Disabled veterans suffered needlessly for 14 years

Disabled veterans suffered needlessly for 14 years
by
Chaplain Kathie

The idea that medical records should be linked between the DOD and the VA seemed like a great one. After all, if they are wounded while in the service, it would only make sense to have it documented by the Department of Defense so that after they are discharged the VA would have their records a lot faster. That's what a lot of people think. The news reports have left the impression this is something new. Aside from the fact it has not been done, the backlog of claims rises and veterans wait months, even years, to have their claims approved, the systems are still not joined.

ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
DoD's Struggle to Streamline with VA
September 8, 2010

As you can see this video was uploaded September 2010. With Iraq and Afghanistan producing over 2 million more veterans, Vietnam veterans also sought claim approvals for Agent Orange and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as the rules to file these claims were changed.

What do they live off of when they can't work due to a true "service connected disability" that has not been approved due to backlog of claims and lack of records? They have heard every excuse used over and over again along with hearing that the problem is being addressed. What good does it do to set rules if no one is enforcing them?

This outrageous situation has been allowed to continue because as members of congress change what has been done is all forgotten about.

The need to connect the DOD and the VA was addressed 14 years ago before troops were sent into Afghanistan and Iraq, long before the rule changes to file claims for Vietnam Veterans and still they wait while all of this could have been avoided.

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 658-97
December 04, 1997

VA, DOD AGREE ON PRE-DISCHARGE EXAMS FOR DISABILITY CLAIMS
Under an agreement between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), active duty military personnel should have an easier process for and get faster decisions on their disability compensation claims as well as their eligibility for VA health care.

When fully implemented, the new national policy calls for separating or retiring servicemembers expecting to file a claim for VA disability compensation to undergo a single physical exam prior to discharge. The exam will meet VA requirements for claims determinations, as well as DoD needs for a separation medical examination. The new policy will be phased in as expeditiously as possible as details are worked out at the local level.

Previous procedures required two separate examinations several months apart. Until now, military personnel have first had to get a DoD physical exam prior to discharge from active duty. These personnel then usually have to undergo a second exam by VA after filing claims for disability compensation because of differences between VA and DoD protocols. The results of these examinations are a determining factor in eligibility for VA health care.

The new national policy was spearheaded by VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer and DoD Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Edward D. Martin following months of work on this and other matters of joint interest.

Kizer said, "This change will help us avoid unnecessary or redundant physical exams, improve the quality of the examination process, and improve service for separating servicemembers by eliminating lengthy delays in claims decisions and health-care eligibility determinations. We are hopeful the new policy also will enhance ongoing efforts to reduce the time it takes to process compensation claims and, further, it should reduce costs."

Martin said, "By reengineering the system to require only one physical, we are making life easier for our beneficiaries. This is a good news story."

In pilot tests of the dual-purpose exam at VA and Army facilities, claims processing time was reduced to less than one-third of national levels under the existing system. The current national average for processing an original compensation claim is 133 days.

Under the new policy, VA physicians generally will conduct the pre-discharge exams. In areas where VA physicians are not available, DoD physicians will conduct the exams according to VA protocols.

Imagine if this was done 14 years ago there wouldn't be so many veterans waiting for what they were in fact owed for their disabilities caused by service to this country.

Paul Sullivan of Veterans For Common Sense sent an email to let me know that back when this started, he was part of getting it done.

In 1997, while I was executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center in Washington, DC, I worked with Rep. Lane Evans to pass the Force Health Protection Act that mandated the records and exams.

After prompting by VCS, in 2009, one of President Obama's first actions for VA and DoD was to push forward with the single record.

In my VCS Congressional testimony since 2007, I repeatedly asked for the records and exams.

Then, surprise, in late 2010, DoD confirmed they are doing more of the exams. DoD did a test to see if exams and more doctors improved the health of the troops. And they did, according to a New York Times article published in October 2010.

Are VA and DoD going in the correct direction? Yes. Are they going fast enough? Hell no. Troops still need their pre- and post-deployment medical exams, and our troops and veterans need the electronic lifetime medical record so toxic exposures, exams, and prescriptions are all documented.

As you can see, while Paul has been a "go to guy" for reporters over the last few years, he's been working hard for veterans for a very, very long time.

Motorcycle Reportedly Stolen From Disabled Veteran in Phoenix

Motorcycle Reportedly Stolen From Disabled Veteran in Phoenix
Published August 22, 2011
FoxNews.com
A motorcycle belonging to a disabled veteran who recently returned to the United States after tours in the Middle East has reportedly been stolen.

Ben Davidson, a disabled veteran now living in Arizona, completed three combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. But Davidson's only mode of transportation was nowhere to be found when he returned to his north Phoenix apartment, MyFoxPhoenix.com reports.

“We both have to work and take his daughter to school, and somehow we’ve got to get everybody to where they need to be, and it's hard,” Davidson's wife, Wendy, told the website.

