Prepaid VA Card Worth Less After Elections

We owe veterans, not the other way around 
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 14, 2014

What's in your wallet? Sure you have a debit card, drivers license, maybe some credit cards but there are others with prepaid cards in their wallets.

VA New ID Card

They paid for all of it when they wrote a blank check to the country "up to and including" their lives. For far too many it is a debt that is past due. Too bad veterans don't have a collection agency working for them. Oops, that would actually be Congress with the duty of making sure they get what they are righteously owed.

When we read about the VA claim struggles they face, most Americans don't have a single clue how long it has been going on or how many decades members of Congress and various Presidents promised to fix it. The House Veterans Affairs Committee has had since 1946 to live up to the promises veterans still wait for.

Do we let this keep happening to them or do we force Congress to take action instead of just holding hearings on what they didn't fix before?

There are some solutions. Since none of this can be blamed on the veterans, let the buck end up on the lap of Congress.

For all the claims waiting in the backlog, the VA needs to make sure the DD214's are real and they can get the real ones from the DOD. With computer programs that can change fonts and erase with ease to replace what a few frauds want to put in, they have to come from the DOD records.

Once that is done, approve claims with at least 50% and get them into medical care they need. Let the VA investigators do their jobs afterwards in case the rare crook has slipped into the system. Fraud VA cases are a tiny fraction of real ones. This will free up claims processors to handle new claims. Far from being the first time this was suggested since 2008.

Why was this suggested? Because in 2007 this was going on.

The VA's current backlog is 800,000 cases. Aside from the appalling conditions in many VA hospitals, in 2004, the last year for which statistics are available, almost 6 million veterans and their families were without any healthcare at all. Most of them are working people -- too poor to afford private coverage, but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care. Soldiers and veterans need help now, the help isn't there, and the conversations about what needs to be done are only just now beginning.

Congress held hearings back then too but as we've seen, the hearings didn't produce any long lasting results.

To train processors right it takes up to two years. They need to hire more because when troops were sent into Afghanistan and Iraq, no one thought to get the VA ready for the wounded coming home. There were less doctors and nurses working for the VA than there were after the Gulf War.

For the lack of doctors, this leaves most of us speechless. A recent report about the lack of doctors in Wasilla Alaska VA showed how bad it has been. The last doctor there left in May. "A nurse practitioner, who transferred from Anchorage last week, is now carrying the 1,000-patient caseload."

Also not a new issue. In 2008 the members of the Senate were holding hearings on the lack of mental health professionals in the Department of Defense.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., will have the opportunity to question the surgeons general at a Wednesday hearing before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Murray expressed concern that the Defense Department has not hired enough specialists to deal with mental health issues created by extended deployments, the stress of combat and other issues.

“The fact that we aren’t meeting the demand for our troops’ psychological health needs with qualified professionals is a great concern of mine,” she said in a telephone interview. “The Pentagon needs to tell us what they are doing to fill the gaps in the system, particularly when troops are being sent back into the field for their third and fourth tours.”

Everything veterans have been inflicted with and subjected to could have been avoided if the American public were ever reminded of how many promises were broken. None of what is going on right now is new and none of it will change unless the American people not only demand it, but pay attention to it all the time.

November brings another election as well as Veterans Day. How we treat our veterans depends on who we vote for but our duty does not end to veterans unless we are prepared to hold those we elect accountable for what they fail to do and praise them for what they get right.

So far, they haven't done much right but got away with what they got wrong and pretend they didn't know any of it was happening.

Combat Medic-Afghanistan Veteran Gets Care from Home Depot Volunteers

Watch: Hundreds of volunteers renovate wounded veteran's damaged home
NJ.Com
By Justin Zaremba
September 12, 2014

HAMBURG — For George Alakpa, Sept. 11s have served as bookends to a harsh chapter in his life.

It was the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 that inspired him, a Nigerian immigrant, to join the U.S. Army. It was while serving as a medic in Afghanistan that he was severely injured and suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury when a roadside bomb exploded.

