Combat Air Evacuations May Make TBI Worse?

New study: Air evacuation may do further harm in patients with brain injury 
Findings could have major implications for treatment of military injuries
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
November 30, 2015

About a quarter of all injured soldiers evacuated from Afghanistan and Iraq have suffered head injuries.

Baltimore, MD, November 30, 2015--Over the past 15 years, more than 330,000 U.S. soldiers have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). It is one of the leading causes of death and disability connected to the country's recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of these patients were evacuated by air from these countries to Europe and the U.S. for further treatment. In general, these patients were flown quickly to hospitals outside the battle zone, where more extensive treatment was available.

But now a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has found evidence that such air evacuations may pose a significant added risk, potentially causing more damage to already injured brains. The study is the first to suggest that air evacuation may be hazardous for TBI patients. The study was published today in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

"This research shows that exposure to reduced barometric pressure, as occurs on military planes used for evacuation, substantially worsens neurological function and increases brain cell loss after experimental TBI - even when oxygen levels are kept in the normal range. It suggests that we need to carefully re-evaluate the cost-benefit of air transport in the first days after injury," said lead researcher Alan Faden, MD, the David S. Brown Professor in Trauma in the Departments of Anesthesiology, Anatomy and Neurobiology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, and director, Shock, Trauma and Anesthesiology Research Center (STAR) as well as the National Study Center for Trauma and Emergency Medical Services.

The research was funded by the U.S. Air Force.
"This research has the potential to connect bench to bedside in an important, potentially lifesaving way," said Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, who is also Vice President of Medical Affairs, the University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko Bowers Distinguished Professor. "Dr. Faden is part of an impressive group of scientists at the School who are helping to unlock the mysteries of the brain."
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Vietnam Veteran Killed in Massachusetts

UPDATES
2 Teens Charged In Vietnam Veteran Murder In New Bedford

New Bedford stunned by taxi driver’s killing
Boston Globe
By Jan Ransom GLOBE STAFF
DECEMBER 01, 2015

"He wouldn’t want me to be mad about what happened. The people who did this to my father had no idea who they did this to."
Barry Depina, whose father, Donald, was killed over the weekend

NEW BEDFORD — Donald A. Depina, an Army veteran from the Vietnam War, survived a search-and-destroy mission in Chu Lai as an infantryman nearly five decades ago.

But Saturday, Depina, a 66-year-old cabdriver who had dedicated his life to helping veterans, was found suffering from a gunshot wound about 11 p.m. in a parking lot outside Brooklawn Park, the Bristol district attorney’s office said.

He died almost an hour later at St. Luke’s Hospital.

“They took a really good man from us,” his son, Barry Depina, 29, said. “I’m sure they thought he was a lowly cabdriver with no family, but the entire city loves him.”

The Bristol district attorney’s office declined to comment on the case Monday and said the shooting remains under investigation. An autopsy by the state medical examiner’s office is pending.
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New Bedford mayor condemns slaying of ex-veterans agent
Boston Herald
Laurel J. Sweet
November 30, 2015

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell is condemning the murder of Donald DePina, the city’s former veterans agent, as a “heinous act of violence.”

Police found DePina, 66, mortally wounded by gunfire late Saturday night near the parking lot of Brooklawn Park.

DePina, a Vietnam War veteran, was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after midnight, according to Gregg Miliote, spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III.

“Our prayers go out to the family of Donald DePina, a servant of both our nation and city,” Mitchell said in a statement to the Herald.

“I am saddened and horrified by this heinous act of violence. We will work relentlessly with the District Attorney’s Office to bring the perpetrator to justice.”
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Toys for Tot's Marine Veterans Endure Harsh Weather

Sorry folks but not letting my blood pressure boil over this one. My husband and I do it all the time for the DAV. It doesn't matter what the temperature is or what the weather is like. We stay outside no matter if the building has cover or not. Salvation Army bell ringers are outside too.

As you'll read in this article the past store manager made a decision to let them go inside but it is something that most never expect out of a store letting us go there to ask for donations.

As for the title of this article, it is an attention grabber and nothing more. It takes away from the fact that these veterans are willing to do it no matter what the weather is like!

Veteran forced to stand outside of Medina Walmart
WKYC-TV
Wale Aliyu
November 30, 2015

Veteran stands outside of Walmart to collect toys (Photo: Facebook)

MEDINA, Ohio -- Controversy is brewing in Medina, after a local Marine veteran was forced to stand outside of a Walmart this weekend as he collected money for Toys for Tots.

It was rainy and cold, but despite the weather, the store manager said he had to stand outside.

Now, people are outraged that he wasn't allowed inside of the store.

When someone took a picture of the veteran and posted it to social media, the post went viral within hours. The post read, "He can bleed and die but not stand inside."

The controversy started as a conversation between a Walmart store manager and a couple of veterans.

