Being what you were meant to be

A long time ago I began to ask people what made them become what they were.  In a way, I wanted to discover if any of them would be able to tell me what made me do what I do.  One of my classes at college just answered it for me and much to my surprise, I am what I was intended to be.

I always believed that God creates a soul for a purpose.  Each one of us have certain gifts, talents and are drawn to do certain things no one else is.  There are strong parts of me and then there are weak parts of me.  One of them that drives me nuts is that I can't really cook.  I do it enough to not starve to death but frozen dinners are fine with me.  It is something I have never really been good at doing.  My strengths perplexed the hell out of me until I took the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator.  I am type ENFJ with the jobs listed are ministry, media, therapist, educator and primary caregiver. No shocker there considering I am a chaplain, (ministry) work in media (blog and website) work with veterans and their families coping with PTSD, (therapist) and do it by educating them on what PTSD is, (educator) and all because I am married to a Vietnam Vet with PTSD as the primary caregiver.  I am doing what I was built to do and while there are issues doing it, usually financial, I am very comfortable doing it.  I belong here.

Some of the other people with ENFJ are;

 Famous people of your particular type


Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Clara Barton (Founder of the American Red Cross), Ronald Reagan
 
According to the test I am;

Warm, empathetic, responsive and responsible.  Highly attuned to the emotions, needs and motivations of others.  Find potential in everyone, want to help others fulfill their potential. May act as a catalysts for individual and group growth. Loyal, responsive to praise and criticism.  Sociable, facilitae others in a group and provide inspiring leadership.

This brings up a very interesting theory I have had for a very long time.  When people enter into the military, they do it because that is what they were built/created to do.  It requires a great deal of compassion to care enough to be willing to risk your own life but it also takes a great deal of courage.  They care enough about others to be ready to die for them.  So how is it that the rest of us can't seem to understand this? How is it the military cannot understand their own people?

It is human nature when you care so deeply for others that your life is secondary that you also feel everything more deeply and that includes pain.  There is a lot of heartbreak when men and women are sent into combat zones that needs to be addressed as soon as possible but because of all the other qualities that make them "them" this often gets overlooked.  It is also one of the biggest reasons there is such a rise in PTSD aside from the increase due to redeployments.  They don't get what they need to heal and recover. 

Reports have come out that many of them are not getting any therapy at all but are getting medication.  That does not help them heal. Medication only alters the symptoms so they can function. Most of the time they are redeployed before they can get therapy.  Yet in our civilian world, there are many crisis responders for us to talk to as humans.  This makes no sense at all to have the people exposed to traumatic events the most to be the last one to receive the emotional help to heal. 

For National Guards and Reservists, the issue is even more troubling because many of them are also members of law enforcement, firefighters and EMT workers.  They leave one traumatic experience for another back home.  Who is there for them?  They were created to be what they have become but no matter how much extra God put into them, they still need the support and care the rest of us get but they need it even more.  This type of person is the last to ask for help because they are the givers.  They also need it more because they are doing what few others in this country would ever dream of doing, yet they wanted to do nothing else more.

If we want to get ahead of the suicides and attempted suicides and start to really help them heal, we need to get to them before they have settled for the pain they feel to be just part of their job.

If you are drawn to do something or pulled against what you "want to do" then maybe you should take this test and find out what you were made to be.  You may be surprised.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Take it if you are or were in the military because the chances are you were created to be what you are and that is a very rare person.

Widow of a Vietnam Veteran walking for those who cannot

Why Diane Musselmann
is “Walking for Those Who Can’t”

Kenneth Musselmann was a soldier who fought for his country in Vietnam. After losing both legs to a landmine, Ken returned home and devoted his life to disabled vets and their causes, his wife Diane at his side during this important journey. As a Director of the Disabled Veterans’ LIFE Memorial Foundation, Ken was an integral part in the Foundation’s efforts to bring the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial to reality and to educate people about disabled veterans’ issues.

Sadly, Ken passed away in 2009. But Diane has been making sure his passion endures. To raise awareness and donations for the Memorial that Ken championed, Diane will be walking 90 miles over six days along the coast of California in memory of her husband and those who have fallen in service.

Please support Diane’s courage and selflessness during her Walk.

Show Diane your support by making a donation to AVDLM at Diane’s Memorial Ambassador Page.

