Area man’s Vietnam War experience took toll
By John Bulger jbulger@journalnet.com
INKOM — Donald Van Der Horn has a baseball cap that notes he is a Vietnam veteran, similar to those many veterans wear to commemorate their service experience.
Only upon close inspection can one read a pin, positioned dead center in the cap, that tips his hand. It reads “Dysfunctional Veteran — Leave Me Alone.”
Military service was common in Van Der Horn’s family, and he jumped willingly, even enthusiastically, into the Vietnam conflict.
“I enlisted because I was proud of this country. I went to war so that war didn’t come to me,” he says. “I was gung ho.”
If a kid leaving divinity school to enlist in the Army seems incongruent, it didn’t seem so to Van Der Horn, who grew up in a conservative Christian world that was distinctly black or white, with no hint of gray.
“It was a demanding existence, because everything was evil,” he says.
Days before he left in 1969, he married his girl, Susan. And then he was off to qualms about defending.
His black-or-white attitude was a tool that the military put to use. His psychological profile indicated that he was “the right guy to do certain things,” he says. Dark things. Unmentionable things.
read more here
Vietnam War experience took toll
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Marine’s mother honors those left behind
CHANGING LANES: Marine’s mother honors those left behind
By Katherine Bennett
GateHouse News Service
Posted Mar 12, 2010 @ 01:00 PM
Hingham —
There is pain that goes beyond my imagining. It is the loss of a child. On Nov. 10, 2009, Denise Sherman of Plymouth woke up to her worst nightmare. After nearly a week of agony that followed the somber message her only son was missing, she was given the news that Sergeant Benjamin W. Sherman had died in Afghanistan.
Keven Joyce, a Marine veteran who served in Vietnam, attended a dinner on Feb. 24 at the Barker Tavern to raise money for the foundation founded in Benjamin Sherman’s honor. Standing off to the side of the high-spirited crowd, Keven remarked, “America is made by people who chose to make the ultimate sacrifice.” Stating that he was attracted to the event because all donations benefit families of veterans, Keven spoke of the hardships faced by veteran’s families who lose a provider, and the families who now have to provide for a veteran who returns home with catastrophic injuries.
Keven explained that the medical advances on the front lines of today’s military may save lives, but do nothing to prepare soldiers for life after initial trauma is stabilized. “Technology saves you today because formerly mortal wounds are survivable, but there is no more support today than there was back in Vietnam for the soldiers with severe head injuries or who have lost multiple limbs. A far greater percentage of people who use to die on the battlefield are kept alive, but there is nowhere near the support they need when they return home.”
Benjamin’s mother did not have the privilege of having a wounded son return home. She had to face the agony of never looking into his warm brown eyes again. But- instead of falling apart, she founded the Benjamin W. Sherman foundation to honor his legacy by providing financial assistance to veterans and their families.
read more here
Marine mother honors those left behind
By Katherine Bennett
GateHouse News Service
Posted Mar 12, 2010 @ 01:00 PM
Hingham —
There is pain that goes beyond my imagining. It is the loss of a child. On Nov. 10, 2009, Denise Sherman of Plymouth woke up to her worst nightmare. After nearly a week of agony that followed the somber message her only son was missing, she was given the news that Sergeant Benjamin W. Sherman had died in Afghanistan.
Keven Joyce, a Marine veteran who served in Vietnam, attended a dinner on Feb. 24 at the Barker Tavern to raise money for the foundation founded in Benjamin Sherman’s honor. Standing off to the side of the high-spirited crowd, Keven remarked, “America is made by people who chose to make the ultimate sacrifice.” Stating that he was attracted to the event because all donations benefit families of veterans, Keven spoke of the hardships faced by veteran’s families who lose a provider, and the families who now have to provide for a veteran who returns home with catastrophic injuries.
Keven explained that the medical advances on the front lines of today’s military may save lives, but do nothing to prepare soldiers for life after initial trauma is stabilized. “Technology saves you today because formerly mortal wounds are survivable, but there is no more support today than there was back in Vietnam for the soldiers with severe head injuries or who have lost multiple limbs. A far greater percentage of people who use to die on the battlefield are kept alive, but there is nowhere near the support they need when they return home.”
Benjamin’s mother did not have the privilege of having a wounded son return home. She had to face the agony of never looking into his warm brown eyes again. But- instead of falling apart, she founded the Benjamin W. Sherman foundation to honor his legacy by providing financial assistance to veterans and their families.
read more here
Marine mother honors those left behind
Vietnam Veteran finally gets his Bronze Star thanks to Senator Webb
Va. Veteran Receives Bronze Star
Updated: Friday, 12 Mar 2010, 9:59 PM EST
Published : Friday, 12 Mar 2010, 7:10 PM EST
An award for combat valor 40 years in the making was finally given on Friday. Virginia veteran Phillip O'Donnell received one of the nation's highest honors-- the Bronze Star. It couldn't come soon enough because the former Vietnam combat pilot has cancer, and he says he may not live much longer.
Senator Jim Webb presented the Bronze Star Medal to Warrant Officer O’Donnell, U.S. Army (Ret.), a Stafford resident and Vietnam veteran who served in both the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service by the Army during that assignment, but the decoration was never presented as the result of an administrative oversight.
read more here
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/va-veteran-receives-bronze-star-031210
Updated: Friday, 12 Mar 2010, 9:59 PM EST
Published : Friday, 12 Mar 2010, 7:10 PM EST
An award for combat valor 40 years in the making was finally given on Friday. Virginia veteran Phillip O'Donnell received one of the nation's highest honors-- the Bronze Star. It couldn't come soon enough because the former Vietnam combat pilot has cancer, and he says he may not live much longer.
Senator Jim Webb presented the Bronze Star Medal to Warrant Officer O’Donnell, U.S. Army (Ret.), a Stafford resident and Vietnam veteran who served in both the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service by the Army during that assignment, but the decoration was never presented as the result of an administrative oversight.
read more here
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/va-veteran-receives-bronze-star-031210
Tribute to fallen soldier: 'You'll always be my hero'
Tribute to fallen soldier: 'You'll always be my hero'
By John Flick
SNOQUALMIE, Wash. - People lined the streets in several local communities Saturday in an emotional tribute to a fallen soldier.
Eric Ward was just 19 years old when he was killed in Afghanistan, but he was honored as a hero by many who knew him - and many who did not.
As a motorcade of family members drove slowly by, an entire community of people of all ages waved dozens of red-white-and-blue American flags along the streets, showing respect and support.
read more here
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/87594912.html
Veterans never outlive usefulness
Veterans never outlive usefulness
by
Chaplain Kathie
Sometimes it's almost as if as soon as we send men and women into the battles we decide need to be fought, they have already outlived their usefulness when they come home. Sure, we can always manage to find the money to send them, by weapons, get them there and keep them going while they are there, but after we pay their fare to come home, we seem to think our obligation to them is over and done with.
We'll show up at their funerals, offer a hug to their families, then we get to walk away never having to give them another thought until years later when a monument to the fallen is dedicated to "honor" their sacrifice.
We may show up when one of them comes out of Walter Reed or Bethesda missing some body parts and they are in need of having their homes adapted.
At least some of us do something to show them we do appreciate them but even for the ones paying attention, few really ever get personally interested unless one of their own family members are one of them.
Ask anyone showing up at any event to honor the men and women serving if they know any facts. They won't have a clue we have 18 veterans a day committing suicide. They don't know 12,000 a year attempt suicide either. They won't know where the veterans homeless shelter is or that there are homeless veterans in their own community. They won't know how many are wounded, how many died today in combat or how many died after they touched US soil again.
Most people have forgotten about Agent Orange and Gulf War Syndrome still claiming lives, more of the price they keep paying for serving. Even today too many Americans have no idea what PTSD in reality instead of some kind of twisted thought that the veterans claiming PTSD are anything but changed by what was asked of them.
There are so few veterans it's easy to forget all about them when you consider there are over 300 million people in this country but less than 30 million are veterans and even less are combat veterans. It's easy to forget that once they come back from combat, they will carry those days, those months, those years in their minds forever. They will remember every face they served with. Remember every man they served with, every woman they called "sister" and every horrific moment as well as outstanding ones.
We seem to think that if we give them two days a year, Memorial Day to honor the fallen and Veteran's Day to honor the survivors, that's all we have to do. Even at that the majority of the American public complains when traffic is diverted for the parades as we try to go off and go shopping or to a cookout. What the day is really for escapes our thoughts.
The day after Memorial Day, the family is still missing one of their own. Friends still grieve because someone they know is part of the price paid by the few who were willing to serve. Land of the free really means something to them because they truly understand what sacrifice for it is. The day after Memorial Day, we move on and forget.
The day after Veterans Day, we think about them for a second or two. We may even have a sense of appreciation when we see a movie on TV or read about a hero being interviewed in the local newspaper. What we fail to acknowledge is that they are veterans every day of their lives. Their families are no longer included in the oblivious observer category detached from the realities of combat. They are also not really included in on the list of sacrifices paid as a family member dealing with the results of combat.
They get to do battle because of combat. They have to fight the VA to have claims honored at the same time they have to convince their veteran that they are not asking for a handout but for the debt owed to them to be paid. Veterans are the last person able to ask for help because they are the doers after having put themselves behind what the country needed them to do. Then they have to fight the VA to have the claim approved, wounds taken care of and lost income somewhat replaced. The average American is not just lacking a clue of how many claims are on hold, tied up or reviewed, they lack any understanding that until a claim is approved, there is a combat veteran with hurting financially because they were hurt on the job, the job we asked them to do.
With all of this, when their days as a Marine, Sailor, Soldier or Airman are over, when their days as a National Guardsman or Reservists are over, they are not really over. While their days of usefulness on the books in their boots have come to an end, their lives are forever tied to all of it. We need to once and for all get past the notion they are no longer useful so we don't even have to give them any attention at all.
Most of the veterans in this country are still the people we depend on to be there for us, no matter if we acknowledge this or not. They are responsible for everything we say on "appropriate occasions" like "Land of the free because of the brave" yet never seem to really be willing to repay that debt. Talk to a group of police officers and you'll find most of them served in one branch or another before they became officers protecting our streets. Talk to a group of firefighters and you'll find many either still in the National Guards or a military veteran. They also head service organizations doing services to the communities they live in. They raise sons and daughters to understand what it is like to give back and they in turn enter into service to others in one form or another.
The usefulness of a veteran is everyday because long after the boots come off, long after the monuments are dedicated, long after we've forgotten all about them, they are aware they are not only a part of our history, their lives are part of our future because of the example they set as the few willing to go.
This is evident all the time with the Nam Knights Orlando chapter. Yesterday was just one more of the days no one knows about because what they do is never acknowledged by the local media.
While a poker run may not be newsworthy, the story behind yesterday makes for an outstanding human interest story. Given the fact the Nam Knights are about those who gave in the military or law enforcement, they still give everyday to their communities and to the troops serving today. The usefulness of the Vietnam veteran parents lives on. Some have children serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
A Vietnam vet that had a family and raised his children with love. Darrell knew what it was to give back because of the way his father set the example. After the accident, the way he and his family reacted was and still is an inspiration. Yesterday at the end of the poker run, Darrell said he felt blessed by being surrounded by so many people caring about him. He has held that same feeling of being blessed when he was concerned for the rider that had the saddle bag break off his bike. Darrell wanted him to know that he did not blame him for any of what happened that day. While it would be considered normal to want to blame someone for the suffering after, Darrell and his family found more power in reacting with compassion. They are an example of the type of people raised by and embraced by veterans. The usefulness of Jack Sr lives on.
After the accident, these veterans, these heroes rushed to help their wounded brothers. One of them, a firefighter called Wolf, wounded himself and bleeding, grabbed his emergency bag and rushed to help the others. Darrell said that Wolf saved his life.
Another Nam Knight, Stogie did not survive that accident. The usefulness of his life still goes on in his family. The love he gave to the rest of his "brothers" in the Nam Knights will live on and that is clear when you hear his name mentioned and stories of his life with them retold. It lives on in his family and in his wife. Last night back at the club house, she placed some of his ashes on the Eternal Memorial so that part of him would be with his "brothers" forever. Rita could have reacted differently but she, also filled with compassion, only wanted to acknowledge the fact that Stogie was loved by the Knights and loved them in return. His life is still useful and meaningful to both of his families.
For some seeing a group of Harleys and leather clad bikers heading off, they look at them with disgust never knowing what kind of people they are. They could be heading off to a charity ride as they did yesterday or off to Washington DC for Memorial Day and no one knows how much they give back all the time or how their lives are still usefull. They don't know that every Saturday night at 7:00, they offer up a toast to the troops and a silent prayer for their protection or how they contribute to many of the charities dedicated to taking care of those who serve today.
We move on, get on with our lives and most of the time we never really know how good people are because goodness is not "newsworthy" and reporters don't want to cover stories like this. Sure they show up and report on bad things people do all the time, but when they are truly remarkable, making a difference to so many all the time, they don't seem to find value in those actions. We all remember reading stories about Vietnam Veterans doing bad things when they came home but no one was reading about how these same men and women returned to fight for PTSD to be treated and compensated for. We didn't read about the changes in everything our country benefited by because they did this. They never gave up on us even though we forgot about them.
by
Chaplain Kathie
Sometimes it's almost as if as soon as we send men and women into the battles we decide need to be fought, they have already outlived their usefulness when they come home. Sure, we can always manage to find the money to send them, by weapons, get them there and keep them going while they are there, but after we pay their fare to come home, we seem to think our obligation to them is over and done with.
