First responder PTSD similar to combat vets: Report
TORONTO SUN
BY KEVIN CONNOR
FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2016
A study of a group of Canadian firefighters showed rates of PTSD of more than 17%.
A separate study of 402 professional firefighters from Germany found that the PTSD rate was at 18%.
While no such study has been done in Toronto, the TPFFA believes the rates of PTSD would be similar.
TORONTO - Toronto’s first responders are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder at rates comparable to combat veterans, new research shows.
Pulling a child from a car wreck or responding to a house fire with multiple victims is the same as seeing action on a battle ground, a report released Tuesday at the International Association of Fire Fighters conference says.
The report — PTSD and Cancer: Growing Number of Fire Fighters at Risk — says understanding the effects of the hazards is critical to keep first responders safe and on the job.
“Neither of these hidden hazards (PTSD and cancer from exposure to burning toxins) is adequately addressed in current protocols for treatment and remediation,” the study says.
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Tuesday, August 16, 2016
First responder PTSD similar to combat vets
Finally someone has taken the different types of PTSD seriously! It is what experts I learned from over three decades ago figured out. Combat PTSD is different from others but so is the type first responders have. Risking your life as a career is a lot different than surviving trauma once in a lifetime.
Veteran Lives to Tell What Drove Him to Suicide to Save Others
Why veterans die by suicide, and how to stop it
Military Times
By Kristofer Goldsmith
Special to Military Times
August 16, 2016
In 2014, as a volunteer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, I spent most of my free time advocating for the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Act. I spent the summer traveling the country telling Clay’s story to everyone who would listen in hopes of building a movement that would get Congress to finally take decisive action to address the suicide crisis in the veteran community.
I had never met Clay when he was alive, but thanks to my experience with IAVA, I now know Clay’s parents, Susan and Richard Selke. We don’t talk regularly or see each other much since the Clay Hunt bill was signed into law in early 2015, but I feel like I’ve got a unique sort of bond with them. It’s a bond that I’ve felt with lots of parents who have lost their son or daughter to suicide.
That bond exists because they see in me what they lost, and I see in them what I almost did to my own parents.
Military Times
By Kristofer Goldsmith
Special to Military Times
August 16, 2016
Try to picture a veteran who has recently chosen to take his own life, and you’ll probably think of someone like me: a 20-to-30-something man who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. That’s a result of countless hours spent by advocates to raise awareness about the issue.A veteran joins others to place flags representing veterans and servicemembers who had died by suicide in 2014 on the National Mall in Washington.(Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP)
In 2014, as a volunteer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, I spent most of my free time advocating for the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Act. I spent the summer traveling the country telling Clay’s story to everyone who would listen in hopes of building a movement that would get Congress to finally take decisive action to address the suicide crisis in the veteran community.
I had never met Clay when he was alive, but thanks to my experience with IAVA, I now know Clay’s parents, Susan and Richard Selke. We don’t talk regularly or see each other much since the Clay Hunt bill was signed into law in early 2015, but I feel like I’ve got a unique sort of bond with them. It’s a bond that I’ve felt with lots of parents who have lost their son or daughter to suicide.
That bond exists because they see in me what they lost, and I see in them what I almost did to my own parents.
On a personal level, answering, “Why’d you try to kill yourself?” is incredibly frustrating. There was a lot going on at the time of my suicide attempt. I had been suffering from severe bouts of depression, frightening panic attacks, and paralyzing migraines — what I now understand to be the effects of severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
What made things worse before my suicide attempt is that when I asked for help, I was treated with suspicion by my Army doctors and later chastised by my company commander for taking the antidepressants that I had been prescribed.
Despite an otherwise stellar career, I felt like I had failed as a soldier and as a man. My personal relationships were a mess. My unit went downrange without me so that I could get some emergency surgery, and I spent the next month restricted to my quarters. In that time, I quit going to therapy, and I stayed home in a dark room watching the 2007 presidential primary debates, where my buddies in Iraq seemed to have been forgotten, and I was drinking myself to sleep most nights.
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The two caring strangers saw me fall, thank you
Strange thing happened on the way home from work today. It was raining but I had to stop for gas. Walking out of the store, I slipped and fell. In less than a second, there was a man offering me his arm and a woman grabbed my other arm to help me up. I was grateful for the help and knowing that two total strangers wanted to help. Both wanted to make sure I was ok, and I was other than a couple of broken nails and my knee hurts. My pride sure took a beating and I even said that as I rubbed my behind walking away.
I pumped the gas thinking about how easy it is to accept help at times, while other times, needing it, we just do not even ask. Sometimes help shows up and other times, no matter what we do or how hard we try to get help, it just never seems to come.
Sitting here, I am thinking about all the folks around Orlando panhandling with their signs, just looking for whatever help folks want to give them. Sometimes the sign will have "homeless veteran" needs help. What do I do? Most of the time I judge them, wondering if they really were a veteran or not, instead of thinking what I can give them. By the time I decide, the light changes and traffic moves on. I leave them behind never knowing anything about them.
Did they ask for help and no one helped or did they hold in the fact they were in need of anything until it was too late they ended up on the streets?
So many questions flooding my head right now. It seems as if the difference is, folks will respond when they see "it" with their own eyes.
We know there are far too many veterans hurting, needing help to make it from one day to the next, but either they do not ask for help, or no one wants to help them. Wouldn't it be great if what they needed were as visible as a person falling to the ground? What if we could just see it and they did not have to say a word?
What would it be like if they understood "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" and knew it did not have to happen? To be needing help and willing to ask for it, believing that it will come, can seem like a never ending cycle of suffering. Yet hope is what keeps us getting up in the morning. Hope that we will make a difference by touching someone else with acts of kindness and yes, even returning that feeling by letting them help us.
The two caring strangers saw me fall. They rushed to help. It is something that runs on on impulses fueled by compassion. It happened here in Orlando when the Pulse shooting happened and it was all over the news. Folks knew people needed help and they showed up, doing whatever they could to make things better. But I think it was also something more. They wanted to make sure the survivors understood there were more folks doing good than one bad man acting out of hating.
Knowing people are more apt to love than harm should provide us with comfort but imagine if we were all willing to not just offer help when we could, but be able to accept it when we needed it?
If you need help, let them help you get up so that you can turn around and help someone else who has taken a fall.
