VFW Says Ending Sequestration is Top 2016 Priority
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Capitol Hill
Mar 03, 2015
"Everyone is against the sequester but no one has yet proposed legislation to end it," said Joe Davis, the VFW's national spokesman.
Members of the nation's oldest veterans' service organization will be lobbying to end sequestration this week when they appear before congressional committees and meetings with lawmakers in their offices.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars has a number of military- and veteran-related issues to talk up, but its top mission is to rid Washington of the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts that are scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1 if Congress fails to pass a budget.
"Our members -- all voting constituents -- will use this face-to-face opportunity [with Congress] to demand ... an end to the sequester," VFW National Commander John W. Stroud said. With the U.S. still at war, the cuts required under the sequester will devastate military readiness, homeland security, the quality-of-life of military families and veterans, he said.
The VSO leadership and an estimated 500 members gather in Washington annually to confer on veterans and defense issues and lobby Congress for them.
VFW officials will testify before joint sessions of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees on Wednesday and Thursday, where they will make their case for proper benefits and healthcare funding for the Veterans Affairs Department.
The group's 2016 priorities list also seeks improved interoperability between VA and Defense Department records, continued safeguarding of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and for employment programs. The group's priorities also extend to defense and homeland security spending.
The sequester, officially the Budget Control Act, should be ended to "ensure defense funding supports quality of life programs for servicemembers and families, training and readiness, troop end strength and equipment needs," the organization said.
read more here
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Canadian Troops Learned of Suicide by Tweet
Jason Kenney's tweet confirming soldier's death sparked anger, frustration
OTTAWA CITIZEN
LEE BERTHIAUME
Published on: March 2, 2015
Cirillo was standing guard with another soldier in front of the National War Memorial shortly before 10 a.m. that morning when a lone gunman shot him in the back. The gunman then drove to Parliament Hill and rushed through the main doors of the Centre Block, where he was killed in a shootout with RCMP officers and Hill security staff.
The unprecedented attack prompted an immediate lockdown of military and federal institutions across Canada, amid fears of a co-ordinated assault on Ottawa and an absence of concrete information.
OTTAWA CITIZEN
LEE BERTHIAUME
Published on: March 2, 2015
“Yeah, thanks to Jason Kenney!?!?” Perry wrote. “How is he tweeting this before the (chain of command). My soldiers had to find out from CBC.”
Canadian reservist Cpl. Nathan Cirillo is pictured in an undated photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, FacebookInternal emails show a minister’s tweet sparked confusion, frustration and anger as Cpl. Nathan Cirillo’s comrades learned about the Canadian soldier’s death on Oct. 22 from news reports rather than through official military channels.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Cirillo was standing guard with another soldier in front of the National War Memorial shortly before 10 a.m. that morning when a lone gunman shot him in the back. The gunman then drove to Parliament Hill and rushed through the main doors of the Centre Block, where he was killed in a shootout with RCMP officers and Hill security staff.
The unprecedented attack prompted an immediate lockdown of military and federal institutions across Canada, amid fears of a co-ordinated assault on Ottawa and an absence of concrete information.
But 15 minutes later, at 1:40 p.m., then-employment minister Jason Kenney became the first to confirm that the 24-year-old reservist had died, tweeting: “Condolences to family of the soldier killed, & prayers for the Parliamentary guard wounded.” Kenney has since been named defence minister.
The minister’s comment sparked a flurry of news reports. In response, Sgt. Tim Perry of the Canadian Forces’ Ceremonial Guards emailed his commanding officer, Maj. Michel Lavigne, at 1:53 p.m., saying: “I need a padre and confirmation if Cpl. (Cirillo) is dead or not. My guys are learning from CBC on his status.”
read more here
Iraq Veteran Marine Saved By New York Firefighter
UPDATE
FDNY BONE MARROW DONOR MEETS IRAQ VETERAN RECIPIENT FOR 1ST TIME
FDNY BONE MARROW DONOR MEETS IRAQ VETERAN RECIPIENT FOR 1ST TIME
EXCLUSIVE: FDNY firefighter donating bone marrow to save Iraq War veteran
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BY LISA L. COLANGELO
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Michael McCauley had only been a firefighter for a few months when he saved a life — and he didn’t even have to run into a burning building to do it.
The 26-year-old Staten Island resident was told in 2013 that he was a match for a leukemia patient in desperate need of a bone-marrow transplant.
On Wednesday, he will finally meet the mystery recipient — Aaron Faulkner, a 33-year-old Iraq War veteran and father of two from Pittsburgh, at a special reception at FDNY headquarters in Brooklyn.
“I went a long time without hearing anything,” said McCauley, who works out of Engine 242 in Bay Ridge.
“I wasn’t sure whether or not it helped.”
Faulkner, a former Marine now studying to be a pastor, was a student at Geneva College in Pennsylvania when he started to feel pains and exhaustion.
He thought the blood test he took in March 2013 would reveal he had an annoying case of mononucleosis — not acute myeloid leukemia.
read more here
Marine and Soldier Off to Hawaii Honeymoon
San Diego military couple wins dream honeymoon contest
CBS News 8
By Jeff Zevely, Reporter
Posted: Mar 02, 2015
SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Finding the proper balance between the military and marriage can be difficult, which is one reason why a husband and wife who serve at Camp Pendleton just won a dream honeymoon to Hawaii.
Christian and Kirsten Perry met in Afghanistan. Christian's a Marine, Kirsten a soldier. Somehow they fell in love in a war zone.