We'll show up at their funerals, offer a hug to their families, then we get to walk away never having to give them another thought until years later when a monument to the fallen is dedicated to "honor" their sacrifice.
We may show up when one of them comes out of Walter Reed or Bethesda missing some body parts and they are in need of having their homes adapted.
At least some of us do something to show them we do appreciate them but even for the ones paying attention, few really ever get personally interested unless one of their own family members are one of them.
Ask anyone showing up at any event to honor the men and women serving if they know any facts. They won't have a clue we have 18 veterans a day committing suicide. They don't know 12,000 a year attempt suicide either. They won't know where the veterans homeless shelter is or that there are homeless veterans in their own community. They won't know how many are wounded, how many died today in combat or how many died after they touched US soil again.
Most people have forgotten about Agent Orange and Gulf War Syndrome still claiming lives, more of the price they keep paying for serving. Even today too many Americans have no idea what PTSD in reality instead of some kind of twisted thought that the veterans claiming PTSD are anything but changed by what was asked of them.
There are so few veterans it's easy to forget all about them when you consider there are over 300 million people in this country but less than 30 million are veterans and even less are combat veterans. It's easy to forget that once they come back from combat, they will carry those days, those months, those years in their minds forever. They will remember every face they served with. Remember every man they served with, every woman they called "sister" and every horrific moment as well as outstanding ones.
We seem to think that if we give them two days a year, Memorial Day to honor the fallen and Veteran's Day to honor the survivors, that's all we have to do. Even at that the majority of the American public complains when traffic is diverted for the parades as we try to go off and go shopping or to a cookout. What the day is really for escapes our thoughts.
The day after Memorial Day, the family is still missing one of their own. Friends still grieve because someone they know is part of the price paid by the few who were willing to serve. Land of the free really means something to them because they truly understand what sacrifice for it is. The day after Memorial Day, we move on and forget.
The day after Veterans Day, we think about them for a second or two. We may even have a sense of appreciation when we see a movie on TV or read about a hero being interviewed in the local newspaper. What we fail to acknowledge is that they are veterans every day of their lives. Their families are no longer included in the oblivious observer category detached from the realities of combat. They are also not really included in on the list of sacrifices paid as a family member dealing with the results of combat.
They get to do battle because of combat. They have to fight the VA to have claims honored at the same time they have to convince their veteran that they are not asking for a handout but for the debt owed to them to be paid. Veterans are the last person able to ask for help because they are the doers after having put themselves behind what the country needed them to do. Then they have to fight the VA to have the claim approved, wounds taken care of and lost income somewhat replaced. The average American is not just lacking a clue of how many claims are on hold, tied up or reviewed, they lack any understanding that until a claim is approved, there is a combat veteran with hurting financially because they were hurt on the job, the job we asked them to do.
With all of this, when their days as a Marine, Sailor, Soldier or Airman are over, when their days as a National Guardsman or Reservists are over, they are not really over. While their days of usefulness on the books in their boots have come to an end, their lives are forever tied to all of it. We need to once and for all get past the notion they are no longer useful so we don't even have to give them any attention at all.
Most of the veterans in this country are still the people we depend on to be there for us, no matter if we acknowledge this or not. They are responsible for everything we say on "appropriate occasions" like "Land of the free because of the brave" yet never seem to really be willing to repay that debt. Talk to a group of police officers and you'll find most of them served in one branch or another before they became officers protecting our streets. Talk to a group of firefighters and you'll find many either still in the National Guards or a military veteran. They also head service organizations doing services to the communities they live in. They raise sons and daughters to understand what it is like to give back and they in turn enter into service to others in one form or another.
The usefulness of a veteran is everyday because long after the boots come off, long after the monuments are dedicated, long after we've forgotten all about them, they are aware they are not only a part of our history, their lives are part of our future because of the example they set as the few willing to go.
This is evident all the time with the Nam Knights Orlando chapter. Yesterday was just one more of the days no one knows about because what they do is never acknowledged by the local media.
While a poker run may not be newsworthy, the story behind yesterday makes for an outstanding human interest story. Given the fact the Nam Knights are about those who gave in the military or law enforcement, they still give everyday to their communities and to the troops serving today. The usefulness of the Vietnam veteran parents lives on. Some have children serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
This is Jack Sr.
A Vietnam vet that had a family and raised his children with love. Darrell knew what it was to give back because of the way his father set the example. After the accident, the way he and his family reacted was and still is an inspiration. Yesterday at the end of the poker run, Darrell said he felt blessed by being surrounded by so many people caring about him. He has held that same feeling of being blessed when he was concerned for the rider that had the saddle bag break off his bike. Darrell wanted him to know that he did not blame him for any of what happened that day. While it would be considered normal to want to blame someone for the suffering after, Darrell and his family found more power in reacting with compassion. They are an example of the type of people raised by and embraced by veterans. The usefulness of Jack Sr lives on.
After the accident, these veterans, these heroes rushed to help their wounded brothers. One of them, a firefighter called Wolf, wounded himself and bleeding, grabbed his emergency bag and rushed to help the others. Darrell said that Wolf saved his life.
Another Nam Knight, Stogie did not survive that accident. The usefulness of his life still goes on in his family. The love he gave to the rest of his "brothers" in the Nam Knights will live on and that is clear when you hear his name mentioned and stories of his life with them retold. It lives on in his family and in his wife. Last night back at the club house, she placed some of his ashes on the Eternal Memorial so that part of him would be with his "brothers" forever. Rita could have reacted differently but she, also filled with compassion, only wanted to acknowledge the fact that Stogie was loved by the Knights and loved them in return. His life is still useful and meaningful to both of his families.
For some seeing a group of Harleys and leather clad bikers heading off, they look at them with disgust never knowing what kind of people they are. They could be heading off to a charity ride as they did yesterday or off to Washington DC for Memorial Day and no one knows how much they give back all the time or how their lives are still usefull. They don't know that every Saturday night at 7:00, they offer up a toast to the troops and a silent prayer for their protection or how they contribute to many of the charities dedicated to taking care of those who serve today.
We move on, get on with our lives and most of the time we never really know how good people are because goodness is not "newsworthy" and reporters don't want to cover stories like this. Sure they show up and report on bad things people do all the time, but when they are truly remarkable, making a difference to so many all the time, they don't seem to find value in those actions. We all remember reading stories about Vietnam Veterans doing bad things when they came home but no one was reading about how these same men and women returned to fight for PTSD to be treated and compensated for. We didn't read about the changes in everything our country benefited by because they did this. They never gave up on us even though we forgot about them.
Marines gone rogue or leading the fight in Afghanistan
At Afghan outpost, Marines gone rogue or leading the fight against counterinsurgency?
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 14, 2010
DELARAM, AFGHANISTAN -- Home to a dozen truck stops and a few hundred family farms bounded by miles of foreboding desert, this hamlet in southwestern Afghanistan is far from a strategic priority for senior officers at the international military headquarters in Kabul. One calls Delaram, a day's drive from the nearest city, "the end of the Earth." Another deems the area "unrelated to our core mission" of defeating the Taliban by protecting Afghans in their cities and towns.
U.S. Marine commanders have a different view of the dusty, desolate landscape that surrounds Delaram. They see controlling this corner of remote Nimruz province as essential to promoting economic development and defending the more populated parts of southern Afghanistan.
The Marines are constructing a vast base on the outskirts of town that will have two airstrips, an advanced combat hospital, a post office, a large convenience store and rows of housing trailers stretching as far as the eye can see. By this summer, more than 3,000 Marines -- one-tenth of the additional troops authorized by President Obama in December -- will be based here.
With Obama's July 2011 deadline to begin reducing U.S. forces looming over the horizon, the Marines have opted to wage the war in their own way.
"If we're going to succeed here, we have to experiment and take risks," said Brig. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, the top Marine commander in Afghanistan. "Just doing what everyone else is doing isn't going to cut it."
read more here
Marines gone rogue or leading the fight
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 14, 2010
DELARAM, AFGHANISTAN -- Home to a dozen truck stops and a few hundred family farms bounded by miles of foreboding desert, this hamlet in southwestern Afghanistan is far from a strategic priority for senior officers at the international military headquarters in Kabul. One calls Delaram, a day's drive from the nearest city, "the end of the Earth." Another deems the area "unrelated to our core mission" of defeating the Taliban by protecting Afghans in their cities and towns.
U.S. Marine commanders have a different view of the dusty, desolate landscape that surrounds Delaram. They see controlling this corner of remote Nimruz province as essential to promoting economic development and defending the more populated parts of southern Afghanistan.
The Marines are constructing a vast base on the outskirts of town that will have two airstrips, an advanced combat hospital, a post office, a large convenience store and rows of housing trailers stretching as far as the eye can see. By this summer, more than 3,000 Marines -- one-tenth of the additional troops authorized by President Obama in December -- will be based here.
With Obama's July 2011 deadline to begin reducing U.S. forces looming over the horizon, the Marines have opted to wage the war in their own way.
"If we're going to succeed here, we have to experiment and take risks," said Brig. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, the top Marine commander in Afghanistan. "Just doing what everyone else is doing isn't going to cut it."
read more here
Marines gone rogue or leading the fight
WWII Veteran hero subject of Tom Hanks Pacific and heart
Overwhelmed: Pasquala Cassetta, a World War Two marine, is too emotional to speak as he comes face-to-face Tom Hanks at a memorial service for Pacific campaign veterans
The poignant moment Tom Hanks comforted overcome war veteran whose heroism inspired new TV series The Pacific
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 4:50 PM on 12th March 2010
For one old soldier the moment was simply too much to bear.
Confronted by memories of long-gone battles and standing with the Hollywood star who had made sure distant sacrifices were not forgotten, Pasquala Cassetta was overcome.
He twisted his face away and grasped the arm of Tom Hanks, too emotional to speak.
The actor himself seemed moved, clasping Mr Cassetta, a World War Two marine, and cradling the man's face with one hand.
The soldier, from Long Island, New York, is one of the marines who inspired new 10-part HBO series, The Pacific, which Hanks executive produced along with Steven Spielberg.
A follow up to the 2001 hit series Band of Brothers, it charts the lives of US Marines fighting the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbour.
Spielberg said they had made wanted to make sure the Pacific theatre was also remembered.
'We did it because all of you are the greatest stories ever told,' he told veterans '... with each passing generation, more and more people are forgetting about World War Two.
read more here
Tom Hanks comforted overcome war veteran
Veterans Find Therapy on Ski Slopes
Wounded Warriors, Veterans Find Therapy on Ski Slopes
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
MERCERSBURG, Pa., March 12, 2010 – Matthew Bilancia addresses the slopes like a man on a mission, cutting and edging his snowboard down the mountain with the confidence and passion of someone who’s been doing it all his life.
But beneath the thick pants and poised facade, the former Air Force senior airman bears the source of his determination: a scar on his right knee that reminds him of all the doctors and physicians who once told him, “Walking would be difficult. Forget about sports and athletics.”
Bilancia was one of four wounded warriors and disabled veterans to participate yesterday in what is expected to be one of the few remaining days of the winter sports season at Whitetail Resort here. He and the others came together with the USO of Metropolitan Washington and the Two Top Mountain Adaptive Sports Foundation to prove to themselves that rehabilitation is more than pain killers and doctor recommendations.
“I’ve been using snowboarding and hand cycling and weight lifting to manage my pain for the past three years,” Bilancia, a New Jersey native, said. “I think by using different sports and athletics, it keeps you from being depressed. It manages my depression and post-traumatic stress. It’s great to able to use those things instead of the medication.”
go here for more
Veterans Find Therapy on Ski Slopes
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
MERCERSBURG, Pa., March 12, 2010 – Matthew Bilancia addresses the slopes like a man on a mission, cutting and edging his snowboard down the mountain with the confidence and passion of someone who’s been doing it all his life.
But beneath the thick pants and poised facade, the former Air Force senior airman bears the source of his determination: a scar on his right knee that reminds him of all the doctors and physicians who once told him, “Walking would be difficult. Forget about sports and athletics.”
Bilancia was one of four wounded warriors and disabled veterans to participate yesterday in what is expected to be one of the few remaining days of the winter sports season at Whitetail Resort here. He and the others came together with the USO of Metropolitan Washington and the Two Top Mountain Adaptive Sports Foundation to prove to themselves that rehabilitation is more than pain killers and doctor recommendations.
“I’ve been using snowboarding and hand cycling and weight lifting to manage my pain for the past three years,” Bilancia, a New Jersey native, said. “I think by using different sports and athletics, it keeps you from being depressed. It manages my depression and post-traumatic stress. It’s great to able to use those things instead of the medication.”
go here for more
Veterans Find Therapy on Ski Slopes
Soldier gets Silver Star, reprimand for same battle
This should leave all of us wondering what is going on when one moment, Capt. Myer was a hero worthy of a Silver Star and then blamed for the attack.
Soldier gets Silver Star, reprimand for same battle
By Mike Mount, CNN Senior Pentagon Producer
March 12, 2010 7:49 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Army Capt. Matthew Myer has Silver Star from actions during a Taliban attack
Letter of reprimand criticizes him for allowing attack to take place
Two of his superior officers also receive letters of reprimand
Site of attack was at bottom of a valley surrounded by high hills
Washington (CNN) -- A U.S. Army officer who was honored for valor after his combat outpost in Afghanistan was attacked has also received a letter of reprimand for failing to secure the base before the attack, according to Army officials. Such a letter normally would prevent career advancement.
