Friday, June 25, 2010

BP Oil claims one more life after Captain committed suicide

Family: Oil disaster devastated captain who committed suicide
By Rich Phillips, CNN
June 25, 2010 1:49 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Authorities: 55-year-old boat captain committed suicide
Allen Kruse had been helping with BP cleanup for past two weeks
Captain did not leave note, but relatives say oil disaster devastated him
Orange Beach, Alabama (CNN) -- On Thursday evening, a boat returned to its dock without its captain -- his vibrant personality and smile gone. On the dock was a wreath memorializing the Gulf fisherman known as "Rookie."

His family and friends say "Rookie," whose real name was Allen Kruse, was stressed beyond belief by the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf. On Thursday, a coroner ruled his sudden, tragic death a suicide.

Kruse, 55, a charter boat captain who had been hired by BP to help clean Gulf waterways and render them safe, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday on board one of his own vessels.

"Most definitely a suicide," said Rod Steade Sr., deputy coroner for Baldwin County, Alabama. "No question about it."

Kruse shot himself with his own gun, kept on board his boat, which was also named "Rookie." He sent two of his deckhands on an errand before killing himself. He did not leave a note, and none of his friends suspected he would do something so extreme.
read more here
Oil disaster devastated captain who committed suicide

June 27 National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day

Senate passes PTSD Awareness Day resolution

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jun 25, 2010 11:04:53 EDT

BISMARCK, N.D. — The Senate has passed a resolution designating June 27 as National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day.

The resolution was authored by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

Conrad said the stress of war might create wounds for soldiers that are less visible than others but are no less real. PTSD symptoms include anxiety, anger and depression.

Conrad said more must be done to educate troops, veterans, families and communities about the disorder and the resources and treatments available.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/06/ap_ptsd_awareness_day_062510/

Researchers delve into neural roots of courage

Snakes on the Brain
Researchers delve into neural roots of courage.
Posted: June 24, 2010


By Laura Sanders, Science News

Researchers now can say what would happen in Samuel L. Jackson’s brain if he really were to confront snakes on a plane. In a terrifying sequel to that movie scenario, researchers convinced volunteers to bring a slithery serpent within centimeters of their heads while they lay trapped in a brain scanner.


The experiment, published June 24 in Neuron, allowed researchers to watch brain activity as people chose to quell their fear and bring the snake closer to their heads, offering a glimpse into the courageous brain. Understanding how the brain chooses to overcome fearful impulses may help scientists treat people with phobias, panic disorders or PTSD.

“This is a breakthrough study that will set the stage for a whole new area of work related to the brain and fear,” says neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux of New York University, who was not involved in the research.

Scientists have figured out much of what happens in the brain during fear, LeDoux says, but almost nothing is known about the ability to overcome the reaction.
read more here
Snakes on the Brain

Share Your Story

Our story with this has been out there for too many years to be able to tell it in a few words. My husband ended up beating it by getting help for the right problem. When he was treated for PTSD, he began to heal but first he needed to be able to understand what was happening to him. Then he had the power to heal.

This is a great idea and if you want to tell your story, please share it with About.com. I use a lot of their information on my videos and this site. Share your story so that someone going through the same thing across the country will be helped by reading your story and how you healed.

PTSD Blog
By Matthew Tull, PhD, About.com Guide to PTSD

Share Your Story
Thursday June 24, 2010
It is common for people with PTSD to develop substance use problems, including alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and smoking. This is not incredibly surprising given the high level of distress that coincides with the experience of PTSD symptoms . As a result, people with PTSD may seek out ways to "self-medicate" their symptoms. Substance use may work well in the short-term, but in the end, substance use leads to a whole host of problems and the addiction can be very difficult to overcome.
If you have suffered from and overcome a substance use problem, share your story with others on how you overcame your addiction. If you still suffer from substance use, you may find the help you need in this article by reading the stories of others who found their way out of their addiction.

Five Missouri National Guard Troops Committed Suicide In Six Months

The fact this has happened in the first six months of this year should be an awakening for the military and communities around the nation that what they've been doing has not worked. All the reports of what they've been trying has been a series of repeated mistakes. It is not that they don't care but more a case of being ill advised. They keep asking the same people to come up with solutions when that stopped making sense a long time ago. To think the same group of people would have anything new to suggest would mean they were holding back before this. It's like trying to get blood out of a stone.

