Afghan military recruits found dealing drugs to US soldiers

So it is ok for the Afghans if the soldiers do drugs but not ok if they have a beer? Did we send our troops to protect drug dealers? Are they trying to kill our troops with drugs instead of bombs and bullets? Does any of this make any sense to you?

Afghan military recruits found dealing drugs to US soldiers, Army documents show
By Catherine Herridge
Published April 20, 2012
FoxNews.com

Afghan forces are being trained by the U.S. military to take over the mission by 2014, but new documents obtained by Judicial Watch through a request under the Freedom of Information Act show that some of the Afghan recruits stand accused of dealing drugs to U.S. soldiers.

“It's really troubling that our troops are being placed in this situation where they're under enough pressure as it is,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told Fox News. “But evidently our allies there are acting as drug pushers in some ways.”

Fitton and his investigators found that between January 2010 and December 2011, the Army investigated 56 soldiers in Afghanistan for the possession, use or distribution of opiates. Heroin was cited 26 times.
read more here

16 forgotten veterans in Tucson receive military funerals

16 homeless and indigent veterans honored today
Posted: Apr 20, 2012
TUCSON
Sixteen indigent and homeless Arizona veterans are being laid to rest today as part of a project conducted by members of the Arizona Missing in America Project, the Veterans Recovery Program.

The national organization locates unclaimed remains and works with VA offices to determine the veterans' status so they can provide a military honors service for them.
read more here

Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux's family hanging onto hope

Family of missing soldier holding on to hope
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.
The brother of a Fort Bragg soldier who has been missing for a week said Friday that the family remains confident that she is alive and will be found, despite the fact that police have no good leads in her disappearance.

"There is no doubt in my mind that we are going to find her alive," said Matt Henson of his sister, Pfc. Kelli Bordeaux.

Last Friday, Bordeaux, 23, of St. Cloud, Fla., was last seen around 1:20 a.m. leaving a bar on Ramsey Street in Fayetteville called Froggy Bottoms.

Officials at Fort Bragg reported her missing to Fayetteville police on Monday, when she didn't show up for duty.

Investigators were searching the area near the bar and interviewing patrons on Friday after a two-day search of a pond about 8 miles away, which was prompted by a tip, turned up nothing.

Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine said that detectives are still treating Bordeaux's disappearance as an active missing person's case but that they have "grave concerns" about her well-being.

A man who told police that he gave Bordeaux a ride home from the bar was arrested Friday on a charge of failing to provide his new address to Cumberland County authorities because he is a registered sex offender.
read more here

Fort Hood soldier died at 20 in hospital

Lynnwood soldier dies at Texas Army base
Herald Staff
April 20, 2012

A 20-year-old soldier from Lynnwood died Thursday of apparent natural causes at Fort Hood, Texas.

Army Spc. Joshua Aaron Martin was in the hospital when he died, an Army spokesman said. He declined to give any more details about the manner of death.
read more here

Soldier Accused In Bomb Plot Attacks Officers In Courthouse Elevator

Soldier Accused In Bomb Plot Attacks Officers In Courthouse Elevator
WACO (April 20, 2012)

Army Pfc. Jason Abdo, who’s accused of plotting to set off a bomb in a restaurant frequented by Fort Hood soldiers, attacked a U.S. marshal and a deputy sheriff who were escorting him back to jail Friday evening after a pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court in Waco.

Abdo and the two officers were in an elevator in the Waco Federal Building when he bit completely through his lip and then spat what one source said was a significant amount of blood on the two officers.

The incident happened after U.S. District Judge Walter Smith ruled that Abdo’s confession is admissible.

Smith made the ruling after hearing several hours of testimony Friday afternoon on a defense motion seeking to suppress evidence obtained at the time of Abdo’s arrest in July 2011 at a motel in Killeen.
read more here

Fort Hood Soldier Dies From Motorcycle Injuries

Fort Hood Soldier Dies From Motorcycle Injuries
Posted: Apr 20, 2012
FORT HOOD, Texas
(KCEN)
A Fort Hood soldier lost his life Thursday as the result of a motorcycle accident.