U.S. Army Capt. Matthew Myer received the Silver Star for his part in repelling a Taliban attack on his small combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan in July 2008.
The attack, near the village of Wanat, is still the deadliest ground combat of the war involving U.S. troops. A coordinated Taliban attack from the steep hills surrounding the base almost resulted in the outpost being overrun.
According to troops who survived, the Taliban came at the base with about 200 fighters, outnumbering the U.S. forces at the base. In the end nine soldiers were killed and 12 were wounded. About 100 Taliban were killed.
Despite the heavy U.S. death toll, Myer was awarded the Silver Star for calling in aircraft to beat back the fighters, some of whom had breached the base walls, according to U.S. military officials in Afghanistan.
go here for more
Soldier gets Silver Star, reprimand for same battle
Friday, March 12, 2010
Young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans hit 21.1 percent unemployed
Young war veterans returning home to unemployment
By KIMBERLY HEFLING (AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — The unemployment rate last year for young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans hit 21.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, reflecting a tough obstacle combat veterans face as they make the transition home from war.
The number was well above the 16.6 percent jobless rate for non-veterans of the same ages, 18 to 24.
As of last year, 1.9 million veterans had deployed for the wars since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Some have struggled with mental health problems, addictions, and homelessness as they return home. Difficulty finding work can make the adjustment that much harder.
The just-released rate for young veterans was significantly higher than the unemployment rate of young veterans in that age group of 14.1 percent in 2008.
Many of the unemployed are members of the Guard and Reserves who have deployed multiple times, said Joseph Sharpe, director of the economic division at the American Legion. Sharpe said some come home to find their jobs have been eliminated because the company has downsized. Other companies may not want to hire someone who could deploy again or will have medical appointments because of war-related health problems, he said.
"It's a horrible environment because if you're a reservist and you're being deployed two or three times in a five-year period, you know you're less competitive," Sharpe said. "Many companies that are already hurting are reluctant to hire you and time kind of moves on once you're deployed."
read more here
Young war veterans returning home to unemployment
By KIMBERLY HEFLING (AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — The unemployment rate last year for young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans hit 21.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, reflecting a tough obstacle combat veterans face as they make the transition home from war.
The number was well above the 16.6 percent jobless rate for non-veterans of the same ages, 18 to 24.
As of last year, 1.9 million veterans had deployed for the wars since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Some have struggled with mental health problems, addictions, and homelessness as they return home. Difficulty finding work can make the adjustment that much harder.
The just-released rate for young veterans was significantly higher than the unemployment rate of young veterans in that age group of 14.1 percent in 2008.
Many of the unemployed are members of the Guard and Reserves who have deployed multiple times, said Joseph Sharpe, director of the economic division at the American Legion. Sharpe said some come home to find their jobs have been eliminated because the company has downsized. Other companies may not want to hire someone who could deploy again or will have medical appointments because of war-related health problems, he said.
"It's a horrible environment because if you're a reservist and you're being deployed two or three times in a five-year period, you know you're less competitive," Sharpe said. "Many companies that are already hurting are reluctant to hire you and time kind of moves on once you're deployed."
read more here
Young war veterans returning home to unemployment
VA to Automate Claims Payments for Agent Orange
VCS Advocacy in the News: VA to Automate Claims Payments for Agent Orange
Written by Tim Jones and Jason Grotto
Tuesday, 09 March 2010 21:36
VCS Endorses VA's Bold Action to Reduce Claim Backlog
March 9, 2010, Chicago, Illinois (Chicago Tribune) - Faced with a crushing influx of disability claims from Vietnam War veterans exposed to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange, the Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday it would automate part of the cumbersome system that has left many thousands of veterans waiting many months and sometimes years for payments.
The announcement from the VA is a tacit admission that the 80-year-old department is close to being overwhelmed by the volume of claims not only from Vietnam veterans but from those of more recent wars in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq. The backlog of unresolved disability claims has exceeded 1 million, and the department last year cleared the way for at least 200,000 more when it said it would consider claims of Vietnam veterans suffering from Parkinson's disease, hairy cell leukemia and ischemic heart disease, all of which the have been linked to Agent Orange.
The VA has reached a breaking point in terms of its ability to handle the claims of more than 3 million veterans and this plan would be, at best, an initial step aimed at the most time-consuming claims, according to the department.
read more here
VA to Automate Claims Payments for Agent Orange
Written by Tim Jones and Jason Grotto
Tuesday, 09 March 2010 21:36
VCS Endorses VA's Bold Action to Reduce Claim Backlog
March 9, 2010, Chicago, Illinois (Chicago Tribune) - Faced with a crushing influx of disability claims from Vietnam War veterans exposed to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange, the Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday it would automate part of the cumbersome system that has left many thousands of veterans waiting many months and sometimes years for payments.
The announcement from the VA is a tacit admission that the 80-year-old department is close to being overwhelmed by the volume of claims not only from Vietnam veterans but from those of more recent wars in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq. The backlog of unresolved disability claims has exceeded 1 million, and the department last year cleared the way for at least 200,000 more when it said it would consider claims of Vietnam veterans suffering from Parkinson's disease, hairy cell leukemia and ischemic heart disease, all of which the have been linked to Agent Orange.
The VA has reached a breaking point in terms of its ability to handle the claims of more than 3 million veterans and this plan would be, at best, an initial step aimed at the most time-consuming claims, according to the department.
read more here
VA to Automate Claims Payments for Agent Orange
Are you being treated right when you need mental health care?
We can keep talking about what is being done and what still needs to be done but if this is still going on, none of it will do any good at all! If you were up against someone still in the dark ages about mental healthcare, assume that it is the type of person without a brain in the first place. If they are still unable to use their minds after all these years, they may need more help than you do.
Getting counseling: What have you faced?
Posted : Friday Mar 12, 2010 12:42:53 EST
At a recent think-tank discussion in Washington, a former Marine described a commander who wouldn't allow troops to get mental health counseling unless they obtained a permission slip — which was attached to a 3-foot-tall teddy bear that they had to carry to the counseling session.
Washington lawmakers can talk all they want about removing the stigma of seeking mental health help, but what really counts is what's happening at your duty station. Have you heard similar tales of humiliation for troops trying to get mental health counseling? Send your stories to mentalhealth@militarytimes.com No names will be used without permission.
Army Suicides Grow, but This Soldier Was Saved
Army Suicides Grow, but This Soldier Was Saved
David Wood Columnist
On a dusty afternoon in a squalid U.S. Army base in eastern Baghdad, the world seemed to cave in on Spec. Joe Sanders. On daily patrols, soldiers around him were being killed and grievously wounded by improvised roadside bombs. The sweltering August heat and stink of Baghdad were oppressive. He was thousands of miles from home. And he had just learned that his wife -- his lifeline to the sane, normal world -- wanted a divorce.
Alone in his barracks room at Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah, Sanders, a soft-spoken young man with a pleasant demeanor, seized his M-4 carbine, put the barrel under his chin, squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger. It was August, 2008. Sanders was 26 years old.
read more here
Spec. Joe Sanders Tried to Kill Himself
David Wood, AOL
But the gun didn't go off, thanks to hisroommate. He feared Sanders mighttry suicide, so he hid the firing pin.What drove soldier to darkest edge
David Wood Columnist
On a dusty afternoon in a squalid U.S. Army base in eastern Baghdad, the world seemed to cave in on Spec. Joe Sanders. On daily patrols, soldiers around him were being killed and grievously wounded by improvised roadside bombs. The sweltering August heat and stink of Baghdad were oppressive. He was thousands of miles from home. And he had just learned that his wife -- his lifeline to the sane, normal world -- wanted a divorce.
Alone in his barracks room at Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah, Sanders, a soft-spoken young man with a pleasant demeanor, seized his M-4 carbine, put the barrel under his chin, squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger. It was August, 2008. Sanders was 26 years old.
read more here
Spec. Joe Sanders Tried to Kill Himself
David Wood, AOL
But the gun didn't go off, thanks to hisroommate. He feared Sanders mighttry suicide, so he hid the firing pin.What drove soldier to darkest edge
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Army Reserve to weed out underachieving soldiers
General: Army Reserve to weed out underachieving soldiers
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, March 13, 2010
CAMP ZAMA, Japan — Having evolved from a force of “last resort” to an oft-deployed and essential component of the military, the Army Reserve now needs restructuring.
And that includes purging its ranks of underachieving soldiers, the commander of the U.S. Army Reserve said Thursday.
“We have to reshape the Army Reserve,” Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz told a group of reservists during a town hall meeting at Zama. “It’s no longer a right to serve 30 years in the military. It’s a privilege.”
The Army Reserve has been successful in readying soldiers and restructuring units to support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but now it needs to “transform the personnel system,” he said.
Stultz is a retired Proctor and Gamble corporate executive who spent 26 years as a reserve transportation officer before going active duty in 2006 to take his current position at the Pentagon. He has deployed twice to Iraq — once during the Gulf War — and one time to Bosnia as a reservist.
read more here
Army Reserve to weed out underachieving soldiers
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, March 13, 2010
CAMP ZAMA, Japan — Having evolved from a force of “last resort” to an oft-deployed and essential component of the military, the Army Reserve now needs restructuring.
And that includes purging its ranks of underachieving soldiers, the commander of the U.S. Army Reserve said Thursday.
“We have to reshape the Army Reserve,” Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz told a group of reservists during a town hall meeting at Zama. “It’s no longer a right to serve 30 years in the military. It’s a privilege.”
The Army Reserve has been successful in readying soldiers and restructuring units to support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but now it needs to “transform the personnel system,” he said.
Stultz is a retired Proctor and Gamble corporate executive who spent 26 years as a reserve transportation officer before going active duty in 2006 to take his current position at the Pentagon. He has deployed twice to Iraq — once during the Gulf War — and one time to Bosnia as a reservist.
read more here
Army Reserve to weed out underachieving soldiers
Suspected suicides increased in February
Suspected suicides increased in February
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Mar 11, 2010 15:19:13 EST
As many as 14 active-duty soldiers killed themselves in February, a slight increase from the month before, the Army announced March 11.
Of the 14 deaths, one has been confirmed as suicide and the others remain under investigation.
Army officials have said that about 90 percent of these cases typically are ruled to be suicide.
Officials reported 12 suspected suicides in January.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/03/army_suicides_031110w/
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Mar 11, 2010 15:19:13 EST
As many as 14 active-duty soldiers killed themselves in February, a slight increase from the month before, the Army announced March 11.
Of the 14 deaths, one has been confirmed as suicide and the others remain under investigation.
Army officials have said that about 90 percent of these cases typically are ruled to be suicide.
Officials reported 12 suspected suicides in January.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/03/army_suicides_031110w/
Gary Allan Brings on the 'Pain'
The story of how Gary Allan began to heal after his wife committed suicide proves that when people care enough to listen, other people heal. Does the pain go away? No but the memories, good and bad, don't go away either.
Gary Allan Brings on the 'Pain'
Posted Mar 8th 2010 4:30PM by Donna Hughes
"'Cause I love the long shots, and the left out lost causes, hanging out in the back of the pack with the dark horses, I ride the wrong road just as fast as I can, God knows there's no one else to blame, sometimes I think I get off on the pain."
Those are the relatively autobiographical lyrics from the title track of Gary Allan's new album, 'Get Off on the Pain,' out this Tuesday (March 9). Gary, who relocated from California to Nashville several years ago, says the song describes his life, both on a personal and professional level.
When The Boot sat down with Gary to talk about his new album, he appeared happy, relaxed and most importantly, at peace. In 2004, Gary's wife Angela committed suicide, and the devastated widower poured his heart, soul and pain into his 2005 release 'Tough All Over,' with songs such as 'Life Ain't Always Beautiful' and 'Puttin' Memories Away.'
On 2007's 'Living Hard,' a change occurred with a few songs of reflection, introspection and wistfulness, including 'Watching Airplanes' and 'Learning How to Bend.' He wrote several songs on that album that he said brought more truth to what he was singing, since he tends to write from personal experiences. Some of those personal experiences can be found on the new album, as well, in songs like 'No Regrets,' which is a tribute to his late wife. Gary has come out on the other side of tragedy and loss with a strength and sense of hope, due in large part to the therapy of making music.
During our interview, Gary also chatted about the healing process he went through, writing songs with one of his daughters, his all-or-nothing attitude towards love, recent troubles with a stalker and what he learned from touring with Brooks & Dunn.
Given all you've been through these past few years, is it therapeutic for you to put your thoughts down on paper?Absolutely! Gosh, when my wife passed, that's how I got through it. Having your friends come over and kicking around every emotion, just turning it over from every angle really gives you a peace. For a while, I wondered what that was, but I recently met somebody who went through the same things that I did with family members and if anybody mentioned anything about it, they were a mess. And you wonder what that's gonna get you -- the therapy and all the things that you do -- but that's what it gets you is you're able to talk about that and live with it in a comfortable place, instead of just falling apart at the mention.
read more here
Motorcycle club revs up fortunes of Glassboro VFW post
Motorcycle club revs up fortunes of Glassboro VFW post
Thursday, March 11, 2010
By Jessica Driscoll
jdriscoll@sjnewsco.com
GLASSBORO Thanks to the help of a local motorcycle club and renewed community interest, the borough's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 679 is back in business booking rentals and completing necessary renovations.
