A Portland veteran reunites with family after three decades
Published: Saturday, September 03, 2011
By Kelly House, The Oregonian
CORNING, N.Y. -- At his lowest point, filthy and infirm with a catheter duct-taped to his leg, Ed Saxbury yearned to see his family.
It was a daily wish, but shame and fear of rejection kept him from calling home for 28 years.
Ed, a short, stocky, bespectacled man with a sallow complexion and a pronounced scar on his forehead, had been a small-time crook and, in his own words, "a deadbeat dad." He lived under the Morrison Bridge and near the South Waterfront marina for a decade, fueling his alcoholism by raiding trash bins outside Portland breweries.
"I wanted to contact home so bad, I just ..." Ed's voice trails off as painful memories emerge. He shudders. Tears fill his eyes as he removes his glasses, nervously tapping them against a footstool in his Southeast Portland home. "I was too embarrassed. What am I going to say?"
read more here
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Unusual Non-Profit To Help Other Vets Fight PTSD
This Analyst Turned Army Medic Started An Unusual Non-Profit To Help Other Vets Fight PTSD
Robert Johnson
Sep. 3, 2011
Jason Parsons just doesn't get it.
He left a promising career in finance, joined the Army after 9/11, overcame Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and started a non-profit to drive money toward PTSD research—but he's convinced the media's not giving him a chance.
"Sometimes it feels like I keep hitting walls," he says. "It seems people are just ready for all this to be over."
But the wars are not over, and Parson's Graffiti of War project takes the experiences all combat vets share and shapes it into an outlet to ease the transition from the platoon to the street.
The idea began with when Parsons thought back to all the art-covered t-walls and Jersey barriers he'd left behind in Iraq. He put up a website calling for pictures, and the response was overwhelming. He took an expedition back, and collected hundreds of images before they were lost forever.
Now the artwork is pouring in, forming a bond among veterans, but also conveying the violent, life-changing trauma of war to the people who weren't there.
read more here
Robert Johnson
Sep. 3, 2011
He left a promising career in finance, joined the Army after 9/11, overcame Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and started a non-profit to drive money toward PTSD research—but he's convinced the media's not giving him a chance.
"Sometimes it feels like I keep hitting walls," he says. "It seems people are just ready for all this to be over."
But the wars are not over, and Parson's Graffiti of War project takes the experiences all combat vets share and shapes it into an outlet to ease the transition from the platoon to the street.
The idea began with when Parsons thought back to all the art-covered t-walls and Jersey barriers he'd left behind in Iraq. He put up a website calling for pictures, and the response was overwhelming. He took an expedition back, and collected hundreds of images before they were lost forever.
Now the artwork is pouring in, forming a bond among veterans, but also conveying the violent, life-changing trauma of war to the people who weren't there.
read more here
ABC Reporter Takes Part in Experiment to Alter Memory and Expunge Fear
As you read this you'll know some "research" ends up in unplanned ways.
The problem is, some researchers don't understand what they are trying to "cure' us of.
Like most kids I had a lot of things I feared caused by my own mind. The monster under the bed ended up moving into the closet. That monster was killed off when I had something else to fear. My Dad. He was a violent alcoholic when I was young. He caused a lot of heartache and most of the time ended up beating my older brother when he was not just breaking things in the house. Then a strange thing happened. When my parents got along, we'd go to a drive-in movie. We'd put on our PJs, put popped corn into paper bags and Kool-aid into plastic jugs, hop into the back of the car for a night out. One night I escaped from my older brothers, headed over to the big kids play area, climbed up to the top of a towering slide and froze. It was the first time I was alone that high up. I was 4. A kid behind me got tired of waiting for me to go down. He pushed me. Instead of sliding down I went over the side. My oldest brother thought I was dead when he found me on the ground.
After that, I was afraid of heights but I was't afraid of my Dad anymore. I just didn't like him anymore. I faced death for real so whatever he could do to the rest of the family was only something to get angry about. I wasn't afraid of much after that other than heights.
