Changing after PTSD

Changing after PTSD
by
Chaplain Kathie

If you are new to this blog, I am married to a Vietnam Vet with PTSD and have struggled to understand why I don't have it after multiple life threatening events in my own life. What I have learned is that talking about it after played a huge part in this ability to heal as well as the understanding I have about God. My faith and my family have been my "rock" all my life. Coming from big Greek family, we talked everything to death. In other words, until there was nothing left to say about a subject. There were no secrets. Surrounded by love and caring ears gave me the support I needed and my faith gave me the strength to overcome. I cannot say that events in my life did not change me. I cannot say that healing after was easy. It was a struggle. I had all the questions everyone else has and I had the same desire to be "who" I was before. To be "myself" again.

Let Me Be Myself lyrics

I guess i just got lost being someone else,
I tried to kill the pain
But nothing ever helped
I left myself behind
Somewhere along the way
Hoping to come back around
and find myself some day

Lately I'm so tired of waiting for you
To say that it's OK, tell me please
Would you one time,
Let Me Be Myself
So I can shine,
with my own light
Let Me Be Myself

Would you Let Me Be Myself
Coz I'll never find my heart
Behind someone else
I'll never see the light of day
Living in this cell
It's time to make my way
Into the world i knew
And take back all of these times
That I gave in to you

Lately I'm so tired of waiting for you
To say that it's OK, tell me please
Would you one time,
Let Me Be Myself
So I can shine,
with my own light
Let Me Be Myself,
For a while
If you don't mind,
Let Me Be Myself
So i can shine,
with my own light
Let Me Be Myself

That's all i ever wanted from this world
Was to let me be me..

Please, would you one time,
Let Me Be Myself
So i can shine,
with my own light
Let Me Be Myself
Please, would you one time,
Let Me Be Myself
So i can shine,
with my own light
Let Me Be Myself,
For a while
If you don't mind,
Let Me Be Myself
So i can shine,
with my own light
Let Me Be Myself

Let Me Be Myself

Discovering that was impossible was really not so bad. There were changes in how I thought about other people but I was amazed at the same time with how much stronger I had become.

When a veteran comes back from combat, they have lived with facing death from the moment they touch soil there until the moment they touch soil home. Every second there changes the next moment for them. When they come home there are profound changes for some.

Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French parfunt, profond deep, from Latin profundus, from pro- before + fundus bottom — more at pro-, bottom
Date: 14th century
1 a : having intellectual depth and insight b : difficult to fathom or understand
2 a : extending far below the surface b : coming from, reaching to, or situated at a depth : deep-seated
3 a : characterized by intensity of feeling or quality b : all encompassing : complete
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/profound

These changes can feel like weakness as they wait to "get over it" at the same time they want to go back to the way they were before combat. The truth is every event in our lives changes all humans but we never really think about how much we do change. When it is after trauma, especially trauma in combat, no one is ever the same person they were before. Some need help to heal from it. Some need to talk after to feel "normal" again coming to terms with what they saw or what they had to do. They need to know other people understand. Above all they need to know they are still loved, cared about and that they still matter.

For some they need to feel that they have been forgiven by God as well.

When they come home and they do not receive the help all humans need, find the support and a safe place to talk about it, then it eats away at them. They lose. This is why we are seeing so much suffering in our veterans. PTSD is a human wound that comes only after trauma. There is trauma from natural events like the flooding in Tennessee or the floods we saw in New Orleans after Katrina. There are events caused by other humans. Traffic accidents and crimes. There are traumas we put ourselves into as our jobs as emergency responders, firefighters, but there are also those that come with the extra component of participating in the trauma itself. Law enforcement and combat.

While we all need help to heal from one traumatic event, we need to pay special attention to those who suffer from trauma in extended periods of time. This is why the Army study of the increase risk of redeploying troops found what it did. The risk of PTSD increased by 50% for each time sent back, yet they continue to do it sending troops into Iraq and Afghanistan over and over again. This at the same time they did little to have mental health and chaplains there to listen when needed. This is one more indication of why the flood of veterans has been coming in seeking help.

When they do receive the help they need to heal, they stop wishing to be the person they were before because they discover, as I did, events we survive are only part of it. Healing from them makes us stronger and usually, even better than we were before.

The choice is our's. Do we let them wait without help so that PTSD gets worse or do we take the time to care and be there now?

Iraq Vet killed by five officers in stand off

Lily Casura over at Healing Combat Trauma sent the link to this story. She is a true hero in the effort to bring attention to stories happening everyday in cities and towns across America. So many stories that never get the attention they deserve. When no one knows, no one cares and maybe that is the reason we know so much more about PTSD than ever before. The Internet has provided a means to read stories from across the country so that if a veteran is suffering in a huge city, another veteran in a tiny town will know he is not alone. A family shocked by the changes in someone they love will not feel totally alone or left with wondering where to turn.

Here's one more heartbreaking story about another veteran's death that did not need to happen.

Autopsy: All five of officers' shots hit Eagle Point vet

May 04, 2010 An autopsy on the 34-year-old man who was shot by police after a standoff in Eagle Point on Friday has revealed that he was shot five times in the chest and abdomen, authorities said today.

Jackson County Medical Examiner Dr. James Olson conducted the autopsy of Adam Wehinger today, Jackson County District Attorney Mark Huddleston said in a news release.

The medical examiner's report matches the statements of the officers involved in the shooting. Jackson County Sheriff's Department Detective James Biddle told investigators that he fired two shots, and Oregon State Police trooper Tyler Lee said he fired three shots.

Medford police are heading the interagency investigation into the shooting, which happened at an apartment complex at 139 Royal Ave. on Friday.

Family members said Wehinger struggled with alcoholism and had post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from the Iraq War, where he served on a mortar crew.

read more here
All five of officers shots hit Eagle Point vet

Mullen apologizes for comments on wounded care

Mullen apologizes for comments on wounded care

Disabled American Veterans had issued a statement blasting comments made recently by the JCS chairman
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 4, 2010 19:07:43 EDT

A call by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs for community organizations to step in to help wounded war veterans make the transition to civilian life has drawn complaints from a major veterans organization and an apology from the JCS chairman.

There is nothing wrong with asking community-based groups to help, but the primary responsibility for wounded warriors rests with the federal government, said David Gorman, executive director of the Washington headquarters of Disabled American Veterans, in reaction to remarks made over the last few weeks by Adm. Mike Mullen.

“It is the exclusive responsibility of the federal government because it creates disabled veterans,” Gorman said Tuesday in a statement. “It is the government’s solemn duty to care for and treat all veterans who are wounded and disabled in America’s wars. It is unfathomable that Adm. Mullen would suggest such a plan, asking charities to provide the care now given so compassionately by the VA.

“It makes one wonder if Adm. Mullen believes it is best to return to the days when disabled veterans sold pencils on street corners and relied on the support of charitable organizations,” Gorman said. “The DAV has the greatest respect for Adm. Mullen” and said the organization commends Mullen’s “remarkable service to our country, but one must wonder what he was thinking.”
read more here
Mullen apologizes for comments on wounded care

Marine killed by train in Va

Marine killed by train in Va.
Authorities said a 20-year-old Marine stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico was killed early Sunday morning in an incident involving a train.
According to police were called to a railroad crossing at Henderson Road on the Quantico base at approximately 12:45 a.m. Sunday and discovered the body of Lance Cpl. Lucas G. Lowe, who was stationed on the base. The investigation into Lowe's death is continuing.
Marine killed by train in Va

A real look at PTSD the AP story didn't include

There was a time when a soldier, usually a young soldier, with signs we now call PTSD, were shot for being a coward. We managed to call this psychological wounding of the soul many different names, but since the history of man, we have seen what it does to humans exposed to the abnormal events in their lives. We've read accounts, too often without acknowledging this wound to the soul was written in ancient text, historical accounts of warfare and in the Bible itself. It is far too easy to understand the way we would feel after living through horrifying moments when we feared we would die or when we were forced to do something we would not normally do. We still have a hard time understanding exactly what we are asking the young men and women to do when we send them off into combat.

The worst part of all of this is that in a time when we have come so far after over 30 years of expressing this as a normal reaction to abnormal events, there are still too many with way too much power and publicity trying to now shoot the survivors of combat.