Stay updated on her progress by visiting Diane’s blog where she will be chronicling her experience.

If you live in Southern California, walk with Diane for as long and as far as you are able (see the map below for dates and places).



Walk Schedule

10/18 VA Medical Center Long Beach
5901 East 7th Street
Long Beach, CA 90822
Contact: Mike Burns
(562) 404-1266
7:30 a.m. Walkers and supporters meet at the VA Medical Center Long Beach for refreshments and speeches.
8:00 a.m. Diane and walkers depart.
Route will pass through Seal Beach, Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach, ending in Newport Beach.

10/19 8:00 a.m. Walkers depart from Newport Beach (Jamboree Rd. and Pacific Coast Hwy.)
Route will pass through Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach, ending in Dana Point.

10/20 8:00 a.m. Walkers depart from Dana Point (Del Prado Rd.and Golden Lantern St.)
Route will pass through Capistrano, San Clemente and San Onofre State Beach, ending at the Las Pulgas gates of Camp Pendleton.

10/21 Camp Pendleton
CA 92055
(Old Pacific Hwy and Las Pulgas Rd.)
7:00 a.m. Walkers and Supporters gather at Las Pulgas gate.
8:00 a.m. Marines escort walkers through Camp Pendleton.
After Camp Pendleton, route will end in Carlsbad.

10/22 8:00 a.m. Walkers depart from Carlsbad (Carlsbad Blvd. and S. Coast Hwy.)
Route will pass through Encinitas and Solano Beach, ending in Del Mar.

10/23 8:00 a.m. Walkers depart from Del Mar (Camino Del Mar and Hwy 101.)
Route will pass through Torrey Pines before reaching their final end point at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center San Diego.

12:00 p.m. Walkers and Supporters arrive at the
VA Medical Center in San Diego.
3350 La Jolla Village Dr.
San Diego, CA 92161
Contact: Jim Galliher
(619) 299-6916

Refreshments, balloon arts and more to welcome and congratulate Diane and her fellow walkers.

 

Diane Musselmann
I am a widow of a Vietnam Veteran, mother and grandmother. I am 64 years young. I am walking the "Walking for Those Who Can't" walk to create awareness for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial in Washington, D.C. Also, to focus attention on disabled veterans, past and present and unfortunately, future. This is going to be a challenging and emotional journey. I will be pushing my husband's empty wheelchair for the entire 6 day, 90 mile walk to create awareness for the long overdue American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial.
read more about her walk here

http://www.walkingforthosewhocant.blogspot.com/

10 more soldiers testify in hearing about Fort Hood killings

10 more soldiers testify in hearing about Fort Hood killings
12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, October 16, 2010

By LEE HANCOCK / The Dallas Morning News
lhancock@dallasnews.com
FORT HOOD, Texas – Some soldiers glared on Friday as they identified the man in a wheelchair as their assailant. Several wept describing comrades dying where no one expected an attack. The judge presiding, prosecutors and defense lawyers looked grim – even stricken – as witness after witness recounted how a soldier readiness center became a charnel house.

Maj. Nidal Hasan gave them all the same impassive look that he has maintained during three previous days of his probable cause hearing.

The Army psychiatrist blinked slowly as soldiers told of their desperate scramble for cover to escape steady gunfire. He rubbed his chin or forehead with pale hands as men and women described being shot again and again as they crawled through blood and bodies. Only during breaks did his blank expression change; he once looked anxious and once showed the hint of a smile as he conferred with the defense team.

The 40-year-old betrayed no emotion as soldiers from the mental health unit he was scheduled to deploy with spoke of taking bullets and watching comrades die trying to stop his Nov. 5 attack.
read more here
10 more soldiers testify in hearing about Fort Hood killings

Mich. soldier's remains among 3 returned from Laos

Mich. soldier's remains among 3 returned from Laos
By The Associated Press
3:07 p.m. CDT, October 16, 2010

The Defense Department says the remains of a Michigan soldier are among those of three soldiers missing in action in the Vietnam War that have been identified.

Army Staff Sgt. Melvin C. Dye, of Carleton, Mich., was one of those aboard a UH-1H Iroquois helicopter when it was shot down by enemy fire in Laos on Feb. 19, 1968.
read more here
Michigan soldier

Funeral home shows honor to homeless veterans

Funeral home shows honor to homeless veterans
October 11, 2010|Stephen Fellersfeller@tribune.com

Even though there are government programs to offer support to the men and women who have defended our country, many veterans end up on the streets with no one to give them a proper burial after death.

