybe they could have come home and felt they were appreciated when it came to what they needed from us, but they didn't. We just kept asking more and more of them and their families, repeating the same mistakes over and over again when addressing the emotional toll they paid and now we're upset because some people are calling for the return of the draft. What can we expect when none of us wanted to go in their place at the same time we complained they needed help when they got back because they went in our place?
Maybe they could have been able to take even more if the rest of us had bothered to show up and help them carry their load, but we didn't. Maybe they could have come home and felt they were appreciated when it came to what they needed from us, but they didn't. We just kept asking more and more of them and their families, repeating the same mistakes over and over again when addressing the emotional toll they paid and now we're upset because some people are calling for the return of the draft. What can we expect when none of us wanted to go in their place at the same time we complained they needed help when they got back because they went in our place?
New VA Study: Multiple Deployments Raises Risk of PTSD by Three Times
Written by Patrik Jonsson
Sunday, 20 December 2009 10:02
Pentagon plays catch-up as toll of repeat combat duty rises
A Department of Veterans Affairs study reports a three-fold increase in depression and post-traumatic stress after repeat combat duty, raising questions about the Pentagon’s ability to keep soldiers with combat-related psychological problems away from the front.
December 17, 2009 (Christian Science Monitor) - Emotional pain, depression, and angst among US soldiers seeing multiple deployments in war zones are much more common than the Pentagon has reported, a new Department of Veterans Affairs survey says.
Soldiers facing multiple deployments, moreover, are at least three times more likely to anonymously report problems of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than are those with a single deployment, according to the study published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health.
Coming as 30,000 more troops are being sent to Afghanistan, the findings in a study of nearly 3,000 New Jersey National Guardsmen are likely to spur additional debate over military and societal response to America’s heavy dependence on volunteer soldiers for repeated deployments in two wars.
The findings also raise questions about the military’s ability – and willingness – to properly screen soldiers for combat-related problems that could limit their effectiveness in war zones, writes Anna Kline, lead author of the VA study.
read more here
Multiple Deployments Raises Risk of PTSD by Three Times
Soldier on leave from Afghanistan killed in Baltimore while shopping
Soldier out shopping murdered in Baltimore
By Ben Nuckols - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 21, 2009 15:10:33 EST
BALTIMORE — Baltimore police say an active-duty soldier was shot to death Sunday in the city while on the way home from grocery shopping with his wife.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says 22-year-old Clifford Williams was on leave from service in Afghanistan.
read more here
Soldier out shopping murdered in Baltimore
By Ben Nuckols - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 21, 2009 15:10:33 EST
BALTIMORE — Baltimore police say an active-duty soldier was shot to death Sunday in the city while on the way home from grocery shopping with his wife.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says 22-year-old Clifford Williams was on leave from service in Afghanistan.
read more here
Soldier out shopping murdered in Baltimore
Veterans in law school finding a new way to fight
Finding A New Way To Fight
Ryan Cleckner and Brian Gregorio stand up for veterans at Quinnipiac law school
By ROBIN DeMERELL
Combat veteran Ryan Cleckner limped into a local veterans hospital after returning home from service as an airborne sniper and team leader in the U.S. Army’s 1st Ranger Battalion. He had severe hip and back pain and needed a cane to walk. The hospital’s doctors sent Cleckner on his way with a handful of ibuprofen – hardly the treatment he expected as a wounded veteran who served four years for his country.
After six years of fighting the system – lost medical records and misplaced disability claims – Cleckner had all but lost hope. Since Cleckner doesn’t shy away from a challenge, he decided to change the system – not just for himself, but for all veterans.
This past fall, the 30-year-old North Haven resident enrolled at Quinnipiac School of Law “so that I may learn how to fight the system in a way that can actually make a difference. I wanted to help veterans fight the [Department of Veterans Affairs] to get the care they deserve and help raise awareness for post-traumatic stress disorder issues,” he said. “I decided the best way to do this was to become a lawyer.”
Once Cleckner arrived at the Hamden law school he saw that there was no organization on campus for veterans. So he and fellow law-school student Brian Gregorio started their own Veterans’ Advocacy Group.
read more here
http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=35868
Ryan Cleckner and Brian Gregorio stand up for veterans at Quinnipiac law school
By ROBIN DeMERELL
Combat veteran Ryan Cleckner limped into a local veterans hospital after returning home from service as an airborne sniper and team leader in the U.S. Army’s 1st Ranger Battalion. He had severe hip and back pain and needed a cane to walk. The hospital’s doctors sent Cleckner on his way with a handful of ibuprofen – hardly the treatment he expected as a wounded veteran who served four years for his country.
After six years of fighting the system – lost medical records and misplaced disability claims – Cleckner had all but lost hope. Since Cleckner doesn’t shy away from a challenge, he decided to change the system – not just for himself, but for all veterans.
This past fall, the 30-year-old North Haven resident enrolled at Quinnipiac School of Law “so that I may learn how to fight the system in a way that can actually make a difference. I wanted to help veterans fight the [Department of Veterans Affairs] to get the care they deserve and help raise awareness for post-traumatic stress disorder issues,” he said. “I decided the best way to do this was to become a lawyer.”