I pumped the gas thinking about how easy it is to accept help at times, while other times, needing it, we just do not even ask. Sometimes help shows up and other times, no matter what we do or how hard we try to get help, it just never seems to come.
Sitting here, I am thinking about all the folks around Orlando panhandling with their signs, just looking for whatever help folks want to give them. Sometimes the sign will have "homeless veteran" needs help. What do I do? Most of the time I judge them, wondering if they really were a veteran or not, instead of thinking what I can give them. By the time I decide, the light changes and traffic moves on. I leave them behind never knowing anything about them.
Did they ask for help and no one helped or did they hold in the fact they were in need of anything until it was too late they ended up on the streets?
So many questions flooding my head right now. It seems as if the difference is, folks will respond when they see "it" with their own eyes.
We know there are far too many veterans hurting, needing help to make it from one day to the next, but either they do not ask for help, or no one wants to help them. Wouldn't it be great if what they needed were as visible as a person falling to the ground? What if we could just see it and they did not have to say a word?
What would it be like if they understood "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" and knew it did not have to happen? To be needing help and willing to ask for it, believing that it will come, can seem like a never ending cycle of suffering. Yet hope is what keeps us getting up in the morning. Hope that we will make a difference by touching someone else with acts of kindness and yes, even returning that feeling by letting them help us.
The two caring strangers saw me fall. They rushed to help. It is something that runs on on impulses fueled by compassion. It happened here in Orlando when the Pulse shooting happened and it was all over the news. Folks knew people needed help and they showed up, doing whatever they could to make things better. But I think it was also something more. They wanted to make sure the survivors understood there were more folks doing good than one bad man acting out of hating.
Knowing people are more apt to love than harm should provide us with comfort but imagine if we were all willing to not just offer help when we could, but be able to accept it when we needed it?
If you need help, let them help you get up so that you can turn around and help someone else who has taken a fall.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Law Firm Targeting British Troops Closed Down
Defeat of Iraq War vultures: Victory for the Mail as legal firm that spent taxpayer millions hounding our troops closes down
Daily Mail
By LARISA BROWN DEFENCE
CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED:14 August 2016
After being stripped of public money Public Interest Lawyers will close at the end of this month.
Hundreds of service personnel will now escape being dragged into a taxpayer-funded witch-hunt.
Nearly 200 compensation claims made by suspected Iraqi insurgents will be thrown out and more than 1,000 potential claims scrapped. Phil Shiner, who ran PIL, may now face charges because the National Crime Agency is investigating the law firm.
The development is a victory for the Daily Mail, which has exposed the tactics of the ambulance-chasing solicitors. These include using touts to drum up business in Iraq in breach of legal rules.
read more here
Daily Mail
By LARISA BROWN DEFENCE
CORRESPONDENT FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED:14 August 2016
After being stripped of public money Public Interest Lawyers will close Hundreds of soldiers will now escape a taxpayer-funded witch-hunt Nearly 200 compensation claims made by suspected Iraqi insurgents These will now be thrown out and other potential claims will be scrapped
A British soldier escapes his Warrior armoured vehicle after it was petrol-bombed in Basra during the Iraq War (file photo)A legal firm that spent a decade hounding British troops is to shut down.
After being stripped of public money Public Interest Lawyers will close at the end of this month.
Hundreds of service personnel will now escape being dragged into a taxpayer-funded witch-hunt.
Nearly 200 compensation claims made by suspected Iraqi insurgents will be thrown out and more than 1,000 potential claims scrapped. Phil Shiner, who ran PIL, may now face charges because the National Crime Agency is investigating the law firm.
The development is a victory for the Daily Mail, which has exposed the tactics of the ambulance-chasing solicitors. These include using touts to drum up business in Iraq in breach of legal rules.
read more here
More Than $500 Million Into Researching Gulf War Veterans, No Answers
Still sick 25 years after the Gulf War, a vet seeks answers — and the Minneapolis VA may have them.
Star Tribune
By Jeremy Olson
AUGUST 14, 2016
Chad Donovan of Rochester is fighting for the Department of Veterans Affairs to acknowledge his pain and other symptoms as related to Gulf War Illness.
It’s been 25 years, and Chad Donovan still wonders which toxic hazard in the Gulf War might have caused the fatigue, stomach problems and rashes he has suffered ever since.
Maybe it was the nerve gas pills, which his unit took in Saudi Arabia while standing in formation so nobody refused.
Maybe one of the “false alarms” after a missile attack really did signal the presence of chemical weapons.
Maybe the mushroom-cloud detonation of unused Iraqi ordnance whooshed toxins into the air.
And then there were the sand fleas, pesticides, burning oil wells, dust storms and uranium-depleted bullets that made the Gulf War one of the most toxic conflicts in history.
Today, researchers at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center are leading a wave of studies to solve the mystery of Gulf War Illness, a cluster of unexplained symptoms reported by 25 to 65 percent of the 700,000 soldiers deployed to the Gulf in 1990 and 1991. They have identified genetic markers that could improve tests and treatment, one of the most significant advances in years, and started a clinical trial on a promising prescription drug.
read more here
Star Tribune
By Jeremy Olson
AUGUST 14, 2016
More than $500 million in research hasn’t found causes or cures for the illness, which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs classifies as “unexplained illness” or “chronic multisymptom illness.”
It’s been 25 years, and Chad Donovan still wonders which toxic hazard in the Gulf War might have caused the fatigue, stomach problems and rashes he has suffered ever since.
Maybe it was the nerve gas pills, which his unit took in Saudi Arabia while standing in formation so nobody refused.
Maybe one of the “false alarms” after a missile attack really did signal the presence of chemical weapons.
Maybe the mushroom-cloud detonation of unused Iraqi ordnance whooshed toxins into the air.
And then there were the sand fleas, pesticides, burning oil wells, dust storms and uranium-depleted bullets that made the Gulf War one of the most toxic conflicts in history.
Today, researchers at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center are leading a wave of studies to solve the mystery of Gulf War Illness, a cluster of unexplained symptoms reported by 25 to 65 percent of the 700,000 soldiers deployed to the Gulf in 1990 and 1991. They have identified genetic markers that could improve tests and treatment, one of the most significant advances in years, and started a clinical trial on a promising prescription drug.
read more here
Dr. Ed Tick: Healing PTSD New-Song
Decades later, a Troy veteran of Vietnam heals
Reconciliation tours of Vietnam aid veterans who served in war
Albany Times Union
By J.p. Lawrence
August 14, 2016
Vietnam veteran Dan New of Troy met with Viet Cong veteran Tam Tien, as part of a reconciliation tour led by psychotherapist Ed Tick and his organization Soldier's Heart.
