Alaska-based soldier suicides appear to be nearly four times the general U.S. rate

USA TODAY
Tom Vanden Brook
Jun. 11, 2021

WASHINGTON – Six soldiers stationed in Alaska have died by apparent suicide in the first five months of the year, an alarming number of deaths after the Army poured more than $200 million into the state to combat the mental health crisis it identified in 2019, according to Army figures released to USA TODAY.

The 2021 suicide toll among the roughly 11,500 soldiers stationed there already has nearly matched last year when seven soldiers died by suicide while stationed with U.S. Army Alaska, whose principal posts are Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

While suicide rates among troops overall are comparable to the civilian population, the rate within the relatively small population of Alaska-based soldiers appears to be nearly four times the general U.S. rate.
read more here

Why? Why after all these years are the numbers still going up? Because what they are doing is not working, yet they keep doing the same things that already failed. The question is...why?

February 7, 2021, Army Times reported this, "After Army Alaska’s alleged suicides, one battalion gets ‘sensing sessions’"

A command team from the Hawaii-based 25th Combat Aviation Brigade visited one of their battalions at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, in January to hold sensing sessions in which troops discussed their opinions on mental health, loss and grief.

The trip came after two soldiers from 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, died by suicide in late December and January, and a third soldier attempted suicide in that same time period, according to two people and an email from a unit official obtained by Army Times that describes the three incidents.

Because they have not changed what they are doing anywhere! It shows.

Military Deaths by Suicide Jumped 25% at End of 2020
Military.com
By Stephen Losey
5 Apr 2021

The number of deaths by suicide among military service members increased alarmingly in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the Defense Department's latest quarterly report.

The military recorded 156 deaths by suicide among all services, including active-duty, National Guard and Reserve troops, from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 last year. That is a 25% increase from the 125 such deaths that occurred in the last quarter of calendar year 2019.
read more here

Exactly when will the Joint Chiefs be forced to change what they are doing so that they can actually change the outcome?

Veteran heals PTSD in unique way...Forged By Fire

Winston-Salem knife maker creates works of art. Army veteran's hobby led to stint on "Forged in Fire."

Journal Now
Fran Daniel
June 12, 2021

“It’s very therapeutic for him, which is good,” Robin Lopez said. “But his creativity started coming out and it was allowing him to express that…I think it’s positive that we all have that creative outlet.”

After noticing that making knives soothed and brought him peace, Lopez began reaching out to other veterans who are dealing with PTSD and interested in making knives.

In the spring of 2014, U.S. Army veteran Fermin Lopez decided to make his own knife.

At the time, he was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lopez, who now lives in Winston-Salem, said he did a tour in the Middle East as a helicopter medic when war broke out in Iraq in the early 2000s.

“I was having a lot of issues with memories from the war and things like that, and I needed an outlet,” Lopez said.

To make his first knife, Lopez used a bag of charcoal he bought from Walmart.

“Then I used my grill and a hair dryer, and I actually was able to forge a knife,” he said. “It was mild steel. It was not like the ones I make now. It was just something to play with.”

He decided to make more knives, saying it helped take his mind off things.

“I felt a lot more relieved,” Lopez said.

His skills as a bladesmith, which is the art of making knives, swords and other blades, have come a long way since then.
read more here

Senators outraged over military sexual assaults....again

Today in Washington, yet again, Senators expressed outrage over the rise in military sexual assaults. While they can act as if this is a "new" problem...their problem is very little was done over all these years. This hearing happened in 2013!

Female Senators Express Outrage Towards Male Military Commanders at Sexual Assault Hearing
11,082 views •Jun 5, 2013

Military PTSD-suicide in the news

Military PTSD-suicide in the news would not be happening if the other bills done over all these years actually worked......

Parents of Norfolk sailor who died by suicide hope Brandon Act passes this time; Event in VB will provide mental health resources for military

WASHINGTON (WAVY) — Legislation to provide better access to mental health services for military members will be re-introduced next week on Capitol Hill, and the parents of the sailor for whom the bill was named are hoping it will become law.

Brandon Caserta was 21 when he died by suicide on Naval Station Norfolk. He had washed out of SEAL training in San Diego, but so do the vast majority of those who even qualify for the training. The course is known as BUDS, or Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training, and Caserta was mocked with the label “BUDS dud.”

Caserta ended his life by jumping into the rotor of a helicopter. A military investigation found that his lead petty officer’s abusive actions were a likely contributing factor, and that officer was removed from the position. read it here

Canadian Armed Forces reports 16 military suicides in 2020

OTTAWA — The Canadian Armed Forces says 16 service members took their own lives last year.