"Once we got into the public eye, we started getting some rentals and personal donations sent to the post," said VFW Quartermaster Charles Gallagher. "We host a lot of events at the post for no charge for groups like the rotary, South Jersey Vietnam Veterans and the Roughnecks, and the Roughnecks a little motorcycle club made up of state and local employees decided they wanted to help. They put together a successful fundraiser and between that, the rentals and help from the public, we're certainly in the black again."
The Roughnecks' fundraiser, called the Frostyballs Poker Run, was scheduled as a motorcycle ride around the county on Feb. 27 to raise money for the hall, with riders picking up a playing card at five different locations to make up a poker hand. Because of the snow and poor road conditions, the event was moved indoors and still managed to raise $5,000.
"These guys were absolutely great," said Gallagher. "They did everything and if we even tried to help, they told us to relax and said they were taking care of it. They're a great bunch of guys who rallied and raised all this money for us."
read more here
Motorcycle club revs up fortunes of Glassboro VFW post
Thursday, March 11, 2010
By Jessica Driscoll
jdriscoll@sjnewsco.com
GLASSBORO Thanks to the help of a local motorcycle club and renewed community interest, the borough's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 679 is back in business booking rentals and completing necessary renovations.
"Once we got into the public eye, we started getting some rentals and personal donations sent to the post," said VFW Quartermaster Charles Gallagher. "We host a lot of events at the post for no charge for groups like the rotary, South Jersey Vietnam Veterans and the Roughnecks, and the Roughnecks a little motorcycle club made up of state and local employees decided they wanted to help. They put together a successful fundraiser and between that, the rentals and help from the public, we're certainly in the black again."
The Roughnecks' fundraiser, called the Frostyballs Poker Run, was scheduled as a motorcycle ride around the county on Feb. 27 to raise money for the hall, with riders picking up a playing card at five different locations to make up a poker hand. Because of the snow and poor road conditions, the event was moved indoors and still managed to raise $5,000.
"These guys were absolutely great," said Gallagher. "They did everything and if we even tried to help, they told us to relax and said they were taking care of it. They're a great bunch of guys who rallied and raised all this money for us."
read more here
Motorcycle club revs up fortunes of Glassboro VFW post
Mayaguez incident on May 15, 1975 little known part of Vietnam War
As hard as it is to believe, there are many stories about the Vietnam War that are not well known, even by Vietnam veterans. This is one of the stories.
Reunion dates 12-16 May 2010 in Branson Missouri
Who are the Koh Tang Beach Vets?
Along with the last 41 names on the Viet Nam Wall, we are the Veterans, Families and Friends of the Mayaguez incident on May 15, 1975. It is our hope that this site will become a place where our fellow Golf, Echo, and H&S 2/9 Marines, Sailors, and Air Force Personnel as well as their friends, and families can find comfort and support to this oft-forgotten chapter of American history.
Reunion dates 12-16 May 2010 in Branson Missouri
Courts Assisting Veterans
Courts Assisting Veterans
A Collaborative Approach to Help Veterans and Communities
Veteran Population:
· More than 23,400,000
· Almost 2 million have served in Iraq and Afghanistan
Lessons learned from prior wars:
· Psychologically injured veterans by the hundreds of thousands never received treatment.
· Lack of psychological treatment can result in long term, harmful consequences:
o Violent behavior
o Poor impulse control
o Homelessness
o Drug and alcohol abuse
o Family stress
o Incarceration
· Almost ten per cent of people incarcerated are veterans. In some communities, twenty per cent of the homeless are veterans.
Many veterans suffer from PTSD and cognitive dysfunction.
· All wars result in psychological damage to soldiers.
· Terms like “shell shock” and “battle fatigue” have been used to describe the phenomena in prior wars.
There is more PTSD arising from service in Iraq and Afghanistan than prior wars.
· Most active duty troops served at least two tours, many four or five.
· Incidence of PTSD increases with each tour.
· Frontline and rear echelon safe areas are not always well defined so soldiers stay on constant alert.
· Little “down time” between deployments.
· Studies show at least 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and perhaps as many as 700,000, suffer from PTSD and depression. The numbers are increasing and only half obtain treatment.
· A common injury for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is Traumatic Brain Injury resulting from exposure to explosions.
Contact by veterans with the criminal justice system can be related to psychological or cognitive injury arising from military service and related addictions or behavior.
Courts Assisting Veterans can provide intervention and treatment as an alternative to criminal proceedings and incarceration.
· Judicial system can identify veterans at their first contact with criminal justice system.
· The Veteran must volunteer to participate.
· Judge retains discretion and supervision.
· Court case worker functions as an officer of the court to:
o Monitors the veteran’s progress and reports to judge.
o Coordinates community resources to evaluate, treat and assist the veteran.
o Provides referrals for assistance with housing, employment, mentoring and other services as needed.
Community participation to “support the troops.”
· VA and VA Service Officers
· Law enforcement
· Prosecutor and Public Defender
· Veterans Organizations
· Foundations and United Way
· Organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Homeless Coalition, Salvation Army and others
· Private professionals like lawyers, psychologists, and social workers
When judges have authority to divert veterans from the criminal justice system, veterans can receive the help and treatment they deserve and the entire community benefits. Public safety is enhanced as compared to a criminal justice punishment model that often results in repeated offenses and incarceration. Communities should save money with a successful program. In Santa Clara, California veterans who completed the program avoided over 168,000 prison days in 2008, saving the state 7.2 million dollars.
A veterans diversion program is not a “get out of jail free card” for veterans. Unless veterans follow through in the program for which they have volunteered, the judge retains authority to proceed with the customary criminal justice procedure.
For more information see:
Mikkelson, Katherine, “Veterans Court Offer Hope and Treatment,” The Public Lawyer, Winter 2010, 2-5
Russell, Judge Robert T., “Veterans Treatment Court: A Proactive Approach,” New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, Summer 2009, Vol. 35:357-372
Hunter, Brockton D., “Echoes of War,” monograph: to contact go to Brock@brockhunterlaw.com
This “fact sheet” was prepared by Florida Veterans for Common Sense Inc., a 501 (c) 4 corporation. 100 Wallace Ave., Suite 255, Sarasota, FL 34237 Email: FLVeterans@aol.com
A Collaborative Approach to Help Veterans and Communities
Veteran Population:
· More than 23,400,000
· Almost 2 million have served in Iraq and Afghanistan
Lessons learned from prior wars:
· Psychologically injured veterans by the hundreds of thousands never received treatment.
· Lack of psychological treatment can result in long term, harmful consequences:
o Violent behavior
o Poor impulse control
o Homelessness
o Drug and alcohol abuse
o Family stress
o Incarceration
· Almost ten per cent of people incarcerated are veterans. In some communities, twenty per cent of the homeless are veterans.
Many veterans suffer from PTSD and cognitive dysfunction.
· All wars result in psychological damage to soldiers.
· Terms like “shell shock” and “battle fatigue” have been used to describe the phenomena in prior wars.
There is more PTSD arising from service in Iraq and Afghanistan than prior wars.
· Most active duty troops served at least two tours, many four or five.
· Incidence of PTSD increases with each tour.
· Frontline and rear echelon safe areas are not always well defined so soldiers stay on constant alert.
· Little “down time” between deployments.
· Studies show at least 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and perhaps as many as 700,000, suffer from PTSD and depression. The numbers are increasing and only half obtain treatment.
· A common injury for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is Traumatic Brain Injury resulting from exposure to explosions.
Contact by veterans with the criminal justice system can be related to psychological or cognitive injury arising from military service and related addictions or behavior.
Courts Assisting Veterans can provide intervention and treatment as an alternative to criminal proceedings and incarceration.
· Judicial system can identify veterans at their first contact with criminal justice system.
· The Veteran must volunteer to participate.
· Judge retains discretion and supervision.
· Court case worker functions as an officer of the court to:
o Monitors the veteran’s progress and reports to judge.
o Coordinates community resources to evaluate, treat and assist the veteran.
o Provides referrals for assistance with housing, employment, mentoring and other services as needed.
Community participation to “support the troops.”
· VA and VA Service Officers
· Law enforcement
· Prosecutor and Public Defender
· Veterans Organizations
· Foundations and United Way
· Organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Homeless Coalition, Salvation Army and others
· Private professionals like lawyers, psychologists, and social workers
When judges have authority to divert veterans from the criminal justice system, veterans can receive the help and treatment they deserve and the entire community benefits. Public safety is enhanced as compared to a criminal justice punishment model that often results in repeated offenses and incarceration. Communities should save money with a successful program. In Santa Clara, California veterans who completed the program avoided over 168,000 prison days in 2008, saving the state 7.2 million dollars.
A veterans diversion program is not a “get out of jail free card” for veterans. Unless veterans follow through in the program for which they have volunteered, the judge retains authority to proceed with the customary criminal justice procedure.
For more information see:
Mikkelson, Katherine, “Veterans Court Offer Hope and Treatment,” The Public Lawyer, Winter 2010, 2-5
Russell, Judge Robert T., “Veterans Treatment Court: A Proactive Approach,” New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, Summer 2009, Vol. 35:357-372
Hunter, Brockton D., “Echoes of War,” monograph: to contact go to Brock@brockhunterlaw.com
This “fact sheet” was prepared by Florida Veterans for Common Sense Inc., a 501 (c) 4 corporation. 100 Wallace Ave., Suite 255, Sarasota, FL 34237 Email: FLVeterans@aol.com
Glenn Beck calls Christians "communists" and "Nazis"
UPDATE
An evangelical leader is urging a boycott of Glenn Beck's television show and challenging the Fox News personality to a debate after Beck vilified churches that preach the "code words" of "economic and social justice." FULL STORY
Glenn Beck doesn't want Christians acting like Christ said they should? Does he even know what one is? Has he lost his mind?
Socially conscious Christians take the fight to Glenn Beck
By Daniel Tencer
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 -- 4:57 pm
Talk show host Glenn Beck has made some enemies in a corner of American society where most Fox News pundits would prefer to have friends: The Christian community.
Beck has upset the socially-conscious, activist side of the Christian movement with comments last week that listeners should "run" from churches that talk about "social justice" because they are espousing ideas that came from communists and Nazis.
On his radio show last week, Beck told his audience that churches which use the expression "social justice" are following an extremist agenda.
"I'm begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them ... are going to come under the ropes in the next year," Beck said. "I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"
read more here
http://rawstory.com/2010/03/christians-fight-glenn-beck/
UK Veterans wait, on average, more than 14 years before seeking help
Dannatt: traumatic stress a 'stark reality'
By Channel 4 News
Updated on 11 March 2010
Prince Charles launches a £30m fundraising campaign to treat psycological problems of former service personnel, the former army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt tells Channel 4 News that post traumatic stress is a "stark reality" for many ex-soldiers.
Combat Stress, which has been operating for ninety years, is actively assisting more than 400 veterans of the Iraq and Afghan campaigns.
The charity receives more than one thousand referrals a year, and said the The Enemy Within campaign would raise awareness of mental health issues among ex-soldiers, and provide community outreach teams across the country.
Veterans wait, on average, more than 14 years before seeking help and there are fears that demand is likely to increase.
read more here
Traumatic stress a stark reality
By Channel 4 News
Updated on 11 March 2010
Prince Charles launches a £30m fundraising campaign to treat psycological problems of former service personnel, the former army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt tells Channel 4 News that post traumatic stress is a "stark reality" for many ex-soldiers.
Combat Stress, which has been operating for ninety years, is actively assisting more than 400 veterans of the Iraq and Afghan campaigns.
The charity receives more than one thousand referrals a year, and said the The Enemy Within campaign would raise awareness of mental health issues among ex-soldiers, and provide community outreach teams across the country.
Veterans wait, on average, more than 14 years before seeking help and there are fears that demand is likely to increase.
read more here
Traumatic stress a stark reality
Lance Corporal Mills Palmer Bigham died of hidden wound
2 of 10 honored fallen soldiers suffered from PTSD
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 9:11 p.m.
Read more: Local, Military, Lance Corporal Mills Palmer Bigham, Ptsd, Hidden Wounds
COLUMBIA -- Ten soldiers gone but not forgotten.
It was an emotional day for many as lawmakers took a moment to honor soldiers that made the ultimate sacrifice.
Loved ones received the honors for their fallen family member, and each one brought their own memories and stories of how their soldier made a difference.
But the Bigham family comes to the table with a different type of war story.
"He got out and started suffering from PTSD, from war combat stress injuries," says Anna Bigham.
It was those invisible wounds that Anna says led to her brother, Lance Corporal Mills Palmer Bigham, to take his life last October.
And since then, Anna has made it her mission to help stop others from doing the same through her non-profit organization called Hidden Wounds.
read more here
http://www.midlandsconnect.com/news/story.aspx?id=428108
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 9:11 p.m.
Read more: Local, Military, Lance Corporal Mills Palmer Bigham, Ptsd, Hidden Wounds
COLUMBIA -- Ten soldiers gone but not forgotten.
It was an emotional day for many as lawmakers took a moment to honor soldiers that made the ultimate sacrifice.
Loved ones received the honors for their fallen family member, and each one brought their own memories and stories of how their soldier made a difference.
But the Bigham family comes to the table with a different type of war story.
"He got out and started suffering from PTSD, from war combat stress injuries," says Anna Bigham.
It was those invisible wounds that Anna says led to her brother, Lance Corporal Mills Palmer Bigham, to take his life last October.
