Wounded warriors share tales of recovery, hope
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Nov 4, 2011 13:09:32 EDT
Apparently, wounded warriors who find a way to overcome grievous injuries tend to share a common characteristic: a wicked sense of gallows humor.
“My friends all looked at me like they’d seen a ghost,” said retired Sgt. Army Bryan Anderson, recalling the minutes after he was hit by a roadside bomb in October 2005, shredding his legs and slicing off his left hand. “I felt I needed to say something, so I reached up and grabbed one’s arm and said, ‘Holy f---, do you think I’ll ever get lucky again?’ It put ’em right on track and they went to work and saved my life.”
“I was in this really dark place, and well, for me, it’s truly dark,” quipped Steve Maguire, blinded in Vietnam by a mine while on patrol with his Army Ranger platoon.
“The sniper was obviously very capable, because he almost shot the reporter in front of me and the Marine behind me. My dad says that even in Iraq, they know who the lawyers are,” joked retired Marine Maj. Justin Constantine, a former member of the judge advocate general corps who was shot in the head by a sniper on Oct. 18, 2006.
Anderson, Maguire and Constantine were among nine veterans who shared miraculous stories of survival, recovery and adaptation following horrific injuries for a television special, the Wounded Warrior Experience, to air on Veterans Day on the Pentagon Channel. The panel discussion was held Thursday, as part of the American Veterans Center’s 14th annual convention in Washington, D.C.,
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Friday, November 4, 2011
Darkhorse:A Marine's Death, And The Family He Left Behind
A Marine's Death, And The Family He Left Behind
by TOM BOWMAN
November 3, 2011
A year ago, nearly 1,000 U.S. Marine officers and enlisted men of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment deployed to restive Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. By the time their tour ended in April 2011, the Marines of the 3/5 — known as "Darkhorse" — suffered the highest casualty rate of any Marine unit during the past 10 years of war. This week, NPR tells the story of this unit's seven long months at war — both in Afghanistan and back home.
Last year, on Dec. 6, Kait Wyatt was up early, making breakfast, when the doorbell rang at her home on the Camp Pendleton Marine base.
She opened the door. Two Marines stood there.
"I wanted it to be them telling me that he was OK, that he was hurt or something along those lines. But I knew," Kait recalls.
"I automatically knew Derek had passed away," she says.
Her husband, Cpl. Derek Wyatt, was serving in Afghanistan with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, known as "Darkhorse."
read more here
Link to the following stories
As Casualties Grew, So Did Marine Families' Fears(25) (34)
November 1, 2011 When the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment deployed to Afghanistan, they left behind families who were desperate for information and grew frightened as the death toll grew. For 25 families, the news they received was the worst possible.
On All Things ConsideredPlaylist
An Afghan Hell On Earth For 'Darkhorse' Marines
An Afghan Hell On Earth For 'Darkhorse' Marines(79) (50)
October 31, 2011 A year ago, the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment arrived in Sangin, a Taliban haven in southern Afghanistan, for a seven-month deployment. Known as "Darkhorse," the battalion sustained a higher casualty rate than any other Marine unit during the 10-year Afghan war.
On All Things ConsideredPlaylist
TIMELINE: The Deadly Afghan Mission
Afghan Success Carries A Price For Commander(38) (24)
October 30, 2011 In Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Jason Morris led the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, which suffered the highest casualty rate of any Marine unit during the past 10 years of war. The "Darkhorse Battalion" commander says the unit's mission was a success — but he will live with the burden of those deaths.
On All Things ConsideredPlaylist
TIMELINE: 'Darkhorse' Marines' Deadly Mission
Timeline: 'Darkhorse' Marines' Deadly Afghan Mission(2) (7)
October 30, 2011 A year ago, the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment — known as "Darkhorse" — deployed for southern Afghanistan. When they returned home to Camp Pendleton seven months later, they had lost 25 men and suffered close to 200 wounded.
by TOM BOWMAN
November 3, 2011
A year ago, nearly 1,000 U.S. Marine officers and enlisted men of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment deployed to restive Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. By the time their tour ended in April 2011, the Marines of the 3/5 — known as "Darkhorse" — suffered the highest casualty rate of any Marine unit during the past 10 years of war. This week, NPR tells the story of this unit's seven long months at war — both in Afghanistan and back home.
