Female vets talk joblessness, homelessness

Female vets talk joblessness, homelessness

(CBS News) Tens of thousands of troops are leaving military service and entering an often bleak job market. For women with families, it's especially difficult to find work and housing.

CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller traveled to Fayetteville, N.C., to visit with some female veterans who are looking for help to change their lives.

Shawn McLean is one of those veterans. She served in the Army for four years as a water treatment specialist. She told Miller, if she had to do her military service all over again, she would, because she "loved it."

But she's had no luck finding a full-time job since her discharge in 2008.

"I don't think when you get out, they actually point you in the right direction," McLean said.

"They give you a bunch of briefings, but they don't sit down (and say,) 'What is your next step?'"

Ruth Donaldson served in the Army for 10 years.

"I went to a place that I thought could give me a head start in life," Donaldson said.

Both McLean and Donaldson had been homeless -- living at a shelter for female veterans near Fort Bragg. It's called The Jubilee House, and was started by former Navy Chaplain Barbara Marshall.
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Two former VA employees sentenced for embezzling funds

Two former VA employees sentenced for embezzling funds from disabled veterans
Memphis Business Journal
Date: Thursday, December 29, 2011, 1:48pm CST
Related: Human Resources

Two former Veterans Affairs administrators were each sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday for conspiring to embezzle almost $900,000 from 10 veterans’ beneficiary accounts.

Jack Perry, 75, and Robert Tabbutt, 67, both of Memphis, devised a scheme to embezzle $896,239.43 from the beneficiary accounts of 10 disabled veterans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee which prosecuted the case.
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SW Idaho veteran struggles with huffing addiction

SW Idaho veteran struggles with huffing addiction
By: PATRICK ORR
12/29/11 8:33 AM
The Idaho Statesman
Aaron D. Draper doesn't remember standing in a field off Overland Road last summer, surrounded by dozens of cans of compressed air he'd just stolen from Walmart.

He doesn't remember sticking those 42 cans in his mouth and breathing in the aerosol fumes over and over.

All he remembers of July 19 is waking up at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center that night.

"I've tried to block out that day," said Draper, dressed in his inmate's uniform at the Ada County Jail last week. "I remember the police officer told me he wanted me to stay at Saint Al's (instead of going to jail), because I did so much damage to my (heart)."

Draper is addicted to "huffing," a practice in which people breathe in the propellants found in household spray cans to get high. Huffers even abuse something as seemingly benign as a can of compressed air.

The buzz occurs because of hypoxia, when oxygen is denied to the brain. Effects include lung damage and poisoning by the chemical propellants, which can even lead to fatal conditions like heart arrhythmia in rare cases.

Draper looks older than his 28 years. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army who says he served as a flight medic on Black Hawk helicopters and later at military hospitals in the mid-2000s, a career choice that he said led to his huffing addiction.

He has been through VA rehab at least twice and will enter again when he finishes his jail time for theft this winter.

"It's hard to explain," he said. "I know the dangers of it. ... I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person. I was more embarrassed than anything for asking for help."

Draper knows he has done permanent damage to his health.

"If I do this again," he said, "it's probably going to end up killing me."

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Ann Arbor police searching for missing man with PTSD

Sad Update
Police report finding body of missing Ann Arbor man
Posted: Sun, Jan 1, 2012
By Sven Gustafson
AnnArbor.com Freelance Journalist

Ann Arbor police said they have found the body of a man who has been missing since last week.
A police officer on routine patrol found Herbert Richard Harmsen, 60, dead in his vehicle around 1 p.m. Saturday in a remote area on the city’s south side.
Police have ruled the death as a suicide. Harmsen was reported to be suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Ann Arbor police searching for missing man with PTSD
Posted: Thu, Dec 29, 2011
By Julie Baker
News producer

Ann Arbor police have released a missing person poster in an effort to find 60-year-old Herbert Richard Harmsen, who was last seen Wednesday.

Harmen is depressed and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, police said.

He was driving a green 2003 Ford Focus with the Michigan license plate CJC3188. Harmsen is about 5'10" and 180 pounds.

If you have any information, contact Det. Stanford at 734-323-2628, call the tip line at 734-794-6939 or call 911.
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"I'll Go, a Soldier's Oath" tells it like it is

"I'll Go, a Soldier's Oath" tells it like it is. They serve for all of us.

