Oil slick spreads from sunken rig
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 22, 2010 6:11 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Officials don't know whether slick is leaking from rig or well, or is residue from fire
Oil slick measuring 1-by-5 miles spreads from site of sunken rig, Coast Guard says
Search continues for 11 workers missing since explosion Tuesday night on rig
Federal lawsuit alleges companies connected to oil rig explosion were negligent
(CNN) -- A 1-by-5-mile sheen of crude oil mix has spread across the Gulf of Mexico's surface around the area where an oil rig exploded and sank, a Coast Guard lieutenant said Thursday.
"This is a rainbow sheen with a dark center," Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry told reporters Thursday afternoon.
Officials do not know whether oil or fuel are leaking form the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig and the well below, but BP Vice President David Rainey said "it certainly has the potential to be a major spill." BP PLC operates the license on which the rig was drilling.
A remotely-operated vehicle is surveying the area and cleanup efforts are already under way, Landry said. The sheen "probably is residual from the fire and the activity that was going on on this rig before it sank below the surface," she said.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard continued to search for 11 people missing after an explosion late Tuesday set the rig ablaze forcing workers to be evacuated from the vessel. Officials are still unsure what caused the blast.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/22/oil.rig.explosion/index.html?hpt=T2
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Fort Carson GI dies in noncombat incident in Iraq
Carson GI dies in noncombat incident in Iraq
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 22, 2010 12:12:28 EDT
FORT CARSON, Colo. — A 28-year-old Fort Carson soldier serving in Iraq has died.
The Defense Department said Pfc. Charlie Antonio of Kahului, Hawaii, died Sunday in Annassar, Iraq, of injuries from a noncombat incident.
Antonio was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, out of Fort Carson.
Carson GI dies in noncombat incident in Iraq
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 22, 2010 12:12:28 EDT
FORT CARSON, Colo. — A 28-year-old Fort Carson soldier serving in Iraq has died.
The Defense Department said Pfc. Charlie Antonio of Kahului, Hawaii, died Sunday in Annassar, Iraq, of injuries from a noncombat incident.
Antonio was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, out of Fort Carson.
Carson GI dies in noncombat incident in Iraq
VA admits 18 veterans commit suicide each day
Last year Veterans for Common Sense already found out how many we were having to bury after combat for them was over. The problem is, this battle they were fighting on their own, alone and forgotten by the rest of the American people. Too many want to believe that after we send them off our duty is done unless they come home in a coffin covered with an American flag. The truth is, our duty to them just begins and is our duty for the rest of their lives to take care of them.
18 veterans commit suicide each day
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Apr 22, 2010 15:40:18 EDT
Troubling new data show there are an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department.
Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don’t succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months.
The numbers, which come at a time when VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs, show about 18 veteran suicides a day, about five by veterans who are receiving VA care.
Access to care appears to be a key factor, officials said, noting that once a veteran is inside the VA care program, screening programs are in place to identify those with problems, and special efforts are made to track those considered at high risk, such as monitoring whether they are keeping appointments.
read more here
18 veterans commit suicide each day
Kentucky National Guardsman Found Dead in Afghanistan
Kentucky National Guardsman Found Dead in Afghanistan
A Kentucky Army National Guardsman has died in Afghanistan, and the military is investigating the cause.
Posted: 9:21 PM Apr 20, 2010
Reporter: Associated Press
The National Guard says 28-year-old Sgt. Randolph A. Sigley Jr. of Richmond, was found dead in his quarters Sunday at Bagram Airbase, where he was serving with the 2123rd Transportation Company.
The Guard says Sigley had been a member since 2006, and previously served a tour in Afghanistan when he was in the Marines, from 2000 to 2004.
go here for more
Kentucky National Guardsman Found Dead in Afghanistan
A Kentucky Army National Guardsman has died in Afghanistan, and the military is investigating the cause.
Posted: 9:21 PM Apr 20, 2010
Reporter: Associated Press
The National Guard says 28-year-old Sgt. Randolph A. Sigley Jr. of Richmond, was found dead in his quarters Sunday at Bagram Airbase, where he was serving with the 2123rd Transportation Company.
The Guard says Sigley had been a member since 2006, and previously served a tour in Afghanistan when he was in the Marines, from 2000 to 2004.
go here for more
Kentucky National Guardsman Found Dead in Afghanistan
VA Marks 85 Years
Normally something like this would present a hopeful moment but after tracking all that has gone wrong for our veterans all these years, I'm left to wonder what they are putting their money into. All these billions over all these years, especially in mental health and PTSD, all the studies, research, testing and we have ended up with a suicide rate going up every year along with everything else the veterans have had to deal with once they were supposed to stop worrying about their lives. I keep reading about this study and that study, remembering I read the same research being done thirty years ago. I keep reading they have done this, they have done that and end up finding out that their expensive this's and that's have done no good at all.
We read about the thousands of veterans calling into the Suicide Prevention Hotline but never manage to look at what the numbers are really telling us. How can it be a good thing that thousands of veterans have been so mistreated they would think of taking their own lives instead of being assured their lives mattered enough? That the VA was finally able to figure out why some came home with the war trapped inside of them and they were addressing it seriously? That research would not be funded over and over and over again after researchers have blown past research and it turned into a bunch of crap? When will they get this right? I get angry waiting because they keep dying when they should never have to face the choice to stay alive or die by their own hands.