Last year, on Dec. 6, Kait Wyatt was up early, making breakfast, when the doorbell rang at her home on the Camp Pendleton Marine base.
She opened the door. Two Marines stood there.
"I wanted it to be them telling me that he was OK, that he was hurt or something along those lines. But I knew," Kait recalls.
"I automatically knew Derek had passed away," she says.
Her husband, Cpl. Derek Wyatt, was serving in Afghanistan with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, known as "Darkhorse."
read more here
Link to the following stories
As Casualties Grew, So Did Marine Families' Fears(25) (34)
November 1, 2011 When the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment deployed to Afghanistan, they left behind families who were desperate for information and grew frightened as the death toll grew. For 25 families, the news they received was the worst possible.
On All Things ConsideredPlaylist
An Afghan Hell On Earth For 'Darkhorse' Marines
An Afghan Hell On Earth For 'Darkhorse' Marines(79) (50)
October 31, 2011 A year ago, the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment arrived in Sangin, a Taliban haven in southern Afghanistan, for a seven-month deployment. Known as "Darkhorse," the battalion sustained a higher casualty rate than any other Marine unit during the 10-year Afghan war.
On All Things ConsideredPlaylist
TIMELINE: The Deadly Afghan Mission
Afghan Success Carries A Price For Commander(38) (24)
October 30, 2011 In Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Jason Morris led the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, which suffered the highest casualty rate of any Marine unit during the past 10 years of war. The "Darkhorse Battalion" commander says the unit's mission was a success — but he will live with the burden of those deaths.
On All Things ConsideredPlaylist
TIMELINE: 'Darkhorse' Marines' Deadly Mission
Timeline: 'Darkhorse' Marines' Deadly Afghan Mission(2) (7)
October 30, 2011 A year ago, the Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment — known as "Darkhorse" — deployed for southern Afghanistan. When they returned home to Camp Pendleton seven months later, they had lost 25 men and suffered close to 200 wounded.
WVU Creates First Ever Law-VA Partnership
WVU Creates First Ever Law-VA Partnership
Posted Thursday, November 3, 2011
WVU announced the partnership the same day at the University's third Veteran's Summit.
By Stacy Moniot
MORGANTOWN -- Veterans face numerous challenges when it comes to settling back into their civilian communities, but one thing veterans like Thomas Pierce know is how to be on time.
“We’d get in trouble for showing up five minutes late. We had to be 15 minutes prior. And then they changed that to 30 minutes prior because we had to be 15 minutes prior to 15 minutes prior.”
While the military teaches veterans to be punctual, it may not leave them other skills to achieve in civilian life.
How to apply for benefits, how to navigate civilian courts, how to balance work, education and military responsibilities are just some of the issues West Virginia University is working on to help veterans.
“There’s just so much stuff going on in the state and the area that people just don’t know about,” said Ben Maatman with WVU’s Office of Veterans Affairs.
read more here
Posted Thursday, November 3, 2011
WVU announced the partnership the same day at the University's third Veteran's Summit.
By Stacy Moniot
MORGANTOWN -- Veterans face numerous challenges when it comes to settling back into their civilian communities, but one thing veterans like Thomas Pierce know is how to be on time.
“We’d get in trouble for showing up five minutes late. We had to be 15 minutes prior. And then they changed that to 30 minutes prior because we had to be 15 minutes prior to 15 minutes prior.”
While the military teaches veterans to be punctual, it may not leave them other skills to achieve in civilian life.
How to apply for benefits, how to navigate civilian courts, how to balance work, education and military responsibilities are just some of the issues West Virginia University is working on to help veterans.
