Vietnam vet sings at Harrisburg soup kitchen
Lionel Gonzalez, 67, sings his thanks after a meal in March 2015 at Harrisburg's Downtown Daily Bread soup kitchen.
The Vietnam veteran and state retiree isn't homeless or necessarily needy. But he grew up hungry in Puerto Rico and knows well the value of a hot meal.
He says he likes spending time talking with other patrons at Downtown Daily Bread, where he plans to volunteer. He also said he likes the food. His spontaneous songs, belted in rich baritone, are his way of saying thanks.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Maj. Gen. Harold Greene's Aide Honored at Pentagon
This soldier, wounded with a U.S. general killed in Afghanistan, was just celebrated at the Pentagon
Washington Post
By Dan Lamothe
March 23, 2015
In the Pentagon courtyard, the world was introduced Monday to Capt. Jeremy Haynes, a wounded U.S. Army officer whose life was intertwined with the death of the highest-ranking U.S. service member killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Haynes served as an aide to Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, of Falls Church, Va., when both of them were shot multiple times Aug. 5 by a lone gunman at an Afghan military training academy outside Kabul.
Greene was killed instantly, and Haynes was left paralyzed and with numerous life-threatening wounds, said Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter.
At least 18 people were wounded.
read more here
Washington Post
By Dan Lamothe
March 23, 2015
In the Pentagon courtyard, the world was introduced Monday to Capt. Jeremy Haynes, a wounded U.S. Army officer whose life was intertwined with the death of the highest-ranking U.S. service member killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Haynes served as an aide to Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, of Falls Church, Va., when both of them were shot multiple times Aug. 5 by a lone gunman at an Afghan military training academy outside Kabul.
Greene was killed instantly, and Haynes was left paralyzed and with numerous life-threatening wounds, said Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter.
At least 18 people were wounded.
read more here
Navy Veteran and Couple Killed in Orlando Helicopter Crash
Police identify 3 dead in College Park helicopter crash
Orlando Sentinel
By Henry Curtis, Tiffany Walden
March 23, 2015
The trio that died in Sunday's helicopter crash in College Park were remembered Monday as sharing a love for aviation.
Police identified them as Bruce Teitelbaum, his wife Marsha Khan and friend Harry Anderson.
Teitelbaum, a licensed pilot, and his wife frequently few in helicopters, according to their Facebook pages.
And Anderson, a former bomb technician in the U.S. Navy, loved to fly, a friend said Monday.
Neighbor describes what they heard and saw when helicopter crashed in College Park. Preliminary reports say the three were flying around downtown Orlando before the crash, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
"I don't know if it was a sightseeing flight or anything like that," said Eric Alleyne, an Air Safety Investigator for NTSB.
"We're just collecting data, documenting the site and collecting evidence that we find on scene," Alleyne said. "At this point, we don't have any cause to the accident."
read more here
Orlando Sentinel
By Henry Curtis, Tiffany Walden
March 23, 2015
The trio that died in Sunday's helicopter crash in College Park were remembered Monday as sharing a love for aviation.
Police identified them as Bruce Teitelbaum, his wife Marsha Khan and friend Harry Anderson.
Teitelbaum, a licensed pilot, and his wife frequently few in helicopters, according to their Facebook pages.
And Anderson, a former bomb technician in the U.S. Navy, loved to fly, a friend said Monday.
Neighbor describes what they heard and saw when helicopter crashed in College Park. Preliminary reports say the three were flying around downtown Orlando before the crash, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
"I don't know if it was a sightseeing flight or anything like that," said Eric Alleyne, an Air Safety Investigator for NTSB.
"We're just collecting data, documenting the site and collecting evidence that we find on scene," Alleyne said. "At this point, we don't have any cause to the accident."
read more here
Camp Pendleton Marine Killed in Motorcyle Accident
The man was 34-year-old Sacramento resident.
Patch.com
By Mirna Alfonso (Patch Staff)
March 23, 2015
A 34-year-old Camp Pendleton Marine was killed early over the weekend in a crash on Interstate 805 in Kearny Mesa.