When the VA releases a report that they know what I know then I'll be impressed. Considering I do not have anything more than a lot of years with them and a hell of a lot of common sense, but managed to figure it out, they should have a long, long time ago. The problem is what I know does not have a price tag, does not help any pharmaceutical corporation nor does it put more of them in their graves.
We read about the thousands of veterans calling into the Suicide Prevention Hotline but never manage to look at what the numbers are really telling us. How can it be a good thing that thousands of veterans have been so mistreated they would think of taking their own lives instead of being assured their lives mattered enough? That the VA was finally able to figure out why some came home with the war trapped inside of them and they were addressing it seriously? That research would not be funded over and over and over again after researchers have blown past research and it turned into a bunch of crap? When will they get this right? I get angry waiting because they keep dying when they should never have to face the choice to stay alive or die by their own hands.
When the VA releases a report that they know what I know then I'll be impressed. Considering I do not have anything more than a lot of years with them and a hell of a lot of common sense, but managed to figure it out, they should have a long, long time ago. The problem is what I know does not have a price tag, does not help any pharmaceutical corporation nor does it put more of them in their graves.
VA Marks 85 Years of "Discovery, Innovation and Advancement"
Researchers Have Brought Hope to Generations
WASHINGTON (April 22, 2010) - Eighty-five years of enriching the lives
of Veterans and all Americans through top-notch medical research will be
spotlighted April 26-30 when the Department of Veterans Affairs
celebrates National VA Research Week.
On April 22, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs W. Scott Gould was
joined by disability advocate Lee Woodruff and country music star - and
Iraq and Afghanistan vet - Stephen Cochran at VA's Central Office in
Washington to kick off the official 85th birthday party for the
Department's research program.
"The rich history of accomplishment by VA researchers has improved
Veterans' lives and advanced the practice of medicine throughout the
country," said Gould. "The innovative VA researchers who turn so many
hopes into realities are truly national treasures."
VA, which has the largest integrated health care system in the country,
also has one of the largest medical research programs. This year,
nearly 3,400 researchers will work on more than 2,300 projects, funded
by nearly $1.9 billion.
VA's research program was recently in the news when the prestigious New
England Journal of Medicine published the results April 16 of a study by
VA's Albert Lo of Providence, R.I., to use robotics to improve the
recovery of stroke victims with impaired use of their arms and hands.
Gould noted the most recent space shuttle flight on April 5 carried to
the international space station a VA research project to study the
impact of aging on the human immune system. The study is overseen by
Dr. Millie Hughes-Fulford, a VA researcher in San Francisco and a former
scientist-astronaut who flew on the space shuttle in 1991.
"From the development of effective therapies for tuberculosis and
implantable cardiac pacemakers, to the first successful liver transplant
and the nicotine patch, VA's trail-blazing research accomplishments are
a source of great pride to our Department and the nation," Gould added.
In 1977, VA researcher Rosalind Yalow was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Medicine for developing techniques that measure substances in the blood
with great accuracy. Her work brought about "a revolution in biological
and medical research," according to the Nobel Committee.
Eighteen years before, in 1959, Dr. William Oldendorf, a VA researcher
in Los Angeles, built a unique device to measure blood flow in the brain
with only $3,000. He went on to create something even more remarkable
-- a prototype for the first computerized tomography (CT) scanner.
"Examples of this dedication and advancement are not limited to
history," said Gould. "Today's committed VA researchers are focusing on
traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, post-deployment
health, womens health and a host of other issues key to the well-being
of our Veterans."
Vermont National Guard soldiers' families called by evil hoaxer
Hoaxer calls Vermont National Guard soldiers' families telling them their son or daughter is injured
By Ethan Sacks
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 21st 2010, 10:54 AM
Family members of soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been targeted with late-night phone calls from a twisted hoaxer expressing sympathy for their son or daughter's injuries or death in the line of duty.
At least three prank calls were believed to have been made by a woman last week in Vermont, making the family worry until it could get in touch with the loved one, who was not injured, ABC News reported.
"All our families, it's a roller-coaster ride," National Guard Lt. Col Lloyd Goodrow told ABC. "Somebody does something like this, it just makes it worse."
About 1,500 Vermont guardsmen are serving in Afghanistan, The Associated Press reported.
Read more: Hoaxer calls Vermont National Guard soldiers families
By Ethan Sacks
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 21st 2010, 10:54 AM
Family members of soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been targeted with late-night phone calls from a twisted hoaxer expressing sympathy for their son or daughter's injuries or death in the line of duty.
At least three prank calls were believed to have been made by a woman last week in Vermont, making the family worry until it could get in touch with the loved one, who was not injured, ABC News reported.
"All our families, it's a roller-coaster ride," National Guard Lt. Col Lloyd Goodrow told ABC. "Somebody does something like this, it just makes it worse."
About 1,500 Vermont guardsmen are serving in Afghanistan, The Associated Press reported.
Read more: Hoaxer calls Vermont National Guard soldiers families
The National Guard Needs Your Help
The National Guard Needs Your Help
Sen. Ron Wyden
U.S. Senator from Oregon
Posted: April 21, 2010 07:45 PM
When the first members of Oregon's Army National Guard began returning from Iraq last weekend family, friends and neighbors literally lined up to welcome them home. 110 motorcyclists escorted the caravan of buses along a route lined with Oregonians holding signs to show their support. Parents, spouses and children rushed to embrace their loved ones, while elected officials -- such as myself -- offered words of thanks for the ten months these brave men and women spent serving their country in harm's way. I hope Oregon's Guard got the message that we are grateful for their service and glad to have them home safe.