"I think it's cowardly, you know, that they would take a bike like that," Davidson said. "It hurts."
read more here

Granger soldier's Kandahar death deemed suicide

Granger soldier's Kandahar death deemed suicide

YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

GRANGER, Wash. — Investigators say the January death of an Army private from Granger who was serving in Kandahar, Afghanistan was due to a self-inflicted gunshot.

Pfc. Robert Near shot himself shortly after being notified he was being investigated in the theft of a government computer network file server, according to a report obtained by the Yakima Herald-Republic from the Army's Criminal Investigation Command.
read more here

Conference for families of wounded warriors

Conference for families of wounded warriors
by Staff Report

On September 14 and 15, the USO is hosting its 2nd Annual Wounded Warrior and Caregivers Conference in Fayetteville and Ft. Bragg.

At the event, experts, along with military personnel and couples will highlight several newsworthy topics, including major challenges facing our military, their caregivers and the children of deployed and wounded troops. Many of these challenges like suicide and depression are seen most when troops return home to their families. Troops will be withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming months and years, makes the Wounded Warrior and Caregivers Conference even timelier.

Wounded Warrior and Caregiver’s Conference is a two-day event focusing on the issues facing our nation’s wounded warriors and their caregivers (i.e., a spouse, significant other, mom or dad). The event will cover topics such as post-traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, parenting and children’s grief, and suicide prevention. The conference is free and open to caregivers and wounded warriors from Fort Bragg’s Warrior Transition Unit and Camp Lejeune’s Wounded Warrior Regiment.

The Caregiver’s Conference will be held on Sept. 14 at the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center in Fayetteville, and the Wounded Warriors Conference will be held the next day at the Bragg Club on Fort Bragg.

There will be more than 400 Caregivers in attendance, as well as Wounded Warriors, and featured presenters Sloan Gibson, USO President; John Pray, USO Senior Vice President Entertainment and Programs; Dr. Kim Norman, Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of California; Melissa Lofaso, Director of Suicide Prevention & Education, TAPS; Trevor Romain, the Trevor Romain Foundation and Game On Entertainment.

read more here

Judge sets bail after Palm Beach VA drug raid

Judge sets bail for woman arrested in drug raid at the VA Medical Center
By CYNTHIA ROLDAN AND CYNTHIA ROLDAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, Aug. 22, 2011

WEST PALM BEACH — Terri Guerra went before a judge Monday morning hoping to get some leniency.

But even after listening to the Jupiter woman's attorney try to explain why federal agents found hundreds of prescription pills and thousands of dollars in cash in her home, Circuit Judge Joseph Marx ordered Guerra held on $50,000 bail. And if she posts bond, he ordered that she be placed under house arrest.

Guerra, 53, also ordered not to travel and have no contact with controlled substances, is scheduled to return to court for a status hearing on Sept. 9.

Last Thursday, she was among 17 people arrested during a raid at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Riviera Beach. Unlike the rest, however, Guerra's bond hearing was postponed at the request of her attorney, Joseph R. Atterbury.

Waiting to go before Marx at the downtown courthouse on Monday allowed time for Atterbury to bring in a character witness, the pastor of her church. Meanwhile, Assistant state Attorney Phil Wiseberg brought in an agent of the Office of Inspector General at the VA and an agent of the Multi-Agency Diversion Task Force.

Wiseberg argued that Guerra, who faces conspiracy to distribute oxycodone charges, was well aware of her son's illegal activities. Federal authorities arrested Larry J. Dorsey, 32, in July on the same charge as his mother.
read more here

Suicide casts long shadow after decade of war

Suicide casts long shadow after decade of war
Ninemsn
A soldier kills himself and his wife. Another war veteran hangs himself in despair. Yet a third puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger outside a gas station in a confrontation with Texas lawmen.

Suicides by veterans like these once would have left people reeling in this military community. But troops and their families here these days call it the "new normal" for a US Army that's spent a decade at war.

Melissa Dixon sees the stress in the tattoos she draws on soldiers back from combat.

"Some of them have issues with their wives or their loved ones, where they're fighting, or one will have a friend commit suicide," she said.

There's no place like Fort Hood in the Army. A post that sent soldiers from two divisions to Iraq three times since the invasion, it's logged more suicides since 2003 than any other — 107.

Soldiers at big posts like Fort Hood that have played key roles in deployments are at the greatest risk of killing themselves.

The post here in Killeen, northwest of Texas' state capital, Austin, set an Army record last year with 22 suicides.
read more here

Houston VA accused of religious discrimination

Houston VA accused of religious discrimination
By Juan A. Lozano - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Aug 22, 2011 15:27:52 EDT
HOUSTON — A federal judge on Monday asked attorneys for several veterans groups and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to work toward settling a lawsuit accusing Houston VA officials of religious discrimination.

Three local veterans groups have accused VA officials at the Houston National Cemetery of banning such religious words as “God” and censoring their prayers at soldiers’ funerals.