The thing that got me over this and a long list of other things came naturally. Back then we didn't know about traumatic brain injury, PTSD or the long list of things that go with them. We didn't know because there weren't any psychologist to tell us. It just came naturally to my family, yes, even a dysfunctional one like mine. Things were talked to death. When there was nothing more to say, the subject was then dropped. No reason to keep talking about it when emotionally we killed it. We made peace with it and buried it as one more part of our lives that couldn't cause any more harm.
I had support from a really big family and most of the time from my parents. My Dad stopped drinking when I was 13 and he tried to make up for all the harm he did. I forgave him, my Mom did part way but both of my brothers hung onto the pain he caused.
By the time my life was on the line for a second time, I didn't really care. I was driving on 128 in Massachusetts, a notorious highway that makes I4 in Orlando look like a country road in rush hour. I was in the passing lane when traffic slowed down and a car hit me at full speed. My car was sent into a spin and I when I saw the guardrail I covered my face by crossing my arms over it. I thought my Mom would kill me if she couldn't have an open casket for the funeral. Yep, I was that much at peace with dying. The fear of heights was added to with the fear of driving. Dying wasn't the outcome I feared the most. Getting hurt was.
Life happened and more things happened but there came a day when it finally sunk in that if I'm not afraid of dying, then there was nothing to really be afraid of. We can get hurt tripping over air and landing wrong. Someone else can always hurt us by being careless. Then there is the fact we could die in our sleep but somehow manage to fall asleep every night anyway.
When I lost fear, I won over everything that tried to destroy me. I had people to talk to which was a huge plus. I had faith that if I died, I was going to show up in Heaven with a lot of explaining to do. What I also took away from all of this is none of it was from God. He gave me what I needed to get through what happened. I could still pray to Him for help in "times of trouble" knowing He wasn't the one sending the trouble in the first place. I could still cry out to Him in tears knowing He wasn't up there enjoying them. Talking things out helped because I felt safe to do it. I knew my family wouldn't stop loving me just because I told them what was going on. I had faith to hold onto knowing there were no secrets to keep from God even though I didn't tell my family everything, He knew. I am a victim of nothing but I am a survivor of circumstances beyond my control.
If researchers really want to develop something that works, they only need look as far as their local support group to find the answer.
ABC’s Nick Watt Takes Part in Experiment to Alter Memory and Expunge Fear
September 2, 2011
By Staff
ABC News Reporter’s Notebook By Nick Watt
(AMSTERDAM) — “Does that hurt yet?” the lab assistant asked after administering an electric shock.
“Yes,” I replied. “But I think I can take a little more.” It was sore. But I was trying to be tough and cool.
She upped the voltage and hit the switch again. I convulsed, jumped from my chair and heard laughter from the other side of the wall. The lab assistant was laughing because my colleagues — producer Paolo and cameraman Andy — were laughing.
I was wired up for a bizarre experiment in an Amsterdam basement. Not an S&M basement, you understand, but the basement of the University of Amsterdam’s psychology department.
The lab assistant was calibrating just how much voltage I needed for the shock to be unpleasant without making me really, really sore. Why? I was playing guinea pig in an experiment.
These Dutch psychologists believe they have found a chemical way to alter our memories — specifically, to expunge fear from bad memories.
read more here
The problem is, some researchers don't understand what they are trying to "cure' us of.
Like most kids I had a lot of things I feared caused by my own mind. The monster under the bed ended up moving into the closet. That monster was killed off when I had something else to fear. My Dad. He was a violent alcoholic when I was young. He caused a lot of heartache and most of the time ended up beating my older brother when he was not just breaking things in the house. Then a strange thing happened. When my parents got along, we'd go to a drive-in movie. We'd put on our PJs, put popped corn into paper bags and Kool-aid into plastic jugs, hop into the back of the car for a night out. One night I escaped from my older brothers, headed over to the big kids play area, climbed up to the top of a towering slide and froze. It was the first time I was alone that high up. I was 4. A kid behind me got tired of waiting for me to go down. He pushed me. Instead of sliding down I went over the side. My oldest brother thought I was dead when he found me on the ground.