Oregonians aren't the only ones who recognize the extraordinary service and sacrifice of their state's National Guard. For decades these scenes have repeatedly played out across the country as reservists and guardsmen and women have increasingly been called on for extended deployments. During the Vietnam War 3,000 reservists and guardsmen were called to duty. For Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 267,300 reserve component service men and women were called to service. Current Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq had already involved more than 760,000 guard and reservists.
However, unlike active duty service members -- who come home to military bases and the jobs and support systems that they provide -- once the fanfare of homecoming subsides, returning Guard members are in many instances left to face the increasingly stark reality of transitioning to civilian life on their own.
read more here
The National Guard Needs Your Help
Sen. Ron Wyden
U.S. Senator from Oregon
Posted: April 21, 2010 07:45 PM
When the first members of Oregon's Army National Guard began returning from Iraq last weekend family, friends and neighbors literally lined up to welcome them home. 110 motorcyclists escorted the caravan of buses along a route lined with Oregonians holding signs to show their support. Parents, spouses and children rushed to embrace their loved ones, while elected officials -- such as myself -- offered words of thanks for the ten months these brave men and women spent serving their country in harm's way. I hope Oregon's Guard got the message that we are grateful for their service and glad to have them home safe.
Oregonians aren't the only ones who recognize the extraordinary service and sacrifice of their state's National Guard. For decades these scenes have repeatedly played out across the country as reservists and guardsmen and women have increasingly been called on for extended deployments. During the Vietnam War 3,000 reservists and guardsmen were called to duty. For Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 267,300 reserve component service men and women were called to service. Current Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq had already involved more than 760,000 guard and reservists.
However, unlike active duty service members -- who come home to military bases and the jobs and support systems that they provide -- once the fanfare of homecoming subsides, returning Guard members are in many instances left to face the increasingly stark reality of transitioning to civilian life on their own.
read more here
The National Guard Needs Your Help
Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 11, 2009
Vietnam Veterans finally finding their way back home
Guns, grunts, guts and grief is the best way to explain how Vietnam veterans came home. Some of them were so humiliated after risking their lives by people attacking them back home they wondered if their lives mattered at all. Imagine risking your life after being drafted or enlisting and then finding out your own countrymen treat you like a target. For others, they came home to avoidance and ambivalence with family and friends wanting to forget all about where they had been. No one wanted to hear anything.
They didn't give up. They fought to have PTSD treated and compensated by the VA. Most of what we see today in psychologists treating trauma survivors came out of their courage to make it happen for combat veterans. For far too many the message was late in being delivered.
Now we have Iraq and Afghanistan veterans reaping the rewards of their battles at the same time the Vietnam veterans are slowly arriving at the VA seeking help after all these years. Sons and daughters returning from combat are finally understanding what was wrong with their Dads all these years and they are talking them into going for help. They suffered all these years thinking there was no hope for them but evidence has shown it is never too late to get help to heal.
There are parts of lives that can be restored and for what can't be there are coping skills to ease the pain. When you find a gathering of Vietnam veterans they will tell you that almost everyone of them have PTSD in some degree. There are many different levels of PTSD and while most will experience every symptom of it, some will only have a few of them, or at least, they admit to having a few symptoms. They may talk about nightmares but deny flashbacks. Family members have witnessed the moments of returning to combat as they try to deny their time travel back. Some have given up on healing because no one seems to have been able to help them.
Attitudes have changed toward PTSD just as they have changed toward the veterans coming home. Now they find support. They find comfort when they see more and more of their brothers admitting they have PTSD and going for help to heal. They also find hope that it is not too late for them to return back home all the way.
Instead of fighting battles with guns, they do it with the same guts they had in Vietnam courageously facing their fears so they can heal. These grunts have walked miles knowing each step could be their last and each day back home a little more of them became trapped by the ghosts of Vietnam. They grieved for the loss of friends, the loss of their innocence, the loss of faith in their own countrymen and the loss of themselves. Now they find strength in numbers and support to know it is never too late for them.
Current wars prompt Vietnam vets to seek help for post-traumatic stress
Thursday, April 22, 2010
By Maryann Gogniat Eidemiller"When you leave the war zone, there's grief and guilt and traumatic bereavement over things you did that, in the heat of the moment, seemed correct. When you go back with your own family, the guilt rises and grief hits."
A handful of veterans meets on Fridays at the Veterans Affairs clinic in Hempfield to talk about the Vietnam War.
Anne Merical, a licensed clinical social worker, listens.
"When they came home, they had nothing to identify what was going on with them, as far as nightmares, anger, hyper-vigilance, addictions, triggers for flashbacks and relationship problems," she said. "Now they are talking for the first time about what they went through."
The ones who did talk to civilian and VA psychiatrists years ago helped lead to the identification of the condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder and its inclusion in the American Psychiatric Association's 1980 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness.
After facing constant news coverage of the current wars and learning that today's soldiers are returning with similar issues, many Vietnam veterans are finally seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, Ms. Merical said.
About 70 percent of her clients are Vietnam War vets, and half suffer from the disorder. Two other Greensburg area therapists, David Johns and psychologist Andrea VanEstenberg, have treated veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Read more: Current wars prompt Vietnam vets to seek help for PTSD
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Project Healing Waters "much-needed respite" for veterans
Veterans take to Cherokee waters for healing
By Giles Morris • Staff writer
I don't do people,
Bart Crowe said matter-of-factly.
But there he was getting his fishing tackle together to hit the trophy waters in Cherokee with a couple of fishing buddies.
