ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease and PTSD found in Gulf War Vets

Review confirms PTSD, other syndromes in Gulf vets
Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON

(Reuters) - Studies confirm that Gulf War veterans suffer disproportionately from post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric illnesses as well as vague symptoms often classified as Gulf War Syndrome, a panel of experts reported on Friday.

The Institute of Medicine panel said better studies are needed to characterize a clear pattern of distress and other symptoms among veterans of the conflicts in the Gulf region that started in 1990 and continue today.

"It is clear that a significant portion of the soldiers deployed to the Gulf War have experienced troubling constellations of symptoms that are difficult to categorize," said Stephen Hauser, chairman of the department of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco.

The committee declined to say that there was any such thing as Gulf War Syndrome but did note many veterans had "multisymptom illness."

"Unfortunately, symptoms that cannot be easily quantified are sometimes incorrectly dismissed as insignificant and receive inadequate attention and funding by the medical and scientific establishment," Hauser added in a statement.

"Veterans who continue to suffer from these symptoms deserve the very best that modern science and medicine can offer to speed the development of effective treatments, cures, and -- we hope -- prevention."

The experts, including epidemiologists who study patterns of disease, neurologists and psychiatrists, found limited but suggestive evidence that Gulf War veterans have higher rates of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease -- a crippling, progressive and fatal nerve disease.
read more here
Review confirms PTSD, other syndromes in Gulf vets

Law Suit:"The worst law enforcement tragedy in the history of Washington state, was completely preventable,"

Families of slain Washington state police officers file suit
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 8, 2010 9:05 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Four police officers were shot to death in a Washington state coffee shop last year
Families of three of the officers have filed a $134 million lawsuit against Pierce County
Lawsuit says jail didn't heed warnings that should have kept gunman behind bars
Family of fourth officer has filed suit against friends, relatives of suspect in case

(CNN) -- The families of three police officers shot to death in a Washington state coffee shop last year are suing a county in the state, alleging its jail didn't heed warnings that should have kept the gunman behind bars, officials announced Thursday.

"This catastrophe, the worst law enforcement tragedy in the history of Washington state, was completely preventable," the lawsuits said.

The families are seeking a total of $134 million in damages against Washington's Pierce County.

A spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff's Department announced the suits on Thursday.

Investigators identified the man who killed the three Lakewood, Washington, officers as Maurice Clemmons, an ex-convict who had served time in Arkansas before being jailed on charges in Washington state.
read more here
Families of slain Washington state police officers file suit

Grant Funds Efforts to Prevent Stress Disorder

Grant Funds Efforts to Prevent Stress Disorder


By Cortney Fielding on April 7, 2010 8:04 AM

A USC School of Social Work professor will use a $1.8 million federal grant to help prevent long-term mental-health disturbances, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), from developing among the children in military families.

Marleen Wong, assistant dean and clinical professor of field education, and her partners at RAND, the UCLA Health Services Research Center and the Los Angeles Unified School District recently were awarded funds from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to develop trauma interventions for military children that can be implemented during the regular school day.

The researchers have received a total of $5.2 million in grants since 2002.

Wong and her colleagues, who formed the Trauma Services Adaption Center for Resiliency, Hope and Wellness in Schools, created the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools. This evidence-based program provides mental health screening and 10 weeks of therapy sessions in public schools to reduce symptoms related to existing traumatic experiences and build skills to handle future stress.
read more here
Grant Funds Efforts to Prevent Stress Disorder

Female troops take on new role in Afghanistan

Female troops take on new role in Afghanistan

By Jessica Binsch - Medill News Service
Posted : Thursday Apr 8, 2010 12:55:46 EDT

Teams of female Marines are stepping off their bases in Afghanistan and entering villages to build relationships with an often overlooked sector of the Afghan population: women.

Contrary to their image in the West, Afghan women can be powerful allies because of their central role in their families. And in the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan population, they can be a critical link, experts said Wednesday at a panel in Washington hosted by the Institute for the Study of War.