Seeking to give these heroes the dignity it feels they deserve, one company launched a national program with the help of several national groups to give veterans a full funeral and military service.

Kraeer Funeral Home, a Margate-based location of the Dignity Memorial chain of homes, did its first burial of a homeless veteran on
The funeral home provided embalming services, a casket, a flag, clothes and the procession to the cemetery, all which runs about $7,000, to honor Clay, said Marge Muth, local director of funeral services for Dignity Memorial.

"Even though they're homeless and have no family, we want to give them full military honors and eulogy," Muth said. "We all went up there and treated him like he was a top dog somewhere."
Funeral home shows honor to homeless veterans

They did it here in Orlando and they have done it many times across the country.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Vietnam Vet Andrew Elmer Wright found a home as a homeless vet

Officers speak about post-war experiences

Jennifer Heeke

On Thursday afternoon, Maj. Jeff Hall discusses his experience in Iraq and the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on both wounded and unwounded soldiers.

Officers speak about post-war experiences
By Katie Reilley

junior staff writer

Published: Friday, October 15, 2010

One officer told the story of how he bled out, was dead for 15 minutes, but was resurrected through the efforts of Army medics. Another officer related how he stood in his backyard, contemplating suicide because he hated dealing with the constant pain of daily life, while his wife felt "like a failure" because her husband was not the same person he was before his combat experience.

These are the stories of nationally-recognized and decorated Fort Riley officers Capt. Joshua Mantz, Maj. Jeff Hall and Hall's wife, Sheri Hall, sophomore in social work. The three spoke at the College of Human Ecology lecture "Combat Stress: Redefining the ‘Wounded' Warrior and Family" yesterday afternoon in Hale Library's Hemisphere Room.

Mantz, Jeff and Sheri spoke on post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that gained more recognition by the military after suicide rates increased from 89 deaths in 2008 to 110 in 2009, according to an Oct. 2, 2009, article on military.com.


The Institute for the Health and Security of Military Families lecture was originally intended only for the Trauma and Disorders class taught by Briana Nelson Goff, but was opened up to the public. Goff is the director of the institute and associate dean for academic affairs of the College of Human Ecology.
read more here
Officers speak about post-war experiences

'Burn pits' still in use in Iraq, Afghanistan

'Burn pits' still in use in Iraq, Afghanistan

Published: Oct. 15, 2010 at 4:39 PM
By ZAK KOESKE, MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

The number of troops suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which makes it difficult to breathe and is normally found in lifelong smokers, has more than doubled, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center data indicate.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- A U.S. government report released Friday finds that waste disposal methods at military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to expose troops to potentially harmful emissions, despite recent legislation aimed at curbing hazardous disposal practices.

The Government Accountability Office investigated four bases in Iraq in the past year and found none were entirely in compliance with regulations.

The regulations, passed in 2009, prohibit the disposal of hazardous and bio-medical waste in open-air burn pits, except in circumstances where the U.S. secretary of Defense deems that no feasible alternative exists.

In spite of these regulations, the GAO found that all four bases routinely burned plastic, which releases dioxins, the family of chemicals found in the Vietnam War herbicide known as Agent Orange.
read more here

'Burn pits' still in use in Iraq, Afghanistan
UPI.com

Retired Army veteran ends run across country in Rockland

Retired Army veteran ends run across country in Rockland
Flags planted every mile to honor service members who died in Iraq

10/15/10
By Heather Steeves
BDN Staff

ROCKLAND, Maine — The wind thrashed frothy waves against the shore here Friday as Mike Ehredt ran to the ocean, completing his 4,424-mile journey to honor U.S. service members who have died in Iraq.

Despite a thunderstorm that pelted rain on Ehredt, 49, and his supporters, more 100 people showed up in yellow shirts embossed with an American flag and the words, “Thanks, Mike.”

“It’s not raining today,” said James Troutt of Sherman, the grandfather of Army Spc. Dustin Harris of Patten, who died in April 2006 while serving in the war in Iraq. “God is crying a lot today.”

