Stop being absent from your own life!

Time to filter out the BS and fill up with something to actually work toward!

OK, you can tell what kind of mood I'm in right now. 

Frustrated does not even come close to wanting to get up on my roof and scream that it is time to stop being absent from your own life!

You found excuses because you looked for them.

You found other people to blame, because you looked for them.

You found whatever you wanted to find when you wanted to find it.

So when the hell will you find what you need to stop screwing around and get serious and #TakeBackYourLife from PTSD?

How many officers do you need to hear from? One this site, you've read about officers in every department of people who made it their job to do whatever it takes to save others.

HOW ABOUT YOU DO THE SAME FOR YOURSELF?

Fire Department Captain "I thought I was bulletproof"

First Responders and PTSD: Still waiting to just get over it? Pay attention! Your life is calling in sick. Time to #TakeBackYourLife

First responders can be haunted by close encounters with suffering and death

“I thought I was bulletproof. I thought nothing ever bothered me.”

Captain Rick Stack, a long-time North Attleboro firefighter, has been diagnosed with PTSD.

But beneath the aura of command he cultivated, invisible damage was webbing slowly outward. Stack didn’t know it yet, but the job was taking a toll — week after week, month after month, year after year. In time, his own suffering would break through the surface.

read more here

Wild ride up in the air in a Viper

F-16 demonstration pilot uses cockpit camera during air show — and the result is stunning
Air Force Times
By: J.D. Simkins
July 30, 2018

The 2018 F-16 Viper Demonstration Team, commanded by Maj. John "Rain" Waters, center. (Air Force)

The Air Combat Command F-16 Viper Demonstration Team put forth their usual brilliant performance last week when they flew in the 2018 AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The team from Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, specializes in demonstrating the capabilities of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the service’s prized fighters.

While performing in Oshkosh, the team’s commander, Maj. John “Rain” Waters, put together one hell of a cockpit video specifically for your viewing pleasure.
read more here

Using the words from Contact "Want to go for a ride?" So do a lot of other people. It just came onto YouTube 2 days ago and has had 83,563 views already!

Cockpit video using my virb360 cam in the F-16 Viper Demo Team performance at 2018 Airventure. Pilot: John Waters

Veteran thanked Officer who saved him from suicide

Veteran who considered taking his life thanks cop who saved him
By:KXAN
Posted: Jul 29, 2018

GRANITE SHOALS, TX (KXAN) - Granite Shoals Police Officer Tim Edwards received a challenge coin Friday for getting a veteran mental health treatment when he was about to end his life two weeks ago.

Air Force veteran Larry Guynes says he has struggled with depression and anxiety. The medication he was taking didn't sit well with him and he contemplated killing himself.

"I called the suicide hotline," he said. "I was on the phone with them and unknowingly they called Officer Edwards in."

Edwards was dispatched to Guynes' home.

"When I saw him, I instantly saw somebody who was looking for help," Edwards said.

Edwards says the lessons he learned from crisis intervention training kicked in.

"He was standing in his front yard on his phone when I walked up," Edwards said. "I just gave him the opportunity to speak, let him tell me what's on his mind."

Guynes didn't feel threatened by Edwards, saying he was quiet and calming.

"My focus immediately shifted," Guynes said. "I wasn't thinking about harming myself any longer. It was immediate. It was astounding."

"He had a plan," Edwards said. "I believe he would've went through with it if we would not have intervened that evening."

Guynes was the one who handed Officer Edwards his challenge coin. Etched on the back is the quote "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid," by former President Ronald Reagan.
read more here

PTSD Veteran sleeps outside Rehab, service dog not welcomed

Combat Veteran Sleeps Outside with Service Dog When Denied Access to Rehab Facility
FOX 16 News
By: Rebecca Jeffrey
Jul 29, 2018

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Justin Simmons knows what war looks like.

"I hear screaming and yelling, I hear explosions."

It's a scene that now lives in his head.

"You know, there's some things that don't go away," Simmons said.

The Iraq combat veteran is taking on a new battle for his best friend.

"This guy's kept me out of more trouble than any jail commitment," he said looking at his service dog Blue.

He says a PTSD episode landed him in jail back in 2011.

He says last week he was sentenced to treatment at the Recovery Centers of Arkansas in North Little Rock until a bed opened up at the VA.

"I was automatically court ordered and if I left I would go to jail," he said.

While he was welcome inside the RCA, Blue was not because he didn't have the right certification.

"You're not allowed to deny me access with my service dog. It's not legal," Simmons said.

Blue is a registered service animal through the Americans with Disabilities Act.
read more here

Canada:Police officer's family speaks out about PTSD

Police officer's family speaks out about PTSD
The Nugget
By JENNIFER HAMILTON-MCCHARLES
July 29, 2018

Murray Northrup died last year.

Osprey Links Golf Course was Northrup's second home so it was only fitting his family, friends and emergency services paid tribute to the veteran police officer, who served more than 37 years with the Ontario Provincial Police and North Bay Police Service.

Murray Northrup's wife Diane Northrup, his daughter Krista Northrup and Police Chief Shawn Devine of the North Bay Police Service organized and attended the 1st annual Murray Northrup Golf Tournament to recognize Post Traumatic Stress Disorder held at Osprey Golf Course Saturday. Northrup who served as a police officer for more than 37 years committed suicide July 19, 2017 after suffering from PTSD.