“Female engagement is really, absolutely a part of counterinsurgency,” said Claire Russo, who served in the Marine Corps for four years as an intelligence officer, including a 2006 deployment to Iraq. Russo now works as a civilian advisor to the Army in eastern Afghanistan to help create the so-called Female Engagement Teams.
read more here
Female troops take on new role in Afghanistan/

Soldier found guilty in 1985 triple slaying of his family

Soldier found guilty in 1985 triple slaying

By Kevin Maurer - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 8, 2010 16:21:31 EDT

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A soldier who was acquitted in civilian court more than 20 years ago was convicted by a military jury Thursday of murdering an Air Force wife and her two children in 1985.

Master Sgt. Timothy Hennis was found guilty of three counts of premeditated murder by a jury that deliberated less than three hours following three weeks of testimony in the case.

The panel is to consider Hennis’ punishment during a sentencing hearing that starts Friday and is expected to conclude Monday. It could sentence him to death or to life in prison for the slayings of 31-year-old Kathryn Eastburn and her young daughters in their Fayetteville home.

Eastburn’s husband and surviving child hugged each other and wept after the verdict was announced. Hennis, 52, reached back and squeezed wife Angela’s hand before the decision was announced but he showed no reaction to the verdict. His wife cried.
read more here
Soldier found guilty in 1985 triple slaying

Time for Oregon to step up for returning vets

Time for Oregon to step up for returning vets
By The Oregonian Editorial Board
April 07, 2010, 5:10PMOne thing about sending soldiers to war repeatedly for more than six years is that you learn a few things about bringing them home. Oregon will need all that experience and more beginning this month, as it re-absorbs some 2,700 soldiers of the Oregon National Guard's 41st Brigade who have spent most of the last year in Iraq.

This represents the state's biggest single contribution to a war effort in 60 years, so the effort to reintegrate the brigade into Oregon's civilian life must reach into every corner of the state and extend for months -- even years.

Some needs are pressing and immediate. Veterans advocates working on the reintegration campaign they're calling "Fort Oregon" now say they believe that fully half of the soldiers in the brigade are unemployed and will need to start collecting civilian paychecks quickly. For those soldiers, the Guard is trying to assemble potential employers -- a more difficult job than usual at a time of double-digit unemployment.

And yet, they are the lucky ones. Military leadership and civilian veterans advocates are horrified by the rate of suicide among military personnel and officers. At least 301 active-duty military personnel killed themselves last year, more than were killed by other causes in Iraq or Afghanistan. It's not certain how many recent veterans took their own lives. Oregon must be prepared to think that, in every community in the state, a veteran might be lying awake, feeling unmoored, unappreciated, angry or all three.
read more here
Time for Oregon to step up for returning vets

Shinseki Emphasizes Addressing Mental Health Issues Early

Shinseki Emphasizes Addressing Mental Health Issues Early
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2010 – Close collaboration between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments, plus proactive military screening policies, are helping to identify and treat mental-health issues in returning combat veterans before they escalate into more serious, long-term problems, Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki told American Forces Press Service.

Shinseki credited Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’ leadership in addressing mental-health concerns early, before they spill over into the VA health care system.

“We know that if we diagnose things like [post-traumatic stress] and treat it early, people generally get better,” Shinseki said. “That’s opposed to waiting until 20 years later, when a youngster comes in and says, ‘I have a problem.’”

Nearly everyone returning from a combat deployment has at least some symptoms of post-traumatic stress, Shinseki said. The trick, he said, is to deal with it before it becomes PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.

“If we can diagnose and treat it, you never get to the ‘d,’ the disorder,” he said. “Because that’s what causes the problem. And the disorder oftentimes sets in later, after it goes ignored and unrecognized. That’s what we are trying to get beyond.”

Shinseki called the military’s mental-health screening process a big step in the right direction.
read more here
Shinseki Emphasizes Addressing Mental Health Issues Early

5 Connecticut National Guard wounded in Afghanistan

5 Conn. soldiers injured in Afghanistan
Associated Press

April 8, 2010


HARTFORD, Conn.
The commander of the Connecticut National Guard says five soldiers have been wounded, three seriously, while on patrol Sunday in eastern Afghanistan.

