Iowa Veteran Sued VA and Won

VA to pay Iowa vet $550,000 to settle suit over treatment

Associated Press

August 26, 2017

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Department of Veterans Affairs is paying an Iowa veteran $550,000 to settle his allegation that he suffered life-shortening heart damage because of a three-year delay in treatment.

John Porter, 68, of Greenfield, sued last year in federal court in Des Moines after he says VA staff overlooked a test result showing his heart was failing. Porter told the Des Moines Register on Friday he was glad he lived long enough to see the case settled.

Porter's lawsuit says he went to the emergency room of the Des Moines VA hospital in October 2011 after feeling tightness in his chest, and tests showed he might have heart problems. The lawsuit said a follow-up test three weeks later showed his heart was functioning at less than half of normal levels, indicating heart failure, but no VA doctors told Porter of the findings.

read more here

Home Depot Foundation Commits $1 Million to Help Texas Recover

Remember our friends with the Home Depot Foundation showing up to help veterans? Well they're at it again! This time they are responding to Texas after Harvey hit them hard.

The Home Depot Foundation Commits $1 Million to Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief Efforts

ATLANTA, Aug. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- The Home Depot® Foundation today announced its commitment of $1 million to support Hurricane Harvey disaster relief efforts in Texas and Louisiana.

Funds will be distributed to several nonprofit partners including the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Convoy of Hope, Operation Blessing and Team Rubicon to support both short-term relief and rebuilding needs.

"Our hearts and full support go out to our communities, customers and associates that are being impacted by Hurricane Harvey," said Shannon Gerber, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation. "The Home Depot Foundation and Team Depot volunteers will work alongside our disaster relief partners to assist the people and areas impacted by this catastrophic storm."

In addition to helping the communities affected by Hurricane Harvey, the Foundation's employee assistance program, The Homer Fund, will provide emergency financial assistance to associates who have been affected by this tragedy.

read more here

Bodies of 10 Missing McCain Sailors Recovered

Navy Recovers Remains Of All 10 Missing Sailors Aboard USS John S. McCain

NPR

Mark Katkov

August 28, 2017

The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain moored pier side at Changi naval base in Singapore. Grady T. Fontana/AP

The U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet announced Sunday that the remains of all 10 missing sailors from the USS John S. McCain have been recovered.

The remains were recovered from the ship's flooded compartments by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps divers. The Navy has released the identities of the sailors.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer collided with the Liberian-flagged commercial tanker Alnic MC before dawn local time last Monday, in waters east of the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. The incident is under investigation.

read more here

U.S. Navy recovers remaining USS John S. McCain Sailors aboard ship

By U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affairs | | August 27, 2017

CHANGI NAVAL BASE, Republic of Singapore – U.S. Navy and Marine Corps divers have now recovered the remains of all 10 USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) Sailors.

The fallen Sailors are:

• Electronics Technician 1st Class Charles Nathan Findley, 31, from Kansas City, Missouri
• Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class Abraham Lopez, 39, from El Paso, Texas
• Electronics Technician 2nd Class Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26, from Gaithersburg, Maryland
• Electronics Technician 2nd Class Jacob Daniel Drake, 21, from Cable, Ohio
• Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Timothy Thomas Eckels Jr., 23, from Manchester, Maryland
• Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Corey George Ingram, 28, from Poughkeepsie, New York
• Electronics Technician 3rd Class Dustin Louis Doyon, 26, from Suffield, Connecticut
• Electronics Technician 3rd Class John Henry Hoagland III, 20, from Killeen, Texas
• Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Logan Stephen Palmer, 23, from Decatur, Illinois 
• Electronics Technician 3rd Class, Kenneth Aaron Smith, 22, from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Hurricane Harvey: Fake National Guard Social Media Message Warning

TS Harvey victims, don't share viral National Guard social media message

The number is not for a government agency

Houston Chronicle

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Houston area residents should not share or copy and paste an alleged number for the National Guard, even if intentions are noble. 