Here's a suggestion that has worked in a lot of parts of the country in the civilian world. Crisis teams fully trained to deal with trauma and the aftermath. Some communities have enlisted the experts from mental health, Chaplains to take care of the spiritual aspects and therapist offering help thru programs like yoga and martial arts to help them learn how to calm anxiety, relieve stress and reduce anger. All of them have to be trained in their professions and receive more training on trauma. Without the specialized training on trauma, there isn't much they can really do to help.

The other thing they have to do is to train the families. It's gotten past the point when simply understanding the problem is sufficient. They need to understand but above that, they need to know what to look for and how to respond to it.

This is not impossible. In 1982 I learned the hard way. I married into the world of a Vietnam veteran at a time when no one was talking about PTSD. I faced having to learn all of this on my own with virtually no support in doing so simply because my family didn't understand. I was constantly advised to get a divorce just because they didn't have any knowledge on the subject. They were limited to the term "crazy Nam vet" and that was the end of what they were willing to understand. They were not alone but I was.

Time went on and little by little they understood more and supported me more in the process. We can do it today. The simple fact you're reading this blog proves how far we've come since those lonely days of searching for information in clinical books. We have hundreds of thousands of reports online to find what we need to know, yet there are countless families with absolutely no idea what it is they need to find. Support groups are vital but there are simply not enough of them. Families are on the front lines but when it comes to information and understanding, they are unarmed. The citizen soldiers pay for this instead of receiving what they need to heal. It's simply not enough to just point the finger at the military and the VA.

They need what the VA has to offer but unless they reinstate support groups for families along with providing them with the tools to help the veteran heal, we will continue to see numbers of suicides, attempted suicides, homelessness and divorces rise.

Holding a marriage together is hard enough but when you add in combat and PTSD, it becomes nearly impossible to stay together. I know for a fact if I didn't know what I knew, I wouldn't have been able to get past the dark days into better days. We've been married almost 26 years! They do not have to die because they've lost hope of healing. They do not have to become so despondent the end seems to be the only solution. They do need the rest of us to find reasons to stay. We can get there but only if the military and the VA listens to what really needs to be done and these steps are not nearly as expensive as what they've been trying to do.

They've paid out millions of dollars for programs that are repeated mistakes wasting money and more troubling, wasting lives. Maybe this report of the five suicides in six months will wake them up. After all, we're talking about the numbers from the Missouri National Guard alone and that is a very troubling piece of news.

Five Missouri National Guard Troops Commit Suicide So Far This Year
Written by Jennifer Moore
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, sits on the US Armed Services Committee. She says already this year, five soldiers in the Missouri National Guard have taken their own lives—that’s a record high, she says.

On Tuesday, the Armed Services Committee talked about the shortfall of mental health professionals in the military. McCaskill says one solution is to hire licensed mental health counselors without supervision.

“The military is moving forward on that, and they are working to fill 225 vacancies across the military with very-much needed mental health professionals,” she says.

McCaskill also talked about protecting a soldier’s confidentiality if he or she comes forward seeking mental health treatment, and embedding a mental health counselor in each National Guard unit across the state.
go here for more
http://www.ksmu.org/content/view/6869/66/


Here's a video I made for the National Guard troops. Our citizen soldiers need more help and support and they are waiting.



And then we have this from Florida

Community Leaders Say Listening to Military, Soldiers' Stories is Key to Prevent Suicide

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Nearly as many American troops have committed suicide this year as have been killed in combat in Afghanistan, according to published reports.

The U.S. government's top psychiatric researcher said that's because of inadequate mental health care for soldiers.

Last month, a study was published that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post traumatic stress disorder.

The military said so far this year, roughly 60 soldiers have committed suicide, and about 50 other deaths are still under investigation but have not been confirmed as suicides.

Jacksonville doctor, Justin D'Arienzo said while military suicides are shocking, they are for the most part on track with civilian suicide rates.

Judy Edwards, the president and founder of the Florida Blue Stars Mom, Chapter 1, said her son, 24-year old Army Spt. Nicholas Edwards is on his third deployment to Iraq.

"He has never really exhibited (suicidal thoughts) but it has been in the back of my mind because you hear so much about it here at home," said Edwards.
read more here
Community Leaders Say Listening to Military

Thursday, June 24, 2010

USS Cowpens sailor dies after fall from ship

USS Cowpens sailor dies after fall from ship
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 24, 2010
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS Cowpens sailor who fell roughly 100 feet off the ship and into a dry dock Thursday morning at Yokosuka Naval Base died from his injuries, 7th Fleet officials said.