This is a great song but what makes it more special is they are donating all the proceeds to military charities!

Uploaded by MusicUCanSee on Nov 10, 2011
A tribute to our Soldiers and Veterans. A Kelly's Lot song now available on i-Tunes On iTunes
Kelly is donating %100 of her i-Tunes proceeds from this song to military charities.

Song produced by: Perry Robertson and Scotty Lund. Video by: MusicUCanSee Productions and Axis 4 Studios. Produced by CJ Reagan.
Audio mastering: Mike Milchner/SonicVision Mastering Photo archives: Tim McGrath. Thanks to: Cahuenga General Store-NoHo CA.
Cameras: Howie Rogers, Jennifer Gilroy and CJ Reagan
Kelly's Lot are:
Kelly Zirbes - Vocals/Guitar
Perry Robertson - Guitar
Rob Zucca - Guitar
Matt McFadden - Bass
Scotty Lund - Drums

Fort Campbell army officials, veterans rally in support of Christopher Sullivan

Fort Campbell army officials, veterans rally in support of Christopher Sullivan
2:42 PM, Dec. 29, 2011
Written by
Tavia D. Green
The Leaf-Chronicle

The U.S. soldier’s creed to never leave a fallen comrade proves true on the battlefield and off and members of the 101st Airborne Division, past and present have rallied in the support of Specialist Christopher Sullivan, who was shot while on leave at his home in San Bernardino, Calif.

Sullivan, 22, has been in critical condition at the Arrow Head Regional Medical Center in San Bernardino, Calif. since being shot Friday night.

According to previous report, Sullivan was at his welcome home party, when an argument over football erupted between Sullivan's younger brother and Ruben Ray Jurado, 19.
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Iraq veteran suffered from PTSD and took his own life

December 29, 2011
Newsmakers: Vet's death still painful
Iraq veteran suffered from PTSD and took his own life

BY JAMES RUSSELL
jrussell@record-eagle.com

BELLAIRE — Joe Baker wishes his son asked for help when he returned from his second tour of war duty in Iraq.

Instead, U.S. Army Sgt. Joseph H. Baker II bottled up his emotions and ultimately took his own life.

"I did not know he was having night terrors, having stuff like that until after he was gone. We could have gotten help for him faster," said his father, Bellaire Fire Chief Joe Baker. "In the military, they're taught to go through things like this, that it doesn't matter what you see, you're supposed to soldier on, and not supposed to let this bother you. But if you bottle it up and do your job, eventually it's going to come back."

The younger Baker, 32, displayed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. In addition to terrifying nightmares, the alarms and loud noises he encountered as a volunteer with the Bellaire and South Torch Lake fire departments sometimes made him cringe and duck for cover.

On Jan. 21, he committed suicide. The military held a memorial service for Baker in February, but his father said officials rejected claims that war-related PTSD contributed to his death.
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Editorial Board is wrong on Joint Base Lewis-McChord and PTSD

The News Tribune Editorial Board is wrong on Joint Base Lewis-McChord and PTSD
by
Chaplain Kathie

The best place to start on this is the claim that "it’s gotten more aggressive about teaching soldiers to recognize the signs that may signal a colleague is contemplating suicide" because it has been going on for years. The claims of the military doing anything that works on PTSD has been trumped by reality. If anything they were doing was actually working, there would be a decrease in suicides, attempted suicides, arrests and a lot less phone calls to the Suicide Prevention Hotline. For the editors of TNT to make this kind of claim shows one thing. They have not been paying attention. If they had, they would be just as sickened by the outcomes as everyone else.

JBLM has problems, but it’s hardly ‘on the brink’ of disaster
Post by TNT Editorial Board
The News Tribune on Dec. 28, 2011
This editorial will appear in Thursday’s print edition.

Is Joint Base Lewis-McChord “on the brink,” as claimed in a Los Angeles Times article and headline Monday? (The brink of what is never spelled out, but it’s safe to assume that it’s not “on the brink of something good.”)

The Times cites an article that appeared a year ago in Stars and Stripes that described JBLM as “the most troubled base in the military.” That billing was based on the courts martial of a group of Stryker soldiers for murdering civilians in Afghanistan, a much-publicized – and disputed – complaint by Oregon National Guardsmen of second-class treatment at Madigan Army Medical Center, and increased steroid use among soldiers.