For those like me trying to save the lives of these men and women because we've become informed, because we care or because we've been touched by them in our own personal lives, here's some ammunition to fight against the others with an agenda all their own. The report in the AP about fraud is not a new accusation. Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense set that record straight and was posted on this blog earlier today. But here is a report from the UK and the suicide hotline, another report about suicide of Airmen and another about Marines.

There is also a report of the DOD Virtual Reality endeavor. All supporting the reality of how bad PTSD is for our veterans. There are over 9,000 more posts on this blog you can find as well.

While the reporter for AP did a hatchet job to support whatever he wanted to find, I have an agenda all my own as well. Mine is to do whatever it takes to get our veterans to heal, keep families together and make sure that veterans like my husband never reach the point when they are more afraid to live than they were when they were fighting in combat. They survived the enemy in combat, but when they lose their lives back here at home, or even think of taking their own lives after, that right there is unacceptable. I've seen the worst in my own home and I've seen what can happen when they are helped to heal. Even after the passing of years without help, it was not too late for him. It almost was too many times but he's still here. His nephew was not able to recover and committed suicide. I've seen too many gone too soon, read too many reports and emails to ever think for a second the number of frauds looking to cash in could no way come close to the numbers of veterans we've still been unable to reach. Thanks to the report in AP, we may never get the chance again to reach some of them.

Hundreds call post traumatic stress disorder helpline

Children of service personnel have been among those using the helpline
An ex-serviceman from Berkshire who has set up a helpline for soldiers said more than 800 people have been in contact in its first six months.

Alex Webster established PTSD Worldwide last year after his own battle with post traumatic stress disorder.

He said one call was from an 11-year-old girl wanting to know why her father was "broken".

Mr Webster has previously criticised the Ministry of Defence for the way it has dealt with people suffering trauma.

Mr Webster, who spent 18 months in hospital after an explosion in Northern Ireland, said: "I had everything, from me being scared to leave the house, having manic depression, having to take so many pills a day just to get yourself out of bed in the morning.

Reducing stigma

"It's not just the physical pain, it's the mental pain that is actually inside and takes over your life every single day."
read more here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/8659886.stm

DOD using virtual reality for PTSD treatment
May 4, 2010

By Jessica Maxwell


WASHINGTON (Army News Service, April 30, 2010) -- A humvee slowly drives down a dusty road in Afghanistan and seconds later, an IED explodes off to the right, causing the windshield to crack and the driver to swerve.

Time to press the restart button.

At a demonstration Thursday, guests at the National Press Club saw first-hand the capabilities of virtual reality in treating Soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Defense Department's Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury have begun a pilot program that uses multi-sensory virtual reality to treat Soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder. The program enables doctors to choose a scenario, customized around a Soldier's personal experience.

Brig. Gen. Loree K. Sutton, director of the program, said she is very hopeful in the use of virtual reality but notes that no one approach will reach out and touch everyone.

"We owe these young Americans our very best," Sutton said. "We know the issues of post-traumatic stress, these unseen wounds of war. If left in silence, they can be the deadliest wounds of all."

Sutton said medical specialists are constantly learning more about treating PTSD and TBI, and how these injuries fit into other types of injuries from war.

read more of this here

DOD using virtual reality for PTSD treatment

AF discusses suicide prevention, safe driving

By Scott Fontaine - Staff writer
Posted : Monday May 3, 2010 10:29:11 EDT

Units across the Air Force will spend a half-day this month focusing on suicide prevention and safe driving.

Each unit will determine when to conduct its training — on the squadron level or below, according to the Air Force.

Eighteen active-duty airmen, eight guardsmen or reservists and three civilian employees have killed themselves so far this year, a trend that has been on the rise since 2007. About 50 airmen die each year in car accidents.
read more of this here

AF discusses suicide prevention, safe driving

Corps had military’s highest rate in 2009

By Gretel C. Kovach,
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Commanders recently honored a young lance corporal in Afghanistan for saving another Marine’s life, giving the hero a medal. But it was not a sniper or roadside bomb that nearly claimed the Marine in distress.

It was a battle with suicide. The U.S. military’s own fight with that enemy has escalated during the more than eight years of combat between the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

In 2009, the Marine Corps reported the highest suicide rate among the armed forces — 24 per 100,000. It lost more troops to suicide than combat in Afghanistan last year. Fifty-two took their own lives in 2009, including 11 who did so while deployed.

The active-duty Army had 21.7 suicides per 100,000, its highest rate since the Vietnam War. Its much larger force suffered 160 suspected or confirmed suicides.
read more here

Corps had military highest rate in 2009

My job is to report the truth so that they may live, heal, find hope, support and comfort the families, to educate and save lives. Was it the job of the AP reporter to hurt them when so few are fakes but more end up not being helped at all?

PTSD is Real, PTSD Fraud is Not

I got into working with veterans because I fell in love with one of them, was raised by another (my Dad) and surrounded by them (my uncles) all my life including my father-in-law. He was a WWII veteran with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. Nothing new for my husband's family. All four brothers were fighting in WWII. One, a Marine, was killed in action and another uncle, a merchant Marine never really recovered from being on a ship, hit by a Kamikaze pilot and ended up in the ocean. PTSD was just as real during WWII but no one talked about it. Very little was done for the survivors of combat. As a matter of fact despite the fact PTSD is as old as mankind, there was very little done until Vietnam veterans came home and fought for it.

When WWII veterans came home with "shell shock" they were either sent to the "nut house" or to farms. My husband's uncle ended up on a farm. Out of view and conscience of the public, these veterans were hidden away to live out their days. Korean veterans came home the same way. They were conditioned to be silent in their suffering. Like other generations of veterans, they were expected to just get over it, move on, go back to their lives before combat, while the general public simply assumed all was well and our veterans were taken care of.

The truth is we do a fantastic job sending them off to combat, find all the money needed to fund the combat they risk their lives carrying out, but then, well then we complain about the money needed to care for the wounded, the widow and orphans. Too often there are widows and orphans to care for because we didn't care for the wounded. 18 veterans a day commit suicide. Nothing really new there but most Americans don't have a clue. They don't know about the rise in suicides of active duty personnel either. They just don't want to know.

Maybe it's because we pride ourselves believing we really do support the troops and it's just too damn hard to discover we stop supporting them when they come home needing us after we needed them. I have more faith in us and really believe in my soul that if the general public knew a tenth of what these men and women have to endue when they come home, they would take to the streets and demand changes in every city and town. The passion of so many lining the streets when one of them returns home in a flag draped coffin, weeping for loss, indicates just how attached our hearts are to them. The media needs to inject reality into their minds so they understand sending men and women into combat is just the beginning of our obligation.

I live with PTSD in my home. I've seen the worst when help is not there and I've also seen healing when it is provided. Even with the healing, there are still parts of his life he can never reclaim, but we've learned to live with the unhealed. It's normal to us now. Over the years, I've watched too many suffer without seeking help. Read too many stories of men and women we would call hero one day, abandon the next, and bury the day after that. All of them make me remember my own life and I grieve for what was possible but unknown to the families.

Over the years I've also met people just as dedicated as I've been to our veterans. One of them is a hero to me and his name is Paul Sullivan, of Veterans for Common Sense. He knows what's going on, what is real, what is claimed and he has the passion to do something about it. When the AP report came out about frauds, Paul fought back. Here's what he had to say.

PTSD is Real, PTSD Fraud is Not
Written by VCS
Monday, 03 May 2010 15:46
May 3, 2010, Washington, DC (VCS) - Last weekend, the Associated Press printed an incomplete and inaccurate article about veterans who file disability claims against the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Without citing a source, AP wrote, “The problem: The [VA claims] system is dysfunctional, an open invitation to fraud. And the VA has proposed changes that could make deception even easier.”

AP is wrong, and VCS asked AP to correct the story.

Here are two very important facts AP overlooked. If AP had included these two facts, then readers would understand more about VA and veterans suffering with PTSD after deploying to the brutal Iraq and Afghanistan wars, sometimes two or three times.

Fact Number One

There is no widespread fraud problem at VA. Out of more than one million claims per year, less than a score are ever investigated for fraud.