The heat of the night enveloped Dan New as he got off the plane. The 68-year-old man was back in the city he had known as Saigon. New marveled at how much had changed in what was now known as Ho Chi Minh City.
Waiting for him at the airport was another veteran of the war that ended 40 years ago. That man, Tran Dinh Song, had served in the South Vietnamese Air Force.
Over the next two weeks, New and Song would learn more about each other's story. In the years after coming home from Vietnam, New had sealed an intense feeling of guilt within him. In the years after his country lost to Communist forces, Song of South Vietnam had spent three years in a re-education camp. In December, the two men's winding paths after the war intersected in Ho Chi Minh City.
Song, 67, was New's guide in a two-week reconciliation tour of a dozen American veterans and researchers arranged by the Soldier's Heart, a Troy-based organization that helps veterans heal the psychological wounds of war.
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Reconciliation tours of Vietnam aid veterans who served in war
Albany Times Union
By J.p. Lawrence
August 14, 2016
Vietnam veteran Dan New of Troy met with Viet Cong veteran Tam Tien, as part of a reconciliation tour led by psychotherapist Ed Tick and his organization Soldier's Heart.
IMAGE 1 OF 8 Vietnam veteran Dan New of Troy met with Viet Cong veteran Tam Tien, as part of a reconciliation tour led by psychotherapist Ed Tick and his organization Soldier's Heart. (Photo: Ed Tick).Troy
The heat of the night enveloped Dan New as he got off the plane. The 68-year-old man was back in the city he had known as Saigon. New marveled at how much had changed in what was now known as Ho Chi Minh City.
Waiting for him at the airport was another veteran of the war that ended 40 years ago. That man, Tran Dinh Song, had served in the South Vietnamese Air Force.
Over the next two weeks, New and Song would learn more about each other's story. In the years after coming home from Vietnam, New had sealed an intense feeling of guilt within him. In the years after his country lost to Communist forces, Song of South Vietnam had spent three years in a re-education camp. In December, the two men's winding paths after the war intersected in Ho Chi Minh City.
Song, 67, was New's guide in a two-week reconciliation tour of a dozen American veterans and researchers arranged by the Soldier's Heart, a Troy-based organization that helps veterans heal the psychological wounds of war.
read more here
PTSD and Conditions of the Heart
GUEST POST
The Link Between Psychiatric Conditions and Cardiac Conditions
Your VA Claim
Anne Linscott
Contact Chad Hill
The Link Between Psychiatric Conditions and Cardiac Conditions
Your VA Claim
Anne Linscott
The Relationship Between Mind and Heart
Psychiatric conditions like PTSD, depression, anxiety, etc. alter the body’s nervous system and can negatively affect the heart. Also, psychiatric conditions can cause a person to make poor lifestyle choices such as poor diet, lack of exercise, or substance abuse. These poor lifestyle choices can also have a big impact on the heart. Why is it so important to understand the relationship between the mind and the heart? Both heart disease and psychiatric conditions are two of the most common disabilities suffered by veterans of multiple eras. For example, 175,220 Vietnam veterans have service connected coronary heart disease and over 350,000 Vietnam veterans have PTSD. And those numbers are just the veterans that have their conditions service connected.
Psychiatric conditions can not only make an existing heart condition worse, they can actually increase the risk of developing a heart condition. According to the American Psychological Association, people diagnosed with depression are more than twice as likely to develop coronary artery disease or suffer from a heart attack. On the reverse side, people with heart conditions are three times as likely to be depressed. This isn’t entirely surprising when you look at the impact heart conditions can have on someone’s life. For example, someone who suffers a heart attack can then have feelings of guilt about any habits they had that might have lead up to the heart attack. That person might also have feelings of self-doubt due because they worry about their ability to fulfill family/and or work related roles.
And the Medical Evidence Shows…
Dr. Viola Vaccarino, chair of the department of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta stated, “repeated emotional triggers during everyday life in persons with PTSD could affect the heart by causing frequent increases in blood pressure, heart rate, and heartbeat rhythm abnormalities that in susceptible individuals could lead to a heart attack.” Dr. Vaccarino led a study of Vietnam veterans diagnosed with PTSD, nuclear imagining scans of the veterans’ hearts showed that the veterans with PTSD had almost twice as much reduction in blood flow to their hearts as those veterans without PTSD. This was true even after taking into considerations the traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as age, past heart disease, obesity, alcohol use, etc.
Dr. Vaccarino’s findings are supported by other medical studies and research that drew similar conclusions. A study published by the American Journal of Public Health in April of 2015 found that of 8,000 veterans participating, those with PTSD had a nearly 50% greater risk of developing heart failure compared with veterans that did not have PTSD. Also, veterans with PTSD that also had combat service were about 5 times more likely to develop heart failure than those veterans who had not seen combat. This study, along with other research, confirms what many experts believe; that PTSD, like other forms of chronic stress and anxiety, can cause damage to the heart over time.
In fact, Dr. Paula Schnurr with the VA’s National Center for PTSD even stated, “There’s now a large body of evidence that unequivocally links trauma exposure to poor physical health.”
Contact Chad Hill
Sunday, August 14, 2016
DOD Investigating Death of Soldier in Afghanistan
UPDATE
Dept. of Defense investigating death of Granite City soldier
KMOV 4 News
By Timothy Godfrey
Updated: Aug 14, 2016
(KMOV.com) -- A Granite City solider has died while serving in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced.
Staff Sgt. Christopher A. Wilbur died Aug. 12 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The department said his death was from a non-combat related injury.
The incident in which Sgt. Wilbur died is currently under investigation.
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Army officials said Staff Sgt. Christopher Wilbur died August 12 in a non-combat related incident in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Wilbur was 36. He leaves behind a wife and two young children, among others.
KMOV 4 News
By Timothy Godfrey
Updated: Aug 14, 2016
(KMOV.com) -- A Granite City solider has died while serving in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced.
Staff Sgt. Christopher A. Wilbur died Aug. 12 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The department said his death was from a non-combat related injury.
The incident in which Sgt. Wilbur died is currently under investigation.
read more here
Family Shocked "Little Greek" Vietnam Veteran Actually Hero
Family discovers father, a Vietnam veteran, was more than their hero
Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, N.C.
