Bales Defense Must Decide Strategy
Apr 24, 2013
Tacoma News Tribune
by Adam Ashton
Attorneys for the Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier accused of murdering 16 Afghan civilians last spring are five weeks from a deadline for declaring whether they intend to use a mental health defense at his court-martial.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales faces the death penalty on charges that he slipped out of his combat outpost by himself twice in the early hours of March 11, 2012, to murder the civilians in their homes and to wound six more noncombatants.
His lawyers have said for the past year that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and combat-related head injuries, suggesting those ailments overcame him on what was his fourth combat deployment from Lewis-McChord since 2003.
Army judge Col. Jeff Nance on Tuesday ordered the lawyers to signal by May 29 whether they plan to argue that Bales' mental health ailments diminished his responsibility for the massacre in Kandahar province's Panjwai district.
They also must hand to prosecutors by that date a summary of a sanity review Bales recently completed if they plan to call a mental health expert to testify at any point.
"Bottom line is, on the 29th of May the defense has to advise the government if they are going to defend on lack of mental responsibility," Nance said.
read more here
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
$800,000 in funding for APSU, PTSD program
State Senate approves $800,000 in funding for APSU, PTSD program
Sen. Green pushed funding for PTSD program, animal science facility at APSU
Leaf Chronicle
Apr. 23, 2013
Freshman state Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, announced on Tuesday that the Tennessee Senate accepted $800,000 in budget amendments he offered that will help fund construction of the new animal science facility at Austin Peay State University and provide post-traumatic stress disorder counseling for veterans, reservists and their families.
Green’s amendments provide $400,000 to the new animal science facility at APSU’s Agricultural and Environmental Education Center and $400,000 for counseling services provided by Not Alone, a national nonprofit organization that provides confidential, no-cost programs to veterans and military families facing PTSD, according to a news release from Green’s office.
read more here
Sen. Green pushed funding for PTSD program, animal science facility at APSU
Leaf Chronicle
Apr. 23, 2013
Freshman state Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, announced on Tuesday that the Tennessee Senate accepted $800,000 in budget amendments he offered that will help fund construction of the new animal science facility at Austin Peay State University and provide post-traumatic stress disorder counseling for veterans, reservists and their families.
Green’s amendments provide $400,000 to the new animal science facility at APSU’s Agricultural and Environmental Education Center and $400,000 for counseling services provided by Not Alone, a national nonprofit organization that provides confidential, no-cost programs to veterans and military families facing PTSD, according to a news release from Green’s office.
read more here
Study Looks at How Ecstasy Can Possibly Treat PTSD
Study Looks at How Ecstasy Can Possibly Treat PTSD
WDTV News
Written by Whitney Wetzel
Last updated on April 23, 2013
"Well, it's not as crazy as it sounds, but I don't look forward to it happening within the next day or two," said Dr. Bob Williams, Executive Director of the United Summit Center.
A small study is looking at how the illegal drug ecstasy can help treat those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that some people get after seeing or living through a traumatic event. It most commonly affects military veterans, survivors of physical or sexual abuse, and accident victims.
"Some people struggle through it. Some people struggle for a long time. Then, some people, it really gets to the point where they can really become dysfunctional. The fear and the anxiety can overcome them and change their life," Dr. Williams explained.
read more here
WDTV News
Written by Whitney Wetzel
Last updated on April 23, 2013
"Well, it's not as crazy as it sounds, but I don't look forward to it happening within the next day or two," said Dr. Bob Williams, Executive Director of the United Summit Center.
A small study is looking at how the illegal drug ecstasy can help treat those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that some people get after seeing or living through a traumatic event. It most commonly affects military veterans, survivors of physical or sexual abuse, and accident victims.
"Some people struggle through it. Some people struggle for a long time. Then, some people, it really gets to the point where they can really become dysfunctional. The fear and the anxiety can overcome them and change their life," Dr. Williams explained.
read more here
Managing PTSD is possible with help
I cannot begin to express how important this article is. It points out there is no cure for PTSD. The longer it lasts, the more things change including the mind itself. That is why it is vital to getting help as soon as possible. Still Vietnam veterans are a living testament that healing is possible even when they suffered up to 40 years without any help at all. As soon as you start talking about it, it stops getting worse.
