Raising Hope Awareness On Combat PTSD

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 30, 2015

Maybe I am getting cynical after over 30 years of working with veterans to help them heal and witnessing the transformation from hopelessness to inspirational that drives me insane when the wrong kind of "awareness" is being pushed in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There is a growing parade of charities and veterans jumping on the awareness march and to tell the truth, it makes me sad. I can't help but wonder what their goal really is. Is it about following the massive charity pulling in millions a year (you know who I mean and they won't be mentioned here) raising awareness about themselves and getting folks to kick in huge sums of money? After all getting veterans to "aid and assist each other" is something they do for free every day all over the country. Doesn't make sense to give all that money for something that is freely, willingly and given all the time without much more money than it costs to buy a beer, cup of coffee, sandwich or spend time listening to them.

It requires a massive amount of patience that comes with experience back by knowledge. It requires time spent with them and then more time spent with support behind the helper because even we need help after helping them. It costs me gas, cell phone bill and internet charges. While my soul pays a price, restoring it comes swiftly when these veterans have that spark of hope back in their eyes and I know I contributed to that moment.

Healing PTSD, letting veterans know it is never too late to live better lives, is what has been missing in all this "awareness" talk. They are not even aware of the simple fact they are not stuck where they are emotionally right now.

Awareness in wrong place.

If the "awareness" raisers are trying to inform citizens, then they have arrived far too late since citizens are not even aware that everything being done on mental health tied to trauma is due to Vietnam veterans coming home and fight for it. They are not aware that this has all been going on full force for 40 years. It is very unlikely they will ever care enough to become aware of what has afflicted veterans in the US since the Revolutionary War and worldwide since the beginning of time.

Anyone holding a Bible (or tablet) in their hands can read all about it in Psalms as King David struggled with war and the toll on his soul.

Psalm 144
Of David.
1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

King David's inner struggles show that none of this is new.

This is a quote from Platoon

Chris Taylor: [voiceover] I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy; we fought ourselves. And the enemy was in us. The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, the rest of my days as I'm sure Elias will be, fighting with Barnes for what Rhah called possession of my soul. There are times since, I've felt like the child born of those two fathers. But, be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again, to teach to others what we know, and to try with what's left of our lives to find a goodness and a meaning to this life.

Vietnam veterans are the reason civilian survivors of trauma have Crisis Intervention Teams because of the research spawn from their suffering.

VIETNAM VETERANS READJUSTMENT PROBLEMS The Etiology of Combat-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders and a copy of this hangs on my wall reminding me everyday how long this has been going on. Yet the most often underreported fact in the suicide reports, over 70% of those suicides involved veterans over 50. Civilians seem only able to think of the veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Civilians have no clue after all these years. Trying to explain to them the 22 a day is not even close leaves them speechless yet most raising awareness repeat that number omitting the disclaimer from the VA that those numbers are an average from the states participating in the research. The VA also reported there are 1,000 additional veterans within their system alone attempting suicide on a monthly basis.

Veterans already know these numbers. The last thing they want to do is to become one of them.

They want to know how others make it. How others have been able to go on and live happier lives. They want to know what the right kind of help is and how to get it. They want to know where they fit in since they no longer feel as if they fit in with civilians.

How about raising awareness about healing and the simple fact they find support among other veterans? How about letting them know that while the suicide numbers are terrible more veterans survive and thrive with PTSD?

It happens a lot more often than they are aware of.

The time has passed to shout about how they die. It is time to shout about how they heal!


I've been married to a Vietnam veteran since 1984 and have seen it first hand. PTSD doesn't have to win anything and while it cannot be cured, it can be defeated.

Navy Veteran's Act of Kindness Solved Problem and Warmed Hearts

There are so many stories all over the country about acts of kindness by our veterans. This kind of story is not as rare as you may think.

This is one of those stories.

A Navy Veteran saw a family in need of simple-human kindness at an airport. He not only helped solve their problem, he touched their hearts.