The death is being investigated as a possible suicide, 7th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Davis said on Thursday.
read more here
USS Cowpens sailor dies after fall from ship

Last South Dakota code talker from World War II laid to rest

Last South Dakota code talker from World War II laid to rest
By Associated Press

June 23, 2010
STURGIS, S.D. (AP) — The last of the American Indian code talkers of South Dakota who served during World War II has been laid to rest.

Clarence Wolf Guts of Wanblee was buried Tuesday in Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis. The 86-year-old Wolf Guts died June 16 at the South Dakota Veterans Home in Hot Springs.

Wolf Guts was one of 11 Lakota, Nakota and Dakota code talkers from South Dakota. During the war, they transmitted messages from an Army general to his chief of staff in the field using their native language, which the Germans and the Japanese could not translate.
read more here
South Dakota code talker laid to rest

McChrystal firing necessary to preserve integrity

DOD leaders: McChrystal firing necessary to preserve integrity
By Kevin Baron
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 24, 2010

ARLINGTON, Va. — The top military officer in the country, Adm. Mike Mullen, said he felt sick the very moment he read the Rolling Stone article that led to the swift dismissal of Afghanistan war commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said they strongly supported President Barack Obama’s decision to remove McChrystal, who offered his resignation at the White House on Wednesday.

At a somber Pentagon press conference, Gates said the “poor judgment” of the former International Security Forces Afghanistan commander, “has made his continued service in that post and as a member of the national security team untenable.”

“The statements and attitudes reported in the news media are unacceptable under our form of government and inconsistent with the high standards expected of military leaders,” he said, also citing the general’s off-color quips made last September in London about an alternative war strategy backed by Vice President Joe Biden.
read more here
McChrystal firing necessary to preserve integrity

Pentagon ignored payments to warlords

Congress: Pentagon ignored payments to warlords

By Richard Lardner - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 22, 2010 23:16:19 EDT

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on Tuesday criticized military officials for failing to heed warnings about the role they say a Pentagon transportation contract plays in fueling extortion and corruption in Afghanistan.

Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., said at a hearing that the trucking companies hired to move food, water, fuel and ammunition to American troops stationed at bases across Afghanistan are forced to pay warlords millions of dollars to ensure safe passage through dangerous areas.

The spoils may then be funneled to the Taliban and insurgent forces with ties to the warlords, potentially making the U.S. an unwitting financier of the enemy.

“U.S. taxpayer dollars are feeding a protection racket in Afghanistan that would make Tony Soprano proud,” Tierney said, referring to the fictional mob leader in the TV series “The Sopranos.”
read more here
Pentagon ignored payments to warlords

American casualties total 500,000

Yes it is true they hide the real numbers, but even these numbers are low. Many people working with the troops know we're already past the million mark. Very sad.

IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN: American casualties total 500,000, counting injury and disease, writer claims
June 24, 2010 10:07 am
Here's an eye-popping number:

A blogger and writer claims American military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan now exceed 500,000.

That's if you count certain injuries and diseases including mental illness that he alleges the Department of Defense doesn't include in its official combat-related casualty toll in an effort to soften U.S. military losses in the wars and win funding for them from the Congress.

For example, cases of traumatic brain injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, as a result of serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are excluded from the official list of casualties.
"Under this scheme, chronic injuries and many acute internal injuries such as hearing impairment, back injuries, mild traumatic brain injuries, mental health problems and a host of diseases suffered by personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan are usually not counted as being war-related regardless of how debilitating they are," writes Matthew Nasuti in an article published on the Afghan news site and media organization Kabul Press. "They are either generally lumped into the category of 'non-hostile wounded' or simply not counted at all."


Masuti is a former Air Force captain and Los Angeles deputy city attorney who worked for the State Department in Iraq for a spell. He's now a critic of the U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The writer claims that 95% of injured soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen were not reported as casualties due to what he refers to as the Pentagon's "fudging the numbers" in a bid to win funding from American lawmakers to finance the wars.
read more here
American casualties total 500,000

Two great new videos

My friend Shelia over at Agent Orange Quilt of Tears sent the following links.

