Leap of Faith Saved Veteran From Fighting PTSD Alone

Longview veteran praises VA for helping save his life
CBS News 19
Posted: Oct 30, 2015

"There isn't any way to make people forget what happened to them in combat," Lusk said. "You can't make the memories go away. But you can find peace. My life's been better since connecting with the VA."

LONGVIEW (KYTX) - When war veterans come back home, the fight doesn't stop there as many people struggle to ease back into society. For one Longview veteran, he is still here today thanks to the help of those close to him going through similar struggles.

Leaders from the Overton Brooks Veteran Association Medical Center held their second Longview town hall meeting in the past three months. Larry Lusk served in the Vietnam War and went to the meeting Thursday to voice some of his concerns. However, Lusk's biggest fight came soon after he returned from war.

"Getting into the late 80s, my life was pretty much falling apart," Lusk said. "It ended up I had PTSD pretty bad."

Even being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Lusk still didn't want to talk about what he was going through.

"I didn't want to have anything to do with the army, with the VA or anything," Lusk said. "I saw a lot of bad things happen. I had some friends get killed right beside me."

Around that time, after a fellow combat veteran encouraged Lusk to get help, he took a leap--a life-saving leap.
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Budge Cuts Caused Florida Mental Health Crisis

If you think this can't happen to veterans then consider far too many do not go to the VA for help. Guess where they end up when they are in crisis and need emergency mental health care if they don't go to the VA?

My God! Read this article and then contact your elected official for an explanation or vote for his/her termination!

Insane. Invisible. In Danger
Tampa Bay Times
Leonora LaPeter Anton
Michael Braga
Anthony Cormier
First in a series
Oct. 29, 2015

Instead of hiring more guards, adding nurses or increasing counseling sessions for patients, DCF and state lawmakers kept cutting.

FLORIDA’S STATE-FUNDED MENTAL HOSPITALS are supposed to be safe places to house and treat people who are a danger to themselves or others.

But years of neglect and $100 million in budget cuts have turned them into treacherous warehouses where violence is out of control and patients can’t get the care they need.

Since 2009, violent attacks at the state’s six largest hospitals have doubled.

Nearly 1,000 patients ordered to the hospitals for close supervision managed to injure themselves or someone else.

A mental patient stabbed orderly Tonya Cook over and over. Watch more surveillance videos.Alachua County Sheriff’s Office For years, the state Legislature, the governor’s office and the agencies that oversee Florida’s mental hospitals ignored the chaos and continued cutting. Then state regulators hid the full extent of violence and neglect from the public.

The Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald-Tribune spent more than a year chronicling life in these institutions, interviewing patients and their families and examining thousands of pages of government records. Using police and hospital reports from across the state, reporters pieced together the first comprehensive list of injuries and violent attacks inside Florida’s mental institutions.
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A mental patient stabbed orderly Tonya Cook over and over. Watch more surveillance videos.

Vietnam Veteran Receiving Medal of Honor After Saving 8 Lives 48 Years Ago

Vietnam War veteran to receive military's highest decoration for daring rescue of 8 soldiers
MLIVE News
By Tom Perkins
Special to The Ann Arbor News
on October 29, 2015

Against the odds, Kettles got the helicopter airborne, saving the eight men and his crew.

Charles Kettles poses for a photo in front of the demonstration of his stories at the Ypsilanti Historical Museum, Sunday, October 25, 2015 in Ypsilanti(Junfu Han | The Ann Arbor News)

Now, 48 years later, Kettles is up for the Medal of Honor, the US Military's highest decoration, for the rescue. Sec. of Defense Ash Carter recently approved the action, and it only needs Congress's approval before President Obama's signature makes it final.

The daring rescue was something off of a movie screen – the type of war flick where one thinks "That was cool, but there's no way it ends like that in real life."

On May 15, 1967, northwest of Duc Pho Airfield in Vietnam's central highlands, orders came in for Charles "Chuck" Kettles, commander of the 176th Assault Helicopter Company's first platoon, to evacuate 44 soldiers pinned down by the North Vietnamese Army in a battle that wasn't going well for the Americans.

Eight choppers landed, the soldiers scrambled aboard, and the helicopters were airborne with minutes - mission accomplished.
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In addition to the courageous rescue, Kettles flew more than 600 missions over two tours in Vietnam while earning 27 air medals and a Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest decoration a soldier can receive.

Army Capt. Florent Groberg Dedicates Life To Those Died

Medal of Honor recipient Groberg: 'Now I have a big responsibility'
Stars and Stripes
By Corey Dickstein
Published: October 28, 2015

WASHINGTON — Army Capt. Florent Groberg left Afghanistan in 2012 with a mangled left leg that required more than 30 surgeries and confined him to a hospital bed for three months. It was the most difficult time of his life.

