WWII Veteran Diagnosed With PTSD at 105

Durham’s oldest veteran, 107, faces life’s end with post-traumatic stress disorder 
Durham News
BY VIRGINIA BRIDGES
July 28, 2015

Samie Anderson turned 107 last week
Anderson was diagnosed with PTSD at 105
Late in life diagnosis aren’t uncommon as veterans slow down and ‘darker voices get louder’

Samie Anderson has lived many lives.

Anderson, who turned 107 last week, grew up in rural Mississippi in the early 1900s, rode freight trains across the country as a teenager, hand rolled biscuits and cinnamon rolls as a chef and became a father of three and grandfather and great grandfather to many.

Today, however, one of Durham’s oldest veterans faces his final days with post-traumatic stress disorder more than 70 years after he fought in World War II.

Anderson was just diagnosed last year.

The late-in-life struggle is “actually common,” said Ilario Pantano, director at the N. C. Division of Veterans Affairs.

Many older veterans came home from war and needed to jump right back into the work force or faced a country that wasn’t very sympathetic, he said. Back then, post-traumatic stress wasn’t a mental health disorder, but something waved off as “shell shock.”

“They were forced to bottle up their pain, literally and figuratively, and get to work,” Pantano said.

“And then as their children left home, or now that they’ve retired and they have more time to begin decompressing in the later part of their life, some of these memories start to surface.”

More than 400,000 veterans in the state are older than 60, Pantano said, and as some of them slow down “those darker voices get louder.”
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Missing Vietnam Veteran Found After 7 Days Stuck Under Tree

Missing Vietnam veteran, 66, is found alive under a fallen tree - SEVEN DAYS after he vanished during woodland walk 
Daily Mail
Kiri Blakeley
July 27, 2015

Army vet Larry Merton Shaddy, who reportedly has cancer and dementia, disappeared during a late-night walk near his care home
He fell down a steep embankment and got wedged under a broken tree
A passerby spotted him on Monday and phoned police
Shaddy, from Springdale, Maryland, is dehydrated and has leg injuries but is otherwise said to be in good spirits

A Vietnam veteran who has been missing for seven days has been found alive - wedged under a fallen tree in thick woodland.

Larry Merton Shaddy, of Springdale, Maryland, was conscious, lucid, and able to give his name to his rescuers, they said. He is now being treated for dehydration and leg injuries in hospital.

The 66-year-old, who is said to have cancer and dementia, was reported missing by his care home at 1am on July 20 after he failed to return from a late-evening walk.

He was spotted under a large tree limb by a passerby in Prince George's County on Monday, according to NBC 4 Washington.

He was just 0.3 miles from his care home.

The passerby, who was walking down the 9000 block of Ardwick-Ardmore Road, flagged down a passing motorist, who radioed for help.

The tree was removed by the Prince George's County Fire Department, using hydraulic power tools. Mr Shaddy was then placed in a large basket and pulled up the steep embankment to a waiting ambulance.
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Iraq Veteran Killed in Kermit Texas

Deadly Shooting Outside Bar in Kermit
NewsWest 9
By Kalene O'Brien
Updated: Jul 27, 2015

WINKLER COUNTY, TX - One person was shot and killed outside of a bar in Kermit over the weekend. Authorities are now working to figure out who’s at fault. It happened around 1:00 a.m. on Saturday at the Texas Moon Bar and Lounge.

It all started out as a fist fight and then quickly turned into a deadly shootout between four guys. Locals say it’s a shock for their small community. 25 year old Mark Stahlman was killed by the gunfire.

His brother was one of the four guys involved in the gunfight.

The other two guys were place in custody for just over four hours before they were released. read more here

Canada: Afghanistan Veteran Denied Insurance Because of PTSD

Afghan war veteran denied insurance because of PTSD
CTV News Canada
Michael Shulman
Published Monday, July 27, 2015

"I did a job the government asked me to do (and) I did it to the best of my ability. I was injured during that but now I lack the ability to have the privilege of protecting my investment (and) my house," said Arnsten.

April 17, 2002 is a date that continues to haunt Shaun Arnsten.

The Afghanistan war veteran was part of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group that lost four Canadian comrades and saw eight others injured in friendly fire at the hands of an American F-16 fighter jet near Kandahar.

"I was about 150 metres from the point of impact where the bomb was," Arnsten told CTV News.

In 2003, Arnsten, 38, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and a year later he received a medical discharge.

"I'm a young guy -- a soldier -- I went to war, I saw horrible things, I came back (and) I had a reaction to it," Arnsten said.

But the repercussions of his PTSD have affected his life back at home in Cochrane, Alta., as well.

Earlier this month, Arnsten says that he was rejected for mortgage disability insurance by Sun Life Financial because of his condition.

The veteran suffered a severe concussion in a motorcycle accident in April, which he says is preventing him from returning to his work as a heavy equipment operator.
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Veterans May Get More Help From Veterans Affairs

House backs bill to help vets who've suffered sexual assault
Associated Press
Posted: Monday, July 27, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — Veterans who suffered sexual assault or other sexual abuse while in uniform would get help more easily from the Department of Veterans Affairs under a bill approved Monday by the House.

The bill would allow a statement by a survivor of military sexual trauma to be considered sufficient proof that an assault occurred. The House approved the bill xxx--xx Monday night.