In a ceremony Friday morning, local police and government officials, members of the families of fallen Maine soldiers and Rockland residents gathered to celebrate Ehredt’s run. After each mile Ehredt ran in the past 5½ months, he planted a flag bearing the name of a soldier killed in Iraq. The project began in Oregon on May 1.

The retired U.S. Army veteran from Hope, Idaho, said he placed flags in lots of small towns across the country, with the goal of having people stop to remember the soldiers.

“We’re not alone. We are watched from above. I had guardian angels along the way,” Ehredt told the crowd at Friday’s ceremony, after the last flag was placed at Rockland Harbor. “They do know they are remembered. They are not forgotten.”The name on the final flag was that of Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin of Waterville, who was among the first casualties in the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Aubin, 36, was one of four U.S. Marines and eight British Marines killed on March 20, 2003, when a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait near the Iraq border.
read more here
Retired Army veteran ends run across country in Rockland - Bangor ...
By By Heather Steeves BDN Staff

Westboro group calls off one protest for airtime

Protest of Aiken soldier's funeral called off, still on in Lexington
By Logan Smith
AIKEN, SC (WIS) - A controversial church from Kansas has backed off its plans to protest during the funeral of a slain Aiken war veteran, accepting time on a local radio station as a tradeoff. However, the group still plans to picket the funeral of a Lexington soldier killed in the same attack.

Westboro Baptist Church member Shirley Phelps-Roper told the Augusta Chronicle they were offered an hour of unedited airtime on radio station WGAC-AM in exchange for staying away from Thursday's funeral for Staff Sgt. Willie J. Harley Jr. of Aiken.

But the anti-Semitic and anti-gay group still plans to picket outside the funeral of Specialist Luther Rabon of Lexington. Rabon and Harley of Aiken were killed in Afghanistan earlier this month when their vehicle was attacked by insurgents with an Improvised Explosive Device.
read more here
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13318496

Congressman Roy Blunt for his vote against the 9/11 First Responders health bill

They can talk all they want about who they care about, who they claim to honor, but their votes are what proves how they really feel. What is happening in Washington DC is a political game and they think they can hide what they are doing to people instead of for them. Look at the bills they vote against and then ask yourself if any of the people who vote against the people of this nation really deserve to be there or not. Look at the GOP votes against veterans, against the unemployed, against small businesses, against the troops and against healthcare insurance they hide under "healthcare" as if it was to stop us from getting it instead of helping us to be able to go to a doctor without having to go deep in debt to stay alive. Look at the commercials playing across the country on how they claim the Democrats have cut Medicare. No one lost benefits. The cut was against waste and fraud, but the GOP run commercials as if they cut off someone's grandparent instead of making Medicare stronger. There used to be a time when people like this would be too ashamed of doing something like this against people who rushed into help after the Towers fell, but this man just doesn't care what the people of this country think. The election is coming soon and we need to know what the hell we're doing with our votes. They think we're stupid. We can either pay attention and prove them wrong or suffer for what we get when it's too late to fix anything.


Navy Veteran, 9/11 Responder, Expresses Disgust with Roy Blunt in Stunning
New Television Ad
By VoteVets.org | Press Release
PUBLISHED: October 14, 2010

NAVY VETERAN, 9/11 FIRST RESPONDER, EXPRESSES DISGUST WITH ROY BLUNT IN STUNNING NEW TELEVISION AD

ST LOUIS, MO - Daniel Arrigo, a U.S. Navy veteran who is also one of the now-seriously ill First Responders in Lower Manhattan following 9/11, expresses disgust with Roy Blunt for voting against the 9/11 First Responders bill in Congress, while voting himself a pay raise eight times, in a hard-hitting new television ad running in Missouri on broadcast and cable.
read more here
http://www.votevets.org/news/?id=0378

The family of Sgt. Amanda Sheldon hopes her death may spark change

WOODTV8 | October 14, 2010
The family of Sgt. Amanda Sheldon hopes her death may spark change. The 2004 Belding graduate's body will return to West Michigan on Thursday night, about one week after Sheldon took her own life while serving at a Fort Bragg, N.C., military base.

More wounded soldiers recount horrors of Ft. Hood rampage

Severely wounded soldier describes Ft Hood spree
ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writers, MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writers
Published: 03:23 a.m., Friday, October 15, 2010

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — Everything had stopped.