After returning from Afghanistan nearly two years ago, Alakpa, who also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, hit a new low when he nearly lost his home in Hamburg. The sum of these events — including his isolation at the time — caused him to contemplate suicide, he said.
read more here

ALS: Iowa National Guard Staff Sgt. Troy Musser

Living with ALS: Cedar Rapids veteran in the fight of his life
Ice Bucket Challenge, upcoming walk raise money, awareness of incurable disease
The Gazette
By Alison Gowans
Published: September 12 2014

Musser, 32, lives in Cedar Rapids and was diagnosed with ALS almost three years ago, shortly after returning for a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He says he’s thankful for the strangers who have contributed to the ice bucket challenge — the national ALS Association reports it has raised more than $100 million through the fundraiser.

As a member of the Iowa National Guard, Staff Sgt. Troy Musser earned the nickname, “The Machine,” after he broke multiple Guard physical fitness test records.

In two minutes, he could do 123 pushups or 95 situps.

Today he sits in a wheelchair, unable to move his legs and barely able to move his arms. Musser is living with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

It’s a disease that’s risen in the public conscience of late, after a fundraising initiative for the ALS Association went viral. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge filled social media with the clips and inspired millions of people to post videos of themselves dumping freezing water on their heads to raise money and awareness for ALS.

Even as the ice bucket challenge has spread awareness, there are thousands of people like Musser, fighting a terminal disease with no known cause and no known cure.

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the baseball player who died from it in 1941, is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It progressively robs people of their ability to walk, talk, swallow and breathe on their own. Eventually it leads to total paralysis and death.
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Veterans' Picnic Brings 300 Together

First-ever Salem County Veterans Picnic draws more than 300
South New Jersey Times
Spencer Kent
September 13, 2014

PILESGROVE TWP. — Tami Mowers-Thomas feared she'd fail in giving veterans the event she felt they deserved.

But the granddaughter of a World War II veteran, Mowers-Thomas was motivated to deliver something worthy of the sacrifice veterans of all eras have given to their country.

At the first-ever Salem County Veterans Picnic on Saturday at the Salem County Fairgrounds, Mowers-Thomas was in tears, as the event drew a successful crowd of roughly 300 people and veterans from all over Salem County.

Sandy Wentzello, of Salem, is a Korean War and World War II veteran. Wentzello served in the U.S. Air Force. After being wounded in Korea, he was held as a prisoner of war. He escaped and went 13 days without food and water. He had no shoes and had to wrap his feet with his shirt in the blistering cold.

These are the kind of stories that only those who have gone to war can understand. And it's the type of events like Saturday's picnic that allow veterans to get together to be with people who understand them.
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Soldier Died, Another Wounded During Fork Polk Training

Fort Polk soldier killed in training incident
NOLA Times Picayune
Paul Purpura
September 12, 2014

An Army medic tries to shield a 'wounded' soldier during a combat training exercise at Fort Polk in 2003. Thousands of troops have undergone combat training at the Army post in west-central Louisiana, before deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. (Ted Jackson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

A soldier who returned home from Afghanistan eight months ago was killed and another one was injured while training at Fort Polk in west-central Louisiana, the Army post said Friday. Spc. Silas S. Jones, 22, of Marionville, Mo., died Wednesday in "a tactical vehicle incident," the post said.

The injured soldier's name was not released. He was flown to a regional hospital, according to the statement. The Army would not release more information "to protect the integrity of the investigation." The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command and Fort Polk's Directorate of Emergency Services are investigating.
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OEF OIF Memorial Honors Fallen

Memorial dedicated to WNY Iraq and Afghanistan Heroes
WIVB News
By Brittni Smallwood, News 4 Reporter
Published: September 13, 2014

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Bill Wilson’s son, Staff Sergeant William Wilson the third, was killed while he was fighting for our freedom in Afghanistan.

On Saturday he and his wife attended a memorial in honor of the fallen servicemen and women that died after September 11, 2001.

“We took a look at his picture. My wife touched his name and it’s been pretty emotional today” said Wilson.

The new Western New York Iraq/Afghanistan Memorial bears the names of more than 70 military members that lost their lives.

