Statement from Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki
on the American Jobs Act
"Yesterday, the President sent the American Jobs Act to Congress for consideration. With the American Jobs Act, the President is again demonstrating unwavering support of Veterans and of business by putting forward an aggressive plan that will help create new jobs for Veterans and boost the American economy.
"By providing tax credits from $5,600 to $9,600 to encourage businesses to hire unemployed Veterans, the American Jobs Act not only helps put more Veterans back to work, it sends a message that a grateful Nation honors their service and sacrifice. Congress should pass this bill as soon as possible.
"As the President said in his address to Congress and the Nation, 'We ask these men and women to leave their careers, leave their families, and risk their lives to fight for our country. The last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come home.' We at VA could not agree more.
"Under the President's leadership, VA will continue to prepare the next generation of leaders by administering the new Post-9/11 GI Bill to over 558,000 Veterans and family members. In October, thanks to strong leadership from the President and Congress, VA will expand that GI Bill program to provide vocational training and other non-degree job skills for Veterans -- a tremendous opportunity to create more good-paying jobs for Veterans in a matter of months.
"The President also challenged the private sector to hire or train 100,000 unemployed Veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013. We at VA already employ over 100,000 Veterans, about 30 percent of our workforce. Our goal is to up that to 40 percent. VA joins the President in challenging the private sector to join us in this important effort to support Veterans."
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Wheelchair-Bound Vietnam Vet Uncovers Multimillion Dollar Medicaid Fraud
Wheelchair-Bound Vietnam Vet Uncovers Multimillion Dollar Medicaid Fraud
Published September 14, 2011
TUCKERTON, N.J. – A wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran with muscular dystrophy, from New Jersey, was enjoying his $15 million whistleblower reward Wednesday, after he uncovered a multimillion dollar medical aid fraud.
Richard West, 63, of Tuckerton, first found his Medicaid benefits were wrongly maxed out in 2004 during a visit to the dentist and spent the past seven years investigating the scam, the New York Post reported.
Following the dentist visit, West returned home and examined his own records, when he found Maxim Healthcare -- the agency that provides his health aides -- had billed the government for care he never got, including visits from nurses he never met.
After spending months trying to get government officials to investigate the scam, he hired a lawyer and filed a federal lawsuit. His efforts resulted in the largest financial settlement in home healthcare fraud history.
West said, "From my wheelchair, on a ventilator and oxygen, I have spent the last seven years in this fight. Sometimes, the good guy wins."
"The more I uncovered, the more pissed off I got that someone was making money on my disability.
It's people like me that will keep these big companies honest," he added.
read more here
Published September 14, 2011
TUCKERTON, N.J. – A wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran with muscular dystrophy, from New Jersey, was enjoying his $15 million whistleblower reward Wednesday, after he uncovered a multimillion dollar medical aid fraud.
Richard West, 63, of Tuckerton, first found his Medicaid benefits were wrongly maxed out in 2004 during a visit to the dentist and spent the past seven years investigating the scam, the New York Post reported.
Following the dentist visit, West returned home and examined his own records, when he found Maxim Healthcare -- the agency that provides his health aides -- had billed the government for care he never got, including visits from nurses he never met.
After spending months trying to get government officials to investigate the scam, he hired a lawyer and filed a federal lawsuit. His efforts resulted in the largest financial settlement in home healthcare fraud history.
West said, "From my wheelchair, on a ventilator and oxygen, I have spent the last seven years in this fight. Sometimes, the good guy wins."
"The more I uncovered, the more pissed off I got that someone was making money on my disability.
It's people like me that will keep these big companies honest," he added.
read more here
Rep. Nelson seeks to establish veterans’ courts
Rep. Nelson seeks to establish veterans’ courts
By Rep. Bryan Nelson
September 14, 2011 12:47 p.m.
After more than a decade of U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, there is a growing awareness of the problems faced by returning veterans in their homes and communities. The service member and his or her family and friends experience this collateral damage as they cope with the aftermath of war and military action.
A recent study detailed some of the most important problems faced by returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans: 14 percent of respondents indicated post traumatic stress disorder, and 12 percent of respondents indicated “mental health” as being important problems. Untreated issues such as PTSD and other mental health issues have been attributed to disruptive and destructive behavior by veterans, leading to the unfortunate statistic that nine out of every 100 individuals in U.S. jails are current or former members of our military.
More than a year ago, I received proposed language to establish “veterans’ courts” within the state of Florida. The language was based on another state’s penal code, with several successful programs already in existence in various locations such as the Buffalo, N.Y., system. The program for Florida would address the increasing involvement of military veterans who are in the criminal justice system. It would provide for pretrial diversion and would permit the judge to consider a veterans’ combat experience in making a post-trial sentencing decision.
read more here
By Rep. Bryan Nelson
September 14, 2011 12:47 p.m.
After more than a decade of U.S. military involvement in the Middle East, there is a growing awareness of the problems faced by returning veterans in their homes and communities. The service member and his or her family and friends experience this collateral damage as they cope with the aftermath of war and military action.
A recent study detailed some of the most important problems faced by returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans: 14 percent of respondents indicated post traumatic stress disorder, and 12 percent of respondents indicated “mental health” as being important problems. Untreated issues such as PTSD and other mental health issues have been attributed to disruptive and destructive behavior by veterans, leading to the unfortunate statistic that nine out of every 100 individuals in U.S. jails are current or former members of our military.
More than a year ago, I received proposed language to establish “veterans’ courts” within the state of Florida. The language was based on another state’s penal code, with several successful programs already in existence in various locations such as the Buffalo, N.Y., system. The program for Florida would address the increasing involvement of military veterans who are in the criminal justice system. It would provide for pretrial diversion and would permit the judge to consider a veterans’ combat experience in making a post-trial sentencing decision.
read more here
Body of Idaho soldier Sgt. Devin Daniels comes home
Body of Idaho soldier Sgt. Devin Daniels comes home
As the war on terror passes a major milestone, an Idaho family is emblematic of its toll on the state
BY KATHLEEN KRELLER - kkreller@idahostatesman.com
Copyright: © 2011 Idaho Statesman
Published: 09/14/11
U.S. Army Sgt. Devin Daniels returned to Idaho from Afghanistan Tuesday afternoon.
At Boise’s Gowen Field, his family encircled the flag-draped casket he will be buried in. Daniels, 22, was killed Aug. 25 by a roadside bomb.
Standing near Daniels’ wife, Samantha, and 7-month-old daughter, Olivia, was Chaplain (Maj.) Rob Morris. He read from 1 Corinthians 15.
“Death is swallowed up in victory,” Morris read. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Whether coalition forces will ultimately prevail in the war on terror remains to be seen. But like Daniels and his family, Idaho has paid a price in the effort.
The state ranks 17th in the nation for the number of soldiers per capita killed in the war in Iraq, according to StateMaster.com.
“One life is a huge price for any family or community to pay,” said Col. Tim Marsano, spokesman for the Idaho National Guard.
read more here
As the war on terror passes a major milestone, an Idaho family is emblematic of its toll on the state
BY KATHLEEN KRELLER - kkreller@idahostatesman.com
Copyright: © 2011 Idaho Statesman
Published: 09/14/11
U.S. Army Sgt. Devin Daniels returned to Idaho from Afghanistan Tuesday afternoon.
At Boise’s Gowen Field, his family encircled the flag-draped casket he will be buried in. Daniels, 22, was killed Aug. 25 by a roadside bomb.
Standing near Daniels’ wife, Samantha, and 7-month-old daughter, Olivia, was Chaplain (Maj.) Rob Morris. He read from 1 Corinthians 15.
“Death is swallowed up in victory,” Morris read. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
Whether coalition forces will ultimately prevail in the war on terror remains to be seen. But like Daniels and his family, Idaho has paid a price in the effort.
The state ranks 17th in the nation for the number of soldiers per capita killed in the war in Iraq, according to StateMaster.com.
“One life is a huge price for any family or community to pay,” said Col. Tim Marsano, spokesman for the Idaho National Guard.
read more here
Army Hero of Ganjgal ambush denied honor earned
UPDATE
Ganjgal Hero Nominated for Medal of Honor
Afghan ambush heroics go unrecognized
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Sep 13, 2011 5:45:09 EDT
In a rocky mountainside trench, a Marine and a soldier worked in tandem under an avalanche of enemy fire to retrieve the bodies of a four-man training team killed in eastern Afghanistan.
Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer and Army Capt. William Swenson already had braved enemy fire repeatedly during the Sept. 8, 2009, ambush in Ganjgal, an insurgent-held village in Kunar province’s Sarkani district. On a last, urgent dash into the village, Meyer charged through enemy fire alone and on foot to find the missing service members, and Swenson joined him in the chaos to load their bloody bodies and gear onto a Humvee and take them home.
On Thursday, Meyer is expected to receive the Medal of Honor during a White House ceremony. He will become the first living Marine in 38 years to receive the nation’s highest combat award, and at least the ninth member of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8 to receive at least a Bronze Star with ‘V’ device for heroism in Ganjgal. Two other Marines — Capt. Ademola Fabayo and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez — each received a Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor.
Swenson has received nothing. The lack of recognition raises questions whether Swenson’s angry criticism of Army officers, who repeatedly refused to send fire support that day, is the reason he has not been decorated.
It is “ridiculous” that Swenson hasn’t yet been recognized for his heroism, Meyer said. Swenson also repeatedly braved fire in the battle, working with the Marines to engage enemy fighters and evacuate U.S. and Afghan casualties from a kill zone, the Medal of Honor nominee said.
read more here
Ganjgal Hero Nominated for Medal of Honor
Afghan ambush heroics go unrecognized
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Sep 13, 2011 5:45:09 EDT
“I’ll put it this way,” Meyer said. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be alive today.”
In a rocky mountainside trench, a Marine and a soldier worked in tandem under an avalanche of enemy fire to retrieve the bodies of a four-man training team killed in eastern Afghanistan.
Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer and Army Capt. William Swenson already had braved enemy fire repeatedly during the Sept. 8, 2009, ambush in Ganjgal, an insurgent-held village in Kunar province’s Sarkani district. On a last, urgent dash into the village, Meyer charged through enemy fire alone and on foot to find the missing service members, and Swenson joined him in the chaos to load their bloody bodies and gear onto a Humvee and take them home.
On Thursday, Meyer is expected to receive the Medal of Honor during a White House ceremony. He will become the first living Marine in 38 years to receive the nation’s highest combat award, and at least the ninth member of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8 to receive at least a Bronze Star with ‘V’ device for heroism in Ganjgal. Two other Marines — Capt. Ademola Fabayo and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez — each received a Navy Cross, second only to the Medal of Honor.
Swenson has received nothing. The lack of recognition raises questions whether Swenson’s angry criticism of Army officers, who repeatedly refused to send fire support that day, is the reason he has not been decorated.
It is “ridiculous” that Swenson hasn’t yet been recognized for his heroism, Meyer said. Swenson also repeatedly braved fire in the battle, working with the Marines to engage enemy fighters and evacuate U.S. and Afghan casualties from a kill zone, the Medal of Honor nominee said.
read more here
Heroes rush to help motorcycle rider from burning car
Motorcyclist's uncle tells rescuers, 'You are heroes'
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 14, 2011 2:07 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
"We are just human beings trying to help, another human being," bystander said
Tyler Riggs said his nephew is in good spirits
Bystanders rescued Brandon Wright, who was trapped under a burning car
The group is credited with saving his life
(CNN) -- The uncle of a Utah motorcyclist pulled from underneath a burning car by a group of bystanders told his nephew's rescuers they are "heroes to our family."
Tyler Riggs spoke to CNN's Piers Morgan one day after a group of construction workers, students and other bystanders turned into a ragtag team of first responders to save Brandon Wright, 21.
The accident happened Monday on a street near Utah State University in Logan and was captured on video.
"I thank you on behalf of my family, and I know that my nephew Brandon will hope to thank you at some point, too. I know that you might be shy and want to dislodge the title, but you are heroes to our family," Riggs said, adding that his nephew is in good spirits.
"He was talking to us earlier and going through physical therapy and felt good after that. Things could have been much worse."
read more here
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 14, 2011 2:07 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
"We are just human beings trying to help, another human being," bystander said
Tyler Riggs said his nephew is in good spirits
Bystanders rescued Brandon Wright, who was trapped under a burning car
The group is credited with saving his life
(CNN) -- The uncle of a Utah motorcyclist pulled from underneath a burning car by a group of bystanders told his nephew's rescuers they are "heroes to our family."
