Friday, February 20, 2009

Ex-homeless veteran nominated for CNN Hero Award

Former addict gives homeless veterans a second chance
CNN - USA
Former addict gives homeless veterans a second chance
Story Highlights
Roy Foster's program helps veterans facing addiction and homelessness

Foster, an Army vet, struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse

Since 2000, about 900 vets have found life-changing help at Foster's facility

Nominate your hero at CNN.com/Heroes
PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- Following a faint trail through a dense patch of woods in Florida's Palm Beach County, Roy Foster is a man on a mission.

Foster, 53, is searching for homeless veterans -- and he knows where to look.

Whether in a vacant lot behind a supermarket or a small clearing off the highway, homeless vets aren't that hard to find: One in three homeless adults has served in the military, and more than 150,000 veterans nationwide are homeless on any given night, according to the Veterans Administration.

Working with the sheriff's homeless outreach unit, Foster finds vets camped in tents or makeshift lean-tos, where he delivers a message: There's help for you if you want it.

"For our heroes to be living in [these] conditions, it's totally unacceptable," said Foster.

Since 2000, approximately 900 veterans have found life-changing help at Foster's facility, Stand Down House. Named for the military command that gives troops time to rest after arduous duty, the program provides homeless male vets food, shelter and a safe place to recover, as well as the tools to conquer their personal problems.

"The idea is that they can relax now; we'll take care of them," Foster said.

Foster's motivation to help these men is personal: He used to be one of them.

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Battlemind study leaves too many questions

by
Chaplain Kathie

There has been something bothering me all week about the post I did on Battlemind. The word "reported" has been nagging at me. Given the fact suicides and attempted suicides have gone up, reports of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering in astronomical numbers, tells me that this program has not worked, but it's not just what I think. It's what they think that causes the concern.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial?
Among soldiers who returned from Iraq and participated in "Battlemind Training," fewer reported sleep problems, and there were less-severe post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, compared with soldiers who had received either no post-deployment mental health training or a briefing about stress, according to research psychologists with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.


Battlemind begins by telling the troops they can toughen their minds to prepare for combat. This is the biggest problem of all because anything the instructor says after this point is pointless. Once this message is delivered the serviceman gets it into their brain conscience that if they end up having mental health problems after this, it's their fault because they were not tough enough to prepare their brain.

There are several questions that need to be asked if we are ever going to understand how the military can claim Battlemind is a success when all evidence points to it not working.


How many units use Battlemind?
What is the suicide rate of soldiers in each unit?
What is the attempted suicide rate each unit?
How many times are the soldiers interviewed?
Are they interviewed with questions that verify truthful answers? (In other words, trick questions that if they answer a question one way, they answer it another way later.)
Are they tested along with the interview? (This is important because of the stigma associated with PTSD and the reluctance to admit they have a problem.)
Does the military track these soldiers at regular intervals to see if PTSD symptoms present later? ( This is another important issue because many times PTSD symptoms do not surface right away, are mild or combat veterans are able to "stuff" the trauma until a secondary stressor hits and they go over the edge.)
Are families interviewed when the soldier comes home?
Are families interviewed at regular intervals after?
Are soldiers records tracked when problems arise with domestic violence, divorce, arrests, homelessness or a host of other issues PTSD is usually the root of?

This is just a start of questions that need to be answered to know if Battlemind really works or does more harm. The program itself has some good points but once the message of mental toughness is delivered, they are apt to take away it's their fault and deny they have a problem. Telling them they can train their brain adds to the stigma of being wounded.

There are two obvious results pointing to the need to toss Battlemind. One is the rise in suicides and attempted suicides. The other is the fact there are many other programs units are developing on their own. The Montana National Guard is using their own program and it has been so well produced that President Obama intends to take it national. If Battlemind worked, then there would have been no need for something else.