The lawsuit filed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4, the American Legion Post 586 and the National Memorial Ladies says VA officials barred prayer and religious speech in burials at the Houston cemetery unless families submit a specific prayer or message in writing to the cemetery’s director. The lawsuit also accuses VA officials of not allowing them to use religious words such as “God” or “Jesus.”

During a hearing on the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes called on both sides to find a solution.

read more here

Defense attorneys blame PTSD for infant's beating death

Defense attorneys blame PTSD for infant's beating death

RALEIGH, N.C. — An Iraq war veteran facing a possible death sentence for the death of his 10-month-old stepdaughter was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder that was being self-medicated with alcohol and prescription painkillers when he beat her to death inside their Raleigh home nearly two years ago, his defense attorney told jurors Monday.

Attorney Thomas Manning said that Cheyenne Emery Yarley's death was a "perfect storm" of substance abuse and PTSD that "blew up" as Joshua Andrew Stepp tried to quiet and comfort the crying child.

"This attack was a singularity in Josh Stepp's existence. That's what the evidence will show," Manning said. "Never before had it happened – had anything happened."
read more here

DOD manual did no good when not carried out

I stumbled onto a manual the DOD issued on addressing PTSD and Combat Operational Stress. Again, as mentioned over and over again, numbers do not lie. As the number of suicides and attempted suicides goes up, the DOD still clings onto a program that has proven to be a failure. I used to think that it was just because the troops hear the beginning of the training and walk away believing if they end up with PTSD, it is their fault for not getting their minds tough enough to handle it. After reading this manual, it appears there are a lot more reasons for this failing than just how the message is delivered. The problem is, what they got right was not delivered as planned.

It is still stunning that the program that began in 2003 is still seen as the answer when all other efforts have been built off of the Battlemind program. If I said that Battlemind had nothing to offer it would be like saying "more people die every year than ever before" which is true, however leaving out the important point of there are more people living on this planet than ever before. Battlemind had some good points. Peer-to-peer in the form of Battle Buddies was a good idea but it was not implemented correctly in every unit. The need to have debriefing done after action was also a good idea, but it was not done correctly in every unit after ever event. The need to have more mental health teams respond was not done the way it needed to be done and teams would often have to travel many miles to get from one unit to another.

The need for spiritual recovery was another good point because PTSD often causes a spiritual crisis. When addressed properly, spiritual healing is vital in the recovery of a soldier after they have seen more things than they were able to "get over" and move on from. People in general survive a traumatic event one of two ways. Either they believe God saved them for a reason or God abandoned them.

This manual from the DOD addresses the need for spiritual healing within and all the other factors.

March 2009
COMBAT AND OPERATIONAL STRESS CONTROL MANUAL FOR LEADERS AND SOLDIERS
UNIT MINISTRY TEAM SUPPORT
1-37. This section addresses the general role of the unit ministry team (UMT) in the commander’s program of COSC and in COSR ministry. The UMT is assigned to a command or designated by higher headquarters to be responsible for the direct UMT support to the command. The UMT provides professional ministry support to leaders in fulfilling their combat and operational stress identification and intervention responsibilities. The UMT can also assist in training leaders to recognize combat stress symptoms.

1-38. The unit is organic to Army units at all echelons from battalion and above. The UMT’s primary mission is to provide for the personal delivery of religious support to Soldiers and other authorized personnel. Because the UMT is an integral part of the unit, it is a resource immediately available to the commander to assist with COSC.

1-39. The UMT consists of at least one chaplain and one chaplain’s assistant. The UMT also provides area religious support in their unit’s area of operations for assigned or attached units without organic religious support assets.

1-40. During combat operations, the UMT often collocates with the battalion aid station in order to provide religious support to casualties and to be with Soldiers who are most likely to experience COSR. Using their professional training, skills, knowledge, and relationship with the Soldiers, chaplains provide religious and spiritual support focusing on the prevention of mild and severe COSR. Chaplains also provide religious support to COSR casualties as an important part of the replenishment process.

1-41. In addition to being a spiritual/religious mentor for Soldiers, chaplains are trained in the TEM process and are able to assist the TEM facilitator. Chaplains are effective TEM team members as well as trainers of small-unit leaders (such as platoon leaders, noncommissioned officers [NCOs], senior combat medics, and health care specialists) in TEM team member skills and stress management techniques. (See FM 1-05, for further information on the role and functions of the UMT.)

1-42. The UMT can assist commanders in the identification of Soldiers experiencing COSR.

Chaplains work closely with the unit medical personnel and are trained to recognize the signs of combat and operational stress and provide religious support to Soldiers experiencing COSR.

Chaplains assess the Soldier’s religious needs and then provide the appropriate religious support. Chaplains are also trained to evaluate Soldiers experiencing COSR for possible referral to medical, BH, or COSC unit personnel. When advising commanders on COSR among Soldiers, chaplains must ensure that they do not violate Soldier’s rights to privileged communications.

