PTSD Vietnam Veteran Long Way to see "Brother"

Friendship forged in combat: Two Vietnam War veterans reunite in Fayetteville
Fayobserver
By Drew Brooks Military editor
Posted: Friday, July 25, 2014

Their friendship was forged in combat.

But for the last nearly 50 years, Larry Moore and Thurman P. Woodfork had each assumed the other was dead.

Today in Fayetteville, the two men reunited for the first time since serving together on a small outpost in Vietnam.

Woodfork, who lives in Washington, D.C., was greeted at Fayetteville Regional Airport this morning by Moore, who lives locally.

The two veterans embraced, then exchanged pins for hats that denote their service.

Despite age and a few extra pounds, each man said the other resembled their old self.

"It's pretty fantastic," Woodfork said of seeing Moore.

Ahead of the reunion, a near-giddy Moore said he was anxiously awaiting his old friend.

A veteran of Special Forces, the former Green Beret credited long-delayed treatment for post-traumatic stress for making the day possible. In his darker days, Moore said he couldn't imagine seeing his old friend.

He said 18 months in combat in Vietnam made him wary of people.
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Paralyzed veteran beaten and robbed causes international reaction of love

Paralyzed Marine thrown out of wheelchair, customized surfboards stolen
KUSI News San Diego
By John Soderman
Posted: Jul 25, 2014

When asked his reaction to the outbreak of love and compassion generated by his story, Abbott is visibly shaken.

"When I have people who don't even know me and they call me from Hawaii, Australia and France and say 'Hey, just get back in the water and surf and you're gonna be ok. We love you buddy!' That means a lot to me."

The following story is generating an outpouring of compassion and support across San Diego and around the world. It's the story of a paralyzed Marine, assaulted and thrown out of his wheelchair by two suspects who stole his customized surfboards in Oceanside.

Randy Abbott gets around in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. But that hasn't prevented him from surfing three or four times a week. You see, it wasn't that long ago doctors told him he would never surf again after a back surgery went terribly wrong.

After spending fourteen years as a Marine Corps recon scout sniper, Abbott's body got pretty banged up. When he got out of the service he needed back surgery. But during that surgery his spinal cord ended up getting accidentally severed, leaving him paralyzed.

But Abbott turned his tragedy into a triumph, opening a surf camp for kids with disabilities. After all, he was able to get back into the water himself because of specially designed surfboards. Surfboards that ended up getting stolen Monday night after two thugs assaulted Abbott, leaving him with cuts and scrapes after they threw him out of his wheelchair.

"One guy was cutting the straps and I said 'Hey, I'm paralyzed, don't steal my surfboards!'" said Abbott. "And then the other guy came at me and took a swing at me, and I took a swing at him. He missed, and I connected. I caught him with a pretty good uppercut."

"The guy that was cutting the straps had come around behind me, and threw me out of my wheelchair, and then kicked my wheelchair and it rolled probably 50 feet down the parking lot. Then they threw my surfboards in the back of their (Toyota) 4Runner and took off."
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Iraq Veteran wanted ashes scattered in Iraq before suicide

There are not many sites I trust on Facebook. Facebook 22 Too Many is one I have no doubts about. I was just updating Veterans Wounded Times when I spotted this from 22 Too Many.

Horror Of PTSD Puts One Marine Mom On A Mission Of Mercy "Brandon told his mother, ominously, that when he died, he wanted his dust scattered in Iraq, because he had already died there anyway."

"Brandon Meyers, a Marine with all the right “Semper Fi” stuff and with two tours of war to his credit, “this whole dream that he had became a nightmare,” said Wendy."

We can talk all we want about veterans and what is happening to them because the VA was not able to take care of all our veterans, but that avoids talking about the simple fact that not all of our over 22 million veterans go to the VA. We can talk all we want about how PTSD veterans do not get treated on time and how 43% do not seek help for it from the VA before committing suicide, but that avoids talking about how 57% committed suicide after seeking help. We can talk about how the VA was not prepared to treat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, but then we avoid talking about how they were not prepared after the Gulf War, Vietnam, Korea, WWII and WWI.

We can talk about the failures of President after President but then we avoid talking about how congress has failed to do their jobs for decades.

