VA flood of about 200,000 Agent Orange-related claims

VA set to reverse claims backlog by 2012
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Feb 14, 2011 9:46:51 EST

This will happen once a temporary flood of about 200,000 Agent Orange-related claims — the result of a recent change in rules — works its way through the system, which could be as early as September.

Veterans Affairs Department officials say they can now see an end to the long nightmare of an ever-growing mountain of disability and compensation claims that has long infuriated veterans and their families.

By 2012, they expect dramatic improvements in both the speed and accuracy of claims processing.

But progress is difficult to discern now, at a time when VA has more than 783,000 pending claims — about 44 percent of them pending for more than 125 days. The total is up by 20,000 since the start of this year.

But VA’s acting undersecretary for benefits and chief information officer were both optimistic in a Feb. 8 interview that a mixture of automation initiatives, improved claims management processes and attitude adjustments among VA workers will turn the tide.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/02/military-va-claims-backlog-021411w/

Veterans for Common Sense Lawsuit on Veteran Suicide on KGO/ABC

VCS Lawsuit on Veteran Suicide on KGO/ABC
Written by Dan Noyes
Saturday, 12 February 2011 10:44

Two Part KGO News Investigation Reveals VA Turned Away Suicidal Veteran in California in 2010

Part One: Veteran's suicide reveals problems in VA system
February 8, 2011, San Francisco, California (KGO ABC 7 News) - Three hundred thousand of the military veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to a recent study. But many are not getting the care they need and the results can be tragic.

New data shows that veterans are more than twice as likely as other Californians to commit suicide.

William Hamilton enlisted in the Army at 19 and served two tours in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. His mother Diane says he loved the discipline and camaraderie.

"Every time he came back the commander said he did such a wonderful job," she said. Hamilton was guarding a rooftop in Mosul in 2005 with his best friend Christopher Pusateri when insurgents attacked.

"His best friend was killed, his very best friend, and I remember the day he called me, and he said, 'Mom,' it was his second tour and he says, 'Mom, I've never been in battle without him,'" Diane Hamilton said.


Back at Fort Bragg, Hamilton was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He got a general discharge from the Army, but his problems got worse. He developed an eating disorder and started taking drugs.

"He was tormented by it; when he first came home he didn't sleep, I could hear him crying at night," Diane Hamilton said.

Doctors at the VA hospital diagnosed Hamilton with schizoaffective disorder and he was hospitalized nine times at the Palo Alto VA's psychiatric ward, often for weeks at a time.

That is what his parents thought was going to happen last May when his father called local sheriff's to take Hamilton in on a 51-50 involuntary psychiatric hold. Staff at the Calaveras County hospital, where Hamilton was taken, wrote that he was "delusional" having "hallucinations...speaking of demon women and flashes of light." They attempted to contact the Palo Alto VA, but were told "they do not start transfers this late in the day."

Veterans' rights advocate Amy Fairweather says that is not acceptable.

"If a vet is in that kind of need of care 24-7, we've got to get it to them," Fairweather said. "The idea that after 4:20 in the afternoon you will not accept transfers of our soldiers who have been deployed repeatedly is absurd. It's absolutely absurd."

Hospital staff attempted admits at three VA hospitals before they finally found Hamilton a bed at David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. His parents say they asked the hospital to extend Hamilton's stay to two weeks, as the Palo Alto VA had done at least four times before. But the hospital discharged Hamilton after just three days.

"That's the last time I saw him," Diane Hamilton said.

That night, Hamilton stepped in front of a train in Salida. The coroner's report says he died instantly.
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VCS Lawsuit on Veteran Suicide on KGO ABC

Spice and K2 a problem for the Marines?

Marine Corps bans service members from six businesses
Posted: February 11, 2011 - 9:59am
By Bluffton Today
BEAUFORT - Local Marine Corps and Navy commanders have designated six local businesses off-limits for selling a product that is like synthetic marijuana, the Marine Crops said Friday.

"The substances, known by many different names including Spice and K2, are prohibited due to their ability to induce intoxication, excitement or stupefaction," a release said. "All Marines and sailors are prohibited from possessing, purchasing, using, selling, distributing or introducing onto military installations these same substances."

The fake weed is legal in South Carolina.
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Marine Corps bans service members from six businesses

B.C. judge stays charges against soldier suffering from PTSD

B.C. judge stays charges against soldier suffering from PTSD


By Jennifer Saltman, Postmedia News


VANCOUVER — A former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder will avoid spending as much as three years in jail after a B.C. judge stayed weapons charges against the Afghanistan war veteran Friday.