PTSD comes with a series of complexities. I would really like to know all these answers if I am ever going to change my mind about the usefulness of this especially when the BBC did a report with our troops in Afghanistan showing that there is 11 1/2 minutes of Battlemind training within two days of briefings they receive after they arrive in theater. Think of being exposed to all that is crammed into their brains in those two days and the tiny fraction of Battlemind begins with telling them if they don't toughen their brains, they'll end up with PTSD.
web sitehttp://www.namguardianangel.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

Thursday, February 19, 2009

A new low:Girl Scouts robbed as they sell cookies outside store

Girl Scouts robbed as they sell cookies outside store
Reported by: Aubrey Mika Chancellor


Two little girls and their troop leader were robbed outside a North Side store Wednesday night. The Brownie troop leader became emotional as she told News 4 WOAI how she witnessed the thief steal from the two 3rd graders.

"They didn't take it from me. They took it from my girls," the troop leader said.

The 9-year-olds had set up and sold their cookies at the Walgreens in the Medical Center several times before, and everything had been fine. But Wednesday night, a man stole all of their hard-earned money.
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linked from CNN

2 more illnesses tied to Fort Leonard Wood

2 more illnesses tied to Leonard Wood
By Jim Salter - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 19, 2009 21:30:57 EST

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Two more people with ties to Missouri’s Fort Leonard Wood Army base were treated for meningitis-like symptoms, raising more concerns at the base where two soldiers have died this month from the disease.

Both soldiers died of a bacterial form of the illness. Speaking Thursday first at a news conference and then at a community forum, base officials said they had just learned of two additional possible cases.

A male nurse on the base was diagnosed with viral meningitis, but responded well to treatment and was expected to be released soon from an off-base hospital, said Lt. Col. John Lowery, the base medical director.
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The Long, Lonely Road Home

The long, lonely road home
A local recruit's tragic death illustrates how the military
has redeployed soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan despite mental heath concerns

New Times SLO - San Luis Obispo,CA,USA
A local recruit's tragic death illustrates how the military has
BY AARON GLANTZ
On August 26, 2007, U.S. Army Specialist John Fish had already served a tour in Iraq and was training for a second deployment, to Afghanistan, when he walked into the New Mexico desert leaving a suicide note behind. “I have some things to take care of,” the 19-year-old wrote. “I won’t be coming back.”

Three days later, an Army search party found his body; a bullet lodged in his skull, service weapon by his side. Fish’s ashes were flown back to the Central Coast, to his mother and stepsister in Paso Robles and a memorial service at Camp Roberts.

“The Army was very good about showing up and trying to make arrangements,” Fish’s mother Cathy told New Times. In addition to the funeral, the military offered the family grief counseling and organized the mailing of hundreds of condolences cards from all over the country. But she hastened to add, “They can never bring my son back.”

Today, John Fish’s remains rest in a small, wooden, U.S. military-issued box on a shelf in the family living room, where a photograph of a uniformed, crew-cut soldier graces the modest home’s entryway. John’s mother works the night shift as a licensed vocational nurse at nearby Vineyard Hills Health Center.
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HBO and Kevin Bacon Taking Chance

Very few of us get to witness grace when their bodies come home. There is no other way to put the events surrounding taking them home. I hope my impression of this movie holds true because it seems to be able to bring the emotional connection this nation has been missing.





Los Angeles Times

'Taking Chance:' A tale not of war, but honor and goodness

Kevin Bacon stars as a Marine escorting the casket of a slain Marine across the U.S.
By Tony Perry
February 20, 2009
During the Persian Gulf war in 1991, Michael Strobl was a lieutenant in a Marine artillery unit in the thick of the action.

By the time the Marines led the U.S. assault into Iraq in 2003, Strobl had been promoted to lieutenant colonel and had a desk job crunching manpower numbers at Quantico, Va.