"His first question was, 'Can I get your email?' Kirsten said. "It was actually kind of like a dare… it was like, I bet you can't get her number,"
Christian said. Christian proposed on Valentine's Day last year, and wasn't sure if Kirsten would say yes. "Imagine you're about to go on stage in front of 1,000 fans or something. She's the biggest fan I've ever had," Christian said. Kirsten accepted the offer and the bling.
In order to get stationed together at Camp Pendleton, they got married in a rush two months later. read more here
CBS News 8
By Jeff Zevely, Reporter
Posted: Mar 02, 2015
Christian and Kirsten Perry met in Afghanistan. Christian's a Marine, Kirsten a soldier. Somehow they fell in love in a war zone.
"His first question was, 'Can I get your email?' Kirsten said. "It was actually kind of like a dare… it was like, I bet you can't get her number,"
Christian said. Christian proposed on Valentine's Day last year, and wasn't sure if Kirsten would say yes. "Imagine you're about to go on stage in front of 1,000 fans or something. She's the biggest fan I've ever had," Christian said. Kirsten accepted the offer and the bling.
In order to get stationed together at Camp Pendleton, they got married in a rush two months later. read more here
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Retirement PTSD Wake Up Call
I was reading an article about Vietnam veterans and it brought up a very interesting point we don't talk about much.
Retirement and the PTSD wake up call replacing the alarm clock.
Local veterans keep fighting against PTSD
By MIKE TONY
10 Central Ohio News
UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — In 1965, Bill Pitts was an 18-year-old, growing up much too fast.
During Christmas of that year, he was a Naval officer providing gunfire support on a vessel in the South China Sea, bombing Da Nang Harbor.
When his service in the Navy came to an end in 1969, Pitts returned home withdrawn and unable to communicate as well as he would have liked. Now a 68-year-old Dunbar resident, Pitts recalls treating his first two wives badly and not wanting to socialize with anyone.
"I wasn't the same kid I was when I first went over there," Pitts said. "I seemed not to care who I hurt with my actions."
Kenneth Noga was a member of both the Army's 101st Airborne Division and 9th Division from August 1971 to April 1972 and was shot at in the Quang Tri province of North Vietnam. After retiring from Sensus following 41 years with the company in Nov. 2013, the Uniontown resident found himself with more time alone dealing with haunting memories of his time in Vietnam. The flashbacks got particularly bad from January to April of last year.
"I was afraid to go to sleep because I knew where I was going," Noga said.
So every Thursday, Noga, Pitts and 60 to 70 other local veterans go to counseling sessions led by Joel Smith of the Veterans Affairs-run Morgantown Vet Center at the Hopwood Amvets. Smith discusses with veterans how to understand everything from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the psychology of humor and the value of patience with their spouses and other loved ones.
Click the link and read the rest especially if you are a Vietnam veteran. The problem is as more and more Vietnam veterans retire they feel as if their lives suddenly fell apart.
I am about 10 years (or more) younger than most of my friends. I have about 10 years left before I can stop working but they are retiring and not as happy as they thought they'd be. After 20 or 30 years in the military and another 20 some odd years with jobs to go to, they are waking up with memories they thought they managed to escape, and frankly, they are shocked.
It isn't that PTSD was not already in them but they were just too busy to acknowledge it. It happened to Korean War veterans and WWII veterans just as it will happen to the newer veterans when they reach retirement age. God willing it won't be the same for them since how much Vietnam veterans were able to teach them ahead of time.
As with combat, you didn't allow yourself to feel pain. It wasn't a priority. You had to stay alive and keep as many of your buddies alive long enough to go home as well. Then it was getting jobs or going to school, getting married, having kids and doing what everyone else was doing.
You stayed so busy as if everything you did was a mission to complete. Ok, so you did the service time and the employment time. Now what? This is supposed to be your time to relax. It isn't because you didn't take the time to heal after you came home from combat.
Most of you didn't have a clue back in the 60's or 70's. It wasn't until then that research was finally able to understand what combat did emotionally as well as physically.
Now you have time but seem to be in shock that everything that happened so long ago is fresh in your mind. Don't be. You are far from alone.
This is what was known in the 70's.
That came home with you. Now is the time to treat it and heal it. Yep! You can heal it. There is no cure for it but that doesn't mean you're stuck feeling like you just entered into the Twilight Zone.
For all the VA got wrong that made the newspapers lately, they got a lot right.
They are doing things like Yoga and Tai Chi
Veterans Health Administration
Training Veterans to Care for Themselves
by Hans Petersen, VA Staff Writer
Monday, April 15, 2013
Kristi Rietz helps Veterans living with chronic conditions — pain…illness…stress — to put healthy things back into their lives and not make their illness the center of their life.
She is an occupational therapist in the Wellness Program at the Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wis.
Kristi explains, “Wellness is approaching people as a whole person. What do they think would be a satisfying full life? We help people gain the skills they need to be able to do that. It’s approaching people from the perspective of what do they want out of life?”
Her Wellness Program calendar is full, with options for Veterans like the Eight-Week Wellness Series which includes Tai Chi Fundamentals), Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Positive Psychology and Wellness Recovery Action Planning where Veterans make a personal plan for their wellness and recovery. Wellness Programs Help Relieve Stress
The outpatient Wellness Program provides training in natural stress relief and health improvement practices for Veterans and their families. Classes offer education and practice in stress management techniques that build focus, attention, and memory, as well as improved sleep, decreased stress, overall health, and increased well-being.
They do "VA Telehealth Services Served Over 690,000 Veterans In Fiscal Year 2014" and most still have face to face peer support groups although a lot of them have been stopped. There is a battle going on to have them brought back, not just for the veterans but for the families as well.
