Attempted military suicides should alarm us more

When we focus on the suicides of members of the military, we miss what is happening telling a darker story of the lack of help they have actually been getting. Given the fact that we have been told that "resilience training works" well enough to spend billions a year, we should all be asking "Where is the proof?"

Take a look at the numbers released last year for 2011 since we do not have the data from their report for 2012.

The AFMES indicates that 301 Service Members died by suicide in 2011

Air Force = 50
Army = 167
Marine Corps = 32
Navy = 52

This number includes deaths strongly suspected to be suicides that are pending final determination. DoDSER Points of Contact (POCs) submitted reports for 100% of AFMES confirmed 2011 suicides
Air Force = 46
Army = 159
Marine Corps = 31
Navy = 51 as of the data extraction date (26 April 2012).

A total of 915 Service Members attempted suicide in 2011
Air Force = 241
Army = 432
Marine Corps = 156
Navy = 86


DoDSERs were submitted for 935 suicide attempts
Air Force = 251
Army = 440
Marine Corps = 157
Navy = 87

Of the 915 Service Members who attempted suicide, 896 had one attempt, 18 had two attempts, and 1 had three attempts.

Most Service Members were not known to have communicated their potential for self-harm with others prior to dying by suicide (n = 212, 73.87%) or attempting suicide (n = 709, 75.83%). Those who did disclose their potential for self-harm most frequently communicated with spouses, friends, and other family members. These communications were most frequently verbal (n = 46, 16.03% of suicides; n = 129, 13.80% of attempted suicides). Other modes of communication included text messages (n = 11, 3.83% of suicides; n = 20, 2.14% of attempted suicides) and via Facebook (n = 4, 1.39% of suicides, n = 8, 0.86% of attempted suicides).

Landing gear of plane that hit Twin Tower found

NY police: Landing gear part found, is tied to 9/11
By Chelsea J. Carter and Rob Frehse
CNN
updated 6:52 PM EDT, Fri April 26, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Authorities will decide after an inspection whether to sift the soil for remains
The part was discovered behind the site of a planned Islamic community center
Surveyors called police on Wednesday, saying they found "damaged machinery"
Police believe the piece is part of a landing gear from one of the 9/11 airliners

New York (CNN) -- A piece of one of the airliners that hit the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, has been found behind the planned site of an Islamic community center near ground zero, the New York Police Department said Friday.

Part of a landing gear was discovered wedged between 51 Park Place -- the site of the controversial community center -- and another building just blocks from ground zero and "includes a clearly visible Boeing identification number," police said in a written statement.

The part was discovered Wednesday by surveyors hired by a property owner. They called 911 to report that they'd found "apparently damaged machinery," the police said.

Part of a landing gear was discovered wedged between 51 Park Place and another building. "The NYPD is securing the location as it would a crime scene, documenting it photographically ," the statement said.
read more here

Two Army pilots killed in Afghanistan

Two Army helicopter pilots killed in Afghanistan identified
The Associated Press
Published: April 26, 2013

FAIRFAX, Va. -- An Army helicopter pilot from northern Virginia is one of two soldiers killed in Afghanistan by enemy fire.

The Pentagon said Friday that 26-year-old 1st Lt. Robert J. Hess of Fairfax died Tuesday in the Pul-E-Alam district of Logar province in eastern Afghanistan, from wounds suffered as a result of indirect fire.

Also killed was 32-year-old Capt. Aaron R. Blanchard of Selah, Wash.
read more here

Senior VA executives won't get bonus money after all!

No performance bonuses for Veterans Benefits Administration senior executives
By Leo Shane III
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 26, 2013
27 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Senior executives from the Veterans Benefits Administration will not receive any performance bonus awards for fiscal 2012 because of lingering problems with the veterans claims backlog, department officials confirmed Friday.

A VA spokesperson said department leaders remain confident that those senior executives are “dedicated to our nation’s veterans,” but the money set aside for those awards would be reinvested in efforts to fix the backlog.

