Troop mental health suffering in Afghanistan

Troop Depression on Rise in Afghanistan
By PAULINE JELINEK – 6 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. troop morale improved in Iraq last year, but soldiers fighting in Afghanistan suffered more depression as violence there worsened, an Army mental health report says.

And in a recurring theme for a force strained by its seventh year at war, the annual battlefield study found once again that soldiers on their third and fourth tours of duty had sharply greater rates of mental health problems than those on their first or second deployments, according to several officials familiar with the report.

All spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the findings ahead of the study's release Thursday.

The report was drawn from the work of a team of mental health experts who traveled to the wars last fall and surveyed more than 2,200 soldiers in Iraq and nearly 900 in Afghanistan. In the fifth such effort, the team also gathered information from more than 400 medical professionals, chaplains, psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health workers serving with the troops.

Officials said they found rates of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and post-combat stress were similar to those found the previous year in Iraq, when nearly 30 percent of troops on repeat tours said they suffered a problem.
click post title for the rest

PTSD:War vets say stress debilitating

War vets say stress debilitating
By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Jamie Anderson and Mike Zimmerman both brought the Iraq war home with them.
A song brings sadness over a lost friend. A simple visit to a hospital brings with it the imagined smell of burned flesh.

Loud noises bring on rages for no reason. Images too awful to describe fill dreams.
And for Zimmerman a trip home to the Allegheny County community of Churchill from the airport becomes a vivid ride through the desert in a Humvee.

"I think that was scarier than anything I experienced in Iraq," Zimmerman, 25, of Churchill, Allegheny County, said of his first flashback upon arriving home from war.

Zimmerman, a former Marine and current Army National Guardsman, and Anderson, 47, of Washington, an Army master sergeant, both spoke of their experiences dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, during the second part of a two-part discussion on the disorder and the Iraq War Wednesday night at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.

Anderson, Pitt-Greensburg's ROTC instructor, and Zimmerman, a psychology major at the Hempfield campus, said they are receiving counseling for the disorder that began while both were serving in Iraq in 2004.
go here for the rest
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/teenscene/s_555789.html

Marine puppy toss number one draw on PTSD blog? WTF

My feed burner traffic report from today.
Traffic Source visits Trend
Search for "marine puppy" 153 +147%
Search for "marine puppy fake" 44 +529%
Search for "marine puppy toss" 37 +270%
Search for "puppy toss" 28 +600%

What is wrong with people in this country? A few minutes on YouTube with a jerk tossing a puppy over a cliff and I get these kinds of hits, but when I cover PTSD and what it's doing to our troops and veterans, the counts are a lot lower. I labor over videos to provide support and information on PTSD yet the top hit I get is 100 a day on Hero After War but most of them are only about 20 a day. Yet a video like this, pulled in millions in a day?

What does this say about how we feel about our troops and our veterans when they are so easy to ignore unless they do something drastically different, stupid, evil or disgusting? What does it say about us that if the media reports on some of our veterans committing crimes makes the headlines but when they commit suicide because they are not being taken care of, gets buried? Most of these reports are so scattered and buried beneath the sports section that they get very little attention. You would think their life would be worth so much more. Yet reporters have to contact advocates for reports on suicides and attempted suicides so they can try to make a name for themselves.

I get alerts on several subjects. One of them is veterans. What I find is that we use the term "veteran" far too often to describe a person who has experience and usually it's a sports figure. PR firms hire "veterans" away from other firms. They don't hire real veterans. I just don't get it. Why should it take someone pulling a stunt like this puppy toss to draw attention to a PTSD blog? I have to tell you that if you came here to read the story about this, then I really feel sorry for you. Your ignorance is blinding you to the real story here!

Fort Lewis murdered soldiers had acid poured on them

This is the couple who had acid poured on them.

Spc. Ivette Gonzalez Davila, shown in court March 3, allegedly confessed to another soldier that she killed Fort Lewis-based medics Timothy Miller, 27, and his wife, Randi Miller, 25, then took their child to a home improvement store, bought acid and poured it on the bodies. Gonzalez Davila is expected back in court March 5.

GI allegedly killed 2, poured acid on bodies

Army takes custody of suspect
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 5, 2008 13:01:53 EST

TACOMA, Wash. — The Pierce County prosecutor’s office says the Army is taking over prosecution of a Fort Lewis soldier accused of killing two married soldiers in Parkland.

Deputy Pierce County Prosecutor Ed Murphy told The News Tribune on Wednesday that the Army took custody of Spc. Ivette Gonzalez Davila, 22, of Bakersfield, Calif., and transferred her out of the jail in Tacoma. She had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday afternoon after prosecutors filed state charges.

Davila is accused of shooting 27-year-old Timothy Miller and his wife, 25-year-old Randi Miller on Saturday night at their home. Investigators also say Davila, an Army chemical specialist, poured muriatic acid on the bodies. Davila also is accused of taking the dead couple’s baby girl. She was turned over to Child Protective Services on Sunday after Davila was arrested.

Timothy and Randi Miller were medics who had served in Iraq. Investigators have said a possible love triangle may have been the motive for the killings.
go here for the rest

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_lewiskillings_acid_030308/

McCain Bush's pal and no friend of veterans

John Sidney McCain
Current Office: U.S. Senate
Party: Republican
Status: Announced

Veterans Issues

2006 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 20 percent in 2006.

2006 In 2006 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Senator McCain a grade of D.

2006 Senator McCain sponsored or co-sponsored 18 percent of the legislation favored by the The Retired Enlisted Association in 2006.

2005 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 25 percent in 2005.

2004 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 50 percent in 2004.

2004 Senator McCain supported the interests of the The Retired Enlisted Association 0 percent in 2004.

2003-2004 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 100 percent in 2003-2004.

2003 Senator McCain supported the interests of the The American Legion 50 percent in 2003.

2001 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 46 percent in 2001.

1999 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 66 percent in 1999.

1997-1998 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Vietnam Veterans of America 0 percent in 1997-1998.

1989-1990 On the votes that the Vietnam Veterans of America considered to be the most important in 1989-1990 , Senator McCain voted their preferred position 50 percent of the time.

Veterans Issues

Date Bill Title Vote
10/01/2007 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 NV
02/02/2006 Tax Rate Extension Amendment N
11/17/2005 Additional Funding For Veterans Amendment N
10/05/2005 Health Care for Veterans Amendment N
go here to see how the others rank.
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJAN08/nf012108-1.htm

Mental Health Crisis hits New Orleans

Mental health crisis plagues New Orleans
By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
NEW ORLEANS — Bernel Johnson showed all the signs.
He was diagnosed by a psychiatrist as aggressive, homeless and schizophrenic. He was kicked out of a Salvation Army homeless shelter late last year for holding a fork to a fellow resident's throat. On Jan. 4, Johnson was committed to a psychiatric facility for causing a disturbance at a bank. He was released and, a few weeks later, attacked New Orleans police Officer Nicola Cotton, 24, in a parking lot.

Johnson wrestled Cotton's service handgun from her and shot her 15 times, killing the officer, police said. Johnson remains in jail without bond, charged with first-degree murder.

New Orleans health and law enforcement officials say more cases such as this could unfold if the city's mental health crisis isn't resolved soon. Since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city 2½ years ago, the number of public mental health facilities and community outreach centers has decreased dramatically, leaving the mentally ill without medication and monitoring.

Mental illness also is rampant among the city's homeless, whose population has spiked since the storm from 6,200 to 12,000 today, says Sam Scaffidi of the New Orleans Police Homeless Assistance Unit. Under the Interstate 10 overpass at the corner of Claiborne Avenue and Canal Street downtown, homeless encampments have multiplied since Katrina into a sprawling colony of tents, soiled sleeping bags and cardboard caves.

go here for the rest
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-04-katrina-health_N.htm
Linked from RawStory


This was one storm that caused days of trauma and suffering. Now think about what happened to these people. Now think about living with trauma everyday while deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Think about Vietnam veterans and all other veterans exposed to this kind of trauma. There is no need for anyone to ever question why so many are wounded by PTSD. We want to think the men and women who serve are different from us. In many ways, they are. We cannot forget that they are just humans and can experience the same wounds we do but they are exposed to more horrific traumatic events than we are.