And since then, Anna has made it her mission to help stop others from doing the same through her non-profit organization called Hidden Wounds.
read more here
http://www.midlandsconnect.com/news/story.aspx?id=428108
Navy Says Dogs Died After Contractor Neglect
Navy Says Dogs Died After Contractor Neglect
March 10, 2010
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Navy says that three dogs died and dozens more were in poor health after being neglected by a private security contractor in Chicago that had been hired to train the dogs to detect explosives.
A team of military handlers discovered the dogs last October at a facility run by Securitas Security Services USA after the Navy terminated a $7.5 million contract.
Navy spokesman Capt. William Fenick said that of the 49 dogs discovered, two were dead and the rest were in poor health. Another dog died soon after being recovered.
Securitas Security Services did not immediately provide comment.
The incident was first reported by The Virginian-Pilot, which says it obtained a picture of one of the rescued dogs, whose rib cage and hip bones were protruding.
read more here
Navy Says Dogs Died After Contractor Neglect
March 10, 2010
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Navy says that three dogs died and dozens more were in poor health after being neglected by a private security contractor in Chicago that had been hired to train the dogs to detect explosives.
A team of military handlers discovered the dogs last October at a facility run by Securitas Security Services USA after the Navy terminated a $7.5 million contract.
Navy spokesman Capt. William Fenick said that of the 49 dogs discovered, two were dead and the rest were in poor health. Another dog died soon after being recovered.
Securitas Security Services did not immediately provide comment.
The incident was first reported by The Virginian-Pilot, which says it obtained a picture of one of the rescued dogs, whose rib cage and hip bones were protruding.
read more here
Navy Says Dogs Died After Contractor Neglect
Airman deployed to Haiti, died in quake
Airman deployed to Haiti, died in quake
By Laurie Ure, CNN Pentagon Producer
March 10, 2010 7:45 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Air Force Lt. Col. Ken Bourland was among those killed in January's Haiti earthquake.
Bourland died inside the quake-ravaged Hotel Montana
Bourland's wife went to Haiti to stand near where her husband was last seen alive
Peggy Bourland says she's "unsure" what the future holds
Washington (CNN) -- Air Force Lt. Col. Ken Bourland hugged his wife, Peggy, goodbye and headed out for his two-day mission.
The date was January 12, and the destination was Haiti.
Neither knew it would be the last time they'd see one another.
Upon his arrival in Port-au-Prince, Ken Bourland sent his wife an e-mail saying he had settled into his hotel room.
Ten minutes later, Peggy Bourland and the couple's three sons began watching television back in their suburban Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home. That's when the news broke: Haiti had been struck by a major earthquake.
She describes the panic that set in.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/10/airforce.major.haiti/index.html?hpt=C2
By Laurie Ure, CNN Pentagon Producer
March 10, 2010 7:45 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Air Force Lt. Col. Ken Bourland was among those killed in January's Haiti earthquake.
Bourland died inside the quake-ravaged Hotel Montana
Bourland's wife went to Haiti to stand near where her husband was last seen alive
Peggy Bourland says she's "unsure" what the future holds
Washington (CNN) -- Air Force Lt. Col. Ken Bourland hugged his wife, Peggy, goodbye and headed out for his two-day mission.
The date was January 12, and the destination was Haiti.
Neither knew it would be the last time they'd see one another.
Upon his arrival in Port-au-Prince, Ken Bourland sent his wife an e-mail saying he had settled into his hotel room.
Ten minutes later, Peggy Bourland and the couple's three sons began watching television back in their suburban Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home. That's when the news broke: Haiti had been struck by a major earthquake.
She describes the panic that set in.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/10/airforce.major.haiti/index.html?hpt=C2
Fairfax police officer's ministry reaches out to veterans
Fairfax police officer's ministry reaches out to veterans
By Gregg MacDonald
Fairfax County Times
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Somewhere in between her duties as a Fairfax County police officer and raising a 15-month-old daughter, Michelle Humphries manages to touch the lives of hundreds of combat veterans every month through her nonprofit ministry.
A 16-year veteran of the county police department, Humphries, 39, started Arms Outstretched Ministry in 2006 after participating in several overseas mission trips.
"I realized that there was so much need right here at home that needed to be addressed in the same way," she said. The ministry is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation with nine board members.
Partnering with Gary Bailey, a fellow county police officer who is the founding pastor of Foundation Christian Fellowship Church in Stafford, Humphries' independent ministry heads up nine outreach programs that supply aid to active and wounded soldiers, as well as local foster children, the homeless, inmates and the elderly.
read more hereFairfax police officers ministry reaches out to veterans
By Gregg MacDonald
Fairfax County Times
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Somewhere in between her duties as a Fairfax County police officer and raising a 15-month-old daughter, Michelle Humphries manages to touch the lives of hundreds of combat veterans every month through her nonprofit ministry.
A 16-year veteran of the county police department, Humphries, 39, started Arms Outstretched Ministry in 2006 after participating in several overseas mission trips.
"I realized that there was so much need right here at home that needed to be addressed in the same way," she said. The ministry is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation with nine board members.
Partnering with Gary Bailey, a fellow county police officer who is the founding pastor of Foundation Christian Fellowship Church in Stafford, Humphries' independent ministry heads up nine outreach programs that supply aid to active and wounded soldiers, as well as local foster children, the homeless, inmates and the elderly.
read more hereFairfax police officers ministry reaches out to veterans
Marine in priest attack off the hook
Marine in priest attack off the hook despite incriminating video
Kathryn Bursch
CLEARWATER, Florida - Newly-released video shows graphic details of a high-profile assault...but it does little to shed light as to why Marine reservist Jasen Bruce struck a Greek Orthodox priest several times over the head with a crow bar.
The court discovery, released Tuesday, included five DVDs and CDs. There were pages of interviews and several audio tapes included, plus an hour of the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show where Bruce talked about the incident.
New surveillance video shows Bruce chasing the priest out of his Channelside garage, then striking him with a tire iron. But after the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office announced Monday that it will not pursue charges against Bruce, he's breathing a sigh of relief.
"I feel good; I'm vindicated," said Bruce during a news conference at his attorney's Clearwater office after the announcement.
go here for more
Marine in priest attack off the hook despite incriminating video
No trial for Marine reservist accused of attacking priest It's been a long four months for Jasen Bruce. Months filled with worry, hate mail and frustration. But today the Marine reservist is breathing a sigh of relief.
New surveillance video released of Marine striking priest The Hillsborough State Attorney's office is declining to prosecute Jasen Bruce. Last November Tampa Police arrested Bruce for attacking a Greek Orthodox Priest with a tire iron.
Kathryn Bursch
CLEARWATER, Florida - Newly-released video shows graphic details of a high-profile assault...but it does little to shed light as to why Marine reservist Jasen Bruce struck a Greek Orthodox priest several times over the head with a crow bar.
The court discovery, released Tuesday, included five DVDs and CDs. There were pages of interviews and several audio tapes included, plus an hour of the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show where Bruce talked about the incident.
New surveillance video shows Bruce chasing the priest out of his Channelside garage, then striking him with a tire iron. But after the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office announced Monday that it will not pursue charges against Bruce, he's breathing a sigh of relief.
"I feel good; I'm vindicated," said Bruce during a news conference at his attorney's Clearwater office after the announcement.
go here for more
Marine in priest attack off the hook despite incriminating video
No trial for Marine reservist accused of attacking priest It's been a long four months for Jasen Bruce. Months filled with worry, hate mail and frustration. But today the Marine reservist is breathing a sigh of relief.
New surveillance video released of Marine striking priest The Hillsborough State Attorney's office is declining to prosecute Jasen Bruce. Last November Tampa Police arrested Bruce for attacking a Greek Orthodox Priest with a tire iron.
Coast Guard rescued two Marine Corps pilots
Marine F-18 Jet Goes Down Off The Coast Of Saint Helena Sound
By Mike Mitchell
March 11, 2010 - The Coast Guard rescued two Marine Corps pilots on Wednesday at 6:15 p.m., approximately 35-miles off the coast of Saint Helena Sound, South Carolina. Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina notified the Coast Guard at about 5:17 p.m., Wednesday.
The report indicated two pilots aboard a Marine F/A-18D Hornet attached to Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 went down off the coast of South Carolina. In addition, it was reported that two parachutes were seen indicating that the pilots had ejected after the engine to their Marine F/A-18D Hornet engine became disabled. A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter rescue crew from Air Facility Charleston located the missing pilots at 6:15 p.m. and safely rescued them.
read more here
Jet Goes Down Off The Coast Of Saint Helena Sound
By Mike Mitchell
March 11, 2010 - The Coast Guard rescued two Marine Corps pilots on Wednesday at 6:15 p.m., approximately 35-miles off the coast of Saint Helena Sound, South Carolina. Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina notified the Coast Guard at about 5:17 p.m., Wednesday.
The report indicated two pilots aboard a Marine F/A-18D Hornet attached to Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 went down off the coast of South Carolina. In addition, it was reported that two parachutes were seen indicating that the pilots had ejected after the engine to their Marine F/A-18D Hornet engine became disabled. A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter rescue crew from Air Facility Charleston located the missing pilots at 6:15 p.m. and safely rescued them.
read more here
Jet Goes Down Off The Coast Of Saint Helena Sound
Press called "despicable" for lack of war coverage
Press called despicable for lack of war coverage
by
Chaplain Kathie
Say what you will about Congressman Kennedy, but when he had a meltdown over the lack of press coverage while congress was debating Afghanistan, just as they had with Iraq, he was right. Two reporters were there. Kennedy pointed out that while everyone is fixated on Massa's sexual escapades, no one seems to be interested in our men and women in the military.
It seems there is always some other story they want to cover instead. Celebrities and other public figures, usually doing very selfish things, end up being the story of the day on every "news" program. Sex seems to get the most attention, then drugs and then other crimes. The more terrifying or horrific, the better. Then it was years of coverage for the campaigns of seekers of the White House address. Most of the time the media reports on what's going on, the stories getting the most attention are more like cat fights than debates and that's great for the media, but not too great for the American people trying to find out what is going on.
Everyone seems to want to just get the most attention including reporters. Two wars claiming lives yet they can't seem to find time to at least put up a moment of time when they actually mention any of these deaths. The people, the few interested in finding out what's going on, have to search the net to find out and as for the rest of the people, not interested, they are never pulled in to care.
The unselfish acts the troops deliver on everyday are never newsworthy. If you turned on any station once Iraq was invaded, it was almost as if troops were pulled out of Afghanistan and no one was dying there. Politicians never mentioned Afghanistan and the media didn't ask. The cat fight was all about Iraq. Yet the coverage was not about what was happening in Iraq, it was usually over politicians trying to defend their point of view and funding it instead of talking about the troops, how many were wounded, how many died, how the lives of the widows and orphans were changed, or even how the families of the wounded at Walter Reed and Bethesda were having to make a choice between being with their loved one or keeping their jobs.
There is so much going on when troops deploy that is never mentioned but these are not stories about selfish people doing what they can to make their own lives better. These are stories of the men and women in the military, the National Guards and the Reservists doing what they can to make their country better and safer for the rest of us when we don't seem to give a damn about any of it.
Debate why they are sent and how long they should stay all you want, but at least you are interested in it and find it worthy of your time. While you are debating the worthiness of war, do not overlook the men and women at the center of the debate.
Debate all you want about if you think their sacrifice was worthy or not but never, ever debate if what they sacrifice, what they were willing to give up was worth talking about. Once they deploy into combat, they will live with every memory of it for the rest of their lives. They understand this. They are willing to do it. That alone should be worthy of mentioning in between stories of selfish people only caring about themselves!
Congressman Kennedy did what should have been done a long time ago and the media should feel very ashamed they find the men and women putting their lives on the line so uninteresting to report on.
Many years ago I was the Circulation Manager for a newspaper. There was a saying "If it bleeds, it leads" meaning that the worst the story is, the more attention it gets. The saying turned out to be true. The worst the story, the more papers were sold. Well, these men and women are bleeding and dying. You'd think that covering their stories would be interesting enough. You'd also think that when congress debates on funding what they have been asked to do would be newsworthy. Human interests stories are important to most of us, but you'd never know that watching the cable or national news. Local newspapers and news reporters do a better job of covering some of what goes on in their area but when you think of how little has been reported on regarding Iraq and Afghanistan, it should be a clear indication that sex trumps servicemen and women, crimes trumps courage, selfishness trumps the selfless and as for bleeding, it all depends on who is bleeding and suffering.
by
Chaplain Kathie
Say what you will about Congressman Kennedy, but when he had a meltdown over the lack of press coverage while congress was debating Afghanistan, just as they had with Iraq, he was right. Two reporters were there. Kennedy pointed out that while everyone is fixated on Massa's sexual escapades, no one seems to be interested in our men and women in the military.
It seems there is always some other story they want to cover instead. Celebrities and other public figures, usually doing very selfish things, end up being the story of the day on every "news" program. Sex seems to get the most attention, then drugs and then other crimes. The more terrifying or horrific, the better. Then it was years of coverage for the campaigns of seekers of the White House address. Most of the time the media reports on what's going on, the stories getting the most attention are more like cat fights than debates and that's great for the media, but not too great for the American people trying to find out what is going on.
Everyone seems to want to just get the most attention including reporters. Two wars claiming lives yet they can't seem to find time to at least put up a moment of time when they actually mention any of these deaths. The people, the few interested in finding out what's going on, have to search the net to find out and as for the rest of the people, not interested, they are never pulled in to care.