The bill is named after Ruth Moore, a former Navy sailor who was raped twice by a superior officer nearly three decades ago. Moore, of Milbridge, Maine, was awarded more than $400,000 in retroactive disability benefits last year after a decades-long battle with the VA.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, called it an important step to get the VA to make its benefits process easier and fairer for veterans like Moore who were sexually assaulted during their military service.

Since starting work on the issue five years ago, Pingree said she heard from "countless veterans who've struggled for years to get disability benefits for (post-traumatic stress disorder) and other conditions that stem from their assaults."

The Defense Department estimates that about 19,000 sexual assaults occurred in the military in 2010, but only 13.5 percent of those assaults were reported.
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Florida Late on "Armed Citizens" at Recruitment Centers, Opps!

Last week we read this

Marine recruiters told to call the cops if armed citizens show up
Marine Corps Times
By Hope Hodge Seck, Staff writer
July 23, 2015

Marines were also instructed to call the relevant Army Corps of Engineers representative to notify the lessor of the recruiting office property of the presence of the armed individuals.

After four Marines and a sailor were killed by a lone gunman last week, armed civilians have volunteered to stand guard at military recruiting stations around the country — but troops are being warned to keep their distance and alert law enforcement of their presence.

In a memo published Tuesday that was obtained by Marine Corps Times, Lt. Gen. Mark Brilakis, the head of Marine Corps Recruiting Command, advised troops not to support the "armed citizen" volunteers in any way.

"These citizens' presence, while well intentioned, will be counterproductive to our recruiting operations," Brilakis wrote.
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It seems that my state of Florida didn't get the memo!

Florida to speed concealed weapons licenses to veterans
FLORIDA TODAY
R. Norman Moody
July 27, 2015

The Florida move to expedite the process for military and veterans comes amid debates about how best to protect recruiting stations, many of them in shopping center storefronts, and reports of armed citizens showing up at recruiting stations.

Amid reports of armed citizens standing guard at military recruiting stations and recommendations on how best to protect military personnel, Florida officials announced today that they will expedite concealed weapons permits for active duty military and veterans.

The move comes on the heels of the murder of five military members in Chattanooga, Tennessee earlier this month.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs said its goal is to issue licenses to qualified active military and veterans within 30 days, a third of the time allotted by law.

“The men and women who serve and have served our country deserve all of the support we can provide,” Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam said. “We are pleased to expedite active military members and veterans’ applications for a concealed weapon license, and our partnership with tax collectors throughout the state will make this process even more convenient.”
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Opps!

Volunteer Team of Retired Marines Performs Up to 9 Ceremonies A Day

RIVERSIDE: Always faithful, Marine vets serve at national cemetery funerals 
A volunteer team of retired Marines performs as many as nine ceremonies a day.
Press Enterprise
BY JEBB HARRIS / CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Published: July 27, 2015c

Staff Sgt. Robert "Bob" Dugan, 90, escorts Alyssa Fitzpatrick of Hemet to the memorial for her Marine father and wife at Riverside National Cemetery.
JEBB HARRIS, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Memorial Day comes a few times a month for Staff Sgt. Robert “Bob” Dugan. He rises early, puts on his Marine Corps dress blues and drives his pickup from his Costa Mesa home to Riverside National Cemetery.

At 90, Dugan is the oldest and most highly decorated of the volunteers of the honor detail team Semper Fi No. 1. He’s one of a crew of Marine veterans, from all over Southern California, who gather at the cemetery to provide a proper military service for their brothers and sisters.

With the passing of so many World War II and Korean War veterans, and the increase in casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan, there was a time when memorial services for some veterans amounted to a presenting of a folded flag and a recording of taps. Funding was short, and not enough troops were available to properly honor the dead.
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Amputee Iraq Veteran Tries for WWE

Disabled local veteran now WWE hopeful 
The Courier Journal
Connor Casey
July 26, 2015

Iraqi War veteran, Michael Hayes, 29, completes a set of lateral rises during an afternoon workout at the Louisville Athletic Club. In 2006, during a deployment in Iraq, Hayes' Humvee was caught in an IED blast. He was the only survivor in the accident, suffered burns to his body and lost the bottom of his left leg. Hayes spent a year confined to crutches or a wheel chair and said he was more than excited to receive a prosthetic. “When they put me in that leg it was awesome,” said Haynes, “It was liberating.”
(Photo: Alyssa Pointer/The Courier-Journal)

Michael Hayes is tough; tough enough to join the military straight out of high school, tough enough to drag himself out of a destroyed Humvee in Iraq carrying his detached left leg and tough enough to become a professional wrestler.

Born at Fort Knox and raised in Louisville, Hayes decided at an early age that he wanted to be a professional wrestler. He graduated from Seneca High School in 2004, joined the U.S. Army, and was eventually deployed to Iraq.

In August 2006 in Ramadi, Iraq, Hayes was riding in a Humvee hit by an IED (improvised explosive device). Hayes was the only survivor, and he had to drag himself away from the wreckage carrying his own left leg, which had been blown off from the knee down. Along with losing the leg, he sustained a broken hip, a crushed right heel, shrapnel damage in his hands and burns on 35 percent of his body.

Hayes believes now that his injury is what opened the door for him to pursue his childhood dream.

"I think what was necessary was for me to experience some sort of catastrophic pain and suffering, which would allow me to grow enough to where I could accept and actually appreciate doing what I've wanted to do my entire life," Hayes said.

He spent the next 18 months undergoing rehabilitation and physical therapy at the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, using the prosthetic leg he'd have for the rest of his life.
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