Dogs Being Trained To Help Soldiers Suffering From PTSD
By: SHEILA PARKER
Published: September 21, 2011
FORT STEWART, GA - WSAV --
Dogs are man's best friend. Some are also trained to help with tasks like search and rescue or guiding the visually impaired. Others offer psychological and emotional comfort to our fighting men and women in uniform. News Three introduces you to a program -- helping veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
The dogs are being trained to do incredibly helpful things -- open doors, refrigerators and cabinets, turn on lights and deliver their leash -- but it's the more intangible things they do that help the men and women suffering from post traumatic stress function on a day to day basis.
Sgt. Joshua Campbell says, “For me...loud public areas are very, very scary for me... Where there's a lot of people and I have no control it really gives me a lot of anxiety. What the dog does for me is acts like a second set of eyes and ears, you know, and she does it intuitively. I don't have to ask her to do it." He’s had his dog Jackie for three months and says, “The dog for me is the same as a wheelchair is for someone else…her just being with me gives me the ability to not necessarily cure me but help me work to that point, you know, just having a... Like a buddy system is what it feels like for me…she will be trained to notify me, let me know about people behind me. There's commands for her like "pop in the corner" where she can look around corners that I can't see and also cover my 6, you know, military terminology that they can do to let you know."
After three deployments led to post traumatic stress, working with Jackie has helped Sergeant Campbell rejoin society. He says, “It's still small steps but getting out of the house more, for instance, it's really hard for us to get going. We can't leave the house very much and we have to with the dog because the dog needs to be exercised. The dogs need to be, you know, taken care of and treated properly, so that gets us out."
read more here
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Soldier Deals with Life After PTSD Breakdown
Soldier Deals with Life After PTSD Breakdown
Retha Colclasure
9/21/2011
The wounds of war aren`t always visible. More people are becoming aware of that. One year after a PTSD breakdown, one soldier`s family is glad he`s still alive.
One year ago tonight, Brock Savelkoul went into a convenience store in Watford City with guns. He then drove off, drunk, and led law enforcement on a high-speed chase that ended in a standoff in an attempt at suicide by cop.
Today, his friends and family are glad he`s still alive.
There`s nothing quite like a soldier`s homecoming. But after the hugs, the kisses and the tears of joy over the reunion, many soldiers are faced with the different reality of civilian life.
"You come back, you`re thrown into civilian life, and you`re rewired," said Joan Daigle, who`s a friend of the Savelkoul family.
That`s something Daigle found out when her son returned home and suffered from severe post traumatic stress disorder.
Daigle said, "I had no clue what was coming."
Many family members don`t. That`s why when Brock Savelkoul took off in a pickup truck, drunk, with weapons and suffering from a PTS blackout his family didn`t know what to think.
"It was a complete shock," said Angie Heinze, Brock`s sister. "It was a nightmare, this can`t be my brother. I knew it wasn`t the real Brock, had to be something else going on."
Brock had been diagnosed with PTSD, but the diagnosis wasn`t enough.
read more here
Retha Colclasure
9/21/2011
The wounds of war aren`t always visible. More people are becoming aware of that. One year after a PTSD breakdown, one soldier`s family is glad he`s still alive.
One year ago tonight, Brock Savelkoul went into a convenience store in Watford City with guns. He then drove off, drunk, and led law enforcement on a high-speed chase that ended in a standoff in an attempt at suicide by cop.
Today, his friends and family are glad he`s still alive.
There`s nothing quite like a soldier`s homecoming. But after the hugs, the kisses and the tears of joy over the reunion, many soldiers are faced with the different reality of civilian life.
"You come back, you`re thrown into civilian life, and you`re rewired," said Joan Daigle, who`s a friend of the Savelkoul family.
That`s something Daigle found out when her son returned home and suffered from severe post traumatic stress disorder.
Daigle said, "I had no clue what was coming."
Many family members don`t. That`s why when Brock Savelkoul took off in a pickup truck, drunk, with weapons and suffering from a PTS blackout his family didn`t know what to think.
"It was a complete shock," said Angie Heinze, Brock`s sister. "It was a nightmare, this can`t be my brother. I knew it wasn`t the real Brock, had to be something else going on."