Furthermore, in November 2005, VA auditors randomly selected 2,100 PTSD claims. After an exhaustive investigation, VA found zero cases of fraud. VA has extensive methods to prevent fraud, contrary to AP's baseless assertion. AP should have reported that fact.

VA’s investigation began when a reporter at the Chicago Sun Times observed that VA pays different average amounts in disability benefits based on a state-by-state comparison. The true culprit: poor leadership, staff shortages, and a lack of consistent training. VA Secretary Shinseki is taking bold steps to address these challenges, and he has broad support among veterans’ groups.
read more here
PTSD is Real, PTSD Fraud is Not

Over the years scientists have used the latest technology to view what people like me have lived with. The reality of PTSD is no longer just something we say, but something that can be seen with machines. Changes in the brain can be seen with their eyes while we live with the daily struggle of trying to help them heal. It has also been a battle to fight against the uninformed and fearful. The fact is that veterans are very reluctant to seek approval of a claim or treatment because the diagnosis of PTSD is just too painful to hear. They would rather go on suffering waiting for their "get over it alive day" to just come on its own. A diagnosis of PTSD to them has been a sign of being weaker than their buddies. It has been a "career" killer for lifers never wanting to do anything other than serve in the military. It's taken over 30 years to get the message thru to them that as a human, they were wounded because of combat.

Genetic changes show up in people with PTSD
But it's unclear if alterations cause the disorder
By Nathan Seppa Web edition
Monday, May 3rd, 2010

People with post-traumatic stress disorder seem to accumulate an array of genetic changes different from those found in healthy people, researchers report online May 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new findings, while showing differences between people with and without PTSD, don't shed light on whether these differences might play a role in PTSD, says study coauthor Sandro Galea, a physician and epidemiologist at Columbia University in New York City.

Only a fraction of people who witness a traumatic event develop PTSD. In an attempt to identify what makes people who develop PTSD biologically different from those who don’t, Galea and his colleagues obtained blood samples from 100 people in the Detroit area. All had been exposed to at least one potentially traumatic event, and 23 were diagnosed with PTSD. The scientists tested 14,000 genes in these blood samples for chemical changes to DNA that can affect gene activity without altering the genetic information itself.

The team found that the people with PTSD showed less methylation in several immune system genes and more methylation in genes linked to the growth of brain cells. “There is evidence that PTSD is involved in immune dysfunction, and we suggest that that’s part of a larger process,” Galea says. Although previous studies have also suggested a PTSD link to immune gene activation, the connection is unclear.

“This is interesting data, but there are a lot of things still to do,” says Manel Esteller, a molecular geneticist at the Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research in Spain and the University of Barcelona who was not part of the study. “What’s missing is an explanation of how the traumatic stress really causes these changes in methylation — what is the mechanistic link?”

read more here

Genetic changes show up in people with PTSD

Even today there are many still holding on to false impressions of what PTSD is and what the missing link is. The missing link is the fact they are compassionate people, able to feel deeply. They confuse this with being weak instead of seeing it is required for them to be able to do what they do, go where they go and see what they see but manage to still get up, stand up and carry on. That compassion is required of all the courage in the world would be of little good. If they didn't care deeply in the first place, they wouldn't be wounded as a survivor. There are different levels of PTSD just as there are different types of PTSD. Some are caused by natural events but others are caused by man. The ones caused by man cut deeper. The ones when the person is also a participant in the traumatic event, cuts even deeper. This is why warriors are cut deeper than police officers and they are cut deeper than firefighters. It is the participation in the event itself as well as the number of times the events involve them.

So now we have to fight all over again because the uninformed, blame the veteran crowd, has something we've tried to eradicate for over 30 years. This article will undo all these years worth of work to convince the veterans Americans want to live up to their obligation to them and care of the wounded. I'm still wondering how many veterans on the verge of seeking help for PTSD will not seek it now. How many will suffer needlessly longer as we have to fight back on an irresponsible article on AP?

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

At least 19 dead as storms pound Southeast

At least 19 dead as storms pound Southeast
By the CNN Wire Staff
May 3, 2010 2:46 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Latest fatality discovered Monday morning in Nashville, mayor's office says

Cumberland River is expected to crest at 11 feet above flood stage in Nashville

At least 19 dead after storms in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky

Storms delay flights at Atlanta airport; heavy rain moves through north Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- A massive system of rain and thunderstorms that spawned tornadoes continued to pound the Southeast on Monday, leaving at least 19 dead in its wake and displacing or stranding thousands of people.

The storm moved through north Georgia on Monday, flooding streets in Atlanta and delaying flights into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported there.

But the rain and flooding left at least 12 dead in Tennessee, state and Nashville officials said. The latest fatality was discovered Monday morning, the Nashville mayor's office said. Six deaths occurred in the Nashville area, officials said.

In Mississippi, two tornadoes killed three people Sunday, and a fourth person died in a rain-related traffic accident.

Three people died in storm-related incidents in southern and south-central Kentucky, emergency services spokesman "Buddy" Rogers said Monday.
go here for more
At least 19 dead as storms pound Southeast

PTSD cases, fear of fraud growing when caring should have

While some in the blog world are fixated on this,,,,

In tide of PTSD cases, fear of fraud growing - Army News, news ...
By The Associated Press Moved by a huge tide of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress, Congress has pressured the Department of Veterans Affairs to settle their disability claims

The stories like this are the ones I think about

Vet who committed suicide fought depression, PTSD
DAYTON — In the three years since his discharge from the Army, Jesse Huff never fully revealed the furies of his demons as storm cloud after storm cloud gathered over his life.
In 2008, his mother, Sharon Nales, died from an accidental drug overdose. His father, Charles Huff Sr., has had several convictions for cocaine possession. He rarely got to see his adored young daughter, Gabriella. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and his injuries from a roadside bomb in Iraq left him with chronic, severe pain in his lower back and legs.

But that isn't anything new for this blog. I remember stories going back for over 25 years and over 9,000 other stories on this blog alone.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

PTSD 'If you get shot in the soul ... no one can see it'
'If you get shot in the soul ... no one can see it'
By Steve Youngsyoung@argusleader.comComment Print Email PUBLISHED: January 20, 2008The stress of war is no stranger in South Dakota.It lies in the memory of a self-inflicted gunshot blast that ended Staff Sgt. Cory Brooks' despair on an April day in 2004 in Baghdad.And it troubles a community of military and health care officials back here at home who know that one of every four suicides in this state involves a veteran - but aren't sure why."It is troubling," says Rick Barg, state adjutant/quartermaster for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "If you get shot in the arm or leg and you lose that arm or leg, people can see that."But if you get shot in the soul, you bring it home and no one can see it."Of 750,000 U.S. veterans who have marched off to Afghanistan and Iraq since 2003, 100,500 have come home with a mental-health condition, said Dr. Ira Katz of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Mental Health.

You can find more stories like these using suicide or military suicide in the search field. You can go to my web site www.namguardianangel.com and take a look at the video Death Because They Served or click on the Power Point to read more of their stories. Collecting reports for this I found over 400 of their stories.

But aside from all of that, there are hundreds of other stories no one will ever hear about. Veterans trying to figure out what was wrong with them, then when they discover it is connected to their service they are told they have to prove it. Ok, fine, but even when they did, the claim was denied and they had to file an appeal. After fighting to have their claims honored, after suffering without help and more stress added onto them financially, their claims were finally approved. What happened then was that the PTSD caused by combat was fed by the delay in honoring their claims as well as the assault on their character.

These men and women didn't want to file claims. They wanted to do their duty, do what was asked of them and then go back to the lives they had before. Most had no intention of becoming a lifer in the military. They just wanted to help. Some were drafted and forced to go but they served the same way the enlisted did. With courage and commitment to their brothers. Yet they came home with PTSD trying to claim them after they survived the physical part of combat.

Marriages fell apart. Jobs were hard to get and harder to keep when they were drained from nightmares or zoned out with flashbacks. Mood swings left co-workers complaining and bosses frustrated. But they carried on, waiting for the day they would just get over it and get back to the lives they had before. How they thought this would happen after they were exposed to hell is something they were never able to explain. It was just a dream they wanted to believe was possible.