Was Killing the Puppy a Way of Coping for One Marine?

The U.S. Marine filmed throwing a crying puppy off a cliff may have been trying to prove his strength or bravery, several mental health professionals told ABCNEWS.com. The Marine's identity has yet to be confirmed but the United States Marine Corps has launched a full investigation and deemed his actions as "deplorable." (ABCNEWS.com)

Was Killing the Puppy a Way of Coping for One Marine?
Stressful Environment May Have Contributed to Marine Apparently Tossing a Dog to His Death
By EMILY FRIEDMAN
March 5, 2008

Many war-weary veterans of the Iraq War take kindly to the animals they meet abroad — some of them have even gone to great expense and trouble to bring dogs back home with them at the end of their tours of duty.

What, then, provoked one U.S. Marine to let himself be videotaped apparently flinging a yelping puppy over a cliff, bursting into laughter at the sound of the animal's body hitting the ground below? The tape of the apparent incident has rocketed around the Internet, provoking a firestorm of criticism.

The motivation for such an act, if it did indeed occur, may be as complex and deep as the U.S. war that has dragged on for more than four years, experts told ABCNEWS.com. Chief among them: Having to live with the constant fear of being injured or killed might have led this Marine to take his aggression out on a defenseless animal, several psychologists said.
go here for the rest
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4387128&page=1

Linked from ICasualties.org

Knowing Marines, they will make sure they find out who did this. This is not what they stand for. I still think this could be fake. What if it wasn't a Marine but someone dressed up like one instead?

Army captain loses his leg on Cresta Run

Army captain loses his leg on Cresta Run
By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 12:55pm GMT 05/03/2008



An Army captain survived a six month tour of Iraq unscathed only to have his leg torn off attempting the famous Cresta Run in Switzerland.



Captain Bernie Bambury, 32, lost his right leg below the knee after he hit a marker post at a speed of up to 80mph on the 4,000ft-long tobogganing course in St Moritz. His leg was shattered and severed hundreds of yards from the finish.

But the brave soldier, from 4th Battalion The Rifles, completed the run before asking friends: "Is my ankle broken?"

He then heard the horrifying reply: "It's not broken, it's gone."

The Army officer underwent nine operations by medics who tried to sew the limb back on but Capt Bambury was told it might take two years for him to walk again and he was unlikely to regain full mobility.
go here for the rest
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/05/ncresta105.xml
Linked from ICasualties.org

Healing the hidden scars at Camp Pendleton

Healing the hidden scars
By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer
Retired veterans share their post-traumatic stress stories with returning troops Tuesday, March 4, 2008 11:09

CAMP PENDLETON -- In combat, the older former warrior told the young Marines, "funny things happen."

Weeks, months and even years after combat, he continued, those "funny things" can re-emerge as haunting nightmares, jittery paranoia or the root of any number of abhorrent and self-destructive behaviors.

"You cannot take a normal person and put them in that environment without it affecting them," the speaker, David Pelkey, told about 25 Camp Pendleton Marines who recently returned from Iraq.

Pelkey, a Mira Mesa resident and a Vietnam veteran who served in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, is the national director of American Combat Veterans of War, a nonprofit group founded seven years ago by Carlsbad resident Bill Rider, also a Vietnam veteran.

"We try to use ourselves as an example of what not to do in terms of denying the fact that you have been impacted by the war," Rider said about the program.

While theirs is not the only program about post-traumatic stress, Rider said that American Combat Veterans of War is unique in providing firsthand advice from other veterans to the troops.

"We're here because we care about you, damn it, and there's something you don't understand that we do," said retired Marine Col. Al Slater, a Navy Cross recipient who also spoke to the returning troops. "We don't want your generation to go through the hell we did."
click post title for the rest

Link to the American Combat Veterans of War site
http://www.acvow.org/

Closing veterans centers now is insane!

I cannot believe this one!

Lawrence center for veterans may close
Operating funds are slashed N.E. lawmakers to launch probe
By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / March 5, 2008
WASHINGTON - A center in Lawrence that helps veterans start their own businesses warned yesterday that it will have to close its doors because of a lack of funds, prompting two New England lawmakers to launch a probe into the federally funded nonprofit organization that had been financing it.


The Northeast Veterans Business Resource Center has provided night classes and other training to more than 3,000 veterans since it was established in 2004, including an Internet course for members of the Massachusetts National Guard serving in Iraq.

But its funding was recently pulled by the Washington charity established and funded by Congress in 1999 to enhance business opportunities for veterans.

"I had to lay off my staff of three, and, if I don't get some funds, I won't be able to pay the rent this month," Louis J. Celli, president of the Lawrence center and a retired Army master sergeant, told the Globe yesterday.

The center, located on Merrimack Street, does not make a profit and relies on annual federal funds and donations to run its operations, which include courses in computers, resource management, writing proposals, and communication skills. It is one of three such centers across the country.

Another of the centers, which is located in St. Louis, also announced yesterday that it would have to shut down by next month, while the third center, located in Flint, Mich., has also had its operating funds slashed.

Walter G. Blackwell - president of the National Veterans Business Development Corporation, which has funded the centers in the past - said yesterday that it had received only $1.4 million of the $3.7 million it had requested from Congress for this year.

Blackwell said the corporation may also have to close down if it is unable to locate additional funding.

The prospect of losing the three centers has raised the ire of influential lawmakers who believe they provide a critical resource to thousands of veterans, including those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, who are seeking to become financially self-sufficient.

Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, announced yesterday that the Small Business Committee, of which Kerry is the chairman, would formally investigate the organization's management.

"The Veterans Corporation was established to create a network of these centers," Kerry said in an interview. "They have by all appearances not done that."
go here for the rest

http://www.boston.com/news/local/
articles/2008/03/05/lawrence_center_for_veterans_may_close/

How could anyone in their right mind think that cutting funds to help veterans get jobs after they served this country is not worth funding? Is this more of the same they have received from this administration telling them they are not worth the money it takes to get them back on their feet after they served and are no longer "serving" the nation? What the hell kind of message do they think the veterans are getting from this kind of stunt?

Survey Shows Veterans’ Unemployment Lower Than Nonveterans

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced in May the results of the Biennial Employment Situation of Veterans survey (as of August 2005), which showed the overall veterans’ unemployment rate is lower than that of nonveterans. The veterans’ survey is published once every two years as a supplement to BLS’s monthly Current Population Survey.

“The report shows that, overall, the employment of America’s veterans is strong,” said Charles Ciccolella, assistant secretary of labor for Veterans Employment and Training. “In August 2005, the veterans’ unemployment rate was 3.9 percent, 0.8 percent lower than that of nonveterans. On an annual basis, veterans’ unemployment was 4 percent in 2005, which is 0.6 percent below that of nonveterans.”

There is one age group of veterans—20-to-24-year-olds—where the unemployment rate is higher than that of nonveterans of the same age group. In August 2005, those veterans had an unemployment rate of 18.7 percent compared with their nonveteran counterparts. For all of 2005, the annual rate was 15.6 percent for 20-to-24-year-old veterans compared with 8.7 percent for nonveterans in that age group.
The U.S. Department of Labor has undertaken initiatives to address the situation, said Ciccolella. The department conducts transition assistance employment workshops for members of the military who are scheduled for discharge in addition to other programs. For more information on all of these programs go to http://www.hirevetsfirst.gov/•
http://www.gijobs.net/magazine.cfm?id=518

From May 2007 Boston Globe

(John Kerry) The Massachusetts Democrat, who chairs the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, is scheduled to unveil the bill along with a report on the economic difficulties facing returning veterans, especially members of the Reserve and National Guard who have put their civilian jobs on hold for repeated deployments.
The study by Kerry's committee staff, based on government data, found that 11.9 percent of recently discharged veterans are unemployed, compared with 4.6 percent of nonveterans; it found that 18 percent of 18-to 24-year-old veterans are out of work, double the rate of their nonveteran counterparts. Meanwhile, an estimated 40 percent of reservists lose income when called up, while the rate is even higher, 55 percent, for reservists who are self-employed, according to the report. At the same time, the share of small-business loans going to veterans from the largest federal program has dropped from 11 percent to 9 percent since 2001.
http://boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/28/kerry_seeks_business_loans_for_veterans/

While National Guardsmen come back after being deployed again and again, what we keep forgetting is that they leave their jobs in order to go. They leave their businesses in order to serve. At a time like this when too many people are out of work, closing one of these centers is just pure evil!