Read this article and then we'll talk about how to get there.
Panelists say post-traumatic stress disorder can't be cured, can only be managed
Fayobserver.com
By Caitlin Dineen
Staff Writer
April 24, 2013
There is no way to cure post-traumatic stress disorder, but those suffering from it can learn to manage it, health professionals said Tuesday night.
Kevin Smythe, a supervisory psychologist in the Mental Health Service Line at the Fayetteville VA Medical Center, said managing the disorder is currently the only option.
"There are a lot of ebbs and flows (with the disorder)," Smythe said.
He was one of five panelists to speak about the disorder and post-traumatic stress symptoms.
The Cumberland County Public Library headquarters on Maiden Lane hosted the event, where about 60 people attended to learn more about the disorder and how it affects the community.
Other panelists included John Bigger, of the Regional Area Health Education Center; Dr. Harold Kudler, associate director of the VA's Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center for Deployment Mental Health and medical lead for the VISN 6 Rural Health Initiative; Heidi Vance, a licensed professional counselor associate and yoga therapist; and Molly VanDuser, a national certified counselor.
Post-traumatic stress starts after some life altering event that can be visible through several symptoms, including irritation, nightmares and hypervigilance, Kudler said.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is when those symptoms have lasted longer than a month and affected one's ability to work and socialize. It is a diagnosed disorder, he said.
read more here
Step 1 Understanding it
Understand what PTSD is. It does not begin with you. It begins with a traumatic event that puts you in fear for your life. That is the only way to get it. It hits you.
Undertand that while there are many causes for PTSD, while they are all treated the same way, one day will come when experts understand the types must be treated differently. Treating someone with PTSD associated with combat should not be treated the same way a woman gets it after childbirth. It is not just the one event that sets it off but the threat of it happening again, the number of events piled on others and the duration of the dangerous environment being "where you live."
If you start talking about what you survived in a safe place with someone able to just listen to you patiently, you are able to bring that horrible event into the safe place and sort it out. Make sure you talk about the event from start to finish. What were you thinking and what was your intent? Too many of you have the horrible frozen in your mind and you end up focusing on that aspect. You forget what else happened. Talking about it helps you see "the whole movie" and not just the outcome. You can't understand how the ending happened in a movie if you don't watch the whole thing.
Talking about it this way removes you from the event and brings you into the safe place.
Crisis intervention teams have been doing this for years with police officers, firefighters, emergency responders and survivors of other traumatic events. If it is done right, you are also able to remember goodness that was happening at the same time.
The reaction of people in the crowds after the Boston marathon bombings, rushing to help, even though they knew another bomb could explode, showed that there are more good people caring about others than the two perpetrators meaning to harm. If you acknowledge that then you stop thinking that either God abandoned you or does not exist. When good rises above the bad, God is there. When you are able to feel compassion for others even after something like that, God is there.
Know that you are not evil if you grieve at all or feel compassion for someone else. Evil people do not grieve for others. They feel no empathy. Most of the veterans experiencing PTSD have a strong level of compassion and that ability to feel more for others carries the ability to feel more pain than others do. You need to focus on what really happened in a different way. It takes a bit of work but it is vital in healing.
Step 2 take care of all of you
That means your mind with therapy and often medication to level the chemicals in your brain. Remember each part of you is connected to the other parts. Seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist must be part of this. They need to be experts on trauma and able to understand what is happening inside of you. If you are seeing someone and they do not understand the difference between mental illness and trauma, they will not give you the proper treatment. If they are experts on it your healing will being.
It means taking care of your body. You just spent a lot of energy training it to do things so that you would be able to withstand combat. It learned fast. It learned how to react to the adrenaline jolt.
This is a great video on that. It is about a fire, flight or fight response.
When faced with immediate danger, the brain releases adrenaline, a hormone secreted from glands above the kidneys. In the case of a police officer confronted with a raging fire surge, adrenaline triggered the body to release stored ATP so the officer could run faster.
It is also in this video I made in 2007. It used to be on YouTube but I moved it to Great Americans in 2009.
You need to teach it to calm down again. This can be done with many different approaches. One may not work for you but keep looking until you find what works best on this. Taking walks, meditating, Yoga, martial arts, swimming, music, writing and getting massage therapy.