Maj. Gen. Thaddeus Martin says reports indicate the soldiers were riding in a vehicle that was attacked with an improvised explosive device. He says they are all from the New Haven-based 1st Battalion, 102nd Infantry Regiment.
read more here
5 Conn soldiers injured in Afghanistan

Calls To Suicide Hot Line On the Rise

Remember, this is not just a suicide prevention line. It's a lifeline when you are in crisis too.

Calls To Suicide Hot Line On the Rise
More Veterans Seeking Help By Calling Hot Line

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- New Mexico Department of Veteran's Services Dr. Brenda Mayne said that calls to the suicide hot line have been non-stop.

"People are calling just for support right then and there because of a bad nightmare or a flashback, something related to their service, and they want someone who understands to listen," said Mayne.

Statistics show the need for that support has risen in the past three months.

According to the New Mexico VA hospital, for all of 2009 they received about 2,000 calls. From January to March of this year, the hot line has already received 2,000 calls.
read more here
http://www.koat.com/news/23085091/detail.html

Jacksonville Police need help finding killer of veteran Marine

Marine veteran, 50, killed in gas station attack
The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Police in Jacksonville are searching for a masked gunman who attacked and killed a Marine veteran as he was pumping gas.

Authorities say Gregory Eugene Chisholm struggled with a man attempting to rob him at a BP station about 2:30 a.m. on Monday. The gunman shot Chisholm and ran from the scene.

Chisholm was pronounced dead at the scene.

Chisholm's family says he entered the Marines after graduating from high school. He served for four years before being discharged and spent another four years in the Marine Reserves.

Anyone with information is asked to contact First Coast Crime Stoppers at 866-845-8477.



Read more: Marine veteran killed in gas station attack

2,000 Facebook users comfort fallen Marine's family

Austin News
Memories, friends comfort Rochester Marine's family
4/7/2010 9:54:02 AM
Comments (0)
By Matt Russell
The Post-Bulletin, Austin MN

After getting support from more than 2,000 people on Facebook in recent days, the family of a Rochester Marine killed in Afghanistan last week say they are overwhelmed by kind words from friends, family and people they've never met.

"It's mind-boggling," said Kay Swenson, the mother of Lance Cpl. Curtis M. Swenson, 20, a 2007 Mayo High School graduate. "It's really been a comfort."

Swenson's family returned to Rochester on Monday night from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where they attended a ceremony marking the return of the soldier's body to American soil. Swenson is the 1,037th American solider to die in Afghanistan since 2001, according to icasualties.org, a site that tracks coalition deaths.

"It was devastating," Swenson's father, Dave, said Tuesday as he recalled the experience of seeing his son's flag-draped coffin., when a black SUV parked in the driveway of their southeast Rochester home and two Marines got out.

Dave Swenson recalls standing frozen with his hands in a questioning gesture as they approached. No words needed to be spoken, he said, for him to realize his son had passed away.
read more here
Memories, friends comfort Rochester Marine family

VA IT Improves Quality of Health Care While

VA Health Information Technology Improves Quality of Health Care While
Reducing Costs

WASHINGTON (April 7, 2010) - The Department of Veterans Affairs has
shown that health information technology provides improved quality of
health care and substantial cost savings, according to a study in the
public health journal Health Affairs. The use of technology lowered
costs while producing improvements in quality, safety and patient
satisfaction.

"VA has seen its investment in health information technology pay off for
Veterans and taxpayers for many years, and this study provides positive
evidence for this correlation," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric
K. Shinseki. "The benefits have exceeded costs, proving that the
implementation of secure, efficient systems of electronic records is a
good idea for all our citizens."

The study, which covered a 10-year period between 1997 and 2007, found
that VA's health IT investment during the period was $4 billion, while
savings were more than $7 billion. The authors noted that most of the
savings are in areas that also improve quality, safety and patient
satisfaction.

