Montana Veteran Suicides for 2014 46 By October

"He was every bit of what a Marine should be" - Mother of Montana Marine fights for change
KPAX Montana
Simone DeAlba
November 20, 2014

As of October, 46 veterans have committed suicide
in the state of Montana during 2014

BILLINGS - Imagine surviving war, and all the horrors that come with it, only to face a different type of battlefield once you come home.

That's the reality for many of our veterans, some suffering from invisible wounds such as depression or post traumatic stress disorder,also known as PTSD.

Brandon Slack, 29, came from a long line of public service. Many of his family members served in the U.S. Marine Corps, including his mother Kate Slack. For Brandon, being a Marine was not just a career, it was in his blood.

"My son Brandon was one of those larger-than-life type personalities," said Slack. "Brandon did two tours in Iraq. He was every bit of what a Marine should be."

After his first deployment to Fallujah, Brandon began taking medication for PTSD when he came home.

"Something was desperately wrong, his temper was startling," said Slack. "I came into the house one day, he was on the phone with somebody and I didn't even recognize who this person was."

Despite the noticeable change in her son's behavior, Brandon would be deployed for a second tour, this time in Ramadi.

Brandon survived, but suffered the invisible wounds of PTSD from the two combat tours.

After trying for years to find her son help through the Veterans Affairs Hospital and through many other avenues including therapy, he ultimately lost his battle. Brandon committed suicide in October of 2013.
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10,000 Wreaths For Sarasota National Cemetery

10,000 holiday wreaths to be placed on graves at Sarasota National Cemetery
Bradenton Herald
BY JAMES A. JONES JR.
November 21, 2014

Wreaths Across America holiday wreath-laying ceremonies have been held at Sarasota National Cemetery since its opening in 2009. Next month, Sarasota Military Academy students and local veterans will place the wreaths on Dec. 13, starting at 9:30 a.m., followed by a ceremony at 11:30 a.m. FILE PHOTO

BRADENTON -- Last year, 6,300 holiday wreaths were placed on grave sites at Sarasota National Cemetery.

This year, 10,000 will be needed to decorate each of the final resting places for veterans there.

Don Courtney, president of the Manatee Veterans Council, updated the group at the monthly meeting Thursday.

Sarasota National Cemetery opened in January 2009 and averages about 10 funeral services a day. Among the

Notable veterans at rest there is Tampa's Rick Casares, who served in the Army. Mr. Casares died last year. He was a star fullback at the University of Florida and played 12 years in the NFL with the Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins.

Sarasota Military Academy students and local veterans will place the wreaths starting at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 13, followed by a ceremony at 11:30 a.m.
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PTSD: Special agent who was in JFK motorcade still haunted

There is an answer to a question veterans say when asked "When were you in Vietnam?" The answer says it all, "Last night."

The following is a great story on a part of our history few people think about. The men and women there the day President Kennedy was assassinated on a Dallas street. I encourage you to read it. The only problem I have with it is when the reporter says "PTSD they are just now..." as if no one ever talked about it before. Fascinating how little reporters know about a topic before they open their mouths.

Agent Suffering From PTSD After JFK Assassination Honored In Tulsa
NEWS ON 6
ALLISON HARRIS
Posted: Nov 20, 2014

TULSA, Oklahoma - Nearly 51 years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the special agent who was in the motorcade with the president is still haunted.

It's a day that has stayed with Clint Hill for decades as he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, something he's now helping other service members deal with.

Thursday, he was honored in Tulsa.

November 22, 1963 is still difficult for Hill to talk about; he's been dealing with pain ever since, but now he's helping other service members deal with similar issues.

More than 50 years later, Hill still gets emotional when recalling what Jacqueline Kennedy said to him moments after John F. Kennedy was shot.

"Oh Jack. Oh Jack, what have they done? I have his brains in my hand. I love you, Jack. That's all she said," Hill recalled.

Hill is the special agent in the iconic video, jumping into the president's limousine to shield him.