Tyler Riggs spoke to CNN's Piers Morgan one day after a group of construction workers, students and other bystanders turned into a ragtag team of first responders to save Brandon Wright, 21.
The accident happened Monday on a street near Utah State University in Logan and was captured on video.
"I thank you on behalf of my family, and I know that my nephew Brandon will hope to thank you at some point, too. I know that you might be shy and want to dislodge the title, but you are heroes to our family," Riggs said, adding that his nephew is in good spirits.
"He was talking to us earlier and going through physical therapy and felt good after that. Things could have been much worse."
read more here
Marines Find it Hard to Explain Afghanistan to Families
Marines Find it Hard to Explain Afghanistan to Families
September 14, 2011
Associated Press|by Christopher Torchia
PATROL BASE FULOD, Afghanistan -- "Baby, I walked on a path today. Everything was clear. Nothing happened."
That's what U.S. Marine Cpl. Ernest Tubbs, a combat engineer who looks for hidden bombs on patrol, often tells his wife when he has the chance to telephone her in the United States. Many a time, he has lied. Tubbs won't tell her about the close calls, the near misses, anything about his dangerous job that might rattle the woman he married last year after meeting her on a Florida beach.
"She would kill me" if she knew, he said. His father, Tubbs said, is proud of his military career but shuns the stress of full awareness, once telling his son: '"What happens, I don't want to know.' "
Unlike wars of decades past, most American troops in Afghanistan are able to stay in touch with their families with the help of Internet and telephone centers on larger bases, and even those in smaller outposts get a call out sometimes.
But technology, and old-fashioned letter-writing, do not always close the distance. For units in combat zones, where men die and lose legs in fights with the Taliban, it is easier to talk about just about anything else.
read more here
September 14, 2011
Associated Press|by Christopher Torchia
PATROL BASE FULOD, Afghanistan -- "Baby, I walked on a path today. Everything was clear. Nothing happened."
That's what U.S. Marine Cpl. Ernest Tubbs, a combat engineer who looks for hidden bombs on patrol, often tells his wife when he has the chance to telephone her in the United States. Many a time, he has lied. Tubbs won't tell her about the close calls, the near misses, anything about his dangerous job that might rattle the woman he married last year after meeting her on a Florida beach.
"She would kill me" if she knew, he said. His father, Tubbs said, is proud of his military career but shuns the stress of full awareness, once telling his son: '"What happens, I don't want to know.' "
Unlike wars of decades past, most American troops in Afghanistan are able to stay in touch with their families with the help of Internet and telephone centers on larger bases, and even those in smaller outposts get a call out sometimes.
But technology, and old-fashioned letter-writing, do not always close the distance. For units in combat zones, where men die and lose legs in fights with the Taliban, it is easier to talk about just about anything else.
read more here
Man Charged in Attempted Highway Attack of Marines
Man Charged in Attempted Highway Attack of Marines
September 14, 2011
Seattle Times|by Mike Carter
An ex-con with possible ties to the alleged ringleader of a plot to attack Seattle's Military Entrance Processing Station with assault rifles and hand grenades has been charged with assault for allegedly trying to run two Marine recruiters off Interstate 5 near Northgate.
Michael Dale McCright, who prosecutors say uses the nickname "Mikhail Jihad" on the Internet, is facing his "third strike" and a possible life sentence if convicted of the attack.
He has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for first-degree robbery in 2006, assault in 2005 and other felony crimes.
King County prosecutors have asked that McCright, 28, be held on $2 million bail. He is to appear in King County Superior Court for arraignment on Sept. 27, said office spokesman Dan Donohoe.
read more here
September 14, 2011
Seattle Times|by Mike Carter
An ex-con with possible ties to the alleged ringleader of a plot to attack Seattle's Military Entrance Processing Station with assault rifles and hand grenades has been charged with assault for allegedly trying to run two Marine recruiters off Interstate 5 near Northgate.
Michael Dale McCright, who prosecutors say uses the nickname "Mikhail Jihad" on the Internet, is facing his "third strike" and a possible life sentence if convicted of the attack.
He has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for first-degree robbery in 2006, assault in 2005 and other felony crimes.
King County prosecutors have asked that McCright, 28, be held on $2 million bail. He is to appear in King County Superior Court for arraignment on Sept. 27, said office spokesman Dan Donohoe.
read more here
MOH Cpl. Dakota Meyer wants fallen honored instead of himself
Families of Fallen to Gather at Graves for MoH Ceremony
September 14, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune|by Kurt Madar
FARMINGTON, N.M. -- Charlene Westbrook will be at her husband's grave Thursday in Shiprock when Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer receives his Medal of Honor.
Meyer is being awarded the nation's highest military decoration for valor because of his actions during an ambush in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of five U.S. troops, including Charlene's husband, U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook.
"Dakota asked for the families of the men that fell that day to be at the grave sites of the fallen," Charlene said. "Dakota is receiving his medal on the behalf of my husband and the others that fell that day."
Meyer also requested that local veterans provide a flag line at each of the fallen troops' graves to coincide with the ceremony in Washington, D.C., where President Obama will present the medal.
The flag line, courtesy of the local chapter of the Patriot Guard Riders, is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Thursday, at the Shiprock veteran's cemetery.
read more here
September 14, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune|by Kurt Madar
FARMINGTON, N.M. -- Charlene Westbrook will be at her husband's grave Thursday in Shiprock when Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer receives his Medal of Honor.
Meyer is being awarded the nation's highest military decoration for valor because of his actions during an ambush in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of five U.S. troops, including Charlene's husband, U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Westbrook.
"Dakota asked for the families of the men that fell that day to be at the grave sites of the fallen," Charlene said. "Dakota is receiving his medal on the behalf of my husband and the others that fell that day."
Meyer also requested that local veterans provide a flag line at each of the fallen troops' graves to coincide with the ceremony in Washington, D.C., where President Obama will present the medal.
The flag line, courtesy of the local chapter of the Patriot Guard Riders, is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Thursday, at the Shiprock veteran's cemetery.
read more here
“I Don’t Ever Remember Wanting to Hurt Myself” – One Veteran’s Story
“I Don’t Ever Remember Wanting to Hurt Myself” – One Veteran’s Story
Filed under DOD NEWS, SUICIDE PREVENTION
Written on SEPTEMBER 13, 2011 AT 8:30 AM by JTOZER
Posted by Corina Notyce, DCoE Strategic Communications
From www.DcoE.health.mil
The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) is sharing personal accountsfrom members of the military community who have intervened and successfully prevented a suicide, assisted someone in need, or took steps to seek help themselves when they experienced suicidal thoughts. We hope these personal stories offer hope and encouragement and remind others that help is out there. If you are currently having thoughts of suicide or know someone that is, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) for immediate help, military community members choose 1.
The following story is shared by Army veteran Micheal K. Strong. In May, he participated in the 2011 Warrior Games on the U.S. Paralympic Team.
My name is Micheal K. Strong, and I survived.
I don’t ever remember wanting to hurt myself. Although, looking back on everything, it was kind of hard to ignore the warning signs. I was even trained as the company suicide prevention NCO. I was always the soldier that had the “Suck it up, and drive on” mentality. That doesn’t always work or fit everyone.
I was becoming more reclusive and withdrawn. I had sought help through the chaplain, and I was feeling better. I remember feeling hopeless and not seeing anything in my future. On July 15, 2009 I shot myself through the face. I don’t remember doing it, but I can remember every detail when I came to from being knocked out, until they put me to sleep in the Emergency Room.
read more here
Filed under DOD NEWS, SUICIDE PREVENTION
Written on SEPTEMBER 13, 2011 AT 8:30 AM by JTOZER
Posted by Corina Notyce, DCoE Strategic Communications
From www.DcoE.health.mil
The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) is sharing personal accountsfrom members of the military community who have intervened and successfully prevented a suicide, assisted someone in need, or took steps to seek help themselves when they experienced suicidal thoughts. We hope these personal stories offer hope and encouragement and remind others that help is out there. If you are currently having thoughts of suicide or know someone that is, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) for immediate help, military community members choose 1.
The following story is shared by Army veteran Micheal K. Strong. In May, he participated in the 2011 Warrior Games on the U.S. Paralympic Team.
My name is Micheal K. Strong, and I survived.
I don’t ever remember wanting to hurt myself. Although, looking back on everything, it was kind of hard to ignore the warning signs. I was even trained as the company suicide prevention NCO. I was always the soldier that had the “Suck it up, and drive on” mentality. That doesn’t always work or fit everyone.
I was becoming more reclusive and withdrawn. I had sought help through the chaplain, and I was feeling better. I remember feeling hopeless and not seeing anything in my future. On July 15, 2009 I shot myself through the face. I don’t remember doing it, but I can remember every detail when I came to from being knocked out, until they put me to sleep in the Emergency Room.
read more here
Navy Board reverses decision giving Seabee benefits
Navy Board reverses decision, giving local seaman benefits
I-Team Investigation Cited
By: Alan Cohn
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - A Navy board has reversed itself and has ruled that a Petty Officer from Wesley Chapel, who suffered traumatic brain injury after the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Iraq, is not fit for duty and does deserve service-connected benefits.
However, Sigurd Mathisen’s battle against the Navy, where he served for over 22 years, may not be over.
The I-Team uncovered in July the Navy was forcing the decorated Petty Officer to drill with his unit even though both his commanding officer as well as physicians at the James Haley VA hospital in Tampa warned his injuries made him “unfit for duty.”
In a split decision, the Navy’s Physical Evaluation Board granted the 58-year old Seabee 40% disability, meaning he will receive approximately $1,500 a month in benefits.
The Board’s decision is temporary and will be re-evaluated in 18-months.
Mathisen and his wife traveled to Washington in July to appeal an earlier decision finding him fit for duty and requiring him to drill with his unit based at Mac Dill Airforce Base.
But in the newly released decision, the board writes, “The formal board finds the member unfit for naval service due to his traumatic brain injury. The member’s symptoms of his TBI prevent him form performing the functions of his office, grade, rank and rating because he is unable to operate construction equipment safely.”
read more here
I-Team Investigation Cited
By: Alan Cohn
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - A Navy board has reversed itself and has ruled that a Petty Officer from Wesley Chapel, who suffered traumatic brain injury after the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Iraq, is not fit for duty and does deserve service-connected benefits.
However, Sigurd Mathisen’s battle against the Navy, where he served for over 22 years, may not be over.
The I-Team uncovered in July the Navy was forcing the decorated Petty Officer to drill with his unit even though both his commanding officer as well as physicians at the James Haley VA hospital in Tampa warned his injuries made him “unfit for duty.”
In a split decision, the Navy’s Physical Evaluation Board granted the 58-year old Seabee 40% disability, meaning he will receive approximately $1,500 a month in benefits.
The Board’s decision is temporary and will be re-evaluated in 18-months.
Mathisen and his wife traveled to Washington in July to appeal an earlier decision finding him fit for duty and requiring him to drill with his unit based at Mac Dill Airforce Base.
But in the newly released decision, the board writes, “The formal board finds the member unfit for naval service due to his traumatic brain injury. The member’s symptoms of his TBI prevent him form performing the functions of his office, grade, rank and rating because he is unable to operate construction equipment safely.”
read more here
Sgt. Maj. Raymond F. Chandler III talks about his own battle with PTSD
Sgt. Maj. Raymond F. Chandler III talks about his own battle with PTSD and this man is a hero for doing it. There are so many with PTSD thinking their careers are over if they admit they have but they never stop to think that had it not been for the careers they chose, they wouldn't have it in the first place. It is one of the most dangerous jobs there is. They know their jobs could cost them their lives. It is a price they are willing to pay but that very same aspect of their character stands in the way of them being willing to ask for help when they need it.
These are not your average citizens. They are the "doers."
Merriam-Webster defines doers like this
They are the people willing to pay any price for what this nation needs from them. They face bullets and bombs, endless days, crappy living conditions when deployed away from family and friends and the price calculator keeps running. With redeployments the Army knows the risk of being targeted by PTSD increases by 50% but they are still willing to do their jobs.
Their leaders are looked to for everything. From how to do their jobs good enough to keep them alive along with their friends to how to get up everyday and do it all over again. When they are having trouble recovering from all of it, again, they look to their leaders to show them the way. If those leaders know personally what they are going through, they become examples of not just the strength it takes to heal or the courage it takes to ask for it, they show what it is like to come out on the other side of PTSD.