The Marine, a Sacramento resident, crashed his speeding motorcycle into a Honda Accord, which had just been struck by a hit-and-run driver in the northbound lanes near exit ramp to Balboa Avenue about 3:45 a.m., Saturday, according to the California Highway Patrol and the county Medical Examiner’s Office.
He died at the scene.
read more here
World War II Experiences Left Him Shattered But Not Broken
VA helps Iowa veterans tell their life stories
Des Moines Register
Tony Leys
March 23, 2015
The Vinton retiree was one of the first to volunteer for a new project in which VA staffers interview veterans and write up short biographies. The resulting essays are to be attached to the veterans' medical charts, to help VA health care providers understand their patients' perspectives.
Gualtier, 89, went decades without discussing the World War II experiences that left him shattered. But he's opened up in the past few years, because he wants younger veterans to avoid the mistake of trying to bury troubling memories.
"During combat, when I was into some really gory stuff, I never gave any thought about the effects it might have on me later," he told Stephanie Henrickson, a nurse who coordinates a mental health program for the regional VA system based in Iowa City.
Henrickson sat across from Gualtier at the VA's Coralville clinic one morning last week, taking notes in pen and capturing his gravelly voice on a digital recorder. She plans to write up his story, go over it with him, then put it in his medical file and give him a copy to share with his family. She has interviewed about 15 veterans so far as part of a pilot project in the Iowa City area and five other U.S. locations.
Most of Henrickson's interviews have taken an hour or so, but Gualtier's has required several sessions. He has so much to say.
In the most recent session, Henrickson asked Gualtier about his childhood in a small Ohio town during the Depression. "It seems like we always had it rough until the war broke out," he said. "It was a very, very hard time."
Des Moines Register
Tony Leys
March 23, 2015
"I cleaned out wounds. I patched them. I gave them morphine. I didn't have the stomach for it. I treated German soldiers and U.S. soldiers. They died just like we did. They were just like us, they had to do what they had to do. I felt helpless to alleviate terrible suffering, no matter how much I tried. Then over six years later, I came to realize that the work I did with so many other casualties helped prevent them from developing horrible consequences."
U.S. Army veteran John Gualtier, 89, of Vinton holds a photo of himself from World War II at the VA Outpatient Clinic in Coralville on Tuesday. He served as a medic in the war.CORALVILLE, Ia. –If the Department of Veterans Affairs wants to take down John Gualtier's life story, it's going to take a while.
(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)
The Vinton retiree was one of the first to volunteer for a new project in which VA staffers interview veterans and write up short biographies. The resulting essays are to be attached to the veterans' medical charts, to help VA health care providers understand their patients' perspectives.
Gualtier, 89, went decades without discussing the World War II experiences that left him shattered. But he's opened up in the past few years, because he wants younger veterans to avoid the mistake of trying to bury troubling memories.
"During combat, when I was into some really gory stuff, I never gave any thought about the effects it might have on me later," he told Stephanie Henrickson, a nurse who coordinates a mental health program for the regional VA system based in Iowa City.
Henrickson sat across from Gualtier at the VA's Coralville clinic one morning last week, taking notes in pen and capturing his gravelly voice on a digital recorder. She plans to write up his story, go over it with him, then put it in his medical file and give him a copy to share with his family. She has interviewed about 15 veterans so far as part of a pilot project in the Iowa City area and five other U.S. locations.
Most of Henrickson's interviews have taken an hour or so, but Gualtier's has required several sessions. He has so much to say.
In the most recent session, Henrickson asked Gualtier about his childhood in a small Ohio town during the Depression. "It seems like we always had it rough until the war broke out," he said. "It was a very, very hard time."
About the project
The Iowa City VA is one of six sites recently chosen to try the "My Life, My Story" project, which was pioneered in Madison, Wis.
Nurse Stephanie Henrickson said her agency plans to hire a full-time writer to do more such interviews and work up the stories.