Once Cleckner arrived at the Hamden law school he saw that there was no organization on campus for veterans. So he and fellow law-school student Brian Gregorio started their own Veterans’ Advocacy Group.
read more here
http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=35868
Veterans and Shelter Animals Meet With Pets2Vets
Veterans and Shelter Animals Meet With Pets2Vets
Pets2Vets program started by Air Force vet matches veterans with shelter animals
By LINDA LOMBARDI For The Associated Press
WASHINGTON December 21, 2009 (AP)
Dave Sharpe was troubled by thoughts he couldn't share after he returned from serving in Iraq. "I found myself waking up in the middle of the night, punching holes in walls, kicking and beating the refrigerator door," he said.
Then one day, the former Air Force senior airman went with a friend to a local pit bull rescue and took home a puppy, Cheyenne. Next time he found himself kicking something, "I saw this puppy, cocking her head, looking up at me, like, what are you doing?"
Finally, Sharpe had someone he could open up to. "I froze, I put down my drink, I picked her up and laid with her in my bed," he said. "I cried and I told her the whole story. I didn't feel judged."
The experience inspired Sharpe, of Arlington, Va., to start Pets2Vets, a group that pairs veterans with homeless pets by arranging adoptions of shelter animals. It has made two or three matches a week since its start in October.
One of the goals of Pets2Vets is to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder. Sharpe says that while a few groups provide veterans with service dogs, many PTSD and traumatic brain injury patients don't qualify for these programs. Even when they do, because of the stigma still attached to psychological problems, they may hesitate to apply.
read more here
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9392828
Pets2Vets program started by Air Force vet matches veterans with shelter animals
By LINDA LOMBARDI For The Associated Press
WASHINGTON December 21, 2009 (AP)
Dave Sharpe was troubled by thoughts he couldn't share after he returned from serving in Iraq. "I found myself waking up in the middle of the night, punching holes in walls, kicking and beating the refrigerator door," he said.
Then one day, the former Air Force senior airman went with a friend to a local pit bull rescue and took home a puppy, Cheyenne. Next time he found himself kicking something, "I saw this puppy, cocking her head, looking up at me, like, what are you doing?"
Finally, Sharpe had someone he could open up to. "I froze, I put down my drink, I picked her up and laid with her in my bed," he said. "I cried and I told her the whole story. I didn't feel judged."
The experience inspired Sharpe, of Arlington, Va., to start Pets2Vets, a group that pairs veterans with homeless pets by arranging adoptions of shelter animals. It has made two or three matches a week since its start in October.
One of the goals of Pets2Vets is to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder. Sharpe says that while a few groups provide veterans with service dogs, many PTSD and traumatic brain injury patients don't qualify for these programs. Even when they do, because of the stigma still attached to psychological problems, they may hesitate to apply.
read more here
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9392828
The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Relationship
I am not a psychiatrist or a psychologist. I need them now just as I needed them in the beginning to help heal my husband. I had to go it alone for years but finally found great doctors at the Bedford VA in Burlington MA, and we got my husband thru the darkest of times. That's one of the biggest things missing today.
Families are often avoided when a veteran is being treated for PTSD instead of added into the healing. Too many veterans are not receiving any therapy at all to go along with their growing list of medications they take. What we see are more suicides, attempted suicides, families falling apart, drug abuse, homelessness and hopelessness. All of this does not just happen to the veteran at the center of the turmoil in the family but to the entire family often being carried over one generation to the next, just as it had been since man first went to war with man. No one was doing anything as PTSD claimed more and more of the character of the veteran.
Today we have the Internet allowing veterans to connect to veterans all over the nation and families connect to other families for support and advice. As we travel the world wide web of knowledge, keep in mind there will be great advice as well as bad advice. Most sites offer support from groups of individuals in the same position and of the same background. Not one single site, including mine, has all the answers and they never will.
I know what it's like living with PTSD and have gained great insight into their world talking to them and their families, as well as my own husband, but no matter how much I know, I cannot go past suspecting PTSD. It takes a doctor to diagnosis it and provide medication for it. I can add to therapy they receive but I cannot replace it. I can give back hope of healing but I cannot answer prayers or replace God. My job is just to get them back into communicating with God instead of feeling abandoned by Him or trying to hide from Him.
Helping as teams, much can be accomplished but if you come across anyone acting as if they are the alpha and omega with all the answers on PTSD, run as fast as you can. After over 25 years, there are still things I am learning but above all, learning I can't do it all and was never intended to.
Read books and reports on PTSD and about what it being done. Find something that makes all of this click because there is no one size fits all answer or treatment any more than there is one style of therapy that works for all. Keep searching and stop being afraid to hope.
This is a book you may find helpful as you learn more about PTSD.
