Broken Promises To Vets Exposed To Mustard Gas

VA Responds To NPR Story On Broken Promises To Vets Exposed To Mustard Gas
NPR
KRISHNADEV CALAMUR
JUNE 23, 2015

The Department of Veterans Affairs responded Tuesday to an NPR story that the U.S. military exposed thousands of American troops to mustard gas in secret chemical weapons experiments during World War II.

NPR's Caitlin Dickerson reported that "When those experiments were formally declassified in the 1990s, the Department of Veterans Affairs made two promises: to locate about 4,000 men who were used in the most extreme tests, and to compensate those who had permanent injuries. But the VA didn't uphold those promises, an NPR investigation has found."

In response the VA said:

"The Department of Veterans Affairs appreciates the service and sacrifices of those World War II Veterans who may have been injured in mustard gas testing. VA recognizes that disabilities may have resulted due to full body mustard gas exposure. VA has established presumptions of service connection for certain disabilities that may have resulted from this exposure.

"The NPR story rightfully points out the sacrifices that Veterans and their families have gone through during the years when they were sworn to secrecy. VA is prepared to assist any Veteran or survivor who contacts us in determining their entitlement to benefits.

Additionally, if NPR is willing to share with us the list of 1,200 or so Veterans who they have been able to identify as having been exposed, VA will attempt to contact them to ensure they are receiving all the benefits and services to which they are entitled under the law."

In a related story, which ran Monday, Caitlin reported that the secret chemical experiments grouped subjects by race.
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The VA's Broken Promise To Thousands Of Vets Exposed To Mustard Gas
NPR
Caitlin Dickerson
JUNE 23, 2015

Three test subjects enter a gas chamber, which will fill with mustard gas, as part of the military's secret chemical warfare testing in March 1945. Courtesy of Edgewood Arsenal

In secret chemical weapons experiments conducted during World War II, the U.S. military exposed thousands of American troops to mustard gas.

When those experiments were formally declassified in the 1990s, the Department of Veterans Affairs made two promises: to locate about 4,000 men who were used in the most extreme tests, and to compensate those who had permanent injuries.

But the VA didn't uphold those promises, an NPR investigation has found.

NPR interviewed more than 40 living test subjects and family members, and they describe an unending cycle of appeals and denials as they struggled to get government benefits for mustard gas exposure. Some gave up out of frustration.

In more than 20 years, the VA attempted to reach just 610 of the men, with a single letter sent in the mail. Brad Flohr, a VA senior adviser for benefits, says the agency couldn't find the rest, because military records of the experiments were incomplete.

"There was no identifying information," he says. "No Social Security numbers, no addresses, no ... way of identifying them. Although, we tried."
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Researchers Can Study Medical Marijuana For PTSD Veterans

White House to Let Researchers Study Medical Marijuana for PTSD 
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Jun 23, 2015

The move helps clear the way for an oft-delayed study into the use of marijuana in treating veterans with PTSD, Doblin said.

The White House has lifted a major obstacle long standing in the way of studies into the use of pot to treat victims of post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments.

The Health and Human Services Department has published in the Federal Register its announcement eliminating Public Health Service reviews of marijuana research projects not funded by the government.

"The significance is that the Obama Administration is making formal a decision that they made informally more than a year ago," said Rick Doblin, executive director of Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which plans to conduct a study whose test subjects include 76 veterans.

The Veterans Affairs Department estimates that between 11 and 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffer from PTSD. For veterans of the Persian Gulf War, the estimate is 12 percent, and for Vietnam veterans, 15 percent.

The Public Health Service granted review approval to the association in March 2014, but also noted in its letter that what it had previously set down as requirements for approval were now suggestions.

The latest move, Doblin said, signals "the Obama Administration is open to ending federal obstruction of privately-funded medical marijuana drug development research."
read more here

Mom Fights For Medical Marijuana After Losing Son To PTSD

Camp Hill mom cries for legalization of medical pot after son dies from PTSD 
FOX 43 News
BY REBECCA SOLOMON
JUNE 23, 2015

A Camp Hill, Cumberland County mother is standing up for medical marijuana. Her son suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He eventually took his own life.