Ask any real veteran with PTSD if they would take a pill to wipe all of it away and they would take that deal in a heartbeat. You have to remember these men and women know the harshest conditions there are. They risk their lives daily 24-7, knowing any moment could be their last. They see people die, their enemies as well as their friends and innocents. They hear the pounding of weapons, the helicopter blades, machine guns just as much as they hear orders and screams. To ask them to do a civilian job after would be like a vacation.

It would be if the war was not trapped inside of them eating them alive. They see their buddies getting on with their lives and wonder why they cannot do the same. Instead of them receiving help right away to ease the trauma, they have to carry on fed by adrenaline until they are out of perceived danger, only to discover the danger to their lives is inside of them.

For all the attention the "report" on false claims has created, I regret that the real suffering, the real stories of these men and women never came close to getting the same kind of attention from the same people now blaming the veterans. The truth is, it is a sad case when a veteran tries to get what they can instead of what they need because the vast majority of them still need what they cannot get.

Congress has to deal with the fact that our veterans are dying because they cannot get the help they need to heal. They are dying by their own hands. They are suffering while they wait to have their claims approved. It is all falling apart because some people thought that they could look the other way all these years because it was not in their own interest politically to publicize the suffering. Where was all of this attention when the reports first started coming out about Iraq and Afghanistan veterans dying for their attention?

Vietnam Vet Hero in NY sent police to SUV with bombs

Times Square vendor says he helped alert police to car bomb
By Rohan Mascarenhas/The Star-Ledger
May 02, 2010, 11:50AM
NEW YORK -- Duane Jackson was particularly busy this morning as he occupied a spot selling flags, sunglasses and pocketbooks on West 45th Street and 7th Avenue in Times Square.

But tourists hadn't come to buy the vendor's usual assortment of goods. They went to see Jackson, a 58-year-old Vietnam veteran who said he helped alert police to a suspicious sport utility vehicle parked near his stand Saturday night, which later turned out to have a bomb inside.
read more here
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/post_162.html

The question is, who did FOX interview?

About that T-Shirt Vendor…
May 2, 2010 - 9:07 AM by: Michael Sorrentino
The T-Shirt vendor that works in Times Square who spotted the potentially deadly car bomb on Saturday is being hailed as a hero by many. As Fox photographer Keith Lane caught him walking towards a taxi cab Sunday morning, he avoided many of the questions reporters were throwing his way.
Vietnam veteran, Lance Orten
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/05/02/17907/?test=latestnews

COC Helps Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

COC Helps Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Sunday, May 02 2010

College of the Canyons will host a panel presentation designed to help the families of military veterans and community members, learn about the various symptoms, causes and therapeutic treatments of war-induced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD.

The panel discussion, "The Silent Wounds of Trauma: Hearing the Hurt, Helping to Heal, Being a Vocal Partner" will be held from 7 to 9:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 11, in Hasley Hall room 101, on the COC Valencia campus.

Being presented by the Santa Clarita veteran organization Vets Back To The War Zone, the panel presentation will address combat stress reactions, how those reactions lead to PTSD, and how the support of loved ones and community partners can help ease the challenge of returning to civilian life.

"The issue of war is about more than countries at conflict, it's about the cost to the human condition," said Dr. Patty Robinson, dean, COC social sciences and business division and panel moderator. "To really understand the nature of human conflict, it's important to examine the subjective side of war and to witness its effect on the human spirit."
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COC Helps Veterans With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Police find clues in potential car bomb vehicle

Police find clues in potential car bomb vehicle
From Susan Candiotti and Jeanne Meserve, CNN
May 2, 2010 11:00 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Vehicle Identification Number found on potential car bomb vehicle

SUV found in Times Square had propane tanks, gas cans, NYC mayor says

Vendor saw smoke coming from box in car, notified police

Police looking at surveillance video to determine who left vehicle

(CNN) -- A T-shirt vendor who noticed smoke coming out of a dark green sport utility vehicle alerted police to what turned out to be a potential bomb placed in the city's iconic Times Square -- teeming with tourists and theater-goers on a balmy spring evening.

"We avoided what could have been a very deadly event," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg early Sunday morning. "It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact."

The atmosphere at Times Square returned to normal Sunday, but questions remained about the contents of the vehicle.

Two federal officials said Sunday it was too early to tell whether the incident involved al Qaeda or another international terror group. The national threat level remained at yellow, or elevated.
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Police find clues in potential car bomb vehicle

Coast Guard defends response to Gulf oil spill

The Department of Defense, the National Guard and the Coast Guard have all been called in to clean this up. The question is, will BP pay for what the government (tax payers) has to do to take care of what they failed to do? Will they cover the risk to our first responders? Will they take care of the families of the missing and take care of the wounded? What about the way this will hurt the natural world?

Coast Guard defends response to Gulf oil spill

By Cain Burdeau - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday May 2, 2010 10:14:54 EDT

MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER — Oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico oozed into Louisiana’s ecologically rich wetlands Friday as storms threatened to frustrate desperate protection efforts. The White House put a hold on any new offshore oil projects until the rig disaster that caused the spill is explained.

Crews in boats patrolled coastal marshes early Friday looking for areas where the oil has flowed in, the Coast Guard said.

The National Weather Service predicted winds, high tides and waves through Sunday that could push oil deep into the inlets, ponds and lakes that line the boot of southeastern Louisiana. Seas of 6 to 7 feet were pushing tides several feet above normal toward the coast, compounded by thunderstorms expected in the area Friday.

As the sun rose over Venice, dozens of boats, some carrying booms that will help hold back the oil, sat ready at Cypress Cove pier. Fishing guide Mike Dickinson, 56, was taking out some fishermen from Georgia in hopes of making money before more oil washes in.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/04/ap_gulf_oil_spill_043010/

25 attempted suicide calls and investigated one successful suicide at Camp Pendleton in 2009

21 rapes,176 domestic violence calls and 72 aggravated assaults, added to the suicide attempts should be sounding alarm bells across the nation. Seven of the suicide attempts were tried by "juveniles living on the base."

MILITARY: Crime inside gates of Camp Pendleton
2009 Camp Pendleton crime report shows high number of assaults, sex offenses


Crime doesn't stop at the gates of Camp Pendleton, the home and workplace for about 64,000 people on an average workday.

In an unprecedented release of annual crime statistics, the combined civilian and military police force for the sprawling Marine Corps base just north of Oceanside says it responded to 21 rapes and 176 domestic violence calls in 2009.

Officers also investigated 72 aggravated assaults, answered 25 attempted suicide calls and investigated one successful suicide.

The statistical snapshot of lawbreaking over a 12-month period included only one robbery and one homicide.

Eighteen of the potential suicide calls involved Marines and one member of the Navy. Seven involved juveniles living on the base, and alcohol or drugs figured in a majority of them, according to the report.
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Crime inside gates of Camp Pendleton

Sgt. Robert J. Barrett touched the lives of many

The casket containing the body of Sergeant Robert J. Barrett, who was killed in Afghanistan, was carried by an honor guard into the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in Fall River. (Photos By Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)

Guardsman touched the lives of many
Barrett is called devoted to his family, country

By Jeannie Nuss
Globe Correspondent / May 2, 2010

FALL RIVER — Sophia Barrett, yellow ribbon in her hair, black ribbon on her sweater, cried at her father’s funeral yesterday when a priest waved incense over the flag-draped coffin, when a uniformed officer wiped away tears, and when her great-uncle read aloud a letter her father wrote.

The 2-year-old cried until a comforting hand showed her a photo of her father, Sergeant Robert J. Barrett.

“My dad,’’ she whispered and pointed to the casket at the front of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River.

Barrett, a 20-year-old member of the Massachusetts Army National Guard’s 101st Field Artillery Regiment, was killed in a suicide bombing on April 19 in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was training new recruits for the Afghan National Army.

Sophia was her father’s pride and joy, said friends and fellow service members. Since Barrett deployed to Afghanistan in January, he calmed her restless nights on the phone and online.
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Guardsman touched the lives of many

Valley son, veteran succeeds as Iraq war poet

Valley son, veteran succeeds as Iraq war poet
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Combat was a good career move for award-winning war poet Brian Turner, though it came at a price.