“It’s not just names that carved into a piece of stone. There are stories. There are people here who served with them. There are people and those among us who have troops that we did not bring home” said Dan Frontera of the WNY IAM Committee. “We’re hoping this becomes a point where we can start our healing and our forgiveness process”.
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Veteran Committed Suicide in Texas Traffic

UPDATE

East Texas veteran who took own life ‘just couldn’t go on’
Longview News Journal
By Bridget Ortigo
Sep 17, 2014

Sederick Hill, a 14-year U.S. Army veteran who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, had expressed his frustration to family members about the lengthy process he was going through to receive help before he took his own life Friday.

Hill’s younger sister, Shakorey Kelley, said she had pleaded with her brother to seek help before Hill left the family’s home by foot Friday night and walked into an oncoming car on Texas 149 in Lakeport. Pct. 3 Justice of the Peace Talyna Carlson ruled the death a suicide.

“He talked about how much of a hassle it was to cross state lines and go fill out paperwork at the VA (Veterans Affairs) clinic in Louisiana, and then come back to Longview and fill out more paperwork before seeing a doctor,” Kelley said.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, about 20 percent of veterans, including those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the Gulf and Vietnam wars, have been diagnosed with PTSD.

“We lose 22 veterans every day to suicide. That’s one person every 65 minutes,” Veteran Outreach Coordinator Lori Thomas with East Texas Veteran’s Resource Center said. “We have supported them while they were deployed, and we need to support them when they come home.”

September is observed as National Suicide Prevention Month, Thomas said.
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Police: Veteran suffering from PTSD jumps into traffic, dies on Texas 149
News Journal Longview Texas
September 14, 2014

Authorities say a 34-year-old military veteran was killed when he walked into traffic late Friday on Texas 149 south of Lakeport.

Lakeport police and Gregg County sheriff’s deputies were called earlier Friday to check on the welfare of a man walking along Texas 149, said Lt. Kirk Haddix of the Gregg County Sheriff's Office.

The man was in a car with family members along Texas 149 when he began threatening to commit suicide.

The car pulled over, and the man left the car as his family called 911, Haddix said.

A few minutes after two police units and deputies arrived, officers tried to calm the man down.

The man then jumped in the way of an oncoming car and was killed instantly, Haddix said.
read more here


UPDATE

U.S. Army veteran struggling with PTSD struck by car along Highway 149
By KLTV Digital Media Staff
Posted: Sep 12, 2014
GREGG COUNTY, TX (KLTV)

A horrifying scene as a former serviceman, believed to be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), threw himself into oncoming traffic right in front of family and law enforcement officers.

It happened around 10 p.m. Friday night south of Longview on Highway 149, near the Ned Williams Elementary School in Lakeport. It was a scene investigators say no one could have possibly foreseen.

Detectives say 34-year-old Cederick Hill, of Killeen, was traveling with family members along Highway 149, when he began threatening to commit suicide.

Pulling onto the roadside, Hill exited the vehicle and his family called 9-1-1.

"Family members had called in and said that Cederick was having some issues threatening suicide, possibly issues related to PTSD when he was in the war," said Lieutenant Kirk Haddix of the Gregg County Sheriff's Office.
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Kansas news station focuses on what Veterans deserve

'What They Deserve' Part 2: Pompeo Says VA Must Change Its Ways
WIBW News
By: KAKE; David Marcus and Greg Palmer
Sep 12, 2014

WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE)-- Wednesday night, we introduced you to Donna Doudna and her father, Don Kosht, a Vietnam veteran still waiting more than two years to see a resolution to his VA benefits appeals.

"Where's the other benefits?", asks Doudna. "Where's the compensation for his time? And his pain? Where's that at? I'd actually like to know where that's at."

It's a battle veterans in Wichita, and thousands nationwide, are fighting.

One Wichita veteran, who doesn't want to be identified, shows us sores on his arms that still show up, from exposure to agent orange.

He tells KAKE News that, four times, his claim was denied because of the same clerical error.

He says, on top of the extensive delays, the lengthy and complicated paperwork required for a claim is filled with landmines and makes nearly no sense to most veterans.

"They read the regulations and the notices and everything and it's gobleygook," the veteran says. "It's written in legalese."