Army finally understands mind-body-spirit connection

Army to Revolutionize Healthcare with Whole-Person Concept
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 29, 2008) - A change in healthcare begins March 1 across the Army, the Department of Defense and the nation, said the executive officer for the assistant surgeon general for warrior care and transition.



Phase 2: Assessment

Next comes the assessment phase when doctors, physical and vocational therapists, mental-health workers, social workers and others will evaluate the Soldiers in the four areas of body, mind, heart and spirit.

Physical well-being not only means the Soldiers are healing and going to physical therapy, it can mean they need to get back into shape or start weight-loss programs, Dominguez said, especially if they want to return to duty.

In the area of the mind, Dominguez said, the Army will pay close attention to Soldiers who have traumatic brain injuries and provide neurocognitive testing, and check for speech and language problems, problem-solving skills and concentration skills.

Experts will take a close look at Soldiers’ abilities and interests, what kind of jobs they want to do and what they can do. Most importantly, the Army is going to provide educational and vocational training for Soldiers in WTUs, and Soldiers will be required to participate as much as they are physically and mentally able.

Heart and Soul

In the area of the heart, medical officials will examine Soldiers’ relationships, how they are able to resolve conflicts and any socially unacceptable behaviors.

Col. David Reese, director for ministry initiatives at the Office of the Chief of Chaplains, said the Strong Bonds program of marriage retreats is being expanded to meet the specific needs of wounded Soldiers and their Families. In addition to the regular curriculum focusing on communication skills, the program will be handicapped accessible and provide forums on challenges specific to them, such as grief and loss. Some chaplains have already begun offering specific weekends to wounded warriors and their Families on an informal basis.

Dominguez said that spirit can include anything from religious support — Reese said chaplains will be assigned to all WTUs at the battalion level — to hobbies Soldiers’ enjoy. She said officials are especially concerned when Soldiers’ injuries make their previous hobbies impossible. What would a Soldier who liked to paint but has been blinded do for a hobby? Dominguez said they might help him or her learn to sculpt, for example.

click post title for the rest
It's about time! Now if they can get the rest of the jackasses still thinking PTSD is a crock, we'll be that much closer to taking care of our veterans for real.

Sgt. Matthew J. Rhoads Fort Bragg death under investigation

Officials investigating Fort Bragg death

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 4, 2008 16:59:46 EST

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Military officials are investigating the death of a soldier whose body was found Sunday night on Fort Bragg.

The Army identified the paratrooper Tuesday as 29-year-old Sgt. Matthew J. Rhoads of Philadelphia.

A spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne Division said investigators don’t suspect foul play. Details haven’t been released.

Rhoads was a small arms master gunner assigned to the division’s 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. He was deployed to Iraq from August 2006 until February 2007.

Rhoads is survived by his parents, Gerald and Karen Rhoads, a brother and a sister, all of Philadelphia.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_braggdeath_030408/

OCD the other out for military instead of PTSD

The Connection between Trauma, PTSD, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
PTSD has been found to commonly co-occur with other anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (commonly referred to as OCD).

In fact, studies have found that anywhere between 4% and 22% of people with PTSD also have a diagnosis of OCD. In addition, people with OCD also show a high likelihood of having experienced traumatic events. For example, it was found that 54% of people with a diagnosis of OCD reported having had experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.

The experience of traumatic events has also been connected to compulsive behaviors often seen in OCD, such as hoarding. You can learn more about the connection between trauma, PTSD, and OCD here.


click above for more.

They use all kinds of excuses to send the troops home without the ability to collect for combat wounds. PTSD is a recognized wound, or at least close to it, but OCD and Bipolar and Personality Disorder is not along with Schizophrenia. I posted this before about the symptoms on these other illnesses and if you look careful at the signs of PTSD, bingo, you see all of the above. It's easy for anyone wanting to, to misdiagnose these wounded as if they went to combat already wounded instead of getting wounded in service to this nation.

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides

Veterans For Common Sense would not have to sue the VA if the VA did what they should have done under Nicholson. The veterans have been paying the price for his loyalty to the administration instead of them.

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides
Monday, March 03, 2008 9:18 PM
By Vic Lee

There is pressure on the Veterans Administration to do more to prevent suicides. The number of vets returning from Iraq and taking their own lives is reaching an epidemic level. That's what veterans groups claim and they are taking the VA to court to force it to do more.

This is the first salvo of a major class action lawsuit filed by veterans groups, challenging what they call "the failure of the VA to properly treat returning veterans."

They say there are long waiting lists for veterans who need mental health care and a huge backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims. In the meantime, veterans are said to be committing suicide in unprecedented numbers.

Former Marine Guido Gualco fought in the late 80's in Operation Desert Storm. VA doctors failed to diagnose his PTSD until 2005 -- 14 years after he was discharged. It got so bad, he begged his friend to kill him.

"I was questioning God, 'why was I alive?' I didn't want to live," says Gualco.

Army specialist Tim Chapman was a Humvee gunner in the Middle East. He was discharged after he fell into a deep depression in 2006.

"I was sitting in Roseville with my gas on the pedal and I was going to drive my car off this cliff at a truck stop," says Chapman.

Paul Sullivan heads Veterans for Common Sense. He says the VA has failed to deal with the growing problem of veteran suicides.

"There are cases around the country of veterans who said they were suicidal in front of VA employees and they were placed on waiting lists and otherwise turned away," says Sullivan.
go here for the rest
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=5996940

In 2004, there were already complaints about Bush's VA budget.

In a statement issued shortly after the budget was released, Edward S. Banas Sr., commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, called the VA's health care spending proposal "a disgrace and a sham."

VA officials reply that spending for health care will increase under the budget, but that tough choices had to be made because of the soaring budget deficit and limits on spending.

With two occupations producing more wounded, the VA, under Nicholson, called for a reduction in staff at the VA instead of wanting to increase them.

According to John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA is calling for a reduction of 540 full-time jobs in the Veterans Benefits Administration, which handles disability, pension and other claims by veterans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24665-2004Mar2

What we saw was the GOP taking sides with Bush on this.

Senator Larry Craig

Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said the Department of Veterans Affairs would need more than the $30.7 billion for medical care in Mr. Bush's budget just "to maintain current levels of service" in 2006.

Mr. Craig said at a committee hearing that the White House was seeking an increase of less than one-half of 1 percent in the appropriation for veterans' medical care. He also noted that the administration wanted to save $606 million by restricting eligibility for nursing home care.

Yet at the end of the report Craig came out with this.

Mr. Craig said he detected "unanimous concern on the part of this committee that the budget has some inadequacies." The need to provide care to veterans is increasing, he said, because improvements in military medicine are saving the lives of many service members whose injuries would have proved fatal in previous wars.

Congressman Steve Buyer

Representative Steve Buyer, Republican of Indiana, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, indicated he was open to the ideas. Laura J. Zuckerman, a spokeswoman for Mr. Buyer, said he saw the proposals as a way to "bring balance, fairness and equity into the system."

The president's budget would save $293 million by reducing federal payments for state-run homes that provide veterans with long-term care. It would also save more than $100 million with a one-year hiatus in federal spending for construction and renovation of such homes.

They were looking to save money instead of looking at the best way to care for our wounded veterans.

Again looking at cutting employees instead of adding them.

Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, acting under secretary of veterans affairs, said the medical staff of the department would be reduced by 3,700 employees under the president's budget. About 194,000 employees now provide medical care.

Nicholson was showing what he thought about the veterans he was supposed to be taking care of.

Mr. Nicholson said the budget showed a strong commitment to veterans, but he added: "We have to make tough decisions. We have to set priorities."