Department leaders reiterated their goal of zeroing out the backlog over the next two years.
read more here

Hyundai thinks suicide is something to joke about in new ad?

The headlines read "22 veterans commit suicide a day" along with the headlines of military suicides at an all time high. As bad as this is there are about 35,000 suicides a year in the US. (Never mind Hyundai is sold in other countries as well.) I don't think an apology will really undo the damage they did to their reputation. Thinking something like this would be funny involved a lot of people thinking the same way.

Hyundai’s shocking ad: You can’t kill yourself in our car
The car maker apologizes for a horribly tasteless ad -- but no one wants to take responsibility for it
Salon.com
BY MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
APR 26, 2013

The good news is that Ford is no longer the front-runner for the most tasteless, boneheaded ad campaign of the year. Sorry, America! South Korea’s largest automaker, Hyundai, and its advertising agency Innocean Worldwide Europe, has utterly stolen your glory.

In the spot, hilariously titled “Pipe Job,” a grim, middle-aged man is seen in his garage, methodically taping and running a pipe into his car. He then sits inside stoically, breathing deeply, his face a mask of weary woe. Cut to nightfall, and the man emerging from the garage very much alive. The tag line? “The new iX35 has 100 percent water emissions.” Apparently someone thinks Hyundai’s target demographic is the depressed, unsuccessfully suicidal car-buyer market. Way to own it!

After the spot came to light on AdLand recently — and a few people gently pointed out that it was the worst idea in the universe — the car company issued its inevitable apology. The first statement was a classic soft-pedal, a message from the company’s North American branch that “We understand that some people may have found the iX35 video offensive. We are very sorry if we have offended anyone.” Some. If. Whatever.

A later statement, however, was more strongly worded. “Hyundai Motor deeply and sincerely apologizes for the offensive viral ad,” it reads. “The ad was created by an affiliate advertising agency, Innocean Europe, without Hyundai’s request or approval.” But as Forbes points out, Innocean is “an in-house ad agency,” a status abundantly clear on its website.
read more here

Should Gun Restrictions Be Placed on Veterans With PTSD?

If they didn't forget about the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act, this could have been a good story. Pay close attention to pages 628-630

Should Gun Restrictions Be Placed on Veterans With PTSD?
New York Times
By THOMAS JAMES BRENNAN
April 26, 2013

When Phillip Barker received the official report from the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2008, it said he suffered from homicidal ideations of a passive-aggressive nature. It also said that he had an alcohol dependency. That he experiences anxiety, sleeplessness, hypervigilance and nervous tics as part of his post-traumatic stress disorder, diagnosed in 2007 after his honorable discharge from the Marine Corps. And that he has flashbacks from his deployment to Falluja, Iraq, in 2004.

Mr. Barker also owns a pistol.

After the Newtown, Conn. massacre last December and the killing of the former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle at a Texas shooting range in February, the media, President Obama, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California and even David Keene, president of the National Rifle Association, have suggested that people with mental illnesses, which could include veterans with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder, be subject to stricter gun restrictions. Many states already have laws saying that people who have mental illnesses or have been committed to mental institutions cannot purchase or own firearms.

But the issue is deeply contentious for many reasons, and not just because it involves gun control and the civil rights of veterans. For mental health professionals and veterans organizations, it also raises questions about the nature of post-traumatic stress disorder and its relationship to violent behavior.

Dr. Eric Elbogen, a clinical psychologist with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Durham, N.C., declined to comment on Mr. Barker’s case. But he said that although PTSD is a mental disorder, decisions on whether to restrict the gun rights of people who have received a diagnosis of PTSD should be individualized. The reason, he said, is that not all people with the disorder are violent.
read more here

Air Force officer saved by overturned verdict gets transfer to where victim is?