Read the rest of the story on Mighty by Lauren Davis When a Veteran Stood Up for My Son at the Airport

"I was in a fog, sorting through my emotions and attempting to create an action plan. Then a man who overheard this conversation got up and started talking to the attendant. He was dressed in a retired Navy veteran sweatshirt and hat. I watched him, shocked by his kindness. We were complete strangers to him and he still tried to help us. But again, the attendant used her desensitized robotic voice to tell him the flight was full, she could not accommodate us, sit down.

All I could think of was to call the airline to contact a representative for help. I didn’t notice, but the Navy veteran left the gate. As I sat on hold with the airline, he returned within moments with a supervisor. He explained what had happened, and the supervisor immediately removed the attendant from her post."

That is just a small part of this story.  It gets even better when you understand exactly what happened before this part and afterwards. And oh, by the way Mighty is looking for your stories celebrating the human spirit too.

“A hero is somebody who voluntarily walks into the unknown.” – Tom Hanks.

A version of this post originally appeared on HOPE.

The Mighty is asking its readers the following: Describe the moment a stranger — or someone you don’t know very well — showed you or a loved one incredible love. If you’d like to participate, please send a blog post to community@themighty.com. Please include a photo for the piece, a photo of yourself and 1-2 sentence bio.

County Fair Freedrop Claims Life of Navy Veteran

NAVY VETERAN DIES AFTER FALLING FROM 'FREEDROP' ATTRACTION AT SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY FAIR
ABC 7 News Los Angeles
Rob McMilan
May 29, 2015

VICTORVILLE, Calif. (KABC) -- A 31-year-old Navy veteran has died after falling from an extreme attraction at the San Bernardino County Fair in Victorville.

Fire department officials said Sabrina Gordon suffered injuries after taking part in the "FreeDrop USA" attraction around 7:15 p.m. Thursday.

She was airlifted to the Victor Valley Global Medical Center in Colton, where she died at 12:20 a.m. Friday

The "FreeDrop USA" attraction involves people jumping off a platform nearly 40-feet high and then land onto a giant inflatable bag.

The attraction was making its debut in California at the San Bernardino County Fair. The ride's owner said the attraction has had over 50,000 successful jumps on a 36-city tour across the nation.

Fair officials said the attraction has been shut down indefinitely.

Gordon was working at a CrossFit booth at the fair when she decided to take the jump.

She was a 10-year veteran with the U.S. Navy, where she worked in cryptology.
read more here

Members of Congress, Weapons of Mass Deception!

There is a very interesting report on Foreign Policy about contractors working with the military. Within the report is this stunning piece of information.

"The extent of contracted support for America’s wars can be unearthed in the Pentagon’s daily “contracts” press releases. The most important recent U.S. policy statement for America’s post-2014 role in Afghanistan did not come from the White House, but rather was found in two paragraphs published late on New Year’s Eve, in which the Pentagon announced $100 million in contracts for DynCorp International, LLC, to “advise, train, and mentor” the Afghan Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense. Similarly revealing contracts include $12.8 million for Six3 Intelligence Solutions, Inc., $36 million for IDS International Government Services, LLC, and two — released on the same day — for $6.9 and $6.8 million awarded to Battlespace Flight Services, LLC, for work “performed at Jalalabad, Afghanistan,” and work “performed at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada” (Foreign Policy)

We now know that contractors have also been paid to take care of the troops medical care, as well as veterans. An example of that was proudly talked about at a Memorial event I attended over the weekend. One of the speakers talk about providing this "care" to the troops and veterans.

Luke and Associates Inc., a tiny, Brevard County startup staffing company that had never generated any contracts or revenue, signed a 10-year, $1.9 billion contract -- that's billion with a "B" -- with the U.S. Air Force to supply medical personnel to bases all over the country.

Luke and Associates, Inc. Awarded $20 million Contract at Fort Bliss, Texas

Is this all there was? Oh hell no! Plenty more to go around. There was a time when politicians were ashamed to have this kind of thing go on but now, hey, business as usual.

While you're thinking of those numbers, remember this was all happening when these same guys decimated the military with sequestration cuts and deployed servicemembers got lay off notices because there wasn't enough money to let them stay on the only job they ever wanted to do.