And then we have this from the VFW

Dennis M. Cullinan, legislative director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, told Congress that the federal programs for state veterans' homes dated to the Civil War.

"These cuts, at a time when demand for V.A. long-term care services is on the rise with a rapidly aging veteran population, are unconscionable and reprehensible," Mr. Cullinan said.

It was Senator Akaka and Senator Patty Murray taking the side of the veterans against the GOP in charge of the budgets.

Senator Daniel K. Akaka of Hawaii, the senior Democrat on the committee, said a goal of the proposed fees and co-payments was to make it "prohibitively expensive" for some people to use V.A. clinics and hospitals, which are widely respected for quality of care. The new charges, Mr. Akaka said, would lead more than 192,000 people to drop out of the veterans health care system.

Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, said, "Serving veterans is part of the cost of war, but there's not one dime for veterans" in the $81.9 billion request that Mr. Bush sent Congress on Monday to cover the costs of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
go here for the rest of this section
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/politics/16vets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

What is more tellling about the attitude is that in 2001 the APA had already called for increases in mental health care in the VA. Keep in mind this warning came a month before 9-11. Before the invasion of Afghanistan. Before the invasion of Iraq.

Psychiatric News August 3, 2001
Volume 36 Number 15
© 2001 American Psychiatric Association
APA Wants VA Budget Increased To Meet Mental Health Needs
Christine Lehmann
APA and other mental health groups are recommending that a congressional oversight committee designate funds to be used by the Department of Veterans Affairs for psychiatric research and a continuum of outpatient services.

APA urged a congressional subcommittee that oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs to allocate more funds than President George W. Bush proposed in his Fiscal 2002 budget for mental health research and services.

APA recommended that an additional $50 million of the president’s proposed $51 billion VA budget be spent on establishing two new Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (MIRECCs). APA also advocated that $100 million be designated annually in Fiscal 2002 to 2004 for veterans with serious mental illness.

The House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee heard testimony in June from mental health and veterans advocacy groups on the VA’s mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness programs. APA submitted a written statement.

The goal of the hearing was to ensure that the VA is complying with several mandates contained in a sweeping VA reform law enacted in 1996 (PL 106-262).
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/15/4

The lack of attention on the needs of our veterans at a time when there are two combat operations creating more wounded is "unconscionable and reprehensible" because the cuts kept coming in staff. During a time when more was needed it turned out there were less doctors and nurses in the VA, less claims reps, than there was after the Gulf War. Think how many lives could have been saved had the VA been provided with all they needed to really take care of all the wounded.

The next time you hear the words "support the troops" consider who has really been supporting them and those who have not taken care of them. Consider who has been harming them and treating them as if they should be grateful to us instead of the other way around.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"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

Veterans returning from wars find VA under strain still

Iraq War veteran Christopher M. Kreiger — at home since Thursday with wife, Melissa, and sons C.J., 6, left, and Cole, 4 — suffers from seizures and hallucinations and has been in and out of VA hospital seven times. (photo: Bill Wippert / Buffalo News)

‘Flood’ coming as soldiers return home needing care

Veterans returning from wars find VA under strain

By Lou Michel NEWS STAFF REPORTER



Another surge is putting pressure on the nation’s military.

It is the surge of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan returning home with physical and psychological wounds, and the question is: Are the nation’s veterans hospitals equipped and staffed to handle it?

“The flood is coming,” said Patrick W. Welch, director of veterans services for Erie County. “Within the next three to five years, the flood of vets seeking help is probably going to overwhelm the VA.”

It started with a trickle. Just 61 of these newest war veterans sought help at the local VA hospital in 2003.

But in the years after, nearly 1,800 vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan went to the Buffalo VA and its seven community clinics.

Local VA officials acknowledge the growing demand, and they say they are keeping up with it and will hire 150 more people to continue what, they insist, is success in providing prompt and comprehensive health care.

The VA’s optimism is not shared by everyone.

Jeremy Lepsch, a Marine who served with an anti-terrorist unit in east Africa, says his most recent admission to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s psychiatric unit exposed him to staff shortages and overworked psychiatrists.

Dana Cushing, who served twice in Iraq and once in east Africa, says she has to make a 300-mile round-trip drive to the Syracuse VA because she can’t get timely appointments here with a women’s doctor.

And then there’s Iraq War veteran Christopher M. Kreiger.

He has several physical and psychological problems and has been in and out of the Buffalo VA Medical Center seven times. In the last six months, his condition has worsened as he suffered from mysterious seizures and hallucinations and has been unable to sleep. Kreiger was released Thursday from the hospital and says he still does not know what is ruining his health.

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http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfMAR08/nf030408-1.htm

Native Americans take pride in Medal of Honor recipient Keeble’s story

Native Americans take pride in Medal of Honor recipient Keeble’s story
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, March 5, 2008


WASHINGTON — Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson Keeble is the first full-blooded Sioux Indian to receive the Medal of Honor, a point of pride for both his tribe and the larger Native American community.

“The history of [Native American military service] is well known to our younger generation, but probably not in mainstream America,” said Robert Holden, deputy director of the National Congress of American Indians.

“But they’ve continued a long line of warrior tradition. It’s their duty.”

Keeble was born on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, home to the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux — on the North Dakota-South Dakota border — and spent nearly all of his pre-Army life on tribal lands. After his service in World War II and Korea, he returned there to live and work with the community.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53043

2 dead, 5 injured after shooting at Wendy's near West Palm Beach

2 dead, 5 injured after shooting at Wendy's near West Palm Beach
Published Monday, March 3, 2008 at 9:14 p.m.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A 60-year-old gunman wearing a jacket and tie wordlessly opened fire inside a Wendy's during the lunchtime rush Monday, killing a firefighter who'd returned to exchange a toy and wounding five other diners.

Alburn Edward Blake of West Palm Beach then turned the gun on himself.

"This was not a robbery. He didn't demand anything," said Paul Miller, a Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman. "Looks like this was just another random shooting like we've seen around the United States."

The 42-year-old victim, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Lt. Rafael Vazquez, had met his wife and child at the restaurant, Deputy Fire-Rescue Chief Steve Delai said. The family had just left, but Vazquez returned to exchange a promotional toy in his child's meal and was shot in the back as he stood at the counter, Delai said.

Neighbors described Blake as a quiet man who "kept to himself." Public records show that Blake owned a maintenance and handyman company until 2003. A 1996 story in The Palm Beach Post showed that he accidentally ran over an 18-month-old girl with his van, leaving her seriously injured. The story said he had a young daughter who would now be a teenager.
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http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080303/APN/803030841

A witness said the police took out a bag of pills from his apartment. Is this another case of a known mentally ill person with guns? I don't know. No one does right now but I'm sure there will be more reports. I do know that the people who were at Wendy's will need to get some help with this. Think of what you'd be like going through something like this.

Marine puppy toss may be fake

Marine seems to hurl puppy off cliff in video
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writerPosted : Monday Mar 3, 2008 18:43:59 EST

A video that appears to show an armor-clad Marine hurling a small puppy off a cliff and joking with his buddies as it smashes against a rock-strewn desert landscape has sparked outrage online and an investigation by commanders in Hawaii.

A 22-year-old lance corporal from Seattle was named in several online postings as the “puppy killer” and accused of being a “sociopath.” A home address for the Marine was posted on several sites, with at least one urging readers to “make him pay.”
Marine Corps Times could not confirm his identity.

As the puppy flies through the air, the video’s soundtrack features a distinct yelping sound, but Dejournett said that could have been edited in afterward. She noted that the squealing sound does not diminish as the puppy appears to fade in the distance.
To some degree, she said, it doesn’t matter whether the Marines were torturing the puppy or playing with a dead animal.
“Regardless, it is horrifying and it’s not the kind of behavior that we want to see our troops engaging in,” Dejournett said.
View the video (Warning: This video may be disturbing to some viewers)

Yes Congressman Buyer we noticed what you did for seven years

Lawmakers argue for bigger veterans budget

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 3, 2008 17:08:51 EST

Republican members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee — who for seven years have defended the Bush administration’s funding requests for veterans programs — now want to add $5.8 billion to the White House request for 2009.

The budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs requested by the 12 Republicans is about $2 billion more than the VA budget recommendations from the Democratic majority.

Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the committee’s ranking minority member, said the budget requests about $2 billion to be set aside to improve GI Bill education benefits for members of the National Guard and reserve, about $2.5 billion for medical care and services, $700 million for major construction, $200 million for minor construction and $644 million for cemetery construction.

The rest of the funding would be spread among other programs, including $320 million to improve information technology, a Buyer priority.
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Veterans' Affairs Committee (Ranking Member)
Energy and Commerce Committee
Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality
National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus, Co-Chairman

When asked about potential compensation for veterans whose personal data was compromised by the theft of a Veterans Administration computer, Rep. Buyer told the Army Times, "How many of them would have had their identities stolen anyway?"[5]

In November, 2005 Buyer announced plans to eliminate testimony from veteran's service organizations before the annual joint session of the House and Senate Veterans Service committees, a tradition going back more than 50 years. A joint letter of protest from the four major veteran’s service organizations was hand delivered members of congress in May, 2006.[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Buyer

Yes we noticed. We noticed all of it. While you were sitting there making sure you gave Bush whatever he wanted, even if it meant soldiers and veterans would have to suffer, you made sure they came last. Even the writer of this report began with "after seven years" so yes, we all noticed.

Bob Woodruff Family Foundation Get PR Giant's Help

JWT to Volunteer Services for Bob Woodruff Family Foundation

Will Support Group That Helps Injured Service Members and Their Families
March 03, 2008: 09:00 AM EST

NEW YORK, March 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- JWT, the largest advertising agency in the U.S. and the fourth largest in the world, announced today that it will volunteer its broad marketing expertise to support the Bob Woodruff Family Foundation (BWFF), a nonprofit organization that raises awareness of the devastation caused by the "hidden injuries of war", traumatic brain injury (TBI) and combat stress.

Bob Woodruff, an ABC News anchor, was nearly killed in a roadside bomb attack while reporting from Iraq in January 2006. The Woodruff Family launched BWFF to help service members, veterans and their families as they navigate their road to recovery and reintegration back into their local communities.

"JWT has a long history of working with the U.S. Marine Corps, and we're honored to rally behind the BWFF," says JWT chairman and CEO Bob Jeffrey. "This is a chance to use our resources for the greater good and to give back to those brave men and women who sacrifice everything in the line of duty."

JWT has handled the U.S. Marine Corps account since 1946; founder James Walter Thompson was a Marine Corps veteran.
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UK fight is on to give medal for PTSD wounds!!

Falklands surgeon Rick Jolly backs medal fight
By Jeff Pickett 3/03/2008

A hero doctor of the Falklands war who continued to fight for troops when he returned home backed the Mirror medal campaign last night.

Surgeon Captain Rick Jolly, 62, was the only serviceman to be decorated by both sides after the conflict. He was also part of a veterans' group which urged the Government to recognise soldiers with posttraumatic stress disorder.

He believes a medal to recognise troops killed or hurt in Afghanistan and Iraq would be a great morale-booster.

He said: "The principle of an award is a good one although it must be extended to those injured or killed in other conflicts.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/03/03/
falklands-surgeon-backs-medal-fight-89520-20338711/


As generals dither, MPs will demand new medal for heroes
EXCLUSIVE
By Bob Roberts And Chris Hughes 26/02/2008
Britain's top military brass will come under ferocious attack today for refusing to award a new medal to the country's most courageous soldiers.
In a historic Parliamentary debate, MPs from all political parties will say the campaign for a new honour to recognise dead and injured servicemen has been held up by the generals for too long.
And they will say it is wrong for the heads of the armed forces to block a new medal for ordinary troops when they are happy to take honours for themselves.
Former military chiefs will also express their disgust at the refusal of today's generals to award the new medal.
Advertisement
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Ex commander of British Armed Forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp says he is disgusted the top brass are out of touch.
"I never thought I would say this, but it is beginning to appear that the politicians are more attuned to the needs of our fighting men and women than are the generals," he told the Mirror, which has long campaigned for the medal.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has backed the idea of a British equivalent to an American Purple Heart which is awarded to all dead and wounded service personnel.
Soldiers across the ranks and politicians of all parties have backed the Mirror's campaign. But Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt and his deputy Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman are dithering, claiming a new medal for the wounded would be "divisive" amongst soldiers.
Labour MP Kevan Jones who called for the debate is expected to tell Parliament they should not be receiving their own honours while refusing them for others.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/02/26/
as-generals-dither-mps-will-demand-new-medal-for-heroes-89520-20331967/



Hero Victoria Cross Gurkha soldiers back Daily Mirror medal campaign
Number of MPs backing Daily Mirror medal campaign reaches 303
MPs tell PM Gordon Brown 'give soldiers award they deserve'
Soldiers' families demand medals for their fallen heroes

I'm not the only one calling for this,,,,,,,when will we begin a push for this here too?

Who Will Stand new video on impact of PTSD with Clint Holmes

Photo may be used in documentary
Monday, March 3, 2008
By Clint Confehr


An image of Christian Golczynski, published here nearly a year ago, may be used in a documentary and music video to illustrate psychological impacts of war on Americans.

The photograph, by now-retired Times-Gazette editor Kay Rose, portrays the son of slain Staff Sgt. Marc Golczynski, who grew up in Lewisburg. Her photo shows an 8-year-old boy receiving the American flag that had been draped across his father's coffin at Wheel Cemetery.

Phil Valentine of his own Red Live production company in Las Vegas, Nev., explained he wanted to use the picture in a music video for "Who Will Stand" as sung by Clint Holmes, and as an image during a documentary that explores issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

An early cut of the music video may be seen at www.whowillstand4us.com. The site did not yet include the photograph by Rose when viewed early this week. Valentine said he hoped to reach Marc Golczynski's widow Heather in Maryland, and/or his parents here in Tennessee. Henry Golczynski is a Murfreesboro businessman. Marc's mother, Elaine Huffines, teaches science at Forrest High School.

Rose agreed that the photo should be available for the Red Live productions so long as it wasn't used to advocate or oppose the war, she said Sunday. The Times-Gazette has had a policy of sharing its images with other media that acknowledge the source. Valentine has agreed to that.

The director's videos are avoiding any "political spin," he said, by focusing on what the documentary reveals from speaking with soldiers, Marines, their families and doctors.

"It's such a powerful photograph," Valentine said Friday. "People see it and it brings things together; the pain and sacrifice that the families go through."

The sacrifice of families of soldiers and Marines was recognized late last year in Lewisburg where the Golczynskis, Huffines and survivors of Todd Nunes and David Heirholzer were honored by the Elks Club where members expressed their respect for what survivors experience.

"It was a very emotional moment," Rose said of that afternoon of April 4 in the Wheel Cemetery. "I left in tears and I didn't know the family."
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http://www.t-g.com/story/1315445.html

Army to Release Anti-Suicide Film

Army to Release Anti-Suicide Film
Last Update: 6:32 am

Film Aims to Lower Soldier Suicide 3/2/08

Oswego County, New York (WSYR-TV) - The Army is releasing an interactive video in April aimed at curbing the soldier suicide rate. It’s the highest it’s been in more than twenty years. That’s just among active soldiers. There have also been a staggering number of suicides among veterans home from the war, who are dealing with post traumatic stress disorder.

Joe Godfrey from Oswego County says he doesn’t think the video will work. Godfrey knows far more about post traumatic stress disorder than any father should.

His son, Joe, came home from Iraq at the end of 2004 a different man. He couldn't sleep, was afraid of the dark and started drinking despite being on a slew of medications.

“He was always afraid that someone was out to get him,” Godfrey says.

Joe knew he needed help but didn't get it from the VA in time. Joe was killed outside a bar in Oswego a few months later. His father believes that he ended up dying as a result of the fact that he couldn’t get treatment in a timely manner.