Regular medical appointments usually focus on specific ailments, Henrickson explained. If a patient has heart issues, he'll get cardiac tests and questions. If a patient has a dermatology issue, the doctor will ask her about her skin. The storytelling project is an attempt to step back and get a sense of the patients as people and to understand what's important to them.
read more here
Sunday, March 22, 2015
The VA Didn’t Do the Right Thing, Congress Didn't Either
There are a lot of reports that get to me emotionally, more than others. This one about claims being stuffed in a file cabinet ranked toward the top.
What I thought would save his life and our marriage turned into another 6 years of fighting the VA to treat him, honor his claim and fighting him to not give up. I thanked God he had great doctors at the VA working with me to help him while the claim denials were making things worse for him.
That nightmare hasn't changed for veterans even though we have the internet to find out what is going on from state to state and well aware of the struggles fought as much as we are aware that politicians never hold anyone accountable for any of this. Why should they when they've gotten away with all of this for decades?
We lived clear across the country from California yet time zones didn't matter. Veterans were suffering from coast to coast.
Nothing has changed. It never will as long as members of Congress actually remember their obligation to veterans if they sit on the Veterans Affairs Committee in the House, seated in 1946, or on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee since 1970. Until that happens they will just keep blaming the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, as they have since it was made into a cabinet position.
Oh but hey, why bother to actually learn any history of what went on and when? After all, if members of Congress actually had to do that, they'd also have to be aware folks are watching them too and planning on holding them accountable as well. It is so much easier to dismiss what was done and for how long they did it.
The claims, which dated back as far as the mid-1990s, were discovered in 2012 as a national scandal erupted over the VA’s sloppy and slow handling of benefits, which outraged veterans.It hit me hard on several levels. The battle my husband and I fought was from 1982 when I was discovering what PTSD was from the local library. We didn't have the internet back then in case you don't remember those days. It took 8 more years to get him to be diagnosed by a private doctor. Three more years to get him to go to the Veterans Center and from there, to the VA hospital.
San Francisco Gate, Oakland VA office botched benefits, forgot about claims
What I thought would save his life and our marriage turned into another 6 years of fighting the VA to treat him, honor his claim and fighting him to not give up. I thanked God he had great doctors at the VA working with me to help him while the claim denials were making things worse for him.
That nightmare hasn't changed for veterans even though we have the internet to find out what is going on from state to state and well aware of the struggles fought as much as we are aware that politicians never hold anyone accountable for any of this. Why should they when they've gotten away with all of this for decades?
We lived clear across the country from California yet time zones didn't matter. Veterans were suffering from coast to coast.
Oakland VA files reveal heartbreak, delays
Santa Cruz Sentinel
By Mark Emmons
POSTED: 03/21/15
OAKLAND — There was nothing special about the metal, gray file cabinet.
But for Rustyann Brown, it represented heartbreak and shattered trust. Stuffed inside were the silent pleas of more than 13,000 veterans and surviving spouses, some dating back to the mid-1990s, begging for VA assistance — help she believes never came for an untold number of them.
Instead, those compensation and disability claims from Northern California veterans had been stashed away and forgotten at the Oakland regional benefits office, according to Brown and other whistle-blowers.
“The VA didn’t do the right thing,” said Brown, 61, of San Leandro. “It didn’t even try to do the right thing. So many of them died waiting. The thought of what happened to those veterans will keep me up at night the rest of my life.”
read more here
Nothing has changed. It never will as long as members of Congress actually remember their obligation to veterans if they sit on the Veterans Affairs Committee in the House, seated in 1946, or on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee since 1970. Until that happens they will just keep blaming the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, as they have since it was made into a cabinet position.
The VA was elevated to a cabinet-level executive department by President Ronald Reagan in October 1988
Oh but hey, why bother to actually learn any history of what went on and when? After all, if members of Congress actually had to do that, they'd also have to be aware folks are watching them too and planning on holding them accountable as well. It is so much easier to dismiss what was done and for how long they did it.