By Kevin Ellis
Published: August 13, 2016
"He would say, 'I worked in communications. I climbed telephone poles,'" said Holly Pickert of Belmont, the oldest of his three daughters.
And while his girls always knew their father had done more, it was enough that he was their protector, their guardian and, if needed, their shoulder to cry on.
"He had a tough exterior with a soft heart," Pickert said.
But last year, the three girls came to realize that Alzheimer's disease was about to steal their family history. No longer could their father tell them stories of his past, or sometimes even their own names. They could pick out pieces of his story but needed help in filling the gaps.
"As kids, you don't pay attention to that stuff," Pickert said.
They turned to U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry's office for help in getting the service medals their father had earned during an Army career that started in 1962 and would include two years in Vietnam.
"I've never awarded so many medals to one individual in my 12 years of Congress," McHenry said last week.
Gaston Gazette, Gastonia, N.C.
By Kevin Ellis
Published: August 13, 2016
At first glance, Lekopites may not have quite looked like a hero. He told people he was 5 foot 6, but was actually closer to 5 foot 4. He was always extremely fit but never tipped the scales past 150 pounds. He carried the nickname "little Greek man."GASTONIA, N.C. (Tribune News Service) — Asked what he did during his 20-year military career, Michael Lekopites had a ready, unassuming answer.
"He would say, 'I worked in communications. I climbed telephone poles,'" said Holly Pickert of Belmont, the oldest of his three daughters.
And while his girls always knew their father had done more, it was enough that he was their protector, their guardian and, if needed, their shoulder to cry on.
"He had a tough exterior with a soft heart," Pickert said.
But last year, the three girls came to realize that Alzheimer's disease was about to steal their family history. No longer could their father tell them stories of his past, or sometimes even their own names. They could pick out pieces of his story but needed help in filling the gaps.
"As kids, you don't pay attention to that stuff," Pickert said.
They turned to U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry's office for help in getting the service medals their father had earned during an Army career that started in 1962 and would include two years in Vietnam.
"I've never awarded so many medals to one individual in my 12 years of Congress," McHenry said last week.
Medals, military service commendations awarded to Michael Lekopites
Air Medal
Expert Badge with Rifle Bar
Sharpshooter Badge with Rifle Bar
Army Service Ribbon
Soldiers Medal
Meritorious Service Medal
Valorous Unit Award
National Defense Service Medal
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star
Good Conduct Medal
Driver and Mechanic Badge
NCO Professional Development Ribbon
Vietnam Service Medal
Army Commendation Medal
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Ribbon
Overseas Service Ribbon
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Shelter 140 Veterans Call Home Getting Help
Private donation helps city's only shelter just for homeless veterans
KENS
Justin Bourke
August 11, 2016
SAN ANTONIO -- The city’s only shelter specifically for homeless veterans is getting a special gift, helping the city keep its goal of leaving no homeless veteran behind.
On Thursday, Briggs Equipment handed a $29,000 check to the American GI Forum’s Residential Center for Homeless Veterans. The money will go toward the renovation of their kitchen and outdoor common areas.
Richard Rosemondeamoundu, a Vietnam veteran, said the money will help improve a place nearly 140 veterans call home.
“Out there it’s pitiful,” Richard said. “That’s why I thank god every day that I found this place.”
Richard, a former marine, has lived at the American GI Forum’s Residential Center for Homeless Veterans for two years.
read more here
KENS
Justin Bourke
August 11, 2016
SAN ANTONIO -- The city’s only shelter specifically for homeless veterans is getting a special gift, helping the city keep its goal of leaving no homeless veteran behind.
Richard Rosemondeamoundu, a Vietnam veteran, said the money will help improve a place nearly 140 veterans call home.
“Out there it’s pitiful,” Richard said. “That’s why I thank god every day that I found this place.”
Richard, a former marine, has lived at the American GI Forum’s Residential Center for Homeless Veterans for two years.
read more here
You Wouldn't Have Combat PTSD if You Stayed Home
Too many have died because they had PTSD but never understood what it was.
Many have suggested that dropping the D from PTSD will get the stigma out of the way. As if you are afraid of a letter after surviving war. The D is for "Disorder" meaning things in your mind were once in a certain order but after the traumas you survived, things got bumped out of place. You can put it all back in order again, just not in the same way they were before you left home.
No one is ever the same after combat.
Far too many do not understand that "trauma" is actually Greek for "wound" and if you look at it that way, you understand that it hit you. Any shame in getting wounded for your country? Any shame in risking your life for the sake of those you were with?
As for asking for help, consider combat itself. You had no problem at all asking for help fighting the enemy forces. So why have a problem asking for help because you did all that then? This time you're battling for yourself so that when you are stronger you can battle for your buddy and all the other veterans out there going through the same hell.
If you are veteran over the age of 50, you are among the majority of veterans committing suicide.
If you do not get the help you are looking for, keep looking until you find it.
Air Force Raptor Defeated By Bees?
Swarm of 20,000 Bees Grounds U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor in Virginia
BY CNN WIRE
AUGUST 12, 2016
“I was shocked like everyone else because it looked like a cloud of thousands of bees,” said Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Baskin, 192nd Maintenance Squadron crew chief, in an Air Force press release.
read more here
BY CNN WIRE
AUGUST 12, 2016
According to Westrich, the queen likely landed on the F-22 to rest, and since honey bees do not leave the queen, they swarmed around the jet and eventually collected there.The US Air Force’s F-22 Raptor may be the most advanced fighter jet in the world but even with $143 million-worth of stealth and supersonic capabilities, it proved to be no match for one unlikely adversary — a huge swarm of honey bees.
An F-22 aircraft from the 192nd Air Wing was temporarily grounded on June 11 after crew members at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia discovered nearly 20,000 bees hanging from the jet’s exhaust nozzle following flight operations.
A huge swarm of bees grounded an F-22 Raptor in Virginia.(Credit: Master Sgt. Carlos Claudio/USAF)
“I was shocked like everyone else because it looked like a cloud of thousands of bees,” said Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Baskin, 192nd Maintenance Squadron crew chief, in an Air Force press release.
read more here
PTSD: Wisconsin Veterans Community Souls of Honor Motorcycle Ride
Souls of Honor motorcycle ride raises nearly $4200 for local veterans
WSAW 7 News
By Holly Chilsen
August 13, 2016
WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) -- The loud rumble of motorcycles filled Central Wisconsin Saturday for the annual Souls of Honor motorcycle ride.