The job of the leaders in the Army is to bring home as many as possible from combat and Chandler has done just that. Talking about his own battles will save a lot of lives by offering hope that PTSD is not the end of their careers, they don't have to just suffer and they can come out on the other side better than they were before.
These are not your average citizens. They are the "doers."
Merriam-Webster defines doers like this
2. A person who acts rather than merely talking or thinking: "I'm a doer, not a moaner"
They are the people willing to pay any price for what this nation needs from them. They face bullets and bombs, endless days, crappy living conditions when deployed away from family and friends and the price calculator keeps running. With redeployments the Army knows the risk of being targeted by PTSD increases by 50% but they are still willing to do their jobs.
Their leaders are looked to for everything. From how to do their jobs good enough to keep them alive along with their friends to how to get up everyday and do it all over again. When they are having trouble recovering from all of it, again, they look to their leaders to show them the way. If those leaders know personally what they are going through, they become examples of not just the strength it takes to heal or the courage it takes to ask for it, they show what it is like to come out on the other side of PTSD.
The job of the leaders in the Army is to bring home as many as possible from combat and Chandler has done just that. Talking about his own battles will save a lot of lives by offering hope that PTSD is not the end of their careers, they don't have to just suffer and they can come out on the other side better than they were before.
Wed Sep 14, 2011
Sergeant major of the Army visits Fort Bragg, talks of own struggle with PTSD
"It's made me a better person," he said. "It's made me a better father, a better husband and ultimately a better soldier."Staff photo by Raul R. RubieraBy Henry Cuningham
Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III listens to a soldier's question at the Noncommissioned Officer Academy on Fort Bragg on Tuesday.
Military editor
The Army's top noncommissioned officer on Tuesday told Fort Bragg soldiers he suffered from post-combat stress, sought help and benefited.
"I had some experiences in Iraq that I didn't really deal with very well - kind of suppressed my feelings," Sgt. Maj. of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III said. "It paid an impact on my family. It took awhile for me to come to terms with that. About three years after I got back is when my wife said, 'You need to get some help.' "
Chandler discussed his experiences and answered questions during a session with 350 soldiers on the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg Noncommissioned Officer Academy Parade Field and in an interview afterward. Soldiers, mostly wearing the maroon beret of paratroopers, sat in bleachers and listened, the more outgoing ones sometimes requesting the microphone to ask questions.
read more here
Home Depot's Mission Continues at DAV in Orlando
UPDATE
Here's the video I promised the other day
This is one of those stories you don't often hear about. This is about the DAV I belong to and I have to tell you that you'd have a hard time meeting a more dedicated group of veterans and auxiliary members. I am Chaplain of the Auxiliary and all of them have my heart.
When news came out that Home Depot had selected the DAV to be one of the 24 projects to be done across the nation it was as if they just delivered a miracle. All the money we raise goes to veterans so having to spend money on the building for our sake didn't seem right. It was very hard just talking about the new roof the building needed while we put up with the leaks just like the rest of the repairs that needed to be done.
That's the biggest problem when a group does things for others instead of for profit. Often, most of the time, you'll find them working more hours than people working for paychecks and when they're home, they are still at it, reading reports, emailing and planning what else they can do to be of service. Without focusing on their own needs, sooner or later, things get old and worn out but there never seems to be enough money or time to fix any of it. Do they stop doing what their "mission" is to take care of themselves or do they pray to God someone finally helps them?
God answered our prayers and about 100 volunteers showed up to be His hands.
The video on this is coming soon. I went out and filmed it.
Here's the video I promised the other day
This is one of those stories you don't often hear about. This is about the DAV I belong to and I have to tell you that you'd have a hard time meeting a more dedicated group of veterans and auxiliary members. I am Chaplain of the Auxiliary and all of them have my heart.
When news came out that Home Depot had selected the DAV to be one of the 24 projects to be done across the nation it was as if they just delivered a miracle. All the money we raise goes to veterans so having to spend money on the building for our sake didn't seem right. It was very hard just talking about the new roof the building needed while we put up with the leaks just like the rest of the repairs that needed to be done.
That's the biggest problem when a group does things for others instead of for profit. Often, most of the time, you'll find them working more hours than people working for paychecks and when they're home, they are still at it, reading reports, emailing and planning what else they can do to be of service. Without focusing on their own needs, sooner or later, things get old and worn out but there never seems to be enough money or time to fix any of it. Do they stop doing what their "mission" is to take care of themselves or do they pray to God someone finally helps them?
God answered our prayers and about 100 volunteers showed up to be His hands.
Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011
Veterans and volunteers fix up Orlando DAV Center
Effort allows DAV to maintain services
By Joe Ruble
Joe RubleORLANDO, Fla. — A non-profit agency that serves 15,000 veterans in Central Florida with an annual budget of $16,000 had to make a tough decision. Were they to spend their funds entirely on the needs of homeless and other veterans or finally start a badly needed renovation project in the building they have called home for 49 years?
Over 100 volunteers from The Home Depot and The Mission Continues repair Chapter 16 of the Disabled American Veterans in Orlando. Sept 13, 2011
"It was coming down to hard decisions," said Brad Bouters, commander of DAV Chapter 16 in Orlando.
Then another non-profit stepped in and with the help of The Home Depot Foundation were able to pull off the repair job. The Mission Continues organized over 100 volunteers who showed up at 2040 W. Central Avenue on Tuesday morning to turn it into a new place of work.
The DAV office there is normally open two days a week for paperwork, while the rest of the time veterans are working in the field with homeless veterans, Bouters explained. Not one DAV volunteer gets paid.
"It's just veterans giving back," he said.
read more here
The video on this is coming soon. I went out and filmed it.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Coming Back: Battling the Invisible Wounds of War
Coming Back: Battling the Invisible Wounds of War
Military men and women now are returning with brain injuries that would have been fatal in earlier times. Here's how the nation's warriors and the medical teams that treat them are fighting these unseen battles.
By John Pekkanen Published Monday, September 12, 2011
Justin Bunce struggles into the conference room dragging his left leg, using a cane, and looking as if he’d rather be somewhere else. He sits at a long table with members of a Traumatic Brain Injury medical team at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, awaiting their questions as part of his intake evaluation.
Bunce, 27, appears distracted. Despite lots of medications, he’s often unable to concentrate. He has had short-term-memory loss ever since an improvised explosive device (IED) planted in the wall of a cemetery detonated while he was on foot patrol in the Iraqi city of Husayba, near the Syrian border, in March 2004.
Shrapnel riddled his body, broke his leg, and ripped into the right frontal lobe of his brain and his right eye, leaving him effectively blind in that eye. At the time, he was a lance corporal in the Marine Corps, which he had wanted to join since his freshman year at Centreville High School in Fairfax County.
“What’s the toughest branch of the service?” he had asked his father, Peter, an Air Force colonel and career military man.
read more here
Military men and women now are returning with brain injuries that would have been fatal in earlier times. Here's how the nation's warriors and the medical teams that treat them are fighting these unseen battles.
By John Pekkanen Published Monday, September 12, 2011
In combat in Iraq, Justin Bunce was where he wanted to be. Then shrapnel from an exploding IED broke his leg and ripped into the right frontal part of his brain. Photograph by Chris Leaman
Justin Bunce struggles into the conference room dragging his left leg, using a cane, and looking as if he’d rather be somewhere else. He sits at a long table with members of a Traumatic Brain Injury medical team at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, awaiting their questions as part of his intake evaluation.
Bunce, 27, appears distracted. Despite lots of medications, he’s often unable to concentrate. He has had short-term-memory loss ever since an improvised explosive device (IED) planted in the wall of a cemetery detonated while he was on foot patrol in the Iraqi city of Husayba, near the Syrian border, in March 2004.
Shrapnel riddled his body, broke his leg, and ripped into the right frontal lobe of his brain and his right eye, leaving him effectively blind in that eye. At the time, he was a lance corporal in the Marine Corps, which he had wanted to join since his freshman year at Centreville High School in Fairfax County.
“What’s the toughest branch of the service?” he had asked his father, Peter, an Air Force colonel and career military man.
read more here
Soldier charged in death of two soldiers arraigned
Man charged in Stockton soldier's death arraigned
Dispute among Iraq roommates said to be cause
Record Staff Writer
September 13, 2011 12:00 AM
The defense attorney for Army Spc. Neftaly Platero, charged with killing Spc. John Carrillo Jr. of Stockton and another roommate in Iraq last September, said Monday his client is innocent and should be cleared based on forensic evidence.
Attorney Guy Womack told The Associated Press that forensic tests showed no blood or gunshot residue on Platero. But he said there was gunpowder residue on the hands of both Carrillo and on Pfc. Gebrah Noonan, 26, of Watertown, Conn.
Womack spoke Monday after Platero was arraigned on murder charges before a military judge at Fort Stewart, Ga. Prosecutors say the 33-year-old Platero of Kingwood, Texas, opened fire after an argument Sept. 23 with three soldiers in the room they shared in Fallujah, Iraq. Carrillo, 20, and Noonan were declared dead the next day. Womack said the third soldier who was wounded had a bullet crease in his scalp and later said he remembered nothing of what happened the day of the shooting.
read more here
Dispute among Iraq roommates said to be cause
Army Spc. John Carrillo Jr. was 20 when he was killed in Iraq last year, allegedly at the hands of a fellow soldier. He left behind a wife and two young children.By Joe Goldeen
Courtesy photo
Record Staff Writer
September 13, 2011 12:00 AM
The defense attorney for Army Spc. Neftaly Platero, charged with killing Spc. John Carrillo Jr. of Stockton and another roommate in Iraq last September, said Monday his client is innocent and should be cleared based on forensic evidence.
Attorney Guy Womack told The Associated Press that forensic tests showed no blood or gunshot residue on Platero. But he said there was gunpowder residue on the hands of both Carrillo and on Pfc. Gebrah Noonan, 26, of Watertown, Conn.
Womack spoke Monday after Platero was arraigned on murder charges before a military judge at Fort Stewart, Ga. Prosecutors say the 33-year-old Platero of Kingwood, Texas, opened fire after an argument Sept. 23 with three soldiers in the room they shared in Fallujah, Iraq. Carrillo, 20, and Noonan were declared dead the next day. Womack said the third soldier who was wounded had a bullet crease in his scalp and later said he remembered nothing of what happened the day of the shooting.
read more here
Fort Hood recognizes Suicide Prevention Month, provides help resources
Fort Hood recognizes Suicide Prevention Month, provides help resources
Posted: Sep 12, 2011 7:25 PM EDT
By Amanda Stairrett - email
LTG Donald M. Campbell Jr., III Corps and Fort Hood commander, signed a proclamation Sept. 6, recognizing September as Suicide Prevention Month. Go here to hear what Campbell said on the issue.
By Brandy Gill
Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center
Times have changed and so has the perception of those who seek help because they are struggling with thoughts of doing harm to themselves, especially in the Army. The change in how people view suicide has resulted in a new war the Army has chosen to fight – preventing suicide.
COL Patrick D. Sargent, commander of Carl. R. Darnall Army Medical Center, says it's normal for soldiers to have feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, frustration, anger and sadness.
"But thoughts about suicide are a sign of a serious problem. Don't ignore or hide your feelings, seek help, let us help you prevent something tragic."
Preventing suicide may not seem like a war the Army needs to wage, but according to July information from the Defense Department, there were 22 potential suicides among active duty soldiers and 10 potential suicides among reserve component soldiers.
Three of those deaths have been officially ruled as suicides and the rest are still under investigation, but for a nation at war, even one suicide is one too many, GEN Peter W. Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, said.
read more here
Posted: Sep 12, 2011 7:25 PM EDT
By Amanda Stairrett - email
LTG Donald M. Campbell Jr., III Corps and Fort Hood commander, signed a proclamation Sept. 6, recognizing September as Suicide Prevention Month. Go here to hear what Campbell said on the issue.
By Brandy Gill
Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center
"Tragically, we've seen that soldiers attempt suicides for various reasons," Sargent said. "Numerous deployments, financial problems, drug and alcohol addiction, difficulties at work, family dynamics, everything impacts a Soldier's relationship with the Army, family and friends. Regrettably, these reasons aren't worthy of taking a precious life."For past generations, suicide was a taboo topic in open conversations.