The Times article adds to the list by citing several suicides and crimes committed by soldiers who returned to the South Sound after deploying to war zones, including the tragic case in April of a combat medic being treated for depression and other conditions. He shot his wife and himself, and their 5-year-old son was later found dead in the family’s Spanaway home. (Read about that case here.) The “base on the brink” description of JBLM came from a local veterans group that was not named in the Times article. The reporter says the group is Iraq Veterans Against the War – hardly an unbiased observer.

It’s true that the Army has been slow to recognize the mental health issues facing its soldiers, especially combat troops who have had multiple deployments. But it is starting to address those issues. At Madigan this year, it opened the $52 million “warrior transition” barracks that can accommodate more than 400 wounded or psychologically impaired soldiers and their families.

And it’s gotten more aggressive about teaching soldiers to recognize the signs that may signal a colleague is contemplating suicide.

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This is the first point they missed.

It was around the same time the DOD came out with the flawed notion servicemen and women can "train their brains" to become tough enough to prevent PTSD.

1. REPORT DATE
01 NOV 2006
Methods:

“Battlemind” is the Soldier’s inner strength to face fear and adversity in combat with courage. The two components of Battlemind are self-confidence and mental toughness; strengths that all Soldiers must have to successfully perform in combat.

The key precept in Battlemind Training is that all Soldiers have the necessary skills to successfully transition home. By building on the Soldiers’ existing skills and inner mental strengths, the transitioning home process can be enhanced.

Through Battlemind Training, Soldiers are shown how their combat skills, if not adapted for home, may interfere with their transitioning process. Battlemind training focuses on ten specific skills, using the word B-A-T-T-L-E-M- I-N-D, and emphasizing how it is possible to avoid the problems that can occur when Soldiers go, in a matter of hours, from the battlefield to the home front.
Buddies (cohesion) vs. Withdrawal
Accountability vs. Controlling
Targeted Aggression vs. Inappropriate Aggression
Tactical Awareness vs. Hypervigilance
Lethally Armed vs. “Locked and Loaded” at home
Emotional Control vs. Anger/Detachment
Mission Operational Security (OPSEC) vs. Secretiveness
Individual Responsibility vs. Guilt Non-defensive (combat)
Driving vs. Aggressive Driving
Discipline and Ordering vs. Conflict
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The problem with this is it makes the soldiers believe it is their fault if they end up with PTSD, enforces the idea they are defective or mentally weak and did not train properly. Training them to face combat is what bootcamp is for. Evidently they haven't discovered that yet. Whatever else this program offers, which could be very beneficial, the rest of the message was trumped by telling them it is their fault if they end up with PTSD.

The fact is, this program doesn't work because everything it "attempted" to avoid increased, including drunk driving and minor crimes that have resulted in the necessity of communities offering Veterans Courts to get them help instead of jail time.

The common rate used by most experts on PTSD point to 1 out of 3, meaning 2 will walk away without PTSD. Some use 1 out of 5, meaning 4 will walk away from the same traumatic experience without PTSD. Any program claiming to prevent PTSD should have to prove the test subjects are among the group more likely to develop PTSD, but they didn't have to prove anything before this was put into practice in the DOD. Everything coming out of the DOD thus far has shown they don't understand what causes PTSD or makes one more apt to be suffering from it.

None of the reports coming out on combat and PTSD are new.

A copy of this hangs over my desk to remind me of what was known and when we knew it. It was a study done on Vietnam veterans. The report not only supported the need for Veterans Centers because of the reluctance of Vietnam veterans to go to the VA, but supported the need for them to be able to come together with others. Talk therapy was vital in healing these men and women, but as psychologist are being replaced by psychiatrists handing out prescriptions instead of listening, there is more numbing going on than healing.

The report also stated that there were 500,000 Vietnam veteran with PTSD along with warning the numbers would go up in the following 10 years. Two later reports put the number of suicides between 150,000 and 200,000. As you can see, the link between combat and PTSD has been studied for a very, very long time, so none of the new studies have shown any progress or we wouldn't be seeing higher negative reports.

