Red Cross finds PTSD Conversation Falls On Deaf Ears

With so many suffering the ravages of PTSD on them and their families, you'd think the seats would be filled, but as with most things, it isn't the message but the way it is delivered that causes issues.

I am not sure what the Red Cross is doing in this case but going into this other report, it is easy to see that it is the way they are doing it.

Red Cross Holds Veteran Information Night

The video report shows a couple of people sitting in the chairs. Most of the presentations, hearings and conferences I've attended over the years, were well attended but they were geared toward professionals treating PTSD and not for those with PTSD. What they had in common with programs like the Red Cross is they were all boring.

PTSD Conversation Falls On Deaf Ears
By Jenna Hanchard

July 26, 2011
Updated Jul 26, 2011 at 11:04 PM EDT
Endicott, NY (WBNG Binghamton) A message about post traumatic stress disorder falls on empty seats at the American Red Cross in Endicott Tuesday night.

Since January, the Red Cross has been hosting veteran information nights.
read more here
PTSD Conversation Falls On Deaf Ears

Every group out there trying to help has to adapt to the generation that grew up with the Internet, video games, iTunes and being entertained. They don't want to see a poorly made Power Point with graphs and a couple of pictures. They don't want to hear a presenter reading off a script with no passion in their voice. Above all this, the last thing they want to do is spend a couple of hours sitting in a room paying attention to people not really paying attention to them. If these service groups do not adapt to their world they will continue to show them that they are not willing to go there.

Imagine trying to help homeless veterans but holding the program in an upper scale neighborhood. That may be where the providers live, but it is not where the homeless veterans live. Then try to establish any kind of relationship with them when you avoid the area they live in otherwise. You have to know "where they live" in order to help them live better.

It is the same no matter what help you want to give. You have to get into their world. You have to understand them and speak their language, or at the very least, make it comfortable for them to use theirs freely. If they swear, let them. Your sensitive ears can stand it when you understand the depth of their pain, so if that's the language they need to use to communicate it to you, let them. At least they're trying.

If you have a service group trying to get thru to them, then spend the time to understand their world. Spend a few bucks and get an updated presentation to show. Get someone with a video camera to put together a video to show. While these veterans are showing up more and more at shelters, arrested, divorced and attempting suicide at higher rates, they are screaming for not just help, but people willing to really show they understand every aspect of their lives. Don't just show up as if that's all they need because they won't be there.

Too many wounded still in limbo, senators say

Too many wounded still in limbo, senators say
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 26, 2011 15:49:52 EDT
On the eve of a hearing that will focus on the long-term human and financial costs of war, two senators are demanding explanations from the Defense Department about why it is taking so long to discharge severely wounded combat veterans.

Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee’s readiness panel, are using the delays that faced Marine Cpl. Todd Nicely, who lost his legs and arms in an explosion last year in Afghanistan, as an example of the human costs of war.

Nicely, whose wife Crystal will testify at Wednesday’s hearing, waited 70 days for a doctor to complete a summary of his medical condition so he could proceed with a disability review. His paperwork was processed only after Murray visited him in the hospital and brought his case to the attention of Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn.

In a Tuesday letter to Lynn, Murray and McCaskill said Nicely is a prime example of what happens to wounded warriors caught in limbo. “They cannot start civilian employment. They cannot enroll in school. They cannot move on with their lives,” the letter says.
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Too many wounded still in limbo, senators say

Would folks in Washington fight this hard for the troops?

I've been listening to all the talk in Washington. Some want to make sure average people don't have to pay for everything on top of losing everything. Then there are some fighting tooth and nail for the sake of the rich in this country. You know who is who. I was just wondering if any of them would fight this hard for the troops and our veterans. See, that's the problem. They get forgotten all the time. When congress can't bring themselves to work together, the troops still have to in Iraq and Afghanistan, no matter what political party they belong to. They get the job done. They get the job done on top of risking their lives everyday. They don't whine about how hard they have to work, the long hours or the stress. They also do it no matter their pay is being threatened, like it is now.

Dempsey: Pay and benefits part of budget debate
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 26, 2011 15:15:52 EDT
The general tapped to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs sounded an increasingly familiar refrain at his July 26 confirmation hearing: Tight budgets and tough choices are looming on the horizon, which means “everything is back on the table.”

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey told senators at his July 26 confirmation hearing in Washington.

“That includes pay, compensation, retirement and health care because it’s important that we place everything on the table, assess the impact, and then request the time to do it in a deliberate fashion so that we can maintain balance,” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Dempsey, a New Yorker and U.S. Military Academy graduate, currently serves as Army chief of staff. He is likely to be confirmed by the Senate to replace Adm. Mike Mullen as Joint Chiefs chairman when Mullen retires this fall.

Dempsey said “a new fiscal reality confronts us,” and said the military must contribute to solving the nation’s financial problems.
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Pay and benefits part of budget debate

The next time you hear the folks in congress talk about who they are fighting for, the troops are fighting for everyone then they have to come back and fight everyone here just to get treated and paid for their wounds. They also have to worry about paying their bills back home so they have a home to come back to.

Could someone please tell me how congress messes up all the time, threatens the pay for the troops and the veterans but they will still get paid no matter what they do?

Blue Water Navy Vietnam Vet fighting to for justice

U.S. Navy Vietnam veterans fight for benefits

By Daniel Lippman | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Doug DeWitt served his country in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, but now he feels abandoned by the nation for which he fought.

Forty years after his service, the 67-year-old Anaheim, Calif., resident suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and other ailments that he blames on exposure to Agent Orange, the main chemical the United States sprayed during the war. He has tried for years without success to get disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I don't have the strength that I used to have. I can't do the walking I used to because of the pain in my legs," he said. He added that the VA has not been helpful in resolving his claim.

"They won't listen to you. You can talk till you're blue in the face," he said.

DeWitt is one of potentially thousands of so-called "blue water" Navy veterans who have been excluded from easy approval of their Agent Orange-related disability compensation claims by the Veterans Affairs Department. He's in a group of veterans who served on deep-water ships off the coast of Vietnam but didn't touch land or serve on waterways inside the country.



Read more: U.S. Navy Vietnam veterans fight for benefits

Parents of Marine sued over sign of support from association

MARINE’S PARENTS SUED OVER DISPLAYING A SIGN SUPPORTING THEIR SON (BLAZE INTERVIEW)

Corey Burr is a Marine fighting in Afghanistan. Corey’s parents, Timothy and Jodi Burr, are also involved in a fight back home in Louisiana. Mom and dad are battling the neighborhood association over this sign posted in their front yard.

Shortly after L Cpl Burr was deployed to Afghanistan last winter, his parents posted the above sign in their front yard of their home in The Gardens subdivision of South Bossier, LA. Almost immediately the neighborhood association delivered a letter telling the Burr’s that they were in violation of a local rule stating “no signs of any kind shall be displayed to the public view.” (Real Estate signs are excluded but also carry a 2×2 size restriction.) Instead of removing the banner, Timothy and Jodi requested an exception be made to the rule. They wanted to keep the sign on display until their son comes home. (Corey is slated to return in March of 2012)

In February, the Burr’s started sending formal requests to the head of the association, but those letters went unanswered until the media got involved. Jodi and her husband even sent requests for a meeting with the homeowners association via certified mail, but those letters went “unclaimed.”
read more here
Marine parents sued over sign

Fort Carson soldier shot and killed while walking dog

UPDATE August 28, 2011
Police made arrest


UPDATE

Fort Carson soldier's family seeks information about his death near motel
By Jordan Steffen
The Denver Post

Anthony Silva was hoping to be deployed to Afghanistan, but a back injury kept him from going, his mother said.

The family of a Fort Carson soldier who was shot and killed near his Denver motel early Saturday have launched a plea for help in uncovering details about his death.

Anthony Silva, 25, was found shot to death at the north end of the 3800 block of Paris Street, near the Motel 6 where he was staying.