Sgt. Daniel Nerstrom's Life Remembered
Libertyville soldier's funeral brings remembrance, awareness
Pioneer Press
By Rick Kambic
March 21, 2015
Suffering from relentless migraines and the memories of losing 44 colleagues, Nerstrom committed suicide at some point after his Dec. 1 disappearance.
More than 100 friends, family and complete strangers attended Nerstrom's funeral Saturday in north suburban Libertyville, about a week after police found his body.
Nerstrom, 31, was remembered as an enthusiast of Lego blocks and as a recreational welder. He also was credited with being a devout family man.
While deployed as a scout with the Army's Third Armored Regiment, Nerstrom was able to get home for a few days and donate stem cells to help his father, Douglas, beat cancer.
Serving his country was a dream, according to Nerstrom's mother, Kim. She asked him to go to college first, but caved after one year and gave her blessing. She said he watched the news with a burning passion, and she couldn't deny him any longer.
Nerstrom was given a medical discharge from the Army in January 2009. He had been stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo., during the years after his tour in Iraq.
In her eulogy, the Rev. Janet Lee Kraft said Nerstrom struggled with his post-war injuries for years before he disappeared.
She said he turned to alcohol for a while but quit when a counselor prescribed animal therapy.
"Daniel deserved better," Kim Nerstrom said.
"This shouldn't have happened. He loved his country. His country shouldn't let things like this happen."
Police found Nerstrom's body around 10 a.m. March 13 along the Metra tracks east of downtown Libertyville after a train passenger noticed something unusual outside his window.
read more here
Pioneer Press
By Rick Kambic
March 21, 2015
Girlfriend Amanda Tiffany, left, and her son Austin are comforted as Kim Nerstrom, far right, is comforted by a member of the Patriot Guard after the funeral for Nerstrom's son, Army veteran Daniel Nerstrom, in Libertyville on Saturday, March 21, 2015. (Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune)Sgt. Daniel Nerstrom was knocked unconscious by bombs eight times during his 12-month deployment in Iraq from 2005 to 2006.
Suffering from relentless migraines and the memories of losing 44 colleagues, Nerstrom committed suicide at some point after his Dec. 1 disappearance.
More than 100 friends, family and complete strangers attended Nerstrom's funeral Saturday in north suburban Libertyville, about a week after police found his body.
Nerstrom, 31, was remembered as an enthusiast of Lego blocks and as a recreational welder. He also was credited with being a devout family man.
While deployed as a scout with the Army's Third Armored Regiment, Nerstrom was able to get home for a few days and donate stem cells to help his father, Douglas, beat cancer.
Serving his country was a dream, according to Nerstrom's mother, Kim. She asked him to go to college first, but caved after one year and gave her blessing. She said he watched the news with a burning passion, and she couldn't deny him any longer.
Nerstrom was given a medical discharge from the Army in January 2009. He had been stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo., during the years after his tour in Iraq.
In her eulogy, the Rev. Janet Lee Kraft said Nerstrom struggled with his post-war injuries for years before he disappeared.
She said he turned to alcohol for a while but quit when a counselor prescribed animal therapy.
"Daniel deserved better," Kim Nerstrom said.
"This shouldn't have happened. He loved his country. His country shouldn't let things like this happen."
Police found Nerstrom's body around 10 a.m. March 13 along the Metra tracks east of downtown Libertyville after a train passenger noticed something unusual outside his window.
read more here
Fort Carson Soldiers and Vietnam Veterans Remember Battle of Suoi Tre
Fort Carson soldiers join Vietnam vets to remember those who fought battle 48 years ago
The Gazette
By Stephen Hobbs
Published: March 22, 2015
Veterans of the battle of Suoi Tre have had remembrance ceremonies in places such as Florida, Louisiana and California over the years. But for 68-year-old Carl Besson, a former sergeant and member of the 2nd Battalion of the 77th Field Artillery Regiment, Saturday's memorial observance at Fort Carson topped them all.
"This is the most touching and moving ceremony I've ever attended," said Besson, who traveled from California. "We do this every year but not at this level."