1-43. The UMT can help Soldiers regain their emotional, psychological, and spiritual strength. The chaplain’s ability to relate religious and spiritual aspects of life to the Soldier’s situation is an essential element of the replenishment process. Chaplains contribute to replenishment by ensuring the following types of religious support:

Providing worship services, sacraments, rites, and ordinances.

Providing memorial services and/or ceremonies honoring the dead.

Assisting with the integration of personnel replacements.

Providing personal counseling to assist Soldiers dealing with the grief process.

Requesting religious resources as required for reinforcing the Soldier’s sense of hope.

Supporting TEM by providing opportunities for Soldiers to talk about their combat experiences and to facilitate integration of the combat experience into their lives.

Providing leadership training and supervision of TEM.

Reconnecting the Soldier to the foundational principles of his personal faith.

Assisting in resolving spiritual, moral, and ethical dilemmas presented by the circumstances of war.

This all sounds great but the problem is, there are not enough Chaplains to go around.

Military copes with shortage of chaplains
Posted 2/5/2008
By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY
Army Maj. Paul Hurley journeyed four days by convoy, aircraft and helicopter to reach the remote outpost in Iraq near the Syrian border where 50 U.S. soldiers hunkered down in November 2006. He was the first Roman Catholic priest to visit in six months.
"It was a very profound experience (to) visit soldiers who are facing their mortality every day," Hurley recalls. He celebrated Mass and heard confession from a dozen Catholic soldiers before leading Thanksgiving prayers for the base.

Hurley belongs to a dwindling flock of chaplains whose mission to support soldiers and their families has been strained by the demands of war and a shortage in their ranks. The Navy and Air Force usually recruit enough religious leaders, but the Army, which expects chaplains to be able to do everything soldiers do except carry a weapon and now relies heavily on reserve units, is hurting for spiritual aid.

Chaplains are trained to help servicemembers of all religious faiths — or none. Among denominations, though, Roman Catholic chaplains are the most scarce, a reflection of a nationwide priest shortage. There are no imams to minister to a growing number of Muslims in the Army Guard and Reserve. The California and New York National Guard, which have a larger proportion of Jewish soldiers than other states, could use more rabbis, says Army Guard Maj. Timothy Baer, who recruits chaplains.

Lt. Col. Ran Dolinger of the Army Chief of Chaplains Office says every battalion that deploys to Iraq or Afghanistan has a chaplain. To fill those slots, more than 75 chaplains have been "volun-told" to report for multiple deployments, he says.

The Army also has turned for chaplains to the Reserve and National Guard, which have the biggest shortfalls of spiritual personnel. Dolinger says the Army Reserves are short more than 100 chaplains of an authorized 516. The Guard needs nearly 250 more chaplains to fill its 722 slots.
read more here

By 2009, there was still a shortage

Guard has chaplain shortage
Posted: September 26, 2009

By Phil Anderson
When Kansas National Guard soldiers are deployed to hot spots in Iraq and Afghanistan, they don't walk alone into the hostile areas.

Military chaplains are assigned to units, ensuring the troops' spiritual needs are met. Chaplains are available for religious services, Bible study and individual counseling. In some cases, they go to the front lines to conduct services.

Finding a sufficient number of chaplains has become increasingly difficult in recent years, as evidenced by the high vacancy in available slots. At present, the Kansas Army National Guard has only six of 15 chaplain slots filled, meaning there is a 60 percent vacancy rate. Kansas Army National Guard officials say the vacancy rate is representative of other Guard units across the country.
read more here

This is from the Army site

Chaplains Corps
Since July 29, 1775, approximately 25,000 Army Chaplains have served as religious and spiritual leaders for 25 million Soldiers and their Families. From military installations to deployed combat units and from service schools to military hospitals, Army Chaplains and Chaplain Assistants have performed their ministries in the most religiously diverse organization in the world. Always present with their Soldiers in war and in peace, Army Chaplains have served in more than 270 major wars and combat engagements. Nearly 300 Army Chaplains have laid down their lives in battle. Six have been awarded the Medal of Honor. Their love of God, Country and the American Soldier has been a beacon of light and a message of hope for all those who have served our nation. Currently, over 2,900 Chaplains are serving the Total Army representing over 130 different religious organizations. Over 800 Chaplains and Chaplain assistants are currently mobilized or deployed in support of contingency operations throughout the world.

What is really amazing is that this year it was reported that the Air Force is actually cutting the number of Chaplains.

Troops: Loss will be felt when Air Force cuts chaplain corps by 15 percent

By JENNIFER H. SVAN
Stars and Stripes
Published: May 17, 2010

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The Air Force is reducing its number of chaplains at a time when airmen and family members are seeking their counsel more than ever.

As of this spring, 544 chaplains were on active duty, but as many as 79 positions will be trimmed over the next two years, Air Force officials said.