The unselfish acts the troops deliver on everyday are never newsworthy. If you turned on any station once Iraq was invaded, it was almost as if troops were pulled out of Afghanistan and no one was dying there. Politicians never mentioned Afghanistan and the media didn't ask. The cat fight was all about Iraq. Yet the coverage was not about what was happening in Iraq, it was usually over politicians trying to defend their point of view and funding it instead of talking about the troops, how many were wounded, how many died, how the lives of the widows and orphans were changed, or even how the families of the wounded at Walter Reed and Bethesda were having to make a choice between being with their loved one or keeping their jobs.
There is so much going on when troops deploy that is never mentioned but these are not stories about selfish people doing what they can to make their own lives better. These are stories of the men and women in the military, the National Guards and the Reservists doing what they can to make their country better and safer for the rest of us when we don't seem to give a damn about any of it.
Debate why they are sent and how long they should stay all you want, but at least you are interested in it and find it worthy of your time. While you are debating the worthiness of war, do not overlook the men and women at the center of the debate.
Debate all you want about if you think their sacrifice was worthy or not but never, ever debate if what they sacrifice, what they were willing to give up was worth talking about. Once they deploy into combat, they will live with every memory of it for the rest of their lives. They understand this. They are willing to do it. That alone should be worthy of mentioning in between stories of selfish people only caring about themselves!
Congressman Kennedy did what should have been done a long time ago and the media should feel very ashamed they find the men and women putting their lives on the line so uninteresting to report on.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda - Union-Tribune
Marine Staff Sgt. Jesse Cottle strengthened his upper leg muscles at the Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care facility at San Diego Naval Medical Center.
“They’re not blood family, but they might as well be,” he says. “They are my brothers.” Marine Sgt. Christopher Lawrence, 23, was wounded on foot patrol in 2007 in Anbar province, Iraq
Wars' wounded get help to cope
Rehab clinic offers prosthetics, therapy
By Gretel C. Kovach, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 8:06 p.m.
Army Sgt. Daniel Biskey directs his wife to place the mirror just so, signaling with one hand like the combat-team leader he was. Then he steps forward, weaving uncertainly amid the cones stretching across the floor of the rehabilitation clinic, his lips rolled tight in concentration.
Surgeons had amputated Biskey’s left leg below the knee after his foot was shredded in November by a land mine in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.
Biskey, 26, feels awkward testing his new prosthetic leg. His physical therapist, an Army veteran, assures him and says to give it time.
“They have me do a lot of stuff that hurts. It’s kind of cool,” he says later, smiling.
Biskey’s path will likely remain difficult. Yet it already has gone further than previous generations of war wounded could have imagined, thanks to treatment from the Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care center at San Diego Naval Medical Center in Balboa Park.
go here for more
Wars' wounded get help to cope
Many years ago I was the Circulation Manager for a newspaper. There was a saying "If it bleeds, it leads" meaning that the worst the story is, the more attention it gets. The saying turned out to be true. The worst the story, the more papers were sold. Well, these men and women are bleeding and dying. You'd think that covering their stories would be interesting enough. You'd also think that when congress debates on funding what they have been asked to do would be newsworthy. Human interests stories are important to most of us, but you'd never know that watching the cable or national news. Local newspapers and news reporters do a better job of covering some of what goes on in their area but when you think of how little has been reported on regarding Iraq and Afghanistan, it should be a clear indication that sex trumps servicemen and women, crimes trumps courage, selfishness trumps the selfless and as for bleeding, it all depends on who is bleeding and suffering.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Back from Iraq war, and alone
Back from Iraq war, and alone
By Mike Scotti, Special to CNN
March 10, 2010 2:05 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
When he came back from Iraq, Mike Scotti says, he felt alien in formerly familiar surroundings
Understanding the isolation vets feel is a new challenge the nation must meet, he says
He realized he must apply the good parts of military experience to home life, let go of the bad
With a new movie, he hopes to educate people about what returning veterans face
New York (CNN) -- A few days after I had returned from a six-month deployment to Iraq, my second sojourn in the Middle East since 2001, I remember feeling like I was an alien creature from some other planet.
It was 2003, and I was attending a friend's wedding. As I sat at the table listening to the conversation, I suddenly realized that someone who had never been in combat could never even remotely understand what I had just been through.
I looked around. The chamber music quartet, the beautiful bridesmaids, the steak dinner ... none of it was real. My buddies were, at that moment, probably on patrol and quite possibly engaged with the enemy. That was real.
And as for the other guests at the table who were staring at me in my dress blues, we were no longer even the same species.
read more here
Back from Iraq war, and alone
By Mike Scotti, Special to CNN
March 10, 2010 2:05 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
When he came back from Iraq, Mike Scotti says, he felt alien in formerly familiar surroundings
Understanding the isolation vets feel is a new challenge the nation must meet, he says
He realized he must apply the good parts of military experience to home life, let go of the bad
With a new movie, he hopes to educate people about what returning veterans face
Editor's note: Mike Scotti served as a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, and is a founding board member of Reserve Aid, a military-themed, nonprofit charity. He is the founder of the Military Veterans Club at the NYU Stern School of Business and is the subject of the documentary film "Severe Clear," which opens in New York on Friday.
New York (CNN) -- A few days after I had returned from a six-month deployment to Iraq, my second sojourn in the Middle East since 2001, I remember feeling like I was an alien creature from some other planet.
It was 2003, and I was attending a friend's wedding. As I sat at the table listening to the conversation, I suddenly realized that someone who had never been in combat could never even remotely understand what I had just been through.
I looked around. The chamber music quartet, the beautiful bridesmaids, the steak dinner ... none of it was real. My buddies were, at that moment, probably on patrol and quite possibly engaged with the enemy. That was real.
And as for the other guests at the table who were staring at me in my dress blues, we were no longer even the same species.
read more here
Back from Iraq war, and alone
Rethink alcohol ban in war zones, Webb says
How they self-medicate is not the problem. The fact they feel they have to self-medicate is. What part of this is Senator Webb not getting? He sees a problem but he needs to see the whole problem and not just the "drug" of choice they pick to lean on.
Rethink alcohol ban in war zones, Webb says
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 16:23:08 EST
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a Vietnam veteran and former war correspondent who now chairs the Senate panel that oversees military personnel policy, seemed to endorse the idea of letting troops in war zones drink alcohol as a way to relieve combat stress.
At a hearing of his Senate Armed Services military personnel panel, Webb asked defense and service officials about mental health issues facing deployed service members and, in particular, about a recent Military Times investigation into the military’s use of anti-depressants and other drugs for treating mental health issues.
read more here
Rethink alcohol ban in war zones, Webb says
Female WWII pilots receive Congressional Gold medals
Female WWII pilots receive medals
By Oren Dorell and Malia Rulon - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 12:06:34 EST
Jean Springer was 22 when she joined a new corps of female pilots needed to help the country in World War II.
Now 89, the Cincinnati woman is in Washington today with about 180 other former fliers finally to receive the nation's thanks.
Congress is awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor, to members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, a civilian branch of the Army Air Force. Fewer than 300 of the 1,100 survive. Relatives of those who have died or could not attend will also get medals.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/03/ap_female_pilots_wwii_031010/
By Oren Dorell and Malia Rulon - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 12:06:34 EST
Jean Springer was 22 when she joined a new corps of female pilots needed to help the country in World War II.
Now 89, the Cincinnati woman is in Washington today with about 180 other former fliers finally to receive the nation's thanks.
Congress is awarding the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor, to members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, a civilian branch of the Army Air Force. Fewer than 300 of the 1,100 survive. Relatives of those who have died or could not attend will also get medals.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/03/ap_female_pilots_wwii_031010/
Compelling Brain Images Showing Gulf War Illness
Why do any of our veterans have to fight after they did the fighting they were sent to do?
Dr. Haley at UTSW Presents Compelling Brain Images Showing Gulf War Illness
Written by Janet Ralofff
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 07:02
VCS Asks VA: Since UTSW Research Remains Vital to Understanding Gulf War Illness, Then Why Did a Handful of VA Staff in Washington Impede UTSW Contract and Then End Funding for UTSW?
March 9, 2010, Salt Lake City, Utah (Science News) - Nearly two decades after vets began returning from the Middle East complaining of Gulf War Syndrome, the federal government has yet to formally accept that their vague jumble of symptoms constitutes a legitimate illness. Here, at the Society of Toxicology annual meeting, yesterday, researchers rolled out a host of brain images – various types of magnetic-resonance scans and brain-wave measurements – that they say graphically and unambiguously depict Gulf War Syndrome.
Or syndromes. Because Robert Haley of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and the research team he heads have identified three discrete subtypes. Each is characterized by a different suite of symptoms. And the new imaging linked each illness with a distinct – and different – series of abnormalities in the brain.
read more here
Dr. Haley at UTSW
National Guard combat-cops find it hard to adjust back home
If anyone has not already guessed the police officers have a harder time coming back than regular military, they need to read this. They don't get to go back home and live a peaceful life until they redeploy again. They get to go back out on the streets and deal with traumatic situations on a daily basis. Just as firefighters still have to risk their lives as part of their jobs when they come home, rest never seems to come.
"If the person doesn't develop that courage to say, 'hey, I need help,' it's very difficult to help them before they reach a breaking point," Clarke said.
Study: Law officers struggle to readjust after war
By TODD RICHMOND (AP) – 2 hours ago
MADISON, Wis. — Many law enforcement officers called up to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan are finding it difficult to readjust to their jobs once home, bringing back heightened survival instincts that may make them quicker to use force and showing less patience toward the people they serve.
In interviews with The Associated Press and in dozens of anecdotes compiled in a survey by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, officers described feeling compelled to use tactics they employed in war zones after they returned to work in the U.S.
One officer said he felt compelled to fire his gun in the air to disperse an unruly crowd in California. Others said they felt wary about being flanked when working crowd control. And others said after seeing the hardships ordinary Afghans and Iraqis lived with, it's hard to care about complaints over pet droppings.
The report, which was issued late last year, warns that the blurring of the line between combat and confrontations with criminal suspects at home may result in "inappropriate decisions and actions — particularly in the use of ... force. This similarity ... could result in injury or death to an innocent civilian."
In two high-profile cases, officers blamed their overzealous use of force on complications from their military service.
read more here
Stolen valor from active soldier?
UPDATE
'Hero's welcome' backfires on Fort Lewis soldier
By Bryan Johnson
JOINT BASE LEWIS MCCHORD, Wash. - A Fort Lewis soldier returning from Afghanistan got a hero's welcome in his home state of Wisconsin.
But as it turns out, that soldier's story and the truth aren't exactly on the same page.
The truth is that Jordan Olson really was in Afghanistan. He made patrols near Kandahar, serving in harm's way.
But he just wasn't everything he appeared to be.
When he returned home to Wisconsin, he got what every soldier expects - a family welcome - plus a little bit more that he did not expect.
go here for more
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/87291857.html
Old men trying to fill in the void inside of them by dreaming up stories of valor when their lives were anything but honorable. This is bad enough. Whatever they hope to gain by pretending to be heroic is beyond explanation. For a young soldier to do it, or even try it, not only betrayed the people back home but the men and women he was serving with.
Army says soldier misrepresented rank, injuries
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 9:28:52 EST
NEW LONDON, Wis. — The Army says a soldier who returned to a hero’s welcome in Wisconsin misrepresented his rank, badges and the origin of his injuries.
About 60 veterans and well-wishers greeted Spc. Jordan Olson with American flags and balloons at the Outagamie County Regional Airport Saturday.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/03/ap_soldier_misrepresentation_030910/
5480 troops evac out of war zone for mental health issues
Mental health evacuations spike in war zones
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 10:10:38 EST
More than 10 percent of medical evacuations from Iraq and Afghanistan over the past eight years have been for mental health reasons.
From October 2001 to September 2009, 5,480 troops were flown back to the U.S. or to Germany due to “mental disorders,” according to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center.
Most of the evacuations were for adjustment reactions or affective psychoses.
But the flow has not been steady over the past eight-plus years. Mental health issues only accounted for 6 percent to 9 percent of the evacuations from 2001 to 2005 — then jumped by 50 percent in just one year, from 714 in 2006 to 1,063 in 2007.
“The sudden increase in evacuations for mental disorders coincided with the surge in U.S. deployed troops and a change in strategy in Iraq,” wrote Timothy Powers, of the center’s Data Analysis Group, in a report about the evacuations. “The increase may reflect cumulative stress among individuals deployed more than once and/or increased awareness and concern regarding psychological stress-related disorders among deployed service members.”
read more here
Mental health evacuations spike in war zones
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 10:10:38 EST
More than 10 percent of medical evacuations from Iraq and Afghanistan over the past eight years have been for mental health reasons.
From October 2001 to September 2009, 5,480 troops were flown back to the U.S. or to Germany due to “mental disorders,” according to the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center.
Most of the evacuations were for adjustment reactions or affective psychoses.
But the flow has not been steady over the past eight-plus years. Mental health issues only accounted for 6 percent to 9 percent of the evacuations from 2001 to 2005 — then jumped by 50 percent in just one year, from 714 in 2006 to 1,063 in 2007.