The March 21, 1967, Vietnam War battle was described Saturday as a rally and resurgence by American forces after an early-morning enemy attack.
Speakers recounted details of the battle, read the names of the service members who died and stood solemnly as a 21-cannon salute reverberated on the grounds.
Bob Choquette, a veteran of the artillery regiment, rang a bell each time the name of a fallen soldier was read. Three of his fellow gun crew members were killed in the battle, and Choquette might have died if it weren't for the help of fellow infantry unit soldiers, he said.
"It was a tough situation there and we more or less kind of ran out of ammo and everything," said Choquette, who was visiting from Rhode Island.
If you want to see some great pictures and hear some music of the time, this is really good.
The Gazette
By Stephen Hobbs
Published: March 22, 2015
Veterans of the battle of Suoi Tre have had remembrance ceremonies in places such as Florida, Louisiana and California over the years. But for 68-year-old Carl Besson, a former sergeant and member of the 2nd Battalion of the 77th Field Artillery Regiment, Saturday's memorial observance at Fort Carson topped them all.
"This is the most touching and moving ceremony I've ever attended," said Besson, who traveled from California. "We do this every year but not at this level."
The March 21, 1967, Vietnam War battle was described Saturday as a rally and resurgence by American forces after an early-morning enemy attack.
Speakers recounted details of the battle, read the names of the service members who died and stood solemnly as a 21-cannon salute reverberated on the grounds.
Bob Choquette, a veteran of the artillery regiment, rang a bell each time the name of a fallen soldier was read. Three of his fellow gun crew members were killed in the battle, and Choquette might have died if it weren't for the help of fellow infantry unit soldiers, he said.
"It was a tough situation there and we more or less kind of ran out of ammo and everything," said Choquette, who was visiting from Rhode Island.
"Five more minutes, we wouldn't be here. None of us."
read more here
CMH Pub 91-4 Combat Operations: Taking the Offensive, October 1966 to October 1967 by George L. MacGarrigle.
"Combat Operations: Taking the Offensive chronicles the onset of offensive operations by the U.S. Army after eighteen months of building up a credible force on the ground in South Vietnam and taking the first steps toward bringing the war to the enemy. The compelling story by George L. MacGarrigle begins in October 1966, when General William C. Westmoreland believed that he had the arms and men to take the initiative from the enemy and that significant progress would be made on all fronts over the next twelve months.
Aware of American intentions, North Vietnam undertook a prolonged war of attrition and stepped up the infiltration of its own troops into the South. While the insurgency in the South remained the cornerstone of Communist strategy, it was increasingly overshadowed by main-force military operations.
These circumstances, according to MacGarrigle, set the stage for intensified combat. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong units retained the advantage, fighting only when it suited their purposes and retreating with impunity into inviolate sanctuaries in Laos and Cambodia. With Westmoreland feeling hamstrung by political constraints on his ability to wage war in the vast hostile areas along the border, 1967 ended with a growing uncertainty in the struggle to secure the countryside.
Relying on official American and enemy primary sources, MacGarrigle has crafted a well-balanced account of this year of intense combat. His volume is a tribute to those who sacrificed so much in a long and irresolute conflict, and soldiers engaged in military operations that place great demands on their initiative, skill, and devotion will find its thought-provoking lessons worthy of reflection."
If you want to see some great pictures and hear some music of the time, this is really good.
Viet Nam 1966 1967
Aug 6, 2014
Tankers in Vietnam. One of the few tank units in Vietnam the 2nd Battalion 34th Armor with M-48A3 tanks arrived in Vietnam on 12 Sept. 1966. Was in many Operations and supported many units while deployed and received the Presidential Unit Citation. These pictures were by me Ralph Arvizu during Operation Junction City in the Iron Triangle.
Suicide Awareness Not the Same As What We Need to Change
Failing More Veterans
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 22, 2015
Three years ago, a life was lost because of what we failed to do. Oh, sure, some just want to blame police officers faced with a veteran in crisis caused by PTSD. The truth is whenever these veterans reach this point, we're all responsible.