There is so much available for you because your generation fought for all of it. It is time for you to start using it and healing. After all, there is a lot more you can do with your time now, like getting better and then helping other veterans get there too!
The "Killer Was a Veteran" And Reporter Is Confused
This explains it: The killer was a veteran
San Francisco Chronicle
By Jon Carroll
March 3, 2015
So this happened. I was up at the local mom-and-pop store, which is run by Omar, who is sort of the energy center of the entire shopping district, a just-fooling-around sort of guy who gets involved in the community in many ways and orders all sorts of organic gluten-free whatevers when his customers request it.
I’m pretty sure he recognizes everybody; I know he recognizes me. A few times ago, he said to me, sort of randomly, “Are you a veteran?”
I said I wasn’t.
“OK, dude, you just looked like a veteran.”
I mumbled thank you, got my change and my groceries, and walked out. It took me halfway home to realize I wasn’t sure whether I liked being called a veteran. Not because I’m all about peace and love, but because, well, veterans have kind of a bad image.
read more here
San Francisco Chronicle
By Jon Carroll
March 3, 2015
So this happened. I was up at the local mom-and-pop store, which is run by Omar, who is sort of the energy center of the entire shopping district, a just-fooling-around sort of guy who gets involved in the community in many ways and orders all sorts of organic gluten-free whatevers when his customers request it.
I’m pretty sure he recognizes everybody; I know he recognizes me. A few times ago, he said to me, sort of randomly, “Are you a veteran?”
I said I wasn’t.
“OK, dude, you just looked like a veteran.”
I mumbled thank you, got my change and my groceries, and walked out. It took me halfway home to realize I wasn’t sure whether I liked being called a veteran. Not because I’m all about peace and love, but because, well, veterans have kind of a bad image.
read more here
I tried to leave this comment but didn't want them to take over my Facebook and Google links.
I'm confused. Are you trying to explain veterans or insult them? I'm married to a Vietnam veteran and spend most of my time with veterans. I just don't get how people say things like you just did. Most of the veterans I know have PTSD but work jobs, have marriages that last decades and relationships with friends that have lasted almost as long. They spend their time supporting each other and then doing all they can for a lot of charities, including the veteran/biker groups polite folks just don't want around. As for the "most veterans are not damaged" that is insulting to veterans with PTSD. They are not "damaged" but folks would rather accept a civilian with PTSD than a veteran.
Why Are We Denying Purple Hearts to Veterans With PTSD?
Why Are We Denying Purple Hearts to Veterans With PTSD?
Huffington Post
Gene Beresin
Posted: 03/03/2015
I have seen Arthur for psychiatric care for over 20 years. He suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his two tours of duty in Vietnam.
Arthur attended the University of Massachusetts, and graduated in 1969. Although he was drafted upon losing his student waiver, he chose instead to enlist as a volunteer. Soon he was training to deactivate bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the field.
Although he proved to be quite talented, and ultimately succeeded in saving countless lives, he also experienced failure. No one can detect and suppress every device in the jungle.
Each and every death he witnessed felt like a terrible personal failure. He still dreams of the horrifying scenes he lived through in the war.
To this day, Arthur suffers from PTSD and profound survivor's guilt. While better in many ways, he qualified for total disability based on his diagnosis, and sees me on a regular basis.
Arthur received two Purple Hearts for physical wounds incurred in 1970 and 1971, but was denied Purple Hearts for his traumatic brain injury and PTSD because they were not considered obvious physical wounds at the time.
I appreciate the profound impact PTSD has had on his life--his daily flashbacks, impaired sleep, obsessions over what he could have done to save more lives, extreme vigilance to protect the ones he loves. Not a day goes by that he doesn't question himself.
It defies me that he has not earned Purple Hearts for these long-lasting effects of PTSD--awards to stand beside the two Bronze Star Medals for Valor he received.
read more here
My comment
Huffington Post
Gene Beresin
Posted: 03/03/2015
I have seen Arthur for psychiatric care for over 20 years. He suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his two tours of duty in Vietnam.
Arthur attended the University of Massachusetts, and graduated in 1969. Although he was drafted upon losing his student waiver, he chose instead to enlist as a volunteer. Soon he was training to deactivate bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the field.
Although he proved to be quite talented, and ultimately succeeded in saving countless lives, he also experienced failure. No one can detect and suppress every device in the jungle.
Each and every death he witnessed felt like a terrible personal failure. He still dreams of the horrifying scenes he lived through in the war.
To this day, Arthur suffers from PTSD and profound survivor's guilt. While better in many ways, he qualified for total disability based on his diagnosis, and sees me on a regular basis.
Arthur received two Purple Hearts for physical wounds incurred in 1970 and 1971, but was denied Purple Hearts for his traumatic brain injury and PTSD because they were not considered obvious physical wounds at the time.
I appreciate the profound impact PTSD has had on his life--his daily flashbacks, impaired sleep, obsessions over what he could have done to save more lives, extreme vigilance to protect the ones he loves. Not a day goes by that he doesn't question himself.
It defies me that he has not earned Purple Hearts for these long-lasting effects of PTSD--awards to stand beside the two Bronze Star Medals for Valor he received.
read more here
Great job on the question and calling attention to this subject back up again.
Until people understand that there are different types of PTSD and combat PTSD is different, they will never see it as anything other than an illness. Civilians get PTSD from a long list of traumatic events in their lives but as with different levels, their treatment needs to be based on the cause. The cause of Combat PTSD is military service and it is complicated by the deep connection servicemen and women have to others they serve with. This carries into their lives as veterans.
