Hazelden and Navy team up to help sailors online

Navy offers online addiction help

By STEVE SZKOTAK
Associated Press Writer

The Navy is teaming up with a highly regarded addiction treatment center to provide Web-based support for thousands of sailors, their families and retired personnel struggling with alcohol and drug abuse. The $3.25 million program is intended to keep sailors with addiction problems on the road to recovery and links them to support programs anywhere in the world, at anytime, even when they're deployed. It is tailored primarily to younger sailors, who are at greater risk and are comfortable navigating the Internet and social programs.

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Coward Afghan men hide behind children to take on female Marines

For female Marines, tea comes with bullets in Afghanistan

By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: October 2, 2010

They expected tea, not firefights. But the female Marines and their patrol were shot at one day, a burst of Kalashnikov rifle fire from a nearby compound. The group hit the ground, crawled into a ditch and aimed its guns across the fields of cotton and corn. In their sights they saw the source of the blast: an Afghan man who had shot aimlessly from behind a mud wall, shielded by a half-dozen children.

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UK soldier defused bomb with broken hand

Medal for soldier who defused bombs with broken hand
Trapped in a minefield, under heavy attack from the Taleban and with daylight running out, Staff Sergeant Gareth Wood knew he had to work fast.

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
Published: 1:10AM BST 03 Oct 2010

But as the bomb disposal expert removed one of five explosive devices that stood between a stranded British patrol and safety, he felt an excuciating pain.

SSgt Wood had broken two fingers in his right hand - the one he used to seacrh for the Improvised explosive Device, making it almost impossible to continue.


His fellow soldiers urged him to return to base for treatment but SSgt Wood persisted, defusing the bomb and neutralising a further three IEDs even though his right arm in a sling.

SSgt Wood's bravery has now been recognised with the Military Cross and the admiration of his fellow bomb disposal experts.

The head of Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal has described his actions as "truly humbling" and in the "highest traditions of the Army".

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Medal for soldier who defused bombs

Tennessee National Guard families find Iraq war's wounds are slow to heal

TN families find Iraq war's wounds are slow to heal
By Brandon Gee and Chris Echegaray
THE TENNESSEAN
October 3, 2010

More than 20,000 members of the Tennessee National Guard have been deployed since Sept. 11, 2001, with about 17,800 going to Iraq, where 20 members died. The number of Tennessee National Guard members deployed to the Middle East has been reduced substantially to 434.

The Iraq war is officially over, but it continues in the heart of Patricia Shaw, who lost her only son.

Photographs of Steven Cates fill his mother's Wilson County living room six years after the 22-year-old Marine was shot by a sniper in Anbar province.

"There comes a point in time when you wonder if you should put them away," Shaw said. "I can't. I just can't. It's like he's still here. In my heart, he still is."

Although Aug. 19 marked the official end of combat operations in Iraq, the war's toll is still being tallied in Tennessee. Nearly 100 Tennesseans were killed, and more than 600 were wounded. Nationwide, about 4,400 servicemen and servicewomen died in the war, and 32,000 were wounded. Those numbers are easily tabulated, but the impact on families and communities is immeasurable.

And casualty numbers fail to capture the 30 percent of troops who are estimated to develop serious mental health problems upon returning home.

"When you have a war, you automatically affect several generations," said Dr. Paul Ragan, associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a former Navy psychiatrist stationed with the Marines during Operation Desert Storm. "I think we're very concerned about a ripple effect."

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TN families
About a year ago I was contacted by the Mom of a National Guard soldier from Tennessee. Her son had already tried to commit suicide twice and she was feeling lost, afraid he'd try it again. Her son had also gone through a divorce, was one of the countless homeless sleeping on the sofa of friends. He had gone to the VA. They put him on medication but that didn't help. It made him feel worse plus added to the meds for his mind, they had him on pain pills for the wounds to his body.