When the report came out two years ago, I posted it Veteran Marine with PTSD shot and killed by police but should have said our fingerprints are all over the bullet.
(The link is still good to Knox News)
Family: Maryville man killed after shooting at police suffered from PTSD
Why is it our fault? Simple. Within days of this tragedy this report was released about a study by RAND Corp on what the military was actually doing to help the servicemen and women in uniform. No one seemed to care that the military failed them first.
Military brass were also answering questions. The problem was no one in Congress ever gather the facts, statistics or reports enough to actually ask them questions as to why after all these years of "prevention" suicides actually increased at the same time combat deaths decreased.
So the DOD failed them first and we didn't manage to fight them to fix anything. Then the VA failed them but hey, why bother to tell the truth on how long all of this had been going on? After all, the press has a short memory on all of this.
Remember the uproar over Candy Land with the VA pushing pills? It came out as if it was all new news. Oh, ya right. I forgot that we're not supposed to remember that this was a matter of life and death. Far too many deaths for far too long.
Deal is reached in lawsuit over veteran's death reported by Kate Willtrout for the Virgina Pilot shows it was going on for the sister of a Navy veteran.
What was the result of all of this? More deaths that didn't need to happen.
While the false reports of 22 suicides a day were not even close and the VA admitted the numbers were an average of 21 states provided by limited data, everyone simply assumes those numbers are true. Yet state after state produced more shocking numbers.
The number of veterans committing suicide are double the civilian rate. What is even more troubling is the majority of those deaths are 50 and over, meaning veterans from the wars civilians have forgotten about.
And then there are the reports of younger veterans, all trained in suicide prevention, coming home and committing suicide triple their peer rate.
We can talk all we want about raising awareness on the heartache but if we continue to just talk about those we fail, we will fail even more.
We need to start taking a look at what was done to them while we were being told it was being done for them!
If we don't then more families will have to suffer for what we fail to do for the men and women prepared to die for the sake of others but not prepared to live back home!
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 22, 2015
Three years ago, a life was lost because of what we failed to do. Oh, sure, some just want to blame police officers faced with a veteran in crisis caused by PTSD. The truth is whenever these veterans reach this point, we're all responsible.
When the report came out two years ago, I posted it Veteran Marine with PTSD shot and killed by police but should have said our fingerprints are all over the bullet.
(The link is still good to Knox News)
Family: Maryville man killed after shooting at police suffered from PTSD
Theodore “T.J.” Jones IV was shot and killed at about 4 a.m. Thursday when he advanced on officers who had surrounded him at a former business at 1811 E. Broadway Ave., Maryville Police Chief Tony Crisp said.You may think this story is old news. It isn't. After Jones was buried, the heartache didn't end. It didn't end for the family. It didn't end for police officers. Above all, it didn't end for the line of families afterwards all facing planning funerals for veterans who did not die in combat but perished because of it.
On Thursday afternoon, Jones’ father took to Facebook to share his grief.
“Today, I feel great pain. My beloved son, Theodore ‘T.J.’ Jones IV, last night suffered another flashback to his combat service as a U.S. Marine,” wrote Theodore Jones III of Maryville.
“He has lost the battle with PTSD. This morning, he sits within sight of Creator and Jesus. He now smokes the pipe with other warriors who have fought to defend their beliefs.”
Blount Marine, victim of PTSD, remembered in awareness walk
Daily Times
By Joel Davis
March 22, 2015
Lance Cpl. Theodore “T.J.” Jones IV is not forgotten.
Mark A. Large | The Daily Times
Lea Jones Glarner writes on a banner in memory
of her brother LCPL Theodore Jones IV
Saturday at the pavilion behind the Blount
County Courthouse.Jones was remembered Saturday during Blount County’s second annual post-traumatic stress disorder Awareness Walk.
It marks two year since his death on March 21, 2013, in an armed standoff with police.
The mile-long walk began in the parking lot outside the courthouse near the greenway. The Blount County Veterans Affairs Office was involved in organizing it.