Brock had been diagnosed with PTSD, but the diagnosis wasn`t enough.
read more here
Camp Lejeune Chaplain briefs service members about combat stress
Chaplain briefs service members about combat stress
Posted: Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:00 am
Pfc. Nik S. Phongsisattanak Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
When service members deploy, there are many things they sacrifice. They sacrifice the luxury of taking refreshing showers, fresh home-cooked meals, and most of all - the time they could be spending with their loved ones at home.
During deployments, Marines and sailors leave a lot behind, and when they return, common perception is that life should be grand, according to Lt. Commander John C. Rudd, command chaplain with Deployment Processing Command East, MCB Camp Lejeune. But, the weight of past experiences on their shoulders can be a lot to carry.
Rudd holds briefs that address combat stress. The briefs are for a small number of individuals, which include active-duty and reserve Marines and sailors, as well as contractors, who are augmented from their original units to temporarily support another unit. The brief is required for all augmented personnel.
Posted: Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:00 am
Pfc. Nik S. Phongsisattanak Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
When service members deploy, there are many things they sacrifice. They sacrifice the luxury of taking refreshing showers, fresh home-cooked meals, and most of all - the time they could be spending with their loved ones at home.
During deployments, Marines and sailors leave a lot behind, and when they return, common perception is that life should be grand, according to Lt. Commander John C. Rudd, command chaplain with Deployment Processing Command East, MCB Camp Lejeune. But, the weight of past experiences on their shoulders can be a lot to carry.
Rudd holds briefs that address combat stress. The briefs are for a small number of individuals, which include active-duty and reserve Marines and sailors, as well as contractors, who are augmented from their original units to temporarily support another unit. The brief is required for all augmented personnel.
"When I returned from my deployment, I wanted to go back to where I left off," said Rudd. "But things change as time passes. The general principle is realizing and admitting that time has passed and I'm not where I used to be, so I'm going to have to do the hard work of figuring out where I am right now and finding my new norm.
read more here
Families still waiting for National Guard to cover damages from fire
Herriman fire victims still awaiting payment one year later
BY KATIE DRAKE
The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Sep 21 2011
Robin Smugala still has the picture of her scorched, smoking home taken exactly one year ago, a damaged but still-standing victim of the fire that wreaked havoc on the Herriman hillsides.
While repairs on the home are almost complete, the couple is one of many still waiting for the National Guard to pay for the damage. The fire was sparked during a live-fire training exercise at the Army’s Camp Williams, on the southern side of the mountain.
Herriman residents have filed roughly 1,300 claims since the fire, and the Army has paid out about $4.3 million to cover the damage. But as of Wednesday, 34 claims remain open, leaving families like the Smugalas wondering if the Army National Guard will honor its promise to put things right.
read more here
BY KATIE DRAKE
The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Sep 21 2011
Robin Smugala still has the picture of her scorched, smoking home taken exactly one year ago, a damaged but still-standing victim of the fire that wreaked havoc on the Herriman hillsides.
While repairs on the home are almost complete, the couple is one of many still waiting for the National Guard to pay for the damage. The fire was sparked during a live-fire training exercise at the Army’s Camp Williams, on the southern side of the mountain.
Herriman residents have filed roughly 1,300 claims since the fire, and the Army has paid out about $4.3 million to cover the damage. But as of Wednesday, 34 claims remain open, leaving families like the Smugalas wondering if the Army National Guard will honor its promise to put things right.
read more here
Names released of couple found dead at Luke Air Force Base Post Office
Glendale police release names of couple found dead at Luke base
by Eddi Trevizo, Lisa Halverstadt and John Genovese on Sep. 20, 2011, under Arizona Republic News
Glendale police have released the names of a Goodyear couple found dead in a post office on Luke Air Force Base.
Gaudioso Gamilla, 62, and Vilma Gamilla, 61, were found with multiple stab wounds about 7 p.m. Sunday, Glendale police said.
It could be a murder-suicide, although Sgt. Brent Coombs, a Glendale police spokesman, said the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office would make that determination.
Officials said the bodies were found in an area where military mail is processed, a spot not accessible to the general public.
Over the weekend, a staff sergeant from Luke Air Force Base contacted Goodyear police to report that his father, a Department of Defense civilian employee at the base post office, was missing. Goodyear officials contacted the base, and military investigators found a vehicle parked outside the post office after business hours, prompting a search inside.
read more here
by Eddi Trevizo, Lisa Halverstadt and John Genovese on Sep. 20, 2011, under Arizona Republic News
Glendale police have released the names of a Goodyear couple found dead in a post office on Luke Air Force Base.