What we know about PTSD in the civilian world was knowledge gained by veterans coming home from Vietnam and fighting for the research to be done. Strange how they are the last to receive the benefits they obtained for everyone else.
I've read the best experts over the last 30+ years and they point out the differences few others even think about. When folks get that this PTSD is caused by combat, they would have no problem with the Purple Heart any more than they would have issues with TBI caused by service as well. It isn't an illness that was caused by them but something inflicted upon them. There is so much that is done wrong because people still don't know what they should have known years ago. Veterans want healing more than anything else but they can't get it while there is still so many mistakes being made disguised as "doing something" when what works is ignored.
Florida Veteran Seeking Others to Fight ISIS?
This story doesn't add up. Hope they do a followup to explain it.
Florida man recruiting veterans to fight ISIS
First Coast News
THV11 affiliate
March 2, 2015
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 2, 2015) - A U.S. veteran is putting out a call to other veterans to come together to fight the Islamic State on their turf.
"There has been strong support and numerous veterans who are interested in going."
According to THV11 affiliate, WTLV, eight-year military veteran Sean Rowe launched the website, Veterans against ISIS.
He's recruiting veterans to fight the terror group in places like Iraq and he's asking for four years of military experience.
"So, I will be talking with them and screening them. I want to keep it small and simple," said Rowe.
From kidnappings to beheadings, the violence unleashed by ISIL continues, and Rowe says he's had enough.
"I'm not scared of these guys. They can come for me if they want but I am going to take the fight to them," said Rowe.
read more here
Sailor's Dogs Stolen From Car Include PTSD Service Dog
Thieves steal service dog from sailor's car
ABC 10 News
Robert Santos
Mar 2, 2015
A sailor visiting Southern California had two of her dogs stolen out of her car. One of them is her service dog, which she desperately wants back.
Sandy Roberts shared her story with 10News anchor Robert Santos, hoping to help police track down the thieves.
Roberts thought something was strange when she returned to her car Saturday morning and did not hear her dogs.
"They're usually very, very excited to see me," said Roberts.
This time, her two dogs, which were left in the front seat, were gone, including her service dog Lola.
She helps with Roberts' overall mental health, including coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I really need her back," said Roberts.
read more here
ABC 10 News
Robert Santos
Mar 2, 2015
A sailor visiting Southern California had two of her dogs stolen out of her car. One of them is her service dog, which she desperately wants back.
Sandy Roberts shared her story with 10News anchor Robert Santos, hoping to help police track down the thieves.
Roberts thought something was strange when she returned to her car Saturday morning and did not hear her dogs.
"They're usually very, very excited to see me," said Roberts.
This time, her two dogs, which were left in the front seat, were gone, including her service dog Lola.
She helps with Roberts' overall mental health, including coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I really need her back," said Roberts.
read more here
VA Sent Vietnam Veteran Records of Iraq Veteran?
VA investigating how a veteran’s personal files were mistakenly sent to Fredericksburg vet
ABC 7 News
By Joce Sterman
March 2, 2015
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (WJLA) – The Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating how sensitive personal files were sent to the wrong person. It's a problem brought to light by the 7 On Your Side I-Team. Continue reading
Taking care of her husband is Carolyn Wilkins’ primary job these days. But for the Fredericksburg woman, battling to get the Vietnam veteran's medical care covered is a close second.
Wilkins said, "That's a fight in and of itself."
But when Wilkins asked the VA for copies of her husband's medical files, her fight took an unexpected turn. Instead of receiving Joseph Wilkins’ records, she received a package of files belonging to an Iraq war veteran from North Carolina. It's a man with no connections to the Wilkins family. The files contain everything from the man's high school diploma to his service record, and they include multiple notations of his Social Security number.
The 7 On Your Side I-Team looked through the files, discovering Wilkins was also sent the other veteran's complete personnel and dental records, as well as a folder full of evidence related to the man's case with the Board of Veterans Appeals.
read more here
ABC 7 News
By Joce Sterman
March 2, 2015
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (WJLA) – The Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating how sensitive personal files were sent to the wrong person. It's a problem brought to light by the 7 On Your Side I-Team. Continue reading
Taking care of her husband is Carolyn Wilkins’ primary job these days. But for the Fredericksburg woman, battling to get the Vietnam veteran's medical care covered is a close second.
Wilkins said, "That's a fight in and of itself."
But when Wilkins asked the VA for copies of her husband's medical files, her fight took an unexpected turn. Instead of receiving Joseph Wilkins’ records, she received a package of files belonging to an Iraq war veteran from North Carolina. It's a man with no connections to the Wilkins family. The files contain everything from the man's high school diploma to his service record, and they include multiple notations of his Social Security number.
The 7 On Your Side I-Team looked through the files, discovering Wilkins was also sent the other veteran's complete personnel and dental records, as well as a folder full of evidence related to the man's case with the Board of Veterans Appeals.
read more here
Second Tampa Bay veteran received someone else's medical records
A second Tampa Bay area veteran received someone else's confidential medical records in the mail.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Fitness Seeker? Want Prozac With That?
Pulled twice from exchanges, OxyElite Pro supplement now found to contain Prozac drug
Stars and Stripes
By Travis J. Tritten
Published: March 2, 2015
WASHINGTON — A fitness supplement that was twice pulled from exchange store shelves, first following soldier deaths and then after an outbreak of liver disease, has now been found to contain the active ingredient in the prescription drug Prozac, the Food and Drug Administration announced Saturday.