The reduction of up to 15 percent in the chaplain corps stems from efforts to make certain that the most crucial positions in the Air Force — such as manned and unmanned aircraft pilots — are filled, and ensure that no field has more than the mandated number of personnel, officials said

Personnel cuts phased in about four years ago will leave the Air Force with 465 funded chaplain positions by the end of fiscal 2011. How close the Air Force gets to that goal depends on how many chaplains opt for voluntary separation and how many are given early retirement and involuntary separation, said Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ann Stefanek.

Marriage and family issues remain the most-cited reason airmen and family members sought a chaplain’s counsel, but from 2007 to 2009, combat-stress counseling cases jumped 350 percent, by far the largest increase, according to the Air Force.

The spike could be a result of more airmen deploying and for longer stretches, chaplains say. Across the Air Force, most 90-day deployments have moved to 120 days, and critical career fields — including the chaplain corps — have moved to 179- and 365-day deployments, according to Air Force officials.

Chaplain counseling sessions have increased 37 percent in recent years, from 130,329 in 2007 to 179,944 in 2009, according to the Air Force chaplain corps office.

read more here

As you can see when there was more and more demand on Chaplains to address combat traumas, there were less and less Chaplains to go around. How did they expect Battlemind to work when everything they said needed to happen didn't?

We saw the numbers go up and many walked away from their "training" believing if they ended up with PTSD it was their fault. Many more "stuffed" it instead of addressing what was happening to them.

What is worse about all of this is there are too many coming home to nothing. No support from their own communities and churches. We can wonder all we want about what else can be done but until we take a look as what was done and failed, we won't stop repeating the same mistakes.

70,000 federal job seekers' applications were lost

Federal job seekers' applications lost when hiring system goes down
By STEPHEN LOSEY | Last Updated:August 16, 2011

About 70,000 federal job seekers' applications were lost when the government's major online hiring system went down for several days last week.

The Office of Personnel Management's USA Staffing system — which posts vacancy announcements on USAJobs.gov and accepts, rates and ranks job applications — was unexpectedly taken down Aug. 9, according to an Aug. 12 listserv notice from the Health and Human Services Department. OPM brought it back online two days later, but had to revert to a backup version stored on Aug. 7, HHS said. This meant that job applications submitted between late afternoon Aug. 7 to midday Aug. 9 were lost.
read more here

The Air Force is cutting jobs,,,,

AF is offering buyouts and early outs, freezing hiring
An uncertain budget outlook is driving the Air Force to cut about 4,000 civilian positions shortly after the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1. Another 2,000 summer hires will go off the books Sept. 30.
read more here

The Army is cutting jobs

The Army plans to cut 8,741 civilian jobs by October 2012.

Army Secretary John McHugh on July 11 ordered leaders throughout the Army to immediately start cutting their staffing to help meet former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' mandated efficiency initiatives. The Army is losing $834 million in operations and maintenance funding as part of those cuts.
read more here

But it is all about to get a lot worse.


GOP plan would slash 200,000 to 300,000 federal jobs

Fort Campbell Soldier Halts Serial Robbers

Fort Campbell Soldier Halts Serial Robbers
August 22, 2011
Army News Service|by Glen Paddie
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky., -- Something as simple as a Soldier cashing a check at a certain bank on a particular day at just the right time helped stop serial robbers causing some Clarksville businesses a lot of grief.

Private 1st Class Preston Clayton, Golf Company, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, decided that he and his buddy, Spc. Justin Armstrong, Golf Company, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, wanted to meet their wives for lunch Aug. 9.

So, the two Soldiers agreed to meet their better halves at U.S. Bank on Fort Campbell Boulevard in order for Clayton to cash a check before their meal.
read more here

VA appeals ruling on behalf of veterans?

You'd think that since the VA is supposed to be about taking care of veterans, they'd be all too willing to get it right, but in this case, they are fighting against being forced to.

VCS / VUFT Lawsuit in New York Times
Written by NYTimes
Sunday, 21 August 2011 22:46

More Excuses and Delays From the V.A.
August 21, 2011 (New York Times Editorial Board) - It has been more than three months since a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit accused the Department of Veterans Affairs of “unchecked incompetence” and unconscionable delays in caring for veterans with mental health problems.

Instead of working with the plaintiffs to address the court’s concerns, the V.A. is appealing the ruling.

The 2-to-1 decision in a lawsuit brought by two nonprofit groups, Veterans United for Truth and Veterans for Common Sense, found that the V.A. bureaucracy was so extremely slow and unresponsive that veterans were being denied their constitutional right to mental health care and to the timely adjudication of disability claims. It cited as evidence the high veteran suicide rate — an estimated 18 a day among the nation’s 25 million veterans, and four to five a day among those being served by the V.A.

The judges pointedly noted that the agency had no suicide prevention officers at any of its outpatient clinics and that 70 percent of its health facilities had no systems to track potentially suicidal patients. The court agreed with the plaintiffs that “systemwide” changes were needed at the V.A., especially given the rising flood of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It ordered the case back to the district court so a plan could be devised.
read more here

Just amazing! If you take anything away from this article, let it be these two facts.