Gaudioso Gamilla, 62, and Vilma Gamilla, 61, were found with multiple stab wounds about 7 p.m. Sunday, Glendale police said.
It could be a murder-suicide, although Sgt. Brent Coombs, a Glendale police spokesman, said the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office would make that determination.
Officials said the bodies were found in an area where military mail is processed, a spot not accessible to the general public.
Over the weekend, a staff sergeant from Luke Air Force Base contacted Goodyear police to report that his father, a Department of Defense civilian employee at the base post office, was missing. Goodyear officials contacted the base, and military investigators found a vehicle parked outside the post office after business hours, prompting a search inside.
read more here
Suicide Rate Among Troops Alarms Pentagon for 59 seconds?
Stunned,,,simply stunned. I read the headline and thought, great, there has to be an amazing video connected to it, but wow, I was totally wrong. It wasn't even a minute long. How alarmed can they be?
Jonathan Woodson, Assistant Secretary of Defense Health Affairs, said that suicide was a "permanent solution to a temporary problem" ignoring the evidence that with all the years of "research" into military suicide and combat PTSD, the results seem to be the DOD has been trying to get around a permanent problem with a temporary solution.
You can't cure PTSD but you can heal it. What the DOD has come up with on fighting PTSD is like having the best bullets in the world without anything to put them into.
Jonathan Woodson, Assistant Secretary of Defense Health Affairs, said that suicide was a "permanent solution to a temporary problem" ignoring the evidence that with all the years of "research" into military suicide and combat PTSD, the results seem to be the DOD has been trying to get around a permanent problem with a temporary solution.
You can't cure PTSD but you can heal it. What the DOD has come up with on fighting PTSD is like having the best bullets in the world without anything to put them into.
Suicide Rate Among Troops Alarms Pentagon (Video)
September 21, 2011
By Beth Ford Roth
Pentagon officials have grown alarmed at the growing suicide rate among servicemembers as Suicide Prevention Month grows to a close. According to a Pentagon Report:
1,100 servicemen and women committed suicide in 2005 to 2009 — one suicide every day and a half. The Army’s suicide rate doubled in that time.
Navy veteran Ann Longboy has joined the chorus of military voices trying to bring awareness to suicide prevention. Longboy shared her story on the Defense Centers for Excellence website about how her own suicidal thoughts in 1987 as a young Sailor were stopped from being put into action by her Navy leadership. She writes of how grateful she was to her leadership for intervening, because the consequences of suicide hit home for her in 2004 when her younger brother took his own life:
read more here
Medal Awarded for 101st Airborne Vietnam-Era Covert Op
Medal Awarded for Vietnam-Era Covert Op
September 22, 2011
Knight Ridder
by Howard Altman
It was September 1968, and Richard Crawford was on a secret mission in a country where U.S. troops weren't supposed to be.
Crawford, now a Lakeland resident, was inside one of several helicopters headed to Laos on a mission to rescue a reconnaissance team that had come under heavy fire. Over the course of several hours, the helicopters were shredded by fire. Two crashed and several soldiers were injured, but the reconnaissance team was saved.
From a written eyewitness account by Roger F. Lockshier, Specialist 5/E-5Black Angels Co., 101st. Airborne Division:
September 22, 2011
Knight Ridder
by Howard Altman
It was September 1968, and Richard Crawford was on a secret mission in a country where U.S. troops weren't supposed to be.
Crawford, now a Lakeland resident, was inside one of several helicopters headed to Laos on a mission to rescue a reconnaissance team that had come under heavy fire. Over the course of several hours, the helicopters were shredded by fire. Two crashed and several soldiers were injured, but the reconnaissance team was saved.
From a written eyewitness account by Roger F. Lockshier, Specialist 5/E-5Black Angels Co., 101st. Airborne Division:
"We rolled in for the pick-up and immediately started receiving tremendous amounts of automatic weapons fire. I could hear and feel our helicopter getting hit with bullets as we laid down our machine-gun, 40mm, & rocket fire. Scott and I stepped out onto the skids and proceeded to lay down a non stop blanket of M-60 fire."read more here
It was another harrowing day in the life of the secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group, a highly classified U.S. special forces unit that conducted covert operations before and during the Vietnam War. It was created more than two decades before U.S. Special Operations Command.
For more than four decades after making their way out of that harrowing firefight, the men, led by a now 68-year-old Crawford, have been fighting another battle.