Donnamarie Feedman joined dozens of supporters of the drug at a rally in Harrisburg. The drug remains illegal in the Commonwealth.

At the rally, Corporal Barrett Thompson addressed the crowd by showing pictures of depressed army veterans. He said, “These pictures represent the hell I went through and veterans go through now.”

Corporal Thompson returned from serving three tours in Iraq with PTSD and over 40 prescribed medications. Unlike Thompson, Donnamarie’s son will never share his story.

She says, “At the height of his sickness, the VA had him on 21 pills per day. A lot of them were black box label pills and the only thing that helped him was smoking marijuana.”
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Veterans Patrol Notorious Pasadena Bridge

Reminder: The number 22 a day, or 23 when current military members are included, is not even close to the real numbers. These are numbers the media has pushed because it was easier than reading the whole report. The other part wrong in this is when it says "24 hour shift" because as you'll see in the video, it is an hour.

Veterans Patrol Notorious Pasadena Bridge To Raise Awareness For PTSD, Suicide Prevention
CBS Los Angeles
June 23, 2015

“The VA is happy to give men drugs to help them with PTSD, but holistic medicine seems to be working a whole lot better,” Vietnam War veteran Ben Hayes said. Veterans are signed up for 24-hour shifts to patrol the bridge through Saturday.

PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — Military veterans patrolled the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena on Tuesday night as a symbolic gesture to raise awareness for suicide prevention.

Hundreds of veterans from across the country were walking the bridge as part of Wellness Works’ Not On My Watch campaign to help fellow veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The campaign also looks to curb a staggering suicide rate the group identifies as 23 veterans per day.
read more here

Show of Support for Wounded Warrior Regiment Marines

Motorcade of Marines to head for Keowee Key 
Public encouraged to line up along route, show appreciation
WYFF News
Myra Ruiz
June 22, 2015

The public is invited to line the route of a motorcade to show appreciation for visiting combat Marines.

EASLEY, S.C. —An annual event aimed at showing appreciation for combat Marines will kick off today, and the public is invited to participate.

Honoring Their Service is an event which provides much-needed rest and relaxation for visiting Marines in the Keowee Key community.

This year, about 40 Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., and the South Carolina Wounded Warrior Regiment are expected to attend. 

The event begins with a motorcade that starts in Easley, goes through downtown Seneca before ending at Lake Keowee. Businesses along the route have been encouraged to place a "Welcome" or "Thank You" message on any electronic sign they may have.
read more here

This is about Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment and not the "project"

Army
Wounded Warrior Program
Navy
Wounded Warrior Safe Harbor
Air Force
Air Force Wounded Warrior Program

Brain's Response to Trauma, Increase Emotional Memory

This is for anyone who cannot understand what trauma does. It is not mental illness. It is not just psychological. It is also emotional. The only way to get PTSD is by surviving traumatic events. Hope you caught the word "surviving" since the victims did not survive to tell us anything. You were stronger than the event when it happened and you are strong enough to defeat it now.  Get help to fight for your life again.

Trauma Changes Your Brain’s Response To New Events, Increasing Activity In Emotional Memory Regions
Medical City
By Susan Scutti
Jun 23, 2015

“This traumatic incident still haunts passengers regardless of whether they have PTSD or not,” Palombo said. “They remember the event as though it happened yesterday.”

Following a trauma, we see the world through different eyes.

While many people intuitively agree with this statement, a new MRI study offers some hard evidence in support of this belief.

Remembering a near-plane crash they had experienced, a group of participants showed greater responses in brain regions involved in emotional memory — the amygdala, hippocampus, and midline frontal and posterior regions.

Interestingly, these same former passengers showed a remarkably similar pattern of brain activity when recalling the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which occurred shortly after the emergency plane landing, even though none of them had personal experience with the attacks.