So, the veteran turned his anger and frustration with his own VA benefits claim, towards helping others with the same problem. He's helped nearly a dozen local veterans process the complicated jargon in the claims paperwork.

"They're confused...they're upset.....they're frustrated....they're mad!", he shouts.
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Veteran teaches others with skill in basement

With planes, saws and chisels, veterans craft support
Lowell Sun.com
By Amelia Pak-Harvey
UPDATED: 09/13/2014

Lee Curll of Lunenburg, a retired veteran who served in Kuwait and Iraq, practices with a crosscut saw as instructor Steve Branam, right, and Vietnam veteran Bill Regan of Auburn look on during a recent woodworking class in Branam's Ayer basement workshop.
SUN / AMELIA PAK-HARVEY Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site

AYER -- Veteran Lee Curll stands in Steve Branam's basement, watching him shave a block of wood.

Beforehand, Branam offers a little safety lesson on the chisel -- a small tool that doesn't look nearly as intimidating as the saws, hammers and metal that fill the room.

"The key to making all of these things work is they have to be absolutely razor sharp," he said.

"Which means that the most dangerous tool in here is a chisel, because these are a big sharp hunk of metal that will go right through you. Everything else is pretty controlled."

The woodworking lesson is one of a couple sessions Branam is offering to veterans, free of charge. A software engineer by day and woodworker by night, Branam decided to offer free classes after hearing about veterans coming back from Iraq injured and unemployed.

"It's nice to hear people say 'Thank you for your service,' but I'd like to do something," he said. "I thought, well, it's a fun thing, you can make stuff, earn a skill -- maybe some people might even be able to turn it into a profession."

His basement workshop only holds four students, but it's his small contribution to the veterans who've served their country.

"I just feel it's our responsibility to take care of people who've put their lives on the line for us -- in some cases, they've paid a very heavy price," he said. "I figure this is just my microscopic way of dealing with that problem, four people at a time."

Branam made the workbenches and tool racks that decorate his basement, which is lined with piles of wood.
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Veterans Heard at Sioux Falls VA Medical Center Town Hall

Guess the reporter doesn't know that Vietnam Veterans suffering from PTSD too, that it is "tours" and not "terms" or that it is the Veterans Administration and not the "Association"

Veterans Speak Out At VA Town Hall
KDLT News
by Caiti Blase, Reporter
September 12, 2014

Rick Barg and Donald A. Dahlin sat in their chairs, waiting patiently for their turn to speak.

Though it’s been many years since serving in Vietnam, Barg and Dahlin haven’t forgotten the vivid memories of war.

Today, at the Sioux Falls VA Medical Center, both men had the opportunity to speak out and ask questions about benefits issues for the men and women who have served the United States.

"God didn't make your body to kill people and after you've done it three times in five years, you're going to have a different way of looking at things,” said Barg.

Vietnam veterans, like Barg and Dahlin, are nearing retirement, and some are dealing with the effects of Agent Orange.

Meanwhile, younger veterans who've served multiple terms may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dahlin, commander for the South Dakota VFW, commented on returning home from Vietnam: "I didn't seek any assistance. I didn't seek anything. I just made a living and did my work."

But the Veterans Association is making new strides to help those who've served and protected the United States.

Today, the town hall meeting opened the floor to veterans.

"We just wanted to open up that door and make sure that they knew that that service was available and is always available for them,” said Shawn Bohn, Veterans Service Center manager to the Sioux Falls Regional Office.
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American Federation of Government Employees Want VA Director Gone

Union Wants Top Veterans Affairs Official Out of Office
Time Warner Cable News
By: Chris Williams
09/12/2014

DURHAM-- A national union wants to oust a top VA official.

The American Federation of Government Employees held a protest outside the Veterans Affairs Mid-Atlantic Regional office in Durham on Friday. They want network director, Dan Hoffman, gone.

Union members blame him for many of the problems in the VA system. His office oversees VA hospitals in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Hospitals have come under fire for lack of patient care. A national audit showed the Durham VA had one of the longest wait times for patients. Hospital officials dispute that.