I Fought For You



Veterans of different ages take their family members to a nearly empty theater. A grandfather takes his two grandsons, hoping somehow to get them to understand. Another young child joins them in playing with toys soldiers instead of watching the film as the two grandchildren play with their electronic gear. Soon one of them begins to watch the film. One by one the disconnected connected to a part of their family member's life. Three active military young soldiers walk in the back of the theater and they all stand up to salute and applaud. Did they finally get the message about what true sacrifice is all about? I believe anyone would have.

Then we have this video on the fallen. Simply put together but very powerful giving numbers as I did in the Memorial video I made but making it very clear these are not numbers, but real people no longer here so that the rest of us could enjoy what they left behind. Our freedom!

Memorial Day Signs and Numbers



Watch both videos and you'll be glad you did.

These are the numbers they left out of the video they did.

Shocking New VA Scandal Uncovered by VAWatchDog

Like most Vietnam vets, after years of no help at all, they have to go to see their VA doctors on a regular basis to stay stabilized yet when they need to be sure they have a stable support force behind them, they are told their appointments need to be cut back. Just too many new veterans flooding the system to have time for all of them. So they are given medication enough to last about three months until they can find the time to see them again. It's not the doctors fault they don't have enough of them to fill the needs but it is however the fault of the people in charge to properly plan and staff based on the needs of the future.

It is not just mental health that is an issue for disabled veterans. They get sent to another part of their state or to a different state to receive the medical care they need. Appointments are canceled or changed without notice and for those seen on a regular basis, they are spread out too far in between.

The VA has to meet "standards" of care and apparently thanks to Jim Strickland reporting, we now know they found a way to make it look as if they have met the standard by hiding the facts. What they cannot hide is the damage they are doing to the veterans feeling betrayed yet again. For Vietnam veterans with PTSD, they overcame the stigma and lost years but can they overcome this?




VCS Salutes VA Watch Dog;
VCS Urges Congress to Fix VA

Shocking New VA Scandal Uncovered by VAWatchDog - -

VA Staff Manipulate Appointment System, Delay Care

This week, the web site VAWatchDog.org posted an internal VA memo where a top VA leader confirmed the existence of 24 ways to "game" VA's appointment computer system. VA's staff manipulate the computer system to conceal delays in setting medical appointments. Veterans are justifiably outraged.

Deputy Under Secretary for Health William Schoenhard's memo confirms a key point VCS and VA's Inspector General have made for years: VA intentionally misleads veterans and Congress about how VA routinely delays and denies medical care for our veterans. VA leaders now know VA's medical appointment system is broken. We are pleased VA's Schoenhard said the improper practices will not be tolerated.

Schoenhard's memo forces a key leadership test upon VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. Will VA reveal how many veterans over the years were harmed by VA's improper practices? What other ways are used to hide VA's problems scheduling appointments? Will VA re-train staff on the proper use of the appointment system? Will VA leaders hold accountable those VA employees and leaders who delay and deny medical care? We want more facts, more training, and more accountability.



VA DOCUMENT REVEALS HOW THE AGENCY IS "GAMING" VETERANS' MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS
Lists 24 ways that VA employees are "gaming" the dates on medical appointments to make themselves look more efficient while veterans wait for health care.



NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... I have been writing about the waiting list issue since 2004, and VA employees have only gotten better at "gaming" the figures to make it look like they are meeting appointment schedules ... when in reality, veterans are waiting for health care.

I detailed the use of log books for waiting lists before veterans could get on the electronic waiting list. That way, the original date requesting an appointment was not entered into the system. VA employees would wait until an appointment opened up (within 30 days) and then take the vet out of the log book and put them into the system, using that date as the date of request. This made it look like the VA had fulfilled their 30-day appointment commitment to the veteran.





The Games People Play
by Jim Strickland
Has it ever happened to you? Have you shown up for an appointment at your VA Clinic or Medical Center only to be told that you don't have an appointment? Tried to make a convenient appointment 2 months away and were told that the rules don't allow that? Is your appointment scheduled in an old fashioned log book rather than the computerized system VA uses? These are the games that are played with your appointment schedule.

