Rep. Michael Grimm's Bill would have disabled vets train dogs

Bill would have disabled vets train dogs
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 8, 2011 9:42:21 EST
A Marine veteran newly elected to Congress wants to establish a pilot program to see if training dogs to help disabled veterans can be therapeutic for veterans with post-traumatic stress or other combat-related mental conditions.

Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., a veteran of the first Gulf War who spent a combined eight years in the Marines, says the Veterans Dog Training Therapy Act “is about veterans helping veterans.”

Grimm’s proposal is modeled after legislation that passed the House last year but was never taken up in the Senate. One change he made in the bill — encouraging that the dogs come from shelters — has earned the measure an endorsement from the Humane Society of the United States.

Getting dogs from shelters not only saves animals’ lives but also reduces costs, because specially bred service dogs can cost up to $50,000 each, according to a press release jointly issued by Grimm and the Humane Society.

Reps. Peter King of New York and Leonard Lance of New Jersey, both Republicans, and Michael Michaud, D-Maine, are original co-sponsors of the bill, which was referred to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee for consideration.

“So many servicemen and women returning from combat struggle with severe PTSD,” Grimm said in a statement. “My legislation provides an opportunity to ease these symptoms through the process of training service dogs. These dogs — many of which I hope will be saved from shelters — will then be given to physically disabled veterans to assist them with their daily activities.”

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Bill would have disabled vets train dogs

Religious test to curb suicides or get converts?

For my Christian friends out there with the idea this is a good thing, you really need to begin to understand exactly what is going on here. This is not about sending them to any Christian Church but telling them if they are not part of the Fundamentalist Christianity faith, they are basically not good enough. In other words, if they are Catholic, they're going to hell. If they have no faith at all or happen to be Muslim or Hebrew, they need to convert and accept their version of what is right.

Over 60% of the Chaplains in the military have no problem with proselytizing by military chaplains

NPR reported that the Academy would be hosting mandatory religious tolerance seminars for cadets. The Department of Defense has also proactively built worship facilities for those of minority faiths and improved pluralist training for chaplains. Still, of the 2,900 active chaplains with the military, two-thirds are evangelical -- and that number continues to rise.

So yes, even you should fight against forcing faith on the troops since this is not about faith is a good thing but more about one certain branch of one certain faith is all that matters.

Other chaplains have a huge problem with this for a reason. They are there to help soldiers with their spiritual needs and not there to convert them. Many conversations I've had with others ministering to veterans feel the same way. Faith does help them heal and on this we agree that it is vital in the healing process but this does more harm than good when it is coerced. Plus there is a fear they don't know how to do it in the first place even if they begin to discuss the emotional healing that is possible.

Let's say a soldier goes to a chaplain and tells them that he thinks he's evil because he killed someone in Afghanistan. Now let's say he happens to be a member of the Catholic faith. The Fundamentalist Chaplain will tell him that basically he is evil because he does not know Christ the way he should and must convert to be born again. This even though the Catholic faith was one of the first to follow Christ and is right up with there with Orthodox Christians particularly the Greeks, who helped Paul spread Christianity throughout the world. But these two branches of the faith are just not good enough for certain Fundamentalists telling even them they are not right with God.

Now take a soldier with no set of beliefs or one with their own ideas about God and then have them come up against a Fundamentalist supposedly there to take care of the emotional crisis the soldier is going through. Instead of talking to them the way any therapist would, they rebuke them. This is an assault on their beliefs and their right to worship as they see fit to do. It does not gently guide them in the process of building any kind of faith but instead pushes them away.

Each person has the freewill to follow their own path and they decide to go to church or not, which church or group they feel connected to and to believe according to their own understanding and growth. None of this can be forced. If you have teenagers, you know this is true. How many of us have taken our kids to church all their lives only to have them walk away from it for a time? They are lead, then they return of their own freewill or not. It is up to them. Some switch to another church finding they fit in better with another group. This is not only the right of an American to worship as they see fit or not at all, but the basic desire of God for each person to worship of their own freewill.