Silva, a specialist stationed at Fort Carson, was planning to meet his father, Dave Silva, at the hotel Saturday morning so they could drive together to Anthony Silva's hometown of Columbia, Ill.

"I came here expecting a road trip home with a great young man," Dave Silva said. "He had his whole life ahead of him, and it was stolen from him and us."
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Fort Carson soldier family seeks information

Police say soldier shot, killed in Denver while walking dog
By Joey Bunch
The Denver Post

The autopsy showed Silva died from multiple gunshots.

A soon-to-be discharged Fort Carson soldier was shot to death early Saturday while he was walking his dog near his motel along Interstate 70 in Denver, police said tonight in their first characterization of the crime.

This afternoon the Denver medical examiner's office said the man was Anthony Silva, 25, who was killed by multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses at the nearby Motel 6 where he was staying at North Paris Street south of Montbello said Saturday they heard five to seven shots.

Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said more information will be made public Tuesday.

Silva was a sergeant stationed at Fort Carson.
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Police say soldier shot, killed

Heroes we ignore

Dakota Meyer was a hero before his heroic act, but as with most heroes, we didn't notice. We were too busy making heroes out of movie stars, singers and sports stars. We were focused on celebrities as if anything they did really mattered to our own lives. They entertain us. Military folks, well they are just too busy protecting us most of the time but when a video shows up on YouTube with them dancing or acting silly, it goes viral with millions of people watching what they do. When they are risking their lives, no one wants to pay attention.

Why?

Kentuckian deserves Medal of Honor, said brother of deceased Marine
By Jim Warren — jwarren@herald-leader.com
Jul 26, 2011

Pikeville's Chase Goodman is hoping that Kentucky native Dakota Meyer gets nationwide recognition for the Medal of Honor he's to receive for braving enemy fire to retrieve the bodies of four buddies in Afghanistan in 2009.

And he hopes the medal will make more Americans aware of the military errors and oversights that, Goodman believes, led to the four men's deaths.

Goodman has a personal interest in the story: his half-brother, Marine 1st Lt. Michael Johnson of Virginia Beach, Va., was one of the four men Meyer tried to save.

"I think that at some point Dakota probably knew they were already dead," Goodman said Monday.

"But the simple fact of his determination to rush in there and try to pull them out regardless ... it's just extraordinary. I'd really like for him to get some recognition for what he did."


Read more: Kentuckian deserves Medal of Honor

This is one of the few nominated for the Medal of Honor. The least we can do is pay attention to what they did with their lives for the sake of our lives and not the sake of their own lives.

Read about what happened here and watch video report.

We were pinned down

Marine, father of four killed in motorcycle crash

Tuesday, Jul. 26, 2011

Motorcycle crash in Horry County claims life of Marine, father of four
Deceased a Loris native

By Gina Vasselli - gvasselli@thesunnews.com

A Loris man and active duty Marine died Sunday afternoon after crashing his motorcycle near the Loris airport.

Jeffery Bennett, 29, died about 6 p.m. at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center, said Deputy Horry County Coroner Darris Fowler.

Bennett died from head trauma following the motorcycle accident, which happened about 1 p.m., Fowler said.

Read more: Motorcycle crash in Horry County claims life of Marine

Funeral service scheduled for Tuesday for Neb. National Guard soldier

Funeral service scheduled for Tuesday for Neb. National Guard soldier who died in Afghanistan
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: July 24, 2011

MAYWOOD, Neb. — A Nebraska Army National Guard sergeant who died in Afghanistan will be laid to rest this week.

A funeral service for 28-year-old Omar Jones, of Maywood, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell.

The guard says Maxwell died of a noncombat injury last Monday at a base in Balkh Province. His death is under investigation by military officials.
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Funeral service scheduled for Tuesday for Neb. National Guard soldier

Homeless Vietnam Vet, Seabee, laid to rest with honors

Homeless Vietnam vet buried with full military honors, paid by funeral home program
By Elinor Brecher, The Miami Herald
9:43 p.m. EDT, July 21, 2011

When William Gaunt returned from Vietnam in the late '60s, he was scarred inside and out. You could see the shrapnel wounds. You could only guess at the emotional damage through his struggles with alcohol and drugs.

A heavy smoker, he died at Fort Lauderdale's Imperial Point Medical Center on July 3, beset by diabetes, emphysema, hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver.

Gaunt might have been consigned to a pauper's grave. Instead, he was laid to rest with military honors Thursday at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth through a funeral-home chain's homeless veterans burial program.

Taps was played and three sailors saluted Gaunt's flag-draped casket.

"He deserved it,'' said Ben Harris, one of nine friends who came to mourn Billy Gaunt.

Gaunt was born May 30, 1949, in Newark, N.J., and served with the U.S. Navy's Seabees from 1967 to 1969.

"Billy would have felt very proud and honored to be sent off this way,'' said Ed Stephens, another Navy veteran of the Vietnam War.

"He was a proud Seabee who loved his country,'' said Patrick Birk, his roommate at a Pompano Beach "sober house,'' who accepted Gaunt's folded coffin flag from two sailors in summer whites.
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Homeless Vietnam vet buried with full military honors

Veterans court for troubled vets marks year anniversary

Specialized court for troubled vets marks year anniversary
by Jessica Mador, Minnesota Public Radio
July 25, 2011

St. Paul, Minn. — July marks one year since the state launched its first Veterans Treatment Court, one of several dozen problem-solving courts around the country to help veterans who commit crimes stay out of the criminal justice system.

Veterans who land in trouble with the law can be referred to the Veterans Treatment Court in Minneapolis as an alternative to jail. That's how 56-year old Army veteran Cecil Wooten ended up in the program. He credits the court with helping him get clean.

"I got my third DWI and they had a vets court, and I was fortunate to get involved in it," Wooten said. "And I was thankful from then on."

Wooten lives in temporary Veterans Administration housing and has been sober for about a year now. Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter, who oversees the court, said Wooten's case is typical.

"The original thought was that what we would have is mostly Afghanistan and Iraq veterans," Porter said. "What we have mostly had is Vietnam veterans and they are a little bit of a harder case."

Many of the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans Porter sees have combat-related traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder. Most of the approximately 70 defendants in the program over the past year have serious mental health issues. Many are addicted or chronically homeless or both. Many of whom have cycled through the criminal justice system for decades without treatment.
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Specialized court for troubled vets marks year anniversary

Cycling to battle veteran homelessness

Guest View: Cycling to battle veteran homelessness

Juventino "J" Gomez
Posted: 07/24/2011

For many veterans in the San Gabriel Valley, the price of freedom is felt every night as these heroes pitch a tent, unfurl their sleeping mats and take up temporary residence under a freeway overpass or in a local park.
The number of men and women who return from war only to find themselves homeless, and without proper post-combat mental health care is intolerable.

Experts estimate that 11 percent of the 8,000 homeless veterans in Los Angeles County live in the San Gabriel Valley. According to a 2009 report on homelessness by the Veteran's Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are at higher risk of homelessness induced by mental illness than those from earlier conflicts. Reasons include the length and number of deployments, as well as the nature of the conflict, exposure to roadside bombs and other explosions that cause traumatic brain injury. California alone has welcomed more than 30,000 veterans home - many of whom end up homeless after 18 months of being discharged.

Upon taking office, President Barack Obama committed billions of federal dollars to end the shame of veteran homelessness. The 2012 budget includes $939 million to prevent and reduce homelessness among veterans - a 17.5 percent increase from previous years. However, these funds in past years have sat unused due to bureaucracy and an infrastructure ill-equipped to handle the heavy load of veterans in need of workforce training, housing services and healthcare.

So, to rally support and encourage the distribution of long-overdue federal funding, a local group of strong-willed U.S. service members have taken matters into their own hands. Through aggressive "vet hunting," which includes scouring homeless camps, overpasses and parks for homeless veterans, this group has dedicated themselves to a 1,900-mile bicycle ride in the name of their veteran brothers and sisters. They call themselves Vet Hunters - they are homeless veterans themselves, former service members who have suffered combat disabilities, and active-duty Iraq and Afghanistan service members.