When we read stories like the one above, keep in mind that while we read about some, there are many more you'll never hear about. The one out of three rate in this article from The Tennessean, is right on the mark. That is the common rate used no matter what the cause of the trauma is. The problem comes in when there are countless traumas hitting people over and over again that throws the figures all out of whack.

The Army stated repeat deployments increase the risk by 50% but there have been so many on a growing series of deployments it is hard to come up with the right figure. By the looks of it and data from Vietnam, we're already in the million range for PTSD.

Here's a video I did that may help you to understand that when it comes to the men and women we deploy the Guard and Reservists have it worse when they come home because many of them return to jobs as emergency responders putting their lives at risk back home as well.

Marine Found Dead on Base in Yuma Arizona

MCAS Yuma Marine Found Dead on Base

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- United States Marine Corps Air Station Yuma officials confirmed a marine died on base early Friday morning.

MCAS public affairs officials said Sgt. Martin Servando Cienfuegos, originally from Phoenix, was found dead at 5:13 a.m. Friday in base housing. He was just 24 years old. He is survived by a wife and two children.

Few details have been released about how Cienfuegos died, because the cause of his death is still under investigation.
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MCAS Yuma Marine Found Dead on Base

Five pillars of fitness

Wounded veteran shares stories of resilience

DVIDS

“The fact is we have the right ingredients to sustain us in times of great difficulty,” said Roever, a Fort Worth, Texas, native.

While this may have worked for some veterans, there is not telling how many it helped any more than it answers how many it didn't help.

Whenever I hear about any program being pushed now, my first question is usually "How long have they been doing this?" Followed by "Has it worked." Judging by the fact the suicide numbers have gone up over the last couple of years, I don't hold out much hope on what the military is doing. It looks like this program has been up for about a year now but the results are a higher suicide rate across the military. It all depends on how much this program is being used but if it is wide spread, that is not a good result at all.


I have hopes that this may be close to where it needs to be because it does address the mind-body-spirit connection that has to be addressed. It does try to include families in on the healing. That's all good but the questions it asks trying to figure out if a soldier is in need of help are much like the kind of test you'd answer for a job. The open ended questions leave too much room to answer what they think the right answer should be instead of an honest one.

Much like the question "Have you thought of harming yourself or anyone else today does not factor in what the thoughts were yesterday or that they may come on later today, this leaves way too much room to play with the answers.

Here are a couple of links so that you can take a look at this yourself.

Herald Union - News
Five pillars of fitness


Oct 8, 2009 ... The Army has come out with the Comprehensive Fitness Campaign. ... It's about total wellness and fitness, building strength and resiliency in our Soldiers, families

Microsoft PowerPoint
Cornum CSF Overview Brief 23SEP09

Oct 26, 2009 ... COMPREHENSIVE SOLDIER FITNESS: STRONG MINDS, STRONG BODIES. \. BG Rhonda Cornum. UNCLASS/FOUO. DAMO-CSF

Can it work? Yes but it all depends on what they put into it. If they say they include the family in on healing then how do they do it? Do they tell the family what they need to know or do they gloss over it?

All of us need to take a good look at programs they are putting out and ask some hard questions because the answers involve life or death issues. So far, no program has been a real success since the numbers have kept on going up. The Montana National Guard's program, which I thouht was the best a few years ago, may still be the best one out there but I have not seen new data released from them lately.

Iraq Vet learns to live after combat

Last weekend I was invited to speak at the Point Man Ministries conference in Buffalo. This Iraq veteran has a message for all combat veterans. He came home from Iraq and did not want to live anymore with the pain he carried inside his soul. He found forgiveness thru Christ and learned to forgive himself. He spoke with the soul of a poet unashamed to admit how much he was hurting so that others could see that no matter how bad things get, there is still hope to heal.





The number of military suicides goes up and up but this veteran is not only a survivor, he is helping others to come out of the darkness of pain and into a new world of healing with hope and love. There is no reason of what we're seeing today if they all have what they need to survive coming home from combat. This Iraq veteran and leader of a Point Man Ministries Combat Outpost proves there is a way to walk in the light again and live still watching the backs of his brothers the same way he did in Iraq.