Twenty-six-year-old U.S. Army Specialist Cory Kendall Pieper of Delmare, New York died Thursday from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident while in Copperas Cove on April 13th.
read more here

Orlando based Wounded Times breaks half million hits

Orlando based Wounded Times breaks half million hits!
by Chaplain Kathie

In August of 2007 I was operating another blog when I received an email from a Marine. He was a loyal reader of my other blog (now used for just archive purposes) telling me that he went into the blog to read about PTSD. His issue was that I was doing political posts with my own crap, to put it nicely. My response to him is something I will always be ashamed of. I defended my right to speak my own mind on my own blog since I worked "so hard" for them and knew a lot. The email went on and on about my feelings. He sent me back an email asking me a very simple question. "Are you doing this for yourself or us?"

I cried!

Totally ashamed of myself, finally acknowledging the simple fact the men and women serving this one country are able to set their politics aside, but I couldn't do it sitting in the comfort of my office. I had not understood the reach of the blog any more than I thought about how my words would hurt someone else on the other side of the political wall. I was only thinking of myself and what I wanted to say. I am not an expert on politics but wow, was I full myself!

I sent the Marine another email and told him that as of that day, I would create another blog that was in fact for them. I thanked him for setting me straight and opening my eyes. That is how this blog was born.

My promise to him was that if I posted anything politically it would be because a politician did something wrong toward veterans, like saying they supported them while voting against them, while not caring what political party they were a member of. I would post if they did something good with the same attitude. Everyday I try to keep that in mind whenever I put my two cents into a post though not always perfectly.

I started studying PTSD in 1982 when I met my husband. (Yes, I'm that old.) I was 23 years old, which means over half my life has been dedicated toward getting people to understand what PTSD is, especially Combat PTSD, which needs to have a whole different approach toward treating it than other causes.

In 2001, I was enough of a expert with connections to know that the attacks on this country would send PTSD through the roof in Vietnam Veterans. After a year of trying to have a book on living with PTSD published, For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle, I decided to self-publish it in 2002 knowing how bad it was about to get. I figured after living with it for all those years, making mistakes and learning from them in my own life, it could help the newer families learn faster without all the heartaches.

By 2005, I understood that no matter how much I wrote about Combat PTSD, the younger veterans didn't want to read it. They wanted to be entertained. I taught myself how to make videos. Wounded Minds was the first one and this is the third version of it.



The first one was good enough to get this email when it was up on YouTube.

Katherine ~
I saw your PTSD presentation online and want to share it with our Sailors returning from Iraq/Afghanistan.
Thanks for providing this much needed information,
Ralph
YNCS Ralph Hensley

As you know now, in 2007, this blog was born with 25 years of experience to back it up.

I still wanted to know more so I could do more. In 2008 I became a Chaplain and spent the next two years taking as much training as possible on Crisis Intervention because it worked. The Chaplain training helped me to understand the best way to approach the spiritual connection to Combat PTSD. People walk away from traumatic events either thinking God was watching over them and that's why they survived or He abandoned them and they were paying for what they did wrong in their lives.

In 2010 I was no longer satisfied with the videos I was producing. I wanted to be able to do better but I also wanted to film the veterans I spent so much of my time with. The media didn't bother to cover the events I was attending and I thought the general public needed to see what so many veterans along with ordinary citizens were doing. I did what I usually do, went to school.

At Valencia College in the Digital Media world I was able to learn how to shoot and edit to tell stories veterans wanted to hear. Hard to believe two years has already come and gone and Monday I have my final exams. I'll have five certificates in Digital Media if I pass both of them. As you can see from the sidebar under "My Video" section, you can see I've been busy filming and love every minute of it.

Last year I agreed to become an Out Post and Home Front leader of Point Man International Ministries. I was totally shocked Dana Morgan wanted me to do it since I am not a veteran but knowing how important the work they do is, I said yes. So now when I go out and film, I have on my leather vest with the big Point Man Ministries patch on the back. Many conversations have started with total strangers because of the reputation Point Man has.

In all these years there have been many heartaches, especially when a family contacts me after someone they love committed suicide . I understand how they feel because my husband's nephew committed suicide because of his service in Vietnam. There have been a lot of joys when I have saved lives and when I see a family living together again. I have met so many remarkable people I would have not met otherwise and have seen a different part of this country few are aware of.

Now, my readers have given me the best gift possible. Faith enough in what I do that this blog has passed over half a million hits. You have no idea what all of you have just done for me! From the bottom of my heart, you have blessed me more than I could have imagined. All these years people have told me to give up and cover something else so that I'd expand my reach. I never thought a blog like this would reach as far as it has. 553,921 hits for 14,762 posts.