Read more: Cycling to battle veteran homelessness

Uncle Sam wants psychiatrists

Uncle Sam wants psychiatrists
Published: July 25, 2011 at 12:55 AM

FORT KNOX, Ky., July 25 (UPI) -- Uncle Sam wants psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and social workers as well as graduate students entering these fields to consider the U.S. Army.

Col. R. Scott Dingle, the U.S. Army's Medical Recruiting Brigade commander, says the military is one of the largest healthcare organizations in the world and offers behavioral health providers the chance to work in the areas of mental resilience, combat and operational stress control.

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Uncle Sam wants psychiatrists

Helping as fort blacksmith proves therapeutic

Vet finds he’s iron-willed
Helping as fort blacksmith proves therapeutic

By Sue Vorenberg
Columbian Staff Reporter
Sunday, July 24, 2011

Photo by Steven Lane
Stoking the fire at the blacksmith shop at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Lee Pisarek prepares to work with some hot iron. The disabled Army veteran, who suffers from PTSD, said his time volunteering at the fort has been therapeutic.

Peace and calm radiated from Lee Pisarek’s face as he rhythmically pounded the piece of red hot iron with a mallet wrapped in his large, skilled hand.

A metallic, slightly smoky odor saturated the blacksmith shop at Fort Vancouver National Site, adding another layer to the historic accuracy of the place.

Re-enacting a profession from 1845 is about as far away as you can get from the battlefields of Operation Desert Storm, where Pisarek severely injured his right leg after getting caught between a mine field and artillery fire, which “didn’t go well,” he said with an odd smile.

But for the Army veteran, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, learning to become a blacksmith has been a fulfilling way to use some of the same mechanical and technical skills he worked with in the service, he said.

“I was a lifer, I expected to stay in for 30 years, but in 1992 after my injury I opted for the early-out program,” said Pisarek, who joined the service in 1982.

His military job, as a field expedient weapons instructor, was something he really enjoyed, and it was hard to give it up, he said.

“(It) requires looking at an object for what it’s capable of, not necessarily for what it’s designed to do,” Pisarek said.

Volunteering to work as a blacksmith has given him a new creative outlet, and a way to fulfill the same mechanical and intellectual curiosity, he added.

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Helping as fort blacksmith proves therapeutic

Waiting too long for help from VA

Waiting too long for help from VA
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 25, 2011
Veterans diagnosed with mental health problems also have to cope with dangerously long delays in getting the care they deserve from Veterans Affairs facilities.

That problem is not new. More than 202,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have been seen at VA facilities for potential cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nevertheless, stories of long waits for treatment remain legion, as was clear at a Senate committee hearing earlier this month.

It's perhaps no coincidence that the VA monitors how long it takes for a vet to receive his first appointment but doesn't keep track of how long a vet has to wait for treatment.

As past wars have taught the nation, the number of returning soldiers suffering from mental illness will never be truly known. Some psychiatric problems take years to manifest. Others are buried beneath drugs or drink. Still other mental health problems lead veterans onto the streets and society's margins.

The best opportunity to reach mentally injured veterans comes in the military's own system and in the days, weeks and months following a soldier's rotation back home.

That's not happening enough in the VA system, several veterans told the senators.
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Waiting too long for help from VA

Female soldier raped, then tossed out for admitting she was gay?

We read a lot of stories about gay soldiers being kicked out of the military. We read a lot of stories about female soldiers being raped. This one combines both and it is pretty shocking to discover what happened to this woman after being raped and betrayed over "don't ask, don't tell." In her case, did the military try to tell her she shouldn't have talked about being raped too?

A nightmare that lasted nine years
02:49 PM EDT on Sunday, July 24, 2011
By Lynn Arditi

Journal Staff Writer

Pvt. Valerie J. Desautel swore under oath to an Army investigator that she would tell the truth about the night she was raped.

She was 20, a fresh-faced soldier from Rhode Island who was in training at Fort Lee, Va.

Desautel admitted to the investigator taking her statement that she’d been socializing the previous night at an officer’s club, got drunk, and accepted a ride from a man whom she’d only just met.

The officer sounded skeptical. You went with this man to a hotel, she remembers the officer saying, and you want me to believe that it wasn’t consensual?

Then, before the young private had time to think it through, she blurted out the words she’d been warned never to say in the military: “I’m gay…”

Eight weeks later, plagued by anxiety and flashbacks, she was ordered to pack her bags and was handed a plane ticket home. Her discharge sheet read: “homosexual admission.”

“Instead of rehabilitating me,” she said, “they threw me out like a piece of trash.”
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A nightmare that lasted nine years

From health care to finances, protect those who protected us

A soldier’s money
From health care to finances, we should protect those who protected us

Sergeant Jared Doohen, left, and Staff Sergeant Thomas Stanley return home to Vermont last year after nine months in Afghanistan. (Associated Press)

By Juliette Kayyem
July 25, 2011

LAST WEEK, 650 troops quietly left Afghanistan, beginning the long slog home as part of President Obama’s drawdown. At the same time, General David Petraeus, the architect of the surges in both Iraq and Afghanistan, formally resigned from the military to take over as director of the CIA. The timing was coincidental, but not without meaning: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now simultaneously moving to a close.

Petraeus handed his Afghanistan command to Marine Lieutenant General John Allen, who will oversee further troop departures. He also symbolically handed over some measure of responsibility for those troops’ future well-being to his wife, Holly Petraeus, who represents a rare growth industry in government: protecting and providing to our returning service members and veterans.

As a nation, we are simply unprepared for the numbers of returning troops we now face. The wars of the last ten years have created over 1.1 million veterans; another 2.4 million men and women are on active, National Guard, or reserve duty. This class includes soldiers who have served in combat longer than any in US history. Of the nearly 400,000 who have seen combat duty, more than 13,000 have spent at least 45 months - nearly four cumulative years - in combat.

We know so little about the magnitude and the depth of the issues they will be facing in health care, employment, and education. All they want is to go back to normal lives. And that too is a challenge.
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From health care to finances

Vietnam MIA's body laid to rest after 40 years

Local soldier's body laid to rest 40 years after he disappeared
BY MIKE FITZGERALD - News-Democrat

GLEN CARBON -- Randy Dalton's family, after waiting 40 years to the day, finally laid him to rest Sunday.

An Army honor guard, in white gloves and dress uniforms, carried Dalton's flag-draped coffin the last few yards to his resting place on the gentle slope of a hill at Sunset Hill Cemetery.

A man dressed as a Union soldier from the Civil War played "Taps." More than 400 people stood silently as seven volunteers aimed their rifles skyward and fired three volleys.

An then the honor guard commander, an Army sergeant, presented each of Dalton's three sisters a tightly folded American flag -- a final gesture to honor the 20-year-old Collinsville man whose body disappeared on July 24, 1971.

That's when the helicopter on which Dalton served as a door gunner was shot down during a reconnaissance mission over Cambodia. Although Dalton was due to return home in a few weeks, he volunteered for the mission to take the place of a friend who'd fallen sick.


Read more: Local soldier body laid to rest

Iraq Vet, Lowell police officer's body found in Merrimack River

Body found in Merrimack River identified as Lowell police officer
July 24, 2011 8:12 PM

“He was there to take care of people,” his mother said. “Whether it was on the police force or in Iraq or where he was going in Afghanistan, he believed what he was doing was helping people.”

By Stewart Bishop, Globe Correspondent

Two men were killed -- one of them a decorated Lowell police officer and former Marine -- in separate incidents in two Massachusetts rivers during the weekend, authorities said.

While riding in a motor boat with his brother and another friend on the Merrimack River Saturday evening, Lowell patrol officer Charles Panek told his companions he was going to jump into the water and asked them to turn around and pick him up, according to Tyngsborough police.