Times have changed and so has the perception of those who seek help because they are struggling with thoughts of doing harm to themselves, especially in the Army. The change in how people view suicide has resulted in a new war the Army has chosen to fight – preventing suicide.
COL Patrick D. Sargent, commander of Carl. R. Darnall Army Medical Center, says it's normal for soldiers to have feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, frustration, anger and sadness.
"But thoughts about suicide are a sign of a serious problem. Don't ignore or hide your feelings, seek help, let us help you prevent something tragic."
Preventing suicide may not seem like a war the Army needs to wage, but according to July information from the Defense Department, there were 22 potential suicides among active duty soldiers and 10 potential suicides among reserve component soldiers.
Three of those deaths have been officially ruled as suicides and the rest are still under investigation, but for a nation at war, even one suicide is one too many, GEN Peter W. Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, said.
read more here
Monday, September 12, 2011
Audience Cheers, Says Society Should Let Uninsured Patient Die
Do they or will they ever understand that everyone cannot afford to go to a doctor and this is not a "choice" for them? Are they saying only the rich should be able to afford to go to the doctor?
GOP Tea Party Debate: Audience Cheers, Says Society Should Let Uninsured Patient Die
Sam Stein
A bit of a startling moment happened near the end of Monday night's CNN debate when a hypothetical question was posed to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
What do you tell a guy who is sick, goes into a coma and doesn't have health insurance? Who pays for his coverage? "Are you saying society should just let him die?" Wolf Blitzer asked.
"Yeah!" several members of the crowd yelled out.
Paul interjected to offer an explanation for how this was, more-or-less, the root choice of a free society.
read more here
Bill approved to make VA service-dog friendly
Bill approved to make VA service-dog friendly
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 12, 2011 16:55:07 EDT
The House of Representatives could vote as early as next week on sweeping legislation that makes the Veterans Affairs Department more dog-friendly.
A House committee has approved legislation that would allow service dogs to be used on any VA property or in any VA facility, including any facility or property receiving VA funding.
“I’m really pleased this legislation is moving, just for the sheer fact we have been trying to do this for so long,” said Christina Roof, deputy national legislative director for the veterans’ service organization AmVets. “VA could have done this itself, by regulation, a long time ago if they wanted, but they haven’t done anything so it looks like Congress will.”
Under current law and regulation, VA is required only to allow guide dogs for the blind onto its property and into facilities because those are the only type of assistance animals specifically covered in federal law. Individual facilities directors can be more flexible, if they wish.
VA officials have been working since March on trying to come up with a new service dog policy but discussions have been bogged down, in part, over the question of whether the policy should specifically list the types of service dogs that should be allowed or to leave that open to interpretation.
read more here
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 12, 2011 16:55:07 EDT
The House of Representatives could vote as early as next week on sweeping legislation that makes the Veterans Affairs Department more dog-friendly.
A House committee has approved legislation that would allow service dogs to be used on any VA property or in any VA facility, including any facility or property receiving VA funding.
“I’m really pleased this legislation is moving, just for the sheer fact we have been trying to do this for so long,” said Christina Roof, deputy national legislative director for the veterans’ service organization AmVets. “VA could have done this itself, by regulation, a long time ago if they wanted, but they haven’t done anything so it looks like Congress will.”
Under current law and regulation, VA is required only to allow guide dogs for the blind onto its property and into facilities because those are the only type of assistance animals specifically covered in federal law. Individual facilities directors can be more flexible, if they wish.
VA officials have been working since March on trying to come up with a new service dog policy but discussions have been bogged down, in part, over the question of whether the policy should specifically list the types of service dogs that should be allowed or to leave that open to interpretation.
read more here
Thieves clean out storage locker of Navy vet
Thieves clean out storage locker of Navy vet
by DAVID SCHECHTER
WFAA
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 5:00 PM
Updated today at 5:12 PM
DALLAS - Just back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, a North Texas soldier is fighting a new fight.
Gregory, a 23-year-old Navy veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he wants to know who stole all of his belongings, including 20 uniforms, from an East Dallas storage locker. For security reasons, he didn't want News 8 to use his last name.
About two weeks ago, Gregory started getting alerts that someone was applying for credit in his name and writing checks to stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot.
The veteran was storing items while he shopped for a house, which he closed on Friday. On Saturday, he went to pick up his stuff.
However, except for a few pairs of fatigues and a scarf from Afghanistan, nearly everything was gone.
read more here
by DAVID SCHECHTER
WFAA
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 5:00 PM
Updated today at 5:12 PM
DALLAS - Just back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, a North Texas soldier is fighting a new fight.
Gregory, a 23-year-old Navy veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he wants to know who stole all of his belongings, including 20 uniforms, from an East Dallas storage locker. For security reasons, he didn't want News 8 to use his last name.
About two weeks ago, Gregory started getting alerts that someone was applying for credit in his name and writing checks to stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot.
The veteran was storing items while he shopped for a house, which he closed on Friday. On Saturday, he went to pick up his stuff.
However, except for a few pairs of fatigues and a scarf from Afghanistan, nearly everything was gone.
read more here
Canine programs expand to save more troops
Canine programs expand to save more troops
But sometimes the dogs are the casualties
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 12, 2011 7:23:57 EDT
U.S. troops in Afghanistan are relying more and more on the superior noses of military working dogs to sniff out deadly improvised explosive devices.
These highly trained dogs landed in the spotlight recently when it was learned that Cairo, a Belgian Malinois, was part of the team that raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. Cairo is the only member of the team to be identified so far, and even President Obama met with the famous dog when he visited Fort Campbell, Ky., to thank the team of special operators after the May raid that led to bin Laden’s death.
But the increasing reliance on the abilities of these highly trained dogs also means some dogs will be killed or wounded in the line of duty.
Since May 2010, 14 military working dogs have been killed in action. Six others have been wounded, and three are missing in action, according to Central Command.
read more here
But sometimes the dogs are the casualties
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 12, 2011 7:23:57 EDT
U.S. troops in Afghanistan are relying more and more on the superior noses of military working dogs to sniff out deadly improvised explosive devices.
These highly trained dogs landed in the spotlight recently when it was learned that Cairo, a Belgian Malinois, was part of the team that raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. Cairo is the only member of the team to be identified so far, and even President Obama met with the famous dog when he visited Fort Campbell, Ky., to thank the team of special operators after the May raid that led to bin Laden’s death.
YOUR BEST FRIENDS.The dogs have proven so valuable that two new programs — one in the Army and the other in the Marine Corps — will be funded for the next two years to put more dogs on the front lines alongside the grunts who patrol Afghanistan’s treacherous hills and valleys.
A look at military working dog teams:
• 14: Military working dogs that have been killed in action since May 2010
• 6: Dogs wounded in action
• 3: Dogs missing in action
• 725: Military working dog teams deployed in the Central Command area of operations. Of these: 40 are in Iraq. 300 are with civilian contract teams that do only force protection on the U.S. bases and do not patrol. (Source for numbers: Central Command.)
But the increasing reliance on the abilities of these highly trained dogs also means some dogs will be killed or wounded in the line of duty.
Since May 2010, 14 military working dogs have been killed in action. Six others have been wounded, and three are missing in action, according to Central Command.
read more here
For Some Returning U.S. Veterans It's A Hard Road Back
For Some Returning U.S. Veterans It's A Hard Road Back
By Heather Maher
WASHINGTON -- The United States has now been at war for the longest period in its history; nearly 11 years in Afghanistan and more than eight years in Iraq.
The U.S. response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks 10 years ago set into motion a massive military effort that to date has deployed more than 2 million U.S. soldiers abroad.
But for many returning veterans, joining the military has proven easier than leaving it.
For reasons ranging from the emotional toll exacted by multiple deployments to the lack of jobs back home, readjustment to civilian life in the post-9/11 era carries a difficult set of challenges.
U.S. President Barack Obama recently paid tribute to what he called "the 9/11 generation" of military members -- more than 5 million American men and women who have served in the ranks of the U.S. armed forces since 2001.
"They were there, on duty, that September morning, having enlisted in a time of peace, but they instantly transitioned to a war footing," he said. "They're the millions of recruits who have stepped forward since, seeing their nation at war and saying 'send me.'"
By Heather Maher
WASHINGTON -- The United States has now been at war for the longest period in its history; nearly 11 years in Afghanistan and more than eight years in Iraq.
The U.S. response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks 10 years ago set into motion a massive military effort that to date has deployed more than 2 million U.S. soldiers abroad.
But for many returning veterans, joining the military has proven easier than leaving it.
For reasons ranging from the emotional toll exacted by multiple deployments to the lack of jobs back home, readjustment to civilian life in the post-9/11 era carries a difficult set of challenges.
U.S. President Barack Obama recently paid tribute to what he called "the 9/11 generation" of military members -- more than 5 million American men and women who have served in the ranks of the U.S. armed forces since 2001.
"They were there, on duty, that September morning, having enlisted in a time of peace, but they instantly transitioned to a war footing," he said. "They're the millions of recruits who have stepped forward since, seeing their nation at war and saying 'send me.'"
Stress Disorders And Major Depressionread more here
The number of suicides among not just Iraq and Afghan veterans, but currently serving military members, has been rising in recent years -- driven by what experts say are psychological problems caused by traumatic experiences and the stress of multiple deployments.
Some 800,000 troops have been sent to war more than once, and four and five deployments are not uncommon.
In 2010, suicide rates across all military branches rose 20 percent, to 468. That's more than the number who died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan that year.
A RAND Corporation study found that 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression.
This past July, the army recorded its highest monthly toll of suicides ever: 32.
In 2010, suicide rates across all branches of the military rose 20 percent, to 468. That's more than the number who died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan that year.
Kerr, who claims he hasn't experienced major symptoms of PTSD, sees plenty of fellow soldiers who are struggling with it. "Obviously the injury itself is pretty traumatic in most cases. Getting blown up, I can tell you, is not a fun experience I would wish on anybody," he said.
"Some guys were lucky and they blacked out, but a lot of us were conscious the whole time, which makes it even worse. And then most guys have been deployed several times now [and] have seen things that nobody else should have to see, especially at ages 19 or 20, or whatever they are."
God's House at Ground Zero
Last night after a day of remembrances on TV I settled into bed hoping for something different. I found it.
There were so many stories of people remembering someone they lost that dark day. Average people just doing normal things that morning never expecting they would become a part of the most horrible day in our history. There were others, also just average people, doing their jobs. Jobs that involved a risk to their lives on a daily basis but as this day began for them, none of them expected they would be included among that hundreds of heroes sacrificing their lives for the sake of others.
In the hours, days, weeks, months that followed no one wanted to give up trying to recover their bodies as hope of finding survivors vanished. As firemen and police officers put on hardhats refusing to leave evil did not win that day. Love did.
The Cross is a symbol of love overcoming suffering by the willingness of Christ to sacrifice His life for the sake of others. He overcame evil, hatred, beatings, the whip and the nails hammered into his body. That dark morning Christ called out to God, His Father, that He forgive the people responsible for it. He refused to surrender love no matter what was done to Him. The men and women showing up at Ground Zero refused to surrender love in the face of what evil caused.
They needed something to hang onto to help them through it. Chaplains were there watching over them and then, when they were tried, worn out, losing hope and strength, in a cavern they found the cross and found a reminder of God's love.
If you want to know where God was when you were suffering, He was right there all the time sending others to find you, help you and remind you that you were never really out of His view. Man has freewill to do as they choose. For as long as someone is willing to set their own lives aside for the sake of others, He is there overcoming evil for as long as love, hope, compassion, mercy and charity rises above whatever evil tries to destroy.
Documentary Shows How WTC Cross Brought Hope After 9/11 Tragedy
By Jeff Schapiro | Christian Post Contributor
The film “The Cross and The Towers” tells the story of the crosses that were found at Ground Zero two days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which have inspired hope in both Christians and nonbelievers alike. Despite an atheist organization's attempts at having one of the crosses banned from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, the film's executive producer, Scott Perkins, hopes that the lawsuit will open up the door for more people to learn about the cross through his film.
"It was the story of hope in the midst of devastation, and we had heard about the story through one of the first responders," he said in an interview with The Christian Post on Thursday. "It's the story about the cross, and how the cross ministered to many workers and many of the heroes that were involved in the days following 9/11 and the months following 9/11.”
read more here
There were so many stories of people remembering someone they lost that dark day. Average people just doing normal things that morning never expecting they would become a part of the most horrible day in our history. There were others, also just average people, doing their jobs. Jobs that involved a risk to their lives on a daily basis but as this day began for them, none of them expected they would be included among that hundreds of heroes sacrificing their lives for the sake of others.