AFGE members say part of the problem is that Hoffman hasn't hired more doctors and nurses. They say he continues to downgrade and cut the pay of low-salaried employees.
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Guilty Plea After Veterans Affairs Hospital Shooting

UPDATE to this story Gun knocked out of hand after shooting at Ohio VA

Suspect in VA hospital shooting pleads guilty
Associated Press
By LISA CORNWELL
17 hours ago

An Ohio man pleaded guilty Friday to assault with a dangerous weapon in a Veterans Affairs hospital shooting that wounded an employee.

Former Veterans Affairs employee Neil Moore pleaded guilty as part of a deal in which federal prosecutors agreed to drop a second charge. The 59-year-old Moore, of Trotwood, had also been charged with use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a violent crime.

Moore made the plea after a federal judge in Dayton ruled that he was mentally competent to stand trial. The judge had ordered a mental evaluation in response to a request from Moore's attorney, Frank Malocu, who says his client has a history of mental illness.

The plea agreement recommends a sentence of 5½ years in prison, which the judge can accept or reject. The count carries a possible maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a possible fine of up to $250,000.

Moore entered a break room at the Dayton VA Medical Center on May 5 and pointed a gun at several employees, and one employee was shot in the ankle in the ensuing scuffle, authorities said. Moore pointed the revolver at another person before fleeing, according to court documents.
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Camp Lejeune Marines Save Man From Burning Car

Camp Lejeune Marines pull man from burning vehicle
WCTI News
By Katy Harris
Sep 12 2014

SNEADS FERRY, ONSLOW COUNTY
Two Camp Lejeune Marines pulled a man from his burning SUV after the victim was involved in a three-vehicle crash at the top of a bridge.

Cpl. David Qualls, 22, and Cpl. Nathan Bryson, 21, were leaving Camp Lejeune Friday morning when they pulled up to a traffic jam on the Highway 172 bridge.

They said they heard people yelling for fire extinguishers. That was when they realized a car was on fire at the top of the bridge. The Marines ran toward the top of the bridge and saw a three-car crash.

Inside the burning vehicle was 54-year-old Larry Flesher, a Camp Lejeune contractor from New Hanover County, according to Camp Lejeune spokesman Nat Fahy.

A Highway Patrol trooper said Flesher was headed north across the bridge toward Camp Lejeune when he crossed the center line and struck a vehicle. A third vehicle heading north across the bridge toward Camp Lejeune was also involved.
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Untold truth behind Military-Veteran Suicides

First the bad news, then the good
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 13, 2014

A veteran is sitting in the VA Doc's office with his wife. He was told to bring her. The Doc walks in with a folder. Pulls his glassed to the tip of his nose and says, "I wanted your wife with you because I have some bad news." The Vet squeezed his wife's trembling hand. "The test came back and you're going to die." The Vet asks how long he has to live. The Doc replies, "Judging by the results, probably when your grandkids get married." The Vet looks at him and says, "But I'm only 26!" Doc smiles and says "Exactly! Now don't you feel better?"

Everything in life depends on how you learn it. What you hear may not always be what it actually turns out to be.

Borrowing a line from Joan Rivers, "Can we Talk?" Military Suicide Prevention has not worked, clearly, but what does prevent them is never really talked about.  Starting with the bad news.

They set aside September to address suicides connected to military life. Military Suicide Prevention Month report from 2010 pretty much sums up the untold truth.

What is it?
The Army will demonstrate our ongoing commitment to enhancing Health Promotion / Risk Reduction / Suicide Prevention (HP/RR/SP) programs for Soldiers, Department of the Army (DA) civilians, and families by observing Army Suicide Prevention Month, Sept. 1 - 30, 2010, in conjunction with National Suicide Prevention Week, Sept. 5 - 11, 2010. Suicide Prevention Month is an Army-wide opportunity to raise awareness, understanding, and use of Army HP/RR/SP programs among our key internal and external audiences.

What has the Army done?
Over 160 Active-duty Soldiers committed suicide during 2009, continuing a five-year trend of increasing suicides in the Army. In response, the Army instituted a multi-level, holistic approach to HP/RR/SP that recognizes the many challenges our Soldiers, families and Army civilians face.

When the DOD started to "prevent suicides" 160 soldiers committed suicide.