If a Chaplain fails to take care of the people placed into their lives, they have failed God but if it is a military Chaplain, they have not only failed God, they have failed the country formed for the free practice of religious matters. This has also been complicated since military Chaplains are used in place of mental health workers. If they are not taking care of the soldier in crisis situations because they are too busy trying to convert them this leaves the soldier with nowhere to turn. They end up abandoned.

Every member of the clergy, every Chaplain and every service organization needs to take a stand and stop this now before more suffer under this abuse. Sixty percent of the military Chaplains may have no problem with this, but forty percent are still trying to do what they took an oath to the constitution to do. This article talks about atheists having a problem with Fundamentalists but it isn't just them. It is anyone who is not one of them.

OLBERMANN: The Military Is Trying To Curb Suicide Rates By Sending Soldiers To Church
Steven Loeb
Jan. 7, 2011, 10:59 AM

Boy, atheists are getting a lot of attention on the cablesphere these days.
Just when we thought that discrimination had finally been eradicated from the military, now Keith Olbermann is reporting on a new lawsuit from The Military Association of Atheists and Free Thinkers. The military has been giving tests to curb suicide rates and post traumatic stress disorder, but part of the test asks about the soldier's spirituality. And if they fail that portion of the test? The recommendation is that they go to church or pray.


Read more: The Military Is Trying To Curb Suicide

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Psychologist who inspired CIA's Torture Program behind spiritual test?

How did this happen? Torture is anti-spiritual but the same person came up with a test to measure the spiritual aspects of soldiers? Did they have a clue when they were paid if this would work or not? Trauma is Greek meaning wound and trauma is an assault on the spirit/soul so it is vital that the spiritual is included in on healing as much as the mind and body but it cannot be forced or it has the opposite result. Just one more thing the military has done that shows not only poor judgement but a total lack of understanding.

Army's "Spiritual Fitness" Test Comes Under Fire
Wednesday 05 January 2011
by: Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | Investigative Report

Test Was Designed by Psychologist Who Inspired CIA's Torture Program

An experimental, Army mental-health, fitness initiative designed by the same psychologist whose work heavily influenced the psychological aspects of the Bush administration's torture program is under fire by civil rights groups and hundreds of active-duty soldiers. They say it unconstitutionally requires enlistees to believe in God or a "higher power" in order to be deemed "spiritually fit" to serve in the Army.

Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) is a $125 million "holistic fitness program" unveiled in late 2009 and aimed at reducing the number of suicides and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases, which have reached epidemic proportions over the past year due to multiple deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the substandard care soldiers have received when they return from combat. The Army states that it can accomplish its goal by teaching its service members how to be psychologically resilient and resist "catastrophizing" traumatic events. Defense Department documents obtained by Truthout state CSF is Army Chief of Staff George Casey's "third highest priority."

CSF is comprised of the Soldier Fitness Tracker and Global Assessment Tool, which measures soldiers' "resilience" in five core areas: emotional, physical, family, social and spiritual. Soldiers fill out an online survey made up of more than 100 questions, and if the results fall into a red area, they are required to participate in remedial courses in a classroom or online setting to strengthen their resilience in the disciplines in which they received low scores. The test is administered every two years. More than 800,000 Army soldiers have taken it thus far.

But for the thousands of "Foxhole Atheists" like 27-year-old Sgt. Justin Griffith, the spiritual component of the test contains questions written predominantly for soldiers who believe in God or another deity, meaning nonbelievers are guaranteed to score poorly and will be forced to participate in exercises that use religious imagery to "train" soldiers up to a satisfactory level of spirituality.
read more here
Army's Spiritual Fitness Test Comes Under Fire

Support, donations pour in for CNN Hero homebuilder

Support, donations pour in for Hero homebuilder
By Kathleen Toner, CNN
January 6, 2011 9:55 p.m. EST


Free homes for injured troops
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Dan Wallrath and his group, Operation Finally Home, build houses for injured U.S. veterans
For his efforts, Wallrath was named a top 10 CNN Hero in November
The exposure has helped Wallrath help more troops and their families
He just partnered with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" to help a victim of the Fort Hood attack

Salado, Texas (CNN) -- Dan Wallrath spent 30 years as a homebuilder in Texas, but it wasn't until 2005 that he found his life's work.