After that, I was afraid of heights but I was't afraid of my Dad anymore. I just didn't like him anymore. I faced death for real so whatever he could do to the rest of the family was only something to get angry about. I wasn't afraid of much after that other than heights.
The thing that got me over this and a long list of other things came naturally. Back then we didn't know about traumatic brain injury, PTSD or the long list of things that go with them. We didn't know because there weren't any psychologist to tell us. It just came naturally to my family, yes, even a dysfunctional one like mine. Things were talked to death. When there was nothing more to say, the subject was then dropped. No reason to keep talking about it when emotionally we killed it. We made peace with it and buried it as one more part of our lives that couldn't cause any more harm.
I had support from a really big family and most of the time from my parents. My Dad stopped drinking when I was 13 and he tried to make up for all the harm he did. I forgave him, my Mom did part way but both of my brothers hung onto the pain he caused.
By the time my life was on the line for a second time, I didn't really care. I was driving on 128 in Massachusetts, a notorious highway that makes I4 in Orlando look like a country road in rush hour. I was in the passing lane when traffic slowed down and a car hit me at full speed. My car was sent into a spin and I when I saw the guardrail I covered my face by crossing my arms over it. I thought my Mom would kill me if she couldn't have an open casket for the funeral. Yep, I was that much at peace with dying. The fear of heights was added to with the fear of driving. Dying wasn't the outcome I feared the most. Getting hurt was.
Life happened and more things happened but there came a day when it finally sunk in that if I'm not afraid of dying, then there was nothing to really be afraid of. We can get hurt tripping over air and landing wrong. Someone else can always hurt us by being careless. Then there is the fact we could die in our sleep but somehow manage to fall asleep every night anyway.
When I lost fear, I won over everything that tried to destroy me. I had people to talk to which was a huge plus. I had faith that if I died, I was going to show up in Heaven with a lot of explaining to do. What I also took away from all of this is none of it was from God. He gave me what I needed to get through what happened. I could still pray to Him for help in "times of trouble" knowing He wasn't the one sending the trouble in the first place. I could still cry out to Him in tears knowing He wasn't up there enjoying them. Talking things out helped because I felt safe to do it. I knew my family wouldn't stop loving me just because I told them what was going on. I had faith to hold onto knowing there were no secrets to keep from God even though I didn't tell my family everything, He knew. I am a victim of nothing but I am a survivor of circumstances beyond my control.
If researchers really want to develop something that works, they only need look as far as their local support group to find the answer.
Memphis VA fighting against suicides
Memphis VA Fights Veteran Suicide
Updated: Friday, 02 Sep 2011, 8:14 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 02 Sep 2011, 8:14 PM CDT
Lynn
Lampkin
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The suicide rate for American veterans is so startling, that the Veteran Affairs Department is now stepping in. Friday in Memphis, the VA kicked off the start of National Suicide Prevention Week.
WARNING | GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
"I was in military uniform. I had my 40 caliber pistol at my waistband. I said I'm going to kill myself. I put the gun to my head… and I pulled the trigger."
14-year military veteran Patrick Crowder said the images he saw while serving in desert storm are permanent.
"There were a lot of burned bodies and soldiers left in the truck and vehicle over a mile radius. It was devastating. The smell of burning flesh is something I can still smell today."
read more here
Updated: Friday, 02 Sep 2011, 8:14 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 02 Sep 2011, 8:14 PM CDT
Lynn
Lampkin
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The suicide rate for American veterans is so startling, that the Veteran Affairs Department is now stepping in. Friday in Memphis, the VA kicked off the start of National Suicide Prevention Week.
WARNING | GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
"I was in military uniform. I had my 40 caliber pistol at my waistband. I said I'm going to kill myself. I put the gun to my head… and I pulled the trigger."
14-year military veteran Patrick Crowder said the images he saw while serving in desert storm are permanent.