Families are often avoided when a veteran is being treated for PTSD instead of added into the healing. Too many veterans are not receiving any therapy at all to go along with their growing list of medications they take. What we see are more suicides, attempted suicides, families falling apart, drug abuse, homelessness and hopelessness. All of this does not just happen to the veteran at the center of the turmoil in the family but to the entire family often being carried over one generation to the next, just as it had been since man first went to war with man. No one was doing anything as PTSD claimed more and more of the character of the veteran.
Today we have the Internet allowing veterans to connect to veterans all over the nation and families connect to other families for support and advice. As we travel the world wide web of knowledge, keep in mind there will be great advice as well as bad advice. Most sites offer support from groups of individuals in the same position and of the same background. Not one single site, including mine, has all the answers and they never will.
I know what it's like living with PTSD and have gained great insight into their world talking to them and their families, as well as my own husband, but no matter how much I know, I cannot go past suspecting PTSD. It takes a doctor to diagnosis it and provide medication for it. I can add to therapy they receive but I cannot replace it. I can give back hope of healing but I cannot answer prayers or replace God. My job is just to get them back into communicating with God instead of feeling abandoned by Him or trying to hide from Him.
Helping as teams, much can be accomplished but if you come across anyone acting as if they are the alpha and omega with all the answers on PTSD, run as fast as you can. After over 25 years, there are still things I am learning but above all, learning I can't do it all and was never intended to.
Read books and reports on PTSD and about what it being done. Find something that makes all of this click because there is no one size fits all answer or treatment any more than there is one style of therapy that works for all. Keep searching and stop being afraid to hope.
This is a book you may find helpful as you learn more about PTSD.
The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Relationship: How to Support Your Partner and Keep Your Relationship Healthy
The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Relationship
(Paperback)
Diane England (Author)
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
War, physical and sexual abuse, and natural disasters. All crises have one thing in common: Victims often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their loved ones suffer right along with them. In this book, couples will learn how to have a healthy relationship, in spite of a stressful and debilitating disorder. They’ll learn how to:
Deal with emotions regarding their partner’s PTSD
Talk about the traumatic event(s)
Communicate about the effects of PTSD to their children
Handle sexual relations when a PTSD partner has suffered a traumatic sexual event
Help their partner cope with everyday life issues
When someone has gone through a traumatic event in his or her life, he or she needs a partner more than ever. This is the complete guide to keeping the relationship strong and helping both partners recover in happy, healthy ways.
About the Author
Diane England, PhD has a particular interest in the topic of post-traumatic stress disorder after having worked with military families for five years at a NATO base. Dr. England holds a PhD in clinical social work from the University of Texas at Arlington. In addition, she has a master’s degree in family studies from Oregon State University and a bachelor of science degree in child development from the University of Maine. She is a licensed clinical social worker who has practiced as a psychotherapist. She has also held other positions that provided opportunity to educate individuals on how to strengthen themselves, their marriages, and their families.
Procession Today For Officer Killed In Afghanistan
Procession Today For Officer Killed In Afghanistan
Last Update: 11:15 am
Procession For Local Officer Killed In Afghanistan
Slideshow
Anthony Campbell Jr.
Related Links
Services Set For Serviceman, Officer
Local Police Officer Killed In Afghanistan
Flags At Half-Staff For Florence Soldier
The remains of Air Force Tech Sgt. Anthony Campbell will arrive in the Tri-State Monday morning.The 35-year-old airman was also a Cincinnati police officer. He died last week in Afghanistan while he was trying to disarm an improvised explosive device.
The war may never be over for Dedi Noble
Camano Island mother devoted to memory of son killed in Iraq
By Gale Fiege
Herald Writer
The war may never be over for Dedi Noble.
During the first two Christmases after her only child, Army Sgt. Charles E. Matheny IV, was killed in Iraq, Noble sat in the front room of her Camano Island home and sobbed.
“Charlie's body came home. The funeral and burial came. The blackness came,” she said. “I asked God to take me, too, because my main purpose in life was to be Charlie's mother. Then I realized if he was gone, perhaps there was another purpose for me.”
As they did last Dec. 25, Noble and her husband, David, plan to load up their car on Christmas Day with gifts for 60 wounded warriors and drive to the regional Veterans Administration hospital in Seattle.
Noble, a member of the Washington Gold Star Mothers association, will spend the day visiting with veterans in the spinal-cord injury, brain injury, post-traumatic-stress disorder and psychiatric units.
read more here
http://heraldnet.com/article/20091221/NEWS01/712219881
By Gale Fiege
Herald Writer
The war may never be over for Dedi Noble.
During the first two Christmases after her only child, Army Sgt. Charles E. Matheny IV, was killed in Iraq, Noble sat in the front room of her Camano Island home and sobbed.
“Charlie's body came home. The funeral and burial came. The blackness came,” she said. “I asked God to take me, too, because my main purpose in life was to be Charlie's mother. Then I realized if he was gone, perhaps there was another purpose for me.”
As they did last Dec. 25, Noble and her husband, David, plan to load up their car on Christmas Day with gifts for 60 wounded warriors and drive to the regional Veterans Administration hospital in Seattle.