"I saw the president. He grabbed at his throat, he moved to his left. It was very unusual activity. I knew something had happened. Something was wrong," Hill said.

He remembers every detail of that day.
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Note to Congress: Stop Passing PTSD-Suicide Bills Without Knowing Cost

Members of Congress think we're stupid. They keep holding hearings, pretending to be listening, then pass bills to do something, but something is not always better than nothing. Sometimes it is worse.

When it involves combat and PTSD, this has been proven. The rates of OEF and OIF veterans with PTSD went up faster than other wars mostly tied to two factors. Repeated deployments increasing the risk is a big one. The other is the simple fact that there is much more information out there than ever before, so more talk about it.

Vietnam veterans and older veterans didn't have mass communication. Gulf War veterans were just beginning to understand the internet. As for reporters, this ability caused them to jump on the bandwagon and report on what has been happening for decades all across the country.

As for Congress, they held hearing after hearing with families, veterans groups and politicians telling heartbreaking stories of suffering but they never seemed interested in hearing what was working. It isn't just the committees focusing on veterans failing them. We'd have to include the Armed Services committees. After all, they started about 10 years ago to come up with something to reduce military suicides and treat PTSD but the opposite result hit them.

Suicides have also proven that Congress doesn't understand. Suicides in the veterans population went up after they started titling bills with names of dead veterans on them. How many more years do they expect to be able to pull this bullshit on us? How many more times will they pretend to understand PTSD and what it does when those hearings are always followed by more families having to talk about the lives lost simply because congress never really understood the cost that goes far beyond money?

When do they hold people accountable for all the money congress spent on what has not worked? When do they call in all the groups, researchers and businesses pulling in millions a year in donations and grants popping up all over the country while the results are worse?

When do they hold hearings on the largest group of veterans, the survivors and healers?

Senate: Mental-health needs should be high-priority for VA
The Washington Times
By Jacqueline Klimas
November 19, 2014

Joshua Pallotta, who served with the Vermont National Guard, killed himself just six weeks ago after a 2010 deployment to Afghanistan where he saw several close friends die in combat.

“We struggle to get through a shower without breaking down,” Ms. Pallotta told the Senate committee. “We just go through the motions.”

Lawmakers talked Wednesday about the challenges facing the VA in treating mental-health issues, including not enough money, not enough doctors, and not enough time left in the legislative year.

But Valerie Pallotta, testifying to those lawmakers at the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said she faces the challenges that come with suicide in a different way: getting out of bed in the morning, making a meal for herself and her husband, and thinking back to the night two police officers knocked on her door at 3 a.m. saying that her 25-year-old son was dead.

The VA touted statistics that showed middle-aged veterans who got mental healthcare at the VA had lower rates of suicide. But Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, questioned why the youngest veterans, even those who get care at the VA, are committing suicide at such a high rate.

Susan Selke, the mother of a Marine who committed suicide, said her son’s unit lost 20 Marines in 2008 while deployed in combat. Since coming home, the unit has lost another 20 to suicide as of earlier this week, she said.

Ms. Selke told reporters ahead of the hearing that VA Secretary Bob McDonald promised his support of the suicide prevention bill named after her son, Clay Hunt.
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Dogs on Deployment Care For Dogs When Soldiers Deploy

Dogs on Deployment cares for dogs when owners are overseas
Program has cared for 550 pets
WESH.com
Amanda Ober
Nov 20, 2014

ORLANDO, Fla. —Imagine having no option but to leave your pets at the pound because you have been assigned to serve overseas.

Susan Sackett loves Great Danes. Hers is named Baldwin. When she learned there was a military family in need of a temporary home for its Great Dane, named Chaos, it was a no-brainer.

"Because of all the work the service members do, and the life they put on the line for us, it's the least I can do for them," said Sackett, a Dogs on Deployment volunteer.

Chaos belongs to Nikki and Rich Rain, of Cedar Key.