“There’s just so much stuff going on in the state and the area that people just don’t know about,” said Ben Maatman with WVU’s Office of Veterans Affairs.
read more here
Wounded warriors return to Iraq for closure
Wounded warriors return to Iraq for closure
November 3, 2011 4:10 PM
(CBS News) The U.S. military has found that for all the physical and mental therapy it provides for troops wounded in the war, it was missing a crucial therapy: soldiers and Marines wanted to return to the battlefield where they were injured. Operation Proper Exit takes wounded warriors back in an effort to provide closure that often leads to better lives for these veterans and their families. Scott Pelley follows one group to Iraq on an emotional journey to relive their traumatic experiences for a "60 Minutes" report to be broadcast Sunday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Steven Cornford needed to return to help get over the feeling that he caused the death of his lieutenant, who was killed coming to his aid on the battlefield. "It's something that haunts me every day. I see his face every time I close my eyes to go to sleep at night," he tells Pelley. "I blame myself a lot, because I-- got hit first, and he was coming to get me. I just-- I want to be able to lay it to rest, like he is, because I know he's in a better place. I just--I know he would want me to."
Despite being shot in the shoulder, Cornford carried his lieutenant, Phillip Neel, a mile to get medical attention. Cornford was awarded the Silver Star.
read more here
November 3, 2011 4:10 PM
(CBS News) The U.S. military has found that for all the physical and mental therapy it provides for troops wounded in the war, it was missing a crucial therapy: soldiers and Marines wanted to return to the battlefield where they were injured. Operation Proper Exit takes wounded warriors back in an effort to provide closure that often leads to better lives for these veterans and their families. Scott Pelley follows one group to Iraq on an emotional journey to relive their traumatic experiences for a "60 Minutes" report to be broadcast Sunday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Steven Cornford needed to return to help get over the feeling that he caused the death of his lieutenant, who was killed coming to his aid on the battlefield. "It's something that haunts me every day. I see his face every time I close my eyes to go to sleep at night," he tells Pelley. "I blame myself a lot, because I-- got hit first, and he was coming to get me. I just-- I want to be able to lay it to rest, like he is, because I know he's in a better place. I just--I know he would want me to."
Despite being shot in the shoulder, Cornford carried his lieutenant, Phillip Neel, a mile to get medical attention. Cornford was awarded the Silver Star.
read more here
Anti smoking drug may increase suicide risk, study says again and again
These reports started to come out in 2008 but as you can see from this report from CNN, they haven't done anything about it.
VA $30 lab rats and Chantix Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Anti-addiction drugs linked to depression Thursday, April 24, 2008
Anti smoking drug may increase suicide risk, study says
November 3rd, 2011
The popular quit-smoking drug Chantix may increase the risk of suicide and suicidal thoughts in some patients, says a new report.
Researchers looked at more than 3,000 reports of "neuropsychiatric adverse events" - unexpected problems that result in risk or harm to the patient -relating to smoking cessation drugs, and found that more than 90% of the reports were associated with Chantix use.
"We compared people who took nicotine replacement therapy, Zyban and Chantix," said Dr. Curt Furberg, a study author, and professor of public health sciences at Wake Forrest Baptist Medical Center. "There was an increase in suicides even with nicotine replacement therapies, but Chantix was 8-10 times worse."
But the findings were in stark contrast to a report released just last week by the Food and Drug Administration, which claimed no difference in suicide risk between the three therapies. Furberg says the FDA's report was woefully underpowered.
[The FDA report] looked at hospitalized events," he said. "82% of all serious adverse events do not lead to hospitalization, so that means they missed 82% of all of the serious adverse events."
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ANTHONY J. PRINCIPI DEFENDS HIMSELFA few more links showing this has been an ongoing problem that has still not been corrected.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Anti-smoking drug study investigated
Audrey Hudson (Contact)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs are preparing to determine who was at fault for failing to quickly notify participants in a smoking-cessation study about the potentially dangerous side effects of a drug they were prescribed and whether the study will be ended.