Crowe carried an M-60 machine gun during Operation Desert Storm in 1990. His war was four days long, he said, and punctuated by a 20-hour tank battle. Now he is a disabled veteran with diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, post-traumatic brain injury, fybromyalgia and chronic fatigue.
I don't sleep. I've bounced from job to job. I've literally gone after bosses, Crowe said. I really don't do people. I center my life around veterans.
Crowe and a handful of other Western North Carolina veterans gathered at River's Edge Outfitters in Cherokee on Monday morning and then headed up Oconaluftee River to fish alongside members of the North Carolina Fly Fishing Team. The outing was the inaugural fishing event for the Cherokee Chapter of Project Healing Waters.
For Crowe, it was a much-needed respite.
Just getting out there on the water is relaxing, Crowe said. It's not about catching fish. It's about getting some peace and hearing the streams instead of thinking about things I shouldn't.
Project Healing Waters was founded in 2005 as a way to help rehabilitate wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Today, there are more than 80 chapters nationwide and the project continues to grow.
read more here
Veterans take to Cherokee waters for healing
By Giles Morris • Staff writer
I don't do people,
Bart Crowe said matter-of-factly.
But there he was getting his fishing tackle together to hit the trophy waters in Cherokee with a couple of fishing buddies.
Crowe carried an M-60 machine gun during Operation Desert Storm in 1990. His war was four days long, he said, and punctuated by a 20-hour tank battle. Now he is a disabled veteran with diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, post-traumatic brain injury, fybromyalgia and chronic fatigue.
I don't sleep. I've bounced from job to job. I've literally gone after bosses, Crowe said. I really don't do people. I center my life around veterans.
Crowe and a handful of other Western North Carolina veterans gathered at River's Edge Outfitters in Cherokee on Monday morning and then headed up Oconaluftee River to fish alongside members of the North Carolina Fly Fishing Team. The outing was the inaugural fishing event for the Cherokee Chapter of Project Healing Waters.
For Crowe, it was a much-needed respite.
Just getting out there on the water is relaxing, Crowe said. It's not about catching fish. It's about getting some peace and hearing the streams instead of thinking about things I shouldn't.
Project Healing Waters was founded in 2005 as a way to help rehabilitate wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Today, there are more than 80 chapters nationwide and the project continues to grow.
read more here
Veterans take to Cherokee waters for healing
'Welcome Home' for Vietnam vets set for Saturday
'Welcome Home' for Vietnam vets set for Saturday
Rock Hill will finally honor Vietnam vets like Mutt and his brothers in arms
By Andrew Dys - Columnist His name is Edward McCrorey, but even at 61, as he walks through the hallway of the old York County building on Cherry Road, the name "Mutt" rings out.
McCrorey has been Mutt in Rock Hill on ball fields and streets and churches since he has walked - maybe before. He was Mutt on the worst battlefields on earth in Vietnam.
Mutt is not a pejorative. It is a nickname. A name of respect. A man with a nickname that has lasted 61 years through hell on earth in a war, and still counting - that's somebody known and loved.
This call-out came from the guy who runs that county building, a giant of a man in this city, Magistrate Judge Bob Davenport.
"Mutt, man, it is good to see you," said Davenport.
"Good to be seen," said Mutt.
Mutt is at the building Tuesday because it houses the county's veterans affairs office. That's where people who served in the military go to get their benefits handled, where they meet others just like themselves.
Mutt is more than some veteran. His hat says "USMC." His shirt says "Vietnam Veteran." His face says, when it comes to Vietnam and combat and what a skinny kid from Rock Hill had to do for his country, "Horror."
On Saturday at District Three Stadium, this area will honor vets like Mutt for the first time with a "Welcome Home" ceremony.
It comes 39 years after Mutt came home.
Read more: Welcome Home for Vietnam vets set for Saturday
Rock Hill will finally honor Vietnam vets like Mutt and his brothers in arms
By Andrew Dys - Columnist His name is Edward McCrorey, but even at 61, as he walks through the hallway of the old York County building on Cherry Road, the name "Mutt" rings out.
McCrorey has been Mutt in Rock Hill on ball fields and streets and churches since he has walked - maybe before. He was Mutt on the worst battlefields on earth in Vietnam.
Mutt is not a pejorative. It is a nickname. A name of respect. A man with a nickname that has lasted 61 years through hell on earth in a war, and still counting - that's somebody known and loved.
This call-out came from the guy who runs that county building, a giant of a man in this city, Magistrate Judge Bob Davenport.
"Mutt, man, it is good to see you," said Davenport.
"Good to be seen," said Mutt.
Mutt is at the building Tuesday because it houses the county's veterans affairs office. That's where people who served in the military go to get their benefits handled, where they meet others just like themselves.
Mutt is more than some veteran. His hat says "USMC." His shirt says "Vietnam Veteran." His face says, when it comes to Vietnam and combat and what a skinny kid from Rock Hill had to do for his country, "Horror."
On Saturday at District Three Stadium, this area will honor vets like Mutt for the first time with a "Welcome Home" ceremony.
It comes 39 years after Mutt came home.
Read more: Welcome Home for Vietnam vets set for Saturday
Vietnam Vet lived long enough to see dream come true
Vietnam veterans's dream comes true
By: Debbie Griffin, River Falls Journal
Vietnam War veteran and longtime teacher at Meyer Middle School Lanny Saumer worked for years to raise funds and build Trieu Trung Elementary in Vietnam, not far from where he served as a Marine near the Demilitarized Zone.