Godfrey's other son, Justin, will be leaving for Iraq this summer – on his third tour.
“You make it through the first time, then the second time was when his brother was killed. Now, he’s going back a third time. Every time you go back, you're bucking the odds, you know?” Godfrey says.
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http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story.aspx?
content_id=8143c4df-7ec4-4c1f-919a-dd5d7f59c70b

Maj. General Clara Hawley-Bowland, woman in charge!

Military medicine

By NOELLE STRAUB
Star-Tribune Washington bureau
Saturday, March 1, 2008 11:20 PM MST

WASHINGTON -- In 2005, while commander of the Europe Regional Medical Command, Carla Hawley-Bowland received an e-mail asking general officers to reply if a child of theirs had deployed to Iraq, because Newsweek magazine was doing a story on military families.

What the e-mail failed to mention, because it didn't seem necessary, was that they were looking for dads.

"They didn't say it was a Father's Day article, but they didn't know that they had a female general that had kids," the Casper native recalled recently. "I don't know if I'm the first one to have kids, but there's very few of us."

Her son Scott had deployed to Iraq in 2003-04, serving as a medic at a battalion aid station at the Fallujah airfield. She replied to the e-mail, and she and her son were included in the article.

Now a two-star major general, Hawley-Bowland in December took command of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the U.S. Army's North Atlantic Regional Medical Command.

Hawley-Bowland is the first female physician who has risen to the rank of general. "We've had nurses and medical service corps female generals, but not a doc," she said. "So I'm the first one there."

She has found the Army to be very fair to women when it comes to career progression.

"I don't think I was ever discriminated against," she said. "There were individuals you always had issues with like anybody else does, but as a whole, as an institution, I felt that actually, in comparing what my career would have been in academic medicine and that of the civilian sector, I progressed probably 10 years faster in the military than I would have in the civilian sector."

Asked if female officers ever tell her she inspired them, she laughed and said, "Yeah, and there's some that say, 'We're glad you made general so we don't have to do it, Carla.'"

"I don't know," she added. "I've just done the jobs they gave me, and had fun and just kept doing it. Never saw a reason to change."
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Army Spc. Russell Johnson Bronze Star V

As with other soldiers in Iraq and other wars, Johnson still had some intangible reminders of the trauma of war. A soldier may leave the war, but the war does not always leave the soldier.

"When he first came home, he was having nightmares," said Harold Johnson, Russell's father. "He was taking medication."

Deltona soldier decorated for saving comrade

BEACON PHOTO COURTESY SPC. RUSSELL JOHNSON

Honored for heroism —U.S. Army Spc. Russell Johnson receives the Bronze Star with a V for valor, along with a certificate for his heroic service in rescuing a fellow soldier from a burning vehicle during an attack in Iraq last spring. He was decorated Jan. 19 at Fort Hood, Texas, home of the 1st Cavalry Division. Johnson's family lives in Deltona.

Published 2-29-2008

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

— John 15:13


June 3, 2007, is a day Army Spc. Russell Johnson will never forget.

While Americans at home were enjoying their Sunday, Johnson had to act quickly to save a fellow soldier when their Bradley fighting vehicle was heavily damaged by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

For that act of gallantry, the Deltona GI would win the Bronze Star, one of America's highest honors for bravery in battle. His Bronze Star also has a "V" for valor.

"We were out on our second patrol of the day, and we kept passing this one checkpoint. My Bradley was hit by an IED [improvised explosive device]. The Bradley was burning. I drove the Bradley about 100 meters outside the kill zone," Johnson told The DeLand-Deltona Beacon.

He was serving in the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, and the division was about halfway through its 15-month deployment in Iraq.

Of the three soldiers in the flaming vehicle, Johnson was the only one not hurt. The machine-gunner was injured by the blast that had killed their commander.

Johnson had to act quickly amid multiple dangers: The Bradley fighting vehicle was ablaze, and the machine-gun ammunition was "cooking off" as the flames came into contact with the bullets. There was also hostile fire from Iraqi insurgents.

To save the gunner, Spc. Robert Cresanto, Johnson lifted the body of his dead commander, Sgt. Caleb Christopher, off Cresanto, and pulled Cresanto out of the Bradley.

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http://www.beacononlinenews.com/dailyitem.php?itemnum=643

Veteran sues VA so they will get it right for others

Cancer-fighting vet sues the VA after failing to ID tumor
Darryl E. Owens | Sentinel Staff Writer
March 1, 2008
An Ormond Beach veteran faces an uncertain future after doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Daytona Beach missed a cancerous tumor on his chest X-ray, a mistake for which military officials have apologized.

Ted Schrolucke, 63, who served in Germany for the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1967, has filed a $200,000 claim against the VA. The complaint says doctors at the William V. Chappell Jr. VA Outpatient Clinic failed to diagnose a late-stage mass in his right lung that had developed from a previous bout he had with colon cancer.

VA officials earlier this month admitted the error and offered its apologies in a memo it sent to Schrolucke.

But he wanted more than a concession and a mea culpa. He wanted to give other vets a warning that an incorrect diagnosis could happen to them. But the VA handles such matters internally, he was told, so he went public.

"Veterans are walking in there every day getting X-rays and sitting down with doctors and are told everything is OK," he said. "I want them to fix this."

Schrolucke's problems began in August 2005, when he turned to the VA to cover his medications and care until his wife could add him to her insurance plan. His own private policy had become too expensive, he said.

In his VA paperwork, he noted his 2002 colon-cancer diagnosis. Doctors took X-rays, and Schrolucke "walked out of there feeling cancer-free."

In March 2006, under his wife's insurance plan, he visited a non-VA doctor. A blood test suggested cancer, and a repeat of the test six weeks later proved more telling. Scans showed "a big tumor on my right lung," Schrolucke said.
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Bill to highlight female veterans

Bill to spotlight issues for female veterans

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 1, 2008 8:11:43 EST

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is expected to announce legislation next week aimed at increasing the focus on female veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.

Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, Murray has spent many hearings questioning VA officials about female veterans with histories of sexual trauma, whether research has been done to determine their health needs and whether VA hospitals are so focused on men’s health issues that women get left behind.

Though VA officials say they are conducting a survey on women’s experiences at their facilities, as well as offering programs specifically for women, proponents of the proposed bill say it would target areas VA has not addressed. It follows a similar House bill proposed by Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., and Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla.

Murray’s bill will ask for:

• Assessment and treatment of women who have suffered sexual trauma in the military.

• More use of evidence-based treatment for women — particularly in areas such as post-traumatic stress disorder, where responses may be different or involve different issues than it does for men.

• A long-term study on gender-specific health issues of female veterans.

“One of the things we started to see early on is that there’s a lot we don’t know,” said Joy Ilem, assistant national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/military_femalevets_health_022908w/

VAWatchdog takes on Sally Satel and AEI over PTSD

THINK-TANKER SATEL PUSHES "TREATMENT FIRST"
LEGISLATION FOR PTSD VETS -- "Treatment First Act"
would urge vets with mental health issues not to file
for VA disability but seek treatment instead.

Dr. Sally Satel of the American Enterprise Institute

by Larry Scott

Dr. Sally Satel is a psychiatrist, paid mouthpiece and think-tanker for the American Enterprise Institute. And, she's back in the news pushing her agenda to marginalize PTSD veterans.
This time she's joined by two old friends, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID). Burr is the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Craig was the Ranking Member until the Republican party removed him after he got caught playing tappy-toes with an undercover cop in an airport men's room.

Burr has introduced a bill (S. 2573) titled Veterans Mental Health Treatment First Act. Craig is the only cosponsor of the bill.

Now, Satel, who is not known for her love of veterans or her ability for rational thought, has decided that "Treatment First" is a must for veterans with mental health issues. (For background on Sally Satel, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here... http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=satel&op=and )

Satel's basic premise is: Work will set you free. Seems to me I've heard that someplace. Satel says, "By abandoning work, the veteran deprives himself of its therapeutic value: a sense of purpose..."
Satel's web site is here... http://www.sallysatelmd.com/

Satel's email is... satel@sallysatelmd.com

The "Treatment First Act" will give a small allowance to vets with mental health problems who forego filing a VA disability compensation claim and enter treatment.