The VA says that it takes pride in your care. The truth be known, VA takes even more pride in keeping score so that everyone looks good on paper. Thus, the system that keeps track of the performance of clinics and hospitals is "gamed" in ways that seem to annoy Mr. Schoenhard. "These (gaming) practices will not be tolerated." he tells his troops, "This is not patient centered care."

read the rest here
http://www.vawatchdog.org/10/nf10/nfjun10/nf062310-1-1.htm

Military’s Mental Health Treatment Leader Steps Down

Is it too late? I believe this should have happened a long time ago when the reports painted a dark future for our troops and thus, an even darker one for our veterans. The numbers of suicides and attempted suicides kept going up at the same time "success" was announced regarding the number of calls flooding into suicide prevention hotlines. The most troubling aspect of the rise in calls was mostly overlooked. No one was asking why they would ever reach the point when taking their own lives was that strong they felt the need to call the suicide prevention hotline in the first place. It should have never, ever gotten so bad so many would think their only option was ending their lives after all the time, money, research and claims had been expended.

We're not new at trying to get rid of the stigma surrounding PTSD. We've been tackling that problem with education since the late 70's along with outreach efforts and support programs. Research has produced very little new information in recent times yet hundreds of millions of dollars are paid out to fund repeated research all asking the same questions and coming up with the same answers. Where's the new thinking? Where have the people on the front lines been in all of this when they should have been listened to?

There are some fantastic things going on regarding PTSD and mental health for combat veterans but the military has been the last ones to look at what the civilian world has been doing.

An example is one of the first videos I made, Wounded Minds, in 2006. The first version of it was created when I was just learning how to make videos. It wasn't that good. Comments left on YouTube were telling me the slides moved too fast to read, the color was hard on the eyes and it was clear it had to be remade. Yet even given this I was contacted by psychologists as well as military personnel for permission to use the video. They said there was nothing like it available to them. This was four years ago! Two versions later the Wounded Minds video you see on the sidebar of this blog is the finished one and was seen by thousands of viewers. Just as with the rest of the over 30 videos I created, they are able to provide information and support it took more than half my life to learn.

This blog tracks PTSD reports from around the country and I track reports internationally to see what other countries are doing. All the information is out there to find if the military bothered to look across the web. If they were experienced in searching they would know what was news and what was just a bunch of claims with nothing to back any of them up. They would know what kinds of questions to ask when someone claimed to be an expert on PTSD when in fact, other than a medical degree, they had no specialized training on PTSD. They would know the best providers are not only veterans but veterans recovered from PTSD themselves. They would have also learned that families are the best therapy a veteran could ask for. Families are the ones the veterans need the most from and all too often they can setback any therapy because of their own lack of understanding.

It all goes hand in hand.

Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton did the best she could given the military culture of obstructing vision. They operated with rules and regulations so tight it makes it impossible to think outside the box. They have contractors they turn to when they keep providing methods and programs that don't work. They use the same "experts" over and over again no matter how valuable or not their information was. The result is it's too late for far too many veterans and their families just as it is far too late for too many active military because they have already committed suicide.

It is not too late for survivors to actually begin to heal instead of suffering without hope as long as the military finally learns from their mistakes. I have no doubt they have the best intentions even if it is all tied to the expense of taking care of these men and women for the rest of their lives. Even the military knows the sooner PTSD is addressed, the better the healing and less expensive it becomes. Aside from doing the right thing to care for the troops, taking care of them now costs less in the future. It reduces divorce and thus, keeps families together to reduce homelessness. It reduces the severity of disability and thus, cuts down on compensation to be paid out for the rest of the life of the veteran. Doing the right thing early also reduces the problem of keeping trained soldiers in their boots.

I hope the next person to step up to take over this at least has an awareness of the outside world so that more time is not lost and less have to pay the price with needless suffering.


Military’s Mental Health Treatment Leader Steps Down
By Katie Drummond

The director of the military’s top center for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries is resigning, after ongoing criticism of the facility’s inability to cope with the thousands of troops suffering from the “signature wounds” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton announced the decision to staffers at the Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) on Monday, ProPublica is reporting. The center is at the crux of the military’s massive efforts in bolstering both psychological and brain injury-related diagnostics, treatment, prevention and research. Sutton was instrumental in creating the DCoE in 2007, and has held the top job ever since.

The timing of her departure, which has yet to be publicly announced, is another indication of the armed forces’ messy, mismanaged mental health program. Even as the Defense Department unveils a 72,000 square-foot facility dedicated to mental health issues, some legislators are wondering why the military still can’t get a grip on ailing troops.