"the agency had no suicide prevention officers at any of its outpatient clinics"

"70 percent of its health facilities had no systems to track potentially suicidal patients"

Marine stars in documentary about recovery after losing legs

Marine from Loudoun County stars in documentary about recovery

By Susan Svrluga, Published: August 21

Rob Jones and his friend Ivan Kander grew up in western Loudoun County making movies together. Kander shot comedies, action films, school projects — all kinds of stories — with a clunky old camcorder, always starring Jones.

“I always wanted to be the person telling the story,” Kander said. “Rob always wanted to be the person in the story.”

Jones joined the Marine Corps and became a combat engineer. Last summer, while searching for IEDs in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan, he triggered an explosion that blew off most of his two legs.

Within days, back at the National Naval Medical Center, when Jones was still freaking out on morphine, having more surgeries than he could count, wracked by phantom pain in the limbs that were no longer there and unable to sleep because of nightmares and flashbacks, he and Kander decided to make another movie. Starring Rob Jones, of course.
read more here

Fort Stewart Soldier stabbed by another for defending woman

Stewart soldier stabbed by fellow soldier after defending woman from attack
Posted: August 21, 2011

By Constance Cooper
A Fort Stewart soldier is in stable condition at Memorial University Medical Center after being stabbed multiple times by another soldier Sunday morning, according to Long County sheriff's office Lt. Tom Sollosi, who is investigating the case.

The stabbing happened when the victim tried to stop another soldier from assaulting a woman, Sollosi said.

The sheriff’s office wasn’t releasing the name of the victim or his alleged attacker Sunday night.

The victim’s family still is being notified, Sollosi said. And his alleged attacker, who is being held on suicide watch at the Liberty County jail, hasn’t been formally charged with a crime yet.

Sollosi said that’s why they haven’t released his name.
read more here

Massachusetts Police about to repeat DOD failure

Massachusetts Police about to repeat DOD failure
by
Chaplain Kathie

If they make the mistake of copying what the military is doing, then the police department is about to make it a lot worse for their officers coming back from combat.

Leo F. Polizoti of Worcester, a law enforcement psychologist for 34 years, said some police departments give returning veterans a two-to-four-week transition period when they return to work to gradually reacclimate to the department and police work. He recently developed a critical incident resilience training program for police departments that is similar to one the Army is working on. The program helps officers learn how to better handle critical stress incidents before they go to combat as well as traumatic experiences on the job such as deadly car accidents.


“If we can help them to develop more resilience before going over there, they'll have more resiliency and less psychological problems with their return,” he said.

I am not sure who started this claim that "resiliency" training works but I do know all the evidence is in and it is a monstrous failure. Numbers don't lie. The number of suicides in the military has gone up since they began to take this approach. For July alone, the Army lost 32 to suicide, Marines lost 4 but 17 more attempted it.

This approach began in 2003.

AMEDD To Introduce Battlemind Video

September 02, 2008
Army News Service
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- The Army Medical Department Center and School, co-developers of Battlemind training, will release a new Battlemind training video next year to help foster resiliency in deploying Soldiers.

Battlemind training, or "Armor for the Mind," is the U.S. Army's psychological resiliency-building program. It was first developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C., as a result of compiled data from a land-combat study.

The mental-health training that came about from this study builds on Soldiers' proven strengths, and consists of two critical components: self-confidence and mental toughness. It teaches Soldiers how to apply those critical components when they leave for deployment and how to use those same survival skills when they transition back home.

The program focuses on a Soldier's inner strength to face fear and adversity in combat and other military deployments with courage. The training is divided into three sections: Deployment Cycle, Life Cycle and Soldier Support, and is given at pivotal points in a Soldier's career. The training is mandatory and is currently being facilitated by Army chaplains who are taught how to conduct the training at the AMEDDC&S.

The new movie-like training video, developed with AMEDD Television, was created to cover the deployment portion of Battlemind training.

"What we've learned is that education directed toward younger Soldiers and young adults has to be more plug-n-play," said Mike Hagan, chief of the Battlemind Training Office at the AMEDDC&S. "Therefore, what we wanted to do was to create something that was entertaining and realistic and also that gets the messages across in sound bites, because this is how they (young Soldiers) receive messages, and that was my goal for doing this production."

The training, to be given prior to deployment, will cover the seven deployment phases and promote resilience in dealing with the psychological impacts that Soldiers could face during combat and other military deployments.

The way Battlemind training is taught has been modified several times since its inception in 2003.
read more here

But the DOD changed the name as if the title of the program was the problem. In tiny print on the right side of the banner you see "formerly Battlemind" in other words, the same thing.

One more factor in all of this is the VA's Suicide Prevention Hotline. If Battlemind worked when it began in 2003, would they need to have one in 2007?

July 30, 2007
VA’s Suicide Hot Line Begins Operations
Nicholson: “Help a Phone Call Away”

WASHINGTON – To ensure veterans with emotional crises have round-the-clock access to trained professionals, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun operation of a national suicide prevention hot line for veterans.