The "Treatment First Act" is just a way for the VA to save money by conning veterans into delaying filing a claim. Even if the veteran goes into treatment, and then a year later files a claim, a lot of money has been saved.

Also, this program would cause a shift in attitude at the Veterans' Benefits Administration (VBA) that handles claims. If a vet does not go into the program and just files a claim, it would be easy for a claims person at VBA to feel that the vet doesn't want to "get better" and then deliberately mishandle the claim, causing delays in compensation.

Below you will find two pieces of information. First is the Sally Satel opinion piece from The Wall Street Journal. Second is the Veterans Mental Health Treatment First Act as posted on Thomas.
Satel opinion here...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120399050749092455.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

go here back to VAWatchdog

http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfFEB08/nf022708-1.htm

Empty Casing, Testament of a soldier with PTSD

Testament of 'an honest man and a soldier'
PATRICK RENGGER

March 1, 2008

EMPTY CASING

By Fred Doucette

Douglas & McIntyre,

256 pages, $34.95

It has been said with some truth that in war there are no unwounded soldiers. Yet the nature of those wounds, particularly the psychological ones, and their effect on the lives of the men (and increasingly, the women) involved are as different and multitudinous as the individuals.

Whether you call it battle fatigue, shell shock, PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) or OSI (operational stress injury), the mental trauma that can occur in conflict areas is still barely understood. It is often governed, particularly in the military, by ignorance and hidden by a culture of macho denial. Why some are affected, while others remain apparently uninjured, by the same circumstances remains largely a mystery. In Empty Casing, Fred Doucette tells the story of one soldier, Doucette himself, who rises through the ranks of the Canadian army until, faced with the extraordinary stresses and particular viciousness of the Bosnian conflict, he finally succumbs to mental injury and is ultimately medically discharged from the army.

The story Doucette tells is, in many ways, a quite ordinary soldier's tale, filled with the small struggles and triumphs of life in the military and family life, and the business and boredom of professional soldiering. And yet, its very ordinariness is partly what makes it compelling. When Doucette is finally posted to Bosnia as a United Nations Monitoring Officer, everything changes. In Bosnia, Doucette is sent to Sarajevo in the midst of the siege, a posting that Doucette, whose previous UN tours of Cyprus were his only experience of war, didn't really want. He comforts himself with the thought that it couldn't be that bad, adding, "I could not figure out why all the military observers who had been 'in country' kept wishing me luck."
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http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4742487410373715914

Is one week in Iraq worth a year of veterans care?

It is the Least We Can Do for Their Sacrifice: One Week of War Spending
Posted February 29, 2008 10:13 AM (EST)


Senator Jim Webb has reintroduced an updated version of what he has dubbed "21st Century GI Bill" framed on the wildly successful GI Bill from World War II. With this war dragging on for six and one half years and our troops involuntary serving tour after tour, it is the least we can do for them. There are many other issues that we need to address to help our returning troops but this is a broad based program that will give a hand to all the troops who have served since 9/11.




Webb is co-sponsoring this bill with Senator Hagel and Senator Lautenberg and yesterday they got the important support of moderate Republican John Warner. His support will hopefully give cover for other Republicans to vote for this measure. For any of those who claim that it is too expensive, consider this: The estimated yearly cost for this program is $2 billion -- equivalent to one week of spending on this war.

Long established veteran groups, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and new veteran groups such as Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) have endorsed this legislation.

Many of us have fathers who took advantage of the World War II GI bill. My father did and has told me stories of how crowded the universities were after World War II with veterans, many who may not have otherwise gone to college, taking advantage of a program that they earned. According to Senator Webb's research, out of a war time veteran population of 15 million, approximately 7.8 million took advantage of the program. Webb also claims that for every dollar invested in the WWII program, seven dollars were generated. This was a program that educated that greatest generation and helped build the base for the country we live in today. It was the WWII GI bill generation of engineers and scientists that built our space program, put men on the moon, developed the transistor and laid the basis for the digital computer.
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16,269 exposed to chemicals not notified of health issues?

The Pentagon hired a contractor to try to identify more veterans, but GAO found the project lacked sufficient oversight. For example, in 2007, a contractor identified 2,300 people exposed to biological tests at Fort Detrick, Md., in “Operation Whitecoat,” which ran from the early 1950s to the early 1970s.

VA, DoD urged to find chemical-exposed vets

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 1, 2008 7:56:47 EST

The Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department must work harder to find tens of thousands of veterans involved in military chemical and biological weapons tests since World War II, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report.

“As this population becomes older, it will become more imperative for DoD and VA to identify and notify these individuals in a timely manner because they might be eligible for health care or other benefits,” according to the GAO report.

The classified tests exposed people to various agents. Some were simulated, but many were not. The list included blister and nerve agents, biological agents, PCP and LSD, in a series of tests over several decades known as “Project 112.”

According to the GAO, the military also exposed healthy adults, psychiatric patients and prison inmates in the experiments.

In some cases, service members volunteered for the tests but were misled about what they would be asked to do.

“Precise information on the number of tests, experiments and participants is not available, and the exact numbers will never be known,” the GAO report states.

Still, in 1993, the Defense Department began trying to find as many as it could. They identified almost 6,000 veterans and 350 civilians who may have been exposed. That search effort ended in 2003.

But in a 2004 study, GAO said the Pentagon should review further data and see if it would be feasible to find more people who may have been exposed.

Defense officials decided that looking further would not yield significant results, but GAO said that decision was “not supported by an objective analysis of the potential costs and benefits,” and that the Pentagon had not documented the criteria for its decision.

Since 2003, the Institutes of Medicine as well as other non-military agencies have found 600 more people.

GAO found that the Defense Department efforts in this area lack consistent objectives and adequate oversight, and officials have not used information gained from previous research that identified exposed people. GAO also aid the process lacks transparency because it has not kept Congress and veterans groups informed of its progress.

VA officials sent letters to only 48 percent of the names provided by the Pentagon because those were the only ones for whom they could find addresses. At least 16,269 known to be living still need to be notified.

Some records have been lost or destroyed, but GAO said VA does not work with the Social Security Administration or the Internal Revenue Service to obtain contact information for veterans.

go here for the rest

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/03/military_chemicalweapons_tests_022908w/

A couple of things really wrong with this aside from the obvious. The VA can and does work with the IRS and Social Security when it involves the ability to collect for treatment classified as "non-service connected" and they did this in the 90's at least because they kept taking our tax refund until my husband's claim was approved. The Pentagon also must work with the IRS and Social Security because they managed to track down the National Guardsman they are sending to jail because he had income from a private job while part of the time he was deployed to Iraq. In other words, when they want to find you, they do.

PTSD:Some Returning Troops Rely on Local Services, Not Military

MENTAL HEALTH CARE
Va. Braces for Veterans' Needs
Some Returning Troops Rely on Local Services, Not Military
By Chris L. Jenkins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 1, 2008; Page B10

Virginia officials are preparing for a sharp increase in requests for community mental health services from troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are concerned that the system will be overwhelmed.

Mental health experts and officials said they are seeing a growing number of recently returned military personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other ailments seeking services from behavioral health clinics.

But with a waiting list of about 5,700 for community mental health services, many officials are concerned that the state will not be able to adequately serve the veterans and family members going to these clinics, operated by what are known as community services boards.

State officials said they are preparing for a 15 percent increase over the next decade in people seeking services from the state's mental health network, especially in emergency situations. That does not include family members who might need counseling. The issue is of particular concern in Virginia because the state has the third highest number of military service members in the country, behind California and Texas.

"This is a population that we're going to have to think about for some time," said James Reinhard, commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services. "We're concerned and believe that [the population] is going to clearly have an impact on our services."
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Staff Sgt. Steven Vickerman died of wounds but won't be counted

How many more will it take before all of them get help? How many more will die because this nation decided they could wait before help was available for all who needed it?

Carole and Richard Vickerman visit their son's grave Feb. 28, 2008 at the Rockland Cemetery in Sparkill, two days after his funeral. Their son, Staff Sgt. Steven Vickerman, who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder

For Palisades native, war trauma ends in suicide
Video by Angela Gaul
“We’re still in shock. Our son was a proud Marine. He served his country honorably and we don’t know what happened to him,” said Carole Vickerman, who buried her son Feb. 26, 2008 at Rockland Cemetery.