Nagged by a sense that he should be at the front rather than behind a desk, Strobl volunteered as a military escort for a Marine killed near Ramadi. Strobl's assignment was to accompany the casket of Pvt. Chance Phelps from the military mortuary at Dover, Del., to Phelps' hometown in Wyoming for burial.
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'Taking Chance:' A tale not of war, but honorLos Angeles Times - CA,USA


Homeless man commits suicide at Crystal Cathedral



Man commits suicide at Crystal Cathedral
By Tony Barboza Wed, 18 Feb 2009 9:52:16 PM
Steve Smick, a former Whittier resident who police say was homeless, shoots himself at the foot of a cross while a volunteer is conducting a tour.
By Tony Barboza
February 19, 2009
A man walked into the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove on Wednesday, knelt down at the foot of a cross and fatally shot himself in the head.

The man entered the sanctuary about 9:40 a.m. and gave a handwritten note to a church volunteer. He then walked to the front of the pews, knelt before the cross and removed a semiautomatic handgun from his backpack.
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5 churches join forces to help Orlando's homeless

5 churches join forces to help Orlando's homeless
Kate Santich Sentinel Staff Writer
February 19, 2009
For nearly three decades, Orlando has tried to figure out what to do with the homeless in the heart of the city. First, officials opened shelters in Parramore to move them away from downtown businesses. Then they banned panhandling. They shooed them from parks. They even arrested those who fed them.

But now downtown church leaders are taking a different tack: They hope to open a drop-in center near Lake Eola that welcomes the homeless and gives them a place to go during the day.

The first fundraising event for the ambitious project is Friday evening.

"I know I've been overwhelmed by the human need I see out there," said associate pastor Case Thorp of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, one of the leaders of the effort. "Everybody else has just been waiting for the right time, the right facility, the right energy, the right money to come together. And we think the time is now."



The Downtown Orlando Homeless Service Center, the project's working title, would feature a "day lounge" where people can rest, shower, do laundry, and check e-mail and community voice mail. Lay teams would offer Christian fellowship, and case managers would help the homeless find jobs, get mental-health and addiction counseling, and connect to other social services.


Building on Wall Street

The group already has located a 16,000-square-foot building it can use for the center rent-free.

St. George Orthodox Church has agreed to lease the building it owns at 137 Wall St. for the cause. In return, the projects' backers will renovate the interior -- at an estimated $2 million -- and set aside room for a multicultural center that is part of St. George's vision.
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$125 Billion in Iraq? "Thousands of dollars stuffed into pizza boxes"

Seems like the same senators crying over the bailouts right now should have really been crying over all of this going on, but hey, no problem when it came to giving Bush blank checks for Iraq. Thousands stuffed in pizza boxes and brown bags but they scream about taking care of the tax payers in trouble because of what they did?


Inquiry on Graft in Iraq Focuses on U.S. Officers
By JAMES GLANZ, C.J. CHIVERS and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: February 14, 2009
Federal authorities examining the early, chaotic days of the $125 billion American-led effort to rebuild Iraq have significantly broadened their inquiry to include senior American military officers who oversaw the program, according to interviews with senior government officials and court documents.



Before he was shot on a road north of Baghdad, Mr. Stoffel drew a portrait worthy of a pulp crime novel: tens of thousands of dollars stuffed into pizza boxes and delivered surreptitiously to the American contracting offices in Baghdad, and payoffs made in paper sacks that were scattered in “dead drops” around the Green Zone, the nerve center of the United States government’s presence in Iraq, two senior federal officials said.

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story linked from http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx

Missing Fort Bragg Soldier Found

Bragg soldier located in Little Rock, Ark.
By Jon Gambrell - The Associated PressPosted : Thursday Feb 19, 2009 11:23:08 EST

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sheriff’s deputies say they have found a North Carolina soldier missing since Feb. 10.
Hot Spring County sheriff’s deputies say they took 22-year-old Spc. Joseph E. Putnam into custody late Wednesday night at a mobile home park near the county line. Investigator Robert Terry told The Associated Press that Putnam was involuntarily committed and taken to a Malvern hospital for treatment.
Terry says Putnam, who has family in Bismarck, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving a tour in Iraq. He apparently left Fort Bragg and took a bus to Arkansas, where surveillance camera footage at an ATM showed him withdrawing money.
Putnam is a member of the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_ark_bragg_soldier_021909/