After helping renovate the home of a young Marine who had been severely wounded in Iraq, Wallrath realized there were thousands of other injured war veterans who needed a hand. So he decided to help them by doing what he knew best -- building homes -- and giving them away, mortgage-free.

For his efforts, Wallrath was recognized in November as one of the year's top 10 CNN Heroes. The exposure has helped take his organization -- now known as Operation Finally Home -- to the next level.

"It's just been incredible," Wallrath said last month. "We've been getting phone calls and e-mails and donations from all over the world."

Since the airing of "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," Operation Finally Home has received more than $100,000 in contributions -- as well as three pieces of property that will be used for future homes. All told, being honored as a CNN Hero has enabled Wallrath to more than double his impact.

So far, his group has completed nine homes, and it has 13 more planned or under construction.
The spotlight also led "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" to partner with Wallrath on a special project last month: building a home for one of the victims of the 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas.
read more here
Support, donations pour in for Hero homebuilder

Homeless Vietnam Veteran Remembered For Compassion, Kindness

Homeless Vietnam Veteran Remembered For Compassion, Kindness
Services to honor Dale Grunder scheduled for Saturday.
By Kristofer Noceda
The homeless Vietnam veteran found dead Sunday morning was known in the streets as "Papa."

Dale Grunder, 65, a longtime transient known for carrying an American flag around town, is remembered by friends as a compassionate, giving and kind-hearted man.

"He had a smile that was so big it could light up the world," said Darcie Gardiner, who referred to Grunder as her "street father."

"Dale always took care and looked after me," she said.

Gardiner, 44, and also homeless, was drinking alcohol with Grunder the night before he was found dead on a bench near the water fountain and park plaza on Railroad Avenue, just behind the Grocery Outlet.

"I was drunk in the park and he was, too," she said. "I blanked out and woke up to cops kicking me and telling me to get out of there."

Grunder, however, never woke up.

read more here
Homeless Vietnam Veteran Remembered For Compassion, Kindness

Unemployment jumps in December for young vets

Unemployment jumps in December for young vets
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 7, 2011 9:59:55 EST
Labor Department employment statistics released Friday show that young veterans continue to have serious and growing problems finding work in a tight job market, while older veterans are doing better than the general population.

The Jan. 7 release of December data shows the national unemployment rate fell slightly, from 9.8 percent in November to 9.4 percent in December, and that the unemployment rate for all veterans over the age of 18 remained steady, at 8.3 percent.

For younger veterans, the new report shows a dramatic increase in unemployment, from 9.4 percent in November to 11.7 percent in December.
read more here
Unemployment jumps in December for young vets

Hood sees twofold increase in suicides from prior year

Hood sees twofold increase in suicides from prior year

Did it do any good to have predicted this would happen well over a year ago?

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Aftermath of Fort Hood shootings may be worse


As the news reports kept coming out today about the carnage at Fort Hood, my greatest fears were not for today, but for the next few months ahead. No one is talking about "secondary stressors" and this needs to be addressed quickly.

There are crisis teams heading there according to the press briefing by Lt. Gen. Robert Cone. This is one of the best things they can do. I spent months taking this kind of training and it is very thorough. The issue that we need to be concerned about is when there are thousands of soldiers, combat soldiers with multiple tours, many of them are dealing with mild PTSD. Mild PTSD is not that hard to cope with. They live pretty normal lives while covering up the pain they have inside. Many even cope well the rest of their lives but many do not. Like a ticking time bomb, PTSD rests waiting to strike if untreated. It waits for the next traumatic event and then mild PTSD turns into PTSD on steroids.