Noble, a member of the Washington Gold Star Mothers association, will spend the day visiting with veterans in the spinal-cord injury, brain injury, post-traumatic-stress disorder and psychiatric units.
read more here
http://heraldnet.com/article/20091221/NEWS01/712219881
‘Valley of Elah’ father dead at 60
‘Valley of Elah’ father dead at 60
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Dec 21, 2009 10:50:18 EST
His quest for the truth in his son’s murder at hands of his platoon mates revealed a deeper truth about the human cost of war and inspired the movie “In the Valley of Elah.”
Lanny Davis, a 60-year-old Vietnam veteran, died Dec. 13 after a two-month battle with lung cancer and a five-year battle over the death of his son, Spc. Richard Davis.
“Those are my two soldiers, they’ll always be,” his widow, Remy Davis, 60, said in a phone interview with Army Times. “They’ll be together.”
Richard Davis, 24, a member of the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, disappeared after a night out with friends near Fort Benning, Ga.
His remains were found months later, revealing that he had been stabbed 33 times and his body burned.
Police said Davis’ friends attacked him because he had insulted a stripper and got them bounced from a strip club.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/army_davis_obit_122809p/
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Dec 21, 2009 10:50:18 EST
His quest for the truth in his son’s murder at hands of his platoon mates revealed a deeper truth about the human cost of war and inspired the movie “In the Valley of Elah.”
Lanny Davis, a 60-year-old Vietnam veteran, died Dec. 13 after a two-month battle with lung cancer and a five-year battle over the death of his son, Spc. Richard Davis.
“Those are my two soldiers, they’ll always be,” his widow, Remy Davis, 60, said in a phone interview with Army Times. “They’ll be together.”
Richard Davis, 24, a member of the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, disappeared after a night out with friends near Fort Benning, Ga.
His remains were found months later, revealing that he had been stabbed 33 times and his body burned.
Police said Davis’ friends attacked him because he had insulted a stripper and got them bounced from a strip club.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/army_davis_obit_122809p/
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Haunted by 40 Months in Iraq
Haunted by 40 Months in Iraq
New America Media, Commentary, Anonymous, Posted: Dec 20, 2009
Editor’s Note: A former Marine re-ups 24 years after his discharge and volunteers for four consecutive combat tours. Now he’s at home fighting the war within. “Anonymous” wrote this for the Veterans Workshop, a New America Media writing project for combat veterans.
Since Iraq, I might go several days without sleep. It’s hard to function like that. When I do sleep, I often wake up after a bad dream and all I want to do is put on my gear, grab my weapon and hurt someone. On nights like that I can never fall back asleep.
I was in Iraq for almost 40 months straight, so long that all of my neighbors at home moved away. I came home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a traumatic brain injury (TBI). What follows are some of the thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head since my return. But it’s hard to focus. TBI can do that to a person.
I joined the Marines in 1977 and served in the infantry until I got out in 1981. I went to work for a major transportation company, eventually rising to a management position. But as I saw the war in Iraq dragging on, I decided in 2005 to re-enlist. I was too old at 46 to get back into the Marine Corps, but with a waiver I was able to join the Army National Guard.
I volunteered for the next unit deploying to Iraq, and reached the combat zone in late 2005. I knew that I was filling a slot, and I hoped that because I had deployed that a soldier who did not want to go to Iraq was able to stay home with his family. I felt that I was contributing more in Iraq than I had during the previous 24 years as a civilian. I truly enjoyed being in Iraq and doing an important and dangerous job.
I volunteered to stay in Iraq for four consecutive tours. I stayed because I felt that I was doing something worthwhile, regardless of the politics of the war. I felt that the younger soldiers deserved experienced leaders. I knew that they needed someone who would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them by choice, not because he was ordered to. I know that I had a positive impact on the soldiers in all of the units that I served with.
go here for more
Haunted by 40 Months in Iraq
New America Media, Commentary, Anonymous, Posted: Dec 20, 2009
Editor’s Note: A former Marine re-ups 24 years after his discharge and volunteers for four consecutive combat tours. Now he’s at home fighting the war within. “Anonymous” wrote this for the Veterans Workshop, a New America Media writing project for combat veterans.
Since Iraq, I might go several days without sleep. It’s hard to function like that. When I do sleep, I often wake up after a bad dream and all I want to do is put on my gear, grab my weapon and hurt someone. On nights like that I can never fall back asleep.
I was in Iraq for almost 40 months straight, so long that all of my neighbors at home moved away. I came home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a traumatic brain injury (TBI). What follows are some of the thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head since my return. But it’s hard to focus. TBI can do that to a person.
I joined the Marines in 1977 and served in the infantry until I got out in 1981. I went to work for a major transportation company, eventually rising to a management position. But as I saw the war in Iraq dragging on, I decided in 2005 to re-enlist. I was too old at 46 to get back into the Marine Corps, but with a waiver I was able to join the Army National Guard.