One for recognition. And honor.
Military families say war takes toll on them too
I don't know what it is like to help my husband pack for deployment. I don't know what it is like to get up every morning and know suddenly I have to do everything plus worry about him while he is in combat or what it is like to worry about a car pulling up in front of the house with strangers preparing to give me the news he isn't coming home.
When I was growing up I was surrounded by veterans. My uncles were WWII veterans and my Dad was a Korean vet. My Mom and her sisters knew what it was like to go through those years. I was born well after they all came home. Even though it was clear they were changed by what they experienced, they seemed to be doing fine.
When Vietnam veterans, like my husband came home, wives like me had no clue how much they would change in just a year. My husband came home in 1971 but we didn't meet until 1982, so I had no idea what he as like before Vietnam. Honestly before I met him, I was like most people in the country, ignoring what was going on. When he enlisted at the age of 17, I was only 10. I was in what was called Jr. High, now called Middle School when he came home at the age of 19. Up until the age of 23 when we met, I didn't want to know what war was like.
All that said, I understand why young wives and husbands want to avoid learning about war just as much as they want to avoid learning about PTSD. I get it. I understand how someone could want to push all of it out of their head. What I don't get is the idea of ignoring it will make it all go away.
If everything available to today's veterans and families was available to us when we had nothing to learn from, our lives would have been much different. Our parents wouldn't talk about it and the Internet was still a pipe dream. It was very hard to find other families connected to Vietnam but really easy to find families connected to the protestors.
You don't know how lucky you are to grow up in the technology age when information and support is available with Google search. Lucky living with PTSD? Absolutely because if you have knowledge you have the tools you need to help them heal. As with everything else, if you never learn how to use the tools, you can't fix anything. Take the time to learn what PTSD is and then you'll be amazed with the simple fact you saw then through their darkest days arriving years later with a strong bond and a strong marriage. Not learning what PTSD is a guaranteed divorce and quite possibly standing by a grave because they committed suicide. When they feel as if you are all they have and you turn against them out of ignorance, they feel they have lost all hope. Fight this battle by their side and then you can look back 30 years later knowing the battle was well worth it.
When I was growing up I was surrounded by veterans. My uncles were WWII veterans and my Dad was a Korean vet. My Mom and her sisters knew what it was like to go through those years. I was born well after they all came home. Even though it was clear they were changed by what they experienced, they seemed to be doing fine.
When Vietnam veterans, like my husband came home, wives like me had no clue how much they would change in just a year. My husband came home in 1971 but we didn't meet until 1982, so I had no idea what he as like before Vietnam. Honestly before I met him, I was like most people in the country, ignoring what was going on. When he enlisted at the age of 17, I was only 10. I was in what was called Jr. High, now called Middle School when he came home at the age of 19. Up until the age of 23 when we met, I didn't want to know what war was like.
All that said, I understand why young wives and husbands want to avoid learning about war just as much as they want to avoid learning about PTSD. I get it. I understand how someone could want to push all of it out of their head. What I don't get is the idea of ignoring it will make it all go away.
If everything available to today's veterans and families was available to us when we had nothing to learn from, our lives would have been much different. Our parents wouldn't talk about it and the Internet was still a pipe dream. It was very hard to find other families connected to Vietnam but really easy to find families connected to the protestors.
You don't know how lucky you are to grow up in the technology age when information and support is available with Google search. Lucky living with PTSD? Absolutely because if you have knowledge you have the tools you need to help them heal. As with everything else, if you never learn how to use the tools, you can't fix anything. Take the time to learn what PTSD is and then you'll be amazed with the simple fact you saw then through their darkest days arriving years later with a strong bond and a strong marriage. Not learning what PTSD is a guaranteed divorce and quite possibly standing by a grave because they committed suicide. When they feel as if you are all they have and you turn against them out of ignorance, they feel they have lost all hope. Fight this battle by their side and then you can look back 30 years later knowing the battle was well worth it.
As deployment looms, military families say war takes its toll on them, too
Posted: Thu, Sep 22, 2011
By Juliana Keeping
AnnArbor.com Health and Environment Reporter
National Guard solider Drew Cummings smiles as he poses for a photograph with his wife Amy and their 4-year-old daughter Ella in their Milan apartment.Leaving his wife, Amy, and young daughter, Ella, was the hardest thing Drew Cummings had experienced when he left for Iraq in 2008.