The military couple was headed for a two-year tour in South Korea, and when they got to the airport, they found out it would cost $7,000 to bring Chaos because of her size. That's something they couldn't afford.

The national nonprofit called Dogs on Deployment came in. It provides an online network for service members to search for volunteers willing to board their pets.

Sackett kept in touch with the Rains online and provided Chaos a loving home while they sent money for the dog's care. When their return to the U.S. approached, the Rains sent items of clothing with their scent to prepare Chaos.

On Nov. 11, the dog and owners were reunited.
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Rep. Duckworth Announces Birth of Baby Girl

Rep. Duckworth Announces Birth of Baby Girl
Abigail O'kalani Bowlsbey was born Tuesday, Nov. 18, U.S. Rep says
NBC Chicago
November 20, 2014

U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth and her husband announced Thursday the birth of their new daughter two days earlier.

The couple, who publicly announced the pregnancy in September, named the newborn Abigail O'kalani Bowlsbey.

"We are grateful for the love and support of our family and friends. We also appreciate the respect for our privacy during this important moment in our lives," Duckworth said in a statement.
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Vietnam Veteran Air Force Sergeant Robert Earn Davenport Laid To Rest With Love

Strangers Hold Memorial, Pay For Veteran’s Burial
CBS News
Budd Gilett
November 19, 2014

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Complete strangers gathered to say good-bye Wednesday at a touching memorial in Dallas for a veteran who left no known relatives.

Those in attendance were moved to pay for a burial service including full military honors. They were mostly Patriot Guards and nurses from Methodist Richardson Medical Center who gathered at the DFW National Cemetery to bury a man who never uttered a word to any of them. A man with no known family; adopted in death.

“We’re a family,” said Mark Littell, Ride Captain of the Patriot Guard, referring to the military and the caregivers. “The nurses in the hospital talked about being part of Mr. Davenport’s family because his family wasn’t there. And we feel the same way.”

The Mr. Davenport he spoke of was Air Force Sergeant Robert Earn Davenport. A 68-year-old Vietnam veteran sent unconscious to the hospital from a nursing home… who spent his last hours fighting cancer, unaware of the new care surrounding him.
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Vietnam Veteran Committed Suicide After Clinics Failed Him

Report Finds VA Clinics ‘Missed Opportunities’ To Prevent Vietnam Vet’s Suicide
Daily Caller
Tristyn Bloom
11/19/2014

A newly released government investigation has found that three Veterans Affairs health clinics “missed opportunities” to prevent a Vietnam veteran’s suicide, with failures ranging from “communication breakdowns” to completely ignoring his “multiple suicide risk factors.”

The unnamed sixty-something patient, who had previously attempted suicide in 1989, shot himself in the head in 2013. He’d been receiving treatment for chronic shoulder, neck and back pain; osteoarthritis, degenerative discs in his lower back, low bone density and a variety of nerve conditions exacerbating pain and weakness in his neck and back, and had had cervical spine surgery in the fall of 2012.

The patient bounced around from clinic to clinic beginning in 2011, when the VA reassigned him from his usual primary care clinic to one nearer his home. A year later he requested another transfer, and another six months after that.
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Lawsuit Filed Against Police: Shooting of Iraq Veteran Jason White

Veteran's Tragic Death Prompts Lawsuit in Ohio
Courthouse News
By KYLE ANNE UNISS
November 20, 2014

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - Police shot and killed a disoriented Iraq veteran who briefly mistook a neighboring apartment for his own, a federal complaint alleges.

The tragic altercation occurred at 6 a.m. on Nov. 17, 2013, according to the complaint filed Monday.

Though Jason White, 31, lived in an apartment complex at 5420 Tretorn Drive, Hilliard, Ohio, a tenant from the "nearly identical" 5425 Tretorn allegedly called the Columbus police that morning because White had entered her apartment through an unlocked door.

Patti Stevens-Rucker, the administrator of White's estate, says this woman reported "that a man entered her apartment but did not make any threats."