“All you can do is sit there with your own thoughts for hours and hours and hours and hours,” he told Stars and Stripes on Monday. “You don’t sleep, you’re on drugs for the pain and things like that.

“All I could think was just, ‘How?’”

In Afghanistan, Groberg was charged with protecting a formation of senior leaders on Aug. 8, 2012. When an insurgent armed with a suicide vest attacked the group, Groberg tackled him, and the vest exploded. The Army said his actions that day saved many lives.

For his heroics, Groberg will receive the Medal of Honor on Nov. 12 from President Barack Obama.

During the tedious hours of recovery, Groberg discovered the answer: He was alive. And he realized he could dedicate his life to honor the four people who did not survive the attack in Abadabad: Army Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin Griffin, Air Force Maj. Walter David Gray, Army Maj. Thomas Kennedy and Ragaei Abdelfattah, a USAID foreign-service officer.
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Oct 28, 2015
US Army Capt. Florent Groberg talked about the anticipation of receiving the Medal of Honor during an interview at the Pentagon. Groberg will be honored with the medal on November 12, 2015, by President Barack Obama after being recognized for his bravery for tackling an Afghan suicide bomber who aimed to harm his fellow servicemen

VA Lacks Data to Track Mental Health Progress,, Still

Nothing has changed in decades. How many times do members of Congress get to listen to problems before they finally fix the VA once and for all veterans? It is exactly the same as it was in the 80's and 90's!

Watchdog: VA lacks data to track mental health progress
Stars and Stripes
By Heath Druzin
Published: October 28, 2015

Navy veteran Dean Maiers, broke down in tears while telling the committee about his struggles after his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, which included a suicide attempt. He said the VA treatment he finally received saved his life, but that the VA’s narrow appointment schedule means finding time for treatment is difficult.

Navy veteran Dean Maiers covers his eyes to hold back tears Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015 before a Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where he emotionally told of how he tried to kill himself before receiving mental health care.
CARLOS BONGIOANNI/STARS AND STRIPES

WASHINGTON – Department of Veterans Affairs officials are using two different wait-time standards for veterans seeking mental health evaluations and could be underestimating how long it takes to schedule those appointments because they lack consistent data, according to a report from a government watchdog.

The report was released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office and dovetailed with a hearing on veterans mental health by the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, where veterans talked about their continued struggles to get help from the VA in sometimes emotional testimony.

Former Marine Nicholas Karnaze, who served two tours in Afghanistan, said it took him one year to enroll in the VA system. When he did seek mental health care, he said he was bounced to two different phone numbers that both ended in voicemail. He didn’t get a call back.
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Price Harry Feels Responsible for Veterans Because He is One

It has been said that if leaders had to go to war, wars would come to an end.

January 10, 1946
“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity.”
General Dwight D. Eisenhower Speech in Ottawa

Prince Harry, Michelle Obama honor wounded veterans 
The British royal said he first felt a responsibility to help veterans following his first tour of Afghanistan.
UPI
By Annie Martin
Oct. 28, 2015

"It hit me then that this flight was one of many, carrying home men and women whose lives would be changed forever, and some who had made the ultimate sacrifice. From that moment, I knew I had a responsibility to help all veterans, who had made huge personal sacrifices for their countries, to lead healthy and dignified lives after service." Prince Harry

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Prince Harry and first lady Michelle Obama honored wounded veterans Wednesday in Fort Belvoir, Va.

The 31-year-old British royal and 51-year-old American advocate visited injured servicemen and women with Jill Biden, professor and wife to vice president Joe Biden.

Prince Harry arrived in the U.S. earlier in the day to promote the upcoming Invictus Games.

The event sees wounded armed services personnel partake in multiple athletic challenges, and will be held May 8-12, 2016, outside Orlando, Fla. read more here

Australia Paramedics High Suicide Rate

World first: Guideline to manage post traumatic stress disorder among emergency workers launched in Sydney 
News.com Australia
Benedict Brook
OCTOBER 29, 2015

Sometimes that toll can be devastating. According to the National Coronial Information System, 110 Australian emergency service workers committed suicide between 2002 and 2012 — that’s one police officer, firerie or paramedic every six weeks.

Paramedic is one of the occupations with Australia’s highest suicide rates.

Picture: Marc McCormackSource:News Corp Australia

AS A paramedic, Jordan Emery was used to witnessing people in intense pain and raw grief at the very moment of their most desperate suffering. For the most part, he was able to manage his emotions and remain resolutely professional. But this call out was different.

“A motorcyclist was seriously injured,” Mr Emery told news.com.au.

“He had horrific injuries and he spoke to me a lot on the way to hospital. He had this very strong sense that he was dying, his injuries were consistent with that and he wanted me to tell his mum and brother how sorry he was for what had happened, how much he’d loved them and how good they’d been to him throughout his life.”