The San Joaquin Valley native and Fresno State graduate now has a deep, dark pool of memories to draw from. He dips down, if he dares, and there they are.

"I [have been] learning how to write about the ghosts that live among us, whether we recognize them or not," Turner said.

Now, the former Army sergeant is out with his second volume of poems influenced largely by his year in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The collection called "Phantom Noise" follows up on "Here, Bullet," which changed Turner's life irrevocably.

Called the first collection of poems by an Iraq War veteran, "Here, Bullet" helped Turner win the 2009-2010 Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Fellowship.

Read more: Valley son veteran succeeds as Iraq war poet

Police Sergeant Joseph Bergeron killed in the line of duty

Police Officer Killed Was 26 Year Veteran

By KSFY Staff

A suburban Saint Paul police officer shot and killed Saturday morning was a 26-year veteran of the force.

Maplewood police say Sergeant Joseph Bergeron was responding to a carjacking when he was ambushed by two men while sitting in his patrol car at about 6:45 am.
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http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/92604224.html

Iraq vet was in a tailspin before he died in a hail of police bullets

Depressed, Steve Bours lost interest in everything and turned to methamphetamine. (April 2, 2010)

Iraq vet was in a tailspin before he died in a hail of police bullets at home


A woman’s death in combat was a turning point. Depressed after returning home, he lost interest in everything, his marriage dissolved and he turned to drugs. And then things got worse.


By Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Times

May 2, 2010

Gerry Chicorelli was driving north on Paramount Boulevard in Downey in late March when he spotted a man holding a hatchet and walking into southbound traffic.

The man had a glazed look. Drivers braked and yelled at him, peeling away as they spotted the raised hatchet in his hands.


Chicorelli realized he knew the man.

It was Steve Bours, a handsome kid who'd once worked for him in his roofing business.

Bours, 30, had joined the Army Reserve and was sent to Iraq in 2004 with a supply unit based near Fallouja, site of the war's most brutal battle.

Chicorelli was the third or fourth to call 911. As he slowed his car to a crawl, he watched Bours march, hatchet raised, into traffic for what would be the last hundred yards of his life.

The whole time, Chicorelli recalled, "he never said a word."

Athletic and muscular, he was quiet and sweet-natured — a "gentle giant," people called him.

In Iraq, he spoke little, listened a lot and was intensely loyal. "You always knew he had your back," said Jennifer Kramer, a friend from the 208th.

His fellow soldiers say Bours' manner helped them endure the war.

"You have the quiet people like Steve who didn't say much, but when it came time [for missions] they'd volunteer," Danny Rivas said.

Bours' room became the place to hang out.

"You could tell Steve anything," Rivas said, "but I think Steve felt like he was there to listen and he didn't have an outlet, people he could talk to about his problems."

........On Dec. 13, 2004, a unit sergeant, Tina Time, was killed when the supply truck she was driving collided with an oncoming U.S. military vehicle in a sandstorm.

Time, the first Samoan American woman killed in combat, was beloved in the 208th. Her death was "a turning point," Kramer said. "People just lost it. You'd see all these really tough guys breaking down all the time."

Bours told his family he had had to retrieve Time's severed torso when no one else wanted to. It was the one event from the war that he later spoke of, his family recalled.

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Iraq vet was in a tailspin before he died in a hail of police bullets

A home fit for a Marine

A home fit for a Marine

By Chris Cobb
The Herald-Zeitung
Published May 2, 2010

MARION — Jose Ivan Perez was trying not to get too emotional. He’s a strong man. After all, he’s a Marine.

But the 24-year-old wouldn’t be blamed for letting emotions get the best of him Friday, as dozens of volunteers were pounding nails and cutting lumber, working to build a new house for the wounded veteran.

“It’s hard to believe it’s actually happening,” he said. “I’m a very proud person. I’ve always done things for myself and kept my feelings in check, but this is just amazing.”

Marine Cpl. Perez, along with the Army Sgt. Nathan Hunt and Marine Cpl. Neil Frustaglio, will all have new homes built for them in a Marion subdivision this weekend by volunteers for Homes for Troops.

The nonprofit uses community donations to build houses for troops who have been severely wounded in the line of duty, many of them amputees. They provide special custom homes to tailor to their needs, and they do so at no cost to the veterans.
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A home fit for a Marine

Marine sacrifice gets national level honor

Marine's sacrifice gets national level honor
Sunday, May 02, 2010
By FRED CONTRADA
fcontrada@repub.com
HOLYOKE - When Marine Lance Cpl. Clayton K. Hough Jr. came home from Vietnam without his legs, he could have spent his time feeling sorry for himself.

Instead, Hough put his considerable energy into working with teenagers who aspired to be Marines like him.

Hough, who died in 2004 at the age of 55, earned the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the National Defense Service Medal among other honors for his stint in Vietnam.


This month, the U.S. Department of Defense will bestow upon him one final honor by adding his name to the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The 35th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War was Friday.

Hough is among six veterans whose names are being added to the monument, which is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the Vietnam war. Six years after his passing, the government has concluded that Hough died of the wounds he suffered in Vietnam.

"Medical evidence submitted by the Department of the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery indicates that Lance Cpl. Hough qualifies as having 'died as a result of wounds (combat or hostile related) sustained in the combat zone' due to the amputations that he received as a result of his wounds," reads the defense department's conclusion. His "date of casualty" is listed as Feb. 22, 1969.
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Marine's sacrifice gets national level honor

UK:The true cost of the Afghan war in mental illness

The true cost of the Afghan war in mental illness for our soldiers revealed
May 2 2010
by David Williamson, Wales On Sunday

THE true cost of the war in Afghanistan to our troops can be revealed today.

Figures exclusive to Wales On Sunday show that hundreds of troops are suffering with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental health issues that often leave them plagued by nightmares and turning to drink.

And it is claimed our soldiers do not receive the help they need as they fight to cope with what they have seen and experienced.

Figures show that since 2007, 260 British Army soldiers have been assessed as having PTSD.

Almost one in 10 of those were medically discharged from the British Army over a 30-month period.

A total of 5,000 other army personnel were given assessments for “other mental health” issues between January 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009. The Army said that 170 were medically discharged – 90 of them because of “mental and behavioural disorders”.

But the total number of soldiers suffering from mental health issues as a result of the war in Afghanistan is far higher. The war started in 2001.

Plaid Cymru, which obtained the figures, is now calling for systematic stress counselling to help soldiers come to terms with the trauma of the war. It is concerned that a “macho culture” stops people seeking help.
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The true cost of the Afghan war in mental illness

How to kill a veteran without really trying

UPDATE 5/2/2010
I'll admit it that after reading the AP piece, I popped my cork. Not so much online but in the privacy of my office. Anyway, another sleepless night thinking about how much harm this can do to the veterans we've been trying to reach since Vietnam. Between this blog and my older one, Screaming In An Empty Room, there are over 20,000 post. On this one alone there are over 9,000. I would be shocked to discover more than 2 percent of the posts were about frauds. I do not bury those stories. I spotlight them because they are causing more problems for real veterans with real claims waiting for their claims to be processed.

There is one thing I beg you to keep in mind and that is the simple fact that it is harder to get them to go for help in the first place, yet we watch them suffer as their lives fall apart when we know they could be healing instead. Don't give up on fighting for them just because someone decided to blame the veterans yet again instead of the system that let them down.

AP: VA Makes It too Easy for Veterans to File Claims … Seriously
May 2, 2010 posted by Michael Leon

By Michael Leon

As PTSD claims soar, the systemic problem at the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs is the ease with which veterans file for disability benefit claims, in the view of Allen Breed, a national writer for the Associated Press. This is a hit job on veterans and the progress being contemplated by some at the DVA to help veterans.

Do you have that? Things are too easy for veterans dealing with the VA now, asserts the AP’s Breed.

Moved by a huge tide of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress, Congress has pressured the Department of Veterans Affairs to settle their disability claims — quickly, humanely, and mostly in the vets’ favor.

Continues Breed in his piece, PTSD cases rise and rules for claims ease, VA warned that more frauds will slip through: “The problem: The system is dysfunctional, an open invitation to fraud. And the VA has proposed changes that could make deception even easier.”