He jumped off while the 18-foot vessel was traveling about 20 miles per hour, police said. When the boat circled back seconds later, he did not surface.

According to the Lowell police department and family members, Panek was a decorated police officer and former Marine, who had served in the Iraq War. He also served in the Rhode Island Army National Guard, and was scheduled to be deployed soon to Afghanistan, police said.

read more here
Body found in Merrimack River

Marine killed in motorcycle crash

Man dead after motorcycle crash
July 23, 2011 12:19 PM
HOPE HODGE
Updated at 6:07 p.m. to provide additional details, correct time of crash.

An early morning single-motorcycle crash left a young Marine dead, highway patrol officials said Saturday.

Officials with the N.C. Highway Patrol in Jacksonville said the wreck took place not far from Piney Green Road, on Lake Cole Road near Woodbrook Drive, just after 3:30 a.m.

A 25-year-old man driving a blue Yamaha motorcycle came out of a slight curve and ran off the roadway to the right, striking a drain culvert in a driveway, officials said. The motorcyclist was thrown off the bike about 100 feet into a nearby yard and died at the scene. Troopers said Saturday the man was taken to Onslow Memorial Hospital and the cause of death was blunt trauma from the crash.
read more here
Man dead after motorcycle crash

Veterans fought for us then ended up home-less

by
Chaplain Kathie

It is bad enough when an active duty soldier has to worry about losing their home while they are deployed but when it comes to the National Guards and Reservists, it is even worse.

Think about how they live. They have jobs, most of the time working for police and fire departments. They are the people we count on everyday in our own communities. They base their budgets on the pay from their jobs, even when they are the boss of their own business. When they deploy, while the law is supposed to protect their jobs while they're gone, the pay stops. They get paid by the government leaving them to live off of a financial loss.

Military veterans have a hard time finding work when they are discharged but citizen soldiers have a harder time finding work. The risk of them being redeployed hangs over their heads. Human Resources directors think of the possibility of having to have the job done by a temp or making others fill in the gaps if they are redeployed. Even if they are more qualified, someone else gets the job.

Then there is the worry about PTSD along with the false impression it makes them unstable. With PTSD there are different levels. Higher levels of PTSD make it impossible for them to work in the first place, so they are very unlikely to even look for work. Low levels of PTSD are not a problem for employers. According to the latest numbers, half of National Guards/Reservists have PTSD, but the data does not separate them by levels.

They are losing their homes and their families end up wondering what all the suffering was worth. The constant worry about making ends meet while one of them is gone along with having to worry about them overseas drains them. Just when they should be able to relax with the homecoming, they are faced with bills that cannot be paid.

Veterans' homes slip away

Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele

"Just how many veterans fall into this category isn't clear. The Department of Veterans Affairs assisted 66,000 who defaulted last year alone on VA loans. But that number did not include the tens of thousands of other veterans who faced foreclosure on FHA or conventional mortgages that many took out to survive. And of course the number does not include reservists or National Guard personnel who fell behind on payments when they were called up for multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, or both."

After the Second World War, returning veterans were welcomed home to two of the most successful government initiatives ever - the FHA and VA housing programs - which put millions of them into their own homes for the first time.

Today, later generations of veterans are being confronted by much different housing policies - ones that can toss them out of homes they've bought with their life savings.

John Aguiar is a veteran of the Gulf War, a former intelligence analyst for the Army who took part in Operation Desert Storm in 1990 when U.S. forces brought Saddam Hussein to heel after he invaded Kuwait.

Aguiar and his wife, Syrena, built a house in Cape Coral, Fla., after relocating from Chicago to be nearer her parents. Using proceeds from the sale of their Chicago house, they bought a lot in a new subdivision in the Cape, a middle-class suburb across from Fort Myers in southwest Florida.

The house they built reflected their values and way of life. It was nothing fancy: a one-story Cape rancher with three bedrooms, two baths, and a two-car garage. There were no granite countertops, no Jacuzzi - just the basics, in keeping with what they could afford. "We always lived within our means," said Syrena. Nor did they see it as a stepping-stone to something larger.

"It was all we wanted, a place to raise our kids," said John. "We wanted to retire there."
read more here
Veterans homes slip away

This country doesn't notice them.

Study Finds Mental Resilience In Deployed Combat Troops

This is why the crap of telling them to train their brains to be "tough" does not work. They already are tough!

Texas A M Study Finds Mental Resilience In Deployed Combat Troops
July 20, 2011 Featured Topics No Comments

COLLEGE STATION, July 20, 2011 — Deployed soldiers in units that are facing high-risk combat situations show extraordinary tolerance for their stressful environment, found a Texas A&M University study published in the scholarly journal Psychological Assessment.

Even more remarkable, adds psychology professor Leslie Morey, is the study reveals that deployed troops have nearly identical reports of potential emotional or psychological problems when compared to their civilian counterparts back in the U.S., a finding that may point to potential adaptive mechanisms in place to sustain deployed troops that are not present once they return stateside.

Morey, who specializes in diagnosis and assessment of mental disorders, began collaborating with the U.S. Army after the Army began studying the potential development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and cognitive problems in deployed troops who had suffered from combat-related concussions. Army researchers were using the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), a widely used measurement created by Morey in 1991, to compare troops within the same unit who had received concussions and those who had not. In first analyzing the data, Morey was surprised to see that the responses of the control group — soldiers who had not received concussions but were selected to represent the typical effects of combat stresses — were remarkably normal. This realization led to an important additional focus for the study.

“Nobody had ever done a comprehensive study of the psychological effects of being in a combat unit, attempting to distinguish what might be PTSD versus what is the normative response in these situations,” Morey says.

“British troops appear to have much less lower PTSD rates than U.S. troops,” he says. “The British keep each returning unit intact and have them go through a sort of decompression out of the combat zone before they return to the UK. When you’re in the field and something happens to the unit, everyone experiences it. There is a sense of collective experience that becomes normalized, but then you return stateside to a group that doesn’t have those same experiences. The answer may lie in better handling that transition.”

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Texas AM Study Finds Mental Resilience In Deployed Combat Troops

The last part could explain why National Guards and Reservists are coming in with higher rates of PTSD as well.

Canadian family still seeking answers after soldier's suicide

Family still seeking answers after soldier's suicide

CTV News.ca Staff
Date: Wed. Jul. 20 2011 6:24 PM ET
More than three years after a soldier committed suicide following a struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, his family is still fighting for answers about what went wrong.

Corp. Stuart Langridge, 29, was a promising young soldier who dedicated his life to the military. But on March 15, 2008, he took his own life by hanging himself in his barracks at CFB Edmonton.

Langridge, who served in Bosnia and Afghanistan, had been suffering from post-traumatic stress, alcohol and substance abuse upon his return from a six-month tour in Afghanistan in 2005.

Though his family didn't know it at the time, he had attempted suicide on six occasions.

"We had no idea how seriously ill Stuart was. We only knew parts of what was going on; we didn't understand the full extent of it," his father Shaun Fynes told CTV's Canada AM Wednesday from Victoria.
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Family still seeking answers after soldier's suicide

Vietnam veteran found dead after fire

Vietnam veteran found dead after fire
Updated: Wednesday, 20 Jul 2011, 6:10 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 20 Jul 2011, 10:06 AM EDT

Nalina Shapiro
Posted by: Eli George
KENMORE, N.Y. (WIVB) - A Vietnam veteran was found dead inside a burning apartment in Kenmore. It's still unclear what killed 62-year-old Donald Dake.

Kenmore Police and fire officials responded to a fire inside Dake's Ken-Dev studio apartment around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and found heavy smoke inside the unit. At the time, many residents were sleeping and thought it was a false alarm.

Tammy Fisher said, "We've had false alarms, several of them in the recent past. This one was real, and I'm glad I got out because I was contemplating whether to just stay in bed or not."