Angry yet? Politicians sent troops into Iraq looking for WMD but they should have just checked in Washington first for the real ones jeopardizing our security. Members of Congress, Weapons of Mass Deception!

The New Unknown Soldiers of Afghanistan and Iraq
Did you know that private contractors in Afghanistan outnumber U.S. troops three to one?
Foreign Policy
BY MICAH ZENKO
MAY 29, 2015

This past Monday, as on every Memorial Day, American political and military leaders paid tribute to the sacrifice of service members who gave their lives for their country. The day of remembrance is not only to honor the past dead, but also to recognize the tens of thousands of service members still deployed in combat zones today, regardless of whether politicians label them as “wars” or whether these operations are in the forefront of Americans’ minds. On Memorial Day itself, the Pentagon released a somber statement: “Sgt. 1st Class Pablo A. Ruiz, 37, of Melbourne, Florida, died May 24, in Bagram, Afghanistan, from a non-combat related incident.”

President Barack Obama, speaking at Arlington National Cemetery, used standard language of reflection declaring, “We honor the sacrifice of the thousands of American service members — men and women — who gave their lives since 9/11, including more than 2,200 American patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan.” This is factually accurate.

However, it overlooks the important sacrifices made by non-service members on behalf of military missions. Since 9/11, a total of 1,592 private contractors (approximately 32 percent of whom were Americans) working on Department of Defense contracts were also killed in Afghanistan. Last year, private contractors accounted for 64 percent of all U.S. deaths in Afghanistan (56 service members and 101 contractors died). But we cannot know exactly where last year’s deceased are from, because shockingly the U.S. Department of Labor “does not routinely track the nationality of workers injured or killed under any of the laws administered by the program.”
read more here

DOD Casinos and Stippers OK, Marine WIth Bible Verse Court Martialed?

It seems folks are really upset over the report about our tax dollars being spent by the Department of Defense on stippers and gambling. The kicker is that they could have spent more but the charges were declined. A Marine got kicked out over a bible verse on her computer. Bet these guys got promotions!

U.S. military charge cards used at strip clubs and casinos thousands of times
The Washington Post
By Dan Lamothe
May 20, 2015

The charges examined included 4,437 made in casinos and 900 made in adult entertainment venues, the IG found. The Army had the most adult-entertainment charges flagged by the watchdog, followed by the Air Force.

U.S. troops and Defense Department employees improperly used their government charge cards to spend more than $1 million in casinos and strip clubs in one year, according to a new report released Monday by the top Pentagon watchdog.

The Defense Department Inspector General found that in the 12 months ending June 30, 2014, $952,258 was improperly spent using government charge cards in casinos and $96,576 was spent in “adult entertainment establishments.” The numbers would have been even higher, the watchdog found, but some credit-card transactions were declined.
read more here

Sgt. Rafael Peralta To Receive Navy Cross Posthumously

UPDATE
Peralta family will donate fallen Marine's Navy Cross to ship

The family plans to treasure the Navy Cross over the summer and donate it to the ship for its Oct. 31 christening, Peralta-Donald said.

A photo of the newly named Navy destroyer Rafael Peralta is displayed during a ceremony in San Diego. (Photo: Lance Cpl. Anna Albrecht/Marine Corps)

Family of Rafael Peralta, fallen Iraq war hero, to accept Navy Cross award after long refusal
Washington Post
Dan Lamothe
May 28, 2015

The family of one of the most celebrated Marine Corps heroes of the Iraq war will soon accept the nation’s second-highest award for valor on his behalf, nearly 11 years after he was killed in combat and almost seven years after the Pentagon made the controversial decision to deny him the Medal of Honor.

Sgt. Rafael Peralta will soon receive the Navy Cross posthumously during a ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Calif., said his younger brother, Ricardo. Peralta’s mother, Rosa, still believes the sergeant deserves the nation’s highest award for heroism in combat, but is tired after years of appeals. She had refused to accept the Navy Cross, citing her belief he deserved the higher award.