“Mundane experiences tend to fade with the passage of time, but trauma leaves a lasting memory trace,” said Dr. Daniela Palombo, lead author of the study and a post-doctoral researcher at Boston University School of Medicine, in a press release. read more here

Ironman Iraq Veteran Has Ironwife By His Side

Army veteran defies Iraq injury to compete in Ironman 
THE LAST IMAGE SOCTTY SMILEY WOULD EVER SEE WAS EVIL PERSONIFIED IN A SUICIDE BOMBER.
KREM2 News
Jane McCarthy, KREM.com
June 23, 2015

"For me, the only way to get out of that dark place was love," said Scotty.

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho—The Spokane man who lost his eyesight serving his country is embodying Steve Gleason's mantra of "No White Flags" by not letting a physical setback limit his will to succeed.

Scotty Smiley, who is blind, will attempt to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and a run a marathon on Sunday, June 28 with the help of a guide. In early June, he sat down with KREM 2 News to share his inspirational story of faith, determination and Ironman grit.

"On April 6, 2005, I was given a mission to find a suicide car bomb," said Scott Smiley as he remembered the day that changed his life forever.

"I parked my Stryker vehicle about 30 yards away from his, and yelled at him to get out of his vehicle," said the Pasco, Washington native. "He looked over his left shoulder at me, raised his hands off the steering wheel and just shook his head no. And then – boom – he detonated his car."

"I could let my mind go that way and say we are ruined and we are not going to be able to do anything," said Tiffany. "Or I could go the other way and just be his biggest cheerleader. And I just sort of took that on, even if I didn't believe it myself."
read more here

What The Hell Does This Song Mean?

I listen to oldies and this song keeps playing.  I used to like it because the music is really good and the singer has a nice voice. The trouble is, when I actually listened to the lyrics, it just didn't make sense.

Survivor

"I Can't Hold Back"

There's a story in my eyes

Turn the pages of desire

Now it's time to trade those dreams

For the rush of passion's fire

This makes no sense at all.  Is he dreaming or remembering? What kind of dreams was he having if it is time to trade them? As for "passion's fire" he must have just needed a word to go with "desire."

I can feel you tremble when we touch

And I feel the hand of fate

Reaching out to both of us

He can feel her tremble at the same time he feels fate?  Maybe she isn't trembling for him and is afraid of what fate is going to do?

I've been holding back the night

I've been searching for a clue from you

I'm gonna try with all my might

To make this story line come true

Keep reading and you'll see what I mean.

Can you feel the hand of fate

Reaching out to both of us

This love affair can't wait

I can't hold back

I'm on the edge

I can't hold back

Your voice explodes

Inside my head

I can't hold back

I won't back down

Girl, it's too late

To turn back now

Another shooting star goes by

And in the night the silence

Speaks to you and I

And now the time has come at last

Don't let the moment run too fast

I can feel you tremble when we touch

And I feel the hand of fate

Reaching out to both of us

There's a story in my eyes

Turn the pages of desire

Now it's time to trade those dreams

For the rush of passion's fire

I can't hold back

I'm on the edge

I can't hold back

Your voice explodes

Inside my head

I can't hold back

I won't back down

Girl, it's too late

To turn back now

I can see you tremble when we touch

Ooh, and I feel the hand of fate

Reaching out to both of us

This love affair can't wait

I can't hold back

I can't hold back

I can't hold back

Just because something sounds good that doesn't mean it is.

There is a lot of that going on in this country right now with all the talk, talk and more talk, but if you really listen to what is being said, it makes about as much sense as this song.

Congress keeps holding hearings about what the Department of Veterans Affairs is doing or not doing and it all sounds like they care until you look up all the other times before this. The end of that song goes like "You're So Vain"

You had me several years ago

When I was still quite naive

Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair

And that you would never leave

But you gave away the things you loved

And one of them was me

It isn't just this Congress because the problems veterans face on a daily basis have been going on since 1946 when they were supposed to fix the problems veterans had been complaining about decades before that, but they didn't.

