Retired Marine Reveals Secret Suffering of Male Military Rape Victims
Daily Beast
Caitlin Dickson
February 27, 2014
Former Marine Lance Corporal Jeremiah Arbogast tried to kill himself after he watched his rapist walk free. He shared his story, Wednesday, in hopes of helping spark change within the ranks.
Twenty-two veterans commit suicide everyday. Jeremiah Arbogast was almost one of them.
“Choosing death was my way of taking responsibility for my circumstances,” the former Marine Lance Corporal told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on personnel Wednesday. “I felt my death would spare my wife, daughter and myself the dishonor the rape brought upon us.”
From the wheelchair to which he has been confined ever since his self-inflicted gunshot wound left him paraplegic, the 32-year-old started the committee’s hearing on the relationship between military sexual assault, PTSD and suicide, with a heartbreaking testimony.
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Thursday, February 27, 2014
SWAT standoff with veteran ends peacefully
Oakmont standoff ends with suspect in custody
Man barricaded in home on California Avenue after domestic dispute
WTAE News
by Kelly Brennan
Feb 27, 2014
OAKMONT, Pa. —Authorities took a man into custody Wednesday after a standoff that involved Oakmont police and the Allegheny County SWAT team.
The incident began around 10:30 p.m. after a domestic dispute at a duplex on California Avenue, police said. When Oakmont police arrived, a woman ran from the home and said she was in danger. As she ran back inside a man could be heard shouting profanities, telling officers not to enter, according to Oakmont Police Chief Dave DiSanti.
DiSanti said the woman was the man's cousin. He was staying with her as a guest.
"He said, 'If you enter the premises, the war will be on,'" DiSanti said.
Police immediately set up a perimeter around the home, evacuated four nearby homes and called in the Allegheny County SWAT team.
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Man barricaded in home on California Avenue after domestic dispute
WTAE News
by Kelly Brennan
Feb 27, 2014
OAKMONT, Pa. —Authorities took a man into custody Wednesday after a standoff that involved Oakmont police and the Allegheny County SWAT team.
The incident began around 10:30 p.m. after a domestic dispute at a duplex on California Avenue, police said. When Oakmont police arrived, a woman ran from the home and said she was in danger. As she ran back inside a man could be heard shouting profanities, telling officers not to enter, according to Oakmont Police Chief Dave DiSanti.
DiSanti said the woman was the man's cousin. He was staying with her as a guest.
"He said, 'If you enter the premises, the war will be on,'" DiSanti said.
Police immediately set up a perimeter around the home, evacuated four nearby homes and called in the Allegheny County SWAT team.
read more here
One tough Iwo Jima Marine retires after 65 years
World War II vet retires after 65 years with Marines
UT San Diego
By Linda McIntosh
FEB. 26, 2014
Sgt. Maj. Walter Valentine, 89, served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam over three decades with the Marines and then spent another three decades helping comrades make a smooth transition into civilian life when they retire.
After Valentine finished boot camp at Camp Lejeune, NC in 1942, he joined the 3rd Marine Division and headed for combat in the Pacific as a scout sniper.
He was in the assault landing of Bougainville, now Papua New Guinea, in November 1943, then headed to Guadalcanal for more combat training. Later he participated in the assault landing that recaptured the island of Guam and fought in the battle of Iwo Jima, where he earned a Purple Heart.
“I will never forget the flag rising at Iwo Jima,” Valentine said.
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UT San Diego
By Linda McIntosh
FEB. 26, 2014
World War II veteran Sgt. Maj. Walter Valentine served 30 years active duty in the Marine Corps and another 35 years as a civilian employee at Camp Pendleton.CAMP PENDLETON — A Camp Pendleton Marine who joined the Corps in 1942, retired earlier this month from his civilian job at Camp Pendleton.
Sgt. Maj. Walter Valentine, 89, served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam over three decades with the Marines and then spent another three decades helping comrades make a smooth transition into civilian life when they retire.