In the hours, days, weeks, months that followed no one wanted to give up trying to recover their bodies as hope of finding survivors vanished. As firemen and police officers put on hardhats refusing to leave evil did not win that day. Love did.
The Cross is a symbol of love overcoming suffering by the willingness of Christ to sacrifice His life for the sake of others. He overcame evil, hatred, beatings, the whip and the nails hammered into his body. That dark morning Christ called out to God, His Father, that He forgive the people responsible for it. He refused to surrender love no matter what was done to Him. The men and women showing up at Ground Zero refused to surrender love in the face of what evil caused.
They needed something to hang onto to help them through it. Chaplains were there watching over them and then, when they were tried, worn out, losing hope and strength, in a cavern they found the cross and found a reminder of God's love.
9/11 memorials: The story of the cross at Ground Zero
By Sally Jenkins, Published: September 8
NewYork — The shape was oddly identifiable in the blasted wreckage of the World Trade Center, standing upright amid beams bent like fork tines and jagged, pagan-seeming tridents. A grief-exhausted excavator named Frank Silecchia found it on Sept. 13, 2001, two days after the terrorist attacks. A few days later, he spoke to a Franciscan priest named Father Brian Jordan, who was blessing remains at Ground Zero.
“Father, you want to see God’s House?” he asked. “Look over there.”
Father Brian peered through the fields of shredded metal. “What am I looking for?” he asked.Workers at the World Trade Center disaster site look up at a large illuminated cross near the rubble of the collapsed buildings at Ground Zero.Ed Betz / AP
Silecchia replied, “Just keep looking, Father, and see what you see.”
“Oh my God,” Father Brian said. “I see it.”
As Father Brian stared, other rescue workers gathered around him. There was a long moment of silence as he beheld what he considered to be a sign. Against seeming insuperable odds, a 17-foot-long crossbeam, weighing at least two tons, was thrust at a vertical angle in the hellish wasteland. Like a cross.
Ever since the two jets had slammed into the twin towers on Sept. 11, leaving 2,753 dead, Father Brian had been asked by countless New Yorkers, “Why did God do this?” He would reply tartly, in his Brooklyn-born accent: “It had nuttin’ to do with God. This was the actions of men who abused their free will.” Now here was God explaining Himself. It was a revelation, proof that “God had not abandoned Ground Zero,” even as the awful excavations continued.
Silecchia said worriedly, “Father, they might put this in some dump heap.”
“Frankie, no,” Father Brian said. “No, they will not.”
Instead, as the 10th anniversary of the attacks nears, the “World Trade Cross” continues to occupy a central if controversial place at Ground Zero. Shortly after its discovery, Father Brian persuaded city officials to allow a crew of volunteer union laborers to lift it out of the wreckage by crane and mount it on a concrete pedestal. They placed it in a quiet part of the site, on Church Street, where on Oct. 3, 2001, Father Brian blessed it with the prayer of St. Bonaventure. “May it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee . . . ” When he finished, the crane operators sounded their horns, a choral blast.
Each week, Father Brian held services there. He became the chaplain of the hard hats.
read more here
If you want to know where God was when you were suffering, He was right there all the time sending others to find you, help you and remind you that you were never really out of His view. Man has freewill to do as they choose. For as long as someone is willing to set their own lives aside for the sake of others, He is there overcoming evil for as long as love, hope, compassion, mercy and charity rises above whatever evil tries to destroy.
September 12, 2011
‘My life was forever changed’
Police chaplains recall the days after 9/11 attacks at Ground Zero
Mark Millican
markmillican@daltoncitizen.com
— Jim Cox remembers the rain.
And the heat emanating from the smoldering buildings.
And the ashes.
“When I walked into Ground Zero in the drizzling rain I could smell it — the ash,” he recalled of visiting New York City just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “And we were standing in this stuff. Who knew what we were standing in? Ashes of the buildings, probably human ash and other things. And I stood there and looked at those piles of rubble a couple of stories high or more, and the smoke coming up. And I could feel the heat, even in the rain — and I broke into tears.
“And my life was forever changed.”
read more here
How Forming Nonprofits Eased The Grief For Victims' Families
9/12: How Forming Nonprofits Eased The Grief For Victims' Families
Huffington Post
Eleanor Goldberg
As Susan Littlejohn lay amid the rubble of her tornado-ravaged barn in July, she begged for a miracle. Without one, she would no longer be able to provide animal-based therapy to kids with special needs.
Five days later, one arrived to Ellijay, Ga. It came in the form of New York Says Thank You, a September 11-inspired organization that helps communities devastated by tragedies nationwide.
“The tornado took everything I had,” Littlejohn shared. “Now we have everything we need to work with … It's all about 9/12 and paying it forward.”
In the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks, there was an outpouring of inspiring community service. But with images of planes crashing and fleeing innocent civilians looped on the television, the horror of September 11 was too present to allow the significance of those 9/12 efforts to sink in.
But once those who lost loved ones committed to their commemoration by honoring the goodwill they witnessed, the meaning and long-term significance of September 12 began to manifest.
Here are three such stories of hope and resilience, in which despair gave way to determination -- and resulted in the creation of organizations that uplift those who have been devastated by tragedy.
read more here
Huffington Post
Eleanor Goldberg
As Susan Littlejohn lay amid the rubble of her tornado-ravaged barn in July, she begged for a miracle. Without one, she would no longer be able to provide animal-based therapy to kids with special needs.
Five days later, one arrived to Ellijay, Ga. It came in the form of New York Says Thank You, a September 11-inspired organization that helps communities devastated by tragedies nationwide.
“The tornado took everything I had,” Littlejohn shared. “Now we have everything we need to work with … It's all about 9/12 and paying it forward.”
In the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks, there was an outpouring of inspiring community service. But with images of planes crashing and fleeing innocent civilians looped on the television, the horror of September 11 was too present to allow the significance of those 9/12 efforts to sink in.
But once those who lost loved ones committed to their commemoration by honoring the goodwill they witnessed, the meaning and long-term significance of September 12 began to manifest.
Here are three such stories of hope and resilience, in which despair gave way to determination -- and resulted in the creation of organizations that uplift those who have been devastated by tragedy.
read more here
VFW Ladies Auxiliary wearing a "tear" for Military Suicide Awareness
Auxiliary gives attention
Aurora Advertiser
Posted Sep 11, 2011
Aurora, Mo. —
Members of the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW in Monett are focusing on military suicides during the month of September.
“This is the first year for the LAVFW to have a Military Suicide Awareness Month, and it is part of the Americanism program,” said Mary Thurman, president of the group.
“Each member of the LAVFW is being asked to wear a teardrop sticker every day in September, yet when I told my husband about this, he asked what wearing a sticker would do to help with the problem, and I had no answer for him,” said Thurman.
read more here
Aurora Advertiser
Posted Sep 11, 2011
Aurora, Mo. —
Members of the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW in Monett are focusing on military suicides during the month of September.
“This is the first year for the LAVFW to have a Military Suicide Awareness Month, and it is part of the Americanism program,” said Mary Thurman, president of the group.
“Each member of the LAVFW is being asked to wear a teardrop sticker every day in September, yet when I told my husband about this, he asked what wearing a sticker would do to help with the problem, and I had no answer for him,” said Thurman.
read more here
Third deployment tip of the suicide spear?
Dr. Jobes said, "the third deployment is the tipping point after which things begin to fall apart" and this makes a lot of sense. For over thirty years researchers discovered that one out of three exposed to trauma develop some level of PTSD. Sending them back into combat for a third time wipes out the chance of walking away.
Living in Florida we get a lot of thunderstorms. These are pretty powerful storms with a lot of lightening. Imagine having to take your dog out during one of them and then imagine seeing a lightening bolt strike the ground near you. A fear would come over you every time you walked out the door growing stronger with each and every other close call. You manage to relax as long as there isn't a thunderstorm overhead but the next time, every nerve in your body is on edge.
When they deploy into combat, that have that feeling of dread. They live on the edge for the entire time they are deployed. When they get to go back home, they believe they can pick up where they left off, relaxing out of danger.
Some come home with juvenile case of PTSD. Symptoms are mild at that point and leaves them with the impression they will just "get over it" and everything will be fine as they battle the nightmares, block out the flashbacks and numb their jumping nerves. But PTSD manages to grow up fast as life happens and other events feed it. It grows stronger and they have to fight harder to stop it. Somedays they win. Most days they lose especially with the news coming they will be sent back again. The second time heading home they wonder more about how they managed to survive. The juvenile PTSD they came home with the last time has grown up to be a six foot teenage bully hell bent on causing as much havoc as possible. This level of PTSD begins to use guilt against them making them believe they have become evil. By the third time sent back PTSD has grown into an adult taking over the whole neighborhood of the "man/woman" while gaining strength from every event that happens that trip back.
State's high suicide rate traumatizes
By Melinda Moore and Julie Cerel
Posted: 12:00am on Sep 11, 2011
All summer long, we've seen tragic stories strewn across the headlines and news broadcasts of anguished Kentuckians dying by their own hands.
There was the young politician, the parishioner outside the Catholic Church, and the elderly gentleman who refused help as he drove his car into the Kentucky River.
Each of these stories represents a tragic and often preventable form of death: suicide.
Sept. 10 of every year has been declared World Suicide Prevention Day, but for those of us who research and take care of suicidal individuals it is an issue that we think about every day.
read more here
Living in Florida we get a lot of thunderstorms. These are pretty powerful storms with a lot of lightening. Imagine having to take your dog out during one of them and then imagine seeing a lightening bolt strike the ground near you. A fear would come over you every time you walked out the door growing stronger with each and every other close call. You manage to relax as long as there isn't a thunderstorm overhead but the next time, every nerve in your body is on edge.
When they deploy into combat, that have that feeling of dread. They live on the edge for the entire time they are deployed. When they get to go back home, they believe they can pick up where they left off, relaxing out of danger.
Some come home with juvenile case of PTSD. Symptoms are mild at that point and leaves them with the impression they will just "get over it" and everything will be fine as they battle the nightmares, block out the flashbacks and numb their jumping nerves. But PTSD manages to grow up fast as life happens and other events feed it. It grows stronger and they have to fight harder to stop it. Somedays they win. Most days they lose especially with the news coming they will be sent back again. The second time heading home they wonder more about how they managed to survive. The juvenile PTSD they came home with the last time has grown up to be a six foot teenage bully hell bent on causing as much havoc as possible. This level of PTSD begins to use guilt against them making them believe they have become evil. By the third time sent back PTSD has grown into an adult taking over the whole neighborhood of the "man/woman" while gaining strength from every event that happens that trip back.
State's high suicide rate traumatizes
By Melinda Moore and Julie Cerel
Posted: 12:00am on Sep 11, 2011
All summer long, we've seen tragic stories strewn across the headlines and news broadcasts of anguished Kentuckians dying by their own hands.
There was the young politician, the parishioner outside the Catholic Church, and the elderly gentleman who refused help as he drove his car into the Kentucky River.
Each of these stories represents a tragic and often preventable form of death: suicide.
Sept. 10 of every year has been declared World Suicide Prevention Day, but for those of us who research and take care of suicidal individuals it is an issue that we think about every day.
Dr. David Jobes, a clinical psychologist and suicide expert who recently spoke at a Veterans Affairs conference in Louisville, said "the third deployment is the tipping point after which things begin to fall apart." Clinical psychologist and suicide expert Thomas Joiner, who also spoke in Louisville, proffers a theory that explains why individuals who feel like a burden to their loved ones and lack a sense of belonging to their community are especially vulnerable. This tendency is compounded when those who witness injury routinely and have developed fearlessness toward violence and harm may be at even higher risk for suicide.
read more here
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Iraq veteran killed by exploding scuba tank
St. Petersburg man killed by exploding scuba tank an Iraq veteran
By RACHEL PLEASANT | The Tampa Tribune
Published: September 11, 2011
Updated: September 11, 2011 - 4:05 PM
TAMPA --
The St. Petersburg man killed by an exploding scuba tank this morning was a veteran recently returned from Iraq.
The St. Petersburg Police Department identified the man as Russell Vanhorn II, 23.