Yan Joseph Marcel Berube, a former corporal with Princess Patricia's Light Infantry, was charged with uttering threats and weapons-related charges in connection with two incidents in May 2010 after his military medals were reportedly stolen.

In one incident, a man called the RCMP to report that Berube had threatened to kill him and made threats against his family over the loss of his medals. One day later, police heard from a psychologist who was working with Berube after a Veterans Affairs nurse went to the man's home and found him with a gun, as he talked about shooting himself.

When police arrived at Berube's home, he surrendered.

Berube suffers from PTSD, likely because of a 2002 friendly fire incident that saw four Canadian soldiers killed, including Berube's best friend, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer.



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B.C. judge stays charges against soldier suffering from PTSD

Gear that protects troops also injures them

Weight of War: Gear that protects troops also injures them
Military studies acknowledge that combat soldiers are carrying too much weight — often more than 100 pounds. These loads have contributed to soaring numbers of injuries, and higher costs in disability payments.
By Hal Bernton



Before venturing out on patrol in Iraq, Spc. Joseph Chroniger would wrap his upper body in armor, then sling on a vest and pack that contained batteries for his radio, water, food, flashlight, ammunition and other gear. With his M4 rifle, the whole get-up weighed 70 to 80 pounds — and left him aching.

His body hurt the most when his squad came under attack and he tried to run or dive on the ground. His neck and shoulders would burn as if on fire.

Since returning to Western Washington 2 1/2 years ago, Chroniger has been diagnosed with bone spurs in the vertebrae of his neck caused by a degenerative arthritic condition. Sometimes, the pain is intense, and he dreads getting out of bed in the morning.

"This is ridiculous," Chroniger said. "I'm only 25 years old. Arthritis is supposed to happen when you get old. What's it going to be like when I'm 50 or 60?"

Chroniger's injury is a symptom of the overloaded U.S. combat forces that have served in the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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Gear that protects troops also injures them

A combat veteran's struggle of the soul

A combat veteran's struggle of the soul

STEVE LOPEZ

Greg Valentini served in Afghanistan and Iraq, returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder. With the help of Volunteers of America, he's taking classes, trying to stay off drugs and keep on the right path.

Greg Valentini's room in Hollywood is bigger than a jail cell, but not by much. It's a home, though, and better than lockup.

"I'm sick of going to jail," he says, telling me he can't even remember how many times he's been arrested since his second tour with the Army ended in 2004.

Valentini is a tall, bulky man of 33, a die-hard Clippers fan who's fidgety as a kid. While seated on a chair, his feet tap, his weight shifts. It's as if he might run, or as if there's something in him that can't be quieted.

There's a lot of that weightless stirring in the converted church where Valentini lives, a place of recovery for nearly 40 men who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Having survived war, they came home and discovered they couldn't handle peace. Some ended up homeless, others landed in jail, and now they're trying to make sense of their lives in a residential program run by Volunteers of America.
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A combat veteran's struggle of the soul

Fort Stewart soldier drowns in on-base pond

Stewart soldier drowns in on-base pond
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Feb 13, 2011 11:59:12 EST
FORT STEWART, Ga. — A Fort Stewart soldier drowned Saturday in a recreational pond at the base.

WTOC-TV reported that emergency workers went to the scene after getting a call from fishermen who saw the soldier fall into the water. A rescue attempt was unsuccessful.

Military authorities did not release the soldier's name on Sunday.

The incident is under investigation.
Stewart soldier drowns in on-base pond

Fort Lewis ‘stress relief dogs’ are bound for Iraq

Lewis ‘stress relief dogs’ are bound for Iraq
By Adam Ashton - The (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune via AP
Posted : Saturday Feb 12, 2011 12:35:16 EST
TACOMA, Wash. — As far as retrievers go, Zack is exceptionally impervious to distraction.

He calmly walked at his handler’s side through a training ground at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Friday while automatic weapons and cannons fired in the background.

He greeted teams of camouflaged soldiers and offered his golden head for petting.

Zack is one of two dogs preparing for a mission in Iraq with a medical company charged with providing stress relief for deployed soldiers. The canines’ job is to draw out soldiers who normally would avoid a therapist or to just give someone a break from thinking about a long tour in the desert.

Soldiers are “built to be strong, so we go to them,” said Capt. Andrea Lohmann, who’s deploying with about 50 members of the 98th Medical Company and bringing a stress-relief black Labrador named Butch.

Zack and Butch will be the seventh and eighth stress-relief dogs provided to the Army for combat deployments since 2007 from VetDogs, a New York-based nonprofit that also gives specially trained canines to disabled veterans.