We manage to avoid talking about so much but the biggest thing we will not talk about is how we have allowed all of this to happen over and over again.

Brandon ended his pain with a bullet into his head. Over 21 others died that day by their own hands because we let all of this happen.

Attempted murder charges filed by Navy after stabbing

Charges filed in stabbing at Navy barracks
ABC 27 News
Posted: Jul 25, 2014

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The Navy has filed charges against one of its sailors for repeatedly stabbing another in a barracks near a naval hospital.

The Navy said Friday that Petty Officer 3rd Class Wilbur Harwell is charged with attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon.
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After 5 suicide attempts Veteran with PTSD and TBI saved by center facing closure

Clinic treating Oklahoma veterans for PTSD in danger of closing
Patriot Clinic officials say they will be forced to close if they don't raise funds quickly
KOCO News
By Erielle Reshef
Jul 25, 2014

OKLAHOMA CITY —A center that uses a hyperbaric chamber to treat Oklahoma veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries is out of money.

Patriot Clinic officials said Friday that if they don’t raise funds quickly, they will be forced to close the center’s doors.

Chris Gregg, director of the clinic, served two tours of duty.

“I was in the first Gulf War; disarmed explosives,” he said. “I was EOD, landmines, package bombs, car bombs that type of thing.”

The horrors of war have haunted him ever since, taking a dramatic toll.

“I've been hospitalized five times for (attempted) suicide,” he said.

After receiving hyperbaric therapy at the Patriot Clinic in southwest Oklahoma City, he said, it changed his outlook and eased the emotional trauma.

“I was alive a couple months ago. I wasn't living at all, you know?” he said. “The fact that I'm able to enjoy my daughters – it's a big difference.”
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Warning:Video includes combat footage on explosions.
Published on Jul 4, 2012
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Stroke and Concussions. Includes Doctor and Patient Testimonials.

Congress had 68 years to fix the VA

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 26, 2014

The House Veterans Affairs Committee was first seated in 1946. Among their duties was to ensure our veterans had whatever they needed to recover after putting their lives on the line for this entire nation. 68 years later members of Congress accepted no responsibility for what happened to veterans.

Representatives and Senators want to pretend everything they have been hearing about veterans issues are all news to them. How dumb do they think we are? We know veterans have been calling their offices, reporters have been covering the news in their districts and we also know they have been getting an earful during their campaign stops to get support for their political life.

It has been their job to know and fix it.

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives was authorized by enactment of Public Law 601, 79th Congress, which was entitled "Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946." Section 121(a) of this Act provides: "there shall be elected by the House at the commencement of each Congress the following standing committees": Nineteen Committees are listed and No. 18 quotes: "Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to consist of 27 Members." This Act has since been amended so that there are now 22 Standing Committees in the House of Representatives. The number of Members (Representatives) authorized to serve on each Committee has been changed from time to time. There are currently 29 members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs is the authorizing Committee for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Committee recommends legislation expanding, curtailing, or fine-tuning existing laws relating to veterans' benefits. The Committee also has oversight responsibility, which means monitoring and evaluating the operations of the VA. If the Committee finds the that VA is not administering laws as Congress intended, then it is "corrected" through the hearing process and legislation. We are the voice of Congress for veterans in dealings with the VA.

You read the details on Congressional VA failures on Wounded Times all the time but they are so detached from reality they may actually believe they have gotten away with it. Last night on The Rachel Maddow Show it was made very clear too many of these people, elected to do their jobs, just show up to get a paycheck and free healthcare.

RACHEL MADDOW 07/25/14 Will do-nothing Congress do nothing on VA?

Senator Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about whether this Congress, arguably the worst Congress ever, has the ability to pass a badly-needed bill addressing the needs of veterans and the V.A.

Bernie Sanders, Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is right about treating veterans should always be considered a price associated with what it costs to send troops into combat. So how is it that members of Congress have been able to get away with whining about not having enough money in the budget to take care of our veterans? How is it they think the other part of their job, in control over what the VA doesn't do as much as what they do do, is not their responsibility?

They got away with it because no matter how much our veterans are loved in this country, voters are no longer interested in the best and brightest serving them. They are no longer interested in voting on the issues. What is worse about most of us is the fact we hold none of them accountable for anything they fail to do.