That’s the issue and it’s political.

No deny-delay-and-hope-you-die culture at the DVA, just too many veterans taking advantage of “profitably working the levers of sympathy for the wounded and obligation to the troops, and exploiting the sheer difficulty of nailing a surefire diagnosis of a condition that is notoriously hard to define.”

No years waiting on a claim, it’s the ease with which veterans navigate the system now that is the real issue. This is just crazy.
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VA Makes It too Easy for Veterans to File Claims

Since 1982 it has been nearly impossible to get the PTSD veterans to seek help at all and now this comes out all so familiar. Accusing veterans of making things up for a claim to be approved. Does it happen? Sure it dose and many times you've read it right here on this blog. It does happen but then there are always some unscrupulous people wanting to take what they did not earn or deserve, above all, never paid the price for. Compensation for PTSD is something they would rather not have to even think about when the price is paid by years of nightmares, flashbacks, destroyed relationships, strings of jobs they cannot keep, fractured families and roller coaster emotions out of control. When you think of the fact they are basically dying a slow agonizing death, you begin to understand why they would rather deny they have PTSD than face the fact. It happens all the time.

So, now we arrive at a time and place where PTSD is no longer some dirty little secret the government tries to keep away from the calculations of combat debt and we now see the veterans attacked yet again! So what happens now? How many years does this set us back when so many are finally telling their stories? Generals, majors, servicemen and women, veterans, are all of them now going to be suspected of being frauds because "it's too easy to fake" so they all must be lying? DO THEY EVER STOP TO THINK THAT IT'S THE INFORMATION THAT IS FINALLY GETTING OUT ? Do they ever think it is the fact we've finally gotten to the point where we are killing off the stigma of admitting they need help? Do they ever stop to really think? If they did then they'd also add in to all of this the very simple fact that the redeployments increase the exposure to traumatic events as well as the risk of PTSD deciding to travel back home with a Solider or a Marine on their 5th tour!!!!

Great way to kill off more veterans without really trying.

In tide of new PTSD cases, fear of growing fraud
By ALLEN G. BREED (AP) – 7 hours ago

Moved by a huge tide of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress, Congress has pressured the Department of Veterans Affairs to settle their disability claims — quickly, humanely, and mostly in the vets' favor.

The problem: The system is dysfunctional, an open invitation to fraud. And the VA has proposed changes that could make deception even easier.

PTSD's real but invisible scars can mark clerks and cooks just as easily as they can infantrymen fighting a faceless enemy in these wars without front lines. The VA is seeking to ease the burden of proof to ensure that their claims are processed swiftly.

But at the same time, some undeserving vets have learned how to game the system, profitably working the levers of sympathy for the wounded and obligation to the troops, and exploiting the sheer difficulty of nailing a surefire diagnosis of a condition that is notoriously hard to define.

"The threshold has been lowered. The question is how many people will take advantage of that," said Dr. Dan G. Blazer, a Duke University psychiatrist who has worked with the military on PTSD issues. PTSD, he adds, is "among the easiest (psychiatric) conditions to feign."

Mark Rogers, a longtime claims specialist with the Veterans Benefits Administration, agrees. "I could get 100 percent disability compensation for PTSD for any (honorably discharged) veteran who's willing to lie," said Rogers, a Vietnam-era vet who is now retired. "I just tell him what to say and where to go."
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In tide of new PTSD cases, fear of growing fraud

US Army captain becomes king in Afghanistan

US Army captain becomes king in Afghanistan
By SEBASTIAN ABBOT (AP) – 5 hours ago

HUTAL, Afghanistan — In the U.S. Army, Casey Thoreen is just a 30-year-old captain. Around here, he's known as the "King of Maiwand" district — testimony to the fact that without the young captain and a fat international wallet, local government here as in much of the insurgency-ravaged south could not function at all.

Setting up effective governments at the district level is key to U.S. strategy. U.S. officials hope that providing basic services will draw support away from the Taliban, especially here in the Islamist group's heartland of Kandahar province.

But in this dusty farming community 40 miles (60 kilometers) west of Kandahar, Thoreen has discovered that bolstering the authority of a district governor, who relies on him almost completely for financial resources and credibility, is a delicate balancing act. He also knows the effort is unsustainable without greater support from the central Afghan government in Kabul.

"We are putting a big gamble on this," Thoreen said. "Any of this stuff we're doing here, not just at our level but the $800 billion we have spent so far in the country, is contingent on the government being effective."
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US Army captain becomes king in Afghanistan

Sgt. Keith Adam Coe Sacrificed His Life for His Men

An Army carry team carries the transfer case containing the remains of Army Sgt. Keith Adam Coe of Auburndale, Fla., upon his arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del.

Fulton native Sgt. Keith Coe dies in Iraq
By Paul Brockwell, Jr.
May 01, 2010, 10:46AM

Sgt. Keith A. Coe worked hard to get into the Army. When he was 26, the Fulton native was living in Florida working at a truss company and had been in trouble with the law.

Relatives say his eight months in jail for violating probation really marked a turning point in his life.

After getting released, his grandmothers say, Coe wanted to make something of himself and he saw the Army as his way to achieve that goal. His probation officer, says grandmother Dawn Jones, told her that she always knew Coe was one of the ones worth saving. Coe’s former probation officer stopped by to pay her respects and grieve with the family, Jones said.

In 2007, he married his wife, Katrina, at a Hawaiian wedding in Granny Jones’ back yard. Soon after, he joined the Army. Three years later, he had risen to the rank of sergeant.

read more here

Fulton native Sgt. Keith Coe dies in Iraq

also

'Coe Daddy' Sacrificed His Life for His Men
Family of A'dale Army sergeant to hold memorial service in Haven.
By Shoshana Walter
THE LEDGER


Published: Friday, April 30, 2010 at 11:38 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, April 30, 2010 at 11:38 p.m.


LAKELAND His men called him "Coe Daddy."


And on Tuesday, Sgt. Keith A. Coe, 30, sacrificed his life for them, said grandmother Dawn Jones.

Defense Department officials say Coe died Tuesday in Khalis, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an explosive device. Coe was the first to step out of the truck when they arrived on scene for a mission, Jones said. Before anyone else could jump out, he was caught in the explosion, she said.

"All the others in the truck were just kids, just out of high school. It was his duty to get out of that truck first because he was the sergeant in charge," Jones said. "Keith saved their lives."
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Coe Daddy Sacrificed His Life for His Men

Marine Memorial Both Somber and Sobering

Marine Memorial Both Somber and Sobering

By Christopher Brown Digital Journalist
Published: April 30, 2010
CAMP LEJEUNE, NC—A bell of remembrance tolls for the 90 Marines who lost their lives fighting for our country. “Honoring our fallen comrades today, “said General Larry Nicholson, “we honored the 90 marines and sailors that we lost in Afghanistan last year.
As they read aloud the ninety names, one by one, their battlefield memorials stead fast
Tears were shed for loved ones who paid the ultimate price.

go here to read more

Marine Memorial Both Somber and Sobering

Please Stop Saying Post Traumatic Stress Is Incurable

As far as I know, experts have not found a "cure" for PTSD yet but that shouldn't stop more research being done. Some pretty amazing treatments have come out over the last few years while scientists search for a "cure" or a way to prevent it. What cannot be dismissed is there are treatments for it and no one has to just deal with it as it is.

Even with the length of time between Vietnam veterans coming back and finally getting help, it was not hopeless. Some of what PTSD claimed from these veterans was reversed and for what they could not be "cured" of, they learned how to minimize the symptoms. With the newer veterans they have more hope of healing than every before because of the increased awareness and availability of treatments. They won't have to have life piled onto combat traumas feeding PTSD.

For Vietnam veterans being treated for PTSD, they are overcoming the odds. These survivors end up healing, learning to cope with what cannot be healed or reversed, then they turn around, rise about all of it, fighting for someone else to heal as well. While some veterans say they just want to be like they were before, what many discover is that they end up better than they were before because they not only survived the trauma, they survived the enemy inside of them.