That represents a slight decline from the 20 military suicides reported in 2019, which was the largest number in five years.

The new figures nonetheless bring the total number of Canadian military personnel who have died by suicide over the last decade to 191. That is more than the 158 service members who were killed while serving in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. read it here

Here is proof why "you gotta make your own kind of music"

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 15, 2021

"The loneliest kind of lonely" is when there is no one else like you. I know that feeling because when I started working on PTSD, I didn't know anyone like me. It was lonely because we didn't have the internet and the only information I could find was at the library reading clinical books. Nothing strange about that since it was in 1982.

In 1993, I finally got a computer and then I found other people talking about PTSD. I started my first site on AOL, then it was on a website where I went by NamGuardianAngel. Back then, since I was unique, I had a lot of emails and phone calls. There were even more when I wrote my first book in 2002.

In 2006 I started making videos on PTSD on YouTube and in 2007, I started Wounded Times.

All that work was worth it even though it was never to make money. Sure I wanted to at least break even but the thing was, the work itself kept me going. Getting feed back and reading messages let me know, it mattered to the people I was trying to help.

In 2007 I posted a massive post about suicides hoping that someone with the power to do something would. Once all the groups started to pop up all over the internet and social media, the emails and messages started to go down. I was reading more and more about veterans suffering and very little being done to help them. The problem was, they were doing something about it by using them to make money.

I didn't give up and made more videos, posted more and tried to reach out as much as possible. It got lonelier and lonelier. In 2017 I started PTSD Patrol hoping that with PTSD in the title, I could gain control over the conversation again, and give veterans hope and families understanding.

Last year, it was too much for me, reading the reports of suicides going up in the veterans' community and within the military itself. My heart was breaking. I decided to stop focusing on them and started to open the work up to anyone with PTSD. PTSD Patrol passed 100,000 page views recently.

I do not follow anyone or take from anyone because I am too busy making my own "music" to march to! My work, has been stolen and copied for decades, but it doesn't bother me anymore. My mission hasn't changed because of them. The work was to offer hope and if others can reach more than I can...that's OK with me. I know that one day, they will get what they deserve for what they did with my work. I pray that those who go to their sites receive the help they were looking for and find the encouragement they need to #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD.

Wounded Times reached 5 million page views because people shared the work.

So, if you are doing anything for the right reasons, if you know that you have something to give the world, then give it freely. I am living proof that even if no one tells you that you matter, you do!

Make Your Own Kind of Music

The Mamas and the Papas

Nobody can tell you

There's only one song worth singing

They may try and sell you

Cause it hangs them up

To see someone like you

But you gotta make your own kind of music

Sing your own special song

Make your own kind of music

Even if nobody else sings along

You're gonna be nowhere

The loneliest kind of lonely

It may be rough going

Just to do your thing is the hardest thing to do

But you gotta make your own kind of music

Sing your own special song

Make your own kind of music

Even if nobody else sings along

So if you cannot take my hand

And if you must be going, I will understand

You gotta make your own kind of music

Sing your own special song

Make your own kind of music

Even if nobody else sings along

You gotta make your own kind of music

Sing your own kind of song

Make your own kind of music

Even if nobody else sings along

You gotta make your own kind of music

Sing your own kind of song

Make your own kind of music

Even if nobody else sings along

No no no no

Even if nobody else sings along

If nobody else sings along

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Barry Mann / Cynthia Weil

Make Your Own Kind of Music lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

The best way to heal is to open up

The best way to heal is to open up
Jesse had a difficult time adjusting to civilian life after deployment. He used drugs and alcohol to try to forget his experiences in Iraq. He eventually reached out for help at VA, where he received therapy and connected with other Veterans. Now Jesse’s a Peer Support Specialist and encourages fellow Veterans to reach out for help.

If you have not been in Make The Connection from the VA...you are missing a lot!

"And I could hear them,"

subject:Capitol Crimes

If a man walks naked down a city street, do police officers just let him go because he said he believed he had clothes on? No, they arrest him for committing a crime.

If someone comes to your house and demands you leave, because they said they believe they own your house, do you pack up and go? No, they get arrested for committing a crime.

Just because a President could not admit he lost the election, the US Capitol was attacked. All it took was for him to say he believed and he was believed. No proof, no facts, the courts and recounts proved the count to be valid and he did lose, but no matter what, all his supporters needed to hear was what he said he believed.

It does not matter what the criminals believed they were doing when they committed crimes against this country. It matters they did it because a man said he believed he was still the president. When the majority of the Senators voted for an investigation into what happened and who did it, but the minority said they didn't care, it says more about them, than the criminals who did it.
 