According to the Blog figures, this is as of right now, the top countries are

United States 379,705

France 34,073

Germany 21,533

United Kingdom 15,796

Canada 8,437

Bulgaria 5,958

Russia 5,019

Romania 2,762

Australia 2,694

Netherlands 2,231

This proves the rest of the world is watching how we treat our veterans as much as it shows people like you care too. Thank you for your visits and keeping me going so I can do what I do best everyday!

Wounded Iraq vet commits suicide

Local wounded Iraq vet commits suicide
by Mike Gooding
WVEC.com
Posted on April 20, 2012

NORFOLK -- A local former Army soldier whose grit and determination were an inspiration to many people in Hampton Roads has died at his own hand.

Jonathan Bartlett was just 19 when he lost both of his legs following an improvised explosive device attack in Iraq, back in 2004.

Bartlett never wanted anybody to feel sorry for him.

"Being shot at sucks, but I mean, it was a job I chose to do," he had said. "If the enemy had waited until my cabin was over the bomb instead of the engine, everyone would have died. Instead, no one died. I lost a few pounds. I'll be fine."
read more here

God-less chaplains in the military

When the news came out about atheists wanting their own Chaplain I thought it was a joke.

When you read what a Military Chaplain is supposed to do, it actually makes sense, even though I hate to admit it.

A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations.

Although the term chaplain originally had Christian roots,[1] it is generally used today in military organizations to describe all professionals specially trained to serve any spiritual need, regardless of religious affiliation. In addition to offering pastoral care to individuals, and supporting their religious rights and needs, military chaplains may also advise the executive on issues of religion, ethics, morale and morals. They may also liaise with local religious leaders in an effort to understand the role of religion as both a factor in hostility and war and as a force for reconciliation and peace.[2]

Military chaplains normally represent a religion or faith group but work with military personnel of all faiths and none. Some countries, like the Netherlands, also employ humanist chaplains who offer a non-religious approach to chaplain support. Groups such as the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers,[3] support the idea of such chaplains.

There have been a lot of complaints that haven't made the news lately regarding servicemen and women seeking spiritual help from a Military Chaplain but instead of being comforted, they are told they are going to hell unless they convert.

In the following article this statement shows it is much worse than we thought it was.

GRIFFITH: It went on and on telling me that I need to improve my spiritual fitness. But if I need help, I call this 1-800 number. So I called that 1-800 number, and I was basically just going to yell at whoever it was, and to my surprise this was a suicide hotline. I was told that I was suicidal because I was not religious.

I am a Chaplain but not a "Military Chaplain" even though I work with veterans and their families. While I am a Christian (Greek Orthodox) I help people no matter what group they belong to from where they are spiritually. If they do not believe in Christ as the Son of God, they are at least able to accept Him as a person, or at the very least, a good story of morality, love, compassion and forgiveness.

I hang out with guys covered with tattoos, love to drink beer, carry guns and they ride Harleys. Most claim to be a member of one denomination or another, but they do not attend a church. The Nam Knights have had two weddings in the last couple of years but they were at the club house. Rev. Al Paquette officiated. He is a prison pastor ministering to the jailed and forgotten by "polite society" and preaching about God's love.

RealSobriety.com Rev. Al Paquette, former badass biker, now bringing the message of hope and recovery into the darkest places on the planet. From documentary "Real Sobriety."

Real Sobriety Bonus: Rev. Al Paquette from Jill Heinerth on Vimeo.

The people I love and spend a lot of my time with would not fit in with what most "Christians" think they are supposed to be. Then again, there are a lot of churchgoers not acting very Christian at all. The only issue I have with the "atheists and non-believers" is when they try to take away from the believers because they use a "Christian symbol" as a memorial. As for the rest of what the following has to say, even I can now see the need for it.

Godless Chaplains
April 20th, 2012

LUCKY SEVERSON, correspondent: It was only fitting that the first parachutist out of the plane at this festival for atheists and non-believers at Fort Bragg is herself an atheist—Sargent Rachel Medley.

SARGENT RACHEL MEDLEY: I am an atheist and I’m a good person—have, you know, a great life and have great friends, and my service to my country is based on my personal morals which are help other people, be kinds to others, treat others as you would like to be treated.