After Valentine finished boot camp at Camp Lejeune, NC in 1942, he joined the 3rd Marine Division and headed for combat in the Pacific as a scout sniper.
He was in the assault landing of Bougainville, now Papua New Guinea, in November 1943, then headed to Guadalcanal for more combat training. Later he participated in the assault landing that recaptured the island of Guam and fought in the battle of Iwo Jima, where he earned a Purple Heart.
“I will never forget the flag rising at Iwo Jima,” Valentine said.
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Top VA health official denies dumping patient records
Top VA health official denies dumping patient records
Navy Times
Leo Shane III
Staff Writer
Feb. 26, 2014
The Veterans Affairs Department’s top health official dismissed a report this week that VA health care system employees dumped thousands of medical appointment records in an effort to cover up overdue work.
Robert Petzel, VA’s undersecretary for health, called the report by the Daily Caller “scurrilous” and confused. He said the moves in question were part of planned administrative work to finalize out-of-date cases, not a cover-up effort.
“No one who needed care was denied care,” he told lawmakers at a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday. “This was a carefully thought out review. There was no attempt to eliminate records.”
A former VA employee told the Daily Caller that VA officials in Los Angeles intentionally erased thousands of patient exam requests during a 2009 review in an effort to disguise the staff’s inability to keep up with the increasing workload.
Navy Times
Leo Shane III
Staff Writer
Feb. 26, 2014
The Veterans Affairs Department’s top health official dismissed a report this week that VA health care system employees dumped thousands of medical appointment records in an effort to cover up overdue work.
Robert Petzel, VA’s undersecretary for health, called the report by the Daily Caller “scurrilous” and confused. He said the moves in question were part of planned administrative work to finalize out-of-date cases, not a cover-up effort.
“No one who needed care was denied care,” he told lawmakers at a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday. “This was a carefully thought out review. There was no attempt to eliminate records.”
A former VA employee told the Daily Caller that VA officials in Los Angeles intentionally erased thousands of patient exam requests during a 2009 review in an effort to disguise the staff’s inability to keep up with the increasing workload.
Petzel said more than 3,000 workers systemwide were removed from their jobs last year for substandard performance, and six senior executives were forced to resign for serious errors.
read more here
George W. Bush is too late on PTSD
George W. Bush is too late on PTSD
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 27, 2014
When I read about President Bush wanting to get involved in veterans coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq, I wanted to just ignore "Bush wants change in how PTSD is handled"
There were a lot of reasons. He had a history of ignoring them when he had the power to really make a difference in their lives.
There are always going to be news reports pulling readers in one direction over another. Unless the reader has paid close attention to everything else behind the story, they never really know what is believable so they just assume it is the truth. All of us want to believe we take care of our veterans in this country.
What the veterans talk about is never the same as what the press tells average folks.
There was a letter to the editor of the Dallas Morning News summing up what most of the veterans think about all of this.
In 2005 a report came out that the troops were getting contaminated water in Iraq. The VA was warned about troops with PTSD.
If George W. Bush had actually cared about PTSD and the suffering of our troops would he have his Secretary of Veterans Affairs do this?
Then there was the fact that over 2 million had their records exposed when a VA employee decided to take the records home.
This report would not end if all that happened while President Bush had the chance to really make a difference. In 2008 suicides started a dramatic increase after the DOD was pushing Battlemind. The next program,
This program, started and the suicides went up even higher. So if you really want to praise President Bush for pushing to take the "D" out of PTSD then you just didn't know in his case the "D" stands for denial of what he failed to do when he had the chance.
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 27, 2014
When I read about President Bush wanting to get involved in veterans coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq, I wanted to just ignore "Bush wants change in how PTSD is handled"
There were a lot of reasons. He had a history of ignoring them when he had the power to really make a difference in their lives.
There are always going to be news reports pulling readers in one direction over another. Unless the reader has paid close attention to everything else behind the story, they never really know what is believable so they just assume it is the truth. All of us want to believe we take care of our veterans in this country.