He worked with the non-profit organization DOVE Fund and engaged students at MMS students to support the project.
His wife, Karen Saumer, said construction on the $62,000 school finished in September last year -- just before Lanny died in November. He knew before he passed away that the school was finished and would be dedicated soon.
“It made him smile,” said his 34-year-old son Brandon.
read more here
http://www.riverfallsjournal.com/event/article/id/94914/
By: Debbie Griffin, River Falls Journal
Vietnam War veteran and longtime teacher at Meyer Middle School Lanny Saumer worked for years to raise funds and build Trieu Trung Elementary in Vietnam, not far from where he served as a Marine near the Demilitarized Zone.
He worked with the non-profit organization DOVE Fund and engaged students at MMS students to support the project.
His wife, Karen Saumer, said construction on the $62,000 school finished in September last year -- just before Lanny died in November. He knew before he passed away that the school was finished and would be dedicated soon.
“It made him smile,” said his 34-year-old son Brandon.
read more here
http://www.riverfallsjournal.com/event/article/id/94914/
Group wants Billy Graham's son off Pentagon's National Day of Prayer event
There are things I agree with Mikey Weinstein. When he makes sure that all soldiers get to practice their faith or lack of it according to their own beliefs, I think it's a wonderful thing. Yet when he wants the honorary chairman left off the event itself, that is really going way too far. It's a free speech thing on top of that. People can say whatever they want but no one is forced to listen. If they are forcing the troops to listen, then that would be wrong, but if they have a choice, there should be no problem at all.
Group wants evangelist off May Pentagon event
By Dan Elliott - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Apr 20, 2010 15:59:28 EDT
DENVER — A watchdog group on Tuesday objected to an evangelist’s invitation to speak at the Pentagon next month, saying his past description of Islam as “evil” offended Muslims who work for the Defense Department and the appearance should be canceled.
Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said inviting evangelist Franklin Graham to speak May 6, the National Day of Prayer, “would be like bringing someone in on national prayer day madly denigrating Christianity” or other religious groups.
It would also endanger American troops by stirring up Muslim extremists, Weinstein said.
Graham is the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham and president and CEO of both Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian international relief organization in Boone, N.C., and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, in Charlotte, N.C.
read more here
Group wants evangelist off May Pentagon event
Waging War on PTSD
When it comes to numbers, the going rate of PTSD is usually one out of three. Some say one out of five. The difference is between a fast change in the survivor or one that comes long after.
They can look back and see it through history but as much as they look back if they do not understand what opens the door to it, they will never really find what works for them to heal.
To "Know your enemy" finds a way to defeat them. This enemy invader will keep winning until the day comes when they understand what makes some changed so drastically while others walk away. The key to this is in their soul. How much they care, how deeply they feel, is the difference between grieving and healing.
US military wages war on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
After long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, many US soldiers are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, prompting the US military to develop ways to help them, the BBC's Paul Adams in Washington reports.
Twelve soldiers sit on the floor, with eyes closed, focussing on their sacral chakra. They chant in unison.
An audience listens attentively to the words of a Greek tragedy, written 2,500 years ago.
And a young man, mentally scarred, trains a dog to open doors for an injured colleague.
These are surprising scenes from the US military's 21st Century war on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
It's been more than eight years since the US went to war in Afghanistan, and more than seven since it invaded Iraq.
In that time, almost two million American men and women have been sent to one or other battlefield. Many have been sent to both.
It's hard to know precisely how many have already suffered PTSD, or will do as a result of their traumatic experiences, but experts believe the number is high.
Family distress
Dr Charles Engel, director of the Pentagon's Deployment Health Clinical Center based at the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington, extrapolates on the basis of past experience.
The Theatre of War programme has a huge healing effect, medics say
"What we usually think of in terms of PTSD are numbers of the order of 10-15% of people who've been deployed to theatre being affected," he says.
That would be 200,000-300,000 people.
"I think it's safe to say we haven't grappled with it since Vietnam," says Dr Engel.
Recent surveys have all shown that PTSD is taking its toll on military men and women and their families, with symptoms including depression, substance abuse, domestic violence.
"We're looking at skyrocketing suicide rates," says Tim Embree, of the campaigning group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, "and we recently hit the 30-year high."
read more here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8634277.stm
They can look back and see it through history but as much as they look back if they do not understand what opens the door to it, they will never really find what works for them to heal.
To "Know your enemy" finds a way to defeat them. This enemy invader will keep winning until the day comes when they understand what makes some changed so drastically while others walk away. The key to this is in their soul. How much they care, how deeply they feel, is the difference between grieving and healing.
Many US veterans have been mentally scarred by recent conflicts
US military wages war on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
After long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, many US soldiers are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, prompting the US military to develop ways to help them, the BBC's Paul Adams in Washington reports.
Twelve soldiers sit on the floor, with eyes closed, focussing on their sacral chakra. They chant in unison.
An audience listens attentively to the words of a Greek tragedy, written 2,500 years ago.
And a young man, mentally scarred, trains a dog to open doors for an injured colleague.
These are surprising scenes from the US military's 21st Century war on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
We're looking at skyrocketing suicide rates, and we recently hit the 30-year high Tim Embree, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
It's been more than eight years since the US went to war in Afghanistan, and more than seven since it invaded Iraq.
In that time, almost two million American men and women have been sent to one or other battlefield. Many have been sent to both.