I volunteered for the next unit deploying to Iraq, and reached the combat zone in late 2005. I knew that I was filling a slot, and I hoped that because I had deployed that a soldier who did not want to go to Iraq was able to stay home with his family. I felt that I was contributing more in Iraq than I had during the previous 24 years as a civilian. I truly enjoyed being in Iraq and doing an important and dangerous job.
I volunteered to stay in Iraq for four consecutive tours. I stayed because I felt that I was doing something worthwhile, regardless of the politics of the war. I felt that the younger soldiers deserved experienced leaders. I knew that they needed someone who would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them by choice, not because he was ordered to. I know that I had a positive impact on the soldiers in all of the units that I served with.
go here for more
Haunted by 40 Months in Iraq
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Metro Orlando unemployment jumps to 11.8%
Five years ago we moved to Florida because I was supposed to be able to just work part time and do my work with veterans online the rest of the time. We bought a house in a nice area and after doing some temp work, I found what I thought was the perfect job for me working for a church.
The first few years here, it was easy finding work but that ended in 2007 when I lost my job due to the economy and the decision of the church to close down the education department opting instead for volunteers to run it. I haven't been able to find a paying job since then. Not even temp work.
I did accounting and held positions in just about every aspect of the business world from offices and retail but two years working for a church and then becoming a chaplain, didn't help my resume out much. It's almost as if I don't fit in anywhere anymore. I can picture the expressions of the HR heads reading my resume, seeing Chaplain and Christian Education then quickly putting it in the reject pile. It doesn't seem to matter that I'm just about desperate enough to take a job sweeping floors right now.
It gets even harder to find hope of finding a job when the malls were not even hiring for Christmas, driving past empty stores and closed down restaurants, sucks the air right out of any hope. If it's hard on me, then stop and think how hard it is for the men and women in the National Guards.
Think about this. Their rate of unemployment is over 20%. Who wants to hire them when they think about the fact they can get deployed again? Then there is the attitude that they will be too messed up in the head to do a good job. (Yes, even in this day and age the misinformation about PTSD is alive and kicking) They never seem to think that a National Guardsman or woman can do a great job just because of the type of individual they are.
Considering they put others first, put mission ahead of their personal life and are willing to take a bullet for a buddy, you really can't ask for a better employee, but aside from that, there is also the fact they follow orders well, train well, adapt well and have a habit of not complaining very much at all. Think of a better person to hire?
If I don't fit in then think about how hard of a time they have fitting back in. They still have bills to pay and families to support. What happens is they also come back to jobs long gone and competition for a few jobs from hundreds of people while they also get to worry about having to be redeployed back to Afghanistan or Iraq or waiting for the next natural disaster at the same time they have to worry about finding a job. All in all as bad as we may think we have it here looking for a job in Florida, they have it much worse and we, well we never seem to find the time to think of them at all.
The first few years here, it was easy finding work but that ended in 2007 when I lost my job due to the economy and the decision of the church to close down the education department opting instead for volunteers to run it. I haven't been able to find a paying job since then. Not even temp work.
I did accounting and held positions in just about every aspect of the business world from offices and retail but two years working for a church and then becoming a chaplain, didn't help my resume out much. It's almost as if I don't fit in anywhere anymore. I can picture the expressions of the HR heads reading my resume, seeing Chaplain and Christian Education then quickly putting it in the reject pile. It doesn't seem to matter that I'm just about desperate enough to take a job sweeping floors right now.
It gets even harder to find hope of finding a job when the malls were not even hiring for Christmas, driving past empty stores and closed down restaurants, sucks the air right out of any hope. If it's hard on me, then stop and think how hard it is for the men and women in the National Guards.
Think about this. Their rate of unemployment is over 20%. Who wants to hire them when they think about the fact they can get deployed again? Then there is the attitude that they will be too messed up in the head to do a good job. (Yes, even in this day and age the misinformation about PTSD is alive and kicking) They never seem to think that a National Guardsman or woman can do a great job just because of the type of individual they are.
Considering they put others first, put mission ahead of their personal life and are willing to take a bullet for a buddy, you really can't ask for a better employee, but aside from that, there is also the fact they follow orders well, train well, adapt well and have a habit of not complaining very much at all. Think of a better person to hire?
If I don't fit in then think about how hard of a time they have fitting back in. They still have bills to pay and families to support. What happens is they also come back to jobs long gone and competition for a few jobs from hundreds of people while they also get to worry about having to be redeployed back to Afghanistan or Iraq or waiting for the next natural disaster at the same time they have to worry about finding a job. All in all as bad as we may think we have it here looking for a job in Florida, they have it much worse and we, well we never seem to find the time to think of them at all.
Florida sees worst job losses in U.S.
Metro Orlando unemployment jumps to 11.8%
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
December 18, 2009
There's little holiday cheer in the latest unemployment figures, which show Florida lost more jobs in November than any state in the nation.
Employers shed 16,700 positions last month, pushing unemployment to 11.5 percent. Michigan lost the second-highest number of jobs, with 14,000 positions eliminated from October to November.