Neighbors say it was tough for many people to get out quickly.
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Vietnam veteran found dead after fire

Silver Star, Purple Heart Vietnam Homeless Vet buried with honor

Funeral home gives homeless veteran proper burial service

By GEORGE H. NEWMAN | The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 20, 2011

PLANT CITY --
For the third time in two years, a Plant City funeral home held services for a homeless military veteran.

John F. Booth of Tampa, who served as an Army sergeant during the Vietnam War, was honored on July 5 at Wells Memorial Funeral Home. The service was followed by his burial at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.

"Booth, 69, is a veteran with no home, no money and no legal next of kin to make his funeral arrangements," said Jessica S. McDunn, a spokeswoman for the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program, a cooperative effort among 1,800 funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers across the country.

Wells Memorial and the Gonzalez funeral homes stepped in to make sure Booth received a burial befitting all honorable veterans, McDunn said. Gonzalez provided Booth's casket.

"Booth was a recipient of the Purple Heart for wounds he received in action on Jan. 20, 1969," McDunn said. "He also earned a Silver Star for gallantry in action on Jan. 20, 1969. Booth also earned a Bronze Star for meritorious achievement in ground operations against hostile forces in Vietnam during the period of April 1968 to April 1969."

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Funeral home gives homeless veteran proper burial service

Adaptive wheelchair gives wounded warriors chance to play golf

Adaptive wheelchair gives wounded warriors chance to play golf
Green2Green is a nonprofit working to bring the game of golf to wounded warriors, and now they're not letting a handicap or injury get in the way.
Posted: 6:27 PM Jul 22, 2011
Reporter: Katie Beasley

News 12 at 6 o'clock / Friday July 22, 2011

EVANS, Ga. -- Most people take the simple use of healthy, working legs for granted, but many wounded warriors come home with injuries that take away the use of one or both legs.

ADVERTISEMENT

Now, one local group is trying to give those men and women a little hope in the form of a unique wheelchair.

Green2Green is a nonprofit working to bring the game of golf to wounded warriors, and now they're not letting a handicap or injury get in the way.

Specialist Danny McGowan was injured last year in Afghanistan. He's confined to a wheelchair and says playing golf hasn't been much of a priority.

"We were hit by an IED and it damaged my truck. I sustained multiple injuries to my back and to my legs," McGowan said.

But thanks to a special wheelchair, McGowan can hit the greens again.

"It's been a long time for me, and doing it today, it felt great, it really felt great," he said.

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Adaptive wheelchair gives wounded warriors chance to play golf

Fort Carson soldier uses Army skills to save man's life

Kingman soldier uses Army skills to save man's life
Gonzales first on the scene of accident at Fort Carson

Erin Taylor
Miner Staff Reporter


KINGMAN - Spc. Raymond Gonzales recently got back from a yearlong tour of duty in Iraq, but it was only after his return stateside that he got a chance to put his military medical training into use to save a life.

Gonzales, 24, is currently stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado where he lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their three girls. Both Raymond and Jennifer grew up in Kingman and still visit several times a year.

Raymond was on his way to work on the morning of July 15 when he came upon a man lying in the street who only seconds before had been hit by a car.

Gonzales was the first person on scene and automatically reverted to his medical training.

"We call it 'muscle memory,'" he said. "You just go back to your training. You don't even realize what you're doing while you're doing it."

Gonzales used his uniform shirt to compress a wound on the man's neck that was pouring blood from the jugular vein. At the same time, he quickly assessed the man's double compound fracture to his right arm and used the waistband from a passersby's sweatpants to stem the bleeding from a wound there.
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Kingman soldier uses Army skills to save man life

Vets face shortage of therapists that understand them

The need for therapists is high but according to the data coming in, it is only going to get higher instead of lower. More and more come home from multiple deployments carrying all they went through with them. Stressful enough but when you consider they are returning to families and friends with very little understanding of the changes they see in someone they love, it adds to the stress. Then consider the men and women discharged, facing the rest of their lives with the weight of the world on their shoulders, suffering from PTSD, TBI or physical wounds making it impossible to hold a job even if they could find one, and you see how the price of war does not expire when they come home.

Medication helps but numbing them is not healing them. Therapy in whatever form works best for the individual veteran, is a must but few do it and the majority of the therapist have no clue what makes a veteran different from a civilian.

Vets face shortage of therapists
New program training clinicians in psychology of combat is an attempt to help fill the gap

By Peter Cameron, Special to the Tribune
July 20, 2011

When Daniel Brautigam tried to tell therapists how he felt having urine thrown in his face at Guantanamo Bay, he experienced the same frustration as thousands of other returning veterans who have sought counseling.

"They had no idea how to respond to that. It looked like to me that they were grossed out, and they're supposed to be helping me," said Brautigam, 31, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression following his return to Hoffman Estates from tours with the Navy in the Northern Arabian Gulf and Cuba.

The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 11 percent to 20 percent of veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are suffering from PTSD. Others think the number is higher.

When vets seek therapy, they want a professional who can relate to soldiers in combat, and that usually means a therapist who has military experience. Without such empathy, therapy often is doomed, vets say.

Because most psychologists and mental health care professionals don't have a military background, there's a void in the safety net for vets. Some veterans' organizations have stepped up, training members to help their peers, and the Soldiers Project provides free counseling from licensed professionals and veterans by phone to newly returned vets.
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Vets face shortage of therapists

You don't have to go to war to be able to understand but you can't gain the knowledge from a class text book. You have to be with them, talk to them and invest a lot of time in discovering what makes them all so different. You can't treat them for combat traumas if you never even looked at a picture of what is left of a body after a bomb has blown up. You can't help them get past their haunting nightmares if you don't have a clue what happened in combat. Most of the therapy they need comes with common sense but if you have nothing in common with them, it makes no sense to them.

In 2005, after too many years of researching PTSD as well as living with it, I began to create videos to make it easier for the veterans to understand and come to terms with PTSD. When I searched for pictures, there were thousands of them. Many of them were graphic images of what comes with war but many were of the sadness when someone from their unit was killed. Tracking all these reports across the country, I know what happened there as much as I do about what is happening here. Looking back at almost 30 years of doing this, the greatest knowledge came from listening to them but had I not invested the time in researching "their combat lives" I wouldn't have a clue how to really help them.

I tend to their spiritual needs and I can help them to a point but I need therapists to send them too. What they need more is someone with a specialized training on trauma as well as combat but there are not enough of them.

If you are considering psychology please think about taking care of them. I can assure you that it will be a recession proof job with the numbers I'm seeing. I can also assure you that you will not come into contact with a finer group of people to help than our veterans. If you do decide to treat them then please find out where they've been and what went on there so that you at least know the difference between an IED and RPG. War in Iraq is not the same as war in Afghanistan. Know the difference as much as you learn the difference between the branches of service, regular military and reserves. The more you know, the more you'll be able to help them heal and while they will tug at your heart, you won't regret a single day of it.

Bill would test competency of VA claims workers

Bill would test competency of VA claims workers
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jul 22, 2011 13:58:17 EDT
A House subcommittee postponed on Friday passage of a bill that would require an annual competency test for veterans’ claims processors after some lawmakers worried this would only add to the already considerable backlog of claims.

The bill, HR 2349, would require an annual assessment of the skills of employees and managers at the Veterans Affairs Department who are involved in processing benefits and pension claims.
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Bill would test competency of VA claims workers

Army deserter arrested in Orlando

Army deserter arrested in Orlando, accused of attempted murder

By Anika Myers Palm, Orlando Sentinel
2:05 p.m. EDT, July 21, 2011

A U.S. Army sergeant accused of both deserting the military and an attempted murder in Tennessee was arrested Thursday morning in Orlando.

Sgt. First Class Andres Betancourt, 32, of Clermont, is in custody and under guard in a Central Florida hospital, according to the Orange County jail. Officials at the jail have refused to identify his exact location, citing safety concerns.