"There were a lot of burned bodies and soldiers left in the truck and vehicle over a mile radius. It was devastating. The smell of burning flesh is something I can still smell today."
read more here
Marine Corps Takes Some Blame in Tampa DUI Death, Trouble Began in Iraq
I have to admit I am stunned by this. Not that a hero ended up in jail waiting trial for manslaughter, but that the Marine Corp has taken responsibility for this. It shows we've come a very long way since the beginning of this battle to save their lives after combat. That is what this is really all about.
If you know nothing about the military, the first thing you need to know is that they are not like you, or me for that matter. They have something tugging at them to serve and they know following it comes with a very high price to pay. They don't do it to "kill" but they do it to save someone else. They know the hardships they will head into just as much as they know the burden they will put on their families, but to them, it would be worse to not go where they are being called to go. It is already in their soul. These are not selfish/self-centered people. They do not take a casual view of life anymore than they take this country lightly. For them to come home after living a lifetime wanting to serve and commit crimes against others, we need to understand something terrible is happening inside of them to cause it.
Scott Sciple was a hero during war and saved lives. What happened back home is another story that didn't need to happen.
If you know nothing about the military, the first thing you need to know is that they are not like you, or me for that matter. They have something tugging at them to serve and they know following it comes with a very high price to pay. They don't do it to "kill" but they do it to save someone else. They know the hardships they will head into just as much as they know the burden they will put on their families, but to them, it would be worse to not go where they are being called to go. It is already in their soul. These are not selfish/self-centered people. They do not take a casual view of life anymore than they take this country lightly. For them to come home after living a lifetime wanting to serve and commit crimes against others, we need to understand something terrible is happening inside of them to cause it.
Scott Sciple was a hero during war and saved lives. What happened back home is another story that didn't need to happen.
Marine Corps Takes Some Blame in Tampa DUI Death, Trouble Began in Iraq
Untreated spiral began in Iraq, led to Tampa death, report concedes.
"Had Capt. Sciple been referred and treated in a timely manner," the report said, "it would have broken the chain of events leading up to his accident and his arrest for DUI manslaughter."By JOHN BARRY
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
Published: Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:35 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:35 p.m.
TAMPA | The Marines made Scott Sciple a combat officer and war hero. Did they also help make him an inmate of a jail psychiatric ward, awaiting trial for drunken-driving manslaughter?
The Marine Corps takes the blame for standing by and letting it all happen.
The 38-year-old captain had survived four combat tours since 2003. One of several close-range explosions had blown a hole in his right arm and caused him to almost bleed to death. He wore three Purple Hearts for wounds and a Bronze Star for valor. A Marine Corps summary of his heroic acts under fire is 19 pages long.
He had acted strangely for months. He was in pain from his arm wound and plagued by flashbacks and memory loss. He ducked company, drank alone, often walked in his sleep. He went out to buy sunglasses in San Diego and found himself in Mexico.
Still, the Marines declared him neurologically sound, fit for full duty and ordered him to report in April 2010 to MacDill Air Force Base for a classified office assignment. Soon after landing in Tampa, Sciple drove drunk and killed someone. He could face years in prison.
Excerptsread more here
Excerpts from a summary of findings and recommendations signed by Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, commander of Marine Corps Forces Central Command:
The Investigating Officer has established by a preponderance of the evidence that Captain Sciple was incapable of making fully informed cognitive decisions; i.e., he was and is mentally incapacitated to some extent. There is substantial evidence that Captain Sciple has been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, and the compounded effects of his medication, with and without alcohol consumption, from which he experienced multiple disassociate episodes (memory loss, sleep walking, blackouts) as documented in his medical records and witness statements.
Navy health care providers and Captain Sciple's chain of command reasonably should have known the substantial risks associated with deferring to the patient's desire to return to the fight while disregarding the clear evidence of repeated trauma and compounded wounds Captain Sciple sustained. As apparent in this case, a screening system dependent on full disclosure by the patient is a flawed system.
This investigation is forwarded for further review by Marine Corps leadership and Navy medical experts and administrators to examine the issues the Investigating Officer has noted. . . . This may include the effectiveness of screening, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment for PTSD, Traumatic Brain Disorder, alcohol dependence, and other "invisible injuries" by Navy medicine and the Marine Corps.
