American Heroes Air Show
Cadet Civil Air Patrol
The bike my husband is supposed to win, so if someone else shows up for it...they stole his luck!
New Citizens of the USA!
Local benefit for veterans with PTSD goes on, despite organizer taking own lifeI wish I could say that this story is not being repeated all over the country, but wishing does not make it true. After almost 35 years, I can tell you first hand that this work comes with a price to be paid and if you are not prepared for it, it can, and all too often does, shatter your own life.
FOX 4 News
BY DAVE D'MARKO
MARCH 24, 2017
“We may not be able help everybody but the ones we help that's 100 percent for me, I’m just sad I couldn’t help my best friend," Gunn said.KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A benefit Friday night to help veterans in their fight against PTSD and depression was missing its organizer. Benjamin Kelley, 40, died by suicide March 1.
“This boot here belongs to my best friend Benjamin Kelly,” Damien Gunn said on stage at a packed No. 9 Saloon.
For the past two years Ben Kelley has taken the boot he wore while serving in the U.S. Navy and passed it around to collect money for AmVets and the Foundation for Exceptional Warriors. F.E.W. is an organization helping veterans deal with post traumatic stress disorder and depression.
“We believe the most dangerous place for a warrior right now isn’t down range in Afghanistan or Iraq or anywhere else they might be fighting in the world. It’s at home sitting on their sofa," F.E.W. Board Member Chris Wolfenbarger said.
read more here
In the first quarter of 2016, the military services reported the following:
58 deaths by suicide in the Active Component
18 deaths by suicide in the Reserves
34 deaths by suicide in the National Guard
In the second quarter of 2016, the military services reported the following:
57 deaths by suicide in the Active Component
23 deaths by suicide in the Reserves
23 deaths by suicide in the National Guard
In the third quarter of 2016, the military services reported the following:Take a look at what it was in 2012 compared to 2016
• 82 deaths by suicide in the Active Component
• 18 deaths by suicide in the Reserves
• 27 deaths by suicide in the National Guard
"No Americans have sacrificed more on the altar of our current undeclared wars than veterans and their families. Their suicide rate is now 20 a day, haunting testimony to their betrayal by our Congress and citizens who send them to war without a declaration that joins all Americans in the commitment to sacrifice for its success." Delbert SpurlockHe should know better and that is the other part of the problem.
GENERAL COUNSEL OF THE U.S. ARMY, FROM 1981-82; ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY, MANPOWER AND RESERVE AFFAIRS FROM 1983-88; AND U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF LABOR FROM 1991-93.Given the fact that he has the credentials to be trusted, how many trust what he said about OEF and OIF veterans? How many trusted his numbers? Probably almost everyone who read it. Then even more receiving the information passed on via Social Media. So, how many do you think believe that is all there is to know?
To date, data from twenty-one (21) states have been cleaned and entered into a single integrated file...on page 12
Further, this report contains information from the first 21 states to contribute data for this project and does not include some states, such as California and Texas, with larger Veteran populations. Information from these states has been received and will be included in future reports... on page 15
Specifically, more than 69% of all Veteran suicides were among those aged 50 years and older...Most states have veterans committing suicide double the civilian rate. Here in Florida, it is triple. California does not track them. Illinois does not track them. So where did these numbers really come from and oh, by the way, it looks like Spurlock forgot about current military at an average of one per day. Their numbers went up too.
THE REPORT CONCLUDES: Approximately 65 percent of all Veterans who died from suicide in 2014 were 50 years of age or older. Veterans accounted for 18 percent of all deaths from suicide among U.S. adults. This is a decrease from 22 percent in 2010. Since 2001, U.S. adult civilian suicides increased 23 percent, while Veteran suicides increased 32 percent in the same time period. After controlling for age and gender, this makes the risk of suicide 21 percent greater for Veterans. Since 2001, the rate of suicide among U.S. Veterans who use VA services increased by 8.8 percent, while the rate of suicide among Veterans who do not use VA services increased by 38.6 percent. In the same time period, the rate of suicide among male Veterans who use VA services increased 11 percent, while the rate of suicide increased 35 percent among male Veterans who do not use VA services. In the same time period, the rate of suicide among female Veterans who use VA services increased 4.6 percent while the rate of suicide increased 98 percent among female Veterans who do not use VA services.Are you disgusted yet? Then get busy and start telling the truth. Lord knows nothing will change until we actually prove that the topic of veterans surviving combat but unable to survive in their "golden years" matters enough TO ACTUALLY READ THE REPORT!!!!
"I am married to an Air Force officer who has been active for 15 years. He was diagnosed with PTSD after his last deployment in 2010. I am very disappointed because people don't talk about PTSD anymore. I feel that it's a forgotten illness because there is a draw down of forces and the wars are over....I don't think any of the professionals understand that I am suffering, too. What about the wives or other spouses? What can I do to try and make my marriage last and stand the test of time?"Honestly, all I can think about is that with all the instant access to what this generation has, how can they know so little? After all, we learned, found support and when we couldn't we created the support for others. We did it without the internet. Shocking for the younger generation, I know, but life did happen before we even had cellphones.
The veteran told police money was missing from his bank accounts, a bank card had been stolen, and money from benefits that he had for rent and utilities was missing.
“The police helped him and he may have been swindled out of his money,” Guest said. “There were some choice words used for someone ... who would take an elderly veteran’s money. You can’t print those words in the newspaper.”
A 22-year-old soldier stationed in Vilseck, Germany, was killed Saturday, March 18, 2017, in a car accident near the Grafenwoehr Training Area. Two other soldiers were seriously injured and the driver of the car, who tested positive for alcohol, suffered minor injuries. COURTESY OF THE FREIHUNG FIRE DEPARTMENTVaughan, who served with the U.S. Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment as a fire team leader, was a passenger in a vehicle that veered off the road and rolled into a tree near the Grafenwoehr main gate, German media reported. Two other soldiers, 26 and 27 years old, were seriously injured.
Hutchinson detailed the horrors of the experience in a written account submitted to the VA before his death. He described the sights and sounds, the constant fear — how it felt to carry armloads of body parts; to x-ray badly-wounded men; to treat crippled and maimed Vietnamese children; to helplessly sit through mortar attacks; to watch men die.
Bernetta Hutchinson lost her U.S. veteran husband when he killed himself in 2014. Now she may also lose their Boulder Creek-area home. (Dan Coyro -- Santa Cruz Sentinel) Bernetta Hutchinson lost her U.S. veteran husband when he killed himself in 2014. Now she may also lose their Boulder Creek-area home. (Dan Coyro -- Santa Cruz Sentinel)BOULDER CREEK On the morning of Oct. 24, 2014, Bernetta Hutchinson woke up in the Forest Springs neighborhood home she shared with her husband Terry. Wandering sleepily out to the living room, she found a note on the table. It began, “Bernetta, I am sorry. Call the VA.”