Navy Veteran Gets PTSD Service Dog and Hope to Heal

Oviedo veteran, rescue dog help each other get second chance at happiness
U.S. Navy veteran suffers from PTSD
Click Orlando
By Shannon McLellan - Social Media Producer
November 21, 2016

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. - An Oviedo veteran has a new best friend, thanks to the K9s For Warriors program.

US Navy veteran Nicholas Balzano obtained his service lab, Nate, through the Florida-based nonprofit organization that aims to serve veterans suffering from PTSD as a result from their service.

The organization says the average veteran in the program is on 10 to 15 medications when they begin. But with help from their new furry friends, they're able to reduce or eliminate their medication when they are done with program. Both Nicholas and Nate graduated last month.

The K9 For Warriors program offers refuge for veterans who have tried several treatments with little or no success.

"I want to be more active in society and not controlled by my panic disorder anymore," said Balzano. "K9s helped me regain control of my life."
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7 veterans commit suicide every 10 days in Arizona

Report: 7 veterans commit suicide every 10 days in Arizona
Daily Courier
Scott Orr
November 22, 2016

“This is one thing that a veteran should not feel like they have to do on their own.” Nicholas Wood

PHOENIX – Between January 2015 and June 2016 — an 18-month period — 393 veterans committed suicide in Arizona, according to a report issued by the Arizona Violent Death Reporting System on Thursday, Nov. 10.

And, although the study does not provide hard numbers on Yavapai County, it does show that the suicide rate for veterans in the county is 76.2 per 100,000, which is slightly higher than the average rate statewide.

Some of the smaller counties have higher rates, with La Paz recording 146.3 suicides per 100,000, and Maricopa and Pima counties coming in just below Yavapai County, with 75.8 and 72.0, respectively.

The goal of the study is to aggregate data from county medical examiners and law enforcement to help detect trends in veteran suicides, and also homicides, with an eye toward preventing them in the future, said David Choate, associate director of the Arizona State University Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety.
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Shocked Coffee Shop Customers Rushed to Help Vietnam Veteran After He Set Himself on Fire

Vietnam veteran sets himself on fire as a political protest
WEWS
By Bob Jones
Nov 21, 2016

AKRON, Ohio (WEWS) -- Surveillance video from Angel Falls Coffee shows the Vietnam veteran-- dressed in a Marine Corps uniform--- including a hat-- trying to get into a political conversation with customers.

The owner of the coffee shop said the vet wanted to know who organized recent protests against Donald Trump.

"He seemed to be pro-rally, against Trump and he talked to my customers about how people needed to protest more about Trump," said Jim King.

When no one engaged in the conversation, the veteran left the shop, handed his cell phone to a stranger and told him to record a video. What happened next was horrifying.

"He walks over to his car and grabs a gas can and proceeds to douse himself with gasoline and then light himself on fire," said Lt. Rick Edwards of the Akron Police Department.

The stunned witness did not get a video. Others threw coats on the veteran and put out the fire with an extinguisher.

King said, "He was curled in a fetal position perfectly still except for some hand movement and he was completely coated in ash."
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Widow of Vietnam Veteran Finally Receives Benefits After 24 years!

Vietnam veteran's widow finally sees survivor benefits
Tulsa World
By Randy Ellis The Oklahoman
Posted: Monday, November 21, 2016

80-year-old widow spent 24 years before Veterans Affairs changed its view

CHICKASHA — Twenty-four years of persistence have finally paid off for the Chickasha widow of a Vietnam War veteran. After rejecting her survivor’s benefit claims for more than two decades, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has finally acknowledged that wartime exposure to Agent Orange likely contributed to her husband’s death from heart disease.

Along with the admission came $291,000 in retroactive survivor’s benefits.
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Decorated Veteran Buried in Backyard After Suicide

Family Buried Decorated Korean, Vietnam War Vet In Backyard After Apparent Suicide, Nassau Cops Say
CBS News New York
November 18, 2016

Neighbors identified him as Frank Mabry — a Purple Heart, Korean and Vietnam War veteran in his 80s. His family claims he was ill, took his own life, and had an unusual request.