“That decision does not mean that she was willing to settle,” Ricardo, 24, told The Washington Post in a phone interview. “It just means that she grew tired of it.”
read more here

Will Sgt. Rafael Peralta's life finally be honored?

Denial of Medal of Honor for Sgt. Rafael Peralta causes anger to survivors

The decision is "almost like somebody called me a liar," said Marine Sgt. Nicholas Jones, 25, who was with Peralta that day. Jones, a recruiter, said Peralta's actions have become part of Marine Corps lore, as drill sergeants and officer-candidate instructors repeat it to new Marines. "His name is definitely synonymous with valor," said Jones, who was wounded by the grenade blast.

"I know for a fact that I would have been killed … and that my daughter, Sophia, our new baby, Sienna, would not be here or coming into the world. And that my son, Noah, would have grown up without knowing his dad," said Robert Reynolds, 31, a corrections officer and former Marine who was with Peralta that day.

High School Students Build Home For Iraq Veteran

High school students build home from ground up for wounded veteran
The Associated Press
By JOHN ROGERS
Published: May 29, 2015

Asked when he'd actually move in, he laughed and replied: "As soon as the cameras leave."

27-year-old Iraq war veteran Jerral Hancock, sitting on an electric wheelchair, and members of Operation All The Way Home(OATH) chant their slogans after a meeting at Lancaster High School on Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, in Lancaster, Calif. The seniors in Jamie Goodreau's high school history class learned Hancock was stuck in a modest mobile home for months, unable to travel the 70 miles to the nearest VA hospital in Los Angeles to have his bedsores treated or his rotting teeth fixed. Goodreau's students, who each year raise a few thousand dollars for veterans, decided to make Hancock their cause. AP

LOS ANGELES — Jerral Hancock is about to replace the worst day of his life with the best one.

The Army veteran, who was partially paralyzed, badly burned and lost his left arm when the tank he was driving through Iraq on his 21st birthday was attacked, will get a spacious, new home built from the ground up by a group of Southern California high school students. The students took up Hancock's cause as part of an annual school project honoring veterans.

After two years of raising hundreds of thousands of dollars from selling T-shirts and refrigerator magnets, soliciting donations from businesses and receiving unsolicited help from people that included actor Gary Sinise and local prison inmates, they'll present the keys to Hancock on Friday, his 29th birthday.

"I'm grateful, I'm very, very grateful," the retired soldier said by phone Thursday in a voice filled with emotion.
read more here

Patriotism and Pretence on Memorial Day

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 28, 2015

This weekend was one event after another. I told coworkers it was good to be back at work so that I could get some rest with the usual chaos.

I love covering the events and sharing what the press hardly ever shows.

This is from the Lake Nona VA Hospital Dedication.  As you can see, these cameramen blocked the view of the veterans behind them,

but what makes it worse is, none of them showed the whole event and few put anything on air at all.

I have a unique view of crowds behind the camera. I watch their faces, listen to the folks in the crowd almost more than I listen to the speakers. While the news crews were in the way, I was off to the side, standing in the sun in over 90 degree heat, so that I could see the speakers as well as the veterans. After all it was the dedication of their hospital.

We left early due to other appointments plus, I really didn't want to hear the same thing out of the politicians I've been hearing for years.

There is a vast difference between a politician speaking, reading words but clearly lacking the experience behind the words. They stumble over words that should come flowing out while they choke back words to appear to be emotional. Usually these stunts are followed by screwing up something important like a name or an important event in our history.

They read the words and some, if they are good and practiced enough, they glantz at the words written for them but if you pay close attention, it is easy to tell they don't have a clue what the words really mean to members in the crowd.

Then there are the veterans. When they speak, it is from their hearts filled with the experiences behind the words. Sometimes when they stop, choke back, then carry on, you can see it in their eyes and the change in their tone how much those words truly meant to them.

If you took the same speech about fallen servicemembers and had a politician read it right after a veteran did, you'd booo because the difference is that obvious.