“He was the same age as my little brother,” a clearly moved Mr Emery said, “it was a dialogue between me and a complete stranger but it struck me because, in many ways, it felt like my little brother was lying there before me.”

Mr Emery said it was often those cases where the victim reminded them of someone in their own lives which affected emergency personnel the most — parents responding to an injured child, for instance, or an elderly person who had passed away who was the same age as their own parents.

“In the past, there might have been this idea that it’s your job to get over it, that you’re supposed to be tougher than this if you’re a paramedic,” he said, “but for me it’s about honouring the traumas you see rather than the idea that you shouldn’t think about it.”
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What Does Donald Trump Say to Veterans Waiting Decades?

Trump says a lot of things. All politicians do. There is a passage in the bible about knowing them by the fruits of their deeds because frankly, talk is still cheep.


Matthew 7:15-20 New King James Version (NKJV)

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

The truth is there are far too many veterans waiting even longer for Congress to fix the problems with the VA but year after year, folks run for office and complain about what they all let happen. Folks run for President and tend to avoid mentioning the simple fact that no President has ever lived up to taking care of our veterans.

There is a rich history of what our politicians let happen. Veterans are tired of blame games and promises before they get elected followed by even more excuses for what was not fixed. Is there anyone in Washington that is actually ashamed enough to apologize to veterans? Wouldn't you like to hear them explain how all this happened decades ago for a change? At least that way you'd know they really did care enough about you.

Donald Trump's surprise promise to a wounded veteran
CNN
By Noah Gray
October 27, 2015

Sioux City, Iowa (CNN)Donald Trump on Tuesday night did something he doesn't normally do: He stepped off the stage and went into the crowd to speak with a voter.

A question from a wounded veteran on Tuesday compelled Trump to walk off stage and speak with the man, eye-to-eye, and pledge to do his utmost to move his case forward and help him get the care he needs.

"I am going to put pressure on the (Department of Veterans Affairs) like you wouldn't believe," Trump said, asking the veteran for his contact information. "As president, I can guarantee it. As Trump, I can probably say, I'm going to be able to pull it off anyway."

The man was First Sgt. Todd Landen, a 22-year Army veteran. Sitting in his wheelchair in the front row, he asked Trump about his plans to improve health care at the VA -- a topic Trump has often touched on during the campaign.

Landen, who served three tours overseas, was wounded from an IED attack in Iraq, he told CNN in an interview after the rally. Along with his wife, April, and their 8-year-old daughter, Brianna, he moved to Iowa last year, after Landen finished up surgeries and retired from the Army.
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Tet Offensive Survivors Reunited After Google Search

Nurses, soldier who saved them in Vietnam reunite
The News-Press
Patricia Borns
October 27, 2015

Paliughi still has a photo of the wall in the nurses' room stitched with bullet holes. "They were brave," he says. "They're nurses."

On the night of the Vietnamese lunar New Year, Ron Paliughi woke to the sound of fireworks in the seacoast city of Nha Trang.

Only "it wasn't fireworks," the decorated Army veteran remembers. "It was the rockets and mortars of 850 North Vietnamese soldiers launching the Tet Offensive."

Housed in a decaying French colonial villa were Carol Portner and Maureen Orr, young nurses on a USAID mission. As the streets filled with corpses and chaos, the soldiers' and nurses' paths crossed in a life-saving moment.

No names were exchanged. They barely saw one another's faces through the tear gas and smoke. What were the chances they would reunite 46 years later at Portner's Gulf Harbour home in south Fort Myers? And yet last week, the group met again for the second time in two years. It took a death to bring them together.

A Google search

After working in 75 countries, Steve Orr wrote a book about his travels, "The Perennial Wanderer, an American in the World."

In the end, Paliughi's search came down to Googling the words 'Robert's Compound, Nha Trang, Vietnam.' A chapter from Orr's book popped up describing the Tet Offensive there. The nurses were named. He reached out to Orr to confirm.
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First Responder Trauma Linked to PTSD, Suicides

First responder trauma linked to PTSD, suicides
Click 2 Houston
Author: Sara Donchey, Reporter
Tera Roberson, Special Projects Producer
Published On: Oct 27 2015

HOUSTON
Robert Harrington Jr. fondly remembers his father.

“I remember going to the station quite a bit on holidays: Christmas, Easter, always being in my Halloween costume, going up there to see him because he was working so much,” Harrington said. “I was proud of him, he was my hero, and he always seemed to have it together."

But those memories soon give way to the reality that his father is no longer alive.

"I just texted him back, 'I love you too,'" Susan Anderson said. "I found out later that 15 minutes later he had taken his own life."

Though Jason Anderson never talked about it, Susan Anderson said she feels her son suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after his time in the military and as a firefighter. She wants others to know that it's OK to ask for help.
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