Dr. Tom Puglisi, chief officer of the VA's Office of Research Oversight, says he has several concerns that veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were prescribed the smoking-cessation drug Chantix without receiving timely written information or warnings about its possible side effects, which can include psychosis and suicidal behavior.
click link above
VA $30 lab rats and Chantix Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Anti-addiction drugs linked to depression Thursday, April 24, 2008
Suicide numbers show DOD and VA don't have a clue
There are things in the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that are working. More veterans are seeking help for PTSD because more of them know what it is, know there is help available and for them, the stigma of PTSD comes with being part of a tiny percentage of of the general population. Less than 10% of the population of America served in combat. That's the good news. The rest is bad.
No one was asking about why so many veterans felt the need to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline even with all the years of attempts to treat PTSD and all the programs that came out in the last ten years. Numbers of suicides went up just as calls flooded into the hotlines.
No one was asking why so many were still committing suicide with all the money spent, publicity on PTSD or charities popping up all over the country claiming to be devoted to treating PTSD.
What should cause all of us to be even more infuriated is the simple fact the DOD and the VA kept repeating failed attempts with the same deadly results.
Other recent reports
Military Suicides systemic and growing
Every 80 minutes another veteran takes his own life
Report says number of suicides unacceptable
No one was asking about why so many veterans felt the need to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline even with all the years of attempts to treat PTSD and all the programs that came out in the last ten years. Numbers of suicides went up just as calls flooded into the hotlines.
No one was asking why so many were still committing suicide with all the money spent, publicity on PTSD or charities popping up all over the country claiming to be devoted to treating PTSD.
What should cause all of us to be even more infuriated is the simple fact the DOD and the VA kept repeating failed attempts with the same deadly results.
Brief: DoD must alter suicide prevention plan
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Nov 3, 2011 18:17:03 EDT
Military suicides threaten the health of the all-volunteer forces and the Pentagon is “losing the battle” to prevent them, with active-duty members taking their own lives at a rate of one every 36 hours, a new report concludes.
The policy brief, “Losing the Battle: The Challenge of Military Suicide,” from the Washington-based Center for a New American Security think-tank, exhorts the Defense Department to change protocols and policies that it says hinder suicide-prevention efforts.
It recommends changes ranging from establishing unit cohesion programs after deployments to encouraging commanders to speak with troops about their privately owned firearms.
Service in wartime, say authors Margaret Harrell and Nancy Berglass, can chip away at three endemic human factors that keep people from committing suicide. Some psychiatrists have identified these as belongingness, usefulness and a natural aversion to pain or death.
According to the report, service members feel a strong sense of belonging when they are in a field unit, but this may wane after they transfer from their unit or leave the military.
read more here
Other recent reports
Military Suicides systemic and growing
Every 80 minutes another veteran takes his own life
Report says number of suicides unacceptable
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Long-term unemployment worsens for vets
Report: Long-term unemployment worsens for vets
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Nov 3, 2011 13:26:06 EDT
For veterans of all ages, long-term unemployment has become a serious problem, according to a new Labor Department report.
For Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans, whose unemployment rate averaged 11.5 percent last year, 36 percent were unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, according to the Nov. 3 report.
Veterans of other eras were less likely to be unemployed, but those who lost their jobs faced a much longer search. For veterans 65 and older trying to re-enter the workforce after losing a job, 53 percent were unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. The median duration of unemployment for these older veterans was 31 weeks, the report said.
RELATED READING:
Jobs bill by Veterans Day looks unlikely (Nov. 2)
Long-term unemployment is also slightly worse for veterans than nonveterans, the report said, with veterans having a median duration of 24 weeks of unemployment, one more than for nonveterans.
read more here
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Nov 3, 2011 13:26:06 EDT
For veterans of all ages, long-term unemployment has become a serious problem, according to a new Labor Department report.
For Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans, whose unemployment rate averaged 11.5 percent last year, 36 percent were unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, according to the Nov. 3 report.
Veterans of other eras were less likely to be unemployed, but those who lost their jobs faced a much longer search. For veterans 65 and older trying to re-enter the workforce after losing a job, 53 percent were unemployed for 27 weeks or longer. The median duration of unemployment for these older veterans was 31 weeks, the report said.