Note to Colleagues: Please Stop Saying Post Traumatic Stress Is Incurable

Belleruth Naparstek
Psychotherapist, Author, Guided Imagery Innovator
Posted: May 1, 2010 07:00 AM

A recent AP article by Sharon Cohen described posttraumatic stress as something you just have to learn to live with, because you can't recover from it. [Revolving Door of Multiple Tours Linked to PTSD] . It's a terrific article, but Cohen was misled by the mental health professionals she talked to, as well as the warriors who received less than optimal treatment.

You can recover from posttraumatic stress. Certainly, you can significantly reduce - not just manage - its symptoms. But - and here's the thing - not with traditional treatment. The problem is, a lot of my colleagues don't know this yet. So they go about it in traditional ways and pronounce the condition incurable, based on the results they get.

This is changing, but not fast enough - especially given the numbers of traumatized soldiers returning home these days. And the incidence we're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg - traumatic stress can gestate deep inside the body for a long time, rearing its nasty head years later.

This phenomenon of well-meaning but ignorant mental health professionals was even more obvious a decade ago, around Ground Zero after 9/11. (I speak of this with humility, having been an ignorant but well-meaning psychotherapist myself.) The neighborhood was overrun by eager volunteers, trying to help shell-shocked survivors and traumatized recovery workers. Not only were most not helped, but many were further agitated, distressed or angered by these incursions.

Asking numb, severely traumatized people to share their feelings or describe the horrific events that triggered their distress is what therapists typically do. Yet with this population, it yields either a blank, thousand yard stare or catalyzes a re-experiencing reaction or flashback.
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Old news about women at war never dies

I finally have some time today to collect pictures for a new video I'm working on. While searching I came across some really great stories on our "sisters" in the military. Feeling very nostalgic, thinking about my friend Capt. "Irish" Bresnahan, who passed away March 2009 and missing her deeply, it seemed like a good time to work on another video for female veterans. That's why you're seeing some older stories all of a sudden on this blog today.

The stories may be old to us, but the truth is, for them, for the men and women going into combat, the stories never get old and more often than not, are never told enough.

Irish didn't stop fighting for this country. She never stopped fighting for women veterans as well as male veterans, but her heart knew the additional burden women carried after war. Irish was wounded by PTSD and Agent Orange. To her, anyone fighting for their claim to be approved or trying to be taken care of, was personal to her because she knew it first hand. Irish never saw justice for herself.

In March she was in Washington for another hearing on her claim. No stranger to Washington since she had testified about the burdens veterans carry trying to open up the eyes and hearts of congress, this was nothing new for her. She was excited to have some time to go to see the monuments this time, but her health had her pretty weak. While there, she became very ill and passed away in the hospital far from New Hampshire where she lived, but she passed away where she loved and dedicated her life to.

She would call me all the time and I can still hear her laugh and I know the female veterans in this country have a real angel watching over them.

Here's a couple of videos on female veterans.

The Voice, Women at War

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 10, 2009

Click to Play View Details

Women at War, Sisters After War

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 10, 2009

Click to Play View Details

Women at War, Hardest Times

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 10, 2009

Click to Play View Details

Women At War

Posted to Great Americans by SM on January 15, 2009

Click to Play View Details

Women at War

Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 10, 2009

Click to Play View Details

Think of it this way. Old news never really dies even though they do. I miss you Irish!

Female Corpsman Team Trauma Nurse

Photo by Cpl. Zachary J. Nola
Navy Lt. Amy Zaycek, the severe trauma platoon nurse with the Female Corpsman Team holds an Afghan child during a recent patrol in the area of Now Zad, Afghanistan. The FCT recently returned to Now Zad, Jan. 3, to assist members of the Female Engagement Team, Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan, with their effort to further the process of treating, educating and engaging the women of Now Zad. Zaycek is a native of Wall, N.J.

Marines use more bandages, less bullets to counter insurgency
Published: Friday, January 8, 2010 2:41 PM CST
Cpl. Zachary J. Nola

Regimental Combat Team 7

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Recently during Operation Cobra’s Anger, a multi-day operation led by Company L, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, to rid the Now Zad area of Taliban control, members of the company's severe trauma platoon extended an invitation to members of the battalion’s civil affairs group to take cover from the rain in their mobile severe trauma bay.

Within the security and warmth of the STB, the members of the two parties began talking about the day’s events.

“We started talking about stuff on the battle front,” said Cmdr. Tom Craig, the officer in charge of the emergency medical facility, Severe Trauma Platoon 3. “What CAG said was that there were a lot of females who needed to voice complaints and that if we could get a female in the battle zone to talk to these people, we could probably help a lot of folks.”
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Marines use more bandages

There’s no such thing as a female Marine

A Marine by any other name ...

Tampa Military Headlines Examiner
M Jessie Barczak

"There’s no such thing as a female Marine” said Lance Cpl. Jordan Herald of Chenoa, Ill. “We do the same things, so there’s no reason to classify us any different.” Cpl. Herald was reacting to the publishing of a photograph of four women Marines at an Afghanistan patrol base, resting with their guns and helmets propped up against the dugout. Two of the Marines were snacking and one was tending to her bare left foot.

The four Marines appeared in a photo snapped by David Furst of Getty Images, in The New York Times’ front page above the fold. The fact that the caption made no mention of the Marines’ gender bothered Lory Manning, a retired Navy captain. “Isn’t it amazing? It’s just four Marines in a dugout. And nobody’s pointing out that it’s four female Marines,” said Manning in the St. Petersburg Times. Manning is the Director of the Women in the Military Project at the Women’s Research and Education Institute in Washington, D.C.
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A Marine by any other name-

Life as an American Female Soldier

What does the rest of America know about the war? Not much. These days, even I barely follow the news from Iraq. The headlines are always negative: "Thirty-seven soldiers killed today." And you're like, "I hope it isn't another one of my friends."

CAPTAIN JENNIFER ERRINGTON, 30 COLUMBIA, MD

I spent nearly a year in Iraq. How do you go back to normal life after something like that? You can't just turn it on and off. Home looks the same, but I'm not. I'm harsher; I'll get in these moods where I go from happy-go-lucky to "get away from me." I have nightmares. I can't stand it when a balloon pops. I'm less trusting.

My husband works part-time at Wal-Mart, and I'm not working at all. After everything I've been through, I can't concentrate. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder last fall. I'm not looking to the future anymore. I look at every day and how I'm going to get through it.

SPECIALIST ASHLEY PULLEN, 23 EDMONTON, KY

Life as an American Female Soldier
Hair falling out, periods on hold, and peeing in a cup: for female soldiers, life on the front lines involves stuff men never have to think about.
By Tara McKelvey

SERGEANT STEPHANIE JAMES, 23
URBANA, IL

"THERE WERE SO MANY THINGS I COULDN'T CONTROL. LOSING CLUMPS OF HAIR WAS JUST ONE MORE THING."

I signed up for the army in June 2001, when I was 17. They were offering to pay for some of my college education. I wasn't concerned about the possibility of going to war; I just kept thinking, This is going to be cool.

Two years later, I was a sophomore at the University of Illinois in Urbana, and I got a phone call from my platoon sergeant, who said, "Your unit has been put on alert." That evening, I went to see The Vagina Monologues at a local theater with friends from my dorm. I didn't say anything about the phone call. On November 11, Veterans Day, I was told I was being deployed. I quit my part-time job at David's Bridal shop and boxed up the clothes in my dorm.

In February, I went to a base in Kuwait, where you had to wait in long lines no matter where you were: in the mess hall, bathroom, shower. You were never alone. At night, I put on headphones and played Norah Jones to block it all out.

One of the most important things I brought from home was a photograph of me and my mom. I'm 1 or 2 years old in the picture, and I'm wearing overalls and a red shirt. My mom is holding me, and she's wearing a beaded necklace. When I was feeling homesick, I'd look at the picture. I also had a bright-orange University of Illinois T-shirt that I slept in at night. As soon as I got to Kuwait, I regretted not packing my flatiron. My hair gets so frizzy when it's hot outside — and over there, it was always hot. I finally had my mom mail me one.

In the military, they try to make things equal. Mainly, that means women are supposed to look like men. You can't wear earrings. Makeup can't be excessive. I didn't wear any, but I always carried ChapStick. Once, a friend sent me nail polish. She wrote, "There probably aren't many times you can feel like a girl. If you have some downtime, have a pedicure party." During off-hours, we watched TV. I got everyone hooked on Sex and the City.