Betancourt, a native of Cali, Colombia, deserted a unit based at Fort Campbell, Ky., according to an Army affidavit for his arrest.

He also is facing charges of aggravated assault and attempted second-degree murder in connection with an alleged attempt to run over his girlfriend in May 2010 in Clarksville, Tenn.
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Army deserter arrested in Orlando

Iraq vet gets 4 years for shooting at deputies

His brother, also served in Iraq and came home with the war inside of him. He committed suicide in 2003 when no one was talking about any of this.

Iraq vet gets 4 years for shooting at deputies
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jul 21, 2011 7:21:51 EDT
WINCHESTER, Ind. — A Marine veteran of the Iraq war has been sentenced to four years in prison for firing a shotgun at three sheriff's deputies in eastern Indiana.

A Randolph County judge accepted an agreement under which 27-year-old Andrew Ward of Farmland pleaded guilty to a felony charge of criminal recklessness and a misdemeanor battery charge.
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Iraq vet gets 4 years for shooting at deputies

In January, Andrew was getting help to heal.

PTSD on trial, Iraq veteran gets treatment

Iraq War veteran opens fire on police in Indiana
Associated Press
Posted on October 11, 2009 at 5:34 PM

LYNN, Ind. (AP) — An ex-Marine who served in Iraq has been charged with three counts of attempted murder of a police officer after firing on police.

Authorities say 26-year-old Andrew Ward of rural Lynn fired four shotgun blasts at three officers Friday night at a rural farm house. No officers were hurt.

After that weapon and another malfunctioned, officers used a stun gun to subdue Ward. He was being held without bond Sunday. He also faces preliminary charges of criminal recklessness, battery and intimidation.

Relatives say Ward was discharged from the Marines last month and is seeking disability veterans benefits for anxiety and post-traumatic-stress disorder. An older brother who also served in Iraq killed himself in 2003.

Lynn is about 65 miles east of Indianapolis.

So the headline reads he gets four years in prison but when other people have mental health problems, they don't go on trial and they don't go to jail. They get sent to get help because their troubled minds were not right at the time of the crime. Why was there only justice part way for this veteran?

After tour, Reservists' mental health may suffer

After tour, Reservists' mental health may suffer
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK | Thu Jul 21, 2011 4:03pm EDT
(Reuters Health) - Reservists returning from Iraq or Afghanistan may have more trouble adjusting to life at home than full-time soldiers do -- and that can take a toll on their mental well-being, a UK study finds.

Past studies in both the UK and U.S. have found that, compared with regular troops, Reservists and National Guard members have more mental health issues -- including more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- after returning home from Iraq or Afghanistan.

The latest findings, researchers say, suggest that difficulty readjusting to civilian life may account for some of that extra risk.

Of the nearly 5,000 UK troops they surveyed, Reservists were more likely to say they'd had problems getting back to their normal social activities in the weeks after coming home.

A majority -- 69 percent -- also felt like other people did not understand what they had gone through during deployment. And they were less likely than regular troops to feel supported by the military.
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After tour Reservists mental health may suffer

DOD supports military families? Not this one

You'd think that the DOD understands the struggles military families have by now, especially with all the reports we've been reading, but then read this and know when it came to needing support, this growing family didn't have any.

Metro Detroit Family Says Solider's Discharge Unfair
Updated: Thursday, 21 Jul 2011, 10:58 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 20 Jul 2011, 7:55 PM EDT

By AMY LANGE
WJBK | myFOXDetroit.com

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) - "How (are we) going to take care of our family because it affects us a lot," said Krystal Jones.

She is worried. Her husband is 22-year-old Darnell Jones -- a private serving with the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan. It has been his dream since he was 15 years old. He had just re-enlisted in the Army. They were supposed to move to Germany, but now he's being kicked out instead.

"They always promote family, and it's like they're going against everything they stand for," Krystal Jones said.

You see, Jones was home on leave in metro Detroit back in February when doctors told his pregnant wife she needed to have an emergency delivery. FOX 2 was shown a letter requesting that Jones be there. This was serious so the soldier asked for additional time at home, but was denied.

"My son made a decision to stay home until his son was born safely and with all intentions to return and they're calling it AWOL," said concerned mother Ericka Jones.
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Metro Detroit Family Says Solider's Discharge Unfair

Metro Detroit Family Says Solider's Discharge Unfair: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Medal of Honor Cpl. Larry Smedley Vietnam War Museum

This has to be one of the best kept secrets in Orlando. Too many people have no clue a museum like this is here for everyone, not just Vietnam Veterans or today's veterans, but for everyone.

Cpl. Larry E. Smedley National Vietnam War Museum
Orlando, Florida


3400 N.Tanner Rd.
Orlando, FL 32826

phone: 407-601-2864
e-mail: wminfo@nwmvocf.org
web: www.nwmvocf.org



Welcome to the Larry E. Smedley National Vietnam War Museum, a place full of knowledge, experiences, and memories. Here you will discover many unique and historical artifacts of the Vietnam Era. As you tour our facility, you will encounter exhibits that are on loan from government, as well as those that were both donated and built by members of the Vietnam and all Veterans of Central Florida.

The Larry E. Smedley National Vietnam War Museum includes the first dedicated monument to Fallen Vietnam War Veterans in the state of Florida, with 167 names of men and women from Orange County, Florida. Other static displays consists of a U.S. Navy Patrol Boat River (PBR), also known as “River Rat”, Douglas A-4B Skyhawk aircraft that is currently on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, Florida, and a Bell UH-1 (Huey) Dustoff helicopter. The existing museum center includes numerous artifacts from the Vietnam era; a room-size, to scale, firebase recreation that took approximately eleven years to complete; and recently remodeled an educational media/research room with enhanced audiovisual capabilities.

History

The National Vietnam War Museum, Inc., established in 2000, is a Central Florida non-profit museum, recently name was changed to Larry E. Smedley National Vietnam War Museum owned and operated by the Vietnam Veterans of Central Florida, Inc., also a non-profit organization in Central Florida, founded in 1982. Corporal Larry Eugene Smedley (March 4, 1949–December 21, 1967) was a United States Marine which his name has officially been added to museum title, see his bio to the right. This organization assists the servicemen and women of all wars and branches of military service. While mainly an organization of Vietnam War Era members, the VVCF welcomes all that served with the Armed Forces of the United States.

Artifacts Collections

Static Displays: UH1 (Huey) Helicopter, A-4 Skyhawk Jet Plane, Mk II PBR Navy Patrol Boat, USMC Humvee w/Stinger Missle pods, USA APC (Tracked), jeeps, trucks, trailers

Research Collections

Weapons, clothing, medals, certificates, letters, a lending library and reading room

Educational Programs

Traveling exhibitions, museum tours, vehicle transport to parades and functions, work study programs

Iraq veteran, Niagara Deputy loses both legs in car crash

Deputy loses both legs in crash of cruiser
Fellow officers saved his life

By Nancy A. Fischer
NEWS NIAGARA REPORTER

Updated: July 21, 2011, 6:38 AM

Niagara County Sheriff Deputy Allen Gerhardt, a decorated veteran who flew combat missions in Iraq, lost both of his legs when his cruiser crashed into a guardrail Monday night in Ransomville.

Gerhardt, 36, of Newfane, was listed in stable condition Wednesday after undergoing 5 1/2 hours of surgery Tuesday night.

The deputy’s family members say the quick action of officers who first arrived at the scene saved his life. As it turned out, both officers were members of the department’s emergency response team and both knew how to tie a tourniquet.

“I owe my husband’s life to them,” said Gerhardt’s wife, Tina. “They are 100 percent my heroes.”

“I can’t express our gratitude,” added his father, Steven A. “You can imagine how much blood you can lose with both your legs ripped off. If they hadn’t had tourniqueted him, I would have been making funeral arrangements right now.”
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Deputy loses both legs in crash of cruiser

Marine identified in fatal wreck

Marine identified in fatal wreck on Interstate 8 near Ogilby Road exit

By SILVIO J. PANTA
Imperial Valley Press Staff Writer
1:14 a.m. PDT, July 21, 2011

WINTERHAVEN — A coroner’s official identified Wednesday the U.S. Marine who died during a rollover crash on westbound Interstate 8 near the Ogilby Road exit.