NORTH BELLMORE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — A North Bellmore neighborhood has had a steady police presence for two days, so neighbors were relieved to hear there was no danger to them.

As CBS2’s Carolyn Gusoff reported, they’re scratching their heads at why a family would bury a loved one in the backyard.

Homicide detectives worked for a second day, scouring the overgrown property surrounding 1369 Pea Pond Road — digging with shovels in the back yard.

By afternoon they found what they were looking for, buried in a shallow 2-foot deep makeshift grave was a body wrapped in blue.
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Brother Speed Motorcycle Club Fighting Battles For Veterans After War

Local motorcycle club is taking the war to PTSD; SEICAA Veterans Services and Veterans Court receive donation from BSMC, Eastside
Iowa State Journal
By Alessandra Toscanelli For the Journal
November 21, 2016

Hook said he was inspired to champion the cause after hearing stories of those suffering PTSD, watching a YouTube video regarding PTSD and getting in touch with Idaho State University’s Todd Johnson, the director of the university’s Veteran Student Services Center.

POCATELLO — The Eastside chapter of the Brother Speed Motorcycle Club raised money to support the war on PTSD and used the funds from the campaign to help SEICAA’s Veterans Services this last October.

On Nov. 7, the SEICAA Veterans Services and the Sixth Judicial District’s Veterans Court received a combined donation of $3,000 from the motorcycle club.

Those in attendance were Sixth District Magistrate Rick Carnaroli, judge for the Sixth District Veterans Treatment Court; Debra Hemmert, CEO of SEICAA; Kale Bergeson, SEICAA Veterans Services Director; Shantay Bloxham, Operations Director of SEICAA; George “Woody” Woodman, Mentor Coordinator; Casey Cornelius, ISU Addiction Specialist; Andrea Hook, Vocational Rehabilitation; Scott Hook, president of the motorcycle club’s Eastside chapter; local veterans from the program; and fellow motorcycle club members.

SEICAA’s Veterans Services is available for military veterans who are facing homelessness or are currently experiencing homelessness. The program is dedicated to empowering veterans to overcome life’s obstacles and advocate for long-term self-sufficiency. Veterans often struggle with PTSD, physical health problems, mental illness or substance abuse issues and severe isolation.

One recent success story of the Veterans Services program comes from a 54-year-old veteran who wishes to be kept anonymous.

“Before coming into the program, I knew I was screwed up but I didn’t know how to move forward,” he said.
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Vietnam Veterans: Did you serve with Rob Stevens of Minnesota in 1969?

AMAZING UPDATE!

How a stranger’s generosity helped a desperate Vietnam veteran
KTVA News
By Liz Raines Photojournalist: Ken Kulovany
November 22, 2016

ANCHORAGE – We first introduced you to Robert Stevens in a Problem Solvers piece on Friday. For the last three years, he and his wife, Diane, have been trying to get benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Robert Stevens was exposed to the toxic herbicide known as Agent Orange while serving in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Now, their lives have taken a turn for the better because of one person who saw that story.

When we last met the Stevenses, they were drowning in debt.

“They just turned us into collections because I’ve gotten to a point where there’s so many medical bills for Bob,” Diane Stevens said. “I just can’t do it anymore.”

Robert Stevens believes he was exposed to Agent Orange while making his way through Vietnam after receiving orders to return home to Minnesota on April 1, 1969.

“I had a quadruple bypass,” Robert Stevens explained. “And my heart doctor said it was from Agent Orange.”

In order to get any money from the VA, the Stevens have to prove he stepped foot on Vietnamese soil. However, the VA can’t find his records, so Robert and Diane Stevens are now searching for anyone who might still recognize him from that time.

Diane Stevens posted a cry for help on a reunion page for her husband’s ship, the USS Lynde McCormick. The Stevenses haven’t received a response yet, but someone else in the community was listening to their story.

One KTVA viewer was so moved by the couple’s story that he wanted to give them a check for $3,800.
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A desperate endeavor: Vietnam veteran seeks community’s help getting benefits
KTVA News
By Liz Raines
Photojournalist: Rachel McPherron
November 19, 2016

ANCHORAGE – I first met Rob and Diane Stevens at a Department of Veterans Affairs listening session in September. Diane fought back tears as she told the Alaska VA’s new director, Timothy Ballard, of her and her husband’s now three-year battle to obtain some sort of compensation for Robert’s exposure to Agent Orange.