Proper food and vitamins along with getting rest because of what you put your body through during deployments and trainings.
Stay away from alcohol. That adds to depression. Numbing yourself prevents healing.
Until the above approaches start to work, notice how you are reacting to other people and events. If you feel yourself getting angry, take a deep breath and ask yourself how important is it to react to what just got you angry. Most of the time it really wasn't that big of a deal and in the process of doing this, you are changing the way you react to a lot of things.
The spiritual part of you must also be addressed since combat PTSD is associated with the "moral injury" and one of the heroes on this topic is Jonathan Shay. He was writing about it and treating veterans long before most the new generation was in grade school.
Seek spiritual healing based on where you are and what you already believe. Go to Point Man International Ministries and find an Out Post in your area. If you can't find one near you, call the number and ask to speak to someone. We do it on the phone as well as in person.
Talk to a member of the clergy and if they do not understand what you need, have them call Point Man and we can help them get caught up on how to help you. Remember most people care but few understand.
Talk to your family and let them know what is going on with you and help them understand so they can help you. You don't have to tell them every gory detail but they do need to know why you are acting the way you are. If they know then they will be able to understand and not take it personally.
Above all else, do not give up!
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
What kind of justice is this?
What kind of justice is this? When you read what happened on a 3rd tour of duty, you should be asking the same question. Families lost people they love over something that never should have happened.
His father was interviewed by Associated Press in May of 2009.
Army 'broke' soldier held in killings, dad says
Feels military bears some responsibility: 'It shouldn't have happened'
But the military already knew the problems associated with redeployments.
The Washington Post reported this in 2006
Redeployments
But the military also said they had addressed it with "Battlemind" training that every soldier received by 2008. Sgt. John Russell would have been one of them. By 2009 Russell was on his 3rd deployment.
In 2007 it was another soldier.
The killing of Jamie Dean Police in rural Maryland staged a military stakeout and shot a troubled Army vet. As his family plans to sue, they are asking how a soldier being treated for PTSD could be shipped to Iraq.
Spec. Allen Hill had two months between two deployments.
And then there was this report about Combat Stress Clinics
Now John Russell will spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty. Is this justice? Is this justice for the families?
Was anything done about this report from Army Times?
May 2009
The U.S. military charged the suspect with five counts of murder, and one count of aggravated assault in the killings. Maj. Gen. David Perkins told reporters Tuesday that the charges were filed against Sgt. John M. Russell of the 54th Engineering Battalion based in Bamberg, Germany.
Perkins said the dead included two doctors, one from the Navy and the other from the Army. The other three dead were enlisted personnel.
Sources tell CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier the suspect was on his third tour of Iraq.
A recent Army study found soldiers on their third or fourth deployment are twice as likely to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Caught early enough, the symptoms including nightmares, sleep disturbances and rollercoaster emotions and hypervigilance, can be treated. But often troops won't ask for help, reports Dozier.
His father was interviewed by Associated Press in May of 2009.
Army 'broke' soldier held in killings, dad says
Feels military bears some responsibility: 'It shouldn't have happened'
Wilburn Russell said Tuesday that 44-year-old Army Sgt. John M. Russell wasn't typically a violent person, but counselors "broke" him before gunfire erupted in a military stress center Monday in Baghdad.
Excerpts of his military record, obtained by The Associated Press, show Sgt. Russell previously did two one-year tours of duty in Iraq, one starting in April 2003 and another in November 2005. The stress of repeat and extended tours is considered a main contributor to mental health problems among troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the military already knew the problems associated with redeployments.
The Washington Post reported this in 2006
Redeployments
U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health........
But the military also said they had addressed it with "Battlemind" training that every soldier received by 2008. Sgt. John Russell would have been one of them. By 2009 Russell was on his 3rd deployment.
In 2007 it was another soldier.
The killing of Jamie Dean Police in rural Maryland staged a military stakeout and shot a troubled Army vet. As his family plans to sue, they are asking how a soldier being treated for PTSD could be shipped to Iraq.
Spec. Allen Hill had two months between two deployments.
Hill joined the Army in Texas in 1986 at age 18. He was placed at Fort Riley in 1990 and has lived in Kansas since. He fought in the 1991 Persian Gulf War before joining the Army National Guard.