A message reading "The National Guard is being deployed to our Texas area. If you find yourself in a state of emergency. Call 1-800-527-3907. Please copy, paste or share!" is making the rounds on Facebook and Twitter. 

That phone number is for an insurance company based out of state and not a number to an actual governmental entity. 

read more here

Female Veteran Lived to Help Others, Killed During SWAT Standoff

Police officers kill U.S. Army war veteran with mental health issues

Local 10 News
By Andrea Torres - Digital Reporter/Producer , Madeleine Wright - Reporter
August 27, 2017

SUNRISE, Fla. - Kristen Ambury was a U.S. Army explosive ordnance specialist and an emergency medical technician. The 28-year-old war veteran worked for the American Heart Association, and trained others to save lives as a critical care paramedic for the American Medical Response.

The Broward College and Broward Fire Academy graduate trained to save lives. She worked with Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue and also loved dogs. She died when The Sunrise Police Department could not help her Friday.

Broward Sheriffs' Office deputies said SWAT broke into her home to try to save her life. Sunrise police officers responded to the Water's Edge apartments because she was suicidal. Relatives said she appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and struggled with her mental health.

Broward Sheriffs' Office deputies said SWAT broke into her home to try to save her life. Sunrise police officers responded to the Water's Edge apartments because she was suicidal. Relatives said she appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and struggled with her mental health.
read more here

Firefighter's Suicide And Those He Left Behind

Firefighter's suicide draws awareness back to mental health precautions
Daily Press 
Sarah J.Ketchum 
August 26, 2017

Ritchey died just months after the department launched new programs to prevent suicide amid a growing awareness that the job's repeated exposure to trauma and stress can have significant impacts on mental health.

"Mike" Ritchey knew how to make people laugh.

The Newport News firefighter-medic's crew said they first thought he was shy. Then he'd catch them off guard with witty comments, sometimes said during the most inappropriate times.

Capt. Eric Alberti remembers such a time at a recent house fire. His crew, Station 8, B-Shift, responded to a call that was initially reported as gunshots. But when police searched the area, they didn't find a shooter. They instead found flames coming from a house.

Alberti and Ritchey went inside the home and up the stairs where the smoke was so thick Alberti said he couldn't see in front of his face. He said he was a little more alert than normal because of the unusual circumstances of the call. "Shootings don't normally turn into structure fires," he said.

He wanted to keep Ritchey close.

"I kept calling him ... every 15 or 20 seconds," he said.

"Why do you keep calling me," Alberti remembers Ritchey asking in an irritated tone as he appeared through the smoke still spraying water on the fire. Alberti told him he was concerned they could get shot.

John Michael Ritchey, 33, of Newport News, died by suicide on July 15. He began his career with the department in 2011 and most recently was assigned to Engine Company 8 on J. Clyde Morris Boulevard.read more here 

The desperate fight at Monte Cassino and the veteran who remembers

Soldier who was there wants people to remember WWII battle of Monte Cassino

Pittsburg Post Gazette
Torsten Ove
August 27, 2017

Pearl Harbor. Midway. D-Day. The Battle of the Bulge. Iwo Jima.

The epic battles of World War II still resonate 70 years later.

Yet one of the costliest U.S. campaigns is barely remembered: The war in Italy and its linchpin, the desperate fight at Monte Cassino.

"You never hear anything about it," says Albert DeFazio. "It just boggles my mind. That's why I'm [ticked] off."

Mr. DeFazio is 92 and lives in Penn Hills.

He has two scars on his back, shrapnel wounds he suffered from a German shell burst at Monte Cassino in 1944. He earned the Bronze Star for actions under fire with the 36th Infantry Division and later came home suffering from shell shock — post-traumatic stress disorder in today's lingo — after more fighting on the way to Rome. He says he has symptoms of PTSD, all these decades later.