OxyElite Pro Super Thermogenic is sold as a weight-loss supplement, but the FDA said it has discovered the product contains fluoxetine, a drug used in treating mental disorders such as depression, bulimia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Fluoxetine and other drugs in its class can have serious side effects such as suicidal thinking, seizures and abnormal bleeding, the FDA said in its warning. The agency said consumers should not buy or use OxyElite Pro.
The Marine Corps Exchange, the Navy Exchange and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service said Monday that they do not stock it.
The supplement was first pulled from military bases in 2011 after it and other supplements were found to contain the unregulated synthetic stimulant methylhexanamine, known as DMAA, which was suspected in the deaths of two soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas.
read more here
Stars and Stripes
By Travis J. Tritten
Published: March 2, 2015
WASHINGTON — A fitness supplement that was twice pulled from exchange store shelves, first following soldier deaths and then after an outbreak of liver disease, has now been found to contain the active ingredient in the prescription drug Prozac, the Food and Drug Administration announced Saturday.
OxyElite Pro Super Thermogenic is sold as a weight-loss supplement, but the FDA said it has discovered the product contains fluoxetine, a drug used in treating mental disorders such as depression, bulimia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Fluoxetine and other drugs in its class can have serious side effects such as suicidal thinking, seizures and abnormal bleeding, the FDA said in its warning. The agency said consumers should not buy or use OxyElite Pro.
The Marine Corps Exchange, the Navy Exchange and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service said Monday that they do not stock it.
The supplement was first pulled from military bases in 2011 after it and other supplements were found to contain the unregulated synthetic stimulant methylhexanamine, known as DMAA, which was suspected in the deaths of two soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas.
read more here
RallyPoint Getting Veterans LinkedIn to Each Other
Veterans, active duty military, tap social media network for support
FoxNews.com
By Brian Mastroianni
Published March 02, 2015
Around last April, LinkedIn co-founder Konstantin Guericke was approached by Yinon Weiss about supporting an interesting twist on the social media networking model that he helped introduce back in 2003.
Weiss, who served for 10 years on active duty as a Marine Corps scout and sniper platoon commander as well as an Army Special Forces officer, met with Guericke to discuss RallyPoint, a professional network for active duty members of the military and veterans alike.
Weiss founded the site back in 2012 alongside Aaron Kletzing, another veteran, when they were both students at Harvard Business School. In fact, the idea literally was formed on the back of a napkin in a Cambridge, Mass. restaurant.
The two men saw their project as filling a big void for military personnel – both veterans transitioning to civilian life and individuals serving on active duty often express frustration at not having guidance and networking in navigating life in and outside of the military.
Flash forward three years, and the site has grown beyond networking.
It is a social forum that has become an online community, sounding board, and professional guide for over 500,000 veterans and active duty men and women serving in the military.
The site’s growth has made it an indispensable resource for individuals hailing from a very specialized career who didn’t necessarily find the guidance and social connections they needed from sites like LinkedIn or Facebook. With the announcement last week that Guericke was joining RallyPoint’s board of directors the site has further established itself as a go-to social networking venue.
“One of the big problems for people from the military is that they don’t build a strong network,” Weiss told FoxNews.com. “It’s not really part of the culture of the military – you don’t have a resume, you don’t practice job interviews, you typically get assigned to places, and you don’t have much influence over that. So, when you transition to civilian life, it leads to intense frustration.”
read more here
FoxNews.com
By Brian Mastroianni
Published March 02, 2015
Around last April, LinkedIn co-founder Konstantin Guericke was approached by Yinon Weiss about supporting an interesting twist on the social media networking model that he helped introduce back in 2003.
Weiss, who served for 10 years on active duty as a Marine Corps scout and sniper platoon commander as well as an Army Special Forces officer, met with Guericke to discuss RallyPoint, a professional network for active duty members of the military and veterans alike.
Weiss founded the site back in 2012 alongside Aaron Kletzing, another veteran, when they were both students at Harvard Business School. In fact, the idea literally was formed on the back of a napkin in a Cambridge, Mass. restaurant.
The two men saw their project as filling a big void for military personnel – both veterans transitioning to civilian life and individuals serving on active duty often express frustration at not having guidance and networking in navigating life in and outside of the military.
Flash forward three years, and the site has grown beyond networking.
It is a social forum that has become an online community, sounding board, and professional guide for over 500,000 veterans and active duty men and women serving in the military.
The site’s growth has made it an indispensable resource for individuals hailing from a very specialized career who didn’t necessarily find the guidance and social connections they needed from sites like LinkedIn or Facebook. With the announcement last week that Guericke was joining RallyPoint’s board of directors the site has further established itself as a go-to social networking venue.
“One of the big problems for people from the military is that they don’t build a strong network,” Weiss told FoxNews.com. “It’s not really part of the culture of the military – you don’t have a resume, you don’t practice job interviews, you typically get assigned to places, and you don’t have much influence over that. So, when you transition to civilian life, it leads to intense frustration.”
read more here
You Won't Get Over It, Heal It Instead And Defeat PTSD
When You Understand You Won't Get Over It, Heal It
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 2, 2015
Did you know that in order to heal combat PTSD, you have to abandon hope? Yep, that's the first step. No, I don't mean give up on healing but give up on "getting over it" since that notion actually has you getting worse. PTSD gains more control over you while you refuse to ask for help. Letting your misinformed ego get in the way of healing traps you in an endless cycle of getting worse. Much like an infection, it spreads out, claims more of what is good and destroys what it touches.