When war again found Iraq, Hill was deployed from August 2005 to November 2006. He deployed again in January 2007 with the 731st Transportation Company out of Larned.
Hill’s unit served as convoy security, where he most often drove the Humvees. That was until Nov. 21, the day before Thanksgiving.
And then there was this report about Combat Stress Clinics
Combat stress unit at center of Iraq slaying trial
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The trial of Pfc. Steven Green may end up explaining part of what was behind Sgt. Russell's action at Camp Liberty's Stress Clinic. If doctors are under pressure to return soldiers back to duty, they are not getting the kind of care the doctors are trying to give them. What good do stress clinics do if the commanders are more interested in getting them back into action instead of being healed enough first before sending them back?
Combat stress unit at center of Iraq slaying trial
By BRETT BARROUQUERE
Associated Press Writer
© 2009 The Associated Press
May 16, 2009, 2:42PM
PADUCAH, Ky. — Pfc. Steven Dale Green held on to his sergeant on the hood of a Humvee as it sped down a road in a doomed effort to save the life of his leader.
Staff Sgt. Phillip Miller, who served in Iraq with Green, has testified the incident pushed the soldier over the edge.
"I call it his breaking point," Miller said.
Eleven days after Sgt. Kenith Casica's death on Dec. 10, 2005, near Mahmoudiya, Iraq, Green sought help from combat stress counselors. Army nurse practitioner Lt. Col. Karen Marrs listened to Green talk about wanting to kill Iraqi civilians, gave him a prescription for sleep medication and sent him back to his unit.
The combat stress unit's actions with Green have become central as defense lawyers try to persaude jurors not to condemn him to death for rape and murder in Iraq. Green was convicted May 7 for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the shooting deaths of her family — an attack that took place three months after Green visited the stress unit.
Now John Russell will spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty. Is this justice? Is this justice for the families?
Was anything done about this report from Army Times?
The Camp Liberty Combat Stress Center in Baghdad, Iraq, where a soldier is accused of shooting and killing four other soldiers and a Naval officer on May 11, had “numerous physical security deficiencies” that put staff and patients at risk, according to a report released Friday.
Many of the patients seen by the center’s staff are “potentially violent,” according to the AR 15-6 investigation into the shooting. And the report highlighted several problems, among them inadequate locks on the one-story building’s exterior doors, training for staff and storage for weapons.
The investigation also found the 54th Engineer Battalion, the unit to which the accused shooter belongs, did not have formal written policies and procedures in place regarding behavioral health treatment. Instead, the battalion relied heavily on the battalion chaplain’s expertise.
Roughly one out of five military women report sexual abuse
More female servicemembers reporting sexual abuse
By Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
Published: April 23, 2013
Roughly one out of five military women say they were victims of unwanted sexual contact by another servicemember since joining the military, according to a Pentagon health survey conducted in 2011 and released Monday.
The highest rate of sexual abuse was in the Marine Corps: Nearly 30% of women said they suffered unwanted sexual contact by another military member. Close behind were the Army and Navy, each with about 24% of women raising the issue.
The sexual abuse rates appear to be significantly higher than similar survey findings from the 2008, although the Pentagon changed the way it conducted the 2011 survey of 34,000 troops, so comparisons are difficult.
Still, questions about unwanted sexual conduct were virtually identical in both surveys and in 2008, 11% to 12% of female soldiers and sailors said they were victims of unwanted touching, along with 17% of women who were Marines. About 29,000 troops were surveyed in 2008.
read more here
By Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
Published: April 23, 2013
Roughly one out of five military women say they were victims of unwanted sexual contact by another servicemember since joining the military, according to a Pentagon health survey conducted in 2011 and released Monday.
The highest rate of sexual abuse was in the Marine Corps: Nearly 30% of women said they suffered unwanted sexual contact by another military member. Close behind were the Army and Navy, each with about 24% of women raising the issue.
The sexual abuse rates appear to be significantly higher than similar survey findings from the 2008, although the Pentagon changed the way it conducted the 2011 survey of 34,000 troops, so comparisons are difficult.