Video

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080229/VIDEO01/80229043/0/rss01

For Palisades native, war trauma ends in suicide
By Hannan Adely • The Journal News • March 1, 2008



PALISADES - After two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps Reserve, Steven Vickerman tried to resume a normal life at home with his wife, but he could not shake a feeling of despair.

His parents, Richard and Carole Vickerman of Palisades, went to visit him at a veterans hospital after he suffered a mental breakdown; they were in disbelief. The funny and adventurous baby brother had become sullen, withdrawn and full of anxiety. Vickerman, who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, killed himself Feb. 19.


"We're still in shock. Our son was a proud Marine. He served his country honorably, and we don't know what happened to him," said Carole Vickerman, who buried her son Tuesday at Rockland Cemetery in Sparkill.

As soldiers return from service in Iraq and Afghanistan, many are unprepared to deal with the anxiety and depression stemming from their experiences in war. Some seek help from the Veterans Health Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, but become frustrated by paperwork and long waits for counseling and care. Others feel too proud or embarrassed to seek help at all, or believe they can tough it out with time. Despair drives many to take their own lives, according to reports and experts.

The Veterans Health Administration estimated in a May 2007 report that 1,000 suicides occurred per year among veterans who received care within the VHA and as many as 5,000 per year among all veterans. At the same time, the number of returning veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder is surging, according to studies and veterans advocacy groups.

Families like the Vickermans often feel overwhelmed by the guilt and helplessness that surrounds post-traumatic stress disorder. The Vickermans wanted to help their son but did not know where to look for support services or how to deal with the effects of the illness.

The VA, they believed, had failed their son. The services available, they said, were insufficient, and the government should do more to address the issue for returning war vets.

"There should be something that can be done, not only for the proud soldiers but also for their families," Carole Vickerman said. "When you hear the word 'stress,' it sounds so innocuous. It's not stress; it's a killer."

Steven Vickerman, a Tappan Zee High School graduate, enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1998. A whiz at technical jobs and an electrician by trade, the staff sergeant served as a small arms technician with Marine Aircraft Group 49, Detachment B, at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh.

His first tour in Iraq was interrupted when he returned home to be with his older brother, who was dying of a brain tumor. Robert died at age 35. Vickerman served a second tour and was honorably discharged in 2005.

About two weeks ago, Vickerman's wife went on a business trip in New York City and could not reach her husband by phone. The Vickermans also could not reach him.

They called his therapist, who was scheduled to see him on a Wednesday, but Vickerman missed his appointment. The therapist called police, who found Vickerman dead at his home, where he had hanged himself.
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008803010370

Staff Sgt. Steven Vickerman died of a combat wound. Yet his death will not be counted as a price paid by those we send. None of the thousands of others wounded will be counted when this nation let them down and they lost their battle with the enemy that followed them home.

While they are deployed with the rest of their unit, they have the men and women they serve with watching their backs. If they are wounded by a bullet, the others try to rescue them. If they are blown up, the rest of their unit using everything they have to save their lives. Yet when they are wounded by PTSD, all the rules are broken, the sense of urgency to act to save their lives is ignored and some are even attacked for being wounded in this way.

When they come home, their military family is no where to be found as they return to their families back home. They try to cope, adjust, get on with their lives, but for some it is impossible when they try to seek help with the DOD or the VA. They feel they are battling this enemy alone.

Vickerman will be added as a number but not part of the honorably deceased names when monuments of the sacrifice are built. His wound did not come with a Purple Heart. Vickerman is just one more of the thousands of others who died because they were wounded.

There is a great debate going on that you do not hear about within the units of those who commit suicide while deployed. Some feel as if the suicide is nothing to honor while others see it as a true wound and the death should be just as honored as the life lived. Those who want to honor it as equally as a bullet or bomb death, see PTSD as another wound. Why can't the rest of them?

What will it take for this nation to add these names, these lives, these stories into the history books of war? What will it take this nation to stop separating PTSD wounds from the rest of the wounds the men and women serving this nation suffer from?

If they really wanted to end the stigma of PTSD the best place to start is to fully acknowledge PTSD for what it is and that's a combat wound.

My husband will be wounded for the rest of his life and his service, his acknowledged risk of life ended in 1971, but the real risk to his life is an ongoing battle. He fights to stay alive everyday by taking his medication and going for therapy. It all works to keep him stabilized. He is not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of other Vietnam veterans like him, Korean veterans, Gulf War veterans and now this new generation of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. Our family is not alone and neither are the rest of the families like Vickerman's family. We all care for the wounded as if their lives depended on it because they do. To us, they are wounded by combat, wounded by their service to this nation and they should be regarded as what they are. The time to stop separating this wound from all the other wounds should have ended as soon as we understood what PTSD was. A wounded caused by trauma.

There is nothing more traumatic than combat or the events involved with combat operations. They would not have been wounded if they did not go. They would not have nightmares and flashbacks of the horror if they were not sent. We need to acknowledge this and honor it.



Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"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

Herseth Sandlin discusses mental health issues for vets

Herseth Sandlin discusses mental health issues for vets
By Peter Harriman
pharrima@argusleader.com
PUBLISHED: February 29, 2008

The U.S. faces a looming mental health crisis associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to comments made during a roundtable discussion with Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin today.

Herseth Sandlin says she is frustrated that Congress and high ranking veterans health officials are not doing more creative thinking to deal with it.

In a 90-minute session covering education benefits, timely payments and various other issues for recent military veterans, more than an hour was devoted to anecdotes about shortcomings in the delivery of mental health services, suggestions how to improve it, and Herseth Sandlin’s inquiries to participants.

Afterwards she said “the focus needs to be on the vet not on the system.” While a veterans health care system concentrated in VA facilities works well for things like getting veterans access to prescription drugs, “with mental health we’ve got to think outside the box and utilize the resources we’re going to make available in Washington to greatest effect,” she said.
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Walz works to ensure quality oversight at VA

February 29, 2008
Walz works to ensure quality oversight at VA
While the three Republican candidates have been squabbling in their quest to be able to be their party's nominee, Representative Walz has been in Washington D.C. doing his job. One of his committee assignments is on the House Veterans Affairs committee.

Here's a press release from his office about the congressman's efforts to adequately fund VA'swatchdog agency, the Office of the Inspector General:

This week, Congressman Walz continued the fight to ensure quality care and oversight at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by pushing to adequately fund the VA's watchdog agency known as the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

Walz, who organized the effort with the support of several of his House colleagues, said that the VA OIG monitors VA spending and contracts to make sure the taxpayers' money is being spent wisely. The OIG also evaluates VA clinics and reports any substandard care.

Walz and his colleagues sent a bipartisan letter to the Chairman of the Budget Committee, asking him to reject the budget cuts requested by the Bush Administration for the VA OIG.

"Last year, the Democratic-led Congress increased the budget for the VA's watchdog and in doing so, expanded its oversight and ability to protect our veterans," said Walz, a 24 year veteran of the National Guard. "This year, the President's budget request asked Congress to cut employees from the VA's watchdog office and reduce its ability to stop fraud and waste at the VA. That's unacceptable."

Walz said that the VA OIG provides a return of $11 for every $1 invested. By reviewing contracts between the VA and private businesses hired to assist our veterans, the OIG ensures that veterans are receiving the highest level of care from these contractors.

At a Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee hearing on January 29, representatives from the VA OIG testified that with more funding, their office would be able to more effectively evaluate the quality of care at VA facilities across the country. In short, the experts said, increased funding for the OIG would improve care at the VA, which all veterans deserve.

Walz concluded, "It makes no sense to cut funds from an office that both saves the government money and protects America's veterans. Our soldiers served this country with honor and distinction. We owe them nothing less than the highest quality care and the Office of the Inspector General is a key player in making sure that happens."


Posted by Ollie Ox on February 29, 2008
http://www.bluestemprairie.com/a_bluestem_prairie/2008/02/walz-works-to-e.html