The animals are “icebreakers” for the therapists and psychiatrists who walk through bases and check in on soldiers. People who’ve worked with the pets say the sight of a wagging tail can lift a soldier’s spirits.
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Lewis stress relief dogs are bound for Iraq

The Army denied Spc. Brandon Barrett a military funeral

The Army denied Spc. Brandon Barrett a military funeral
February 13, 2011 posted by Chaplain Kathie

“The Army denied Spc. Brandon Barrett a military funeral.” Why? Is it because he had a shootout with police or because what they did not do could have prevented it? That is the question an investigation seeks to understand.

After he was killed by police, after there was nothing left to be done for him, that is when his family learned how much what he witnessed did to him. What if they knew all along? What if they knew how to help him or at least understood how much pain he was in, would things have ended differently?
There is a family left behind with so many questions they may never find the answers to. There is a police officer dealing with being shot and other officers involved trying to understand why it ever reached that point.

Army says Afghan losses affected Lewis-McChord soldier killed by police
An Army investigation has found that a Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier who was killed when he opened fire on police in Utah last year was deeply affected by his deployment to Afghanistan.
By The Associated Press
TUCSON, Ariz. — An Army investigation has found that a Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier who was killed when he opened fire on police in Utah last year was deeply affected by his deployment to Afghanistan.
Spc. Brandon Barrett deserted his unit, suffered an apparent mental breakdown and died in a shootout with Salt Lake City police on Aug. 27. A police officer was wounded.

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The Army denied Spc. Brandon Barrett a military funeral

Powerful Drug Cocktails Have Deadly Results For Some Troops

For Some Troops, Powerful Drug Cocktails Have Deadly Results

Psychiatrists still do not have good medications for the social withdrawal, nightmares and irritability that often accompany post-traumatic stress, so they mix and match drugs, trying to relieve symptoms.

This article was reported by James Dao, Benedict Carey and Dan Frosch and written by Mr. Dao.


In his last months alive, Senior Airman Anthony Mena rarely left home without a backpack filled with medications.

He returned from his second deployment to Iraq complaining of back pain, insomnia, anxiety and nightmares. Doctors diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and prescribed powerful cocktails of psychiatric drugs and narcotics.

Yet his pain only deepened, as did his depression. “I have almost given up hope,” he told a doctor in 2008, medical records show. “I should have died in Iraq.”

Airman Mena died instead in his Albuquerque apartment, on July 21, 2009, five months after leaving the Air Force on a medical discharge. A toxicologist found eight prescription medications in his blood, including three antidepressants, a sedative, a sleeping pill and two potent painkillers.

Yet his death was no suicide, the medical examiner concluded. What killed Airman Mena was not an overdose of any one drug, but the interaction of many. He was 23.

After a decade of treating thousands of wounded troops, the military’s medical system is awash in prescription drugs — and the results have sometimes been deadly.

By some estimates, well over 300,000 troops have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan with P.T.S.D., depression, traumatic brain injury or some combination of those. The Pentagon has looked to pharmacology to treat those complex problems, following the lead of civilian medicine. As a result, psychiatric drugs have been used more widely across the military than in any previous war.

But those medications, along with narcotic painkillers, are being increasingly linked to a rising tide of other problems, among them drug dependency, suicide and fatal accidents — sometimes from the interaction of the drugs themselves. An Army report on suicide released last year documented the problem, saying one-third of the force was on at least one prescription medication.

“Prescription drug use is on the rise,” the report said, noting that medications were involved in one-third of the record 162 suicides by active-duty soldiers in 2009. An additional 101 soldiers died accidentally from the toxic mixing of prescription drugs from 2006 to 2009.

On Jan. 29, 2008, Corporal Endicott was found dead in his room at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where he had checked himself in for anger management after another car accident. He was 26.


A toxicologist detected at least nine prescription drugs in his system, including five different benzodiazepines, drugs used to reduce anxiety or improve sleep. Small amounts of marijuana and methadone — a narcotic that is particularly dangerous when mixed with benzodiazepines — were also found in his body.


His death prompted Marine Corps officials at Bethesda and Walter Reed Army Medical Center to initiate new procedures to keep Marines from inappropriately mixing medications, including assigning case managers to oversee patients, records show.


Whether Corporal Endicott used methadone to get high or to relieve pain remains unclear. The Marine Corps concluded that his death was not due to misconduct.


“He survived over there,” his father said. “Coming home and dying in a hospital? It’s a disgrace.”

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Powerful Drug Cocktails Have Deadly Results