Vanhorn was carrying the scuba tank to his car about 6:50 a.m. when it exploded, St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Lt. Joel Granata said.
The force of the explosion blew out the front door and windows of Vanhorn’s apartment at 5875 37th Ave. N. The explosion also sent debris flying as far away as 75 feet. Some of that debris blew out the windows of cars parked nearby.
read more here
By RACHEL PLEASANT | The Tampa Tribune
Published: September 11, 2011
Updated: September 11, 2011 - 4:05 PM
TAMPA --
The St. Petersburg man killed by an exploding scuba tank this morning was a veteran recently returned from Iraq.
The St. Petersburg Police Department identified the man as Russell Vanhorn II, 23.
Vanhorn was carrying the scuba tank to his car about 6:50 a.m. when it exploded, St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Lt. Joel Granata said.
The force of the explosion blew out the front door and windows of Vanhorn’s apartment at 5875 37th Ave. N. The explosion also sent debris flying as far away as 75 feet. Some of that debris blew out the windows of cars parked nearby.
read more here
Stress leads soldier to shooting death
Stress leads soldier to shooting death
By Chris Roberts \ EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 09/11/2011 12:00:00 AM MDT
The death of an 18-year-old Chapin High School student on his way to class in 2009 provided a tragic reminder of the unseen wounds suffered by many men and women returning from combat zones
On the morning that Spc. Gerald Polanco allegedly shot and killed Ezra Gerald Smith, his wife and his mother pleaded with post leaders to do something about the soldier's erratic behavior.
The details came to light in documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the El Paso Times.
After the shootings -- an unidentified Fort Bliss soldier also was wounded -- Army psychiatrists determined that Polanco, who served a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq, suffers from a combat-stress disorder.
They said he could not participate in his defense, and he was sent to a Bureau of Prisons psychiatric hospital, where he has been periodically evaluated to see whether he has recovered enough to face court-martial on murder and attempted-murder charges.
read more here
By Chris Roberts \ EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 09/11/2011 12:00:00 AM MDT
The death of an 18-year-old Chapin High School student on his way to class in 2009 provided a tragic reminder of the unseen wounds suffered by many men and women returning from combat zones
On the morning that Spc. Gerald Polanco allegedly shot and killed Ezra Gerald Smith, his wife and his mother pleaded with post leaders to do something about the soldier's erratic behavior.
The details came to light in documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the El Paso Times.
After the shootings -- an unidentified Fort Bliss soldier also was wounded -- Army psychiatrists determined that Polanco, who served a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq, suffers from a combat-stress disorder.
They said he could not participate in his defense, and he was sent to a Bureau of Prisons psychiatric hospital, where he has been periodically evaluated to see whether he has recovered enough to face court-martial on murder and attempted-murder charges.
read more here
77 personnel injured after Taliban hit Afghan coalition base
NATO: 77 personnel injured after Taliban hit Afghan coalition base
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 11, 2011 12:08 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Most of the injured troops are Americans, a U.S. defense official says
At least two Afghan civilians are killed in the attack
Gen. John R. Allen: The attack says more about what the Taliban cannot do
"Their only ability to influence the battlefield" is often to go for a high-profile attack, he says
(CNN) -- At least two Afghan civilians are dead and as many as 77 NATO personnel were injured after Taliban militants struck a coalition base in Afghanistan, officials said.
The injured troops were "mostly" Americans, a U.S. defense official said Sunday.
The incident occurred Saturday, the eve of the 10th anniversary of al Qaeda's attack on the United States on 9/11.
The truck bombing took place in the central-east province of Wardak, and those killed were Afghan laborers, said Shahidullah Shahid, the Wardak governor's spokesman.
"This attack was a high-profile attack. It was a pretty significant suicide vehicle bomb," Gen. John R. Allen, commander of coalition and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux Sunday.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault. NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed the attack was carried out by a Taliban suicide bomber.
read more here
ALSO
3 Okla. soldiers killed in Afghanistan attack
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 11, 2011 11:54:30 EDT
OKLAHOMA CITY — Three Oklahoma National Guard soldiers have been killed in an attack with small arms in Afghanistan.
The Defense Department on Sunday released the names of the soldiers after their family members had been notified of the Friday deaths.
Killed were 26-year-old Sgt. Bret D. Isenhower of Lamar, 26-year-old Spc Christopher D. Horton of Collinsville and 20-year-old PFC Tony J Potter of Okmulge. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack in Patkia Province.
read more here
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 11, 2011 12:08 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Most of the injured troops are Americans, a U.S. defense official says
At least two Afghan civilians are killed in the attack
Gen. John R. Allen: The attack says more about what the Taliban cannot do
"Their only ability to influence the battlefield" is often to go for a high-profile attack, he says
(CNN) -- At least two Afghan civilians are dead and as many as 77 NATO personnel were injured after Taliban militants struck a coalition base in Afghanistan, officials said.
The injured troops were "mostly" Americans, a U.S. defense official said Sunday.
The incident occurred Saturday, the eve of the 10th anniversary of al Qaeda's attack on the United States on 9/11.
The truck bombing took place in the central-east province of Wardak, and those killed were Afghan laborers, said Shahidullah Shahid, the Wardak governor's spokesman.
"This attack was a high-profile attack. It was a pretty significant suicide vehicle bomb," Gen. John R. Allen, commander of coalition and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told CNN's Suzanne Malveaux Sunday.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault. NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed the attack was carried out by a Taliban suicide bomber.
read more here
ALSO
3 Okla. soldiers killed in Afghanistan attack
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 11, 2011 11:54:30 EDT
OKLAHOMA CITY — Three Oklahoma National Guard soldiers have been killed in an attack with small arms in Afghanistan.
The Defense Department on Sunday released the names of the soldiers after their family members had been notified of the Friday deaths.
Killed were 26-year-old Sgt. Bret D. Isenhower of Lamar, 26-year-old Spc Christopher D. Horton of Collinsville and 20-year-old PFC Tony J Potter of Okmulge. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack in Patkia Province.
read more here
Many military service members have served multiple tours of duty post 9/11
Many military service members have served multiple tours of duty post 9/11
By Justo Bautista / The Record (Hackensack N.J.)
Sunday, September 11, 2011
HACKENSACK, N.J. - Cleveland Atwater, the night manager at a ShopRite in Rochelle Park, N.J., spent his first tour in Iraq leading a Marine fire team against insurgents in Fallujah.
"We took fire every day and we fired every day," he said. Three men in his unit were killed. Back home, he was initially wary of strangers. "I was always on guard," he said. Less than two years later, he was deployed again.
In the war on terrorism, that is one of the enduring legacies of the 9/11 attacks. The Marine slogan "The few, the proud" sums up the situation for all of the service branches. They are stretched to their limits.
Since 9/11, less than 1 percent of Americans have been doing the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of the more than 2 million soldiers who have served in those war zones, nearly 800,000 have been deployed more than once, according to the Department of Defense.
But Atwater, 34, said he never thought about statistics while dodging rocket-propelled grenades.
"All the guys that went over there were hard chargers," he said. "They wanted to be there.
The draft ended in 1973, and it is unlikely to be revived. But a draft won’t solve anything if draftees don’t want to fight, some veterans say.
"It’s not a numbers game," said Eric Hollenstein, 27, a Riverdale, N.J., police officer who served with Atwater. "It’s about heart. I want people that volunteer and want to be there."
read more here
By Justo Bautista / The Record (Hackensack N.J.)
Sunday, September 11, 2011
HACKENSACK, N.J. - Cleveland Atwater, the night manager at a ShopRite in Rochelle Park, N.J., spent his first tour in Iraq leading a Marine fire team against insurgents in Fallujah.
"We took fire every day and we fired every day," he said. Three men in his unit were killed. Back home, he was initially wary of strangers. "I was always on guard," he said. Less than two years later, he was deployed again.
In the war on terrorism, that is one of the enduring legacies of the 9/11 attacks. The Marine slogan "The few, the proud" sums up the situation for all of the service branches. They are stretched to their limits.
Since 9/11, less than 1 percent of Americans have been doing the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of the more than 2 million soldiers who have served in those war zones, nearly 800,000 have been deployed more than once, according to the Department of Defense.
But Atwater, 34, said he never thought about statistics while dodging rocket-propelled grenades.
"All the guys that went over there were hard chargers," he said. "They wanted to be there.
The draft ended in 1973, and it is unlikely to be revived. But a draft won’t solve anything if draftees don’t want to fight, some veterans say.
"It’s not a numbers game," said Eric Hollenstein, 27, a Riverdale, N.J., police officer who served with Atwater. "It’s about heart. I want people that volunteer and want to be there."
read more here
After a decade of grief and recovery, nation remembers 9/11
After a decade of grief and recovery, nation remembers 9/11
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 11, 2011 7:02 a.m. EDT
The Tribute in Light, a tribute honoring those who died in the 9/11 attacks, shines behind the Empire State Building.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Moments of silence will be observed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania
Obama will visit all three sites on Sunday
343 fallen New York City firefighters are honored at a memorial service
A child born weeks after 9/11 tells his late father, "I really like it when people compare me to you"
New York (CNN) -- Ten years ago today, America's sense of security was shattered in a series of attacks that tested the will and resolve of the American public.
A surreal day of death and destruction emerged as planes plummeted from crystal blue skies and pierced through the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, averting what many believe would have been another catastrophic attack in Washington.
The nation will pause Sunday to mark the anniversary of the attacks that killed 2,977 people.
Silence will spread across New York City at 8:46 a.m. -- the time when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center a decade ago.
read more here
By the CNN Wire Staff
September 11, 2011 7:02 a.m. EDT
The Tribute in Light, a tribute honoring those who died in the 9/11 attacks, shines behind the Empire State Building.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Moments of silence will be observed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania
Obama will visit all three sites on Sunday
343 fallen New York City firefighters are honored at a memorial service
A child born weeks after 9/11 tells his late father, "I really like it when people compare me to you"
New York (CNN) -- Ten years ago today, America's sense of security was shattered in a series of attacks that tested the will and resolve of the American public.
A surreal day of death and destruction emerged as planes plummeted from crystal blue skies and pierced through the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, averting what many believe would have been another catastrophic attack in Washington.
The nation will pause Sunday to mark the anniversary of the attacks that killed 2,977 people.
Silence will spread across New York City at 8:46 a.m. -- the time when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center a decade ago.
read more here
"As if they guessed they might not see each other again"
The easy way to start this day of sadness would be to just find a few of the thousands of stories reflecting the anniversary of September 11, 2001. That horrible day caused ten years of war.
What started off with this
The count is different depending on which site you go into but considering no matter what number we read, we'll never know the numbers for sure. The numbers do not include suicides due to this day. As sad as those numbers are, that dark day in our history was just the beginning.
iCasualties.org has the number of servicemen/women killed in Iraq at 4474 and in Afghanistan at 1762. Again, the true number will never really be known because suicides are not counted if they are died after they left the military. The VA doesn't count them unless they were in their system.
Everyday 18 veterans end their lives by their own hands. These men and women managed to have the will to live through combat but lost it back home when they were supposed to be safe once more and out of danger. Home to them became more dangerous than war.
Every American changed that day but for the men and women who answered the call of their country, the changes never stopped, the threats to their lives have not ended and their memories of that dark day have been added onto by 3,650 more days.
Considering a young soldier serving today was not even a teenager when the planes hit the Towers ten years ago, their memories of a nation living in peace have come from history books because their lives have been filled with the threat of more attacks.
Here is a story that should be read this morning so that we never forget that day in America has not ended.
What started off with this
Number of 9-11 Deaths
At least 2,985 people died in the September 11, 2001, attacks, including:
19 terrorists
2,966 victims [2,998 as of Spring 2009]
All but 13 people died on that day. The remaining 13 later died of their wounds. One person has died since the attacks, of lung cancer. It is suspected to have been caused by all the debris from the Twin Towers.