More than 86 percent of the savings were due to eliminating duplicated
tests and reducing medical errors. The rest of the savings came from
lower operating expenses and reduced workload. The authors further
noted that these were conservative estimates of net value, based on
available literature and published studies.

VA has also begun piloting health record exchanges with the Department
of Defense and private-sector providers. These programs are paving the
way for the seamless, lifetime exchange of the health care records of
Veterans, regardless of where they live.

VA has been using health IT systems for more than 20 years to improve
medical outcomes and efficiency in delivering care. The use has grown
to support the full range of patient care, including computerized
patient records, bar-coded medications, radiological imaging, and
laboratory and medication ordering.

The study looked at the success in meeting clinical guidelines through
the use of electronic health records and computerized physician alerts.
Chronic illnesses such as diabetes, which impacts about 25 percent of VA
patients, was a focus of the study. VA patients with diabetes had
better glucose testing compliance and control, more controlled
cholesterol, and more timely retinal exams compared to Medicare's
private-sector benchmark. Retinal damage can be caused by diabetes. VA
averaged about 15 percentage points higher than the private sector on
preventive care for patients with diabetes.

The study authors are associated with the Center for Information
Technology Leadership, a research organization in Charlestown, Mass.,
which is focused on guiding the health care community in making informed
strategic IT investment decisions.

The study is available on the Internet at
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/29/4/629

Make-A-Wish helps soldier's brother get to Germany

Teenager gets his ‘wish’: Time with his soldier brother on the flightline in Germany
Cresencio Santos’ greatest wish was to see his older brother in Germany. Kevin Colindres, 20, an Army private with the 8th Medical Logistics Company at Miesau Army Depot, is a father figure to his younger brother, since both grew up without a dad around. Cresencio, 15, who goes by “Chris,” got his wish and much more, thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

click link for more

Veterans for Common Sense to have answers on how to "Fix VA"

VCS Public Advocacy in Action: VCS to Hold Press Conference Friday, April 9
Written by VCS
Wednesday, 07 April 2010 07:36
Veteran Advocacy Group to Announce New Program to Fix VA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Bill Morgan, Veterans for Common Sense
Contact@veteransforcommonsense.org


On April 9, Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) will be joined by Congressman Bob Filner to host a press conference to announce a new program, “Fix VA,” to reform the Veterans Affairs Department (VA). When: Friday, April 9, 2010 – 10:30 a.m. (press should arrive by 10:15 a.m.)
Where: The Westgate Hotel, 1055 Second Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101

Who: Veterans for Common Sense Executive Director, Paul Sullivan, a Gulf War Veteran and a former VA analyst: For 18 years, Paul Sullivan has been dedicated to ensuring that Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans get healthcare and disability benefits they earned and deserve. Veterans for Common Sense uses the government’s own data through the Freedom of Information Act to expose the real human costs of the conflicts.

In 2007, Paul worked behind the scenes to help journalists break stories about the dramatic increase in suicides and other mental health problems plaguing returning veterans. His organization publicly fought the VA to force the release of documents indicating the reality of the long-term health issues faced by U.S. veterans, including recent appearances on “60 Minutes,” and CNN.

Congressman Bob Filner, the Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, who is meeting with Veterans for Common Sense and other veterans organizations in San Diego on the morning of the 9th, will attend the press conference and make comments.
What:
• The launch of the new VCS program, “Fix VA” and new http://www.fixva.org/ website.
• Information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act showing the current human costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
• A set of practical, implementable solutions for fixing the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), the VA agency responsible for processing disability benefit claims.
Veterans for Common Sense is a non-profit based in Washington, DC providing advocacy for veterans. Founded in 2002 by Gulf War veterans, VCS testifies regularly before Congress about veterans’ healthcare and disability benefits. For more information about VCS, please visit our web site: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/undefined

50 years after he was chained and set afire, WWI veteran is honored

50 years after he was chained and set afire, WWI veteran is honored
By Wayne Drash, CNN
April 7, 2010 10:01 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Isadore Banks gets military honors 90 years after he served nation in World War I
Banks was chained to a tree and set on fire in June 1954
His case is one of the nation's oldest unsolved civil rights killings
"This has been a long time coming," a granddaughter said
Marion, Arkansas (CNN) -- A traditional three-shot volley salute and the solemn sound of taps echoed across the black cemetery in the Delta flatlands of Arkansas, just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee.