"She reported that his speech was incoherent, he appeared to be in a daze, and he appeared to be mentally ill," the complaint continues.

White had allegedly left the apartment building by the time Patrol Officer Don Alderman located him.
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Report from last year.
Family Feels Officers Did Not Have To Shoot, Kill Knife-Wielding Man

Wish Booth: A Wish For A Marine,,,,Prayers Answered With Love

Local Military Family Has Wish Come True on Meredith Show
NBC
By Laura McVicker
November 19, 2014

Counselor Kathi Bradshaw walked into a wish booth in San Diego and wished for financial help for a local military family.

On Wednesday that wish was granted on the Meredith Vieira Show. The talk show host introduced the counselor -- who works with Support the Enlisted Project, which provides financial and transitional assistance to military members – to the family who received the financial gift.

Billy and Gina Boulton, who were once in debt, were given $20,000 from company Ball Park Franks as well as a year’s supply of Ball Park products.

In addition, another company, Box.com, gave the San Diego family $10,000.
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Wish Booth: A Wish For A Marine
The Meredith Vieira Show

PTSD Veterans Use Yoga To Learn To Calm Down Again

Veteran helps other vets through yoga therapy
KRDO News
Emily Allen
Multimedia Journalist
Target 13 Investigator
POSTED: Nov 19, 2014

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.
Students gathered Wednesday for a yoga class aimed at helping veterans and others cope with mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder.

The class is offered at Hot On Yoga and taught by a veteran, Jason Smiley. When Smiley got his teaching certificate for yoga, he wasn't thrilled about the idea of teaching people who were solely focused on the physical aspect of the practice. He looked into therapeutic yoga and found a national program called Yoga For Veterans.

"Everyone can use yoga, that's for sure, but there are so many veterans and their families that are in need of this kind of help at this point in time," said Smiley.

Smiley collaborated with Hot On Yoga studio owner Mike Gumucio to create a class called "Mindful Resilience" focused on mental healing.

Smiley joined the Army right after high school and feels that being a veteran helps him connect with other veterans during yoga.

"I feel like it's very easy for vets to connect with other vets and that's part of the reason I want to be teaching these classes," said Smiley.

Teaching the program has also benefited Smiley.

"I have some of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder so I feel like this class really helped me and I believe that it has the capacity to help other people in the same way," said Smiley.
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Veterans Court Success, 83% Don't Reoffend

County veterans’ court unveiled: 2nd chance for heroes
Livingston Daily
Lisa Roose-Church
November 19, 2014

“In Michigan, 83 percent of the people who have gone through veterans’ court don’t reoffend; it works,” Reader said.

Carl Pardon salutes at the unveiling of the county’s new Veterans’ Treatment Court on Wednesday at the Livingston County Judicial Center in Howell.
(Photo: Lisa Roose-Church/Daily Press and Argus)

A veteran’s mindset is that two kinds of people exist in the world: Enemy combatants and comrades in arms, and if they don’t know whom to trust, they trust no one, a local veteran said.

Veterans are trained to be a “self-sustaining, force of one”, and then when they come home after combat, the military doesn’t tell them “we lied, you need help,” said Bryan Bradford, a disabled veteran of the U.S. Army military police, serving in the Pacific Rim.

“That’s what we’re here for,” said Bradford, who is one of the 10 veterans volunteering to mentor men and women who come through Livingston County’s new Veterans’ Treatment Court. “It’s a second chance.

“It’s an opportunity for them to have a mentor who is a veteran to help show them the ropes. These kids come home and they are top-field dragsters and they’re adrenaline junkies, and they just don’t know how to turn it off,” he added. “They need and deserve a little special treatment because they’ve done things most people can’t fathom.”

District Judge Carol Sue Reader, who will preside over the court, unveiled the new effort at a meet-and-greet presentation Wednesday at the Livingston County Judicial Center on Highlander Way in Howell.