The event took off at 11:00 a.m. from the Harley Davidson in Wausau and went to Hatley. The entire trip there and back is close to 100 miles.
Ron Worthey, the organization's president, said Souls of Honor was established about three years ago to meet the needs in the community when it comes to veterans' care.
read more here
WSAW 7 News
By Holly Chilsen
August 13, 2016
The event took off at 11:00 a.m. from the Harley Davidson in Wausau and went to Hatley. The entire trip there and back is close to 100 miles.
Ron Worthey, the organization's president, said Souls of Honor was established about three years ago to meet the needs in the community when it comes to veterans' care.
read more here
Australian Iraq Veteran Winning The PTSD War
Veteran’s battle against PTSD a life-changing fight
NT News
COURTNEY TODD
August 13, 2016
For him it was homelessness, alcohol abuse and suicidal thoughts.
“Every day for about eight years I wanted to shoot myself in the head,” he said. “The only thing that stopped me was knowing that someone would have to come retrieve the body.”
There were times when Alex felt he was losing his battle against PTSD but now he is winning the war and he is also helping others to rehabilitate.
NT News
COURTNEY TODD
August 13, 2016
Alex reached out for help through the Army but treatment wasn’t forthcoming. “I thought I was going mentally insane,” he said. “I didn’t believe I had PTSD because the Army told me I didn’t have PTSD.”
IRAQ veteran Alex Kaczmarek knows all too well the dark places post traumatic stress disorder can lead people.Iraq veteran Alex Kaczmarek has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. PICTURE: Elise Derwin
For him it was homelessness, alcohol abuse and suicidal thoughts.
“Every day for about eight years I wanted to shoot myself in the head,” he said. “The only thing that stopped me was knowing that someone would have to come retrieve the body.”
There were times when Alex felt he was losing his battle against PTSD but now he is winning the war and he is also helping others to rehabilitate.
When Alex came back to Australia his close friends and family noticed something wasn’t right but it took a year for him to realise, too.
“It began with sleep — lack of sleeping, insomnia and nightmares began to affect my day,” he said.
“I’d go a few days without sleep, which turned into weeks, which turned into months. Before I knew it, I got to a point where I couldn’t remember if I was asleep or awake.
“I had uncontrollable adrenaline from my inner brain reacting to situations that weren’t actually occurring, telling my body to release massive amounts of adrenaline and then I wasn’t sure what to do with it so I’d have a panic attack.
“Probably for about a year I had to stop and vomit every day on the way to work through anxiety.”
Alex reached out for help through the Army but treatment wasn’t forthcoming. “I thought I was going mentally insane,” he said. “I didn’t believe I had PTSD because the Army told me I didn’t have PTSD.”
Alex was eventually sent to an independent civilian psychiatrist who said he had the warning signs of conflict-related PTSD.
Alex discharged from the Army in November 2009 due to the lack of support. By that stage he was drinking heavily every day to numb his feelings and soon found himself on the streets of Sydney and Darwin.
That was Alex’s rock bottom.
“You think back and only a few years previously you were doing protection parties for the Prime Minister of Australia in a foreign country in a war zone and now you’re walking the streets with a bag of clothes,” he said.
“I slept at train stations, car parks, in the bush. I had a ute luckily when I was up here so, when I could afford it, I went and stayed in a caravan park so I could use the shower facilities. I pretty much long-grassed it for a bit.”
All the while Alex was battling PTSD, anxiety, depression, physical injuries and suicidal thoughts.
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Saturday, August 13, 2016
Con Man Tricked Everyone Posing As Vietnam Veteran
Deputies: Man charged after falsely claiming he was a veteran
BY WHAM
August 11, 2016
Holley, N.Y. – An Orleans County man accused of posing as a Vietnam War veteran and reaping some financial benefits is facing felony charges.
Earl Skellen, 69, is charged with first degree scheme to defraud and fourth degree grand larceny.
The executive director of the Veterans Outreach Center is outraged by Skellen’s alleged actions.
"It’s an insult to the guys and gals who are currently serving overseas and everybody's who's given a little time of their life to our country," Executive Director Todd Baxter said.
BY WHAM
August 11, 2016
After a two month investigation, Orleans County Sheriff's deputies said Skellen tricked the VFW Post in the Village of Holley into believing he was a vet, even rising to the position of post commander at one point.
Earl Skellen, 69, is charged with first degree scheme to defraud and fourth degree grand larceny.
The executive director of the Veterans Outreach Center is outraged by Skellen’s alleged actions.
"It’s an insult to the guys and gals who are currently serving overseas and everybody's who's given a little time of their life to our country," Executive Director Todd Baxter said.
Investigators found Skellen never served in Vietnam or any branch of the armed forces.
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Australia Veteran Suicides This Year Equal 13 Years of War Deaths?
Families speak about military loved ones lost and how we failed them
Herald Sun
Ruth Lamperd
August 13, 2016
Grieving families of war veterans who have taken their own lives say their loved ones might still be alive today if they’d received adequate support from authorities.
Thirteen families of service men and veterans have bravely spoken out to highlight the plight of military men and women at risk.
Their call for more support comes as a Sunday Herald Sun investigation reveals 41 military personnel and veterans died this year from suicide, the same as the number of Australians who were killed in Afghanistan during 13 years of war.
Each family which agreed to be part of this special report lost their sons, husbands or fathers in the past two years.
They ranged in age from 21 to 57. Most of them were in their 20s and 30s when they died.
Almost all had been deployed to overseas operations, including Iraq, East Timor, Afghanistan or served on navy ships involved in border patrol.
The concerns were backed by former Chief of Army and Soldier On chairman Peter Leahy, who said the government needed to “step up and own the problem”.
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Herald Sun
Ruth Lamperd
August 13, 2016
“The number of suicides and the incidence of despair, depression and broken lives among our veteran community is a national shame,” Retired Lieutenant General Leahy
Jarrad Brown was in the army and deployed to Iraq in 2007-08 and Afghanistan in 2010. He took his own life in 2015, aged 27.A SHAMEFUL number of Aussie soldiers return from war zones depressed, anxious, in despair but unable to find help.
Grieving families of war veterans who have taken their own lives say their loved ones might still be alive today if they’d received adequate support from authorities.