What the veterans talk about is never the same as what the press tells average folks.
There was a letter to the editor of the Dallas Morning News summing up what most of the veterans think about all of this.
George W. Bush caused vets' PTSD in the first place
Re: “Easing stigma for vets — Former president calls for shift in approach to PTSD, dropping ‘disorder’ from name,” Thursday news story.
Sickened. Repulsed. Utterly disgusted. Close but not nearly strong enough descriptions of how I felt when I saw George W. Bush weighing in on the problems faced by veterans suffering with PTSD. He wants “disorder” dropped from the term to make these veterans more appealing to employers. He intones that veterans with post-traumatic stress are “people who got hurt defending our country and are now overcoming wounds.”
In 2005 a report came out that the troops were getting contaminated water in Iraq. The VA was warned about troops with PTSD.
The Associated Press reported Feb. 17 that the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) has raised concerns in a new report about the ability of the Veterans Administration (VA) to cope with an expected flood of PTSD cases among returning vets.The VA says it has already treated 6,400 veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars for PTSD, but GAO noted that less than half of those using VA health services are screened for PTSD. Without access to PTSD services, "many mental-health experts believe that the chance may be missed ... to lessen the severity of symptoms and improve the overall quality of life" for vets with PTSD, the report said.
November 27, 2005The VA Budget request was not just too low, but actually cut $13 million from research. Over a million Priority 7 and 8 veterans were cut off while the VA was collecting money for treating veterans. Oh, but we couldn't blog about the real news going on because President Bush had too many defenders while the troops had too few.
SECRETIVE VA LAUNCHES NEW PTSD REVIEW
By Larry Scott
Just six days after canceling one PTSD review, the VA "sneaks in" another
- Culture of secrecy makes agency designed to help veterans their biggest foe
Over the past year, the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA), led by Secretary Jim Nicholson, has turned a deaf ear to veterans and quietly made numerous decisions designed to strip veterans of benefits and compensation.
Secretary Nicholson came to the VA with no understanding of veterans' advocacy and no experience in the healthcare sector. He had been Chairman of the Republican National Committee and Ambassador to the Vatican. As one pundit put it, "Jim Nicholson can write a good political bumper sticker and knows how to kiss the Pope's ring. That's about it."
But, with Secretary Nicholson at the VA helm, veterans have come to feel isolated from the agency's decision-making processes. And, recent developments have done nothing quell that uneasy feeling.
The latest "unannounced" move by the VA is a new review of PTSD diagnosis, treatment and compensation. The VA's plans came to light on November 16, just six days after they had canceled a review of 72,000 PTSD claims awarded at 100 percent disability. Pressure from veterans' groups and Democrat members of Congress forced the cancellation.
The VA's new PTSD review was not announced by the VA. There was no VA press release. There was no VA press conference. The information was not posted on the VA web site.
Information about the new PTSD review was made public in a press release by Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The release, in part, said, "The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that it has contracted with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on a two-pronged approach to the examination of PTSD."
Demand for veterans' health care has surged in recent years. During the seven years after the Veterans Healthcare Reform Act was enacted in 1996, enrollment grew 141 percent to 7 million, while funding increased 60 percent, a 2004 report by the Harvard/Cambridge Hospital Study Group said.
Congress in July approved an extra $1.5 billion for veterans' health after the Department of Veterans Affairs revealed a funding shortfall.
About 103,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are currently receiving care from the system, far more than the 23,500 the VA predicted. The surge contributed to about one- quarter of the funding shortfall, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson told Congress in June.
Then there was the fact that over 2 million had their records exposed when a VA employee decided to take the records home.
WASHINGTON (June 7) - Personal data on about 2.2 million active-duty military, Guard and Reserve personnel - not just 50,000 as initially believed - were among those stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee last month, the government said Tuesday.