“The sudden increase in evacuations for mental disorders coincided with the surge in U.S. deployed troops and a change in strategy in Iraq,” wrote Timothy Powers, of the center’s Data Analysis Group, in a report about the evacuations. “The increase may reflect cumulative stress among individuals deployed more than once and/or increased awareness and concern regarding psychological stress-related disorders among deployed service members.”
read more here
Mental health evacuations spike in war zones
Gov. Jindal doesn't have time to honor heroes?
Veterans honor medal delays criticized by legislative panel
By Ed Anderson, The Times-Picayune
March 09, 2010, 7:38PM
Members of a joint House-Senate committee that handles veterans affairs complained Tuesday that the state is holding thousands of special veterans honor medals until Gov. Bobby Jindal can attend ceremonies to hand them out.
Members of the Senate Select Committee on Veterans Affairs and the House Special Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs told Lane Carson, Jindal’s secretary of veterans affairs, to devise a way to expedite medal presentations.
Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton“We literally have World War II veterans who are dying before we have this jubilee with the veterans,” said Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, a Vietnam War veteran and chairman of the Senate committee.
He and Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, who chairs the House panel, told Carson to come up with a way to expedite the medal ceremonies, or possibly face a resolution at the lawmaking session starting March 29 giving him a deadline to do so.
read more here
Veterans honor medal delays criticized by legislative panel
By Ed Anderson, The Times-Picayune
March 09, 2010, 7:38PM
Members of a joint House-Senate committee that handles veterans affairs complained Tuesday that the state is holding thousands of special veterans honor medals until Gov. Bobby Jindal can attend ceremonies to hand them out.
Members of the Senate Select Committee on Veterans Affairs and the House Special Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs told Lane Carson, Jindal’s secretary of veterans affairs, to devise a way to expedite medal presentations.
Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton“We literally have World War II veterans who are dying before we have this jubilee with the veterans,” said Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, a Vietnam War veteran and chairman of the Senate committee.
He and Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, who chairs the House panel, told Carson to come up with a way to expedite the medal ceremonies, or possibly face a resolution at the lawmaking session starting March 29 giving him a deadline to do so.
read more here
Veterans honor medal delays criticized by legislative panel
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Lawmakers push for big VA budget increase
Lawmakers push for big VA budget increase
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 9, 2010 12:09:44 EST
Despite plans to give the Veterans Affairs Department a 7 percent budget increase at a time when most federal spending is frozen, key congressional committees are pushing for even bigger veterans budgets.
They just can’t agree on how much more to give.
At the low end, Democrats on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee are recommending a $380 million increase in the $56.9 billion VA budget proposed by the Obama administration. At the high end, Republicans on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee are recommending a $2.6 billion increase. Democrats on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee fall in between, proposing a $571 million increase over the administration budget.
read more here
Lawmakers push for big VA budget increase
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 9, 2010 12:09:44 EST
Despite plans to give the Veterans Affairs Department a 7 percent budget increase at a time when most federal spending is frozen, key congressional committees are pushing for even bigger veterans budgets.
They just can’t agree on how much more to give.
At the low end, Democrats on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee are recommending a $380 million increase in the $56.9 billion VA budget proposed by the Obama administration. At the high end, Republicans on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee are recommending a $2.6 billion increase. Democrats on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee fall in between, proposing a $571 million increase over the administration budget.
read more here
Lawmakers push for big VA budget increase
Vietnam War veteran Burnite honored posthumously with Silver Star
Vietnam War veteran Burnite honored posthumously with Silver Star
Published: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
By BARBARA ORMSBY
Times Correspondent
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP — A very special presentation marked Monday night’s Pennsylvania 7th Congressional District Veterans Summit at Ridley High School when U.S. Rep Joe Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont, presented a posthumous Silver Star to the sister of Barry Burnite, who was killed while serving in Vietnam with the Army.
Judith Nickel of Upland accepted the medal while standing on the stage in the school auditorium before an audience composed mostly of veterans.
“Tonight, we will be honored, Judith, if you will come up here,” Sestak said, calling Nickel and other family members to the stage.
“He (Burnite) was never recognized for his valor,” Sestak said.
According to the citation that accompanied the medal, Burnite was killed in November 1965 in Ia Drang Valley in the Republic of South Vietnam, while serving as a machine gunner with the 7th Cavalry, First Cavalry Division. During the Battle of Landing Zone Albany, SPC 4 Burnite was wounded early in the attack but continued to fight. Throughout the battle, he remained in the fight to redistribute ammunition, provide first aid to his wounded comrades and rally his squad to attack the North Vietnamese forces.
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Vietnam War veteran Burnite honored posthumously with Silver Star
Published: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
By BARBARA ORMSBY
Times Correspondent
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP — A very special presentation marked Monday night’s Pennsylvania 7th Congressional District Veterans Summit at Ridley High School when U.S. Rep Joe Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont, presented a posthumous Silver Star to the sister of Barry Burnite, who was killed while serving in Vietnam with the Army.
Judith Nickel of Upland accepted the medal while standing on the stage in the school auditorium before an audience composed mostly of veterans.
“Tonight, we will be honored, Judith, if you will come up here,” Sestak said, calling Nickel and other family members to the stage.
“He (Burnite) was never recognized for his valor,” Sestak said.
According to the citation that accompanied the medal, Burnite was killed in November 1965 in Ia Drang Valley in the Republic of South Vietnam, while serving as a machine gunner with the 7th Cavalry, First Cavalry Division. During the Battle of Landing Zone Albany, SPC 4 Burnite was wounded early in the attack but continued to fight. Throughout the battle, he remained in the fight to redistribute ammunition, provide first aid to his wounded comrades and rally his squad to attack the North Vietnamese forces.
read more here
Vietnam War veteran Burnite honored posthumously with Silver Star
Vietnam memorial replica makes a stop in Bakersfield
Vietnam memorial replica makes a stop in Bakersfield
It was an emotional time at Stramler Park last night as local veterans and members of the community paid final tribute to the wall that heals.
For those who visited the replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the wall lived up to its name.
With a gun salute and a ceremonial fly-over by the Kern County Fire Department's helicopter that began its service in Vietnam, local veterans and members of the community honored its final night with the replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
read more here
Vietnam memorial replica makes a stop in Bakersfield
It was an emotional time at Stramler Park last night as local veterans and members of the community paid final tribute to the wall that heals.
For those who visited the replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the wall lived up to its name.
With a gun salute and a ceremonial fly-over by the Kern County Fire Department's helicopter that began its service in Vietnam, local veterans and members of the community honored its final night with the replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
"There's a lot of wounds that still need to be healed," said organizer Ben Patten. "Just because they're not bleeding, they still hurt."
read more here
Vietnam memorial replica makes a stop in Bakersfield
Toby Keith touches Vietnam Vet at grand opening
Toby Keith helps celebrate signature bar and grill grand opening
THACKERVILLE, OK - Toby Keith's signature restaurant is now officially open in Love County. And the musician was in town for Monday's grand opening, giving away more than just autographs. Shelby Levins reports.
THACKERVILLE, OK - Toby Keith's signature restaurant is now officially open in Love County. And the musician was in town for Monday's grand opening, giving away more than just autographs. Shelby Levins reports.
Rounds of applause, and lots of flashes met Toby Keith as he ushered in the grand opening of his third “I Love This Bar and Grill” in Oklahoma.
"This is where I live, and to be part of an Oklahoma business makes it that much more worthwhile and meaningful,” Keith said.
In addition to supporting his home state, and providing more than 175 new jobs to the area, Keith is a well known supporter of American troops. And he gave lunch to the Heislers – a military family from Fort Sill.
read more here
http://www.kxii.com/news/headlines/87086172.html
If you like Toby Keith, I used two of his songs in When War Comes Home Part Two
THACKERVILLE, OK - Toby Keith's signature restaurant is now officially open in Love County. And the musician was in town for Monday's grand opening, giving away more than just autographs. Shelby Levins reports.
"He was real - a person like we are. He's got a nice place here. His business is great; and he's a great person because he thinks a lot about his fans,” said local Vietnam vet Red Eberhart.
Eberhart says Keith's patriotism and personal appreciation still strikes a chord with him, even decades after fighting in the Vietnam War.
"Since I got out of Vietnam in 1970, I thought the American people really didn't think much of the Vietnam veterans and stuff. But when people do stuff like that I almost get a tear in my eye - it means something,” Eberhart said.
THACKERVILLE, OK - Toby Keith's signature restaurant is now officially open in Love County. And the musician was in town for Monday's grand opening, giving away more than just autographs. Shelby Levins reports.
Rounds of applause, and lots of flashes met Toby Keith as he ushered in the grand opening of his third “I Love This Bar and Grill” in Oklahoma.
"This is where I live, and to be part of an Oklahoma business makes it that much more worthwhile and meaningful,” Keith said.
In addition to supporting his home state, and providing more than 175 new jobs to the area, Keith is a well known supporter of American troops. And he gave lunch to the Heislers – a military family from Fort Sill.
read more here
http://www.kxii.com/news/headlines/87086172.html
If you like Toby Keith, I used two of his songs in When War Comes Home Part Two
Posted to Great Americans by SM on January 14, 2009
Gates praises troops in southern Afghanistan
Gates praises troops in southern Afghanistan
By Anne Gearan - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 9, 2010 7:15:51 EST
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a hard-hit battle unit Tuesday that its heavy losses have helped the U.S. begin to push back against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Gates visited a small, remote outpost 30 miles north of Kandahar, where the Fort Lewis, Wash.-based Stryker unit has lost 22 men and suffered an additional 62 wounded since arriving here last summer.
The latest injuries came Monday night, and the latest death three days ago.
Gates praised the 800-soldier unit and told the troops that as the fight shifts toward securing Kandahar itself later this year, they will again be "at the top of the spear."
Gates flew to Kandahar early Tuesday for meetings with U.S. and British generals overseeing the current military campaign in Marjah. He presented Silver Stars for valor to two Army aviators before his visits with U.S. forces at bases elsewhere in the south.
read more here
Gates praises troops in southern Afghanistan
By Anne Gearan - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 9, 2010 7:15:51 EST
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a hard-hit battle unit Tuesday that its heavy losses have helped the U.S. begin to push back against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Gates visited a small, remote outpost 30 miles north of Kandahar, where the Fort Lewis, Wash.-based Stryker unit has lost 22 men and suffered an additional 62 wounded since arriving here last summer.
The latest injuries came Monday night, and the latest death three days ago.
Gates praised the 800-soldier unit and told the troops that as the fight shifts toward securing Kandahar itself later this year, they will again be "at the top of the spear."
Gates flew to Kandahar early Tuesday for meetings with U.S. and British generals overseeing the current military campaign in Marjah. He presented Silver Stars for valor to two Army aviators before his visits with U.S. forces at bases elsewhere in the south.
read more here
Gates praises troops in southern Afghanistan
The Stigma of Mental Illness
“The backbone of our organization is to try to eradicate stigma within the Canadian forces in regards to mental health injuries,” Lively said. “We’re taking those negative experiences and reusing them in a positive way to educate our peers and colleagues.”
Returning from Front Lines: The Stigma of Mental Illness
By Cindy Chan
Epoch Times Staff
OTTAWA—Three months after Steven Lively returned from central Africa in 1996, the former Canadian forces soldier started experiencing constant panic attacks, migraines, and anxiety.
It was two years following the Rwandan genocide. He was in Africa to observe the survivors who had fled to neighboring countries and were trying to return to Rwanda.
“It was a feeling of complete helplessness,” he said. “You come home from a mission and before you know it you’re overcome with a very strong sense of guilt.”
He encountered mass graves and other horrors of human suffering, including children and babies dying.
Yet, due to the military’s rules of engagement to guard the soldiers’ safety, “There was absolutely nothing that I could do. I was unable to stop and provide any kind of assistance.”
The resulting guilt manifested as depression, anxiety, nightmares, and flashbacks, along with other severe symptoms that included headaches, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome.
“I didn’t understand all these things that were part of post-traumatic stress disorder that we now know. Back then, I had no idea what was happening to me,” said Lively, who now works with the Joint Speakers Bureau (JSB) of the Department of National Defence (DND) to provide education and awareness on mental health and operational stress injury (OSI).
read more here
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/31006/
One third of 7/7 survivors had post traumatic stress
One third of 7/7 survivors had post traumatic stress: research
One third of people who were caught up in the 7/7 London bombings suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers have said.
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Published: 7:25AM GMT 09 Mar 2010
However, only four per cent of them were referred by their GP for specialist treatment, it has been found.
A study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, conducted in the aftermath of the 2005 bombings traced survivors of the attacks, which killed 52 and injured 700.
They found that many more people required treatment than had been offered it and the researchers from University College London recommended that in future disasters those exposed to atrocities are proactively traced.
Professor Chris Brewin, lead author of the study at UCL Department of Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology, said: "If this programme hadn't existed then there would be hundreds of people still suffering from post-traumatic stress or other psychological problems as a result of the 2005 terrorist attack. This intervention is really a new way of identifying traumatised people."
Survivors were identified from police statements and witness reports, hospital records and treatment notes taken at the scenes.
read more here
One third of 7 7 survivors had post traumatic stress
One third of people who were caught up in the 7/7 London bombings suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers have said.
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Published: 7:25AM GMT 09 Mar 2010
However, only four per cent of them were referred by their GP for specialist treatment, it has been found.
A study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, conducted in the aftermath of the 2005 bombings traced survivors of the attacks, which killed 52 and injured 700.
They found that many more people required treatment than had been offered it and the researchers from University College London recommended that in future disasters those exposed to atrocities are proactively traced.