We would be seeing more reports on the different types of PTSD being addressed. While there are many causes connected to different traumatic events, combat is in a class by itself. The duration has a lot to do with it because they do not feel safe while deployed then the fact of redeployment will not allow them to feel the threat is over. Keep in mind, most Vietnam veterans did one tour of duty. Some of the men and women of today's wars have been deployed multiple times. The number of exposures during deployment are one component to all of this but then there is the fact they are participants in them. They are not just bystanders. They are not responders showing up after the fact but we seem to be able to understand emergency responders with PTSD better. In New York they studied responders after 9-11 with PTSD even though they were not there when the planes hit the Twin Towers. These men and women are right there when it all happens and then exposed to more attacks.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord has been using the same type of program as Battlemind under Comprehensive Soldier Fitness "program aims to equip troops mentally Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum of Gulf War fame has been deployed to lead the military's new program to prepare soldiers for the psychic trauma of war and its aftermath." This just received another $125 million in funding even though there is no proof it has done any good at all. While the reporter Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times, said it was "new" it has been around since 2009.

The article also stated "The suicide rate among our soldiers is at an all-time high. The number of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress is also high. And the stress of long separations due to combat is felt by our family members too," Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff, wrote in an article about the program this year. "As such, we are starting not with a blank slate but rather with the challenge of having the preponderance of our force influenced in some way — both positively and negatively — by the effects of sustained, protracted conflict."

So how can a program like this be allowed to claim it is anything "new" when the results have been so deadly for this long?

When editors and reporters do not know what they are reporting on, we end up with them defending all the wrongs that have been done to the men and women serving this country. We end up with veterans still reluctant to go to the VA or seek help for PTSD because they have been "trained" to see PTSD as their fault. We see suicides go up at the same time the Suicide Prevention Hotline phone calls flood in. Had any of these programs worked, there wouldn't be so many reaching the point where suicides seems to be their only option. We see so many veterans being arrested there is a need for a special court for them. We see employers unwilling to hire them because they don't understand what PTSD or the simple fact that unlike the general population the combat veterans are actually better employees because of what their last job was.

We see thousands of claims waiting for processing yet this simple fact never makes it into the veterans suicide reports. If they do not have an approved claim, they are not counted by the VA. If they are not active military, they are not counted by the DOD. Each branch of the military has their own numbers but they only include active duty.

One more thing reporters and editors need to understand is the fact there are over 2 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan but very few of them are causing any kind of trouble. They have allowed the fear of PTSD take over the minds of the general public because they will not address the reality of what PTSD is, what causes it and what these men and women are like any more than they address what they need to heal.

Semper Fido: dogs helping vets with PTSD

Semper Fido: dogs helping vets with PTSD

Uploaded by calkinsmedia on Dec 28, 2011
Three canines and their handlers graduated from Semper Fido, a six-month non-profit program held at K-9 Basics in Evesham, N.J. that trains dogs how to help veterans with brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder. One in four service members returning from war suffers from the disorder, but the dogs help them assess their safety level and build confidence.

Battle doesn't end when wounded warriors come home

David Killeen: Battle doesn't end when wounded warriors come home
6:00 PM, Dec. 28, 2011
David C. Killeen
My View
Padre, I need to speak with you."

Robert is a wounded warrior in his early 20s who served in Iraq, and as he utters these words, I see an urgency in his eyes that I have learned to recognize as a pastor. His expression says: "I need to unload a whole bunch of stuff, and it's not going to be pretty."

Robert and I were at a Wounded Warrior Spiritual Retreat held by the Episcopal Diocese of Florida at the Cerveny Conference Center and Camp Weed in Live Oak. A partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project in Jacksonville, the ministry seeks to care for the spiritual wounds of veterans.

By New Year's Eve, all of our troops in Iraq will be home for the holidays. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, the lives of many warriors have been saved by the use of body armor and advances in battlefield medicine. That's the good news.

Robert's wounds are deep, but they can't be seen. He is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a common affliction for veterans returning from war. Robert has flashbacks of traumatic incidents. He sleeps only a couple of hours a night. A trip to the grocery store is nightmarish, because the aisles remind him of alleyways in Iraq.

He is also burdened by shame and guilt. He was an intelligence officer, responsible for gathering information on which missions were based. If he made a mistake, men and women that he personally knew died. Robert is haunted by the "what ifs." What if I had triple-checked that location? What if I went on that mission instead of my friend?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Rev. David C. Killeen is the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Tallahassee. He founded Wounded Warrior Spiritual Retreats in the Episcopal Diocese of Florida. Contact him at Dave.Killeen@saint-john.org.

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