”This is one of the hardest days of the year for me,” his father, Theodore “Theo” Jones III, said. “My son suffered with PTSD.
It is something that none of us in this family knew or understood in time to help him or to save him, but we have many young young men and women right here in our own community that are still suffering and still waiting on treatment and are still afraid to acknowledge that they need help because of the ridicule they sometimes can get in the community.”
People need to start writing letters to their lawmakers to force better and more timely treatment for those suffering from PTSD, Jones said.
“They don’t get follow-up treatment for years. It’s not fair. It’s not right to our American heroes. We owe them more.”
read more here
Why is it our fault? Simple. Within days of this tragedy this report was released about a study by RAND Corp on what the military was actually doing to help the servicemen and women in uniform. No one seemed to care that the military failed them first.
MILITARY SUICIDES ARE UP, DESPITE 900 PREVENTION PROGRAMSI left this comment.
NextGov
By Bob Brewin
March 21, 2013
The Defense Department runs 900 suicide prevention programs, yet the number of military suicides has more than doubled since 2001, the head of the Pentagon’s suicide prevention office told lawmakers Thursday.
Jacqueline Garrick, acting director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office, told the House Armed Services Committee that the Pentagon has identified 291 suicides in fiscal 2012 with investigations into another 59 pending. This is up from 160 in 2001. She said the suicide rate for 2012 is expected to increase once death investigations have been completed and a final manner of death determination is issued.
Lt. Gen. Howard Bromberg, Army deputy chief of staff for personnel, said the service had a record number of 324 potential suicides in 2012, more than double the previous record of 148 in 2009. Both Garrick and Bromberg said the military suicide profile matched that of suicides in the general population -- young, white males younger than 30 with only a high school education.
Eliminating the perception that seeking mental health care could cripple a career and lead to loss of a security clearance is one of the most “critical aspects” of suicide reduction, Bromberg told the hearing. He said there should be a top-down emphasis that seeking help is not a sign of weakness.
Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., who is also a physician and commands an Army Reserve brigade, said he has personal experience with soldier suicides -- one death and two attempts in his unit. He expressed frustration with the military’s inability to stamp out mental health care’s stigma. Heck noted that when he returned from Iraq in 2008, he asked, “Why are we still developing a stigma reduction campaign?” read more here
The answer they are looking for has been right in front of them. End Resilience Training! In 2009 I gave the strongest warning possible that if they pushed "Comprehensive Soldier Fitness" suicides would go up. I was right but had no power to get anyone in the DOD or Congress to listen to what 30 years of research, living with it and helping veterans taught me. Too many know what works but it doesn't have to be tied to huge contracts that have to be refunded. Nextgov has a report out "Military Suicides are up despite 900 prevention programs" and these programs are tied to contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars but are renewed even though RAND said they did not work with the military culture among other issues. Tired of spending hours trying to undo the damage this approach has produced because it does more harm than good.
Military brass were also answering questions. The problem was no one in Congress ever gather the facts, statistics or reports enough to actually ask them questions as to why after all these years of "prevention" suicides actually increased at the same time combat deaths decreased.
Military evaluating suicide prevention programs
Stars and Stripes
Megan McCloskey
Published: March 21, 2013
Preparing to testify before the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Military Personnel Thursday, March 21, 2013, at the U.S. Capitol are, left to right, Jacqueline Garrick, acting director of the DOD's Defense Suicide Prevention Office; Lt. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg, Army Deputy Chief of Staff G-1; Vice Adm. Scott R. Van Buskirk, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education; Lt. Gen. Darrell D. Jones, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services; Brig. Gen. .Robert F. Hedelund, Director of Marine and Family Programs for the Marine Corps; and Dr. Jerry Reed Jr., director of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.
JOE GROMELSKI/STARS AND STRIPES
WASHINGTON — After another rise in the military suicide rate last year, the services on Thursday outlined to Congress their efforts to reverse the trend and evaluate their prevention programs.