It's hard to know precisely how many have already suffered PTSD, or will do as a result of their traumatic experiences, but experts believe the number is high.
Family distress
Dr Charles Engel, director of the Pentagon's Deployment Health Clinical Center based at the Walter Reed military hospital in Washington, extrapolates on the basis of past experience.
The Theatre of War programme has a huge healing effect, medics say
"What we usually think of in terms of PTSD are numbers of the order of 10-15% of people who've been deployed to theatre being affected," he says.
That would be 200,000-300,000 people.
"I think it's safe to say we haven't grappled with it since Vietnam," says Dr Engel.
Recent surveys have all shown that PTSD is taking its toll on military men and women and their families, with symptoms including depression, substance abuse, domestic violence.
"We're looking at skyrocketing suicide rates," says Tim Embree, of the campaigning group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, "and we recently hit the 30-year high."
read more here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8634277.stm
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Vietnam veterans honored for their service and sacrifice
Vietnam veterans honored for their service
By Malia Rulon - Gannett News Service
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 20:43:28 EDT
WASHINGTON — Sisters, brothers, wives, daughters, sons, grandchildren, friends and volunteers took turns at a memorial service Monday reading the names of 97 members of the armed forces who died as a result of their service in Vietnam.
Among the names: William Howard Hegge of Cincinnati, who died six years ago of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54. Donald Dwight McCans of Gettysburg, Pa., also died of cancer. He was 60. So did William Black St. John of Hobe Sound, Fla., who was 67.
As family members read aloud the names of their loved ones, many noted the branch of service they were in, their rank and the dates served. Most also tacked on a too-common postscript: Agent Orange.
These service personnel, many of whom died of cancer decades after the war ended, don’t qualify to have their names etched onto the actual Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington.
Under Defense Department guidelines, only men and women who died from wounds suffered in combat zones are eligible. The wall contains 58,261 such names.
But the scars of war stretch far beyond those 58,261 deaths. Each year, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund honors men and women whose noncombat deaths are related to their service, through either emotional suffering caused by their service or complications associated with exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the U.S. military to remove plants and leaves from foliage that provided enemy cover.
Nearly 2,000 veterans have been honored since the annual memorial service began.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/04/ap_vietnamvets_041910/
By Malia Rulon - Gannett News Service
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 20:43:28 EDT
WASHINGTON — Sisters, brothers, wives, daughters, sons, grandchildren, friends and volunteers took turns at a memorial service Monday reading the names of 97 members of the armed forces who died as a result of their service in Vietnam.
Among the names: William Howard Hegge of Cincinnati, who died six years ago of pancreatic cancer at the age of 54. Donald Dwight McCans of Gettysburg, Pa., also died of cancer. He was 60. So did William Black St. John of Hobe Sound, Fla., who was 67.
As family members read aloud the names of their loved ones, many noted the branch of service they were in, their rank and the dates served. Most also tacked on a too-common postscript: Agent Orange.
These service personnel, many of whom died of cancer decades after the war ended, don’t qualify to have their names etched onto the actual Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington.
Under Defense Department guidelines, only men and women who died from wounds suffered in combat zones are eligible. The wall contains 58,261 such names.
But the scars of war stretch far beyond those 58,261 deaths. Each year, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund honors men and women whose noncombat deaths are related to their service, through either emotional suffering caused by their service or complications associated with exposure to Agent Orange, a herbicide used by the U.S. military to remove plants and leaves from foliage that provided enemy cover.
Nearly 2,000 veterans have been honored since the annual memorial service began.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/04/ap_vietnamvets_041910/
Who more than self their country loved
And crown thy good with brotherhood
We all sing the lyrics to America the Beautiful with memorized verses but others live the lives we sing about.
Who more than self their country loved
by
Chaplain Kathie
The brotherhood they live is with the men and women they serve this nation with. They came from every part of this nation to join together as the defenders of this land. They serve to preserve our freedoms and rights. While they have been fighting on foreign shores for generations, they go where the nation sends them. Some may say, "I didn't want them to go." but circumstances and elected politicians, chosen by the majority, decided where they would go and for how long they would stay. This is why we as a nation must separate the politicians deciding from the men and women risking their lives because of their decisions.
Their brotherhood joins them together with others from cities, towns, political parties and faiths. They come together from broken homes and strong families, adopting each other as one of their own. This bond does not break. This bond is not forgotten. From the day they deploy into combat, they are no longer citizen thinking of themselves. They are warrior risking their lives for the sake of this nation and each other. When they return, they do not return to living among the rest of us as citizen once more. They return as veteran, the few among the many knowing what the price of our lives is. They retain it all in their soul.
America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
.......O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Who more than self their country loved
They carry the burdens we will never know embedded in their soul and we move on. We see them march in parades as the years go by, yet once they are home, we feel our duty is done. Yet longing to return to our selfish lives we push memories of their sacrifices away until the next Memorial Day when we once again hang the flag from our homes and decorate the grave markers of our own family members. On Veterans Day, we may skip shopping and actually go to see them march down the street never once thinking that they are veterans every day of their lives.
We don't think of their wounds. We don't think of the memories they have to hold. We don't think of the nights they are haunted by dreams or the days when flashbacks take them back to danger. We don't think of how they grieve over the loss of brothers they shared their lives with no more than we think of the strangers they were sent to fight and defeat.
July 4th we watch the fireworks and stuff ourselves at cookouts. We feel oh so patriotic on a few days a year, but they know what it is like to have paid the price as patriots believing in this nation enough to be willing to lay down their lives for her.