I also direct the Marine Corps Forces Central Command Chief of Staff (to) confirm and/or implement sufficient screening measures and effective support resources for "at risk" Marines attached to MARCENT, with careful attention to Marines with documented exposure to traumatic experiences being processed for deployment.
Orlando soldier who just became citizen dies in Afghanistan
Orlando soldier who just became citizen dies in Afghanistan
Pfc. Alberto L. Obod Jr., 26, died Sunday after rollover crash in Kandahar, officials say
By Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
11:13 p.m. EDT, September 1, 2011
The 26-year-old soldier and Orlando resident died Sunday in Afghanistan's Kandahar province after he was fatally injured in a vehicle rollover, the U.S. Department of Defense said.
Obod was assigned to the 391st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command's 16th Sustainment Brigade, based in Bamberg, Germany.
A native of the Philippines, Obod had a natural talent for tumbling, family said, and worked as a traveling acrobat before suffering an injury at age 17.
read more here
Pfc. Alberto L. Obod Jr., 26, died Sunday after rollover crash in Kandahar, officials say
By Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
11:13 p.m. EDT, September 1, 2011
New American citizen Private Alberto Obod smiles as he looks over his certificate at the Joint Sustainment Command - Afghanistan Naturalization Ceremony at Kandahar Air Field, Kandahar, Afghanistan on Friday, April 22, 2011. (S.K. Vemmer/Department of State)In April, U.S. Army Pfc. Alberto L. Obod Jr. beamed as he officially became an American citizen. On Sunday, officials said, he lost his life while serving his nation in the Middle East.
The 26-year-old soldier and Orlando resident died Sunday in Afghanistan's Kandahar province after he was fatally injured in a vehicle rollover, the U.S. Department of Defense said.
Obod was assigned to the 391st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command's 16th Sustainment Brigade, based in Bamberg, Germany.
A native of the Philippines, Obod had a natural talent for tumbling, family said, and worked as a traveling acrobat before suffering an injury at age 17.
read more here
Thousands of Miles in 100 Days for Wounded Warrior Project
Thousands of Miles in 100 Days: Local Man's Journey Across the Country
Posted Thursday, September 1, 2011 ; 06:58 PM
Updated Friday, September 2, 2011; 05:17 PM
A Morgantown man will run from Oregon to Maryland to raise money and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.
By Kelly Rippin
MORGANTOWN -- Running a marathon is no easy task and running an ultra marathon is an even more difficult challenge.
A local man is using those races as training for the run of a lifetime.
Just a few years ago, Jamie Summerlin made the decision to run a marathon.
During the former marine's long runs an idea came to mind: A run across the country to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.
In 206 days, Jamie's journey across the country will begin.
“I'm going to stick my foot in the bay in Coos Bay, Oregon and 100 days later end up in Baltimore, Md. at the Inner Harbor. I’m running across the country for 100 days, 3,500 miles, rain sleet, snow or hail. Whatever we have to do to get across the country," said Jamie Summerlin.
Jamie and his wife, Tiffany, are both former Marines and the idea to run for the Wounded Warrior Project seemed fitting.
read more here
Posted Thursday, September 1, 2011 ; 06:58 PM
Updated Friday, September 2, 2011; 05:17 PM
A Morgantown man will run from Oregon to Maryland to raise money and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.
By Kelly Rippin
MORGANTOWN -- Running a marathon is no easy task and running an ultra marathon is an even more difficult challenge.
A local man is using those races as training for the run of a lifetime.
Just a few years ago, Jamie Summerlin made the decision to run a marathon.
During the former marine's long runs an idea came to mind: A run across the country to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.
In 206 days, Jamie's journey across the country will begin.
“I'm going to stick my foot in the bay in Coos Bay, Oregon and 100 days later end up in Baltimore, Md. at the Inner Harbor. I’m running across the country for 100 days, 3,500 miles, rain sleet, snow or hail. Whatever we have to do to get across the country," said Jamie Summerlin.