Florida's unemployment rate is up two-tenths of a point from October's revised rate of 11.3 percent and is at its highest point since May 1975.
Metropolitan Orlando's unemployment rate climbed even higher, to 11.8 percent, up three-tenths of a point from October's revised rate. At the county level, Osceola came in at 13.3 percent, Polk at 12.9 percent, Lake at 12.7 percent, Volusia at 12.3 percent, Brevard at 11.9 percent, Orange at 11.7 percent and Seminole at 10.9 percent.
Flagler County had the state's highest jobless rate: 16.8 percent. Tiny Liberty County in the Panhandle had the lowest: 6.1 percent.
read more here
Florida sees worst job losses in US
Homeless Veteran's Death keeps others warm
Like most, you either sent a Christmas card out or an email so that you could share good wishes for the next year and let them know you were thinking of them. We have an easy time doing that, just as we have an easy time sharing the joys in our lives. The wedding, the graduation, the new home, the birth of a child, all bring in well wishes from others and usually, they kick in a buck or two to help us celebrate.
When it is a tragedy, well, that usually comes with phone calls to let them know someone has passed away or is in the hospital. People usually respond with cards, flowers, donations and prayers. They are sadly participating in something they would rather not have happen, but knowing this is all part of life, they have no problem feeling our pain.
So how is it that when we need help, help from the same people we care enough to send Christmas cards to, no one wants to share the information? It's not that homeless people have no one to care. Most of the time, no one knows they needed help at all until they vanished into the streets. Then it's too late.
Is it pride? Do we think people will stop caring about us if they see us as a failure or unlucky because we fell on hard times? Do we think they won't care enough? Most of the time we find we do matter more than we think we do and the people in our lives rejoice with our triumphs as much as they grieve with us in our pain.
That's what this homeless veteran ended up doing because he mattered to people a lot more than he thought he did. His death changed the way the community deals with homeless people because he managed to touch their hearts. Think about what you can do in your own circle when you share what you care about and you will know what seems to be impossible now, will be possible because you cared enough to try.
When it is a tragedy, well, that usually comes with phone calls to let them know someone has passed away or is in the hospital. People usually respond with cards, flowers, donations and prayers. They are sadly participating in something they would rather not have happen, but knowing this is all part of life, they have no problem feeling our pain.
So how is it that when we need help, help from the same people we care enough to send Christmas cards to, no one wants to share the information? It's not that homeless people have no one to care. Most of the time, no one knows they needed help at all until they vanished into the streets. Then it's too late.
Is it pride? Do we think people will stop caring about us if they see us as a failure or unlucky because we fell on hard times? Do we think they won't care enough? Most of the time we find we do matter more than we think we do and the people in our lives rejoice with our triumphs as much as they grieve with us in our pain.
That's what this homeless veteran ended up doing because he mattered to people a lot more than he thought he did. His death changed the way the community deals with homeless people because he managed to touch their hearts. Think about what you can do in your own circle when you share what you care about and you will know what seems to be impossible now, will be possible because you cared enough to try.
Homeless Veteran's Death Remembered
By Dan Corcoran
EUGENE, Ore. -- Community leaders, volunteers and members of the homeless community gathered on Friday to remember a man who died on the streets of Eugene one year ago on Friday. The community believes his death was not in vain.
The death of Major Thomas Egan, a retired Oregon National Guard officer, inspired the opening of the Egan Memorial Warming Centers, making sure no one in the area suffers a similar fate as his.
read more here
http://kezi.com/news/local/156210
Foolish pride and wise prayers
Foolish pride and wise prayers
by Chaplain Kathie
I listen to veterans problems and the cries for help from their families as I have been for over 25 years. Hearing what they are going thru makes my own problems seem so tiny. Whenever I listen to them or read their stories in some news site article, they take me back to a dark time when I was lost, alone, had no place to turn to for support and had to learn how to save my husband on my own. I remember it all a little too well and that is what's behind what I do.
When we read about reports centered around PTSD, we find it easy to assume all is being done to take care of our veterans but the truth is only a fraction of what is needed is being done. Less than half of the veterans needing help with PTSD seek help. Consider that when you think of the backlog of claims, the influx of veterans trying to find help in the VA hospitals across the country and going to organizations springing up in all areas. Less than half.
There are still some veterans with no understanding of what PTSD is, others still think of it as a sign of weakness, a thing of shame and even more cannot find the strength within them to seek help at all. Families fall apart, like mine almost did. Veterans end up homeless like mine almost did. Hope slips away and I remember it all a little too well.
This is why I do it. This is why I spend all these hours working for them. This is also why I cannot walk away. It would be as if I walked away from my own husband. I wouldn't do it then and I won't do it now.
Yesterday I sent out an email to some people online begging for help. I am in deep financial trouble. Pride prevented me from asking for help most of the time. Maybe it was the words someone said about me a while ago saying that if I was any good at what I did, then I wouldn't have to ask for help at all. Maybe it's because I've been doing this for so long that by now, I even believe that type of attitude is right. I don't know. I do know the veterans I help cannot afford to donate money to keep me going and I have no connections. My work is used all over the country, provided for free, and the people using my videos, copying my entries on the blog and sharing what I've learned, for whatever reason, find it valuable enough to use but not enough to feel the need to pay for any of it. I usually wonder how they would feel if no one wanted to pay them for their time or their help.