No matter what they returned to, they would still find this nation worthy of doing it again. When asked, Vietnam veterans held this nation in that great of esteem, even after they were subjected to terrible treatment and betrayed, that they would still go back, still held onto their sense of pride they were among the few to know the price of freedom. They reached beyond themselves even then and made sure they would take care of each other as well as taking on the extra burden of other generations of veterans so that none of them would feel the sting of a national anger being taken out on the warriors sent or the ambivalence toward the wounded in need of care.
Today veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan carry on that brotherhood, that bond forged by service to this nation and they take care of each other. The rest of us move on, worry about what our own problems, become obsessed with the latest celebrity gossip and take political positions where we regard the other side as less patriotic without ever thinking that the men and women sent to fight our battles came from every political party, walk of life, faith and belief we now feel we have the right to treat with disgust. Oh, how we have managed to once again let politics remove us from gratitude.
Let the disagreements go on since they fought to defend that right to disagree. Let there be differences debated since our differences have as much to do with our strength as what binds us together. Let there be voices heard from different views. What we must stop is the slander and lies, the anger and hatred, the personal attacks against one party from another and begin to work with the knowledge the price of our right to speak freely has been paid from by the men and women serving together and risking their lives together first and foremost in their souls.
Let there be no veteran spending his/her days in need of help to survive with their wounds or neglected from our care. Let there never be one veteran left to regret they survived to the point where it becomes more acceptable to take their own lives than to live one more day in pain.
Let us never again send them into combat without preparing ahead of time to care for the wounded and the widows and let us never again allow any veteran we sent to wait for care that should have been waiting for them. "Crown they good" and let them know this nation is not going to forget the price they paid for the rest of us.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sparta pastor’s spiritual journey leads to Iraq and back
Sparta pastor’s spiritual journey leads to Iraq and back
By STACEY KALAS skalas@lacrossetribune.com Posted: Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Rev. Deris L. Rice looks at life differently since returning in February after spending 10 months and 18 days in Iraq as a U.S. Army Reserve chaplain.
“I think I’m a lot closer to my family,” said the 30-year-old pastor of Congregational United Church of Christ in Sparta. “Family is the No. 1 priority for me now. Maintaining my physical health is important. That was one of the things I worked on a lot during my deployment.”
He’s also grown as a listener and gained an appreciation for beauty and the simple pleasures in life, said his wife, the Rev. Kristin Schmor Rice, an ordained Presbyterian minister and a student of supervisory education at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Association of Clinical Pastoral Education at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center.
“He’s always been a reflective person,” she said. “But now he seems to appreciate the opportunity to do more of that out loud. He’s also become more of a ‘systems thinker,’ paying careful attention to how systemic issues or events in our world impact different people, and he’s been more willing to engage some of these issues as an advocate.”
By STACEY KALAS skalas@lacrossetribune.com Posted: Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Rev. Deris L. Rice looks at life differently since returning in February after spending 10 months and 18 days in Iraq as a U.S. Army Reserve chaplain.
“I think I’m a lot closer to my family,” said the 30-year-old pastor of Congregational United Church of Christ in Sparta. “Family is the No. 1 priority for me now. Maintaining my physical health is important. That was one of the things I worked on a lot during my deployment.”
He’s also grown as a listener and gained an appreciation for beauty and the simple pleasures in life, said his wife, the Rev. Kristin Schmor Rice, an ordained Presbyterian minister and a student of supervisory education at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Association of Clinical Pastoral Education at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center.
“He’s always been a reflective person,” she said. “But now he seems to appreciate the opportunity to do more of that out loud. He’s also become more of a ‘systems thinker,’ paying careful attention to how systemic issues or events in our world impact different people, and he’s been more willing to engage some of these issues as an advocate.”
As chaplain of the 55th Medical Company combat stress control unit, made up of mental health professionals, Rice’s job was to “go along and support missions spiritually and religiously,” he said, regardless of his own political or social views.
“I’m not there to judge people based on what they believe. I’m there to provide for their needs,” said Rice, who described himself as being more on the “conservative, evangelical end” of the UCC spectrum, but open minded.read more here
Sparta pastor spiritual journey leads to Iraq and back
Operation Safety 91 brings wounded warrior to students
Saturday, April 17, 2010
OS91 brings US hero, William Castillo to New Hope Christian Academy in Minneola, FL
Friday, April 16, 2010, Operation Safety 91 (OS91) www.OS91.com founded to honor and protect America's 1st Responders, brought wounded Iraq/Afghan war hero, William Castillo to New Hope Christian Academy (NHCA) in Minneola, FL, to speak with the students. OS91 surprised William with a grand welcome from Mayor Pat Kelley, and Ladder 86 with Fire Chief Derryl O’Neal, Lt. Jim Simon, Vance Flummer, George (Sam) Smith and Josh Smith. Assistant Chief David Kilbury of Clermont Fire Department also attended. Representing Lake County Sheriff's Department were Captain Stevin Moss (Tavares) and Lt. Gregory Link (Minneola).
read more here
http://operationsafety91.blogspot.com/
OS91 brings US hero, William Castillo to New Hope Christian Academy in Minneola, FL
Friday, April 16, 2010, Operation Safety 91 (OS91) www.OS91.com founded to honor and protect America's 1st Responders, brought wounded Iraq/Afghan war hero, William Castillo to New Hope Christian Academy (NHCA) in Minneola, FL, to speak with the students. OS91 surprised William with a grand welcome from Mayor Pat Kelley, and Ladder 86 with Fire Chief Derryl O’Neal, Lt. Jim Simon, Vance Flummer, George (Sam) Smith and Josh Smith. Assistant Chief David Kilbury of Clermont Fire Department also attended. Representing Lake County Sheriff's Department were Captain Stevin Moss (Tavares) and Lt. Gregory Link (Minneola).
read more here
http://operationsafety91.blogspot.com/
Iceland volcano delays evac for U.S. wounded in Afghanistan
Iceland volcano delays evac for U.S. wounded in Afghanistan
By Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The volcanic ash cloud hanging over Europe is slowing down U.S. military transport of soldiers injured in Afghanistan back to U.S. hospitals by eight hours, Pentagon officials said Monday.