If untreated, it destroys your future as well as everything else today. Your relationships are robbed by you being disconnected, unable to feel emotional connection to anyone. Joy, that happy feeling you used to have is something you can't even remember the last time you laughed so hard you cried. Things you used to love to do are no longer even thought of during the day.
The worst part of all is, sooner or later as PTSD gains, you lose hope. That day comes when you wake up understanding that today isn't the day you just get over it. You fully accept that fact and then you decide you don't want to be here anymore. Without hope, you decide to take your life into your own hands instead of putting your life back into your control.
Suck it up pal cause this is about to get worse for you to read before it gets a whole lot better.
I am sure you've heard about Dante's Inferno but may have forgotten what it was all about. There are nine circles of hell and the ways people got sent to each level. Don't worry about reading them since combat isn't one of the paths taken.
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Every single generation and major religious group believes in the soul with the exception of atheists.
Hemant Mehta says that he believes you did not exist before you were born so after you've lived your life, that's it. There isn't anything else other than what you leave behind.
Seems he's missing a lot of detail there. Like what makes each of us so different if there is nothing going on other than brain cells. What makes us decide what we want to do in life? What makes some of us more selfish than others? What makes some of us be willing to die to save someone else? What makes a serviceman or woman really able to do that?
The difference is, you were some place before. No, not your body. That is genetic and because of your parents. I'm talking about the soul and that is who you are inside that body your parents started.
Jeremiah 1:5 New International Version (NIV)
Translation is God knew him (his soul) before it was sent to live inside the body his Mom was carrying around in her own body. The other part of this often overlooked is, God had plans for his life and everything he was supposed to do, he was equipped to do.
A safe bet is if you joined the military, you always thought of doing it. You felt pulled or compelled to join. If that is the case then it was your calling and everything you needed to do it was within you. Being a simple human and with simple understanding of the nature of things, you more than likely didn't understand it. Most of us don't. Some just get it a little better than others and when they do, they are actually happier doing what they were intended to do instead of just floundering with no calling tugging them.
Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version (NIV)
Translation is, God put everything into him he would need to do what he was sent here to do. He did the same for you. Everything you needed to serve was within you from you ability to care that much that you were willing to die for someone else, to the courage you had to do it, the physical stamina to get through it and still be able to retain your compassion.
It is that same ability to feel things so deeply that allowed you to also feel pain so strongly. You just felt it more than others and didn't know how to feel better.
After the event people walk away one of two ways. Either God did it to them or God spared them. As time goes on, depending on which way they thought life gets worse where the thoughts of God not even being real becomes real and hope evaporates or better because the goodness within them lives on.
Once it is decided that God isn't real, after all the horrors you've seen in combat, it is easy to say that if God was real then He wouldn't have let it happen. You dismiss the fact that God doesn't mess with freewill and it was a choice between the starters of the wars you were sent to fight and those who ended them. It is easy to also forget all that was going on at the same time that was not horrific.
You forgot about all the times you shed a tear, reached out a hand to comfort someone, said a prayer, spent time listening to someone or the biggest thing of all is that you were able to get through all that and still be able to grieve. The pain you feel comes from grief.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 New International Version (NIV)
And you thought it was just a song by the Byrds.
Everyone in the Bible knew what grief was including Christ. It is the shortest and most powerful sentence in the entire bible.
Christ knew God better than anyone else yet He still wept. He knew how His life would end but still had that much compassion for a moment of pain even though He knew what was coming next. (John 11)
So how about we make a deal right now and let Him open your eyes? See where your pain comes from and that it comes from the goodness within you. You can heal but not as long as you are looking in the wrong place to start with. It is all within you because it was all put there before you were born into your body.
Let Him keep you from dying so that you can start living again. Push away that thought that you are stronger and shouldn't have PTSD. Are you stronger than Christ? Do you have more faith than He had? Think of something else that was said
John 15:13 King J
ames Version (KJV)
This is what you were willing to do. When you start to heal, then you can keep serving others by helping them heal as well. The best therapy is peer support because you understand them. Find the right path toward healing and then reach back so they get there too.
The flame has been lit by Vietnam veterans for decades so that you understand you are not lost but just need help finding your way to healing.
You can read the rest of the levels here.
Then there is gluttony on the 3rd level, greed on the 4th, anger on the 5th, heresy on the 6th, violence on the 7th, fraud is 8th and the 9th "and last circle is ringed by classical and Biblical giants, who perhaps symbolize pride and other spiritual flaws lying behind acts of treachery."
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 2, 2015
Did you know that in order to heal combat PTSD, you have to abandon hope? Yep, that's the first step. No, I don't mean give up on healing but give up on "getting over it" since that notion actually has you getting worse. PTSD gains more control over you while you refuse to ask for help. Letting your misinformed ego get in the way of healing traps you in an endless cycle of getting worse. Much like an infection, it spreads out, claims more of what is good and destroys what it touches.
If untreated, it destroys your future as well as everything else today. Your relationships are robbed by you being disconnected, unable to feel emotional connection to anyone. Joy, that happy feeling you used to have is something you can't even remember the last time you laughed so hard you cried. Things you used to love to do are no longer even thought of during the day.
The worst part of all is, sooner or later as PTSD gains, you lose hope. That day comes when you wake up understanding that today isn't the day you just get over it. You fully accept that fact and then you decide you don't want to be here anymore. Without hope, you decide to take your life into your own hands instead of putting your life back into your control.
Suck it up pal cause this is about to get worse for you to read before it gets a whole lot better.
I am sure you've heard about Dante's Inferno but may have forgotten what it was all about. There are nine circles of hell and the ways people got sent to each level. Don't worry about reading them since combat isn't one of the paths taken.