There were 266 people on the four planes:
American Airlines Flight 11 (crashed into the WTC): 92 (including five terrorists)
United Airlines Flight 175 (crashed into the WTC): 65 (including five terrorists)
American Airlines Flight 77 (crashed into the Pentagon): 64 (including five terrorists)
United Flight 93 (downed in Shanksville, PA): 45 (including four terrorists)
There were 2,595 people in the World Trade Center and near it, including:
343 NYFD firefighters and paramedics
23 NYPD police officers
37 Port Authority police officers
1,402 people in Tower 1
614 people in Tower 2
658 people at one company, Cantor Fitzgerald
1,762 New York residents
674 New Jersey residents
1 NYFD firefighter killed by a man jumping off the top floors of the Twin Towers
The count is different depending on which site you go into but considering no matter what number we read, we'll never know the numbers for sure. The numbers do not include suicides due to this day. As sad as those numbers are, that dark day in our history was just the beginning.
iCasualties.org has the number of servicemen/women killed in Iraq at 4474 and in Afghanistan at 1762. Again, the true number will never really be known because suicides are not counted if they are died after they left the military. The VA doesn't count them unless they were in their system.
Everyday 18 veterans end their lives by their own hands. These men and women managed to have the will to live through combat but lost it back home when they were supposed to be safe once more and out of danger. Home to them became more dangerous than war.
Every American changed that day but for the men and women who answered the call of their country, the changes never stopped, the threats to their lives have not ended and their memories of that dark day have been added onto by 3,650 more days.
Considering a young soldier serving today was not even a teenager when the planes hit the Towers ten years ago, their memories of a nation living in peace have come from history books because their lives have been filled with the threat of more attacks.
Here is a story that should be read this morning so that we never forget that day in America has not ended.
Wounded in Iraq: A Marine's Story
SEP 6 2011
Five years after a gunshot changed his life, the author reflects on what a decade of war has cost Americans
Reuters
I cry whenever I think of a memorial service I attended in Iraq. From the back of the hot, packed room next to the chaplain's office, I looked down the center aisle and saw six sets of boots, rifles, helmets, and dog tags.
Six Americans had lost their lives defending their country. I had seen these Marines hug each other before heading out on patrol -- real hugs, as if they guessed they might not see each other again.They had been in Iraq for a while and knew how dangerous every mission was.
Blood and treasure are the costs of war. However, many news articles today only address the treasure -- the ballooning defense budget and high-priced weapons systems. The blood is simply an afterthought. Forgotten is the price paid by our wounded warriors. Forgotten are the families torn apart by lengthy and multiple deployments. Forgotten are the relatives of those who make the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country. As we look back on 9/11, we should also remember all those who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Fewer than 1 percent of Americans have fought in these wars, and it is important for the public to understand their effects on our fighters and those close to them.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, ushered in a new era of reservist involvement, and like many others, I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. As a Civil Affairs Team Leader, I was entrusted to help local Iraqi communities develop critical infrastructure projects. Our focus on foot patrols, combined with the intense heat and carrying 65 pounds of weapons and gear, made for long days. The enemy threat was omnipresent, and this was a chance to truly lead from the front. Being a part of this unit was the highlight of my military career, and in my short time there I learned a lot about leadership and troop welfare.
October 18, 2006, started out like any day over there, at least as much as I can remember of it. We had a newspaper reporter with us, and he rode next to me in the up-armored humvee. We stopped to inspect an Iraqi police station that had been shot up the night before, and then to check on a squad of Marines who guarded a notoriously dangerous area.
As we exited the vehicle at our next stop, I told the reporter about an enemy sniper in the area who had already killed several Marines, and warned him to move quickly. Based on this advice, he took a big step forward, and a bullet smashed into the wall next to us right where his head had been. The next bullet hit me behind my left ear and exited out my mouth, causing catastrophic damage along the way. Somehow, from hundreds of yards away, the sniper had managed to shoot me in the thin sliver of exposed skin between my helmet and neck guard. Miraculously the bullet did not hit my brain or my spinal cord. It did, however, tear apart my mouth and face. Although I initially did not lose consciousness, I do not remember anything from the sniper attack, nor anything else from the next two weeks.
The Marines closest to me thought that I had been killed instantly, but that did not deter Corpsman George Grant. With complete disregard for his own life, Corpsman Grant ran over to me, even though the sniper was still trying to pick off other targets. George saved my life that day. He performed rescue breathing and an emergency tracheotomy on me, even under these chaotic conditions. Ultimately, he was able to stabilize me long enough to get me to the closest medical facility. The Battalion Commander also stared down death to help provide emergency medical care to me.
read more here
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Carson City seeks solace after IHOP shooting
Carson City seeks solace after IHOP shooting
By Sandra Chereb - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Sep 10, 2011 13:08:42 EDT
But the emotional wounds are raw and will take much longer, if ever, to completely heal.
There is sadness, anger, grief and the unanswered question of why Eduardo Sencion — described as a quiet, friendly man who worked at his family’s market — stormed an IHOP restaurant with an assault rifle Tuesday, gunning down 11 people before taking his own life in the parking lot.
Four people in the restaurant were killed, including three uniformed members of the Nevada National Guard and a woman from South Lake Tahoe who was having breakfast with her husband.
read more here
By Sandra Chereb - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Sep 10, 2011 13:08:42 EDT
SANDRA CHEREB / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Pat Fike adds a bouquet to a memorial outside the IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev., for victims of a shooting that left five people dead, including the gunman, and seven injured.CARSON CITY, Nev. — From outward appearances, Carson City is returning to normalcy after eight minutes of terror at a family restaurant that left five people dead and seven wounded.
But the emotional wounds are raw and will take much longer, if ever, to completely heal.
There is sadness, anger, grief and the unanswered question of why Eduardo Sencion — described as a quiet, friendly man who worked at his family’s market — stormed an IHOP restaurant with an assault rifle Tuesday, gunning down 11 people before taking his own life in the parking lot.
Four people in the restaurant were killed, including three uniformed members of the Nevada National Guard and a woman from South Lake Tahoe who was having breakfast with her husband.
read more here
At Arlington, Obama pays tribute to war dead
At Arlington, Obama pays tribute to war dead
By Erica Werner - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Sep 10, 2011 13:17:58 EDT
ARLINGTON, Va. — President Barack Obama and first lady Michele Obama visited Arlington National Cemetery, where they paid tribute to members of the military killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At one gravesite, the Obamas stopped to talk with members of a family who appeared to be visiting a grave. The Obamas chatted a few minutes, posed for pictures and gave out handshakes and hugs.
Then the Obamas, hand in hand, strolled along one of the rows between identical white tombstones, pausing at some markers.
read more here
also from Army Times
By Erica Werner - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Sep 10, 2011 13:17:58 EDT
ARLINGTON, Va. — President Barack Obama and first lady Michele Obama visited Arlington National Cemetery, where they paid tribute to members of the military killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
CAROLYN KASTER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Barack Obama, center, and first lady Michelle Obama, second from right, pay their respects graveside with other visitors at Arlington National Cemetery on Sept. 10.One day before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Obamas made a pilgrimage to Section 60 of the cemetery. The White House says that’s the burial ground for military personnel killed in the two wars. The conflicts have claimed 6,213 military personnel.
At one gravesite, the Obamas stopped to talk with members of a family who appeared to be visiting a grave. The Obamas chatted a few minutes, posed for pictures and gave out handshakes and hugs.
Then the Obamas, hand in hand, strolled along one of the rows between identical white tombstones, pausing at some markers.
read more here
also from Army Times
14,000 rounds of ammunition missing from Fort Bragg
14,000 rounds of ammunition missing from Fort Bragg
From John Branch, CNN
September 10, 2011 12:55 a.m. EDT
Authorities are investigating the disappearance of nearly 14,000 rounds of ammunition from Fort Bragg.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The ammunition was reported missing on Wednesday
Authorities searched but could not find the ammunition
"The incident is currently under investigation," a spokesman says
(CNN) -- Authorities are trying to find 14,000 rounds of ammunition missing from Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
The ammunition went missing from the 1st Brigade Combat Team at Fort Bragg, said Staff Sgt. Joshua Ford.
The missing ammunition can be used in the M-4 and M-16 assault rifles.
read more here
From John Branch, CNN
September 10, 2011 12:55 a.m. EDT
Authorities are investigating the disappearance of nearly 14,000 rounds of ammunition from Fort Bragg.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The ammunition was reported missing on Wednesday
Authorities searched but could not find the ammunition
"The incident is currently under investigation," a spokesman says
(CNN) -- Authorities are trying to find 14,000 rounds of ammunition missing from Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
The ammunition went missing from the 1st Brigade Combat Team at Fort Bragg, said Staff Sgt. Joshua Ford.
The missing ammunition can be used in the M-4 and M-16 assault rifles.
read more here
10 years after 9/11: Marines, sailors honor victims, fallen brothers in Sangin
10 years after 9/11: Marines, sailors honor victims, fallen brothers in Sangin
Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division
Story by Cpl. Benjamin Crilly
SANGIN DISTRICT, Afghanistan - Aaron Denning always knew he wanted to become a Marine. He was just shy of a month into his freshman year at Royal High School and it was September of 2001. In a matter of days his life and the world changed forever.
The Simi Valley, Calif. native, like most people on the West Coast, woke up to the unfolding events on national television and continued to follow the events for the remainder of the day.
“I remember waking up shortly after six o’clock in the morning. My mom was already watching the news,” said Sgt. Denning, the team chief of Advisor Team 2 assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. “Then, just like every other day, I walked to school. Once I got to school, we didn’t do anything in every one of my classes, each classroom had the news and we all just watched in awe.”
Everyone can recall the mixed emotions of fear, anger and astonishment that pulsed through their veins as they witnessed the most deadly act of terrorism on U.S. soil. Their stories vary, but for the majority of them their daily lives were put on hold as the world became a very small place full of danger.
“That day brought life to a shocking halt, but I remember what my history teacher told us ‘this is going to change everyone’s life,’” reminisced the Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran. “When the war kicked off, I remember thinking that I wouldn’t get a chance to do my part for our nation. I enlisted before I graduated high school and shipped off for boot camp within a week of graduating.”
On the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Denning and the other Marines and sailors of 1/5 are doing their part serving in Sangin. Their dedication and diligence on a daily basis honors the memory of those lost in the attacks and their fallen brothers who paid the ultimate price for freedom over the past decade serving overseas.
read more here
Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division
Story by Cpl. Benjamin Crilly
SANGIN DISTRICT, Afghanistan - Aaron Denning always knew he wanted to become a Marine. He was just shy of a month into his freshman year at Royal High School and it was September of 2001. In a matter of days his life and the world changed forever.
The Simi Valley, Calif. native, like most people on the West Coast, woke up to the unfolding events on national television and continued to follow the events for the remainder of the day.
“I remember waking up shortly after six o’clock in the morning. My mom was already watching the news,” said Sgt. Denning, the team chief of Advisor Team 2 assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. “Then, just like every other day, I walked to school. Once I got to school, we didn’t do anything in every one of my classes, each classroom had the news and we all just watched in awe.”
Everyone can recall the mixed emotions of fear, anger and astonishment that pulsed through their veins as they witnessed the most deadly act of terrorism on U.S. soil. Their stories vary, but for the majority of them their daily lives were put on hold as the world became a very small place full of danger.
“That day brought life to a shocking halt, but I remember what my history teacher told us ‘this is going to change everyone’s life,’” reminisced the Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran. “When the war kicked off, I remember thinking that I wouldn’t get a chance to do my part for our nation. I enlisted before I graduated high school and shipped off for boot camp within a week of graduating.”
On the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Denning and the other Marines and sailors of 1/5 are doing their part serving in Sangin. Their dedication and diligence on a daily basis honors the memory of those lost in the attacks and their fallen brothers who paid the ultimate price for freedom over the past decade serving overseas.
read more here
We are Killing Ourselves Through Suicide
UPDATE
Ontario plan to help first responders deal with PTSD
February 1, 2016
And this is why it happened. Change came after Shannon Pennington wrote the following.
There are many people working on PTSD. I focus on the troops and veterans but there are others also focusing on other responders. Shannon Pennington of Firefighter Veteran Network is one of the dedicated people helping the firefighters. He sent this email that I believe should be known to everyone in this country.
Firefighter PTSD, Depression and Suicide -- Helping the Helpers
By JANE E. ALLEN, ABC News Medical Unit
Sept. 9, 2011
When Jack Slivinski Jr., a member of Philadelphia's elite fire rescue squad, killed himself last June, friends and family partly blamed the humiliating suspension he endured after he posed barechested for a firefighters' fund-raising calendar without department permission.
However, few people were aware that the caring, 32-year-old former Marine had been quietly drowning in survivor's guilt in the seven years since his supervisor suffered fatal burns racing into a collapsing building to rescue Slivinski and another firefighter, unaware they'd both gotten out.
