A third of OEF OIF veterans thought about suicide

Survey: A third of Iraq, Afghanistan vets have considered suicide
Some 2,000 combat vets surveyed by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America reported 'the crisis with suicide' as their number one concern.
Christian Science Monitor
By Anna Mulrine, Staff writer
JULY 24, 2014

Nearly half of all veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan know at least one fellow US troop who has attempted suicide, and 40 percent know someone who has died by suicide, warns a survey released Thursday by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).

The largest nongovernmental survey of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans found that much has improved in America’s care of its veterans, says Tom Tarantino, IAVA’s policy director. Yet there are plenty of challenges that remain – and notable gaps in data nationwide. For example, “We still don’t know how many veterans are alive in this country,” notes Mr. Tarantino, a former US Army captain.

The IAVA survey offers a window into the priorities of the veterans of America’s most recent wars. The survey exclusively sought out combat veterans, who were required to provide proof of their deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan – or both – in order to take the survey.
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Tennessee VA told Agent Orange Vietnam Veteran go back to work?

Veteran unable to walk, talk told by VA he should go to work
WSMV News
Reported by Jeremy Finley
Posted: Jul 23, 2014

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV)
A Vietnam veteran battling cancer and suffering from heart and lung problems from exposure to Agent Orange was denied full disability benefits from Veterans Affairs and told in a letter they can see no reason he can't go back to work.

Ken Moore's wife, Judy, said because of complications from his health problems, he can't walk or talk.

"He (Ken) read it (the VA Letter) and was like, 'This can't be real. It can't be happening. This is a nightmare,'" Judy Moore said.

When Ken Moore filed for 100 percent disability and unemployability last September, he didn't even have the cancer diagnosis.
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Soldiers reunite with Combat Service Dogs

Soldiers Reunite with Dogs They Served With in Iraq and Afghanistan
ABC News
By Arlette Saenz
Jul 23, 2014

They’re the four-legged veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – military war dogs, doing everything from sniffing out explosive devices on the battlefield to providing companionship to soldiers during wartime.

Three of these dogs traveled to Washington, D.C., Wednesday with the same service members they served with on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan, raising awareness about the need to reunite military war dogs with their handlers.

“This is my best friend. This is my partner. This is my battle buddy,” Army Staff Sgt. Jason Bos told ABC News of his dog Cila. The two partners reunited in April after serving together on nearly 100 missions in Iraq.

“Her and I deployed together, the two of us, so we moved from one base to another, and we worked with people every day we didn’t really know, so this is my friend,” Bos explained. “I wanted her back and I did whatever I could to do that.”
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Many military dogs are being left overseas (Photos)
WTOP News
By Randi Martin
July 24, 2014

WASHINGTON -- War-weary veterans look forward to being reunited with their loved ones, whether they stand on two legs or walk on four.

Yet many canine war heroes remain overseas, caught up in a protocol loophole.

"A number of dogs are already brought home once their tour of duty ends," says Scott Sowers of the American Humane Association. "However, some are retired overseas."

The American Humane Association is working to change the practice and is looking to Congress to help. Members of the organization had a briefing on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
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Combat PTSD Vietnam Veteran Turned to Service Dog

Vietnam vet with PTSD says service dog saved his life
Palm Beach Post
By Faran Fagen
Special to The Palm Beach Post

When Jon Gurley has nightmares, Gunner rubs a wet nose on his face to comfort him.

When Gurley wakes up, he says “Gunner, light” and a helpful paw illuminates their Boynton Beach bedroom. As part of their morning routine, Gunner also brings Gurley his cell phone and medication.

Gunner is a service dog, and without him, Gurley – a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder – may not have survived.

“After years of nightmares, trying to cope with everyday life and many in-patient services from the various veteran (VA) facilities, I was reaching my end,” said Gurley, 68. “Then another disabled veteran recommended that I contact Paws 4 Liberty and it changed my life.”

Born in Akron, Ohio, Gurley entered the Marines in 1955. He was a combat field wireman and served in the Vietnam War. He joined the Ohio National Guard as a flying crew chief in 1975 and served until 1981, when he was honorably discharged after being diagnosed with PTSD.
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Senator-Iraq Veteran Blames Plagiarism on Combat PTSD?

Senator John Walsh has turned a unique situation into a scandal. Having managed to become the Montana Senator, after combat and after being hit by PTSD, he was an outstanding example of what is possible for all of our veterans. Now it appears he wants to use having PTSD as an excuse for plagiarism. He should have simply offered a heartfelt apology instead of using it as an excuse. He can still turn this around if he stops listening to his political advisors and starts listening to veterans with PTSD about what he can do for them.

Montana senator says he was being treated for PTSD when he used unattributed work in thesis
Senator says he had PTSD when he wrote thesis
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jul 23, 2014

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Sen. John Walsh of Montana said Wednesday his failure to attribute conclusions and verbatim passages lifted from other scholars' work in his thesis to earn a master's degree from the U.S. Army War College was an unintentional mistake caused in part by post-traumatic stress disorder.