Professor Chris Brewin, lead author of the study at UCL Department of Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology, said: "If this programme hadn't existed then there would be hundreds of people still suffering from post-traumatic stress or other psychological problems as a result of the 2005 terrorist attack. This intervention is really a new way of identifying traumatised people."
Survivors were identified from police statements and witness reports, hospital records and treatment notes taken at the scenes.
read more here
One third of 7 7 survivors had post traumatic stress
Awakening the sleeping tiger
Awakening the sleeping tiger
by
Chaplain Kathie
A conversation I had yesterday with an Army recruiter reminded me of a veteran I helped a few years ago. The recruiter apparently came back from Iraq with strong memories but said he didn't have nightmares or flashbacks. Before I walked away from him, I had to warn him of the sleeping tiger he could very well have inside of him. PTSD is not always obvious early on. Sometimes it digs in and rests.
The veteran reached out to me while working for another branch of the government. He's a Vietnam veteran. He thought he escaped Vietnam alone, got on with his life, had a family and a career. Like most people he had traumatic events occur in his life, but he was able to deal with them the way regular people do. He grieved. He saw the symptoms of depression after trauma ease up with time. Then one event happened strong enough to wake up the tiger and the tiger wanted to take over his life. His younger brother was killed in the Iraq war.
He emailed me wanting to know what the hell happened to him. He couldn't understand why all he went through in Vietnam so many years before was suddenly taking over his life. Flashbacks and nightmares were out of control. All the anger he felt in combat gained control over every other emotion he had and the good emotions were being frozen out. His family said they didn't know him anymore. What was worse is that he didn't know himself anymore.
Secondary PTSD comes after a traumatic event when the person has already been affected by other traumas. With very little issues surfacing, they see no need to seek help. Occasional nightmares or short flashbacks are not enough to bother their careers. They can maintain relationships, occasionally acting out but most of the time, they are able to keep themselves under control. They "deal with it" for years until the next strike at their soul.
The veteran was in shock because when he thought about every other event he had recovered from, the loss of his younger brother was just too much for him. When he understood that his brother meant more than anyone else to him, he understood how that loss could take over his own life. He was already wounded but this loss fed off the wounded soul inside of him. The tiger began to claw its way out.
The easiest way to explain what happened to the veteran is addressing an infection. When people get cut, they bleed, it hurts, then it stops bleeding, starts healing, often without leaving any scar. Yet other times the cut becomes infected. When we do not apply antibiotics, it does not allow healing, the infection spreads, digs deeper, the pain is stronger and when antibiotics are applied, they need to be stronger than if they were applied sooner, usually needing to be taken longer and there is a scar that cannot be healed left behind. PTSD is like an infection in the emotional part of the brain.
The human body will connect together to get rid of the infection, much like when PTSD begins, it does whatever it has to do to get rid of the invader. It does not always take over the entire life, but changes the life for the better or worse. The key is to know what can possibly happen so that it is not so much of a shock and they can address it early on.
Every veteran needs to know, in as simple of terms as possible, what PTSD is so that as life happens, they are aware of what can awaken this tiger inside of them. Secondary PTSD is like PTSD on steroids. The tiger has rested and was well fed by living lives until the wound has been reopened by strong emotional traumas.
Mild PTSD is recoverable with the help of therapy and medications. The infection has not spread so far that every aspect of the veteran's life has paid the price. The longer PTSD is allowed to claim more of the life, the harder it is to treat and recover from. The scar left behind is determined by time and events piled on.
The recruiter understood the warning I was giving him and I pray he understood it well enough to pay attention later in his life. The best piece of news I could give him was that it is never too late to heal. No one is hopeless with PTSD because no one is helpless. Even for those veterans from Vietnam unwilling to seek help or unable to, they can still heal to become strong enough to get the tiger back to sleep. They can do this with the support and love from family and friends. While peer support is not as good as therapy and medications, their lives can be made better with knowledgeable people caring about them instead of being unaware and fighting against them.
The veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have more available to them and knowledge has come sooner for them than the older veterans. This is their golden hour because we know the sooner treatment begins for PTSD, whatever program works best for them, the better the healing and the scar left behind is determined on how soon it begins. Life keeps happening no matter if they are ready of the events or not. Time taken now to heal, even with mild PTSD, is taking control over how the rest of their lives turn out.
by
Chaplain Kathie
A conversation I had yesterday with an Army recruiter reminded me of a veteran I helped a few years ago. The recruiter apparently came back from Iraq with strong memories but said he didn't have nightmares or flashbacks. Before I walked away from him, I had to warn him of the sleeping tiger he could very well have inside of him. PTSD is not always obvious early on. Sometimes it digs in and rests.
The veteran reached out to me while working for another branch of the government. He's a Vietnam veteran. He thought he escaped Vietnam alone, got on with his life, had a family and a career. Like most people he had traumatic events occur in his life, but he was able to deal with them the way regular people do. He grieved. He saw the symptoms of depression after trauma ease up with time. Then one event happened strong enough to wake up the tiger and the tiger wanted to take over his life. His younger brother was killed in the Iraq war.
He emailed me wanting to know what the hell happened to him. He couldn't understand why all he went through in Vietnam so many years before was suddenly taking over his life. Flashbacks and nightmares were out of control. All the anger he felt in combat gained control over every other emotion he had and the good emotions were being frozen out. His family said they didn't know him anymore. What was worse is that he didn't know himself anymore.
Secondary PTSD comes after a traumatic event when the person has already been affected by other traumas. With very little issues surfacing, they see no need to seek help. Occasional nightmares or short flashbacks are not enough to bother their careers. They can maintain relationships, occasionally acting out but most of the time, they are able to keep themselves under control. They "deal with it" for years until the next strike at their soul.
The veteran was in shock because when he thought about every other event he had recovered from, the loss of his younger brother was just too much for him. When he understood that his brother meant more than anyone else to him, he understood how that loss could take over his own life. He was already wounded but this loss fed off the wounded soul inside of him. The tiger began to claw its way out.
The easiest way to explain what happened to the veteran is addressing an infection. When people get cut, they bleed, it hurts, then it stops bleeding, starts healing, often without leaving any scar. Yet other times the cut becomes infected. When we do not apply antibiotics, it does not allow healing, the infection spreads, digs deeper, the pain is stronger and when antibiotics are applied, they need to be stronger than if they were applied sooner, usually needing to be taken longer and there is a scar that cannot be healed left behind. PTSD is like an infection in the emotional part of the brain.
The human body will connect together to get rid of the infection, much like when PTSD begins, it does whatever it has to do to get rid of the invader. It does not always take over the entire life, but changes the life for the better or worse. The key is to know what can possibly happen so that it is not so much of a shock and they can address it early on.
Every veteran needs to know, in as simple of terms as possible, what PTSD is so that as life happens, they are aware of what can awaken this tiger inside of them. Secondary PTSD is like PTSD on steroids. The tiger has rested and was well fed by living lives until the wound has been reopened by strong emotional traumas.
Mild PTSD is recoverable with the help of therapy and medications. The infection has not spread so far that every aspect of the veteran's life has paid the price. The longer PTSD is allowed to claim more of the life, the harder it is to treat and recover from. The scar left behind is determined by time and events piled on.
The recruiter understood the warning I was giving him and I pray he understood it well enough to pay attention later in his life. The best piece of news I could give him was that it is never too late to heal. No one is hopeless with PTSD because no one is helpless. Even for those veterans from Vietnam unwilling to seek help or unable to, they can still heal to become strong enough to get the tiger back to sleep. They can do this with the support and love from family and friends. While peer support is not as good as therapy and medications, their lives can be made better with knowledgeable people caring about them instead of being unaware and fighting against them.
The veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have more available to them and knowledge has come sooner for them than the older veterans. This is their golden hour because we know the sooner treatment begins for PTSD, whatever program works best for them, the better the healing and the scar left behind is determined on how soon it begins. Life keeps happening no matter if they are ready of the events or not. Time taken now to heal, even with mild PTSD, is taking control over how the rest of their lives turn out.
Reunion of Honor vets make emotional pilgrimage to Iwo Jima
World War II vets make emotional pilgrimage to Iwo Jima
By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN
March 8, 2010 9:23 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Retired fighter pilot Jerry Yellin returns to Iwo Jima with son, grandson for "Reunion of Honor"
Reunion brings together veterans, officials from Japan, the United States
Return represents closure for Yellin, whose son married the daughter of Japanese pilot
(CNN) -- Jerry Yellin has spent most of his life trying to forget about the stench of death on the island of Iwo Jima 65 years ago.
Yellin was a P-51 fighter pilot who had turned 22 a few weeks before he touched down on the island March 7, 1945, amid some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II's Pacific campaign.
"To one side, there were mounds and mounds and mounds of bodies of Japanese soldiers being pushed around by bulldozers into mass graves. And right behind our squadron area was the Marine mortuary, where they'd lay out the bodies, check their dog tags and fingerprint them for identification," recalls Yellin, an 87-year-old retiree who lives in Vero Beach, Florida.
"I've lived with those memories all of my life and it was not something I ever wanted to go back to."
Nevertheless, Yellin was back on the island last week for the first time since 1945 to attend a ceremony commemorating the battle's 65th anniversary. About 22,000 Japanese soldiers died defending the island, along with more than 6,000 Americans, in a battle that was memorialized in the iconic photograph of five U.S. Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi, the island's dormant volcano.
read more here
World War II vets make emotional pilgrimage to Iwo Jima
By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN
March 8, 2010 9:23 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Retired fighter pilot Jerry Yellin returns to Iwo Jima with son, grandson for "Reunion of Honor"
Reunion brings together veterans, officials from Japan, the United States
Return represents closure for Yellin, whose son married the daughter of Japanese pilot
"It's reliving something that happened so long ago," Marine correspondent Cy O'Brien says
(CNN) -- Jerry Yellin has spent most of his life trying to forget about the stench of death on the island of Iwo Jima 65 years ago.
Yellin was a P-51 fighter pilot who had turned 22 a few weeks before he touched down on the island March 7, 1945, amid some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II's Pacific campaign.
"To one side, there were mounds and mounds and mounds of bodies of Japanese soldiers being pushed around by bulldozers into mass graves. And right behind our squadron area was the Marine mortuary, where they'd lay out the bodies, check their dog tags and fingerprint them for identification," recalls Yellin, an 87-year-old retiree who lives in Vero Beach, Florida.
"I've lived with those memories all of my life and it was not something I ever wanted to go back to."
Nevertheless, Yellin was back on the island last week for the first time since 1945 to attend a ceremony commemorating the battle's 65th anniversary. About 22,000 Japanese soldiers died defending the island, along with more than 6,000 Americans, in a battle that was memorialized in the iconic photograph of five U.S. Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi, the island's dormant volcano.
read more here
World War II vets make emotional pilgrimage to Iwo Jima
Monday, March 8, 2010
5 Tour Iraq Veteran faces unemployment and cancer
Soldier faces most frightening fight of his life
by JASON WHITELY / WFAA-TV
Posted on March 7, 2010 at 10:00 PM
Updated today at 2:14 PM
******
CARROLLTON - Sgt. Andrew Hampton parachuted into Panama in 1989 and survived five tours in Iraq but there's little the U.S. Army can do to prepare him for his next fight.
"I just want to see my son grow up," he struggled to say, while fighting back tears.
Last week, doctors at the Dallas VA Hospital diagnosed him with gastric cancer. It's Stage 2, they told him, in the back of his stomach.
"Before this cancer, I was doing well," the 43-year-old reserve soldier said.
Facing the unknown now is unnerving. For Sgt. Hampton, a modest man, asking for help is almost humiliating.
"I...," he paused and looked away, "I cannot repay anybody right now."
After serving as a military policeman up until 2008, Sgt. Hampton returned to Iraq as a security contractor, after he was unable to find a job in North Texas. But he collapsed there in January.
He was placed on an emergency medical flight back to North Texas and now doctors here won't let him return.
As if the medical problems he faces aren't worrisome enough, bill collectors haven't been very forgiving.
"The way I'm going to pay the bills is through prayer," the single father said. "That's all I can do."
Sgt. Hampton is awaiting unemployment benefits.
read more here
Soldier faces most frightening fight of his life
by JASON WHITELY / WFAA-TV
Posted on March 7, 2010 at 10:00 PM
Updated today at 2:14 PM
******
CARROLLTON - Sgt. Andrew Hampton parachuted into Panama in 1989 and survived five tours in Iraq but there's little the U.S. Army can do to prepare him for his next fight.
"I just want to see my son grow up," he struggled to say, while fighting back tears.
Last week, doctors at the Dallas VA Hospital diagnosed him with gastric cancer. It's Stage 2, they told him, in the back of his stomach.
"Before this cancer, I was doing well," the 43-year-old reserve soldier said.
Facing the unknown now is unnerving. For Sgt. Hampton, a modest man, asking for help is almost humiliating.
"I...," he paused and looked away, "I cannot repay anybody right now."
After serving as a military policeman up until 2008, Sgt. Hampton returned to Iraq as a security contractor, after he was unable to find a job in North Texas. But he collapsed there in January.
He was placed on an emergency medical flight back to North Texas and now doctors here won't let him return.
As if the medical problems he faces aren't worrisome enough, bill collectors haven't been very forgiving.
"The way I'm going to pay the bills is through prayer," the single father said. "That's all I can do."
Sgt. Hampton is awaiting unemployment benefits.
read more here
Soldier faces most frightening fight of his life
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