Cpl. Sylverson Moise, 24, was pronounced dead Tuesday at the scene of the crash, said Imperial County Supervisory Deputy Coroner Sgt. Thomas Garcia.

The crash left an unidentified second Marine with what the California Highway Patrol described as major injuries that required a flight out to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, said Highway Patrol Officer Chris Boudreaux.
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Marine identified in fatal wreck

Reporter does hardest job, writes about suicide of Marine friend

Reflecting on the suicide of a Marine friend made in Afghanistan
JULY 14TH, 2011

DAN LAMOTHE

This is one of the hardest pieces of journalism that I’ve written in a long time.

As it appears online, the family members of a friend of mine — Sgt. Ian McConnell, 24 — are traveling today from Camp Pendleton, Calif., to his hometown in Woodbury, Minn. They’re preparing for his funeral at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, a U.S. cemetery in nearby Minneapolis.

It’s common that when a person dies with most of his or her life seemingly ahead of them, friends and family create online memorials. Ian is no different. His sister, Meg, posted one on Facebook over the weekend, and it has overflowed with stories of his compassion, selflessness and sense of humor as a human being and his honor, courage and commitment as a Marine.

A key detail hasn’t been shared publicly, though.

Ian killed himself.

With a self-inflicted gunshot wound, he ended his life on the 4th of July, shocking those who know him as an upbeat, kind young man who went out of his way to regularly pick up the spirits of those around him. He left no note explaining why, his family said.
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Reflecting on the suicide of a Marine

Five hour standoff with veteran ends with suicide

Ex-Military Man Dies After Five-Hour Standoff With Law Enforcement

Brian Hartsock, 21, held off law enforcement in a five-hour standoff that ended when he killed himself with a shotgun.

By Annie Lane

A young ex-military man who held officers at bay as he repeatedly fired a shotgun into the air at his home in North County killed himself with the weapon after a five hour standoff with law enforcement, authorities said.

Brian Hartsock, 21, barricaded himself in the house in the 700 block of Stanley Avenue in an unincorporated area just outside Escondido city limits shortly before 7:30 p.m. Monday, according to sheriff's officials.

When deputies arrived at the residence, they heard Hartsock talking on the telephone in a seemingly hostile tone of voice, then saw him walk onto a rear patio, carrying what appeared to be a shotgun, Sgt. Mark Haynesworth said.
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Ex Military Man Dies After Five-Hour Standoff

New Guide Helps Communities Aid Homeless Women Vets

New Guide Helps Communities Aid Homeless Women Vets

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 20, 2011 – The Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor has released an online publication that will help community service providers aid homeless women veterans, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said today.

Solis addressed an audience of several hundred at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Theater on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.

“Where we’re falling short in meeting the challenge of service women is when they come home,” Solis said.

“Too many women who once wore our uniform now go to sleep in our streets,” she added. “It breaks my heart to see that because many of them are sick [and] in need of help, and many are hungry. And it isn’t just them -- some of them have children.”

The publication, called Trauma-Informed Care for Women Veterans Experiencing Homelessness: A Guide for Service Providers, also known as the Trauma Guide, is the result of nationwide listening sessions with women veterans and service providers about the challenges of homelessness.

Women now make up 20 percent of new recruits, 14 percent of the military and 18 percent of the National Guard and Reserve.

Women represent only 8 percent of veterans, according to the guide, but they are at a four-times-greater risk of homelessness than their nonveteran male counterparts.
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New Guide Helps Communities Aid Homeless Women Vets

Iowa National Guards Soldier get briefings on PTSD coming home

Iowans At War: Soldiers Turn In Their Guns and Gear

Sonya Heitshusen
Reporter
9:29 p.m. CDT, July 20, 2011



A chartered plane lands in the stormy night at Volk Airfield in Wisconsin. It's carrying about 200 Soldiers from the Iowa National Guard's 113th Cavalry. The 16 hour flight is just the beginning of their journey back to their families.

After a personal greeting from some of the Guard's top brass, the Soldiers line up for buses, waiting to take them to their next stop, a garage. Here, they will part with one of their closest companions.

In addition to the physical screenings, all Soldiers receive a mental health evaluation. They must also attend briefings on how to identify Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"If you get home and you're having feelings of helplessness, hopelessness or worthlessness and you don't know where to go, you can always go to your local emergency room," says a Chaplain leading a debrief.

Lt. Col. Sutton notes the difference between PTSD and Post Traumatic Stress. She says every Soldier experiences stress. PTSD is diagnosed when a Soldier experience behavioral disorders like nightmares and hyper-vigilance for more than two months.

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Soldiers Turn In Their Guns and Gear

Marine Dakota Meyer to receive Medal of Honor

Obama to present Medal of Honor to Marine for valorous actions in Afghanistan

By Associated Press, Published: July 20

WASHINGTON — Pentagon officials say President Barack Obama will present the Medal of Honor to a Marine who braved enemy fire in Afghanistan in a bid to find and retrieve three missing Marines and a Navy corpsman.

Dakota Meyer, who left active duty in June 2010, will be the first living Marine in 41 years to receive the nation’s highest award for valor.
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Obama to present Medal of Honor to Marine

Remains of Korean War MIA identified after 60 years

Laflin soldier's remains identified 60 years after disappearance

BY BOB KALINOWSKI, STAFF WRITER
Published: July 20, 2011

More than 60 years after he was reported missing following a Korean War battle, the remains of an Army soldier from Laflin have been identified and will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., the military announced today.

The remains of Army Pfc. Peter Kubic, who went missing in South Korea at age 22, will be laid to rest in the revered cemetery Thursday, the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced.

On Feb. 12, 1951, Kubic was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea, when his division came under attack near Hoengsong. Following the battle, Kubic was reported missing in action, authorities said.

In the early 1990s, North Korean forces gave the United States 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of up to 400 U.S. servicemen, the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office said.

Scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA to match Kubic's remains with his sister, authorities said. Kubic’s military identification tags were included with the boxes of remains handed over to the Untied States, officials said.



Read more:
Laflin soldier remains identified

Pennsylvania National Guard:3 killed, 5 wounded in Afghanistan

Three Pennsylvania National Guard Soldiers Killed in Action
HARRISBURG, Pa., July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers were killed and five wounded Monday when an improvised explosive device detonated on their convoy outside of Bagram, Afghanistan.

Sgt. Edward Koehler, 47, of Lebanon, Sgt. Brian Mowery, 49, of Halifax, and Staff Sgt. Kenneth VanGiesen, 30, of Kane, were transporting supplies and equipment when they were killed in the same vehicle.

None of the five wounded soldiers sustained life-threatening injuries.

The soldiers were serving with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's, 131st Transportation Company, 213th Area Support Group, based in Williamstown and Philadelphia. The company is primarily in charge of convoys and convoy security.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these brave young men who have made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of this country," said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. "This tragic incident is a stark reminder of the dangers our troops face on a daily basis for the cause of freedom. We owe them our respect, our support and our gratitude."
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Three Pennsylvania National Guard Soldiers Killed

Disabled Army vet wins free wedding

Army vet wins free wedding at Musket Ridge Gulf Club

Wednesday - 7/20/2011, 2:29pm ET
FREDERICK COUNTY, Va. -- U.S. Army veteran Eddie Casenover expected to wed his fiancee, Christine Briggs, in a simple civil ceremony. But thanks to a Maryland contest, they will instead get a free wedding at one of the state's top ten golf courses.