SEVERSON: She would like to be treated with more respect, as would many of the troops attending this first ever event expressly for soldiers who don’t believe in God. Sargent Justin Griffith was one of the organizers.

SARGENT JUSTIN GRIFFITH: This is us coming out of the closet, you know, shattering that stained glass ceiling. We want to remove the stigma about atheists and whatever they think the word “atheist” means.

SEVERSON: As unlikely as it may seem, one token of respect they would like is an atheist chaplain. That’s a tall order considering that conservative evangelical clergy dominate the ranks of the chaplaincy. Organizations like the National Association of Evangelicals, the NAE, dispute any need for an atheist chaplain. Galen Carey is an NAE vice president.

GALEN CAREY: Well, evangelicals very strongly supported the men and women in uniform, and they want to see that their spiritual needs are met. I don’t think you would find many who could understand, frankly, the point of a chaplain for atheists.

SEVERSON: There are over 3000 chaplains all together. Ninety percent are Christian, even though only about 7 out of 10 soldiers claim to be Christian. There are also a handful of Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu chaplains. Jason Torpy, an Iraq veteran, wants to know why the much larger group of atheists or humanists, estimated to be about 40,000 soldiers, don’t have their own chaplain.
read more here

Watch Godless Chaplains on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Video captures hours following Canadian soldier's suicide

Video captures hours following soldier's suicide
by Leslie MacKinnon
Posted: April 20, 2012

In the Military Police Complaints Commission's cramped hearing room Thursday morning a hushed audience of lawyers and reporters watched a half hour video.

The video is part of a military investigation into the suicide by hanging of Cpl. Stuart Langridge who killed himself on March 15th, 2008.

The images show Cpl. Langridge's body suspended from a bar in his room at Edmonton Garrison barracks. The camera zooms in on his face and neck, and then circles around the room cataloguing Langridge's possessions, down to the T-shirts in his drawer.

Cpl. Langridge's parents - his mother Sheila and stepfather Shaun Fynes - were not in the room. They've been present most days as the Military Police Complaints Commission hears complaint into how the military handled the investigation into their son's death.

The Fynes pushed to have the video played at the hearing.

The military says Langridge committed suicide because he suffered from depression caused by a drug and alcohol addiction.

Langridge's parents say he had post-traumatic stress syndrome, which the military would not acknowledge, triggered by his tours in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

One of the Fynes' grievances is that their son's body was left hanging for four hours after it was discovered, to the point, they say, where people had to knock him out of the way to get in and out of the room. Shaun Fynes, a former police officer, told the military that as a policeman he was taught to cut a body down immediately as long as the knot is preserved.
read more here

Marine Corporal Garrett Carnes welcomed home

Crowd gathers to welcome injured Marine home
April 20, 2012

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Hundreds of people filled the streets of downtown Mooresville on Friday to welcome home a Marine who was wounded in Afghanistan. Corporal Garrett Carnes, 22, lost both of his legs in an explosion in February.

The Patriot Guard escorted Carnes and his family from Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md., to downtown Mooresville. The 400-mile trip started on Interstate 495, and then traveled to I-66 and down I-81.
read more here and wathdh two great videos

Fort Campbell soldier saves man and dog from house fire

Soldier saves local man, dog from house fire
Nick Spinelli
Fort Gordon Public Affairs

A Soldier assigned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, took time out of his recent visit to the Augusta area to save the life of a local resident.

While driving into town to visit his girlfriend March 23, Sgt. 1st Class Kelly John Barnes assisted Brandon Edwards in escaping his burning home.

“I decided to dive down overnight, so I turned on her street at around 2 a.m.,” Barnes said. “I called her to let her know I was in her neighborhood when I saw a glow through the tree line.”

According to Barnes, when he turned the corner he saw a house on fire. He told his girlfriend to call 9-1-1, then pulled over and went up to the house.
read more here

Pat Tillman’s widow ‘amazed’ at org’s growth

Pat Tillman’s widow ‘amazed’ at org’s growth
By Paola Boivin
The Arizona Republic
Posted : Friday Apr 20, 2012

During the extensive coverage that followed Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan, it was the face of his widow, Marie, that often stayed with us.

There was grace in her stoicism but profound sadness, too, as her grief played out on a national stage.