Melanie Maxwell I AnnArbor.com
“She’s standing there, watching me go, and I could hear her sobbing, saying ‘Please don’t go,’ and Ella was crying. It was awful,” he said.
It turned out the year-long separation during war would be the easy part.
The family's biggest battle hit when Drew came home.
Drew and Amy Cummings’ marriage hit rock bottom in the months following his return in late 2008 from his first deployment with the Michigan Army National Guard.
Now, Drew is set to deploy for a second time with the Michigan Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Unit. Its call sign is the Viking Battalion.
Drew, 25, will leave Amy, 27, and Ella, 4, for one year.
He extended his contract with the National Guard in order to deploy to Afghanistan again. Cummings will make the trip with fellow soldiers Neil Gikas, 26 and his superior, and Adam Betz, profiled on AnnArbor.com on 9/11. All three will share their stories with AnnArbor.com in the series "Vikings War" until the deployment ends.
Cummings and Betz, 30, know deployment can take a toll on families. Betz and his wife divorced following the battalion's 2008 deployment. Cummings came home full of rage and unable to sleep. For months, Cummings refused to acknowledge anything was wrong.
“It’s got to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Amy said, tearing up. “The hardest situation I’ve ever had to deal with. Afterwards is the worst.”
Drew was suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome, an anxiety disorder that can cause a wide range of symptoms, including nightmares, insomnia, depression, frightening thoughts, emotional numbness and other issues.
With help from doctors and counselors, they got through it.
read more here
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
9 missing WWII troops’ remains identified
9 missing WWII troops’ remains identified
By Will Lester - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 21, 2011 9:15:46 EDT
WASHINGTON — Nine servicemen who died when their bomber was shot down over the Pacific during World War II have been identified, and their remains will be buried in a single casket at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
The Pentagon says the men took off in their B-17E Flying Fortress named “Naughty But Nice” in June 1943 from an airfield in Papua New Guinea. The plane was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and then shot down by Japanese fighter aircraft.
Army Air Forces 1st Lt. William J. Sarsfield of Philadelphia; 2nd Lt. Charles E. Trimingham of Salinas, Calif.; Tech. Sgt. Robert L. Christopherson of Blue Earth, Minn.; and Tech. Sgt. Leonard A. Gionet of Shirley, Mass., will be buried as a group in a single casket Wednesday at Arlington.
read more here
I interviewed Tech. Sgt. Gionet's nephew Sunday at the Vietnam War Museum during the POW-MIA event.
Guns account for 70% of the military suicides
Guns and Military Connected Suicides
An Army Psychiatrist feels that gun control is an issue. A Fort Bragg Brigade Commander disagrees.
By Kelly Twedell
In June this past year, ELSPETH CAMERON RITCHIE, one of the Army's top psychiatrists posted a story in Time Magazine about the reality of the issue at hand involving suicide and guns in the Army.
Guns account for 70% of the military suicides.
According to Ritchie, in theater, these deaths are typically linked to government-issued weapons. Back at home, they are usually by the service member's personal weapon. Do you know anyone in the military who does not own at least one firearm?
After his involvement in hundreds of cases, including investigations at Fort Bragg he attributes both alcohol and easy access to weapons as a major theme.
"This is especially true in the impulsive suicides, those precipitated by an acute break-up or getting in trouble in work", said Ritchie.
Having been around Army communities for 14 years, other root causes that have surfaced are financial issues, morale when dealing with operational tempo (OPTEMPO) tied to deployments, and family matters.
read more here
An Army Psychiatrist feels that gun control is an issue. A Fort Bragg Brigade Commander disagrees.
By Kelly Twedell
In June this past year, ELSPETH CAMERON RITCHIE, one of the Army's top psychiatrists posted a story in Time Magazine about the reality of the issue at hand involving suicide and guns in the Army.
Guns account for 70% of the military suicides.
According to Ritchie, in theater, these deaths are typically linked to government-issued weapons. Back at home, they are usually by the service member's personal weapon. Do you know anyone in the military who does not own at least one firearm?
After his involvement in hundreds of cases, including investigations at Fort Bragg he attributes both alcohol and easy access to weapons as a major theme.
"This is especially true in the impulsive suicides, those precipitated by an acute break-up or getting in trouble in work", said Ritchie.
Having been around Army communities for 14 years, other root causes that have surfaced are financial issues, morale when dealing with operational tempo (OPTEMPO) tied to deployments, and family matters.
read more here
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