Funeral Protest Case Reaches High Court

Funeral Protest Case Reaches High Court


September 30, 2010
Associated Press


YORK, Pa. -- One thing Al Snyder wants to make clear: His boy fought and died for freedom in Iraq, but not for the right of some "wackos" to spew hate at troops' funerals under the protection of the Constitution.

"It's an insult to myself, my family and the veterans to say this is what our military men and women died for," Snyder says, barely concealing his anger.

Yet more than four years after the death of his only son, Matthew, Snyder is in the middle of a Supreme Court case that raises almost precisely that issue.

The court is set to decide whether members of a fundamentalist church in Kansas who picketed Matthew's funeral with signs bearing anti-gay and anti-Catholic invective have a constitutional right to say what they want.


Or, in intruding on a private citizen's funeral in a hurtful way, have the protesters crossed a line and given Snyder the right to collect millions of dollars for the emotional pain they caused?
The justices will hear arguments in the case next Wednesday.
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Funeral Protest Case Reaches High Court

Homeless vets get dignity in death

They were someone's son, someone's daughter. A husband, wife, brother, sister and many times, someone's parent. They were "veteran" to everyone in this nation and it is very sad that one of them dies forgotten and alone, but too many had to live forgotten and alone as well.

I have been to a few of these funerals and posted on many more. Dignity Memorial services honor the death of a veteran but they also honor the life they lived in service to this country.

Homeless vets get dignity in death
THE ISSUE: Homeless vet gets dignity in death.


September 30, 2010


For all the multitrillion-dollar military appropriations and congressional hearings and loud, political "support the troops" stump speeches, one of the good things being done for America's veterans is one you haven't heard much about.

The Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program, a cooperative among veterans organizations, advocates and cemeteries, is a way of giving a proper burial to homeless and/or indigent veterans who are too easily forgotten. The program gives those who served and then came upon hard times some dignity.

Last week, at the South Florida National Cemetery west of Lake Worth, Thomas Allen Clay became the first Broward County veteran to be buried with the help of the 10-year-old program. Five homeless veterans from Palm Beach County have been interred at the national cemetery.

The burial program is meaningful in Florida, where the number of homeless vets has been estimated at between 8,600 and 19,000. There could be as many as 250,000 homeless veterans nationwide.

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Homeless vets get dignity in death

Community mourning death of young soldier

Community mourning death of young soldier with local ties
Clinton Springer II had hundreds of friends, father says

By Ellen W. Todd
Sanford News Writer
Thursday, September 30, 2010

SANFORD — Clinton Springer II will be long remembered by his fellow soldiers, his hundreds of friends and, most of all, by his loving family.

Pfc. Clinton E. Springer II, 21, of Sanford, died last Friday, Sept. 24, in Kabul, Afghanistan, in what the U.S. Department of Defense has called a noncombat related incident. The cause of death is under investigation.

"His commanding officer in Afghanistan said he was a magnificent soldier and that he watched him develop from a boy to a man," said Springer's father, Clinton E. Springer, of Sanford.

"He said Clint got along with everyone in his unit," the elder Springer said.

That didn't surprise him.
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Community mourning death of young soldier

Cal Gunshot Victim Was Iraq Veteran

Cal Gunshot Victim Was Iraq Vet

While initial reports called student's death suicide, his family say Alex Lowenstein was full of life and future plans

By AARON GLANTZ, NEW AMERICA MEDIA on October 1, 2010 - 9:22 a.m. PDT

The UC Berkeley student who died at a fraternity house early last Friday morning has been identified as Alex Lowenstein, an Iraq war veteran and graduate of Marin County's Tam Valley High School.

Lowenstein, 24, who served a tour in Iraq as a member of the California Army National Guard, is at least the second Iraq war veteran to die while attending Cal.