For years after the war, he rarely talked about his experiences in Italy. It’s a typical pattern among World War II veterans. His late brother Pat was shot in the neck at the Battle of the Bulge. The two brothers went home to live in the same house in Penn Hills, yet they never once talked to each other about what happened to them in the war.

"Never spoke a word," Mr. DeFazio says.

But Mr. DeFazio is talking now.
read more here

Trauma planned the trip but I bought the ticket

Which Train Are You On?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 27, 2017

One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is doing the work to get to the point where our lives are lived as well as possible. Actually, make that as "good" as possible.

After something happens, we hop aboard the grief train. How long it takes you to get to healing, depends on which train you managed to get on.

Sometimes it is a slow ride, making lots of stops along the way. You are stuck until the train gets moving again. The only mistake you can make on this trip, is getting off without getting back on. 

History The Trains That Changed The World

For me, the train was like the Acela, "fastest trip with fewer stops."

"Superior Comfort, Upscale Amenities, Polished Professional Service, at Speeds up to 150 mph."

Reminder: I am not a veteran but faced life altering events far too many times to be able to reasonably explain inner happiness afterwards without pointing out how human all of us are. I do not have PTSD because of how it was dealt with. Even if you have PTSD, you can live a life where you get to decide your own trip.

Trauma planned the trip but I bought the ticket. I had to pay for what the event did to me as a victim but in the next second I went into survivorship. It didn't get me first time and I did whatever I had to do to make sure it didn't control the rest of my life. It didn't get to plan what I did with my life. It just hitched a ride popping up every now and then to remind me it was there.

Generations of veterans have been dealing with the same struggle as other simple humans but their fellow riders have scattered onto different trains. It can be a very lonely, long trip, if you are surrounded by people who have no clue what caused you to get onboard.

Civilianize yourself again to a point where you can get them to understand it as a human. Unless you surround yourself with other veterans, few will understand what you went through but everyone who survived trauma can understand what it did to you.

Maybe you can learn from this Mom who lost her son because someone else did something wrong. I copied the part that you really need to read first. Please go to the link and read the rest.

'Meeting the man who caused my son's death helped me learn to live and smile again'

Mirror UK

Rachel Toal

August 27, 2017

"Meanwhile, I was left to deal with my bereavement. The sadness I was never able to physically express due to my chest bruising had stayed inside me. Slowly, it was coming out. Counselling and EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) therapy helped to retrain my brain and replace traumatic images with positive memories."

"I discovered a life-changing programme called the Grief Recovery Method, which transformed my relationship with Flynn. Instead of being stuck with painful memories, I was able to remember him with happiness." read more here

Angry Army Wives Stage Protest of Their Own

Angry army wives protest in Paris over military working conditions

BBC

August 26, 2017

Several hundred women married to French soldiers are holding a demonstration in Paris to denounce the "deplorable working conditions" in the army.

The protest was organised by the group Angry Soldiers' Wives, which has nearly 5,200 members.

AFP/GETTY IMAGES Members and supporters of the Angry Soldiers' Wives group pictured at the protest

Mercedes Crépin, who helped set it up, said some troops on anti-terror duty were being housed in damp hangars infested with cockroaches and lice.

Around 500 people were expected to join the protest, Le Figaro reported.

After the Islamist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, the French government deployed more than 7,000 soldiers to guard prominent public places and events.

French news sites reported on Saturday that one soldier linked to the operation had shot himself dead on Friday night.

The military wives have several concerns - among them, the lack of support for the families of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"We feel completely helpless, we do not know how to cope with the condition, how to support our men," said Ms Crépin, whose husband has PTSD after serving in Afghanistan.

read more here

Wonder how many would turn out here if we actually fought for our families in this way?

Repeating Facebook Non-Facts Makes You Look Stupid

Mark Twain wrote, "There are lies, damned lies and statistics." I wonder what he'd say about Facebook?

Brainy Quote

There are facts we talk about all the time and they are backed up to other sources. We know the truth but then find ourselves in a altered world where non-facts get all the attention. Then they keep wondering why nothing changes. 