I heard a Vietnam veteran talk about not leaving another generation of veterans behind and how they fight for all veterans to make sure they don't ever have to experience what they were put through. Then I heard politicians at another event talk about how they value veterans and want to make sure they are taken care of, but the words were just words. No emotion. No understanding of what it is like to be a veteran, disabled by risking his/her life because some politicians decided they needed to go but never planned for when these veterans returned.

The Lake Nona VA took about 10 years to get to the point where they started taking appointments and even now they are limited. It is supposed to be fully operational by the end of the year. Think about that for a second. All those years and all we heard out of members of Congress is it is all the VA's fault. After all, why would they want to remind anyone that they are responsible for this and everything else the VA does or does not do?

Jeff Miller
U.S. House of Representatives
United States Representative Jeff Miller serves as Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is responsible for authorization and oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA.) VA is the second largest department in the federal government with over 300,000 employees and a budget of over $150 billion.

Congressman Jeff Miller, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee has been on that committee since 2001. That is proudly stated on his website.

After taking the oath of office in 2001, Congressman Miller was appointed to the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. He quickly established himself within Washington as a strong advocate for veterans' concerns and immediately supported changes to concurrent receipt and policy changes such as a greater co-sharing between the military and veterans' clinics.

Is this all his fault? No, but like all those before him, they simply don't feel the words they say and none of them have ever accepted responsibility for what they left behind. Mainly, veterans in line waiting for the care they were promised time and time again, years after more years. Most of the talking has been during election years.

The groundbreaking for the VA Hospital was in 2008 and every politician showed up to take credit for it even though building it wasn't scheduled to begin until 2010.  Every politician on that stage was involved in this in one way or another, but as with everything else, they seem to forget it was their job to make sure happened.

When politicians gave their speeches at the other events, their words painfully came out to the point where folks stopped listening hoping they'd finish. When veterans spoke the pain came from living what the words meant and folks hoped they'd be able to finish their speech without breaking down.

Hands wiped away tears for them yet when politicians spoke, hands wiped away sweat because the difference between the pretence of patriotism and true patriots was obvious.

Fort Bliss Soldier From Florida Receives Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device

Army chief of staff honors two young Fort Bliss soldiers as heroes 
Army chief of staff pins medals of valor for their actions during an ambush in Afghanistan
El Paso Times
By David Burge
POSTED: 05/27/2015

Rudy Gutierrez—El Paso Times
Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, left, the 38th Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army pins the Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device to SPC Robert Gillespie, center, and PFC Nile Clarke, right, during a ceremony on post. The two soldiers were cited for their actions on March 13, 2014 when the convoy they were riding in was ambushed by insurgents in Afghanistan.

FORT BLISS
Two young Fort Bliss soldiers say they were just doing their jobs as infantry men, but the Army says they are heroes.

Spc. Robert Gillespie, a 21-year-old from Bartow, Fla., and Pfc. Nile Clarke, a 20-year-old from Norwalk, Conn., were each given the Army Commendation Medal with Valor Device during a ceremony at Fort Bliss on Wednesday.

They were recognized for their actions when the unit they were with in Afghanistan was ambushed on March 13, 2014, in the Zabul Province. They both exposed themselves to enemy fire, returned fire and allowed a six-vehicle convoy they were riding in to free itself up. No American soldiers were killed or wounded in the incident.

Making Wednesday's ceremony even more memorable, Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who was visiting Fort Bliss for the day, pinned the medals on the two soldiers.

"They represent what we are about" as soldiers, Odierno said. "They care about the mission, they care about each other, about who they are and what they represent."

"War is a very personal business, especially on the squad and platoon level," Odierno added.

"It's about taking care of each other."
read more here

Fort Hood First Lieutenant Found Dead on Memorial Day

W. Mich. soldier dies from gunshot wound at Fort Hood
WWMT News 3
May 27, 2015

FORT HOOD, Texas (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A soldier from West Michigan has died from an apparent gunshot wound in Fort Hood, Texas.

30-year-old First Lieutenant Dilon Mitchell died on Memorial Day at his on-post home.
check here for update