The Vietnam War ended in 1975, but the heroism of those who served lives on today. The soldiers wear hats now instead of helmets. Robert does so proudly. At the tender age of 17, he joined the U.S. Navy.

“I got to know the guys, the medic,” Robert recalled. “And I was like, ‘I really want to do that.’ And everybody kept telling me, ‘no, you don’t want to do that.'”

Robert spent two years in Vietnam, days he remembers with nostalgia. But there’s one day he’ll never forget: April 1,1969 — his 21st birthday.

“I got handed four sheets of paper and they said ‘your dad’s been in a car accident,'” Robert remembered.

He was sent home to Minnesota to be with his family, but to get there he had to first pass through Vietnam from Vung Tau to Saigon. That’s where Robert’s life changed forever.

“Two helicopters flew over and they dropped this white powder,” Robert said.

That white powder, he believes, was Agent Orange — an herbicide the U.S. Government used to destroy jungles during the war so it could see the enemy. Now the VA recognizes that Agent Orange destroyed a lot more.
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Pot in Colorado Added Homeless Veterans on the Streets?

Colorado shows nation’s largest spike in the number of homeless veterans
AMERIFORCE
By Kirk Mitchell
November 18, 2016

Colorado’s overall homeless population increased by 721, or 13 percent, from 2015 to 2016, the report says. HUD volunteers conducted a statewide survey one night in January and counted 10,555 homeless people. Of those, 7,611 were living in emergency shelters or transitional housing and 2,939 were on the streets.

Alfred Zabawa joined hundreds of military veterans streaming into Colorado last year for legal pot or to find a job in a state with a thriving economy, only to find themselves living on the streets and contributing to the highest rise in the number of homeless veterans in the nation.

Zabawa, 61, arrived in Colorado an able-bodied man. On Friday, he pulled up his pajama bottoms to reveal an aluminum prosthetic leg as he sat in a wheelchair waiting in line for free groceries in a parking lot outside Denver’s VA Hospital.

While most states saw their homeless veteran populations drop an average of 17 percent in the past year to a total of 39,471, Colorado was one of only eight states going in the opposite direction with increasing numbers, according to the the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual report on homelessness, which was released Thursday.

Colorado had the biggest gain of any state with an increase of 231 homeless veterans, a 24 percent rise. Colorado’s homeless veteran population of 1,181 is now nearly as high as the state of New York, which has 1,248 homeless veterans, the HUD report says.
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UK: Homeless Veteran's Life Changed By Human Kindness

Woman's kind-hearted gesture could change a homeless war veteran's life forever - and she's inspired others to do the same "Nobody should be alone. Nobody should be on the streets with nobody to support them"
Mirror UK
BY JOSHUA BARRIE
20 NOV 2016

Kevin says he returned from the war to find his partner with another man

(Photo: Facebook)

A woman's kind deed in helping a homeless war veteran has moved thousands – and caused the start of a ripple effect, inspiring others to do the same.

Kerry Stewart, who lives in Darwen, Lancashire, shared on Saturday a sad story about a homeless man called Kevin, whom she'd met late one evening in Blackburn.

Kerry writes that she first met a man called Kevin in a retail park. She bought him a cup of tea and a muffin and got chatting. Kerry says that she and her daughter spoke to Kevin for some time, and "learned that Kevin is not an addict or alcoholic, as many will presume, but is an ex-squaddie who came back to Burnley from the Army to find his wife shacked up with someone else."

Kevin apparently left his children, his dog, and now sleeps rough. He says that he stays away from local hostels as they're "full of junkies and dodgy landlords".

Mum Kerry continues in her Facebook post that she provided Kevin some clothes and food . She's carried on meeting up and finding out more about his life.

"Clearly suffering with PTSD, he cried when he told me of his recurring nightmare remembering the sight of body parts in an Iraqi village, most notably the arm of a child," Kerry writes.