Thirteen families of service men and veterans have bravely spoken out to highlight the plight of military men and women at risk.
Their call for more support comes as a Sunday Herald Sun investigation reveals 41 military personnel and veterans died this year from suicide, the same as the number of Australians who were killed in Afghanistan during 13 years of war.
Each family which agreed to be part of this special report lost their sons, husbands or fathers in the past two years.
They ranged in age from 21 to 57. Most of them were in their 20s and 30s when they died.
Almost all had been deployed to overseas operations, including Iraq, East Timor, Afghanistan or served on navy ships involved in border patrol.
The concerns were backed by former Chief of Army and Soldier On chairman Peter Leahy, who said the government needed to “step up and own the problem”.
read more here
PTSD Awareness, Go To Hell
Go Into Their Hell To Get Them Out
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 13, 2106
How can you think you will change anything for our veterans if you have not spent time in hell with them? That should be the first question that gets answered if we will ever save more veterans after combat instead of losing survivors of it.
There is no doubt in my mind that most folks have good intentions with all the "awareness" they are trying to raise. Those good intentions have had deadly results because far too many of them did not understand what they were getting into.
The trouble with veterans trying to raise awareness is, while they do understand the trip to hell, they do not necessarily understand what to do or what to say to help their "brother" find hope to heal.
Peer support is vital and works if the veteran is armed with more knowledge than the veteran in crisis. After all, think about support groups for all different issues. These groups are divided up so that everyone in them has been in the same type of situation.
If you have a drug problem, you would not go into a sexual addiction group and expect it would help you with your problems. If you have PTSD from one cause, going into another support group does not work as well as if members of the group survived the same type of event.
Imagine a person with PTSD from abuse in a group where the majority are suffering from PTSD after car accidents. Do the others understand the symptoms? Sure but they do not understand what it is like to have been abused and what that did to the survivor of it.
It is the same thing with PTSD caused by being willing to risk your life for someone else. Firefighters support other firefighters because they understand all of it. Police Officers support other Police Officers for the same reason. Veterans support other veterans because they also understand what it is like no matter what war title is on their hat. What is under their hat are a lot of memories they wish they never had known.
In the line of this work, I have been pulled into their hell but have only stood in the doorway of it watching from a safe distance. I am a family member, so while I can offer other families a deeper level of support than to a veteran, because of the years behind me, I've helped veterans as well as families.
While I have experienced my life on the line for 50 years with very different types of trauma, I have never been in combat and have never been in the service. I just spent my life with veterans. I understand them, but only to a point. I can help them because while I do not understand combat, I can understand what it did to them as much as they can understand what my life did to me. What I cannot do is offer them the same level of support as another veteran can.
I can help them understand what PTSD is and why they have it and I can help them begin to heal but then I have to get them to the point where they go for professional help and into more support than I can give.
That is what has been lacking all along. Good intentions without enough knowledge to what to do and when to do it has produced deadly outcomes for far too many.
If you are a veteran, then you are the best source of support for other veterans. Time to live up to it.
It is great to be willing to call a buddy and be there to listen to them. Most of the time a veteran in crisis just needs to know they matter. That gets them from one minute but what about the next if they are left lacking any more knowledge on how to heal so that tomorrow will be better than "this day" was?
Spend time learning what PTSD is and then go one step further to learn how to help them heal. That is the only way to get them out of the hell they are in right now. If you really want to change what has been happening, then understand what had happened over the last 40 years when researchers discovered what works best along with what failed. So far the failures have been repeated and the successes have been obliterated.
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 13, 2106
How can you think you will change anything for our veterans if you have not spent time in hell with them? That should be the first question that gets answered if we will ever save more veterans after combat instead of losing survivors of it.
The trouble with veterans trying to raise awareness is, while they do understand the trip to hell, they do not necessarily understand what to do or what to say to help their "brother" find hope to heal.
Peer support is vital and works if the veteran is armed with more knowledge than the veteran in crisis. After all, think about support groups for all different issues. These groups are divided up so that everyone in them has been in the same type of situation.
If you have a drug problem, you would not go into a sexual addiction group and expect it would help you with your problems. If you have PTSD from one cause, going into another support group does not work as well as if members of the group survived the same type of event.
Imagine a person with PTSD from abuse in a group where the majority are suffering from PTSD after car accidents. Do the others understand the symptoms? Sure but they do not understand what it is like to have been abused and what that did to the survivor of it.
It is the same thing with PTSD caused by being willing to risk your life for someone else. Firefighters support other firefighters because they understand all of it. Police Officers support other Police Officers for the same reason. Veterans support other veterans because they also understand what it is like no matter what war title is on their hat. What is under their hat are a lot of memories they wish they never had known.
In the line of this work, I have been pulled into their hell but have only stood in the doorway of it watching from a safe distance. I am a family member, so while I can offer other families a deeper level of support than to a veteran, because of the years behind me, I've helped veterans as well as families.
While I have experienced my life on the line for 50 years with very different types of trauma, I have never been in combat and have never been in the service. I just spent my life with veterans. I understand them, but only to a point. I can help them because while I do not understand combat, I can understand what it did to them as much as they can understand what my life did to me. What I cannot do is offer them the same level of support as another veteran can.
I can help them understand what PTSD is and why they have it and I can help them begin to heal but then I have to get them to the point where they go for professional help and into more support than I can give.
That is what has been lacking all along. Good intentions without enough knowledge to what to do and when to do it has produced deadly outcomes for far too many.
If you are a veteran, then you are the best source of support for other veterans. Time to live up to it.
It is great to be willing to call a buddy and be there to listen to them. Most of the time a veteran in crisis just needs to know they matter. That gets them from one minute but what about the next if they are left lacking any more knowledge on how to heal so that tomorrow will be better than "this day" was?
Spend time learning what PTSD is and then go one step further to learn how to help them heal. That is the only way to get them out of the hell they are in right now. If you really want to change what has been happening, then understand what had happened over the last 40 years when researchers discovered what works best along with what failed. So far the failures have been repeated and the successes have been obliterated.
We Will Never Know The Total Suicide Price Paid
Leading Cause of Death for Veterans is Us
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 13, 2016
Experts spent enough years knowing no one will ever really know how many veterans commit suicide. As bad as the reported numbers of "22 a day" or the most recent "20 a day" according to the VA, there are far more no one ever puts into their spreadsheets.