'I thought I was going to lose my life': Capitol Police officers share their harrowing January 6 stories for the first time

By Whitney Wild and Jeremy Herb, CNN
June 3, 2021

Washington (CNN)US Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell was beaten with a flagpole. His hand was sliced open. He was hit with so much chemical spray that the liquid soaked through to his skin. During intense hand-to-hand combat with rioters on the west front of the US Capitol on January 6, there were moments where Gonell thought he might die.

"They called us traitors. They beat us. They dragged us," Gonell told CNN, in his first interview about the violence he experienced and witnessed on January 6. "And I could hear them, 'We're going to shoot you. We're going to kill you. You're choosing your paycheck over the country. You're a disgrace. You're a traitor.'"

Several hundred feet away that same day, US Capitol Police Officer Byron Evans was inside the locked Senate chamber with 100 senators and Vice President Mike Pence, hand on his weapon and mentally preparing for a life-or-death situation to come through the doors. read more here

The Capitol Police Officers still do their jobs for the same people who supported the criminals more than those who defended them with their own lives. They heard the criminal voices and saw what they did to the Capitol. They still hear their voices echoed in their nightmares and in the halls with their flashbacks. This goes far beyond what was done. The wounds are being cut deeper because some members of the House and Senate are defending criminals and the man who said he believed he won what he lost.

They have no idea when it will happen again. They are only sure it can happen because a fraction of the people still believe the criminals lying to them. The only way to provide any kind of justice is to investigate the facts. Finding every criminal trying to take over the country that horrible day is the only way to heal this nation.

There are members of the military and veterans who are being arrested and charged for participating in this. Some cannot understand how they could do such a thing after serving this country. The fact is, some of them should have never been allowed into the military. We tend to see all of them as honorable and joining for the right reasons. The truth is, a small number of them join to kill and blow things up. It is easier to understand how "Protecting and Defending the Constitution" had nothing to do with their service, when we look at the facts and hear what they say they believe.

1 in 10 defendants from US Capitol insurrection have military ties

(CNN) One in 10 people charged in the US Capitol insurrection are veterans or current servicemembers, according to a CNN review of court documents and Pentagon records.

At least 45 of the approximately 450 overall defendants have ties to the US military, according to the CNN review. The bulk of these 45 defendants are veterans, but a handful are still serving, including an active duty Marine Corps officer from Virginia who was arrested earlier this month.

A quarter of the defendants with military ties are also connected to right-wing extremist groups, like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. These groups had a big presence at the January 6 riot, and they've attracted significant attention from federal prosecutors investigating the attack and from Pentagon officials who are coming to grips with the problem of extremism in the military.

What does all of this say to the good members of the service who joined for the right reasons? What kind of message are they getting from their leaders?

What does this say to any veteran or current member of the military with PTSD? When so many members of the House and Senate want to give all the perpetrators protection leaving the other members of the House and Senate vulnerable to it happening again? When do they get to feel safe doing the jobs they were elected to do? When do the Capitol Police Officers get to feel as if their service and risking their lives actually matter to those they protect?

Those questions will only be answered when there is accountability and everyone involved are held accountable. Otherwise just saying you believe something is true makes everyone else suffer for the delusion.

Wounded Times Reached 5 Million!

STUNNING NEWS!

THANK YOU!

As long as I have faith that more of you can heal....there is plenty to do!

If I Ever Lose My Faith in You

Disturbed

You could say I lost my faith in science and progress

You could say I lost my belief in religion

And you could say I lost my sense of direction

You could say all of this and worse but

If I ever lose my faith in you (in you)

There'd be nothing left for me to do (to do)

Someone say I was a lost man in a lost world

You can say I lost my faith in the people on TV

You can say I'd lost my belief in our politicians

They all seemed like game show hosts to me, but

If I ever lose my faith in you (if I ever lose my faith)

There'd be nothing left for me to do

(If I ever lose my faith)

Lose my faith in you (in you)

I could be lost inside their lies without a trace (without a trace)

But every time I close my eyes, I see your face (face)

I never saw no miracle of science

That didn't go from a blessing to a curse (curse)

I never saw no military solution that didn't end up worse

If I ever lose my faith in you

If I ever lose my faith in you

(If I ever lose my faith in you)

There'd be nothing left for me to do

(There'd be nothing left for me to do)

If I ever lose my faith (lose my faith)

If I ever lose my faith (lose my faith)

If I ever lose my faith (lose my faith)

If I ever lose my faith (lose my faith)

If I ever lose my faith (lose my faith)

In you, in you

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Gordon Summer