Still, questions about unwanted sexual conduct were virtually identical in both surveys and in 2008, 11% to 12% of female soldiers and sailors said they were victims of unwanted touching, along with 17% of women who were Marines. About 29,000 troops were surveyed in 2008.
read more here
Sergeant starts own unit with Quadruplets
Army Prepares Soldier for Quadruplets
Apr 22, 2013
Army.mil/News
by Sgt. Luisito Brooks
JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. -- "We were very shocked when we heard we were having quadruplets," said Sgt. Lee Schiefelbein. "It really isn't something we exactly prepared for, but we are so happy for each and every one of them."
Aiden, Brea, Curtis and Dominic Schiefelbein were born on Nov. 19, 2012, at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Md. Five months after the Schiefelbein family welcomed their bundles of joy into the world, the busy family has found having routines, with some help, is the only way to balance military life and taking care of multiple babies.
"We are still getting used to having a larger family now," said Lee, food service sergeant, 529th Regimental Support Company, 4th Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard). "It has been a challenge that I am happy to have taken on."
Lee works at the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va. dining facility [DFAC] serving the Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Sailors and Coast Guardsmen that eat there every day.
"I wake up at 3 a.m. every morning to get to work by 4 a.m.," he said. "My day at the dining facility isn't over until about 2 p.m., and then I head home to help my wife with the babies."
read more here
Apr 22, 2013
Army.mil/News
by Sgt. Luisito Brooks
JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. -- "We were very shocked when we heard we were having quadruplets," said Sgt. Lee Schiefelbein. "It really isn't something we exactly prepared for, but we are so happy for each and every one of them."
Aiden, Brea, Curtis and Dominic Schiefelbein were born on Nov. 19, 2012, at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Md. Five months after the Schiefelbein family welcomed their bundles of joy into the world, the busy family has found having routines, with some help, is the only way to balance military life and taking care of multiple babies.
"We are still getting used to having a larger family now," said Lee, food service sergeant, 529th Regimental Support Company, 4th Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard). "It has been a challenge that I am happy to have taken on."
Lee works at the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va. dining facility [DFAC] serving the Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Sailors and Coast Guardsmen that eat there every day.
"I wake up at 3 a.m. every morning to get to work by 4 a.m.," he said. "My day at the dining facility isn't over until about 2 p.m., and then I head home to help my wife with the babies."
read more here
Why are officials avoiding those who manipulated VA data?
VA Silent on Exec Bonuses for Manipulated Data
Apr 23, 2013
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
A year after testifying that some executives received bonuses by manipulating appointment data for veterans needing mental health care, a former Department of Veterans Affairs hospital administrator said officials have avoided the issue “like the plague.”
“They avoid it with a 10-foot pole,” Nicholas Tolentino told Military.com in a telephone interview Monday.
Last April, Tolentino, a former mental health administrator at the Manchester VA Medical Center in New Hampshire, told lawmakers that VA hospital officials across the country talked to each other to find workarounds to meet VA appointment goals. The overriding objective, “from top management on down, was to meet our numbers” and make it appear as if the VA was seeing as many veterans as possible, he said.
Meeting those goals was linked to bonuses for executive career employees, he said. This created “a perverse administrative incentive” for officials to exploit loopholes to meet manufactured goals without providing the services.
“The upshot of these all too widespread practices is that meeting a performance target, rather than meeting the needs of the veteran, becomes the overriding priority in providing care,” he testified.
Tolentino told the Senate that VA officials from across the country discussed ways to get around the system.
“That’s one of the reasons I left,” he said. “Not only because of the fraud. They were gaming the entire system and profiting off it. I left before I got a bonus. I didn’t feel right taking [one].”
read more here
Apr 23, 2013
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
A year after testifying that some executives received bonuses by manipulating appointment data for veterans needing mental health care, a former Department of Veterans Affairs hospital administrator said officials have avoided the issue “like the plague.”
“They avoid it with a 10-foot pole,” Nicholas Tolentino told Military.com in a telephone interview Monday.
Last April, Tolentino, a former mental health administrator at the Manchester VA Medical Center in New Hampshire, told lawmakers that VA hospital officials across the country talked to each other to find workarounds to meet VA appointment goals. The overriding objective, “from top management on down, was to meet our numbers” and make it appear as if the VA was seeing as many veterans as possible, he said.
Meeting those goals was linked to bonuses for executive career employees, he said. This created “a perverse administrative incentive” for officials to exploit loopholes to meet manufactured goals without providing the services.