We have all the money Congress is spending on PTSD for the troops, but none of it worked the way they said it would. Top that off with no one had to give back any of the money they stuffed in their pockets even after suicides went up. Same story when they became veterans and even more money was spent. Oh, but not just by Congress but by the ever growing list of "awareness" raisers.

Hey if folks want to give them money for just looking stuff up online then David Hannum was right.

"There is a sucker born every minute." The phrase is often credited to Barnum himself. It means "Many people are gullible, and we can expect this to continue."

After all, they can't even get the number of suicides right so how are they supposed to be trusted to get anything else right?

Then there is another group out there making millions a year, to take care of veterans but they turn around and give millions to other charities raising money to take care of veterans.  Donors don't know what is going on with the money they gave in the first place, or the second, or the third but they do know the problems get worse, so they give more money.

As with everything else, including songs that sound good, when you actually listen, it all becomes nails on a blackboard and you have to change the station.

Budding Designer For Homeless is Only 10

10-year-old sews clothes for the homeless 
FOX 10 News
By Courtney Griffin
Jun 22, 2015

PHOENIX (KSAZ) -

"He told me he wanted to start using his allowance to start buying fabric to make clothes to give to homeless kids," said Stephanie Elliot.

A young boy is giving back to his community after knowing all-to-well what it feels like to go without.

Dresses, pants, t-shirts, whatever it is, 10-year-old Xavier Elliot wants to design it.

He spent 8 of his 10 years alive in and out of homeless shelters. His dad was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after coming back from Iraq.

"We couldn't get the help we needed, so we ended up losing everything time and time again," said Xavier Elliot.

Stephanie, Xavier's mom, said after getting some help from the state, they want to give back. Now Xavier is sewing clothes for the homeless.
read more here

Arizona Veterans Frustrated with Shuttle Service

N4T Investigators: Veterans complain about new V.A. shuttle service
Tucson KVOA News 4
Written By Paul Birmingham
June 21, 2015

“There's about 1,300 shuttles that are done on a weekly basis, so when you have five or six complaints, that's not a significant number, but we're not happy to have any complaints. So, obviously, we want to provide great transportation to all our veterans,” Sample said.

For disabled veterans, transportation to and from doctors appointments is more than a luxury, it can be a lifeline. Though, as the News 4 Tucson Investigators have discovered, some disabled veterans in our community are extremely dissatisfied with those services.

Mark Martinez served in the United States Army more than three decades ago. Every day, he deals with the hip, back, and knee pain from injuries he suffered during his service as a young man.

“I was 101st Airborne. I jumped out of perfectly good airplanes, got hurt coming down one night, and it's never been the same since,” Martinez said.

Now, Martinez's pain is coupled with frustration over changes in the provider who takes him to medical appointments at the southern Arizona Veterans health center.

The turnaround came earlier this year, when the V.A. went with a new company that was contracted to provide transportation services for vets.

The contract allows for rides to be combined. Martinez says, it means he no longer receives one-on-one service in smaller minivans, like he used to under the previous transportation provider.

“I'm not going to be shuttled around like cattle or something like that,” Martinez said.

So, despite the pain of getting in and out of the truck he loves, he's resorted to driving himself to some appointments. Something that is harder for him to do financially.
read more here


One of the comments mentioned the DAV (Disabled American Veterans) providing rides

I'm A volunteer DAV driver for the VA Hospital. The DAV has a separate transportation service separate from the Hospital. They transport Vets that aren't eligible for VA transportation, but everyone is welcome. I normally provide one on one service when I drive, but occasionally because of scheduling and location of the pick up locations we may pick up 2 Vets. I would suggest that this Vet tries the DAV service once to see if this would work better for him. Some helpful hints are to make his appointments before 11:30 and call for a reservation early ( DAV will schedule up to a month in advance) He can call the DAV through Patient Travel (520-629-4626).