Jamie and his wife, Tiffany, are both former Marines and the idea to run for the Wounded Warrior Project seemed fitting.
read more here
Armed soldier surprises men attempting to rob stranded women
Armed soldier surprises men attempting to rob stranded women
From staff reports
Published Friday, September 2, 2011
Two men convicted Thursday of trying to rob women stranded on Interstate 95 near Walterboro last year got more than they bargained for when one of the women's passengers turned out to be a trained -- and armed -- soldier recently returned from Iraq.
Jurors found Antwan McMillan, 22, and David Jakes, 20, of Smoaks guilty Thursday at the Colleton County Courthouse of three counts of attempted armed robbery, possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime, and three counts of first-degree assault and battery.
Judge Perry M. Buckner sentenced Jakes to 35 years in prison and McMillan to 30 years, according to the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office.
read more here
From staff reports
Published Friday, September 2, 2011
Two men convicted Thursday of trying to rob women stranded on Interstate 95 near Walterboro last year got more than they bargained for when one of the women's passengers turned out to be a trained -- and armed -- soldier recently returned from Iraq.
Jurors found Antwan McMillan, 22, and David Jakes, 20, of Smoaks guilty Thursday at the Colleton County Courthouse of three counts of attempted armed robbery, possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime, and three counts of first-degree assault and battery.
Judge Perry M. Buckner sentenced Jakes to 35 years in prison and McMillan to 30 years, according to the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office.
read more here
Central Florida soldier killed in Afghanistan
Central Florida soldier killed in Afghanistan
BY MIAMI HERALD STAFF WRITER
A soldier from Central Florida who served in the Army’s 10th Mountain Division has been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Friday.
Army Spc. Dennis James Jr., 21 of Deltona, died Wednesday “from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Wardak province, Afghanistan,” the Defense Department said in a statement.
James had been a soldier for more than three years and had served in Afghanistan for more than 10 months, according to the Army’s Public Affairs office at Fort Drum, NY.
read more here
BY MIAMI HERALD STAFF WRITER
A soldier from Central Florida who served in the Army’s 10th Mountain Division has been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Friday.
Army Spc. Dennis James Jr., 21 of Deltona, died Wednesday “from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Wardak province, Afghanistan,” the Defense Department said in a statement.
James had been a soldier for more than three years and had served in Afghanistan for more than 10 months, according to the Army’s Public Affairs office at Fort Drum, NY.
read more here
Friday, September 2, 2011
St. Petersburg ordinance would make it illegal for panhandlers to lie about being a Veteran
St. Petersburg ordinance would make it illegal for panhandlers to lie on their cardboard signs
By Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, September 2, 2011
ST. PETERSBURG — The city is proposing a new ordinance aimed at truth in advertising — on those cardboard signs people hold up on the side of the road.
The new ordinance would ban "fraudulent panhandling," making it illegal for panhandlers to claim that they're homeless or disabled or a veteran or stranded if they're not.
"Most of the people who fly the cards say they're homeless or veterans, but most aren't veterans or homeless," said Robert Marbut, the city's consultant on homelessness. "But they are making a lot of tax-free money."
But the proposal raises many questions: How would the police check the accuracy of those claims? Can the city really regulate what people write on signs? And after the city's successful crackdown on the homeless and panhandling population, who's left to break the new law?
read more here
By Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, September 2, 2011
ST. PETERSBURG — The city is proposing a new ordinance aimed at truth in advertising — on those cardboard signs people hold up on the side of the road.
The new ordinance would ban "fraudulent panhandling," making it illegal for panhandlers to claim that they're homeless or disabled or a veteran or stranded if they're not.
"Most of the people who fly the cards say they're homeless or veterans, but most aren't veterans or homeless," said Robert Marbut, the city's consultant on homelessness. "But they are making a lot of tax-free money."
But the proposal raises many questions: How would the police check the accuracy of those claims? Can the city really regulate what people write on signs? And after the city's successful crackdown on the homeless and panhandling population, who's left to break the new law?
read more here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)