Dante passes through the gate of Hell, which bears an inscription, the ninth (and final) line of which is the famous phrase "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate",
"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
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Every single generation and major religious group believes in the soul with the exception of atheists.
Hemant Mehta says that he believes you did not exist before you were born so after you've lived your life, that's it. There isn't anything else other than what you leave behind.
Seems he's missing a lot of detail there. Like what makes each of us so different if there is nothing going on other than brain cells. What makes us decide what we want to do in life? What makes some of us more selfish than others? What makes some of us be willing to die to save someone else? What makes a serviceman or woman really able to do that?
The difference is, you were some place before. No, not your body. That is genetic and because of your parents. I'm talking about the soul and that is who you are inside that body your parents started.
Jeremiah 1:5 New International Version (NIV)
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Translation is God knew him (his soul) before it was sent to live inside the body his Mom was carrying around in her own body. The other part of this often overlooked is, God had plans for his life and everything he was supposed to do, he was equipped to do.
A safe bet is if you joined the military, you always thought of doing it. You felt pulled or compelled to join. If that is the case then it was your calling and everything you needed to do it was within you. Being a simple human and with simple understanding of the nature of things, you more than likely didn't understand it. Most of us don't. Some just get it a little better than others and when they do, they are actually happier doing what they were intended to do instead of just floundering with no calling tugging them.
Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version (NIV)
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Translation is, God put everything into him he would need to do what he was sent here to do. He did the same for you. Everything you needed to serve was within you from you ability to care that much that you were willing to die for someone else, to the courage you had to do it, the physical stamina to get through it and still be able to retain your compassion.
It is that same ability to feel things so deeply that allowed you to also feel pain so strongly. You just felt it more than others and didn't know how to feel better.
After the event people walk away one of two ways. Either God did it to them or God spared them. As time goes on, depending on which way they thought life gets worse where the thoughts of God not even being real becomes real and hope evaporates or better because the goodness within them lives on.
Once it is decided that God isn't real, after all the horrors you've seen in combat, it is easy to say that if God was real then He wouldn't have let it happen. You dismiss the fact that God doesn't mess with freewill and it was a choice between the starters of the wars you were sent to fight and those who ended them. It is easy to also forget all that was going on at the same time that was not horrific.
You forgot about all the times you shed a tear, reached out a hand to comfort someone, said a prayer, spent time listening to someone or the biggest thing of all is that you were able to get through all that and still be able to grieve. The pain you feel comes from grief.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 New International Version (NIV)
A Time for Everything
3 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
And you thought it was just a song by the Byrds.
Everyone in the Bible knew what grief was including Christ. It is the shortest and most powerful sentence in the entire bible.
John 11:35 - Jesus wept.
Christ knew God better than anyone else yet He still wept. He knew how His life would end but still had that much compassion for a moment of pain even though He knew what was coming next. (John 11)
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
So how about we make a deal right now and let Him open your eyes? See where your pain comes from and that it comes from the goodness within you. You can heal but not as long as you are looking in the wrong place to start with. It is all within you because it was all put there before you were born into your body.
Let Him keep you from dying so that you can start living again. Push away that thought that you are stronger and shouldn't have PTSD. Are you stronger than Christ? Do you have more faith than He had? Think of something else that was said
John 15:13 King J
ames Version (KJV)
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
This is what you were willing to do. When you start to heal, then you can keep serving others by helping them heal as well. The best therapy is peer support because you understand them. Find the right path toward healing and then reach back so they get there too.
The Watchfire stems from the military tradition that following a battle or long march, a large fire would be started so those missing or lost could locate and rejoin their comrades.
The flame has been lit by Vietnam veterans for decades so that you understand you are not lost but just need help finding your way to healing.
You can read the rest of the levels here.
Before entering Hell completely, Dante and his guide see the Uncommitted, souls of people who in life did nothing, neither for good nor evil; among these Dante recognizes either Pope Celestine V or Pontius Pilate (the text is ambiguous). Mixed with them are outcasts who took no side in the Rebellion of Angels. These souls are neither in Hell nor out of it, but reside on the shores of the Acheron, their punishment to eternally pursue a banner (i.e. self interest) while pursued by wasps and hornets that continually sting them as maggots and other such insects drink their blood and tears. This symbolizes the sting of their conscience and the repugnance of sin. This can also be seen as a reflection of the spiritual stagnation they lived in.First Circle (Limbo)
In Limbo reside the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept Christ. Limbo shares many characteristics with the Asphodel Meadows; thus the guiltless damned are punished by living in a deficient form of Heaven. Without baptism ("the portal of the faith that you embrace")[6] they lacked the hope for something greater than rational minds can conceive.Second Circle (Lust)
Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
In the second circle of Hell are those overcome by lust. Dante condemns these "carnal malefactors"[8] for letting their appetites sway their reason. They are the first ones to be truly punished in Hell. These souls are blown back and forth by the terrible winds of a violent storm, without rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly.
Then there is gluttony on the 3rd level, greed on the 4th, anger on the 5th, heresy on the 6th, violence on the 7th, fraud is 8th and the 9th "and last circle is ringed by classical and Biblical giants, who perhaps symbolize pride and other spiritual flaws lying behind acts of treachery."
Veteran Suicides Older Than You Think
When you read something like this report about Amanda Lee Weyrick losing her battle with PTSD, it is easy to think OEF and OIF veterans are the only ones suffering.
What you do not think about is the fact most of those veterans are not OEF or OIF. They are older veterans suffering longer but mostly forgotten about.