“This is a total failure,” Rep. Bill Pascrell, co-chairman of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, said last week. “We’re failing to find TBI and post-traumatic stress disorder in an era when the military is trying to find and assist folks who need it.”


And, with the bulk of a 2007 influx of $1.7 billion for mental health-care going to the DCoE, it makes sense that Sutton would shoulder the brunt of the responsibility for the failings.

Even worse for public perception were ongoing media reports, including those from the Washington Post, ABC and NPR/ProPublica, that exposed gaping holes in the military’s abilities to spot traumatic brain injuries and PTSD, which are estimated to afflict one-third of returning troops.



Read More Mental Health Treatment Leader Steps Down

We must heal the wounds of war we cannot see

While eyes cannot see a soul wounded or a mind suffering, aware eyes can see the results. It all depends on if you know what you are looking at or not. You can see it when they talk and their eyes are pointed down as their head tilts. You can see it when their bodies are clearly under stress with jerking muscles, fidgety fingers and pain so deep it shows in their eyes. You can notice it when they refuse to sit in the middle of the room or become more agitated with their back exposed to a door, even if it is closed. You can hear it in their voices during the day, just as the people they live with can hear it in the night when the nightmares come to haunt them. You can see it when they hear a sudden sound or anything that mimics the sounds of combat, like loud thunder, especially down here in Florida. What else you can see is when you look at their families, lost and confused, afraid and troubled by what someone they love is going through just as much as they are confused about what they are doing to the family.

To say you cannot see this wound is to admit you just don't know what you're looking at because the evidence is as visible as it gets.

We must heal the wounds of war we cannot see
By Pete Conaty

For too long, America has been in denial about the true cost of war. We have honored our veterans with our lips but we have refused to acknowledge the wounds we don’t see, the deep, painful psychological scars borne by so many of our veterans. Thankfully, we are at last beginning to recognize the depth of this problem. We are beginning to reach out a helping hand to those men and women who have borne the heat of battle and come home forever changed.


In his State of the State speech, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke eloquently and frankly about these wounded warriors and our obligation to make them whole again: “Too often our soldiers bring back the enemy with them in their heads. We are seeing and hearing all about a lot of post-traumatic stress syndrome . . . Those men and women need help.”


California’s concerted effort to help these veterans, however, dates back nearly three years, when the Armed Force Retirees Association, the Vietnam Veterans of America and other veterans groups won Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature on AB 2586, a groundbreaking law designed to give our most traumatized soldiers a chance to confront and overcome the psychological wounds of war. Under this alternative sentencing law, a judge first determines if a defendant is suffering from combat-caused post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


If he is, the judge can steer the defendant into a psychological treatment program rather than jail. Without treatment, many of our fallen heroes would find themselves trapped in an unending cycle of crime and punishment as they struggle with their inner demons.


Eight months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court faced this issue and came down on the side of California’s law in a landmark ruling on the impact of combat stress on veterans. In that case, the high court reduced the death sentence of Korean War veteran George Porter to life in prison. The Florida jury that sentenced Porter to death in a murder case did not know he had fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. He came back a “changed and traumatized man,” the high court said. The sentencing jury would likely have spared Porter from the death penalty if it had known of his “horrifying” battlefield experiences, the justices said.
read more here
We must heal the wounds of war we cannot see

Dying In Their Sleep: The Invisible Plague Attacking U.S. Soldiers

Dying In Their Sleep: The Invisible Plague Attacking U.S. Soldiers

Cilla McCain
Author, Murder in Baker Company
Posted: June 23, 2010 05:42 PM

While doing research for the book Murder In Baker Company, I came to know many military family members from the support group "Home of the Brave." The group's goal is to help one another gain information and justice in the noncombat related deaths of their loved ones. According to the Department of Defense nearly 1 out of 4 fatalities in the military are noncombat related.

Stan and Shirley White of West Virginia represent one of the "Home of the Brave" families. Three of their four children have served in the armed forces. Two have died because of their time in war. On September 26, 2005, their son Robert, an Army Staff Sergeant, was killed in a rocket attack in Afghanistan. On February 12, 2008, their youngest son, 23 year-old Marine Corporal Andrew White died in his sleep after being treated for PTSD with lethal prescription drugs.