The court is based on a team concept involving Reader, a probation officer, a defense advocate and representatives from the prosecutor’s office and treatment providers, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and regional veterans’ centers. It also received support from Brighton-area attorney Neal Nielsen.

Reader told the audience that Veterans’ Treatment Court is a non-adversarial, post-sentencing program that works toward returning military veterans to a productive and law-abiding status in society.

“Those who serve us to preserve our freedom, they have a price they pay,” the judge said. “There’s no normal. We want to prevent that. We can’t do anything about what happened in the past, but we can start today to make it better in the future.”

Veterans, like Bradford, praised the court’s creation of the Veterans’ Treatment Court.

Bradford said 22 veterans a day commit suicide and their No. 1 question is: Why was I spared? He said the general public doesn’t seem to know that “post-traumatic stress disorder is contagious,” affecting the whole family. As an example, he shared the story of a couple he is helping. The wife commented that she was going to tell her husband that if he doesn’t straighten up, she would divorce him.
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Religious liberty advocates painted widely divergent pictures

13 minutes ago
Advocates paint differing pictures of the state of religion in the military
Stars and Stripes
By Chris Carroll
Published: November 19, 2014

WASHINGTON — Religious liberty advocates painted widely divergent pictures of the state of faith in the U.S. military for House legislators Wednesday, with some claiming rampant proselytization and others complaining that believers are punished for expressing their faith.

The purpose of the hearing by the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee was to examine the effects of recent changes to federal law and Defense Department policies governing religious expression in the military.

The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Department of Defense to accommodate religious expression as much as possible without damaging the military, and exempted chaplains from performing religious duties they believe violate their faith. DOD followed up in January with a policy that critics and supporters alike say loosens the reins on religious expression.

Among other affects, policy change eases the way for members of religious minorities who believe their faiths require beards, turbans other types of traditional grooming or dress to receive official accommodation for not meeting uniform regulations.

But retired Navy chaplain Rabbi Bruce Kahn told legislators that the new policy may also open a door for those inclined to relentlessly try to bring others to their faiths.

“Where you have individuals who believe they’re on a mission to bring others to their point of view … then you have cracks in unit cohesion and you have real problems with maintaining readiness and being prepared to go to war,” Kahn said.
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Retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus Praising Hiring Veterans

David Petraeus: Veterans are 'precious resources'
The Tennessean
Adam Tamburin
November 18, 2014

Retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus attends the “Vets@Work” job fair Tuesday in the Music City Center. Petraeus a military pedigree made veterans an enviable hire.
(Photo: Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean )

Retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus was in Nashville on Tuesday to encourage local businesses to hire veterans, who he said were among "our nation's most precious resources."

Speaking before a job fair for veterans and their spouses, Petraeus, who also served as CIA director, said a military pedigree made veterans an enviable hire. In particular, Petraeus praised the 2.5 million veterans who have served in the Middle East since 9/11, whom he called "the new Greatest Generation."

Petraeus oversaw military action in Iraq and Afghanistan for years after 9/11. He also commanded the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell from July 2002 to May 2004.

"If companies are looking for individuals who have leadership experience, who exemplify selfless service, who understand the importance of teamwork and who know what it takes to achieve results under tough conditions, then American veterans are what those companies need," he said. "Their sense of duty, their courage, their loyalty and their professional experience have not departed when they've taken off that uniform for the last time."

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Marvin L. Hill, who served at Fort Campbell and in combat alongside Petraeus, acknowledged that some returning veterans face a litany of challenges, including post-traumatic stress disorder. But he stressed that those challenges shouldn't be seen as career enders.
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Body of Soldier's Wife Found in Honolulu

Local soldier's wife was stabbed in neck, torso
By Star-Advertiser staff
Nov 17, 2014

An Army wife whose body was found at Aliamanu Military Reservation over the weekend was stabbed in the neck and torso, the Honolulu Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday.

The ME's office identified the woman as Catherine Walker, 38. The manner of death was ruled homicide. Autopsy results are pending.
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