Here's the email I sent out
All these years, I prayed to God for help. I found it very hard to ask people for help even though when God answers our prayers, He usually sends other people to answer the prayers. When they don't show up, we blame Him. I couldn't blame Him. I knew it had to be me.
Maybe I'm just not good enough at what I do, I'll think from time to time as I struggle to find reasons to go on when no one is showing up to help me. I came up with all kinds of reasons until Thursday night when our electricity was shut off. Then I couldn't stop crying.
All these years of helping strangers and no one was coming to help me. Friday it dawned on me that no one knew how bad it was for us financially or that I needed help at all. Maybe it was my pride preventing me from asking or maybe I just assumed no one would help me. Yes, I've been beaten down that far over the years that it becomes hard to believe anyone would think I was worth helping.
When we do things for the right reasons but end up greeted by Satan's foot standing in our way, we keep trying to get past it but we are tiny alone. We need help from others to get by. If we are afraid no one will think we are worth helping if they knew the truth, then we not only suffer needlessly, we never really give of ourselves. When we share our own struggles, when we show our own doubts, when we share that we are not prefect in anything or self-sustaining "I don't need anyone" rocks, then we are not helping anyone really.
How can you tell someone you understand their pain if you share none of your own? How can you offer them any hope of getting past it if you never show them where you were before you got to where you are? You can't and this is why many are not trusted enough.
My prayer was always to help veterans like my husband and their families. My prayer was answered. I was provided with every word needed, every thought, compassion that does not end and an endless supply of matches from God when I get burnt out. When I prayed for financial help it did come from time to time but it was a constant struggle. I've asked from time to time on the blog, but when I did, nothing came in to help me. So I tried again but this time asking people I've been contacted by asking me for help in the past.
I asked for $10.00 thinking I surely would be worth $10.00 to someone out there. I was shocked when I received more than I asked for from a couple of people. How could they think I was worth so much when others can't think I'm worth anything?
When we get beaten down so low, it's easier for us to think of ourselves as worth-less than we were when we were the ones doing the work, doing the helping, feeling oh so needed instead of needy. When you look it all of this the right way, then you understand that if you don't look down on people you help, then you should not look down on yourself when you need help as well.
Pray when you need help that God will send you the help you need but pray with an open heart and stop being ashamed you need to ask for help. Pride will get you nowhere. God will see the humbleness within you when you admit you are only human and need others to help you so that you can help them in return. I can't help anyone if my electricity gets shut off again and I can't do this work online. I can't help anyone if I have no place to live. I surely can't keep creating the videos if I can't buy music to use. Just as I no longer travel the country because I cannot afford it, I would have to stop answering the phone when they need me. How can I be so willing to help but unwilling to ask for help when I need it? Lesson for the day is: What good will your pride do you when you fall flat on your face and still refuse to ask for help? Set your pride aside and see your prayers answered.
by Chaplain Kathie
I listen to veterans problems and the cries for help from their families as I have been for over 25 years. Hearing what they are going thru makes my own problems seem so tiny. Whenever I listen to them or read their stories in some news site article, they take me back to a dark time when I was lost, alone, had no place to turn to for support and had to learn how to save my husband on my own. I remember it all a little too well and that is what's behind what I do.
When we read about reports centered around PTSD, we find it easy to assume all is being done to take care of our veterans but the truth is only a fraction of what is needed is being done. Less than half of the veterans needing help with PTSD seek help. Consider that when you think of the backlog of claims, the influx of veterans trying to find help in the VA hospitals across the country and going to organizations springing up in all areas. Less than half.
There are still some veterans with no understanding of what PTSD is, others still think of it as a sign of weakness, a thing of shame and even more cannot find the strength within them to seek help at all. Families fall apart, like mine almost did. Veterans end up homeless like mine almost did. Hope slips away and I remember it all a little too well.
This is why I do it. This is why I spend all these hours working for them. This is also why I cannot walk away. It would be as if I walked away from my own husband. I wouldn't do it then and I won't do it now.
Yesterday I sent out an email to some people online begging for help. I am in deep financial trouble. Pride prevented me from asking for help most of the time. Maybe it was the words someone said about me a while ago saying that if I was any good at what I did, then I wouldn't have to ask for help at all. Maybe it's because I've been doing this for so long that by now, I even believe that type of attitude is right. I don't know. I do know the veterans I help cannot afford to donate money to keep me going and I have no connections. My work is used all over the country, provided for free, and the people using my videos, copying my entries on the blog and sharing what I've learned, for whatever reason, find it valuable enough to use but not enough to feel the need to pay for any of it. I usually wonder how they would feel if no one wanted to pay them for their time or their help.