The vets were collecting money for Toys for Tots and the VFW. They said they asked to go inside, but the Walmart store manager said it's against the company's solicitation policy to allow them inside.

The vets were then asked to stay outside of the store.

The temperatures were in the low 40's.
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Iraq Veteran Among Dead in Colorado

UPDATE

Planned Parenthood Victim Ke'Arre Stewart Tried to Save Others

Man killed in Colorado shooting was veteran, served in Iraq
AP
By KRISTEN WYATT and SADIE GURMAN
Nov. 30, 2015

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A look at the three people who were killed in a shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic:

COMBAT VETERAN, FATHER

Ke'Arre Stewart, 29, was accompanying someone at the clinic when he was killed, said Amburh Butler, a lifelong friend and family spokeswoman. Stewart leaves behind two girls, 11 and 5, who live in Texas. Stewart and Butler met when they were 11 in Waco, Texas and were high school sweethearts, she said.

They both joined the Army, but Stewart joined first, right after his high school graduation in 2004, she said. He served in the Fourth Infantry Division and was deployed to Iraq, where he would often send her letters describing the horrors he saw on the front lines.

"He would tell me how terrible it was, how many guys he watched die. It was terrible for him," Butler said. The Army stationed Stewart at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs in 2013, she said. He was discharged from the military the following year. "He went someplace where people expect to die, only to come back ... and be killed."

John Ah-King told The Denver Post that his daughter 36-year-old Jennifer Markovsky, was one of three people who died Friday when a gunman opened fire. He described Markovsky as a kind-hearted, lovable person with two children.

Garrett Swasey worked as a police officer at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. He was there when he was called to assist with an active shooter at the nearby clinic. read more here

Da Nang Vietnam Veterans Remember Twist of Fate

Veterans form friendship, discover unusual link
The News Gazette
Jim Dey 1
1/26/2015

Nearly 50 years ago — May 22, 1968 — Bob Harrison, a 19-year-old U.S. Marine from Villa Grove, was carrying a radio as part of a four-man patrol team near Da Nang in Vietnam, the site of a major air base used by American and South Vietnamese forces.

He had seen extensive combat since arriving on Thanksgiving Day 1967. That included a harrowing 77-day siege at Khe Sanh that began Jan. 21, 1968. It's one of the most publicized battles of any American war, one in which hugely outnumbered Marines, assisted by round-the-clock B-52 airstrikes, fought off North Vietnamese soldiers trying to overrun their base.

American forces suffered extensive casualties. Although Harrison's backpack took a bullet, he escaped injury. But his luck was about to run out.

The last thing Harrison remembers of his patrol that day is calling in his group's position.
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Miami Family Grieving After Murder Suicide

Mother, son found dead in Miami home in apparent murder-suicide 
Woman finds mother in pool of blood, calls 911
Local 10 News
Author: Peter Burke, Managing Editor
Amy Viteri, Reporter
Published On: Nov 25 2015

Sources told Local 10 News that Loholfftz was preparing a Thanksgiving turkey when she was shot. They said Reyes' sister and friend told them he was an Army veteran and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

MIAMI - A woman and her son were found dead inside a Miami home in an apparent murder-suicide.

The discovery was made Wednesday afternoon in the 1700 block of Northwest 30th Street.

Miami police said a woman entered the home, found her mother lying in a pool of blood and saw her brother sitting in the living room with what appeared to be a gun, so she ran out of the house and called 911.

When police arrived, they found the woman's mother and brother dead of gunshot wounds.
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Guest Post on PTSD Treatment

Guest Post: As a policy, allowing guest post does not signify an endorsement. Any questions, see links.

A New Treatment That Addresses The Real Cause of PTSD

PTSD is a serious problem. Why isn’t anyone really paying attention? There are countless statistics quoted by the media, yet how many veterans with PTSD are really treated to remission?

The drugs aren’t working and we need alternative solutions.

We are all frustrated at how our heroes and loved ones have been treated. They deserve better. What’s the solution?

According to a group of forward-thinking therapists and doctors, the reason a solution has not been developed is that the medical field doesn’t truly understand PTSD. This causes doctors and medical organizations to take the easy way out and just prescribe medications.

Prescription medications only treat the symptoms of PTSD, not the underlying illness. The flashbacks, panic attacks, nightmares and other symptoms are NOT the illness. They are a symptom of a much deeper issue.

Blue Morpho Foundation has discovered the true source of PTSD – it is a problem of consciousness.

PTSD happens when a person experiences a negative or damaging shift in consciousness during trauma. After the traumatic event, prolonged symptoms pattern the trauma into PTSD. To cure the illness, there needs to be a new shift in consciousness - a peak experience to allow for a positive shift in consciousness and a method to integrate it.

A new treatment that actually works?

We have treated PTSD into remission without medication or decades of psychotherapy. In fact, there are now thousands of former PTSD sufferers worldwide who swear by our treatment’s effectiveness. They attest to the results that they have experienced firsthand, which includes lasting relief without the return of their illness.