DOD reports showed reduced enlisted from 2012 to 2014

2012 1,393,948
2013 1,372,336
2014 1,347,187

For the first quarter of 2014 they reported these suicides

The Department of Defense reported this week that 120 members of the military had taken their lives in the first quarter of calendar year 2014.

The number of first-quarter 2014 military suicides included 74 active-duty personnel, 24 Reservists and 22 members of the National Guard.

As for the Department of Veterans Affairs,

"Veterans over the age of 50 who had entered the VA healthcare system made up about 78 percent of the total number of veterans who committed suicide"

The number of younger veterans committing suicide have also increased.

Yet, suicides by veterans from 18 to 29 have jumped from 40.3 to 57.9 per 100,000 from 2009 to 2011, a 44 percent increase, the VA announced earlier this year.

California, Texas and Florida have the most veterans but were not part of the data collected on veteran suicides. Florida is among the top states with the highest number of veterans committing suicide. Rates of Combat PTSD are sky high but while real experts talk about how combat PTSD is different from other types of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, we are allowing them to be lumped in with all other causes of PTSD leaving too many failed by "prevention" that does not work.

In Florida, the numbers are staggering.

Although veterans make up only 8 percent of the state’s population, they accounted for more than 25 percent of its suicides, according to the report.

Between 1999 and 2011, 31,885 suicides were reported in the state, according to the Florida Department of Health. That would mean more than 8,000 Florida veterans took their lives during those 13 years, according to the VA.

The numbers put Florida among states with the highest percentage of veteran suicides — but the numbers don't explain why.

So when do we actually get honest? When do we get past what has not worked and start doing what does work? When do they stop taking their own lives after risking them for someone else?

When do we talk about how the other 22 million veterans live, heal, love and find hope again? When do we talk about how they need to stop trying to fit in with people who will never understand them and start to tell them there are millions of other veterans who not only understand them, but prove they do belong with them?

Suicide Prevention is a nice title but clearly the numbers show talking about them hasn't worked on preventing them from happening. We need to start talking about healing them instead!

Can't fit in? That depends on who you want to fit in with. Expecting to fit in with civilians after the military is like me thinking I can fit in with models when my favorite food is dessert. It ain't gonna happen! I can't understand them and they sure won't understand me. Same way with expecting civilians to understand someone deciding to join the military with all you know you'll have to put up with, let go of and endue to prepare you to risk your life for others. Think about it. Did your friends understand you wanting to join? Did they join with you?

Bet they didn't get it. Bet they tried to talk you out of it. So if you didn't fit in then, what makes you think you can fit in with them after you put your life on the line. After you sacrificed years of brutal conditions, endless hours on edge, watching friends get shot, blown up, wounded and gone in a second? All of this while they stayed here working for more money, less hours, time to party, go to movies, watch reality TV shows and the only danger they faced was their commute to work?

You do fit in with others like you. Other veterans who have been there and done that. They are the only ones knowing exactly what you're talking about when you don't even say a word. They know when you need to sit and when it is time to walk you away from a crowd. They know when you need to laugh again and they know how to do it. They also know how important it is that you find a place where you don't have to explain for the hundredth time where you were.

They won't force you to talk but make you feel comfortable when you need to.

Above all, when it comes to healing, the answer is alway right in front of you. They do it all the time. They do it with their own kind and for their own kind. They can tell you what it was like when they came home, what didn't work as much as they can tell you what did work.

You won't find what they have to give you if you don't go where they are.

If you live in Central Florida, every month there is at least one post up about veterans events right here and there are plenty of them. Take a look at what is going on in the veterans community and plan to spend some time with other veterans. There are many groups of veterans all over the state and patriotic folks for your families.

You have the DAV, VFW motorcycle bikers groups like the Orlando Nam Knights and the Green Swamp Chapter and groups like Semper Fidelis America

You are part of a group that represents 7% of the population but there are 22 million of you. You won't find them sitting alone on the computer but keep in mind, they found each other without any computers at all. Vietnam veterans managed to do it before the internet. The key is, they wanted to. What's your excuse? Want to stay stuck where you are or do you want to heal and live a better life?