The apparent plagiarism first reported by The New York Times was the second potentially damaging issue raised this year involving the Democrat's 33-year military career, which has been a cornerstone of his campaign to keep the seat he was appointed to in February when Max Baucus resigned to become U.S. ambassador to China.

National Democrats said Wednesday they remained "100 percent behind Sen. Walsh" in his campaign against Republican Rep. Steve Daines.

Walsh told The Associated Press when he wrote the thesis, he had PTSD from his service in Iraq, was on medication and was dealing with the stress of a fellow veteran's recent suicide.

"I don't want to blame my mistake on PTSD, but I do want to say it may have been a factor," the senator said. "My head was not in a place very conducive to a classroom and an academic environment."

Walsh submitted his thesis, titled "The Case for Democracy as a Long Term National Strategy," to earn his Master of Strategic Studies degree in 2007, nearly two years after he returned from Iraq and about a year before he became Montana's adjutant general overseeing the state's National Guard and Department of Military Affairs.

The paper includes a series of unattributed passages taken from the writings of other scholars.
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Army Captains deployed to Afghanistan Pink Slipped into becoming Veterans

1 minute ago
Army: Of 1,100 captains pink-slipped, 48 were in Afghanistan
Stars and Stripes
By Chris Carroll
Published: July 23, 2014

WASHINGTON — Of the more than 1,100 Army captains notified last month their military careers would soon end, 87 were deployed worldwide and 48 were serving in Afghanistan at the time, Army officials said Wednesday.

The Army has been talking for months about the need to separate the captains as well as more than 500 majors this summer as part of the broad Army drawdown, but it’s the first time details have emerged about the sobering business of delivering pink slips to troops in harm’s way.

The separations have become an issue on Capitol Hill, with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., questioning ISAF commander Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford about it during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week.

“Obviously that has to have an effect on the morale of our officer corps,” McCain said. “A serious blow, I would think.”
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Less serving in the military but suicides are up?

After years of attempting to prevent suicides, these numbers are more proof it isn't working. One more factor to include in this is there are less serving this year than last year. According to the DOD Army 537,135 April 2013 went down to 518,576 April 2014. Marines had a decrease from 194,703 to 191,599 and the Air Force went from 334,255 to 329,979. The Navy had an increase from 318,999 to 323,788. But why include the other side of the numbers that do in fact matter?

The article on ABC News about military suicides really bothered most of the people I talked to as much as it did me so I pointed it out. These are the numbers that need to be included in any report about military suicides. Less serving and more suicides is devastating.

Total Armed Services
April 30, 2013
Army 537,135-- Navy 318,999-- Marine Corps 194,703-- Air Force 334,255

"According to the 2014 data, there have been 70 confirmed and suspected suicides by Army soldiers; 34 by airmen, 21 by Marines and 36 by sailors."

April 30, 2014
Army 518,576-- Navy 323,788-- Marine Corps 191,599-- Air Force 329,979

"In the same time frame last year, there were 81 suicides by soldiers, 24 by airmen, 25 by Marines and 24 by sailors."

Evidence withheld by Germany on Petty Officer 2nd Class Dmitry Chepusov Murder

Germans withholding evidence in AFN murder case pending death penalty decision
Stars and Stripes
By Jennifer H. Svan and Marcus Kloeckner
Published: July 23, 2014

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — German authorities will withhold key evidence in the strangulation death of an AFN broadcaster — including the victim’s throat — unless the U.S. military gives assurances it will not seek the death penalty for the airman accused of the murder.

The U.S. military charged Staff Sgt. Sean Oliver in March with murder in the death of Petty Officer 2nd Class Dmitry Chepusov. German police stopped Oliver on Dec. 14 in Kaiserslautern for driving erratically and found Chepusov’s lifeless body in the passenger seat of Oliver’s car.

After conducting an autopsy, German authorities concluded that Chepusov, a 31-year-old sailor assigned to the American Forces Network at Ramstein Air Base, died of “force to the neck.”

Although German authorities initially cooperated with U.S. military investigators, they withheld the throat and other evidence when they turned Chepusov’s body over to U.S. authorities.
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Video: Wounded Warrior Rows Across the Pacific

Former Marine makes historic trek across the Pacific to become the first paraplegic to successfully row from California to Hawaii.
DVIDS
Petty Officer 2nd Class Lori Bent
July 21, 2014

Fallen Police Officer Last Act of Love, Heart to Vietnam Veteran

GIFT OF LIFE: HEART OF SLAIN NJ POLICE OFFICER DONATED TO VIETNAM VETERAN
ABC News
By Dr. Sapna Parikh
Tuesday, July 22, 2014

NEW PROVIDENCE (WABC) -- From one hero to an another, an officer killed in the line of duty gave the most important gift possible after his death: the gift of life.

By allowing his organs to be donated after his death, Jersey City Police Officer Marc Anthony DiNardo gave a Vietnam Veteran a second chance at life.