Struggling with PTSD compounded by grief over the death of his brother, Andrew sought help from VA doctors. Their first line of defense was to prescribe him 20 mg. of Paxil, 4 mg of Klonopin and 50 mg of Seroquel. These medications helped at first, but later proved ineffective. Instead of changing the course of treatment, the doctors responded by continually increasing his dosage until the Seroquel alone reached a whopping 1600 mg per day. Within weeks of Andrew's death, three more young West Virginia veterans died while being treated for PTSD with the same drugs, prompting Stan and Shirley White to begin a mission to find out what the deaths have in common.
read more here
Dying In Their Sleep

NPR finds military screens were missing tens of thousands TBI veterans

Senators Press Military To Improve Brain-Wound Care
Categories: Military

05:11 pm

June 23, 2010

by T. Christian Miller, ProPublica, and Daniel Zwerdling, NPR


Senators pressed senior military leaders Tuesday to improve their efforts to address traumatic brain injuries, suicide and other wounds suffered by soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Responding to what he called "disconcerting" reports by NPR and ProPublica, Sen. Carl Levin, (D-Mich.) said at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the military needed to better address the wide range of medical and behavioral problems affecting troops.

Earlier this month, we reported that the military was failing to diagnose and adequately treat troops with brain injuries. Since 2002, official military figures show more than 115,000 soldiers have suffered mild traumatic brain injuries, also called concussions, which leave no visible scars but can cause lasting problems with memory, concentration and other cognitive functions.

But the unpublished studies that we obtained and the experts that we talked to said that military screens were missing tens of thousands of additional cases. We also talked to soldiers at one of the military's largest bases who complained of trouble getting treatment.
read more here
Senators Press Military To Improve Brain-Wound Care

Iraq war veteran Walter Harvin went downhill after beating

Iraq war veteran Walter Harvin went downhill after beating, mom testifies
BY Oren Yaniv
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, June 24th 2010, 4:00 AM


Her hero son's PTSD only got worse after the beating he took from a city cop, an Iraq war veteran's mom testified Wednesday.

And now, he's missing.

"I don't know if my son is alive or dead," said Cora Page, 46, of son Walter Harvin, who was seen cuffed and on the ground, taking baton blow after baton blow from Officer David London.

London is on trial for assault and falsifying a police report after a video of the July 2008 beating surfaced.



Read more: Iraq war veteran Walter Harvin went downhill after beating

PTSD on Trial:Iraq veteran to go to rehab instead of jail for manslaughter

Judge sentences Iraq veteran to rehab instead of jail for manslaughter
BY Oren Yaniv
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, June 24th 2010, 4:00 AM

A drunk ex-Marine who killed a beloved dad of five on the FDR is off to rehab instead of jail after a judge spared a "decent human being" and Iraq war veteran.

Brandon Connolly, 33, was facing two to six years behind bars after the Valley Stream, L.I., man earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter. But the judge was moved by accounts of the personal trainer's service in Bosnia and two tours in Ramadi and Fallujah.

"We're dealing with a reckless act committed by a decent human being," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber said, speaking haltingly. "I don't know what the just sentence is in this case."



Read more: Judge sentences Iraq veteran to rehab instead of jail

Military looks at holistic prevention methods finally

Military looks at holistic prevention methods finally
by
Chaplain Kathie

Is depression contagious? Evidence suggests it is. Consider something as simple as a yawn. When you see someone yawn, the automatic response is to yawn as well. Happens to me all the time. I could see a dog yawn on TV and end up doing it. This response comes from the brain. When you see someone tired, often you find yourself feeling tired as well. When you surround yourself with people working out in groups, you usually have a better workout by being inspired, plus the competition thing kicks in and it's better than working out alone. We are all affected by the people around us and what we see.

Bad moods are contagious no matter how happy you may feel, someone going through negative motions will always bring you down. PTSD can cause something called Secondary PTSD because living with people with PTSD is stressful in itself, usually caused by the emotional roller coaster as well as their uncontrollable responses.

This report on PTSD and suicide points out that there have been suicides in non-deployed soldiers. While not all suicides are due to PTSD or mental illness, there has to be some reason behind those suicides. Consider that before anyone enters into the military they are given physical exams as well as mental health ones. After passing these tests, they start training. With some committing suicide but have not been deployed, this really leaves a big, huge question. Why?

Physically they are conditioned to withstand a lot of stress on their bodies. Mentally they have passed the tests but do the methods used to train them mentally cause a problem they are not ready to deal with considering what happened in their lives prior to military life? Were they unprepared for their new lives in the military? Was the attitude of the people around them affecting their attitude? Was it the possibility of being deployed into Iraq or Afghanistan? These questions focus on the non-deployed forces, but what about the other suicides taking place?