The military honors were followed by the jubilant singing of "Amazing Grace." The service had been five decades in the making.

Everyone was here to honor Isadore Banks, an African-American veteran of World War I who was chained to a tree in June 1954, doused in gasoline and burned beyond recognition.

The slaying -- a year before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to whites on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama -- remains one of the nation's oldest unsolved civil rights cases.

"This has been a long time coming," said Marcelina Williams, a granddaughter who worked with the Army to arrange Monday's ceremony after she found her grandfather's military records. "Bless our country with freedom and righteousness."
read more here
50 years after he was chained and set afire WWI veteran is honored

Joblessness hits male vets of current wars

Since December, the rates have been reported a lot higher for young veterans and how they return without jobs. Some can't find work because of the economy. Some can't work because of what combat hit them with. Whatever the reason, it seems as if they do not just suffer when they are risking their lives. They suffer after because they risked their lives.

Saturday, December 12, 2009
Unemployment for young vets surpasses 20%

Friday, March 12, 2010
Young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans hit 21.1 percent unemployed

Friday, April 2, 2010
One in three young vets now unemployed

One in three young vets now unemployed

By Rick Maze - Staff writer

Posted : Friday Apr 2, 2010 15:12:51 EDT
Disturbing new statistics from the Labor Department show that one in three veterans under age 24 is unemployed — and that the unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans has jumped to 14.7 percent, half again as high as the national employment rate of 9.7 percent.The March unemployment rate of 30.2 percent for veterans aged 18 to 24 is a big jump from February’s figure of 21.7 percent, although it may be partly the result of a small sample used by the Labor Department in determining unemployment, said Justin Brown, a labor expert for Veterans of Foreign Wars. (Click links above for the rest of these.)

Joblessness hits male vets of current wars

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Unemployment for male Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans has tripled since the recession began, rising from 5% in March 2007 to 15% last month, Labor Department statistics show.

More than 250,000 of these veterans were unemployed last month. An additional 400,000 have left the workforce to attend college or raise children, or because they have stopped trying to find a job, Labor Department economist Jim Walker says. The overall national unemployment rate is 9.7%.

"It makes you almost want to go out and rip off all the 'Support Your Troops' bumper stickers," says Joe Davis, a spokesman for the 1.5-million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars. "If you want to support your troops, give them a job."


Reasons behind the joblessness:

•Veterans are having a difficult time translating military skills — initiative, leadership and coolness under pressure — into job-application language that civilian employers can grasp, says Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. She has been meeting with unemployed veterans while on recess from Congress.

"These guys are disciplined. They're great workers, and we should be getting them jobs," says Murray, who is sponsoring legislation to improve résumé training, expand the G.I. Bill to include apprenticeship programs and assist veterans starting small businesses.
read more here
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-04-06-vets_N.htm

Madigan hospital expands PTSD screening to 12,000

Madigan hospital expands PTSD screening

By Scott Fontaine - The News Tribune
Posted : Tuesday Apr 6, 2010 10:21:58 EDT

TACOMA, Wash. — As some 12,000 soldiers from three Stryker brigades return to Joint Base Lewis-McChord from war this year, Madigan Army Medical Center will temporarily expand its staff and implement new screening programs to catch mental health issues.

Hospital staff will pay special attention to 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which has lost a reported 35 soldiers and has seen frequent combat since it deployed to southern Afghanistan last July.

"It's no surprise the Army is searching for the right answer for this: How do you take care of soldiers and families during this whole cycle?" said Col. Mark Thompson, the hospital's deputy commander for clinical services.