Musket Ridge Gulf Club created the Love and Liberty Wedding Giveaway to recognize the bravery of military personnel and first responders on Sept. 11, a date that coincides with the club's 10th anniversary.
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Army vet wins free wedding

Abnormal biopsies showing up in Iraq-Afghan veterans with unexplained breathing problems

Breathing Problems Strike Soldiers Returning From Iraq
Exposure to some unknown toxin in the air could be the cause, experts say
Posted: July 20, 2011

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

All the biopsies were abnormal, and the researchers diagnosed 38 soldiers with constrictive bronchiolitis. Constrictive bronchiolitis is a rare non-reversible lung disease in which the small airways in the lungs are compressed and narrowed by scar tissue or inflammation.

WEDNESDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- Some U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering unexplained breathing problems that may be related to exposure to unknown toxins, a new study indicates.

"Respiratory disorders are emerging as a major consequence of service in southwest Asia," said study author Dr. Matthew S. King, an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn.

"In addition to our study, there have been studies showing increases in asthma, obstructive lung disease, allergic rhinitis and a general increase in reports of respiratory symptoms," he added.

The report was published in the July 21 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Breathing Problems Strike Soldiers Returning From Iraq

Colorado Springs Soldier Dies In Non-Combat Incident

Colorado Springs Soldier Dies In Non-Combat Incident
Sgt. Mark A. Cofield, 25, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died July 17 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
Posted: 10:35 PM Jul 19, 2011
Reporter: Alyssa Chin
Email Address: achin@kktv.com

The Department of Defense has confirmed the death of a local soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn.

Unanswered questions linger for a family who lost their soldier in Iraq. Sergeant Mark Cofield died July 17, 2011 from non-combat related injuries in Baghdad.


According to his family, this was a man who was promoted to Sergeant just 18 months after basic training. Coming from a military background, Sgt. Cofield’s father was in the Air Force for many years and recently re-enlisted into the military, this time into the Army. His brother is also a soldier who served two tours overseas. With almost her entire family a part of the military, his sister Sara Cofield had trouble believing the news of her brother’s death.

"Never thought it'd be (us), (we) always thought (we) were the lucky ones to have all three of them come back. So that was hard," Sara said.

Friends and family are left wondering what happened overseas to Sgt. Cofield, a man they watched grow up.
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Colorado Springs Soldier Dies In Non-Combat Incident

Losing Soldiers to Suicide

Losing Soldiers to Suicide

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- In just the last two years, there have been more men and women in uniform who have died on American soil than overseas; soldiers who have died by suicide.

And one local family says their story is a reflection of how there is much more that needs to be done.

"When a person enlist, that's when they become a hero, because they have pledged to honor their country in whatever way the military sees fit," said Connie Scott, who lost her son to suicide.

Her hero is her 20-year-old son Brian Williams, a Private First Class in the Army.

"He was always volunteering, he never complained, he was the first one to show up and the last one to go home and he was proud of what he did," said Scott.


But in 2007, while on leave from Iraq, Brian took his own life.

He is among thousands of men and women fighting on a lesser known battlefield. According to the Armed Services, in 2009 there were more deaths by suicide, 334, than in combat, 297. Just last year in 2010, there were 434 more suicide deaths.

"The tragedy of that for the family is unspeakable, and for the nation, it's unconscionable for us to allow that," said Congressman Tim Walz, who serves on Veterans Affairs Committee.

"Regardless of the cause of death, it's the service that we recognize, the service that we honor," said Gail Springborge, Survivors of Suicide (SOS) Program.

According to Veterans Administration, Post Traumatic Stress disorder is an illness many face when they return from war. "It's a condition that affects your judgement, there's not shame in having that anymore than there is shame in having diabetes, or cancer," said Scott.

"They're not signs of weakness, they're not poor character, these are honorable men and women who have worked hard and have been proud of their country," she added.

Removing an overdue stigma, that those who die by suicide do not deserve the same honor as those who die on in war zones.
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Losing Soldiers to Suicide

There was a report "PTSD linked to immune system in veterans" which is true but the article also pointed out this,

Patients with PTSD are six times more at risk of committing suicide and the annual loss of productivity in the United States is estimated to be approximately $3 billion."

When most people read about the excuses coming out of the DOD and the VA on why veterans commit suicide it usually has more to do with PTSD than anything else. While having a supportive family does help, in the end if they do not understand PTSD, it just doesn't do enough good. Instead of understanding the true value of involving families, the DOD comes out with something like this.

The Sensitive Soldier
The new training program offers soldiers a tool kit of psychological techniques based on years of research. They can be just as useful in facing the fear of battlefield combat as in living room flare-ups. Senior military officers say the chief stressor in our current wars—when spouses and parents can call their warriors on cellphones at any time, day or night—are the fights that lead to family breakdown. But at a much deeper level is the emotional fallout from the nonstop cycling of soldiers through several deployments.

This is the same tired old approach they've been using all along.

Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, "new director of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness. In 1991, as a flight surgeon during the first Gulf War, she was taken prisoner when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq. After three days of beatings and humiliations, this mother of a then-14-year-old daughter was released from Iraqi prisons. Her resilience and heroism as a prisoner of war convinced many in the Pentagon that women could indeed serve on the frontlines. And unlike former POWs, Cornum stayed in the military."

Maybe they figure whatever is inside of her worked then it can work for everyone but it is more likely they don't understand what "it" is.

Unless the DOD and the VA finally understand what PTSD is, why it attacks some but not others, they will never be able to get ahead of the suicides and suffering.

Inside look: Deadly threat for returning Valley soldiers
By: Steve Kuzj
PHOENIX - There’s an enemy killing off Valley soldiers, and it’s not the Taliban or terrorists -- it’s stress.

Hundreds of thousands of servicemen and women are being affected.

After years in the military, Jeremiah Pulaski, a 24-year-old soldier in the Army came back home from the war in Afghanistan. He may have left the fighting, but the fighting never left him.

Doctors and his family believe Pulaski suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, although he was never officially diagnosed with the condition.

Pulaski shared his depressed feelings on Facebook, writing: “Today has been very depressing.” In another he wrote, "I have to figure out how to undo 5 years of military training, so I can feel a soul again."

The overwhelming emotion and pain came to an end on a cold March night in Glendale. Pulaski got into a shootout with police and was killed.

Doctors say the incredible mental stresses from his time in combat may have pushed Pulaski to snap, leading to his death.

"The stress of being overseas, being in a warzone, and knowing that any day you could be killed, really has an impact on you," Phoenix veteran Brittany Hodge said.

PTSD causes extreme anxiety, depression, and anger, among other symptoms. The condition is an enemy that kills hundreds of military servicemen and women through suicide and other means every year.

"There was a fire that killed two little kids,” Hodge remembered. “I was a first responder, I was the first there. Dealing with watching these kids die, it was pretty intense."
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Deadly threat for returning Valley soldiers

This report says that "one out of five" soldiers develop PTSD but yesterday I posted another report that was closer to reality.

The numbers go up and will keep going up because it is not addressed as soon as the event is over. I trained in Crisis Intervention. One of the most important things in this training came in the form of knowing how to do a debriefing. Time matters. If a soldier is debriefed soon after the events like the above, they are able to take a closer look, step by step at everything that happened instead of allowing only the outcome to be frozen in their minds.

Even after some time has passed, when PTSD is mild, they can be taken back to everything that happened before the end of what has changed them and find peace with it. Most of the changes within them can be reversed.

The National Guards soldier I write about often experienced blaming himself for the deaths of a family and it ate away at him. The outcome was all he could remember. It haunted him. He started to believe he was evil, unworthy of being loved or even feeling it, so he pushed people away. We talked about what happened and he was able to remember all the details of that horrible day. He remembered how hard he tried to prevent it from happening. He made peace with the outcome and himself.

If they are serious about "preventing" PTSD then they better be able to deploy Crisis Intervention teams with the troops or they will never be able to do it. If they really want to heal these veterans before PTSD is so engrained within them, then they better get serious about true therapy that has been working for other humans. Treat them as if they still human and maybe, just maybe, they'll be able to really do something to help them.