Rather than flying from Germany’s Ramstein Air Force base, which has been grounded by the ash cloud, soldiers are now being transported to the naval base in Rota, Spain. The resulting re-routing to get troops to Rota means an additional eight hours of flight back to the United States, the Pentagon said.
When a soldier is seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, doctors stabilize them there, and then get them to Ramstein where medical teams conduct emergency surgeries and stabilize them for the trip home. Troops then come home to the United States for long-term treatment.
Ramstein is a large mega-base that has been the home for such efforts to save soldiers since 2001; Rota is much smaller and not nearly as engaged in the wars. That said, there are far fewer injuries in Iraq and so far this month in Afghanistan troop deaths at 10, far fewer than the peak of scores of dead that came through Ramstein at the height of violence in Iraq.
Read more: Iceland volcano delays evac for U.S. wounded in Afghanistan
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/19/92451/iceland-volcano-delays-evac-for.html#ixzz0lah3QVlL
By Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The volcanic ash cloud hanging over Europe is slowing down U.S. military transport of soldiers injured in Afghanistan back to U.S. hospitals by eight hours, Pentagon officials said Monday.
Rather than flying from Germany’s Ramstein Air Force base, which has been grounded by the ash cloud, soldiers are now being transported to the naval base in Rota, Spain. The resulting re-routing to get troops to Rota means an additional eight hours of flight back to the United States, the Pentagon said.
When a soldier is seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, doctors stabilize them there, and then get them to Ramstein where medical teams conduct emergency surgeries and stabilize them for the trip home. Troops then come home to the United States for long-term treatment.
Ramstein is a large mega-base that has been the home for such efforts to save soldiers since 2001; Rota is much smaller and not nearly as engaged in the wars. That said, there are far fewer injuries in Iraq and so far this month in Afghanistan troop deaths at 10, far fewer than the peak of scores of dead that came through Ramstein at the height of violence in Iraq.
Read more: Iceland volcano delays evac for U.S. wounded in Afghanistan
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/19/92451/iceland-volcano-delays-evac-for.html#ixzz0lah3QVlL
Navy looks for answers after Seabee dies from malaria
Navy looks for answers after Seabee dies from malaria
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, April 19, 2010
HEIDELBERG, Germany — By the time he got to Landstuhl, Joshua Dae Ho Carrell was more dead than alive.
The Seabee was unconscious, with a tube stuck down his throat to help him breathe. His kidneys, liver and lungs were failing, and he was in shock, with his blood pressure falling.
Carrell, 23, was suffering from severe falciparum malaria, an infection of red blood cells acquired from mosquito bites that had sent parasites coursing through his bloodstream, sticking to capillaries, obstructing blood flow, damaging organs and, worst of all, causing his brain to swell.
It was three days before last Christmas. Carrell had been infected during a deployment to Liberia. He and 24 other Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 were in the fourth month of a goodwill mission to renovate a hospital.
read more here
Navy looks for answers after Seabee dies from malaria
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, April 19, 2010
HEIDELBERG, Germany — By the time he got to Landstuhl, Joshua Dae Ho Carrell was more dead than alive.
The Seabee was unconscious, with a tube stuck down his throat to help him breathe. His kidneys, liver and lungs were failing, and he was in shock, with his blood pressure falling.
Carrell, 23, was suffering from severe falciparum malaria, an infection of red blood cells acquired from mosquito bites that had sent parasites coursing through his bloodstream, sticking to capillaries, obstructing blood flow, damaging organs and, worst of all, causing his brain to swell.
It was three days before last Christmas. Carrell had been infected during a deployment to Liberia. He and 24 other Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 were in the fourth month of a goodwill mission to renovate a hospital.
read more here
Navy looks for answers after Seabee dies from malaria
VA GI BIll students underpaid living stipends
VA underpaying on GI Bill living stipends
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 13:50:19 EDT
In a sign of continuing problems with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Veterans Affairs Department officials acknowledged Monday that living stipends being paid to students for the spring term are outdated because of problems with computing the payments.
On average, this means students are receiving about $63 less a month than they should. In some cases, especially in high-cost areas, the losses could be significantly higher.
The problem came to light just days before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee will hold a hearing about implementation problems for the new and problem-plagued education program, which launched Aug. 1.
read more here
VA underpaying on GI Bill living stipends
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 13:50:19 EDT
In a sign of continuing problems with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Veterans Affairs Department officials acknowledged Monday that living stipends being paid to students for the spring term are outdated because of problems with computing the payments.
On average, this means students are receiving about $63 less a month than they should. In some cases, especially in high-cost areas, the losses could be significantly higher.
The problem came to light just days before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee will hold a hearing about implementation problems for the new and problem-plagued education program, which launched Aug. 1.
read more here
VA underpaying on GI Bill living stipends
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