CDC 10 Leading Causes of Death covers suicide by age group as well as other causes. The total in 2014 was 42,773 suicides in America. While most Americans face crisis situations, they were not "trained" to survive them. Young veterans were trained. Older veterans were not.
They have been trained in "prevention" for a decade yet these young male veterans are triple their peer rate on suicides. Young female veterans are twelve times their civilian peer rate. Every state has been reporting their suicide rate for veterans is double the civilian population and the vast majority of them are over the age of 50.
So look at the CDC numbers, use the math and you arrive at over 26,000 a year, but you are still not near the true number.
The word "veteran" is debatable and some do not consider themselves "veteran" if they were in the National Guard or Reserves or the Coast Guard.
Some were given less than honorable discharges and they are not counted.
Some "cause of deaths" are not so obvious like overdoes, single vehicle crashes and the ones who simply vanish.
Then there are the times when a veteran faces off with law enforcement. They are not counted as a price of providing retention of our freedoms.
Ron Smith turned to the crisis line. He ended up dead after a confrontation with police officers. They had to be called because he was suicidal. One of those nasty rules that have to be followed when someone is a danger to themselves or someone else. It is one of those things that we know we have to do because we cannot just say the words "we are raising awareness" and then go watch TV.
Folks working at the Crisis Line face far more every time they pick up the phone. They know the call could be something as simple as listening to a veteran in the middle of the night trying to make sense of a nightmare. Or a veteran needing to talk just because he needs someone to let him know he still matters.
It the right thing to do when there is a life on the line. It is also one of the hardest things to decide needs to be done or not. Guess wrong and either a veteran is pissed off because they were not "serious" or do not call and they pull the trigger.
Calling police means the veteran is facing a life or death moment but you also know you are subjecting police officers to it as well. Sometimes it ends up good, the veteran puts down the weapon, no shots are fired and he/she gets the emergency care they need to stay alive and be pissed off at you. Other times it does not end so great.
Ron Smith ended up dead and Kevin Higgins ended up dead too in Wisconsin.
Kirk Shahan, Marine Iraq veteran faced off with police officers in Detroit. He ended up living and was taken to the hospital.
In California it was another suicidal veteran facing off with police
Month after month reports from all over the country come in and it all adds up to there are more dead after war than during them. What was learned after Vietnam has turned into a shorter life as "veteran" survivor because what experts spent years understanding so they could actually change the outcome has been tossed aside, much like our veterans have been.
If you want to know who is to blame for this suicide, this sums it up.
Davenport vet's suicide at center of VA talks
They are also to blame for many, more more. These veterans, along with current military, were trained in "prevention" yet it turns out they have been prevented from healing. But, hey, just keep talking about them as if they are just numbers. Anything that lets you sleep at night because facing the truth has been a nightmare for our veterans.
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 13, 2016
Experts spent enough years knowing no one will ever really know how many veterans commit suicide. As bad as the reported numbers of "22 a day" or the most recent "20 a day" according to the VA, there are far more no one ever puts into their spreadsheets.
CDC 10 Leading Causes of Death covers suicide by age group as well as other causes. The total in 2014 was 42,773 suicides in America. While most Americans face crisis situations, they were not "trained" to survive them. Young veterans were trained. Older veterans were not.
They have been trained in "prevention" for a decade yet these young male veterans are triple their peer rate on suicides. Young female veterans are twelve times their civilian peer rate. Every state has been reporting their suicide rate for veterans is double the civilian population and the vast majority of them are over the age of 50.
So look at the CDC numbers, use the math and you arrive at over 26,000 a year, but you are still not near the true number.
The word "veteran" is debatable and some do not consider themselves "veteran" if they were in the National Guard or Reserves or the Coast Guard.
Some were given less than honorable discharges and they are not counted.
Some "cause of deaths" are not so obvious like overdoes, single vehicle crashes and the ones who simply vanish.
Then there are the times when a veteran faces off with law enforcement. They are not counted as a price of providing retention of our freedoms.
Ron Smith turned to the crisis line. He ended up dead after a confrontation with police officers. They had to be called because he was suicidal. One of those nasty rules that have to be followed when someone is a danger to themselves or someone else. It is one of those things that we know we have to do because we cannot just say the words "we are raising awareness" and then go watch TV.
Folks working at the Crisis Line face far more every time they pick up the phone. They know the call could be something as simple as listening to a veteran in the middle of the night trying to make sense of a nightmare. Or a veteran needing to talk just because he needs someone to let him know he still matters.
It the right thing to do when there is a life on the line. It is also one of the hardest things to decide needs to be done or not. Guess wrong and either a veteran is pissed off because they were not "serious" or do not call and they pull the trigger.
Calling police means the veteran is facing a life or death moment but you also know you are subjecting police officers to it as well. Sometimes it ends up good, the veteran puts down the weapon, no shots are fired and he/she gets the emergency care they need to stay alive and be pissed off at you. Other times it does not end so great.
Ron Smith ended up dead and Kevin Higgins ended up dead too in Wisconsin.
In the last eight days before Kevin died, he tried calling six different crisis hotlines to simply vent his thoughts. Nicole’s phone shows multiple calls to the lines, though Kevin's phone is still in possession of the police and the crisis lines are anonymous.
“There was one, a combat crisis hotline that we found,” Nicole said. “And a veteran on there did speak with him from a little before midnight until like four in the morning… All he wanted to do was talk. He just needed an outlet.”
On July 17, Kevin robbed the Union Avenue Tap and raised an assault rifle at officers who responded, prompting them to fire six bullets into him.But it isn't just about calls to the Crisis Line. It happened in South Carolina when James Jennings Jr. ended up dead.
She doesn't blame the officers who shot her husband to death that night. She said the officers were just defending themselves from a crime, but that the incident could have been stopped long before July 17.
Kirk Shahan, Marine Iraq veteran faced off with police officers in Detroit. He ended up living and was taken to the hospital.
In California it was another suicidal veteran facing off with police
"deputies confronted another 26-year-old man — who they later identified as a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder — after he was spotted waving a machete at passers-by in Shingletown, they said.
Dispatchers just before 1 a.m. received reports of the man waving the machete near Reed's Market on Highway 44.
Deputies found the man walking along the highway and spotted him holding a machete.
He put down the machete and knelt to the ground on deputies' orders, before putting a knife to his neck and telling deputies he wrote a letter, which they took to mean a suicide note, Ruiz said.
Deputies talked to the man in an attempt to get him to drop the knife, which he did after several minutes, according to the Sheriff's Office.