How would she move forward?

One part of the answer lies amid a crowd of tens of thousands of people who will inundate Tempe, Ariz., this weekend.

The eighth annual Pat’s Run, which benefits the Pat Tillman Foundation that Marie runs, will take place Saturday. Marie increased her involvement in the organization several years ago when she found herself finally able to reconcile the pain of the past with the promise of the future.

“It took time,” she said. “I certainly needed quite a few years of time and space, and to heal in a way that was right for me.”

Tillman, who walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army Rangers, was killed in Afghanistan in 2004. He was 27.
read more here

3 service members killed in Mali car crash

3 service members killed in Mali car crash
By Martin Vogl
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Apr 20, 2012 14:06:00 EDT

BAMAKO, Mali — Three American military personnel and three civilians died early Friday in a single-car crash in Mali’s capital, U.S. officials said. U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that the cause of the crash remains under investigation. read more here

Military: 11 now involved in Colombia Secret Service scandal

Military: 11 now involved in Colombia scandal
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Apr 20, 2012 15:12:40 EDT
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military on Friday said 11 service members are being investigated for alleged misconduct in Colombia. That’s up from the 10 personnel the military believed to be involved.

Six are from the Army, two each are from the Marines and Navy and one is from the Air Force, the military said. The Marine and Navy personnel are from San Diego and the Air Force member is from Charleston, S.C. The Army personnel are from 7th Special Forces Group.
read more here

Medicated military focus of Tribeca film

'OFF LABEL': Tribeca Film Captures Our Insatiable Appetite for Prescription Drugs
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
April 18, 2012

Courtesy Andy Duffy
Andy Duffy, 26, was prescribed dozens of drugs for post-traumatic stress, but they nearly destroyed his life.

Andy Duffy's first encounter with the world of drugs was as an Army medic at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq where he forced resistant prisoners to endure excruciating pain.

Sgt. Duffy says superior officers ordered him to inject the veins of prisoners with 14-gauge needles to hydrate -- and to intimidate -- them during hunger strikes.

"These needles are used for really massive trauma … not in the veins but to put a hole through the chest to relieve pressure," he said.

The Iowa City boy had signed up just days after his 17th birthday -- March 19, 2003 -- in the midst of war lust after 9/11.

Then in a 2006 attack by rebels, shrapnel tore apart his lower right flank and back as Americans readied to hand the prison over to Iraqi authorities. "They mortared us instead," said Duffy.

Many of his fellow soldiers never made it back. Duffy did in October of 2006, but with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a mountain of prescription drugs that he says only made him worse.

"It was obvious altering the chemicals in my brain was not the answer," he said. "My [PTSD] was not an imbalance, but from an experience."

The film is dedicated to Mary Weiss of Minneapolis, whose son Dan Markingson was admitted in 2003 to a psychiatric hospital with delusions and was prescribed the antidepressant Seroquel by his attending physician, who was involved in the marketing study of that drug.

Weiss said she believed her son was going to hurt himself and begged doctors to take him out of the study.

"He was legal age, so we couldn't," says Weiss in the film. "But he was deteriorating and gaunt and believed he was plagued by devils. He was psychotic."

After five months in the trial, at age 27, Markingson, slashed himself to death in a gruesome suicide. "They let him die," says his mother, Mary Weiss.

read more here

Camp Lejeune rifleman falls in Cape Fear river

Camp Lejeune rifleman falls in Cape Fear river, search efforts continue
By: News 14 Carolina Staff
4/18/2012
WILMINGTON — Search efforts resumed Wednesday for a Camp Lejeune Marine who fell into the Cape Fear River.

Authorities suspended the search for Lance Cpl. John Pruitt Tuesday night due to a lack of visibility.
read more here

Dr. Phil didn't care who he hurt with his "monsters" PTSD connection

Dr. Phil update, he blamed the media! April 28, 2012

"Some viewers expressed concern, and even disappointment, with the show’s original title, “Heroes to Monsters?” Our intent was to acknowledge the question so often cited in the media, not to make a statement, and to emphasize the severity of the pain and suffering our guests say they experience. In doing so, we unintentionally offended some of our viewers, and have therefore changed the title to more accurately reflect the show’s content."

click link above for the rest

When I read this, I didn't think it was possible that anyone could be so horrible, but I was wrong.