This report would not end if all that happened while President Bush had the chance to really make a difference. In 2008 suicides started a dramatic increase after the DOD was pushing Battlemind. The next program,
Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness (CSF2) was established in August 2008 by then-Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., under the name Comprehensive Soldier & Family Fitness (CSF2), in an effort to address the challenges being faced due to multiple deployments required by persistent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead of focusing only on treatment after the issues arose, Casey wanted to also provide preventative measures to the Soldiers, their Families and Army Civilians to make them stronger on the front end.[1] CSF2 Resilience Training was created to give these individuals the life skills needed to better cope with adversity and bounce back stronger from these challenges. CSF2 (renamed in October 2012), was designed to build resilience and enhance performance of the Army Family—Soldiers, their Families, and Army Civilians. Comprehensive Soldier Fitness is not a treatment program in response to adverse psychological conditions. CSF2 has three main components: online self-development, training, and metrics and evaluation.
This program, started and the suicides went up even higher. So if you really want to praise President Bush for pushing to take the "D" out of PTSD then you just didn't know in his case the "D" stands for denial of what he failed to do when he had the chance.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
'I had a flashback:' PTSD common among troops
'I had a flashback:' PTSD common among troops
WRAL.com
Posted 5:30 p.m. today
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Ask anyone one who has been in combat, and they'll say there is nothing pretty, organized or fair about war. Some troops bring visible battle scars home. Others have silent battlefield wounds that can haunt them for the rest of their lives.
After more than a decade of war, the military is scrambling to provide care for thousands of men and women returning with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.
Senior Airman Aubrey Hand was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. While undergoing therapy at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, he recalled a frightening experience at home after hearing fireworks on New Year's Eve.
“(I) had a flashback, came to about an hour and a half away from my house in full battle-rattle,” Hand said. “I don’t remember leaving. I don’t remember anything, didn’t know where I was. I was off the highway in the woods.”
read more here
WRAL.com
Posted 5:30 p.m. today
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Ask anyone one who has been in combat, and they'll say there is nothing pretty, organized or fair about war. Some troops bring visible battle scars home. Others have silent battlefield wounds that can haunt them for the rest of their lives.
After more than a decade of war, the military is scrambling to provide care for thousands of men and women returning with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.
Senior Airman Aubrey Hand was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. While undergoing therapy at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, he recalled a frightening experience at home after hearing fireworks on New Year's Eve.
“(I) had a flashback, came to about an hour and a half away from my house in full battle-rattle,” Hand said. “I don’t remember leaving. I don’t remember anything, didn’t know where I was. I was off the highway in the woods.”
read more here
"Call Me Maybe" performed by US Army Infantry Soldiers
Aug 19, 2012
A cover of "Call Me Maybe" performed by US Army Infantry Soldiers in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
Original by Carly Rae Jepsen. Directed, filmed, and edited by the troops as a morale boost for our Soldiers here and our families/FRG back home. See you in just a few more months, and thanks for all your support!
Also, a shout-out to our ANA partners for their enthusiasm and excitement to get involved and film the partnered dance scene!
Unfortunately, we are unable to post a mobile version of this video due to copyright issues with the song in accordance with this website's policy. We apologize for this inconvenience but thanks much for your continued support!
A Facebook friend just posted this. I hadn't seen this one before but oh so glad I saw it now!
Original by Carly Rae Jepsen. Directed, filmed, and edited by the troops as a morale boost for our Soldiers here and our families/FRG back home. See you in just a few more months, and thanks for all your support!
Also, a shout-out to our ANA partners for their enthusiasm and excitement to get involved and film the partnered dance scene!
Unfortunately, we are unable to post a mobile version of this video due to copyright issues with the song in accordance with this website's policy. We apologize for this inconvenience but thanks much for your continued support!
A Facebook friend just posted this. I hadn't seen this one before but oh so glad I saw it now!