They detained the man, eventually learning he was a veteran from another California county who had been unable to find work since his release from the military, Ruiz said."
Month after month reports from all over the country come in and it all adds up to there are more dead after war than during them. What was learned after Vietnam has turned into a shorter life as "veteran" survivor because what experts spent years understanding so they could actually change the outcome has been tossed aside, much like our veterans have been.
If you want to know who is to blame for this suicide, this sums it up.
Davenport vet's suicide at center of VA talks
Woody's counterpart in Cedar County, Iowa, Patty Hamann, talked about the frustration of referring veterans to VA programs that no longer exist. Word didn't reach the trenches. She also talked about a VA doctor who died suddenly. Some vets had built an enormous bond with this psychiatrist and had been seeing him for years.Barb Ickes wrote that on Quad City Times today. She has been doing a good job of telling a story that did not have to happen. Brandon Ketchum became dead because too little attention has been paid to what has been happening all along.
"We eventually were notified by mail," she said.
In Brandon's case, Hamann said, someone should have reached out to him when he went home.
The 33-year-old was a Marine and Army sergeant and served three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. We know for sure that he asked for an emergency appointment. We know he was suicidal. He died alone.
Even though Brandon had been diagnosed with PTSD, was taking anti-depressants and had been battling alcohol and drug addiction, the Army sent him to Afghanistan for his third deployment.
Ask the Vietnam vets. They'll tell you that was crazy. They'll tell you it's no wonder so many of our young veterans are coming apart at the seams. The country has asked too much of them, and when they ask back, the country isn't there.
They are also to blame for many, more more. These veterans, along with current military, were trained in "prevention" yet it turns out they have been prevented from healing. But, hey, just keep talking about them as if they are just numbers. Anything that lets you sleep at night because facing the truth has been a nightmare for our veterans.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
PTSD Veteran Dead After Confronting Police
Family remembers veteran killed in confrontation with Pickaway County deputies
WCMH News
By Olivia Fecteau
Published: August 10, 2016
Now, his family is grieving after the 45-year-old was killed Tuesday in a confrontation with Pickaway County Sheriff’s deputies.
Diane Smith, Ron Smith’s mother, said her son was receiving care at the Columbus Veterans Affairs medical center as recently as last week, as well as the VA center in Chillicothe and Grant Medical Center in Columbus. She said the family was not happy with his care through the VA.
“It seemed like they could just never figure out what was going on,” Diane Smith said.
Her husband, Ron’s father Larry Smith, said they received a call from their daughter-in-law early Tuesday morning telling them Ron had been in a confrontation with deputies and did not survive.
read more here
WCMH News
By Olivia Fecteau
Published: August 10, 2016
That crisis line communication was what brought Pickaway County Sheriff’s deputies to Ron Smith’s house in Mount Sterling. Deputies said when they arrived, they found Smith with a long rifle. Smith died after a confrontation with the deputies, both of whom were military veterans themselves. Sheriff Robert Radcliff said it was not clear who fired the fatal shot.CHILLICOTHE, OH (WCMH) — Military service ran in the family for Ron Smith. He survived a war, serving in the United States Army during Desert Storm. His father and other relatives were also in the service.
Now, his family is grieving after the 45-year-old was killed Tuesday in a confrontation with Pickaway County Sheriff’s deputies.
Diane Smith, Ron Smith’s mother, said her son was receiving care at the Columbus Veterans Affairs medical center as recently as last week, as well as the VA center in Chillicothe and Grant Medical Center in Columbus. She said the family was not happy with his care through the VA.
“It seemed like they could just never figure out what was going on,” Diane Smith said.
Her husband, Ron’s father Larry Smith, said they received a call from their daughter-in-law early Tuesday morning telling them Ron had been in a confrontation with deputies and did not survive.
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Kevin Higgins Survived Deployments But Not Being Back Home
Widow of shooting subject: The VA let us down
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Miller Jozwiak
August 11, 2016
“When he did get his medications in the mail, they’d always come late. His refills were never refilled,” Nicole said. “Say the doctor would write the prescription, and then it’s supposed to come every month, and it wouldn’t. We were having trouble because the meds come from Green Bay… And his meds came late.”
On July 17, Kevin robbed the Union Avenue Tap and raised an assault rifle at officers who responded, prompting them to fire six bullets into him.
She doesn't blame the officers who shot her husband to death that night. She said the officers were just defending themselves from a crime, but that the incident could have been stopped long before July 17.
“They did what they had to do,” Nicole said.
But as she received part of Kevin's medication mere days after his death -- medication designed in part to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder he developed following parts of his military service -- she found herself questioning why Kevin couldn't get proper treatment for the mental illness that precipitated his death.
“It really upset him that he was telling these veterans [at the VFW] that this is where you can get help and he’d reach out to those places and they wouldn’t help him,” Nicole said.
read more here
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Miller Jozwiak
August 11, 2016
In the last eight days before Kevin died, he tried calling six different crisis hotlines to simply vent his thoughts. Nicole’s phone shows multiple calls to the lines, though Kevin's phone is still in possession of the police and the crisis lines are anonymous.
“There was one, a combat crisis hotline that we found,” Nicole said. “And a veteran on there did speak with him from a little before midnight until like four in the morning… All he wanted to do was talk. He just needed an outlet.”
Unanswered calls for help
Nicole Higgins has not tried to justify what her husband, Kevin Higgins, did.(Photo: Submitted by Nicole Higgins)
“When he did get his medications in the mail, they’d always come late. His refills were never refilled,” Nicole said. “Say the doctor would write the prescription, and then it’s supposed to come every month, and it wouldn’t. We were having trouble because the meds come from Green Bay… And his meds came late.”
On July 17, Kevin robbed the Union Avenue Tap and raised an assault rifle at officers who responded, prompting them to fire six bullets into him.
She doesn't blame the officers who shot her husband to death that night. She said the officers were just defending themselves from a crime, but that the incident could have been stopped long before July 17.
“They did what they had to do,” Nicole said.
But as she received part of Kevin's medication mere days after his death -- medication designed in part to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder he developed following parts of his military service -- she found herself questioning why Kevin couldn't get proper treatment for the mental illness that precipitated his death.
“It really upset him that he was telling these veterans [at the VFW] that this is where you can get help and he’d reach out to those places and they wouldn’t help him,” Nicole said.
read more here
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