The National Guards and Reservists face the same problems the rest of the active military does but the truth is, when they return home, the support system for them is just not there. They have the extra stresses of being away from home and family, jobs, businesses and friends without really wanting to do more than take care of their own communities. Too often they are redeployed, taken yet again from their lives and asked to step into the life of a soldier. What about them? What about their extra stresses above and beyond deployment? What about their families when they do not want to give up as a National Guardsman/woman, because they still believe it is important for them to stay in?

All the factors involved in human emotions must be considered whenever looking at what to do about it. Most suicides happen for one very simply human need dying. The last glimmer of hope things will change has evaporated. Why get up if today will be just as bad as yesterday? Why try when you are overlooked, beaten down, unappreciated or abandoned? If you cannot hope that something will turn around and things will get better, or believe "this too shall pass" then you lose the drive to breathe.

When you have PTSD, you have this lack of hope inside of you along with everything else going on. There just doesn't seem to be any reason to face pain day after day when you are getting no help to heal. Yet when you are finally in a place when you understand why you feel the way you do, someone is listening to you without judging you, showing they care about you instead of expecting you to "just get over it" then a glimmer of hope turns into moments, hours and weeks of feeding off hope while noticing things inside of you are changing. Your soul is unloaded of the pain it has been carrying as you begin to heal.

Just as negative emotions are contagious, positive ones are just as able to be caught by other people. It depends on you. Who do you surround yourself with? Other people you know will understand you or people more willing to judge you? Who do you go to for help? Someone who is always telling you what to do instead of listening to what the problem is or someone willing to listen because you need to get it off your shoulders? If your burden is centered around spiritual problems, do you turn to someone without a simple understanding or do you go to someone with strong faith? You may like the people you hang around with, but when you are in need, you need to ask yourself if they can fill that need or feed the problem.

There is a lot more now being attempted by the military to address PTSD, TBI and suicides but until they stop thinking the troops are machines and start to look at them as highly trained humans, they will not be able to help and save lives. The good news is that they are trying.

Services work to learn more about brain ailments, suicides

Posted 6/23/2010

by Lisa Daniel
American Forces Press Service

6/23/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury and suicides among servicemembers are interrelated problems requiring holistic prevention methods and more scientific study, military leaders told a Senate panel June 22.

"The reality is, the study of the brain is an emerging science, and there still is much to be learned," Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing about how the services are dealing with brain injuries and mental health problems.

The vice chiefs of the Air Force and Navy, the Marine Corps' assistant commandant and a Veterans Affairs Department health official also spoke before the committee. All agreed with General Chiarelli that the Defense and Veterans Affairs department officials are coordinating better than ever to diagnose and treat brain injuries and mental disorders, and that much more is known about such conditions today than when combat operations began after Sept. 11, 2001.

Still, they acknowledged, much more needs to be done. They noted that suicides are highest among ground forces. The Army reported 162 confirmed suicides last year, up from 140 in 2008 and 115 in 2007. The Marine Corps reported 52 suicides last year -- more per capita than the Army, and up from 42 in 2008 and 33 in 2007. Last year's numbers are expected to rise as more investigations are completed, officials said.

While the military officers cited increased deployments and less time at home as one area of stress, many more risk indicators such as personal problems with relationships, legal matters and careers are also factors, they said.

In the Army, 79 percent of suicides were by servicemembers who had one or no deployments, and 60 percent were on their first deployment, General Chiarelli said.

Also, General Chiarelli said, suicides among active-duty Soldiers have dropped while simultaneously increasing among reserve-component Soldiers, especially National Guard members.
read more here
Services work to learn more about brain ailments

Korean War Museum to may have to give up land

Lack of Funds May Force Korean War Museum to Surrender Its Land
By Diane Macedo

Published June 23, 2010

FOXNews.com



A ground-breaking ceremony for the Korean War National Museum in Springfield, Ill., will no longer be taking place this summer – because the museum doesn’t have enough money even to start construction.

According to the museum website, the museum is “well short of financial and operational goals to break ground” due to “the recent economic downturn,” as well as leaders it says were “too optimistic” about their ability to raise funds.



Korean War Museum to Surrender Its Land