Canada: Retired Sergeant's suicide tied to PTSD
Retired sergeant Ronald Anderson dies, suicide linked to PTSD
Ronald Anderson, 39, found dead at his home
CBC News
Posted: Feb 26, 2014
Retired sergeant Ronald Anderson, 39, died at his home in Doaktown, N.B., on Monday — the most recent in a spate of soldier suicides believed related to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Anderson, 39, served with the Canadian Forces in the Royal Canadian Regiment for 21 years.
Anderson retired from Canadian Forces Base Gagetown less than a year ago after being stationed at bases across the country during his career.
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Ronald Anderson, 39, found dead at his home
CBC News
Posted: Feb 26, 2014
Retired sergeant Ronald Anderson, 39, died at his home in Doaktown, N.B., on Monday — the most recent in a spate of soldier suicides believed related to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Anderson, 39, served with the Canadian Forces in the Royal Canadian Regiment for 21 years.
Anderson retired from Canadian Forces Base Gagetown less than a year ago after being stationed at bases across the country during his career.
read more here
Marine's journey from sand in Iraq to surf in Hawaii
Wounded Marine Bodysurfs to Help Others and Himself
ABC News
Angel Canales
February 26, 2014
Pyramid Rock Beach, Hawaii — When former Marine Corps Capt. Ben Mercier returned from his deployment in Iraq after being wounded, he said he just didn’t want to be around people. “I was just different. I didn’t know at the time that I had [PTSD] and I was drinking more than I should have,” says 39-year-old Mercier.
He always wanted to join the military. Growing up at the Lemoore Naval Air Station in California, he admired his best friend’s father who was a Marine pilot. After attending ROTC and graduating from college, he joined the Marine Corps in 1999. He went on to become a logistics officer with the 3rd Marine Regiment and served honorably.
read more here
ABC News
Angel Canales
February 26, 2014
Ben Mercier in Baghdad, Iraq. 2006. Ben Mercier
Pyramid Rock Beach, Hawaii — When former Marine Corps Capt. Ben Mercier returned from his deployment in Iraq after being wounded, he said he just didn’t want to be around people. “I was just different. I didn’t know at the time that I had [PTSD] and I was drinking more than I should have,” says 39-year-old Mercier.
He always wanted to join the military. Growing up at the Lemoore Naval Air Station in California, he admired his best friend’s father who was a Marine pilot. After attending ROTC and graduating from college, he joined the Marine Corps in 1999. He went on to become a logistics officer with the 3rd Marine Regiment and served honorably.
read more here
NATO plans for early Afghan exit
13 minutes ago
NATO plans for early Afghan exit
Stars and Stripes
By John Vandiver
Published: February 26, 2014
STUTTGART, Germany — NATO defense ministers will discuss plans for a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 should Afghanistan and the U.S. fail to reach agreement on a key long-term security deal, the alliance’s top official said Wednesday.
“This is not our preferred outcome. But these are the facts — facts that we need to take into account in our planning,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the start of a two-day ministerial meeting in Brussels.
Rasmussen’s comments echoed those of President Barack Obama, who on Tuesday informed Afghan President Hamid Karzai by phone about U.S. plans for a possible exit at the end of the year.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Pentagon would “move ahead with additional contingency planning to ensure adequate plans are in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014.”
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NATO plans for early Afghan exit
Stars and Stripes
By John Vandiver
Published: February 26, 2014
STUTTGART, Germany — NATO defense ministers will discuss plans for a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 should Afghanistan and the U.S. fail to reach agreement on a key long-term security deal, the alliance’s top official said Wednesday.
“This is not our preferred outcome. But these are the facts — facts that we need to take into account in our planning,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the start of a two-day ministerial meeting in Brussels.
Rasmussen’s comments echoed those of President Barack Obama, who on Tuesday informed Afghan President Hamid Karzai by phone about U.S. plans for a possible exit at the end of the year.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Pentagon would “move ahead with additional contingency planning to ensure adequate plans are in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal by the end of the year should the United States not keep any troops in Afghanistan after 2014.”
read more here
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