Dr. Phil: Vets with PTSD Are “Damaged Goods”, “Monsters”

April 20, 2012 By Cassy
Posted in Military Life, Military News, Opinion

PTSD: civilians just love to paint veterans as riddled with this disease, causing them to become violent, unhinged lunatics who will explode at the slightest provocation. Look at just about any news story where a violent crime is committed by a veteran, and PTSD is almost immediately floated as the reason. In the media narrative, violence and PTSD go hand-in-hand. At the same time, troops are criticized for not coming forward and admitting they have a problem, and seeking help for it. (Gee, could it possibly be because we paint veterans with PTSD as homicidal lunatics?) Dr. Phil, arguably one of the most popular talk show hosts on the planet, decided to feature this issue on his show this week. And while he could have taken a reasonable approach, he went straight for the gut instead. Titling the show “From Heroes To Monsters”, he painted a picture of vets with PTSD as ticking time bombs of violence, describing them as damaged goods who “destroy families” and “dismantle marriages”. read more here

From Dr. Phil's site

From Heroes to Monsters?
Explosions, gunfire, violent death -- these horrific images and sounds are the reality for soldiers on the front lines, fighting for our freedom. But what happens when the horror follows them home, making them feel out of place in the life they left behind, and often unrecognizable to family and friends? Dr. Phil delves into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how it can destroy families, dismantle marriages and leave its victims reliving a nightmare. Beth says since her son, Matt, returned from Iraq, he is no longer the fun-loving and respectful son she knew, but is instead a man with a faraway, dark look on his face, with a short fuse and a temper that scares everyone around him. Matt says he’s haunted by the things he saw and did while at war, but says he wishes he could go back, because struggling to cope with his rage in civilian life is far worse. He admits he’s turned to prescription pills to numb his pain and illegal activities to feel an adrenaline rush. Can Dr. Phil help Matt reclaim his place as a loving partner to his girlfriend and father to his 3-year-old daughter? Then, Heather made national headlines when her Army Sergeant husband, Duane, beat her and set her on fire. Was PTSD to blame? In a Dr. Phil exclusive, Heather shares why her nightmare is far from over. And, Mark says his life has been destroyed by his PTSD, and if he can’t get it under control, he’s afraid of what he may do to himself and the people he loves most. Dr. Frank Lawlis, chairman of the Dr. Phil Advisory Board and author of The PTSD Breakthrough, offers new hope for PTSD sufferers and their families. You don’t have to be a soldier at war to suffer from PTSD -- if you’ve survived a traumatic event, tune in!

First, I've been working with these veterans and their families for 30 years! I also happen to be married to one of them. On this blog alone there are over 14,000 posts but that does not include all the reports I read on a daily basis. As an acknowledged expert on PTSD, I can tell you they are more likely to kill themselves than to harm someone else. I can also tell you that when it comes to helping them heal from where they've been, we suck at it.

We suck at it because of "experts" on mental health like Dr. Phil not knowing what the hell they are talking about.

First let's look at how the men and women in the military are just like us. I don't know about you but there is always a bottle of Arbor Mist wine in my house just for me. Usually it is Blackberry Merlot. I drink a glass with dinner to chill out, plus during the day I drink way too much coffee. (I don't drink soda because I will belch loud enough to scare our Rottweiler dog.) While I could just drink water with a meal, sorry but it doesn't help to take the stress off my shoulders after a day of doing what I do. They are like us when it comes to drinking and not having a huge issue with it or having one if they drink too much.

I can't drive if I have a drink when out in public. My husband drives because he doesn't drink. Maybe it is because I am old enough to understand that drinking and driving is dangerous, not just for me but for everyone else on the road. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people, especially younger people, thinking they can just do both.

They have the same issues with stress and life events changing how they think and what they think about. They have problems with the people in their lives, family as well as friends and even strangers being idiots. Problems with their jobs and if they go back to college, with professors and other students.

They have all the regular problems but because of serving in combat, they have all that to deal with. We talk about the traumas in our lives? Think about trying to avoid being blown up the next time you think you are coming unhinged when you are pissed off by another driver or traffic being backed up! They have to worry about that Afghanistan just as they had to worry about it in Iraq. The fact we avoid is that fear comes back every time they are in a vehicle back home where things like that don't happen.