Dozens Protest Transfer Of James Wilkerson, Air Force Officer Cleared Of Sexual Assault Charges
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Posted: 04/26/2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX — The Air Force's decision to transfer an officer to Arizona after his sexual assault conviction was overturned drew dozens of people to a Tucson military base for a protest led by outraged family members of the woman who made the accusation.

Thursday's 45-minute demonstration involved about 50 people who questioned why the military would transfer Lt. Col. James Wilkerson to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base on the southern edge of Tucson, where roughly half the woman's family lives.

The protest came amid a congressional uproar over the Wilkerson case, and follows heavy criticism of the military's handling of another case involving sex-crime allegations in California.

"They could send him to a number of places," said Stephen Hanks, an orthopedic surgeon in Tucson who is the brother of Wilkerson's accuser. "Why send him to a place where her family lives? It makes no sense."

Hanks' sister, Kimberly Hanks, a civilian employee who works with service members, accused Wilkerson of sexually assaulting her after a March 2012 party at his house. Wilkerson and his wife denied the charges but said Kimberly Hanks stayed at their house that night.
read more here

Marines take on a new battle: suicide among veterans

Local Marines take on a new battle: suicide among veterans
Posted: Apr 25, 2013
by Connie Tran
KSBY News

Two local Marines are taking on a new battle, that is, against suicide.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs says someone can suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after going through a traumatic event like combat, assault, or a disaster.

Veterans Matt Reid and Daniel Pitocco said PTSD is one of the leading factors of high suicide rates among veterans and something needs to be done.

The two, who live in Morro Bay, said after serving multiple tours overseas, coming home wasn't as easy as they'd hoped.

"It's feelings of isolation. You come back and you bottle things up," said Pitocco.

He and Reid said they've lost six comrades, but not from war as one might expect, rather something perhaps much deeper and darker.

Pitocco shared a story of one of his fellow brothers. "At the time of committing suicide, he had three Marines within about 30 minutes to an hour of him, and he felt so alone, so within his own mind, wrestling his demons that he didn't reach out," he said.
read more here

Joining forces helps all of us

Joining forces helps all of us
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 26, 2013

There seems to be another war going on the media has not caught up with. It is a battle between this generation of veterans and their families against older ones.

When I wrote my second book, THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR I was getting the word out and received a private email from a person involved with one of the groups I am with. She wrote that I was "unprofessional" and needed to stop writing as if I was "one of them." Considering the book is about military suicides and I happen to be an adopted member as the spouse of a Vietnam veteran, I also have the additional tie to my husband's nephew who committed suicide, my husband's battle with it and 30 years of working with Vietnam veterans and their families.

The woman who emailed me is a member of this generation of veterans. How is it they forget that they are not the only ones committing suicide in the numbers we read about? How is it that they forget had it not been for the battle Vietnam veterans fought back here at home to have PTSD treated and compensated for, there would have been nothing for this new generation?

FOR THE LOVE OF JACK, HIS WAR/MY BATTLE was republished last year but I wrote it well before the attacks on September 11, 2001. I was looking for a publisher before the planes hit the Twin Towers. I decided to self publish to let this generation know what was coming so they wouldn't be as alone and lost as Vietnam veterans' families were.

November 25, 2012
The battle to save the lives of combat veterans is not lost and it is not new. 18 veterans and more than one active duty service member take their own lives each day. More attempt it. Kathie Costos is not just a Chaplain helping veterans and their families, not just a researcher, she lives with it everyday. Combat came home with her Vietnam veteran husband and they have been married for 28 years. She remembers what it was like to feel lost and alone. Everything you read in the news today about PTSD is in this book originally published in 2002 to serve as a guide to healing as well as a warning of what was coming for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

I figured I had a unique view of all of this from living with combat PTSD and working with these veterans helping them understand what I read in clinical books, since we didn't have the Internet, self-help books or groups and virtually no support. The media didn't care about them unless one of them got arrested. Now there are Veterans Courts.