These are the soldiers that will need the greatest help as soon as possible.

These bases are very well secured. That makes the soldiers and their families feel safe. Think about going into combat and then making it home alive where you are supposed to be safe. Then having this happen.

I was at Fort Hood in March. I had an auto rental and even though I had a military issued ID, that was not good enough at the guard house. I had to show my rental agreement every time I drove onto the base. Even if you have a Department of Defense sticker on your car, you still have to show your military ID. That makes them feel they are safe. Then away from harm, away from combat, they end up having to face something like this from not only one of their own, but a Major and a Doctor who is supposed to be there for them, trying to kill them.

Crisis teams will address the traumatic events of today, but the soldiers that have already been involved in traumatic events cutting into them will need far greater help than anyone is really prepared to deliver. This is my greatest fear for them.

Then we have troops from Fort Hood and other bases deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan wondering who they can trust now after one of their own did something like this. None of this is good and the aftermath may be worse than this day itself.
Aftermath of Fort Hood shootings may be worse

There was not enough being done to address it before the shootings and there wasn't enough done after. I know trauma, human nature and what can follow, but if anyone in charge knew the same thing but did nothing, they should face a trail to answer for what they did not do.

They boosted staff but say nothing about the kind of training or understanding these people had. If they were anything like Hassan, they would do more harm than good. Maybe Col. Christopher Philbrick should have asked some of us what we think is not being done and then maybe, just maybe they'd finally save some lives.

Army: 22 suicides in 2010 at Fort Hood

One was Army Sgt. Douglas Hale Jr., who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after completing his second tour in 2007. He texted his mother, Glenda Moss, on July 6 asking forgiveness before shooting himself to death in a restaurant bathroom near Fort Hood.

During the last week of September, four soldiers committed suicide.
Despite suicide prevention efforts, Hood sees twofold increase in suicides from prior year; some say shooting massacre may have been contributing factor
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Jan 5, 2011 21:57:41 EST
The Army’s largest post saw a record number of soldiers kill themselves in 2010 despite a mental health effort aimed at reversing the trend.

The Army says 22 soldiers have either killed themselves or are suspected of doing so last year at Fort Hood, Texas, twice the number from 2009.

That is a rate of 45 deaths per 100,000, compared to 20-per-100,000 rate among civilians in the same age group and a 22-per-100,000 rate Army-wide.

The Army had boosted staffing and psychiatric services to address the problem, particularly after the fatal shootings of 13 people on the post in November 2009. The Army says that Maj. Nidal Hasan, a psychiatrist, fired his pistol indiscriminately at soldiers waiting for routine medical care.

Fort Hood now has one of the largest counseling staffs in the Army with more than 170 behavioral health workers.

“Any time they’ve asked for it, the Army has done everything it can to provide assistance,” said Army Col. Christopher Philbrick, deputy commander of an Army task force on reducing suicides.

Philbrick said it “has been very frustrating for us to figure out what we haven’t done right.”

Many of the 48,000 soldiers at Fort Hood have either returned from war zones or are on their way to them.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/01/gannett-army-hood-sees-22-suicides-010511/

President Signed Improvements to Post-9/11 GI Bill

President Signed Improvements to Post-9/11 GI Bill
Many Non-College Programs and State Service of Reserves and Guard now
Covered

WASHINGTON (Jan. 5, 2011) - To bring the educational benefits of the
Post-9/11 GI Bill closer to more Veterans and Service Members, President
Obama signed legislation Jan. 4 that streamlines the 18-month-old
education program administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA).

"Since the first GI Bill in 1944, this unique educational program has
adapted to the needs of America's Veterans, active-duty personnel,
reservists and Guardsmen," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki. "Like its forbearers, the Post-9/11 GI Bill is growing to
ensure the men and women who serve this nation in uniform receive
valuable education benefits from a grateful nation.