This country is in deep trouble but the one obligation we have, no matter what part of the country we live in, is to take care of our veterans. They risk their lives, put up with extreme hardships in our name and suffer for the rest of their lives after being wounded or disabled. Widows and orphans mourn the loss of someone they love and then have to face needing this nation to step up for their sake.

They do all of this with political ideals in the proper ranking far behind what their buddy needs up to and including them to take a bullet to save their lives. Members of our congress are too cowardly to take on their own party for the sake of veterans and stand up for them.

That is the biggest shame of all. If they fail veterans, what else are they willing to sacrifice for some political game?

Combat and PTSD 100 years of research leaves leaders still clueless

100 years after a psychiatrist undertook battlefield mental health we have arrived at a time and place where there has never been more money spent on Combat and PTSD and never more suffering. That is a devastating indictment for all of us. Less serving in the military but suicides are up?

"English Professor at Dickinson College, Wendy Moffat is writing the biography of Doctor Thomas Salmon, a civilian psychiatrist who voluntarily went to the front during WWI to study, diagnose and treat mentally broken soldiers. He's the first U.S. Army psychiatrist and the first to recognize PTSD."

Published on Jul 23, 2014
Thomas W. Salmon was the first American military psychiatrist and a pioneer for mental health research during World War I. In this video, his story is told by Dickinson College Professor of English Wendy Moffat. Moffat is a biographer and social historian of the modern period in America and Europe.

Special thanks to Camille Fife-Salmon and the Salmon family for permission to use photographs.

Wisconsin Iraq Veteran Hero Firefighter Killed in Car Crash

Eagle firefighter, veteran killed in crash
WISN.Com
By Mike Anderson
July 24, 2014

WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. —Two communities are mourning an Iraq veteran and an Eagle Fire Department hero.

The Eagle Fire Department is draped with black and purple bunting, and its flags are lowered to half staff. It's a symbol of mourning for the family of Lt. Jed Ellenson who died Tuesday night.

"Jed was hired in 2009. It was shortly after he got out of the U. S. Marine Corps. He served two tours in Iraq, and he really found his niche and his calling once he joined our organization," Eagle Fire Department Chief Justin Heim said.

Ellenson was on the job about a year when the town was hit by a 125-130 mph tornado. His Iraq training was a lifesaver in the community.

"He was out there helping folks and doing what needed to be done and even since then," Heim said.

Ellenson's pickup truck slammed into a tree in his hometown of Mukwonago.
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Vietnam Veteran once paralyzed walks to wed

Love’s ‘double delight’
Longtime couple weds at rehabilitation center that aided groom
Boston Globe
By Derek J. Anderson
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
JULY 25, 2014

When Dennis O’Brien was admitted to a rehabilitation center in Roslindale six weeks ago, he was caught in a nightmare: diagnosed with a rare disorder and paralyzed from the neck down.

But on Thursday afternoon, life took a dramatic turn for the 66-year-old Vietnam veteran. O’Brien, able to walk now and standing with only a cane in the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, married his longtime girlfriend Dorothy K. Smith in front of family, friends, and staff.

“It was a double delight,” said O’Brien, who was discharged the same day. “We had a marriage today, and I got to walk out the door when we were finished.”

O’Brien was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder that causes the body’s immune system to attack the nerves.
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Sequestration Continues to Shrink Armed Forces

What is happening with our military?

Some Army captains prepping to leave, majors to be alerted
Fort Hood Sentinel
By Dave Larsen, Chief, Command Information
JULY 24, 2014
NEWS

As the Army looks to reduce its force to 490,000 by the end of fiscal year 2015 and 450,000 by the end of FY ’17, a military personnel official from Fort Hood said Tuesday that 213 captains within III Corps were recently identified by the Army Officer Separation Board to transition from the service in the coming months.

At Fort Hood, 91 captains were affected by the OSB, according to Jay Whitaker, the senior military personnel officer, or G1, with Fort Hood’s Mission Support Element.

Why is it happening?

As noted repeatedly over the past several months by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, force reductions are based on the Army’s budget.

If sequestration continues, however, there is a possibility that the Armywide personnel end-strength could go as low at 420,000, to include additional reductions in brigade combat teams.

Enough said!