“The upshot of these all too widespread practices is that meeting a performance target, rather than meeting the needs of the veteran, becomes the overriding priority in providing care,” he testified.
Tolentino told the Senate that VA officials from across the country discussed ways to get around the system.
“That’s one of the reasons I left,” he said. “Not only because of the fraud. They were gaming the entire system and profiting off it. I left before I got a bonus. I didn’t feel right taking [one].”
read more here
Brothers die in Texas explosion as volunteer firefighters
A town copes with lives lost in Texas blast
By Todd Sperry and Ashley Fantz
CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A business that distributed fertilizer exploded in West, Texas, on Wednesday, killing 14
Volunteer firefighters were brothers who did everything together, family says
Some West students whose schools were damaged are taking classes in Waco
West, Texas (CNN) -- Since they were little boys growing up West, Texas, brothers Doug and Robert Snokhous did everything together. They fixed cars, went hunting, golfed and barbecued together. It just made sense that they would both become volunteer firefighters, and that they were side by side last Wednesday when they rushed to a fire at the West Fertilizer Co.
The brothers were among 14 people who died after the fire led to a massive explosion at the distributor. The blast decimated not only the company's building but ravaged practically the entire north side of the small farming community.
The nine first-responders from West who died battling the blaze represented nearly one-third of the town's volunteer firefighting and EMT force. The fire destroyed three fire trucks and an ambulance. Firefighters and trucks from neighboring communities now fill the void at the West firehouse.
Among the others who rushed to the fire and lost their lives: Kenneth "Luckey" Harris Jr., a 52-year-old Dallas firefighter who lives in West, and two friends of first responders whose identities have not been confirmed by authorities.
read more here
By Todd Sperry and Ashley Fantz
CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A business that distributed fertilizer exploded in West, Texas, on Wednesday, killing 14
Volunteer firefighters were brothers who did everything together, family says
Some West students whose schools were damaged are taking classes in Waco
West, Texas (CNN) -- Since they were little boys growing up West, Texas, brothers Doug and Robert Snokhous did everything together. They fixed cars, went hunting, golfed and barbecued together. It just made sense that they would both become volunteer firefighters, and that they were side by side last Wednesday when they rushed to a fire at the West Fertilizer Co.
The brothers were among 14 people who died after the fire led to a massive explosion at the distributor. The blast decimated not only the company's building but ravaged practically the entire north side of the small farming community.
The nine first-responders from West who died battling the blaze represented nearly one-third of the town's volunteer firefighting and EMT force. The fire destroyed three fire trucks and an ambulance. Firefighters and trucks from neighboring communities now fill the void at the West firehouse.
Among the others who rushed to the fire and lost their lives: Kenneth "Luckey" Harris Jr., a 52-year-old Dallas firefighter who lives in West, and two friends of first responders whose identities have not been confirmed by authorities.
read more here
Hope stands up for the harmed
Hope stands up for the harmed
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 23, 2013
One of my least favorite jobs was working for a newspaper as Circulation Manager. (To tell the truth, I was lousy at it. Just not cut out to be a manager hiring and firing.) Newspapers have a slogan when it comes to deciding what story gets the top of the fold "if it bleeds, it leads." In other words when the paper is folded to fill stands, the stories showing up there will get the most attention. The worst story grabs people, or so they think but if this blog is any example, the good stories matter more.
The top post on Wounded Times is the story of Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry with a tattoo "For those I love I will sacrifice." Stars and Stripes had a great article on combat medics and his story was in it. Later on TIME picked up the story reporting that "Kyle Hockenberry, 19, lost both legs and his left arm in the blast." This post has been read over 35,000 times.
The second biggest story was about Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter, "his face missing an eye and crisscrossed with deep scars, stood on the floor of the S.C. Senate on Wednesday to receive the thanks of his state." That post has been read over 14,000 times.
I have a feeling that the first three stories from this morning will be at the top of the hit list of this blog soon.
Daniel “Doc” Jacobs an amputee getting his own baseball card. Combat veterans visit double amputee Boston survivor and then Cpl. Jake Hill. All of them offering hope to others.
They do not hide their wounds. They walk around with shorts. They tell their stories, not for sympathy but to show empathy and stand as an example of hope that brighter days are ahead of them. That their body is not who they are and the missing parts are not parts missing from their character.