I met another soldier, Sergeant [Ivory L.] Phipps from Chicago. He was in his 40s and had been in Desert Storm. He always had the Bible with him, reading Psalms. I felt calm when he was around.

On the evening of March 16, 2004, I arrived at a base near Baghdad. The next day, my friends and I were standing next to the laundry building at lunchtime. We had only been in Iraq about 18 hours. I saw Sergeant Phipps nearby. Then I heard the explosion. When a mortar goes off, first you hear a thunk and a second later — boom. It's basically just a shell filled with pieces of metal and random stuff. The shrapnel blows up and out, so you have to get down out of trajectory range.

Our squad leader yelled, "Get down!" and he grabbed me. I blacked out. Next thing I remember, I was sitting in the bunker. My heart was beating so fast. I could hear people outside yelling for help.

Afterward, I saw my squad leader carrying Sergeant Phipps's duty cap in his hand. It was covered in blood. I was like, "Oh, my God." Phipps passed on. In my time in Iraq, my squad lost five people.
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Life as an American Female Soldier

Soldiers arrested for beating homeless man

Homeless coalition protests vicious beating
By Jennifer Baker


Sensitivity training toward homeless people for the military. Moving all the homeless into available housing.

Those are just some of the proposals that will be outlined in an 11 a.m. press conference Friday at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, 117 E. 12th St.

The development comes after a 52-year-old man was severely beaten April 10 in a homeless encampment in Spring Grove Village.

Cincinnati police say four skinheads – including three active-duty soldiers in the U.S. Army – targeted Johnson because he is homeless. The four men had been out drinking in Northside bars before they went out in search of someone to beat up.

So far, three of the suspects – two soldiers and one resident of Norwood who is not in the military – have been arrested and taken into custody. The fourth, a soldier from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, remains at large.
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Homeless coalition protests vicious beating+

Victim’s family: No anger at soldier from Jacksonville

Victim’s family: No anger at soldier from Jacksonville
The Atlantic Beach mother of a woman shot in Alaska says she wouldn’t press charges.
By Dana Treen
The picture pulled from the refrigerator door in an Atlantic Beach apartment shows a daddy and baby cheek to cheek in the way thousands of those moments are captured.

"Does he look upset?" Christina Kulik asks, passing the photo of her son-in-law and 8-month-old granddaughter. "Does he look like he's, 'Aw, get the kid away from me?' No."

Thursday, baffled family members of Kip Lynch and his wife Raquell were left with memories like the one caught on camera and confusion over why the 21-year-old soldier would kill his wife and daughter in what police are calling murder and an attempted suicide outside an Alaska Army base.

Kulik said her daughter and Lynch met when they were in high school and even split time living with her or with his family while they were in school. He joined the Army and was on deployment in Afghanistan while she stayed home and finished a medical business course.

She joined him at his Anchorage station when he returned in February.

On Monday police there found Raquell and Kyirsta dead and Kip Lynch gravely wounded in their apartment near Fort Richardson. All had been shot, police said.

Kip Lynch remained in critical condition Thursday and may never be able to answer police questions, said Lt. Dave Parker of the Anchorage Police Department.

An account to help defer the expenses has been set up in Kulik's name at BB&T banks in Jacksonville
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Victim's family: No anger at soldier Florida Times-Union

PTSD on Trial:Marine veteran found guilty of capital murder

PTSD was considered and all the facts were tied together for the justice system to work. While he was convicted we need to remember there was a time when military service and PTSD was not even mentioned. The families must take care of their own shock from all of this as well. PTSD does not just come from being involved in wars, crimes or natural disasters. It comes after trauma itself.

Marine veteran found guilty of capital murder in ex-girlfriend's death
Posted Saturday, May. 01, 2010
By ALEX BRANCH

abranch@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- Jurors deliberated for about three hours Friday evening before convicting Eric Acevedo of capital murder for killing his ex-girlfriend, rejecting the defense argument that Acevedo, a combat veteran of Iraq, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and, therefore, did not intend to kill her.

Intent is a crucial factor in a capital murder conviction, and Acevedo's attorneys had hoped to show that he was unable in his mental state to form the intent to break into Mollie Worden's Saginaw town home on March 22, 2008, and stab her repeatedly.

Because the prosecution waived the death penalty, Acevedo, 23, was automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Acevedo, a Marine, served three tours in Iraq.

'You had honor once'

During the final phase of the trial, when relatives of victims are allowed to address the defendant, Fuentes told Acevedo that her family once considered Acevedo their "brave Marine."

She told him that she never believed he didn't realize he was killing Worden.

"In my heart, Eric, I believe you knew what you were doing," she said.

Fuentes urged him to find the goodness that once existed inside him and put it to good use in prison.

After she spoke, Wisch paused, then looked at Acevedo and echoed that sentiment.

"You had honor once," Wisch told him. "You have the rest of your life to try and reclaim it."

Read more: Marine veteran found guilty of capital murder

CNN decides to wait for war reporter to heal

Michael Ware has done some amazing reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan but as the years ticked by, you could see the changes in him. At least CNN had someone there all the time but when they failed to understand the need to heal from being exposed to war for so long, they also failed to show they understood what the troops were going through.

Imagine being a solider with PTSD and hearing CNN didn't want their war reporter to have the time he needed to be treated for PTSD and time to heal. That would have delivered the message that a wound like PTSD was less worthy and Ware should just get back to work.

Ware has been with CNN long enough to understand the way they do things, so it's doubtful he misunderstood them. The question is, what turned CNN around? Was it public pressure? Bloggers were really upset over this. What will they learn from this? Will they finally do some really great reporting on PTSD with one of their own trying to heal? Time will tell.

April 30, 2010, 7:03 pm
CNN Is ‘Standing With’ Stressed-Out War Correspondent
By BRIAN STELTER
Michael Ware has spent so much of the past nine years reporting from war zones for Time magazine and CNN that it’s almost like he’s a citizen of Iraq.

That experience, he says, has left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. In an interview on Thursday, he said that CNN wanted him back in the field before he felt he was ready and, as a result, he was under the impression that he had been released from his contract. “I required further time off than I think CNN was able to give,” he said.

But there may have been a misunderstanding. On Friday CNN said that Mr. Ware is still employed by the network, disputing an unsourced report on a blog that he was no longer working for the network and that the disorder was a reason.

“We will continue to support him during this time,” the cable news network said in a statement. The network said it was “rightly regarded as an industry leader” in dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that it offers support services to past and present employees.

Mr. Ware’s agent, Richard Leibner, said, “They are clearly standing with him now.”
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CNN Is Standing With Stressed-Out War Correspondent

Fourteen members of the Army’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade Medals of Valor from Germany

Soldiers become first to receive German honor

By Sean O’Sullivan - The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
Posted : Friday Apr 30, 2010 18:12:23 EDT

Fourteen members of the Army’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade on Thursday became the first non-Germans to receive Germany’s Gold Cross, one of that nation’s highest honors for valor.

The soldiers, based at U.S. Army Garrison-Ansbach, Germany, were honored for medevac flights they performed April 2 involving German troops who had been ambushed by some 200 Taliban fighters while on patrol north of the city of Kunduz, Afghanistan.

The firefight was still going on when the Black Hawk evacuation helicopters — two medical transport helicopters and one heavily armed “chase” helicopter — arrived, according to what Army Capt. Robert McDonough, who piloted one of the medical helicopters, told his father, Jack McDonough.

“The two Black Hawks did a combined seven landings into the middle of this battle. My son told me that he could see rounds hitting the blades of his helicopter and there were bullet holes in the Blackhawks,” Jack McDonough wrote in an e-mail message. “He said the incoming fire was so bad that at one point he banked the helicopter real hard to avoid the incoming rounds. He told me he saw the Taliban celebrating, thinking they had downed them.”

According to a letter sent to the McDonough family by Army Maj. Michael S. Hughes, the medevac team “performed heroically in the face of extreme adversity,” and their actions saved at least five German soldiers “and probably countless more.”
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Soldiers become first to receive German honor