“Post traumatic stress is a silent killer. Murray suffered for years,” his wife, Diane, said Saturday.

“He lived to be a cop and died because he was a cop.”

Before his death, Northrup said her husband left several letters to his family and first responders who would be called to the scene the day he died July 19, 2017.

“The letter he sent to his lawyers, about 10 pages in length, detailed all the incidents that have stayed with him. Everything was in there – the dates, times and names over the past 30 years.”

Northrup said her husband saw his first fatal when he was five and that stayed with him for his entire life.

“Murray's dad told him to stay in the car, but he didn't and saw the women who died. He still remembered the dress she was wearing.”

Murray Northrup also made a request in his final letter to his loved ones to do something to help heroes suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

His daughter, Krista, promised she will do whatever she can to answer her dad's request.

The family organized a tribute to Northrup in a way he would appreciate – a golf tournament.
read more here

Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan taking Honor Flight!

'Hot Lips' actress from “M*A*S*H” booked for women's Honor Flight event
Omaha World Herald
By Steve Liewer / World-Herald staff writer
July 30, 2018

For the Female Veterans Flight, only women will be onboard. The veterans. Their escorts. The airline pilots. The flight attendants. Even the news media.

Loretta Swit Actress who played Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in “M*A*S*H” will speak before flying with vets to D.C.

Come September, an actress who portrayed a female soldier on television for more than a decade will travel to Washington, D.C., with a planeload of Nebraska women who served in the military, for real.

Loretta Swit, who played Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in the iconic 1970s TV show “M*A*S*H,” is scheduled to speak at a dinner honoring the 135 female veterans in La Vista on Sept. 23. The Korean War comedy-drama focused on an Army combat medical unit.

Swit, now 80, will join the veterans early the following morning on the first leg of the daylong trip to visit patriotic sites in the nation’s capital.
read more here

Office of the Inspector General for Veterans Affairs Denver Did Nothing?

VA whistleblowers say Denver office did no work for a year
FOX 31 Denver
BY ROB LOW
JULY 24, 2018

"Long lunches, I mean watching movies, reading books. I mean I was doing school work. I`m not going to lie I did not have any work assigned. I spent the majority of my time doing school work," said whistblower No. one, who happened to be a paid intern making $47,214 a year to help conduct information technology audits.

DENVER -- Imagine making close to $100,000 a year and having nothing to do at the office.

It's what Denver whistleblowers say was reality for employees at the local Office of the Inspector General for Veterans Affairs.

That's the very division in charge of wiping out waste, fraud and abuse for the medical system that serves the nation's veterans.

"These are your tax dollars that are paying the salaries of these individuals to sit in an office and do absolutely nothing all day," said one anonymous whistleblower to the Problem Solvers.

"After a while it became a joke," is how a second whistleblower described it.

"Come into work and pretty much staring at the wall all day kind of just hanging out every day pretty much with nothing to do."

Both whistleblowers filed complaints with the Office of Special Counsel in Washington, stating an office of 11 employees basically did no work from April 2017 to April 2018.

The combined salaries of those employees during that time frame totaled more than $1.2 million.
read more here

PTSD Patrol Sunday Morning Empowerment Zone

PTSD Patrol Family Road Trip
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
July 29, 2018

Yesterday it was raining when I was getting ready to do the video for today. A song popped into my head and I could not get it to stop playing in my mind. 

Melissa Manchester "Come In From The Rain" is about coming home from a journey and returning to someone who loves them.

I used that song a long time ago because it is what it is like when you come back home to your family.

When you listen to the lyrics, you'll know what I mean. We do not know what you have packed in your memories. We just know you are still packing pain. 

We don't know if it is because you do not love us anymore, or we did something wrong, or anything else that caused what is going on with you. All we can do is guess unless you tell us.
read more here

Never Forgotten Honor Flight trip

There are some stories that absolutely melt your heart. When Vietnam Veterans take an honor flight, sometimes there are no words needed to express the emotions. 

This is one of those times and you can clearly see it in the stunning pictures taken by Alexandra Wimley.

As for the words, it is also clear that Devi Shastri, the reporter, took the time to know these veterans and tell their stories.

*******

Vietnam veterans reflect on an emotional Yellow Ribbon Honor Flight trip to Washington
Oshkosh Northwestern
Devi Shastri
July 28, 2018

“It’s the camaraderie that we are united,” Rihm said. “We are together as a group (of Vietnam veterans) because we weren’t treated very well. When I was discharged from the Army, I did not leave the fort with my uniform on. I put on civilian clothes. I did not want anyone to know.”

OSHKOSH - Standing in front of the dark, reflective sheen of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, Navy veteran Joel Walker knew exactly whose name he was looking for.

George D. MacDonald.

Veteran Al Morasch II becomes emotional and hugs board member Jim Campbell after finding a name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., during the Never Forgotten Honor Flight trip, May 21, 2018. "He was my best friend," he said. Alexandra Wimley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

MacDonald was a childhood friend of Walker; the two grew up together in Evanston, Illinois. MacDonald was a captain in the Air Force during the war.

A veteran looks for a name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., during Never Forgotten Honor Flight, May 21, 2018. Alexandra Wimley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Walker had been to the wall before — with the Veterans of Foreign Wars as a past state commander for Wisconsin. He also had a general idea of where MacDonald’s name was etched into the shiny black granite. But he couldn’t find it.
read more here and see more stunning pictures