Two years ago, UC Berkeley senior Elijah Warren took his own life after serving tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.

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Wounded face new foe: drug-resistant infections

Wounded face new foe: drug-resistant infections
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 30, 2010 14:26:40 EDT
Aggressive tactics are being used against strains of drug-resistant infections that are creating new risks for combat-injured service members who survived the war but may not survive the recovery, military medical officials said Wednesday.

Called multi-drug resistant organisms, or MDROs, the infections “are not unique to the military” but are a “serious problem for the military,” said Dr. Jack Smith, acting deputy assistant defense secretary for health affairs responsible for clinical and program policy.

Smith and other military health officials testified before the House Armed Services Committee’s oversight and investigations panel.

The hearing was called to look at how the military was dealing with infection and whether more money was needed for military-specific research.

Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., the panel chairman, said he thought that given the implications of problems with treating combat-wounded service members, a case could be made for spending more money on research — but Smith did not ask for more.
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Wounded face new foe drug-resistant infections

Reports have come out for years that there is very little therapy going on but a lot of pills being given. Looks like that could be the problem here. Pills help with PTSD but talking helps a lot more.

Bragg PTSD Cases Low, but Meds use High

September 30, 2010

Fayetteville Observer

Fort Bragg, N.C., Soldiers are being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder less than half as often as Soldiers Armywide.

Figures provided by the Army also show that Fort Bragg Soldiers are medically retired or discharged for PTSD far less often than Soldiers as a whole.

Yet the number of Soldiers meeting with psychological counselors at Fort Bragg is similar to the overall Army rate in each of the past three years.

Meanwhile, the figures show prescriptions for anti-depressants and other drugs have grown tremendously at Fort Bragg since 2004. More than one in three Soldiers on post -- 17,594 -- took some form of opiate last year, mostly for pain relief. One in 10 took an anti-depressant, according to statistics from Womack Army Medical Center.

Officials with Womack and PTSD experts say the numbers are intriguing, but there is no way to single out one factor to explain them.

"The analyst in me would say that clearly shows a pattern of lower incidence of unfit Soldiers at Fort Bragg. Why? I couldn't tell you," he said. "There are a lot of Soldiers who have been diagnosed with PTSD who continue to serve. It has to be severe enough that either he's a danger to himself or others or he's unable to perform his duties."

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Spouse of the Year award to Carren Ziegenfuss

September 30, 2010

Military.com|by Ward Carroll

Military.com and CincHouse.com presented the 2010 Spouse of the Year award to Carren Ziegenfuss Sept. 30 at a ceremony held at the Minuteman Memorial Building on Capitol Hill.

Congressman Glen Thompson, R-Pa., who represents Ziegenfuss’ hometown of Franklin, highlighted the poise and dedication exemplified by those who hold down the fort while troops are overseas.

“The heroes and patriots are the spouses,” Thompson said, adding that a Ziegenfuss friend told him, “This lady has a spine of steel.”

In 2005 Ziegenfuss’ husband was wounded in Iraq while serving as an Army officer.  During his recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, she started an outreach group for families of Wounded Warriors through Soldier’s Angels, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping injured troops and their families.

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Time to claim military Stop-loss pay extended

This money is yours. You earned it. There are no strings attached to this so file your claim for the money you are owed. If you don't want it file the claim and give the money away to charity.

Stop-Loss Claims Deadline Extended

October 01, 2010

Stars and Stripes|by Jeff Schogol

WASHINGTON -- Congress has extended the deadline to December for veterans to apply for retroactive stop-loss pay.

Under the program, troops who have been stop-lossed since Sept. 11, 2001, or their surviving spouses are eligible for $500 for every month they were kept beyond their initial separation date. The program was slated to end in October, but now it has been extended to Dec. 3.

The move drew praise from AMVETS spokesman Ryan Gallucci, who said, “Extending the deadline is an appropriate course of action to ensure that veterans have an opportunity to take advantage of their earned benefit.”
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