They spent their time worrying about being shot at just as much as they had to worry about having to shoot someone else. Unless you're a cop back here or live in a high crime area, you don't have the problem. All you have to worry about is someone being a jerk and hurting your feelings.

We get all upset when we have to go to a funeral. It is not your favorite thing to do to go to a funeral home and walk up to a casket with someone you know posed as if they're sleeping. You don't have to worry about one of your friends being blown up right in front of your eyes or the fact that you'll have to help pick up his/her body parts.

We know what it is like to go back to where we lived after moving away and discovering everything has changed, including us. The expression "you can't go home again" is because nothing stays the same. If you are there when things are changing, then it is all "normal" to you as you change with the other changes. If you are not there, it is as if you stepped into a different world and no longer belong there. For them, they change when they are gone because of all they go through. While they may want to go back to the way they were before and their families expect them to get over it, they are ignoring the obvious. It isn't going to happen any more than anyone else can hit a reset button to go back to the way they were before.

Most people have no clue what PTSD is or what it does so they make mistakes under deluded notions and bad advice almost as dangerous as deluded experts deciding to pick words that will get them attention at the expense of someone else. As bad as the ignorance of the general public, public figures like Dr. Phil have decided to not set the record straight.

Medications the troops are given cause a lot of harm and they have been connected to violence more than PTSD has. Medications to "treat" PTSD have caused harm as well but they don't talk about any of this.

If these men and women were "monsters" then you'd see a lot more crime and a lot less suicide! We have over 2 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan yet the number of them committing crimes has not come close to the numbers of them committing suicide or attempting it. Monsters do not cry out in anguish or pray someone will be able to help them. Monsters do not grieve for the person they used to be, to feel love again, to feel joy again, to be able to find hope again.

Monsters want to kill but PTSD veterans are suffering because they had to kill, they had to see someone killed, they feared being killed. Monsters don't ask where was God when all the horror was going on any more than they try to find Him afterwards.

The truth is regular people commit domestic violence, murder and crimes but when it is a veteran doing it, well then, that's news. Why? Because as a nation of over 300 million people there are only about 24 million veterans and of that, there are a little over 2 million OEF OIF veterans. They are news but just not news worthy when it comes to reporting on what they come home to.

For them if they are involved with a law enforcement situation, that's news and you see the headline of "veteran" mixed in with whatever the story was about. If they come home and do good things in their community to make it better, you may see a tiny piece buried under a story no one wants to read. If they get divorced or abuse a spouse, again their veteran status has the spotlight on it but if they are married past 20 years, you'll never read about that. Vietnam veterans had the same problem. If they give their lives in service to others, that is not news but if they do something wrong, well then, that needs to make the front page or be the subject of a Dr. Phil show!

Injured Vets Heal With Ride 2 Recovery

Injured Vets Heal With Ride 2 Recovery
Posted: Apr 19, 2012
By Amanda Kenney

What's red, white, blue and travels from San Antonio to Arlington? Try, the Ride 2 Recovery. It's a huge road cycling event that raises rehab money for military veterans and on Thursday they stopped at Lakewood Elementary in Belton for lunch.

It's a journey most might find difficult to make. But these cyclists are on the Ride 2 Recovery and are living proof that anything is possible.

"I was one of the Fort Hood shooting victims," said Matthew Cooke. He was shot four time that November day. He's riding in a portion of the 350 mile ride, as part of his rehabilitation.

"It's good comradery for all of us to share what happened to us and then compare to most of the people out here," said Cooke.

More than 200 cyclists, including injured Vets and their supporters ride for seven days from San Antonio to Arlington.
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Helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan was Medevac Crew

42 minutes ago
Copter that crashed was coming to aid of Afghan forces
By HEATH DRUZIN
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 20, 2012

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Four American soldiers rushing to give medical help to wounded Afghan security forces were aboard a Medevac helicopter that crashed Thursday night in Helmand province.

Three of the four crew members are confirmed dead, the status of fourth hasn't been released, a U.S. official told Stars and Stripes.

The UH-60L Blackhawk went down in Garmsir district around 9:40 p.m. while on a mission to pick up the wounded Afghans. The New York Times reported that four Afghan police officers had been killed in a suicide attack at a police checkpoint, and seven others were wounded, and that the American helicopter was flying to the scene to take the wounded officers to a nearby hospital.
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