"On behalf of Veterans and the many who serve them at VA, we would like
to thank the president for his support, as well as members of Congress
and our Veterans service organization partners for helping make this
bill a reality," Shinseki added.

Among the provisions of the legislation are:

* Paying for on-the-job training, some flight training;
apprenticeship training and correspondence courses;

* Allowing reservists and Guardsmen to have their time supporting
emergencies called by their state governors credited to the time needed
to qualify for educational benefits;

* Providing one half of the national average for the program's
housing allowance to students enrolled in distance learning;

* Pro-rating the housing allowance to exclude payments when
students are not in class;

* Allowing students on active duty receive the stipend for books
and supplies;

* Allowing people eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, but
participating in VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E)
benefits to choose between the GI Bill's housing allowance or VR&E's
subsistence allowance;

* Permitting reimbursement for more than one "license and
certification" test;

* Reimbursing fees to take national admission tests, such as SAT,
ACT, GMAT and LSAT; and

* Establishing a national cap of $17,500 annually for tuition and
fees in a private or a foreign school, not including contributions by
educational institutions under the "Yellow Ribbon" program.

Information about the new provisions is available on the Internet at
www.gibill.va.gov .

By the end of December 2010, VA issued nearly $7.2 billion in tuition,
housing, and stipends for more than 425,000 Veterans or eligible family
members pursuing higher education under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Bun pit linked to another soldier's death

Soldier from W. Babylon dies of rare cancer
Originally published: January 3, 2011 4:58 PM
Updated: January 3, 2011 9:28 PM
By SOPHIA CHANG AND VICTOR MANUEL RAMOS


After a long year of watching the slow death of her husband, Army Sgt. William McKenna, Dina McKenna decided the final goodbye should be dignified without painful lingering.

"Because of my children, I wanted to keep it brief. We've been suffering for a whole year with his cancer and how much he has deteriorated," she said Monday after her husband was buried at Calverton National Cemetery. He died in Florida on Tuesday at the age of 41 from a rare form of lymphoma.

There was no eulogy at his funeral at the Johnstons' Wellwood Funeral Home in Lindenhurst, just a few miles from the West Babylon neighborhood where McKenna grew up.
read more here
Soldier from W. Babylon dies of rare cancer

September 11 survivors show lasting traumatic stress

15% seems low considering we've been talking about one out of three for PTSD (some experts say one out of five) but you have to consider another factor here. Right after 9-11 trauma teams rushed out and got to work taking care of survivors. This shows that even with immediate help, 15% had their lives changed that day above others. What do you think the chances are for the troops coming back from multiple times with their lives on the line and not getting any help after each time? Not good odds at all. So why is it that no one in the government was ready for the troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan? They never thought to treat them like humans instead of "soldiers" trained to do their jobs.

September 11 survivors show lasting traumatic stress

By Amy Norton
NEW YORK | Tue Jan 4, 2011 4:41pm EST
(Reuters Health) - Many civilian survivors of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center were still suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress several years after the 2001 disaster, a new study finds.

Surveys of nearly 3,700 people who escaped the Twin Towers that day found that nearly all -- 96 percent -- still had at least one symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) two to three years later.

And of those, 15 percent screened positive for full-blown PTSD -- a rate about four times higher than that seen in the general population in any given year.

The study, reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, is the first to focus on the long-term mental health of the people who were actually in the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11.

Past studies have looked at the general public, or people who lived near the World Trade Center, said senior researcher Dr. Sandro Galea, of Columbia University in New York.

The study found that people who had escaped from floors above the planes' "impact zone" were at greater risk of PTSD than those who escaped from lower floors. Similarly, people who were evacuated relatively later, or who had to run from the cloud of debris sent out by the collapsing towers, were also at elevated risk.

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September 11 survivors show lasting traumatic stress