Here's the email I sent out
I have a new video for veterans and the troops with PTSD. I made this video because I am flooded with requests for help by them and their families. None of what we're seeing in PTSD has to happen. We will continue to see the increase in suicides, attempted suicides and devastated families until they get the support they really need to understand what PTSD is and how to cope.
Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on December 14, 2009
I have created over 30 videos and have over 18,000 posts on my blogs dedicated to our veterans. I have done this for free since 1982. Up until two years ago, I had paying jobs to support the work I do on behalf of our veterans. Since then, it has been a financial nightmare adding to my stress. Yesterday, my electricity was shut off and the money to pay to turn it back on had to be taken from a drained bank account. I am in desperate need of financial help. If you can make a donation of even $10.00 dollars plus pass this request on, it will help me in this dire time of need.
There is a PayPal button on my blog you can use to make a donation. If you use this means, your donation will not be deductible but I will be able to receive it fast. There is also an address with the IFOC so that you can make a tax deductible donation via mail. If you value the work I do, then please, help me to be able to keep doing it. I cannot continue without you.
All these years, I prayed to God for help. I found it very hard to ask people for help even though when God answers our prayers, He usually sends other people to answer the prayers. When they don't show up, we blame Him. I couldn't blame Him. I knew it had to be me.
Maybe I'm just not good enough at what I do, I'll think from time to time as I struggle to find reasons to go on when no one is showing up to help me. I came up with all kinds of reasons until Thursday night when our electricity was shut off. Then I couldn't stop crying.
All these years of helping strangers and no one was coming to help me. Friday it dawned on me that no one knew how bad it was for us financially or that I needed help at all. Maybe it was my pride preventing me from asking or maybe I just assumed no one would help me. Yes, I've been beaten down that far over the years that it becomes hard to believe anyone would think I was worth helping.
When we do things for the right reasons but end up greeted by Satan's foot standing in our way, we keep trying to get past it but we are tiny alone. We need help from others to get by. If we are afraid no one will think we are worth helping if they knew the truth, then we not only suffer needlessly, we never really give of ourselves. When we share our own struggles, when we show our own doubts, when we share that we are not prefect in anything or self-sustaining "I don't need anyone" rocks, then we are not helping anyone really.
How can you tell someone you understand their pain if you share none of your own? How can you offer them any hope of getting past it if you never show them where you were before you got to where you are? You can't and this is why many are not trusted enough.
My prayer was always to help veterans like my husband and their families. My prayer was answered. I was provided with every word needed, every thought, compassion that does not end and an endless supply of matches from God when I get burnt out. When I prayed for financial help it did come from time to time but it was a constant struggle. I've asked from time to time on the blog, but when I did, nothing came in to help me. So I tried again but this time asking people I've been contacted by asking me for help in the past.
I asked for $10.00 thinking I surely would be worth $10.00 to someone out there. I was shocked when I received more than I asked for from a couple of people. How could they think I was worth so much when others can't think I'm worth anything?
When we get beaten down so low, it's easier for us to think of ourselves as worth-less than we were when we were the ones doing the work, doing the helping, feeling oh so needed instead of needy. When you look it all of this the right way, then you understand that if you don't look down on people you help, then you should not look down on yourself when you need help as well.
Pray when you need help that God will send you the help you need but pray with an open heart and stop being ashamed you need to ask for help. Pride will get you nowhere. God will see the humbleness within you when you admit you are only human and need others to help you so that you can help them in return. I can't help anyone if my electricity gets shut off again and I can't do this work online. I can't help anyone if I have no place to live. I surely can't keep creating the videos if I can't buy music to use. Just as I no longer travel the country because I cannot afford it, I would have to stop answering the phone when they need me. How can I be so willing to help but unwilling to ask for help when I need it? Lesson for the day is: What good will your pride do you when you fall flat on your face and still refuse to ask for help? Set your pride aside and see your prayers answered.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Military study shows increase in suicide attempts, PTSD symptoms
Is it supposed to make me feel good that I was right all this time when the outcome didn't change? What a loser I am when I couldn't get anyone to really listen and do something about this and they had to suffer for what we failed to do.
Military study shows increase in suicide attempts, PTSD symptoms
By Seth Robbins, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, December 18, 2009
A wide-ranging Department of Defense survey revealed the rate of servicemembers attempting suicide has doubled in recent years, coinciding with an increase in those reporting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and those abusing prescription drugs.
The study, which surveyed more than 28,500 active-duty personnel on a number of health issues, showed that 2 percent of servicemembers surveyed said they attempted suicide in the past year. In the 2005 study, only 1 percent of respondents said they attempted suicide.
“We’ve seen increases in suicide rates over the last several years,” said Robert Bray, the study’s senior program director. “I think this data is consistent with what we are seeing there.”
The 2008 Survey of Health Related Behaviors, released late Wednesday, was conducted by researchers with the Research Triangle Institute. It was last taken in 2005.
The percentage of servicemembers admitting to PTSD-like symptoms rose from 7 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2008. The largest jumps came from soldiers and Marines.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66744
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