I don't know if the people rushing to help the wounded last week really thought about what they were doing. I suspect all they were thinking about was that someone needed help and nothing more beyond that. Some people ran away and no one can fault them for that. Others rushed to help even though they didn't know if another bomb would blow up or not. They proved hope stood up for the harmed. They mattered. Someone, as we now know their names, decided to do harm to total strangers. It was not personal to them because they just didn't care. The ones rushing to help did care about them. There should be an award for these folks risking their lives to help someone else. It turned out there was another bomb. They rushed to help again.
I used to be a young wife, lost and confused after discovering combat had come into my life. That was way back in 1984. No one was talking about what I was going thru anymore than they were talking about what my husband was going thru with PTSD. Now I am amazed by how many are talking about it knowing there is no shame in any of this. The only shame in this is the fact we've been working on Combat PTSD for over 40 years yet lessons learned, the right lessons and studies, have been forgotten. As for the veterans and their families, most of them want help to heal but that is not their ultimate goal. They want to help others feeling as lost and alone as they felt.
They want to offer hope that it does get better. No one is alone in this fight back home. Most of the veterans and family members I talk to want to do something to offer that hope and it doesn't matter to them they will end up refocusing on their own pain to do it. To them all that matters is standing up and telling others it is not hopeless.
They lead the way out of the horrible and to Wounded Times, now that I get to decide what leads, these heroes do.
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 23, 2013
One of my least favorite jobs was working for a newspaper as Circulation Manager. (To tell the truth, I was lousy at it. Just not cut out to be a manager hiring and firing.) Newspapers have a slogan when it comes to deciding what story gets the top of the fold "if it bleeds, it leads." In other words when the paper is folded to fill stands, the stories showing up there will get the most attention. The worst story grabs people, or so they think but if this blog is any example, the good stories matter more.
The top post on Wounded Times is the story of Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry with a tattoo "For those I love I will sacrifice." Stars and Stripes had a great article on combat medics and his story was in it. Later on TIME picked up the story reporting that "Kyle Hockenberry, 19, lost both legs and his left arm in the blast." This post has been read over 35,000 times.
The second biggest story was about Marine Lance Cpl. William Kyle Carpenter, "his face missing an eye and crisscrossed with deep scars, stood on the floor of the S.C. Senate on Wednesday to receive the thanks of his state." That post has been read over 14,000 times.
I have a feeling that the first three stories from this morning will be at the top of the hit list of this blog soon.
Daniel “Doc” Jacobs an amputee getting his own baseball card. Combat veterans visit double amputee Boston survivor and then Cpl. Jake Hill. All of them offering hope to others.
They do not hide their wounds. They walk around with shorts. They tell their stories, not for sympathy but to show empathy and stand as an example of hope that brighter days are ahead of them. That their body is not who they are and the missing parts are not parts missing from their character.
I don't know if the people rushing to help the wounded last week really thought about what they were doing. I suspect all they were thinking about was that someone needed help and nothing more beyond that. Some people ran away and no one can fault them for that. Others rushed to help even though they didn't know if another bomb would blow up or not. They proved hope stood up for the harmed. They mattered. Someone, as we now know their names, decided to do harm to total strangers. It was not personal to them because they just didn't care. The ones rushing to help did care about them. There should be an award for these folks risking their lives to help someone else. It turned out there was another bomb. They rushed to help again.
I used to be a young wife, lost and confused after discovering combat had come into my life. That was way back in 1984. No one was talking about what I was going thru anymore than they were talking about what my husband was going thru with PTSD. Now I am amazed by how many are talking about it knowing there is no shame in any of this. The only shame in this is the fact we've been working on Combat PTSD for over 40 years yet lessons learned, the right lessons and studies, have been forgotten. As for the veterans and their families, most of them want help to heal but that is not their ultimate goal. They want to help others feeling as lost and alone as they felt.
They want to offer hope that it does get better. No one is alone in this fight back home. Most of the veterans and family members I talk to want to do something to offer that hope and it doesn't matter to them they will end up refocusing on their own pain to do it. To them all that matters is standing up and telling others it is not hopeless.
They lead the way out of the horrible and to Wounded Times, now that I get to decide what leads, these heroes do.
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