“Veterans need to know these VA professionals are literally a phone call away,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. “All service members who experience the stresses of combat can have wounds on their minds as well as their bodies. Veterans should see mental health services as another benefit they have earned, which the men and women of VA are honored to provide.”

The toll-free hot line number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). VA’s hot line will be staffed by mental health professionals in Canandaigua, N.Y. They will take toll-free calls from across the country and work closely with local VA mental health providers to help callers.

To operate the national hot line, VA is partnering with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

“The hot line will put veterans in touch – any time of the day or night, any day of the week, from anywhere in the country – with trained, caring professionals who can help,” added Nicholson. “This is another example of the VA’s commitment to provide world-class health care for our nation’s veterans, especially combat veterans newly returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The suicide hot line is among several enhancements to mental health care that Nicholson has announced this year. In mid July, the Department’s top mental health professionals convened in the Washington, D.C., area to review the services provided to veterans of the Global War on Terror.

VA is the largest provider of mental health care in the nation. This year, the Department will spent about $3 billion for mental health. More than 9,000 mental health professionals, backed up by primary care physicians and other health professionals in every VA medical center and outpatient clinic, provide mental health care to about 1 million veterans each year.

VA Suicide Hotline has received almost 225,000 calls was a headline on this blog for February 2010. One more indication that Battlemind did not work. Had it worked, there wouldn't be that many contemplating suicide. If either program was really successful, the numbers would have gone down. What no one is talking about is the fact that many veterans, survivors of combat, found it so impossible to live after combat they felt the need to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline in the first place. While they have managed to save a lot of lives and claim rescues in the thousands, it is further proof that resiliency training has been a failure. Reporter James Dao of The New York Times reported "The hot line has chalked up 10,000 rescues since 2007." Taking Calls From Veterans on the Brink July 30, 2010.

Again, numbers don't lie.

Every year we're reading the numbers go up, attempted suicides go up and the calls pouring into the Suicide Prevention Hotline go up. If Battlemind, no matter what title they put on the program, worked, then it would have been proven in the numbers. So why do they continue to support a failed approach like this? Eight years? How many more years of data do they need to wake up and finally understand that in the battle to save their lives they are unarmed?

Does anyone do any research anymore before they consider replicating a failed program? How could any police department even consider using this to save the lives of their own people?

War's trauma comes home
By Elaine Thompson TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

When one of his police officers returned from two tours of duty in Iraq, Rowley Police Chief Robert R. Barker could tell he just wasn't the same.

Chief Barker said 30-year-old Thomas Lantych had been an active reserve police officer who had shown a lot of promise during the year before he was deployed. But a few months after he returned, authorities began to notice erratic behavior by the officer, who was also a full-time firefighter in Beverly.

A month after being placed on medical leave to get counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, Mr. Lantych's vehicle struck and killed a motorist. Police said he seemed emotionless at the scene and investigators subsequently determined that the crash had been overwhelmingly avoidable. Mr. Lantych was convicted of vehicular homicide earlier this year and is now serving a year in jail.

“He wasn't grounded like he was before he left. It seemed like he was hyperemotional. He seemed, I guess, I would classify it as euphoric,” Chief Barker said in a recent telephone interview.

A. Wayne Sampson, executive director of the Grafton-based Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said law enforcement leaders are concerned about police officers who resume their duties or join the profession after serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's of greater concern for law enforcement than other professions, he said, because police work can trigger flashbacks of combat experiences. A loud noise or sight of a handgun, for example, could cause an officer to become hypervigilant — as if he's in combat — resulting in a wide range of reactions from hiding behind his vehicle to crying.
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Battlemind did not work then and it will not work now. They don't use slingshots anymore to defeat a gigantic enemy but in this case, the stone is just a pebble.

What works? They were already doing it when they have Crisis Intervention Teams responding right after a traumatic event. In this case, most of the time, it is many months after the traumatic events in combat. Ideally the sooner the better but at least it can be done as soon as possible. Let them train veterans in Crisis Intervention so that the newer combat veterans have someone to talk to who can help them heal and offer emotional support.

A hero in Iraq faces eviction in Tustin

Part 1: A hero in Iraq faces eviction in Tustin
10 Years of War: A decade of war has created unique challenges for our newest veterans. And other Americans can't support themselves, much less the troops.

By TOM BERG / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
It's been a humiliating morning for James Hassell.
Sorry, he was told at the first place he visited. Now he's at Veterans First, in Santa Ana.

If he were a homeless vet, they could find him a bed. If he were a hungry vet, they could find him a meal.

But Hassell, 28, is just an average veteran, with a wife and a 2-year-old daughter, running low on cash.

Facing eviction.

"All I want to do is live the American dream that I fought so hard to protect," says the veteran of two Iraq deployments.

A loan – that's all he needs.

Not long ago, Hassell saved another Marine's life. Newsweek Magazine ran a photo of his daring rescue during the Battle of Najaf. Hassell earned a medal for valor.