In 1984 after attending a Memorial Dedication in Peabody Massachusetts, I was sitting with some of my husband's friend pretending to not listen to what they were saying. As I listened, their words cut into my brain and I couldn't let them go. I wrote In The Name Of Glory with their words, just rearranged and signed it W.T. Mantiev which stands for We Trusted and Vietnam backwards, also from what they said about Vietnam being a backwards war they had to fight harder back home than they did being there.

IN THE NAME OF GLORY

W.T. Mantiev (AKA Kathie Costos)
The things I’ve seen and done would boggle your mind.

I’ve seen the death and destruction created by mankind
in the living hell that I walked away from but could not leave behind.

It all comes back to haunt me now and makes peace impossible to find.

The ghosts of the past that find me in the night

make me wonder if my life will ever be right.

I have tried to forget what I have done,

and now there is no place left to run.

All this in the name of glory!

There is no end to this horror story.

It still does not make sense even now that I am older,

why, when I was so young they made me a soldier

and why I had to be a part of that war

when I didn’t even know what we were there for.

At eighteen I should have been with my friends having fun

not patrolling through a jungle with a machine gun.

I did my part just the same, just for my country

and stood helplessly watching my friends die all around me.

I felt a surge of hate engulf my soul for people that I did not know

and saw children lose their chance to grow.

All this in the name of glory! There is still no end to this horror story.

There was no glory for guys like me

only bitter memories that will not set me free.

I can never forget the ones who never made it home

some of them dead and others whose fate is still unknown

and the stigma that we lost what was not meant to win

most of us carry that extra burden buried deep within.

All this in the name of glory!

They had been fighting PTSD for over 10 years by then. Isolated unless they took the chance of reaching out to other veterans near where they lived, it was hard for them to connect. Even harder was learning to trust after the older veterans turned them away. Yes, the generational battle was happening even back then.

They came home with the same wound but it was called "shell shock" back then. In those days the choice was being institutionalized or the lucky ones were cared for by families. One of my husband's uncles ended up living on a farm for the rest of his life and the VA paid the family to care for a group of WWII veterans. They lived peaceful lives as farmers.

Less than 7% of the population know what it is like to be called veteran. If we are fighting against other generations, that makes us weaker than if we do what the Vietnam veterans pledged to do, never leave another generation behind. If the OEF and OIF veterans and their families keep fighting against the generation that came before them, they will not learn the lessons these veterans have to teach. If newer spouses pretend that no one else knows their pain, they will not receive the support we have to offer or our wisdom. Joining forces helps all of us and makes us stronger. Most of us have been doing all of this before they were even born. We may be gray now but we were also young wives fighting a battle for their lives after combat and trying to keep our families together, so what they are going through, we know all too well. We can help them but not if they will not listen or tell us that we are not one of them. We think of them as one of us.

Disfigured veteran deals with disrespect at home

Disfigured veteran deals with disrespect at home
Gregg Zoroya and Alan Gomez
USA TODAY
April 25, 2013

Ronny Porta feeds his son, Kenneth, breakfast in his parents' Maryland home. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

BELTSVILLE, MD. — Six years have passed since a roadside bomb set Ronny "Tony" Porta on fire in Iraq when he was 20, and he's still trying to find his way home.

Each reflection in the mirror bears witness to why that is not easy.

Every stranger who points or stares, every teenager who mocks with the word "monster" or couple that whisper behind his back that the disfigurement is the price for invading a country, tells Porta he hasn't quite left the battlefield behind.

"This is home for me," says Porta, 26, who grew up in suburban-Washington Beltsville after his family emigrated from Peru. "But sometimes, it's kind of hard saying, 'I am home.'"

Two months ago, a man approached Porta in a Home Depot. He stood studying the burns on Porta's face and asked if a car accident was to blame. Porta, wearing a Marine Corps sweatshirt, said, no, it was an IED explosion in Iraq.
read more here