We wonder when they'll get a clue so maybe they'll help find the best thing to do to actually make a difference in this world.

I gave up on them hearing us since we're "old" but there is much to be said about what comes with age. We have the wisdom to know the difference between what is truth and what is not.

Here's a start on what they are getting wrong and it spreads wide all the way up to POTUS who has been saying that we've been at war for 17 years in Afghanistan. 

FACT
NUMBER OF YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN
It has been almost 16 years of war in Afghanistan and not 17.

On September 11, 2001, we were attacked. In October of 2001, troops were sent to Afghanistan in response to it as War on Terror was declared by President Bush.

FACT
Rate of PTSD in Veterans

• Vietnam War: About 15 out of every 100 Vietnam Veterans (or 15%) were currently diagnosed with PTSD at the time of the most recent study in the late 1980s, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS). It is estimated that about 30 out of every 100 (or 30%) of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.
• Gulf War (Desert Storm): About 12 out of every 100 Gulf War Veterans (or 12%) have PTSD in a given year.
• Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF): About 11-20 out of every 100 Veterans (or between 11-20%) who served in OIF or OEF have PTSD in a given year.

FACT
DEADLIEST YEAR 

Deadliest Year in Vietnam Claimed the lives of more troops than all years of Afghanistan and Iraq combined. 

1968

Bloodiest year of the war ends

The bloodiest year of the war comes to an end. At year’s end, 536,040 American servicemen were stationed in Vietnam, an increase of over 50,000 from 1967.
Estimates from Headquarters U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam indicated that 181,150 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were killed during the year. However, Allied losses were also up: 27,915 South Vietnamese, 14,584 Americans (a 56 percent increase over 1967), and 979 South Koreans, Australians, New Zealanders, and Thais were reported killed during 1968. Since January 1961, more than 31,000 U.S. servicemen had been killed in Vietnam and over 200,000 U.S. personnel had been wounded.

According to ICasualties.org 2,403 US servicemembers lost their lives in Afghanistan, 4,523 lost their lives in Iraq since 2001.



FACT
LONGEST WAR
Afghanistan is not the longest war in US history. That would be Vietnam, however it depends on who is doing the counting. Reporters using chosen dates, or families using family members who lost their lives.

Vietnam War

1945 First American soldier killed in VietnamLt. Col. Peter Dewey, a U.S. Army officer with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Vietnam, is shot and killed in Saigon. Dewey was the head of a seven-man team sent to Vietnam to search for missing American pilots and to gather information on the situation in the country after the surrender of the Japanese.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall has,  The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956.  

And Last,  The last American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year old Marine. He was killed in action on May 15, 1975, two weeks after the evacuation of Saigon, in what became known as the Mayaguez incident.Others list Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove and Danny G. Marshall as the last to die in Vietnam. These three US Marines Corps veterans were mistakenly left behind on Koh Tang Island during the Mayaguez incident. They were last seen together but unfortunately to date, their fate is unknown. They are located on panel 1W, lines 130 - 131.

FACT
VA Suicide Report
It is not now, nor has it been "22 a day" or "20 a day" as the definitive number of veterans across the country committing suicide.

First study of Veterans committing suicide in 2012,  reported with the number of "22 a day" was from just 21 states using limited data taken from death certificates that indicated military service.

The follow up study released in 2016 used more data from more states as well as from the CDC. The fact is, not all states have military service on their death certificates. States like California and Illinois would not have been able to supply accurate data.

FACT
Suicide
Military suicide numbers are not in the numbers of veterans committing suicide. They are separated.

For charities out there refusing to help any veteran other than OEF and OIF, majority of veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50. (see above report link)

There is continued evidence of a high burden of suicide among middle-aged and older Veterans. In 2014, about 65 percent of all Veterans who died by suicide were age 50 or older. 

If you are among the Facebook users thinking you are doing some good sharing what you think are facts, please remember to check to see if you are sharing a "non fact" because people like me are all over the country sharing the real facts.