Before each brigade returns to Lewis-McChord, platoon leaders and platoon sergeants will complete a questionnaire on each soldier that looks for potential mental health concerns.
read more here
Madigan hospital expands PTSD screening

Iraq war veteran gets probation, treatment

This is what can happen when justice is not blind. This is what happens when the courts understand that you cannot suddenly become someone willing to die for the sake of this nation into a regular "criminal" without cause. It is not a "get out of jail free card" but considers that there could be a chance to help a veteran recover from what happened to them. It's a chance.

Iraq war veteran gets probation, treatment
By Kathleen Kreller - kkreller@idahostatesman.com
Published: 04/05/10

If veteran George Nickel complies with strict requirements and supervision from Fourth District Judge Deborah Bail, he's spent his last night in jail.

Nickel, 38, will on Tuesday enter weeks of residential treatment for alcohol abuse and post traumatic stress disorder at the Veteran's Administration hospital in Boise.

Nickel has been in the Ada County Jail since a July incident when he pointed a gun at police after firing shots into neighbors' apartments.

Nickel has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. Nickel was of 100 Idaho Army Reservists with the 321st Engineer Battalion who spent a year in Iraq hunting and disarming roadside bombs. He was the only man in a group of four to survive the explosion of a roadside bomb.

Police say Nickel was looking for his dog in his apartment building July 28 when he used an AR-15 rifle to try to shoot the locks off two different doors.



Read more: Iraq war veteran gets probation, treatment

Is the DOD just renaming same kind of failures?

I've been reading, and reading, and reading about different programs the Army claims will work better than the other programs they've had. What I'm not reading is that they have learned anything new. This all boils down to just one more program that will replace another program that didn't work. When the DOD comes up with any kind of understanding of why some end up with PTSD and why some don't that's when I'll have some kind of hope for the soldiers. Until that day comes, plan on the numbers for PTSD go up every year along with attempted suicides and suicides. Too many years as these numbers rise but to this day, they have not shown they understand PTSD any better than they did after Vietnam. Who is in charge over these programs anyway? You can call a cat a "dog" all you want but at the end of the day, the cat will still meow instead of bark and instead of warming your feet, he'll bite them.

No waiting: New Army program puts rescue before the crisis

Enemy fire isn't the only occupational hazard of military service. Whether it's one deployment or four, those who fight face an elevated risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, suicide and a host of other disruptions to their lives.

This week the Army deployed another weapon against one of the biggest adversaries - stress. It's called Master Resilience Training.

The program, initiated at Fort Jackson, S.C., focuses on helping soldiers maintain psychological as well as physical health, rather than on treating those who have already been tripped up or knocked down.

The emphasis is on positive thinking, but the training isn't an endless recitation of Norman Vincent Peale's greatest one-liners. In fact, it isn't the rank and file who will be trained at Fort Jackson. These "trainees" will be sergeants and young officers taught to mentor soldiers both before and during deployments.
read more here
http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2010/04/06/988889

Families of 25 killed in West Virginia mine blast need your prayers

Please pray for the 4 others still missing as well.

25 killed in West Virginia mine blast
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 6, 2010 6:52 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Death toll stands at 25
Four miners remain unaccounted for
Rescue efforts suspended due to hazardous conditions underground
Officials think some of the trapped miners may have breathing devices
Montcoal, West Virginia (CNN) -- The death toll from the massive explosion at a sprawling coal mine in West Virginia rose to 25 early Tuesday, making it the deadliest U.S. mining disaster in 25 years.

Crews halted their efforts to reach four miners still unaccounted for at the Upper Big Branch Mine following the blast Monday afternoon.

Concentrations of methane and carbon monoxide inside the mine made it a safety risk for crews to proceed, said Kevin Stricklin of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration at a 2 a.m. briefing to reporters.

Officials planned to drill bore holes from the surface 1,200 feet into the mines to help ventilate it and to collect samples. However, they will first have to use bulldozers to clear a path to reach the part of the mine where they can drill.
read more here
25 killed in West Virginia mine blast