Last year the Army set another record with 324 suicides. For active duty, the 183 suicides in 2012 far exceeded the previous record of 148 in 2009.
“While most Army suicides continue to be among junior enlisted soldiers, the number of suicides by non-commissioned officers has increased over each of the last three years,”
The overall program review has fallen to the Pentagon’s relatively new Defense Suicide Prevention Office, which opened in 2011.
By the end of September, it should complete its comprehensive inventory of all the service’s programs and will have identified gaps and overlaps in the various efforts, Jacqueline Garrick, acting director of the prevention office, told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel. From there the office will begin to streamline and unify what is offered across the services, she said.
Although she didn’t answer questions about how they were evaluating the programs – besides collecting data from the branches – she said it was a top priority of her office.
read more here
So the DOD failed them first and we didn't manage to fight them to fix anything. Then the VA failed them but hey, why bother to tell the truth on how long all of this had been going on? After all, the press has a short memory on all of this.
Remember the uproar over Candy Land with the VA pushing pills? It came out as if it was all new news. Oh, ya right. I forgot that we're not supposed to remember that this was a matter of life and death. Far too many deaths for far too long.
Deal is reached in lawsuit over veteran's death reported by Kate Willtrout for the Virgina Pilot shows it was going on for the sister of a Navy veteran.
Kelli Grese - a Navy veteran like her twin sister - killed herself on Veterans Day in 2010. She overdosed on Seroquel, an antipsychotic medication that was part of a cocktail of drugs prescribed by doctors at the Hampton Veterans Administration Medical Center.
Darla Grese, of Virginia Beach, filed a malpractice suit against the medical center, seeking $5 million. It was scheduled for trial in Norfolk in April. On Tuesday, Grese and the U.S. government reached a settlement, according to her lawyer, Bob Haddad: If a judge approves the deal, the government will pay Grese $100,000.
Grese hopes publicity about the suit will draw more attention to the treatment of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, both of which her sister battled.
In a single year, Grese said in an interview, doctors at the Hampton facility prescribed 5,370 pills of Klonopin, used to treat anxiety disorders, for her sister.
What was the result of all of this? More deaths that didn't need to happen.
While the false reports of 22 suicides a day were not even close and the VA admitted the numbers were an average of 21 states provided by limited data, everyone simply assumes those numbers are true. Yet state after state produced more shocking numbers.
The number of veterans committing suicide are double the civilian rate. What is even more troubling is the majority of those deaths are 50 and over, meaning veterans from the wars civilians have forgotten about.
And then there are the reports of younger veterans, all trained in suicide prevention, coming home and committing suicide triple their peer rate.
We can talk all we want about raising awareness on the heartache but if we continue to just talk about those we fail, we will fail even more.
We need to start taking a look at what was done to them while we were being told it was being done for them!
If we don't then more families will have to suffer for what we fail to do for the men and women prepared to die for the sake of others but not prepared to live back home!
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Every Hour Veterans Plant Flags for Lives They Know Are Lost to Suicide
This is what is important because this outcome is after far too many years of suffering for far too many. Read this story and then watch the video. Then please tell me they are not worth saving.
Flags planted every hour to raise awareness for military suicide
KHOU 11 News
Kevin Reece
March 20, 2015
HOUSTON -- Over the course of the 441 hours of basketball games that make up the NCAA March Madness tournament, 441 American flags will be planted in front of the PTSD Foundation of America's Camp Hope in Northwest Houston to draw attention to the unsolved epidemic of military suicides.
"Losing basically one every hour," said PTSD Foundation Executive Director David Maulsby while standing in front of the first 24 flags placed in the ground since the tournament began.
"We've been 24 hours since the tournament started, we've lost 24 veterans to suicide," said Maulsby of the statistically proven estimate of one active duty or military veteran suicide approximately every 64 minutes. "And that should get people's attention."
Maulsby decided to have the residents of Camp Hope place one of the flags every hour on the hour until the tournament is over. Camp Hope offers counseling and treatment for soldiers and their families battling PTSD.
read more here
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