Not a whisper, not a cough, not even the sound of someone shuffling in his seat could be heard as Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler, his cane gripped in his right hand and an extensive scar visible across his closely shaved head, carefully made his way to the witness stand.

Then, in a strong though sometimes halting voice, Zeigler described Thursday to a military investigating officer how four gunshots left him the most seriously injured among the survivors of last year's deadly shootings at Fort Hood.

Maj. Nidal Hasan, 40, an American-born Muslim, has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Zeigler testified at an Article 32 hearing, a proceeding unique to military justice that will determine if Hasan should stand trial. The hearing was to continue Friday.

Prosecutors have not said whether they'll seek the death penalty if the case goes to trial.

Zeigler had just returned from his second deployment in Iraq and was at a Fort Hood center to get routine medical tests on Nov. 5, preparing to go to the Army's Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga. Then he heard someone shout "Allahu Akbar!" — "God is Great!" in Arabic, Zeigler testified.
read more here
Severely wounded soldier describes Ft Hood spree



More wounded soldiers recount horrors of Ft. Hood rampageArmy Staff Sgt. Paul Martin, one of 11 witnesses testifying at a preliminary hearing, identifies Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan as the shooter. 'It was like a cannon going off inside the building,' he says.

By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times
October 15, 2010
Reporting from Ft. Hood, Texas — Stiff with pain from lingering bullet wounds in his leg and back, Army Staff Sgt. Paul Martin rose slowly to his feet on the witness stand Thursday and pointed across the military courtroom.

"Yes, sir, that's him," Martin said, nodding toward Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, huddled in a wheelchair beneath a blanket and watch cap.

Martin said it was Hasan, firing methodically from two handguns, who shot him twice Nov. 5. And it was Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, who fired again and again at soldiers inside a medical processing building as they tried to flee, Martin testified.
read more here
More wounded soldiers recount horrors of Ft. Hood rampage

Great story and will make you stop to think of what you can do too!

Med student, mom spark shoe drive for homeless vets

By Luis Zaragoza, Orlando Sentinel

6:36 p.m. EDT, October 13, 2010

Moments after meeting a homeless veteran in desperate need of shoes, UCF medical student Reid Green knew what he had to do.

The 22-year-old Venice, Fl., native yanked the Nikes off his feet and handed them over to the stunned ex-military man.

"Are you sure? Are you sure?" the man kept saying.

Green had no doubts.

"He wanted shoes but there were none for him," said Green, who was volunteering at a recent Veterans Affairs-sponsored food and clothing giveaway in Orlando when he noticed the man's plight.

Green's motivation: "He needed them more."

It wasn't a big deal to him, Green said, but he was touched by the man's gratitude.

For the next several hours, Green padded around in his socks, never mind the damp ground.

Green later phoned his mother, Randi, to tell her about his encounter with the veteran.

"Mom, something almost broke my heart today," he told her.
click link above to read more

Naked jogger to cops: 'Why would you tase me?'

By Anika Myers Palm, Orlando Sentinel
1:41 a.m. EDT, October 14, 2010

Police in West Melbourne used a Taser to stop an 18-year-old man after they found him jogging nude.

Zak Anthony King, 18, of Palm Bay, faces charges of resisting arrest without violence and indecent exposure.

A police officer in the south Brevard County city responded to the area of Hollywood Boulevard and Stratford Pointe Drive about 7 a.m. Monday in response to a report of a man running nude.

The officer saw the King running north on Hollywood, clad only in swimming goggles. The officer drove beside King and told him several times to stop, but King did not comply, according to the arrest report.

The officer told King that he would be tased if he failed to stop.
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Vet charged with theft for removing tattered American flag

Winter Park vet charged with theft for removing tattered American flag he found offensive

By Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel
7:01 p.m. EDT, October 13, 2010

Karl Edward Baldner didn't like what he saw, a tattered and torn American flag flying from a small business across from the Goldenrod Post Office just east of Winter Park.

The U.S. Army veteran strongly believes the flag should be displayed properly and in the summer of 2009, took it upon himself to let the business owner know the beat-up old flag ought to be taken down. When it was not, Baldner decided to remove it himself.

Baldner said he intended to replace the flag with another one that had been draped over a fallen soldier.

After removing the flag, Baldner left a note behind, stating, "Please have respect for the American flag and don't display our flag in such a condition. It disgraces our nation." Baldner left his name and number with the note.
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