After the ceremony, 1st Sgt. Justin LeHew told Hassell:
Don't let this be the greatest thing you've ever done.

Those words echo in Hassell's head as he repeats his story to Deanne Tate, director of Veterans First.

In another month, he tells her, he'll begin college. His GI Bill will kick in. All he needs is two months' rent.

Tate listens politely.

Then she starts to cry.
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Motorcyclists visit families of fallen soldiers

'It's so amazing': Motorcyclists visit families of fallen soldiers
By Kristina Nelson KVAL News
Published: Aug 20, 2011

COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. - He was a father, a brother and a son. For Geneva Hollis, the loss of her son Samuel Huxford in April is still very fresh.

"People used to tease him, he was a momma's boy because he just loved me so much," said Hollis.

Huxton, an Army paratrooper, died just two days short of his 23rd birthday. He suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury.

"Sometimes I feel really alone," said Hollis. "This shows me I'm not."

On Saturday, hundreds of motorcyclists from all over the state and the country visited Huxford's family and others who have lost loved ones to the war.

It's part of the 'Tribute to Fallen Soldiers Ride.' Riders take a two day trip up Interstate 5, visiting seven families from Roseburg to Keizer.
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Omaha VA hospital's fate up in air

VA hospital's fate up in air
By Henry J. Cordes
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Will a plan to spend almost $600 million on a new hospital for veterans in Omaha survive the new era of austerity that seems to be taking hold in Washington?

It's too early to tell, Veterans Administration Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said Friday in Omaha.

But he also said support for the needs of veterans historically has been strong and bipartisan in the nation's capital.

"That won't change,'' he predicted. And that would seem to bode well for the facility the former Army general described as "much-needed.''

Omaha VA officials currently are in the midst of drawing up plans for a new $560 million hospital that would serve more than 167,000 veterans across Nebraska, western Iowa and parts of Kansas and Missouri. It would replace the aging 60-year-old facility near 42nd and Woolworth Streets, and is tentatively set for completion by 2018.

Shinseki, a twice-wounded Vietnam veteran appointed by President Barack Obama in late 2008, was in Omaha as part of a national tour of VA facilities. Before speaking with reporters, he held a round table with rural veterans to hear about their health care concerns and ideas.

One thing Shinseki learned in the discussion is that the department's push to increase use of "telemedicine'' faces a barrier in the lack of broadband service in many parts of the region.
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AMERICA OWES VETERANS MORE THAN GRATITUDE

AMERICA OWES VETERANS MORE THAN GRATITUDE

Nebraska's Senator Ben Nelson joined a rural veterans' roundtable with Veterans Administration Secretary Eric Shinseki in Omaha, toured the Omaha VA hospital slated for major overhaul and announced he has cosponsored two bills to improve training, education and job counseling for veterans, particularly veterans from rural areas such as Nebraska.

Nelson discussed his legislation during the roundtable led by Shinseki that drew Nebraska area veterans, regional Veterans Administration and Agriculture Department officials, and others. The meeting fostered a discussion about veterans' health care, the need for specialty care, training, tele-medicine, education and job opportunities for rural veterans.

"Nebraskans believe, as I do, that we need to be as good at taking care of our veterans as we are at creating them," said Senator Nelson. "This is especially true considering the many veterans who have served, or will have served, in Iraq or Afghanistan. These men and women, including those who come from rural areas of our states, are the backbone of our national security. They have sacrificed much to preserve our freedoms."

"We owe them more than a debt of gratitude. We shouldn't just shake their hand for a job well done on the battlefield and send them out the door alone to look for a job back home."
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Missing Timpson girl found safe; police arrest Army soldier

Missing Timpson girl found safe; police arrest Army soldier
Posted: Aug 19, 2011 10:40 AM
Updated: Aug 20, 2011 12:15 AM
By Donna McCollum

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KTRE) -
A 14-year-old Timpson girl who was reported missing from a local Amber Alert system has been found safe, according to League City authorities.

The Army soldier that Wichita Falls Police found with her, James Dean Martin, 21, has been booked into the Wichita County Jail on a charge of harboring a runaway and enticing a child. Officials said Martin will be arraigned Saturday morning before a Wichita County judge.

According to a League City press release, a tip was called in to the Wichita Falls Police around 8:45 a.m. Friday, advising them that the car described in the Amber Alert was parked on the side of the road. Police located the car and found Andrea Fox and James Dean Martin, 20, asleep inside the vehicle.

Her mother, Shay Schoening, said she was on the way to see Fox.

Wichita Falls Police have questioned Fox and Martin was booked into the jail Friday evening, according to jail records.

According to Snyder, a tipster saw the billboard about 1.5 miles before he saw the vehicle.

"We appreciate citizens' focus on our signs and it just shows how well this system works," Snyder said.

Fox was last seen about 1 a.m. Tuesday in League City, which is in Galveston County, near Houston.

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Fort Carson Soldier Sought in Amber Alert