RELATED READING:
Jobs bill by Veterans Day looks unlikely (Nov. 2)
Long-term unemployment is also slightly worse for veterans than nonveterans, the report said, with veterans having a median duration of 24 weeks of unemployment, one more than for nonveterans.
read more here
Navy veteran could be evicted for hanging flag
UPDATE
Nov 04, 2011
Oregon veteran allowed to display his flag
By Michael Winter, USA TODAY
Navy veteran Edward Zivica can display his American flag on Veterans Day and other holidays and not be evicted from his senior housing complex in Springfield, Ore., the apartment management now says.
read more here
Navy veteran could be evicted for hanging flag
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 3, 2011 15:25:44 EDT
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — Edward Zivica, a 70-year-old who served in the Navy in the 1960s, faces a hard choice come Veterans Day next week: He can obey the rules and remain in his apartment complex, or he can follow his tradition of hanging the American flag outside his place.
The managers at his subsidized housing project here have given him notice he'll be evicted if he again violates the rules against putting anything on the exterior walls.
That notice came after the flag went up Oct. 27 for Navy Day, one of several that Zivica marks by hanging it outside the community room near the main entrance. He'd gotten a letter from the management in June telling him to quit.
read more here
90,000 soldiers medically unfit for combat
90,000 soldiers medically unfit for combat
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Nov 3, 2011 13:51:38 EDT
Nearly 90,000 soldiers are either unfit for combat with health restrictions or are otherwise unavailable for combat, according to data released to USA Today.
Although the Army said it can fill combat brigades heading to Afghanistan with healthy soldiers — some rushed in at the last minute as units head overseas — the growing list of ill, injured or wounded is making the job tougher, military officials said.
“The problem of a growing population of not-medically ready soldiers has begun to erode the readiness of the Army,” the service’s surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, recently said at a military conference in Washington, D.C.
Army data show record numbers of soldiers either on the sick list, with limited-duty issues, or unfit and waiting months to receive their medical retirement. Plans are in place to reduce the Army by nearly 50,000 soldiers in coming years, further diminishing the pool of healthy GIs, said Claude Chafin, a spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee.
read more here
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Thursday Nov 3, 2011 13:51:38 EDT
Nearly 90,000 soldiers are either unfit for combat with health restrictions or are otherwise unavailable for combat, according to data released to USA Today.
Although the Army said it can fill combat brigades heading to Afghanistan with healthy soldiers — some rushed in at the last minute as units head overseas — the growing list of ill, injured or wounded is making the job tougher, military officials said.
“The problem of a growing population of not-medically ready soldiers has begun to erode the readiness of the Army,” the service’s surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, recently said at a military conference in Washington, D.C.
Army data show record numbers of soldiers either on the sick list, with limited-duty issues, or unfit and waiting months to receive their medical retirement. Plans are in place to reduce the Army by nearly 50,000 soldiers in coming years, further diminishing the pool of healthy GIs, said Claude Chafin, a spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee.
read more here
Rep. Todd Akin "Military’s Burn Pits Screwed Our Soldiers"
Congressman: The Military’s Burn Pits Screwed Our Soldiers
By Katie Drummond
November 3, 2011
A few months after he came home from Iraq, the Sergeant started having trouble breathing, and noticed numbness in his feet and hands. The military doctors he saw blamed his smoking habit: At 27-years-old, he’d been indulging in half a pack a day for five years. The Pentagon swore that the noxious smoke emanating from the military’s open-air burn pits — massive heaps of household trash, computer parts and even human waste that were used at bases in Iraq until last year, and are still being used in Afghanistan — weren’t at all responsible.
“We all knew that huge plumes of smoke going into the air, all the time, can’t exactly be good for you,” says the Sergeant, who requested anonymity because he fears reprisal from his commanding officers.
Now, one congressman wants the Pentagon to start paying attention to the accumulation of ailments. Rep. Todd Akin today announced a new bill that’d create a database of military personnel afflicted with health conditions they blame on burn pits.
“I have worked with a number of my constituents who were exposed to burn pits while serving in the military,” Rep. Akin, a Republican from Missouri, said in a statement. “The health consequences have been severe.”
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