It is great to have a story to make us think we're doing something about this growing tragedy for our veterans. Really nice to think we've done something good so reporters tend to paint a picture so that we don't actually stop to remember how long we've told ourselves a bedtime story of doing good when the outcomes have been so deplorable.
In the process, reporters and a lot of charities have turned other veterans into last on the to do list. This was reported by El Paso Times, Chris Roberts, in October of 2007. It is up on Wounded Times and still up on Veterans Today where you can read the whole article.
Now add this more recent report to the above
The worst thing for them to deal with in all of this is the simple fact they are responsible for everything the younger veterans have to help them.
Iraq veteran Amanda Weyrick was buried Thursday at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, her once-promising life ruined by the effects of war, PTSD and a fatal infection likely driven by methamphetamine abuse, her family said.
A San Antonio native, she spiraled down after returning from deployment, serving a stint in prison, taking drugs and running in the wrong crowd.
Weyrick was tough, stubborn and tenacious, developing into a standout basketball player at Greenville High School and a top graduate in the Army’s MP course. There were signs of trouble, however, even in Iraq, where fellow GIs say she and other first-tour soldiers were hardened by war.
Family members share tales of her shooting insurgents in Diyala province, one of Iraq’s most violent areas, but fellow soldiers say she endured close calls but didn’t kill anyone. Back in Greenville, she wrestled with post-traumatic stress disorder and took meth and crack cocaine — all the while denying she had a PTSD or drug problem.
Since 2009, the number of veterans qualifying for government PTSD disability pay has nearly doubled, to 684,000. Studies show that one in every five veterans has PTSD, but only about 40 percent are even in the VA network.
What you do not think about is the fact most of those veterans are not OEF or OIF. They are older veterans suffering longer but mostly forgotten about.
It is great to have a story to make us think we're doing something about this growing tragedy for our veterans. Really nice to think we've done something good so reporters tend to paint a picture so that we don't actually stop to remember how long we've told ourselves a bedtime story of doing good when the outcomes have been so deplorable.
In the process, reporters and a lot of charities have turned other veterans into last on the to do list. This was reported by El Paso Times, Chris Roberts, in October of 2007. It is up on Wounded Times and still up on Veterans Today where you can read the whole article.
This was also in the article.Two-tiered system of healthcare puts veterans of the war on terror at the top and makes everyone else -- from World War I to the first Gulf War -- "second-class veterans"An internal directive from a high-ranking Veterans Affairs official creates a two-tiered system of veterans health care, putting veterans of the global war on terror at the top and making every one else -- from World War I to the first Gulf War -- "second-class veterans," according to some veterans advocates.
"I think they're ever pushing us to the side," said former Marine Ron Holmes, an El Paso resident who founded Veterans Advocates. "We are still in need. We still have our problems, and our cases are being handled more slowly."
Vice Adm. Daniel L. Cooper, undersecretary for benefits in the Department of Veterans Affairs -- in a memo obtained by the El Paso Times -- instructs the department's employees to put Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans at the head of the line when processing claims for medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, employment and education benefits...
Veterans Affairs officials say prioritizing war-on-terror veterans is necessary because many of them face serious health challenges. But they don't agree that other veterans will suffer, saying that they are hiring thousands of new employees, finding ways to train them more quickly and streamlining the process of moving troops from active duty to veteran status.
"We are concerned about it, and it's something we are watching carefully," said Jerry Manar, deputy director national veterans service for Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington, D.C. "We'll learn quickly enough from talking with our veterans service officers whether they're seeing a dramatic slowdown in the processing of claims."
Manar and Holmes said Afghanistan and Iraq veterans deserve the best care possible, but so do all other veterans.
In the past 18 months, 148,000 Vietnam veterans have gone to VA centers reporting symptoms of PTSD "30 years after the war," said Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker, deputy commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He recently visited El Paso.
Now add this more recent report to the above
"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 worst thing for them to deal with in all of this is the simple fact they are responsible for everything the younger veterans have to help them.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
VA Wants Money Back from Texas Iraq Veteran
Iraq War Veteran Stripped of Benefits For Wife and Daughter Because of the State They Live In
IJ Review
BY KATIE LAPOTIN
(3 HOURS AGO)
LEGAL, MILITARY, POLITICS
An Iraq War veteran has been ordered to pay back the benefits she received from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) for her family.
The VA claimed the vet received them by mistake. According to The Advocate, Melissa Perkins-Fercha must pay back the federal money because she and her wife live in a state – Texas – which does not recognize same-sex marriage.
Perkins-Fercha, a disabled veteran, and her wife, got married in the state of Washington, in 2012. In 2014, her wife gave birth to their daughter. The VA covered Perkins-Fercha’s wife and daughter for less than a year.
Then they sent her a letter, informing the veteran that all of her benefits would be frozen until she paid back the money sent for her legally unrecognized family.
read more here
IJ Review
BY KATIE LAPOTIN
(3 HOURS AGO)
LEGAL, MILITARY, POLITICS
An Iraq War veteran has been ordered to pay back the benefits she received from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) for her family.
The VA claimed the vet received them by mistake. According to The Advocate, Melissa Perkins-Fercha must pay back the federal money because she and her wife live in a state – Texas – which does not recognize same-sex marriage.
Perkins-Fercha, a disabled veteran, and her wife, got married in the state of Washington, in 2012. In 2014, her wife gave birth to their daughter. The VA covered Perkins-Fercha’s wife and daughter for less than a year.
Then they sent her a letter, informing the veteran that all of her benefits would be frozen until she paid back the money sent for her legally unrecognized family.
read more here
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