Officer DiNardo died from wounds suffered in a shootout in 2009. But his family say his legacy lives on and hopes his organ donation will urge other to do the same.

Exactly five years ago, DiNardo lost his life in the line of duty, but the 37-year old husband and father's commitment to saving other lives never ended.

"He's a hero in life and in death," said the officer's widow, Mary DiNardo.

As an organ donor, officer DiNardo's heart went to another hero, Captain Don Zolkiwsky, a Purple Heart recipient and veteran of the Vietnam War.

"It's bittersweet. Sweet in that, yes it happened, bitter in that someone had to die for me to live," said Capt. Zolkiwsky.
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The other part of the 161 Military Suicides for This Year

Reminder of the most ignored fact in all of this. The number of enlisted service members went down as well last year and this year. Whenever they mention the numbers compared to the highest year on record for suicides in 2012, they need to include that very important factor.

"According to the 2014 data, there have been 70 confirmed and suspected suicides by Army soldiers; 34 by airmen, 21 by Marines and 36 by sailors. In the same time frame last year, there were 81 suicides by soldiers, 24 by airmen, 25 by Marines and 24 by sailors."

Military Suicides up a Bit in 2014; More Seek Help
ABC News
WASHINGTON
Jul 22, 2014

Suicides among active-duty military have increased a bit so far this year compared with the same period last year, but Pentagon officials say they are encouraged that more service members are seeking help through hotlines and other aid programs.

Pentagon documents show there were 161 confirmed or suspected suicides as of July 14, compared with 154 during the same time frame in 2013. The uptick was among the Air Force and Navy, while soldiers and Marine suicides went down. The documents were obtained by The Associated Press.

According to the final report released Tuesday, active-duty suicides dropped by nearly 19 percent in 2013, compared with the previous year, going from 319 to 259.

Suicides among National Guard and Reserve members increased by about 8 percent, going from 203 to 220. The AP reported preliminary 2013 numbers in April.
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Mom blames overmedicating on Iraq Veteran's death

Distraught mother: 'All they were doing was overmedicating him'
Billings Gazette
By Cindy Uken
July 23, 2014

A 36-year-old Iraq war veteran was being treated for traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and back injuries with more than 27 different medications when he died unexpectedly, according to his mother.

Paul Gardner, of Billings died on March 3, 2001 from complications related to injuries he sustained in Iraq after a rocket attack on his base, said Claire Gardner, of Seattle.

She blames the pills — and the VA for the complications.

“It seemed like all they were doing was overmedicating him,” Claire Gardner said. “They were treating the symptoms with pills and covering up the real problems.”

She is concerned that other veterans are also being overmedicated. That is why she has put up $5,000 in seed money to jump-start the Paul Gardner Veterans Relief Foundation to give veterans non-narcotic options for rehabilitation and relief from chronic pain.

“The Foundation will allow veterans and their families the opportunity to take a breath and a step back,” Gardner said.
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Warnings
from 2007 Links to medications suspected with non-combat deaths
2008
Prozac Platoon America's Medicated Army
2009
Sen. Benjamin Cardin wants study on prescriptions-suicide link 2010
Nevada Soldier With PTSD Prescribed 14 Drugs Before Police Shootout
2011
Powerful Drug Cocktails Have Deadly Results For Some Troops

Marine died in his sleep; autopsy lists 27 medications

US Troops Heavily Medicated on Prescription Drugs, Report Warns

Prescriptions for antipsychotics jumped tenfold from 2002 to 2009
There are more but as you can see as the years went on no one stopped it after Gardner's death.

Florida Fake Special Forces Sgt Major confronted on video

Fake Special Forces Sgt Major (Robert 'Bobbie' Bowen) Called out by 4th Anglico Marines (Part 1)
He showed up at a funeral for a fallen Marine!
Part Two

Linked from BlackFive

Florida Veteran Marine Forgotten and Locked into VA Clinic

WATCH: Marine gets locked inside VA Outpatient Clinic in Orange City
News 13
By John W. Davis and Natalie Tolomeo, Team Coverage
July 22, 2014

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran said he was locked inside this VA Outpatient Clinic, in Orange City, on Monday, July 21, 2014.

ORANGE CITY
Jeff Duck, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, was sitting inside a room at a VA Outpatient Clinic in Volusia County Monday. He was told to wait in the room and that someone would be there shortly.

No one came, though. And when he went out of the room to see what was going on, he realized he was the only person inside the clinic.

Duck said he's not blaming anyone in particular, but he does think what happened to him shows the VA system is broken.

"In the military, you never leave anybody behind," Duck said Monday night. "This kind of leaves the feeling — obviously I was left behind."

Duck, using his cell phone, captured video Monday afternoon when he stopped in for a visit at the Orange City-based VA Outpatient Clinic, located on South Volusia Avenue.

"You could see in the video (that) the lab was open," Duck said. "I don't know what was in there. I didn't look that closely. They have locks to the doors going back to the doctors’ offices, but I could have just crawled over the front counter and walked to the back."
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