She adds that Kevin told her "nothing could have prepared him" for a life after the Army, and it seems like he's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Another Suicide Prevention Bill, Just More of the Same

This may sound good to you,

SPEAKER RYAN SIGNS BILL TO HELP VETERANS IN CRISIS
The Scoop
Speaker Ryan Press Office
November 18, 2016
Yesterday, Speaker Ryan signed H.R. 5392, the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act—legislation introduced by Rep. David Young (R-IA) to assure veterans’ needs are prioritized. Prior to signing the bill, Speaker Ryan discussed its significance during his weekly press briefing:

“This week, Congress gave final approval to legislation that will help veterans in need. H.R. 5392 requires the VA [to] respond to calls to its crisis hotlines in a timely manner.

“This is one of those bills that should not even be necessary, but sadly—and tragically—it is. read more here

In June of this year, a veteran called the Crisis Hotline and WTVM News reported,

"I called back the next day which was past the 24 hours they said they would call back,” said Burks. “And,I waited another 24 hours and they did call.” 

Burks worries the long wait time could be devastating for someone suffering from P.T.S.D. 

But a Bill to prevent suicides sounded good before. Actually, scratch that. Make it many, many times before.

May 2, 2015 Military Times reported this.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., recently sent a letter to VA Secretary Bob McDonald asking for data on the Crisis Line's call volume, hold times, and average wait times between when a call is made and the caller can see a VA therapist or counselor, or a community provider, in person.

Nelson's request was made in response to a news report by Tampa television station WFTS that Air Force veteran Ted Koran was placed on hold repeatedly for up to 10 minutes at a time as he fought off suicidal thoughts.

According to the report, Koran's wife died of cancer last year and he was despondent the day he made the call.

But when he dialed, he was placed on hold numerous times. After he reached a counselor, he said he did not feel comforted, according to the report.

"They had me on the [verge] of saying to hell with it," he said, according to WFTS.

Makes sense that Florida Senator would be paying attention considering it turns out that in 2014 the number of veterans in Florida committing suicide was called a "staggering" number when between 1999 and 2011 there were 31,885 reported suicides.

April 13, 2015 ABC News reported this

Ted Koran was thinking about committing suicide Saturday night.

He reached out to the VA and the Veterans Suicide Hotline for help, but said he couldn't get any until after he was repeatedly put on hold for up to 10 minutes at time.

Veterans in Crisis: Vets put on hold for 36 minutes His case is just the latest the I-Team has been exposing for months now.

When the Veterans Crisis Hotline was first set up by the VA in 2007, it averaged 60 calls a day on four manned phone lines.

Now, 52 operators at a time field about a thousand calls a day, and that's not always even enough to keep some veterans on the verge of suicide from being placed on hold.

February 23, 2015 KJRH News reported this.

Hughes decided that night to turn to the national Veterans Crisis Line, a 24-hour, seven-day-a week service that promises an immediate, open line to professional help. But when Hughes phoned, she said, her call went straight to hold. After several minutes, she became frustrated and hung up. “I would never call the hotline again,” said Hughes. She said she needed to quickly get to someone that night who could give her help and reassurance.

Does it sound bad now? Wait because this was reported on Army Times July 14, 2010. The link no longer works but it is still alive on Wounded Times

Even as Veterans Affairs Department officials offered testimony that 10,000 people have been saved by VA’s suicide hotline, veterans themselves said help should come long before a person needs to make that call. “The suicide hotline is too much of a last alternative,” said Melvin Cintron, an Army veteran who served as a flight medic in Desert Storm and in aviation maintenance in the current war in Iraq. “Either you don’t have enough of a problem and you can wait for weeks for an appointment, or you have to be suicidal.”

Cintron spoke Wednesday before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s oversight and investigations panel.

A lot of things may sound good, but you have to look back to see if what sounded good produced good results. The fact is, there have been some veterans rescued by the Crisis Hotline. It is also a fact that it began back in 2007 with The Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act. It is also a fact that considering we have over 5 million less veterans than we did in 1999, the VA has reported the same, stunning number, of veterans committing suicide at 20 per day.