"It was very apparent when you got to know Jack that it was something that was wearing on him," said Lt. Dan Cliggett, his close friend inside and outside the firehouse. Cliggett, along with Slivinski's wife, Carla, from whom he'd separated but hoped to reconcile, believe Slivinski had developed post-traumatic stress disorder because he felt responsible for the death of Lt. Derrick Harvey, 45.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made heroes of the 343 New York City firefighters who lost their lives rushing to save others at the World Trade Center. But that tragic, life-changing day has also had a more subtle impact on the nation's first responders: It created more awareness, if not empathy, for the sacrifices they make in putting others' lives ahead of their own physical and psychological health. It also generated changes in firehouse culture and attitudes.
read more here
Ontario plan to help first responders deal with PTSD
February 1, 2016
TORONTO - Ontario is launching a plan to help first responders deal with the impact of post traumatic stress disorder, which the government calls a serious and debilitating injury.
Labour Minister Kevin Flynn says the stress and danger faced by police, firefighters and paramedics can have a lasting and serious effect not only on their physical health, but their mental health as well.
And this is why it happened. Change came after Shannon Pennington wrote the following.
There are many people working on PTSD. I focus on the troops and veterans but there are others also focusing on other responders. Shannon Pennington of Firefighter Veteran Network is one of the dedicated people helping the firefighters. He sent this email that I believe should be known to everyone in this country.
Shannon Pennington ex IAFF Calgary
Executive Director
NAFFVN
F.I.R.E.S. Within Suicide Prevention Program
firefighterveteran on the world wide web:
Firefighter Veteran Network
July 11-12, 2011 BWI Four Points Sheraton
Baltimore Maryland
July On Line E Newsletter for North American Firefighter Veteran Network
We are Killing Ourselves Through Suicide
N.L.O.D.D./S
(Non Line of Duty Death, Suicides)
Welcome to this issue on a very complex and vitally important topic. I was invited along with several other organizations to attend the Issues of Depression and Suicide in the Fire Service.
First and foremost a huge thank you to the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation for taking this subject on under the Everyone Goes Home Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives Section 13, Mental Health and Wellness of the 16 components for our safety in the most dangerous profession in the world.
At there has been a direct presence and information about suicide prevention in our service using the F.I.R.S.T. S.T.E.P. H.O.P.E. program since 2006. From the meeting in Baltimore with the introduction of the N.A.F.F.V.N. program "F.I.R.E.S. Within", F.I.R.E.S. standing for Firefighter/First Responder Increased Risk Exposure to Suicide, information will be developed and posted on the web site and on the Everyone Goes Home web site under section 13, reinforceing the Fireline with resources, information and web based training.
These will be tools for the tool box you can use to combat the effects of depression and for some the "run into suicide". The information will provide H.O.P.E. through an understanding that "Suicides are Increasing" in our service as fast as any wild fire moves and consumes or as any structural fire erupts into open flame in the incipient stage and before 911 is called and rigs dispatched.
Line of Duty Death (L.O.D.D.) we in the fire service understand, perhaps all too well. Our response is quick, efficient, supportive to family and "rubber boot warriors" who clean the smoke sweat and tears off their faces and uniforms to render "last post" honors for the fallen and the family as well as the department affected. We are if nothing else good at the big "IT".
There is another bit "IT" however, lurking like an arsonist in the dark back alleys and open fields of our hearts and minds.
We are going to talk in this article about the other big "It" and what we can do and what is being done to "Cool, Quell and Quench the F.I.R.E.S. Within" each and every "Firefighter Veteran/First Responder working in the cities, towns, and rural "Fire Front Lines" of America and around the world.
Suicide became a very hot topic over the last 12 months and with the outbreak in Phoenix Fire Department along with other fire departments nationally, the all call went out to find the help and resources to start fighting back. For some, in our work, suicide was the "Only Option" and they could not see their way out of the emotional smoke of events that they had been witness to or a part of. For others the long dark road of "Depression" was a precursor to death. Those who took their life as a final act to stop the pain inside of them left behind a legacy of pain in the survivors, the widows and orphans, the very same ones we hold close under L.O.D.D. we somehow manage to abandon and leave behind under suicide circumstances. The shock waves go through the members immediate crew and department and cloud them in thoughts of what went wrong.
Firefighter Brad Pasishnek out of Local 255, I.A.F.F. Calgary Alberta Canada. One of ten suicides in the local. Brad took a skill saw to his neck to commit his final act in life. He left behind a wife, Christine and his two young boys, Connor and Daniel. I talked with Christine about the conference and she gave me permission to talk about Brad if it would make a difference to those who would be there and to firefighters who need to know that Brad lived a firefighterveterans life and died from the stress. She wants you to know that her widows struggle to raise her and Bradley's children is taking place without access to any support programs that could make a difference to their lives. Do you think people that we could do a little better than to abandon them beyond a mere token assist on getting the pension details sorted out for a survivor?
Depression is much like the smoke in a room that has become dormant and is waiting for a sudden inrush of air in order to ignite itself into a full blown back draft of emotions that explodes and runs wild within our heads. Somewhere between the head and the heart we are connected to the events that affect us in our line of work and the inch and a half hose needs to be gated back to a safe working emotional pressure so that we can start to talk about what is going on inside of us. From flashover to the free burning state the depression we experience in the attic or the basement, our heads or our guts, is consuming us in the form of suicide.
Too soon "IT" can consume us and the Perp Arsopnist that controls our thoughts and moods will gleefully retreat to find more firefighters to cull from our ranks.
N.L.O.D.D/S or Non Line of Duty Death/Suicides "CAN BE PREVENTED". It need not be so in the terrible outcome. F.I.R.E. Prevention is the key to the success of the American Fire Service when it comes time to face up to the reality of what has been going on in front of us in the crews, the departments and the culture that makes us who we are.
I did not enjoy the experience of being in a room of some 40 fire service leaders who were in Baltimore on July 11th and 12th 2011 to discuss the very topic of Depression and Suicide. It was not pretty, nor nice, nor happy, or joyous. It was worse than a basement fire fully involved with kids trapped. The honesty, and integrity that those who did attend, gave to the understanding, was to my way of thinking, powerfully presented. It was a drama like no other that I have experienced in my 26 years as a line firefighterveteran and as a member of my honor guard. It was however, necessary and a "wake up call" to take action.
In the near future from the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation under the leadership and direction of Executive Director Ronald J. Siarnicki,you will see on their web site under the section 13 mandate on line, web based training. Look for it. That should be available by the end of the year.
Additional resources to train rural clinicians on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (C.B.T.) will be made available. Peer support is vital in vetting those who are at risk and who need patience, understanding, love and support. If we give ourselves in service to our communities in need then we too have to recognize that we are a community and we have needs and those needs are inclusive of our protection of our own. The best peer practices are being developed but from what I heard in the symposium both Phoenix Fire, F.D.N.Y and Houston Fire have the skeleton models you can research for your own department.
The following individuals came to the symposium to present their side of the suicide equation which, is both academic and from life events which affected them.
Thomas Joiner, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology, Florida State University. Dr. Joiner lost his father to suicide some years ago. He not only came armed with his research but with his story of loss and movement beyond the loss into the understanding.
Matthew K. Nock, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, presenting in depth knowledge of suicide, the study into the math of statistics and how it all adds up.
Lanny Berman, Ph.D., ABPP, Executive Director, American Association of Suicidology who presented a solid overview of the problem and some examples of how to develop programs in prevention.
Ron Acierno, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Medical University of South Carolina, Director, PTSD Clinic, RJH VA Medical Center. (We are not alone with the suicide problem, veterans from the armed services are struggling to cope with this as well).
Additional heavy hitters were from the I.A.F.F., Rich Duffy, Assistant to the President,
Jeff Dill, Safety, Health and Survival Representative, International Association of Fire Chiefs, Jeff is conducting an on line survey of numbers of fire department suicides. He is the founder of Counseling For Firefighters (CFF) google. If you know of a suicide of a firefighterveteran then send your report to Jeff, confidential on line. We need the information so that grant applications can be made to help us study the problem in depth.
Thomas D. Miller MA, LPC, ALPS, ADC, West Virginia Director, National Volunteer Fire Council
Sandy Bogucki, Md, Ph.D. National Association of EMS Physicians,
Wendy Norris, Master Chaplain/Administrative Assistant, Federation of Fire Chaplains,
Karen Badger, Ph.D., MSW, Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, Assistant Professor, College of Social Work, University of Kentucky. A special thank you from me to Karen for her grounding while I was wanting to leap out of my chair and shout out the need to have a program for our widows and orphans left behind. We got that message to the participants and it will be a part of their focus and follow on for inclusion in the outcome and protocols.
A full list of participants is available from me if you request it via email.
Richard Gist, Ph.D. did stellar work keeping us on track and focused. Richard is the Principal Assistant to Fire Chief Kansas City (MO) Fire Department and a Research Associate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
In summary:
So, what can we say here about what is going on regarding suicides in our service?
It is a problem that can be resolved. IT IS OUR PROBLEM AND WE OWN IT AND WE CAN FIND THE SOLUTIONS NEEDED. We need to reach out with programs that are active and supportive. Look around the fire service and start talking to other departments that are doing just that. Talk to each other at the kitchen table about depression. Google the subject and look at firefighterveteran.com and the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation section 13 Life Safety Initiative.
We do not have to re invent anything....we do have to do what is obvious. Stop looking away from the problem of Depression and Suicide in our fire service and start to face it full on on the fireline where it can be put out. We have adopted a defensive mode for far too long and lost too many good firefighterveterans. It is time to go on the offensive and bring on the additional resources that are already out there.
The fire bucket is full of the tears from surivivors, the widows and orphans who have been left behind by those who have lost H.O.P.E. We can do better than this. We are going to do better and you will see the programs start to roll.
In conclusion I will say that this has not been an easy process nor should it be to bring this newsletter/article to the web. It is however necessary. Like it or not the body parts are starting to cause departments to stumble on them. They are awake and listening to the message from those who took their lives. Are you?
Additional Information on Suicide Prevention is Available from your Primary Care Physician, and your local community mental health care clinics.
The Sweeny Alliance writes on line in blog and newsletter form. Use Google to find this.
Above all else: Guard your mind at work and at home. Depression happens to us. We are not superhumans but rather very human and vulnerable in the work we do. Let's get connected to the information. Buddy up for close support. Find a clinician who will work with you if you do feel the need to seek help. There is life beyond depression and it is something that is survivable if you get the help that is out there. Know the signs and symptoms of depression. Understand that booze and drugs mask the symptoms of depression and only cause you to loose focus on the positive aspects of a healthy life and healthy life choices. You deserve better and your family deserves you complete and whole.......GET A MENTAL HEALTH CHECK UP ONCE A YEAR JUST AS YOU GET A PHYSICAL......IT MAKES COMMONS SENSE.
A special thank you to Christine Pasishnek and her sons. Peace and Prayers for the three of you.
"Lets Roll"
Stay safe
Shannon Pennington
NAFFVN
F.I.R.S.T. S.T.E.P. H.O.P.E.
F.I.R.E.S. WITHIN PREVENTION PROGRAM
Firefighter PTSD, Depression and Suicide -- Helping the Helpers
By JANE E. ALLEN, ABC News Medical Unit
Sept. 9, 2011
When Jack Slivinski Jr., a member of Philadelphia's elite fire rescue squad, killed himself last June, friends and family partly blamed the humiliating suspension he endured after he posed barechested for a firefighters' fund-raising calendar without department permission.
However, few people were aware that the caring, 32-year-old former Marine had been quietly drowning in survivor's guilt in the seven years since his supervisor suffered fatal burns racing into a collapsing building to rescue Slivinski and another firefighter, unaware they'd both gotten out.
"It was very apparent when you got to know Jack that it was something that was wearing on him," said Lt. Dan Cliggett, his close friend inside and outside the firehouse. Cliggett, along with Slivinski's wife, Carla, from whom he'd separated but hoped to reconcile, believe Slivinski had developed post-traumatic stress disorder because he felt responsible for the death of Lt. Derrick Harvey, 45.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made heroes of the 343 New York City firefighters who lost their lives rushing to save others at the World Trade Center. But that tragic, life-changing day has also had a more subtle impact on the nation's first responders: It created more awareness, if not empathy, for the sacrifices they make in putting others' lives ahead of their own physical and psychological health. It also generated changes in firehouse culture and attitudes.
read more here
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