The treatment works without medications and the common side effects thereof. It works by using propriety technology to address the underlying issues in the patient’s psyche. Through a series of healing shifts in consciousness, the release of a traumatic past is achieved.

The BMF advisory board, comprised of forward-thinking therapists, is treating PTSD into remission without side effects or medication using these new techniques.

This isn’t your average psychotherapy.

It leverages all four modalities of human experience, harnessing the power of imagination, cognition, body, and emotion individually and in unison to shift consciousness to a new state where the mental illness is no longer present.

We truly want to help our veterans and have dedicated our lives to treating mental illness. Our goal is to fund a long-term research study that will prove to the world what we have discovered - that our treatment works. Our veterans desperately need a solution and we need to make this available to them. Thousands can already testify to the efficacy of our treatment; now we just have to prove it to the modern medical establishment so that we can legally distribute it.  

For more information on this campaign, please go to our website: www.bluemorphofoundation.org

For all media inquiries, please contact Jed Wallace at (310) 403-0559 or jed@streetrelations.com.

Town Tore Down Home of Navy Veteran Away For Surgery

This sums everything up.

"The house was in terrible condition for a long time," next door neighbor Keylin Escobar said. "Nobody really lived in the house; the house was abandoned. Everyone who came over to visit, people always say, 'What's going on with this house?'"

Then why didn't they care enough to learn anything about the neighbor who served this country and probably couldn't afford to fix it? Maybe they could have offered to lend him a hand instead of giving him an empty lot to go back to?

Town demolished veteran's house while he was away for surgery
Associated Press
By By MICHAEL BALSAMO and FRANK ELTMAN
Published: November 28, 2015

"The town basically took everything from me," said Williams, who is now staying with a friend in Florida and has only two suitcases of belongings. "The town does not have a right to take all of my property, all of my possessions."

WEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — When a U.S. Navy veteran traveled from Long Island to Florida for a knee replacement, his house was the last thing on his mind. But now his memory of it is all he can think about.

Philip Williams' home was demolished in the spring by town officials while he spent about six months recuperating from surgical complications in Fort Lauderdale. Back in New York, officials in the Town of Hempstead deemed his modest two-story home unfit for habitation and knocked it down.

The 69-year-old has now waged a legal battle against the suburban New York town. He wants reimbursement — for the house and all the belongings inside.

"I'm angry and I'm upset. It's just wrong on so many levels," he said "My mortgage was up to date, my property taxes were up to date ... everything was current and fine."
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Vietnam Veteran Remembers Battle of the Ia Drang

Not sure about this report. How could a soldier go through basic training in 1963 and not know anything about Vietnam for a year?

1965 Major battle erupts in the Ia Drang Valley

1st Cavalry unit ambushed in the Ia Drang Valley

Something about this story seems off,,,,

Vietnam Voices: Bob Beebe: 'Oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into?'
Billings Gazette
Larry Mayer
Updated Nov 27, 2015

Bob Beebe served in the United States Army from 1963 to 1968. He graduated from Bozeman High School. He served in the Battle of the Ia Drang, one of the bloodiest and most severe, which was highlighted in the book and movie "We Were Soldiers Once and Young." This is part of his Vietnam story.

Gazette: In 1963, did you know anything about Vietnam?

Beebe: "Not until March 1964 — that's when I first I heard about Vietnam because it started hitting the news."

Beebe did basic training in Fort Ord, Calif., and then did artillery school in Fort Sill, Okla., for advanced individual training. In January 1964, he went to "jump school" in Fort Benning, Ga.

Beebe: "The U.S. government at that time was getting interested in the Vietnam War, and we started experimenting with helicopters, so we formed the 11th Air Assault Division ... We spent three months in North and South Carolina in maneuvers and experimenting with helicopters."

Beebe: "The U.S. government at that time was getting interested in the Vietnam War, and we started experimenting with helicopters, so we formed the 11th Air Assault Division ... We spent three months in North and South Carolina in maneuvers and experimenting with helicopters."
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Navy Vietnam Veteran Still Serving His Country

Vietnam Navy vet Joe Hill still serving his country
KPLC News
By John Bridges
Posted: Nov 27, 2015

LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) - A Vietnam veteran of the Navy, Joe Hill continued his military career helping other veterans. After graduating OCS, Joe Hill went on to the Navy JAG school to become a Navy legal officer. He later found himself doing 2 tours of duty in Vietnam on board the U.S.S. Pyro.

"We had people ashore and at that time it was top secret," said Hill. "The second one was a shooting war. Our job was to keep the combatants: the destroyers, the cruisers, the aircraft carriers... full of bullets."

After the war, Hill got involved in Navy intelligence.

"I felt very privileged for Operation Homecoming in which we interviewed all of the prisoners of war from the Vietnam War and heard their stories and helped shoe spoon them back into a country that they didn't even recognize."
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KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana