Reducing Suicide Among Veterans Requires Shared Vigilance

Reducing Suicide Among Veterans Requires Shared Vigilance
Published Sunday, September 4, 2011 2:15 am
by Dennis Maley
Today marks the start of National Suicide Prevention Week. For anyone who has ever had to confront the complex emotional web of sorrow that accompanies losing a loved one by that person's own hand, I need not speak of the pain and difficulty involved. Increasingly, a large portion of Americans lost to this unfortunate act are coming from one place – the ranks of those who have served in our nation's military.

For the past two years, more U.S. soldiers have been lost to suicide than to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even on a superficial level, this is incomprehensible. Machine gun fire, improvised explosive devices, mortar rockets, surface to air missiles, grenades, etc., yet statistically, the most likely way one of our soldiers will meet their end is by taking their own life, giving up their very existence rather than endure the torturous reality that is their every waking hour and goes on to haunt their sporadic sleep.

This epidemic has finally been acknowledged, however slowly. Studies have not been able to clearly determine precisely what factors lead to increased likelihood . Numbers have not proven whether more deployments heighten risk or diminish it. But they do shed light on the stark volume in a way that calls attention to the entire warfare culture and indicts it on still another level.


20 percent of U.S. suicides are said to be committed by veterans, though they make up just over 8 percent of the population. Over the past five years of intense military deployment in multiple theaters, the Pentagon says that hospitalization of soldiers for suicidal thoughts has skyrocketed 7,000 percent. This is at least somewhat owed to an improving atmosphere, in which it is more accepted to express such problems, and the onus to direct soldiers toward treatment has thankfully grown.
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Why Is the Military Spending Millions on Christian Contractors

I was sent a link to this story Gov't Spending Millions in Tax Money to Covert Soldiers to Christianity taking me to the original story, leaving me deeply troubled, but not for the reasons listed here.

Why Is the Military Spending Millions on Christian Contractors Bent on Evangelizing US Soldiers?
Why do Christian contractors play such a prominent role in our military?
August 21, 2011
By Chris Rodda

When the average American thinks of military spending on religion, they probably think only of the money spent on chaplains and chapels. And, yes, the Department of Defense (DoD) does spend a hell of a lot of money on these basic religious accommodations to provide our troops with the opportunity to exercise their religion while serving our country. But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the DoD's funding of religion. Also paid for with taxpayer dollars are a plethora of events, programs, and schemes that violate not only the Constitution, but, in many cases, the regulations on federal government contractors, specifically the regulation prohibiting federal government contractors receiving over $10,000 in contracts a year from discriminating based on religion in their hiring practices.

About a year ago, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) began an investigation into just how much money the DoD spends on promoting religion to military personnel and their families.

What prompted this interest in DoD spending on religion was finding out what the DoD was spending on certain individual events and programs, such as the $125 million spent on the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program and its controversial "Spiritual Fitness" test, a mandatory test that must be taken by all soldiers. The Army insists that this test is not religious, but the countless complaints from soldiers who have failed this "fitness" test tell a different story. The experience of one group of soldiers who weren't "spiritual" enough for the Army can be read here. But the term "Spiritual Fitness is not limited to this one test. The military began using this term to describe a variety of initiatives and events towards the end of 2006, and this `code phrase' for promoting religion was heavily in use by all branches of the military by 2007.
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I am deeply trouble because it doesn't work. If it did we would see the number of suicides and attempted suicides go down. Troubled marriages? You'd see the divorce rate go down especially when you acknowledge that when it is a military divorce, the civilian spouse has to go and usually that means taking the kids off to who knows where. Yep, they lose their base housing. There is a lot more to lose but still the rates are higher than the civilian world. Drug and alcohol abuse is up as well. What they are doing is not working but they keep putting money into something that failed.

It is not that spiritual programs are bad or there is anything wrong with having Christian groups working to help soldiers as long as they include other faiths but when the results are what they are, they need to rethink what they are funding.

"Spiritual Fitness" is code for if a soldier belongs to the right group or not. If not, then they are told they're going to hell. This is about conversion. Does the brass know what they are funding or are they part of it? Blaming the Tea Party? Not sure that makes sense since I haven't seen anything Christian about the Tea Party at all so I doubt they'd be giving a green light to this funding. What has been done has not worked but it is not the fault of God or Christ. It's the fault of the people running these programs with a different agenda in mind than healing the souls of the warriors.

Marine saves man from mobile home fire

Marine saves man from mobile home fire



Uploaded by WOODTV8 on Sep 4, 2011
OLIVE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - Three Ottawa County fire departments were sent to put out a fire in a mobile home in Ottawa County Saturday night.

Ottawa County Sheriff's dispatchers said the mobile home was fully involved and that Port Sheldon, Olive, and Grand Haven township firefighters responded to the scene.

The fire started just before 9 p.m. in the 9000 block of 4 Winds Lane West in Olive Township.

A woman who lives across the street from the mobile home that was on fire said she smelled and saw smoke, and called 911. She had friends from out of town coming to visit, and when they got to her house, saw the mobile home on fire.

The woman's friend, a Marine veteran, ran into the house, where he found a 43-year-old man breathing hard. He was able to pull the man about three quarters of the way out of the burning home, but the smoke was so heavy, he had to run to get himself to safety.

Healing is about moving ahead in spite of the pain

Sept. 11, 2001, anniversary key to healing
Published: Sept. 5, 2011 at 4:37 AM
By ALEX CUKAN, United Press International

"Healing is about moving ahead in spite of the pain that might always be there to some degree," Wolford said. "People learn to reach out to others, to reconnect with those who might have gone through the same or similar traumatic events."

Even if people avoid the televised 10th anniversary remembrances from New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pa., the date alone will be enough to trigger memories.

Sept. 11, 2001.

"Sept. 11 marks such a deep and tragic loss for our country, there is no doubt that this year's anniversary in particular will be significant for many people not just because it is the 10th anniversary but for other reasons as well," Karen Wolford, a licensed psychologist, board certified expert in traumatic stress and professor at the State University of New York at Oswego, told UPI in an interview.

This year's anniversary of the terror attacks may also be more difficult due to recent events -- the recent earthquake and hurricane impacting the Northeast and New York, people may already be under increased stress, Wolford said.
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Fort Drum 10th Mountain Soldier dies of rabies

Fort Drum soldier dies of rabies
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 4, 2011 15:14:18 EDT
FORT DRUM, N.Y. — A Fort Drum soldier has died of rabies believed to have been contracted during service overseas.

Officials at the northern New York Army base say Spc. Kevin R. Shumaker died on Wednesday.

According to a statement, the decorated 24-year-old soldier from Livermore, Calif., was from the 10th Mountain Division.
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How dumb are we?

No jobs created last month? Seems odd doesn't it? Not when you really think about the rest of the news that came out last month and the month before that. The fact no jobs were "lost" should have us doing a happy dance. Why? Because when you take all the jobs cut from state budgets and at the federal level, it only makes sense that we lost jobs. So why aren't the politicians running on their "budget cuts" talking about this result? Could it be they are ashamed they did it to working people from coast to coast?
The hook line was "job creators" but they were so called "creators" when these tax discounts went into place when Bush was in office but we lost jobs anyway. The sinker was the stinker of the fact that while politicians whine about needing to keep the "tax cuts" in place for their wealthy friends, we ended up at the bottom seeing our jobs sent to other countries they were creating jobs in even though we were the ones who elected these folks. So the question is, how dumb are we?

Veterans law suit over "Drug Experimentation" moves closer to trail

Veterans’ Lawsuit against CIA and Army Drug Experimentation Moves Closer to Trial
Sunday, September 04, 2011
1972 Army drug experiment

The CIA failed this week to convince a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the agency used American soldiers during the Cold War as guinea pigs for drug experiments.

Led by the Vietnam Veterans of America, the plaintiffs are suing the CIA and the U.S. Army for exposing at least 7,800 soldiers to a variety of chemicals and drugs, between 1950 and 1975, as part of Project Paperclip. Military personnel were allegedly given everything from Sarin, a nerve agent used in chemical weapons, to the hallucinogenic LSD.
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Target is among top 10 donors to nonprofit groups

Fact Check: Target is among top 10 donors to nonprofit groups

Veteran who was source of misfired email has tried to clarify message
Posted: September 4, 2011

By Carole Fader
Times-Union readers want to know:
An email I received says that when asked to be a sponsor for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Target refused, saying that "veterans do not meet our area of giving." The email goes on to say that Target will not allow Marines to collect for Toys for Tots at its stores and would not continue insurance coverage for employees who were called for active duty. Could this be true?

Target has unfairly been a target of some miscommunication.

The genesis of the claim is Dick Forrey, a member of Indiana's Howard County Vietnam Veterans group, according to several fact-finding groups.

It is true that Forrey's local Target store would not grant him a $100 sponsorship for a traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in March 2002. Forrey wrote of his displeasure under the headline "Target Stores do not support veterans." Around the world his message went.
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Number of military child deaths from abuse and neglect double since 2003

Deployments and child deaths
Exclusive investigation shows military failed some victims
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Sep 2, 2011 11:29:25 EDT
The number of children in military families who have been killed through abuse and neglect has more than doubled since 2003, and has begun to exceed child abuse fatality rates in the civilian world, military records show.

In many cases, local military Family Advocacy Program officials had previous reports about those children and their troubled homes, but outreach efforts failed to save them.

Deaths of military dependent children related to abuse and neglect have risen steadily from 14 in 2003 to 29 in 2010, according to data from the Defense Department’s Family Advocacy Program office.

The trend peaked in 2008, when 36 child deaths were linked to abuse or neglect, a level that exceeds rates found in the civilian world. Those data are based on a Military Times review of more than 400,000 electronic records and FAP reports released under the Freedom of Information Act.
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Judge dismisses Ky. family's lawsuit over shooting at Fort Bliss

Judge dismisses Ky. family's lawsuit over shooting
BRETT BARROUQUERE, Associated Press
September 2, 2011

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on Friday that had been brought by the family of a teenager killed during a shooting at a military post in Texas, saying federal laws prevent the teen's mother from pursuing damages from the government.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III in Louisville ruled that the law is designed to prevent judicial "second guessing of policy considerations" by the military.

Renee Richardson, the mother of 18-year-old Ezra Gerald Smith, sued the U.S. Army in October seeking $8.75 million. She accused the Army of negligence in diagnosing and treating the alleged shooter, Spc. Gerald Polanco.

"However, plaintiffs do not point to any specific applicable regulations which removed discretion from Spc. Polanco's chain of command," Simpson wrote.

Polanco was charged with murder but ruled incompetent to stand trial by a military judge a few months later.

Smith was at Fort Bliss, along the Texas-New Mexico line, where his stepfather was based. He was shot in the back of the head April 24, 2009.

Because the lawsuit has been dismissed and Polanco has been found incompetent and may never stand trial, there's little chance the family will ever get justice, said Richardson's attorney, Sheila Hiestand.

"It's certainly a tragedy," Hiestand said. "It should never have been allowed to occur."
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Arnold the English Mastiff, Reporting for Duty at Fort Drum

Arnold the English Mastiff, Reporting for Duty

Arnold, a 200-pound English Mastiff, works as a therapy dog with Fort Drum's Army Substance Abuse Program.

FORT DRUM, N.Y. – As they adjust his collar, he fidgets, slightly uncomfortable with the attention he’s receiving. They tell him to sit up straight and look at the camera. He deliberately turns his head away, as if to say, “We’re doing this on my terms.”

Finally, with a little coaxing, he looks deep into the lens and gives a toothy, lopsided grin. Those standing around him clap at the sight of his cooperation, and a few bystanders even wrap their arms around his neck, telling him what a great job he did.

Arnold gives another infectious smile, rolls over on his back, and prepares for his reward of belly rubs and behind-the-ear scratches.

He’s made paw prints in four branches of the armed forces, has a canine and human following on Facebook, and logs entries in his own blog.

As a 200-pound English Mastiff, Arnold has spent the past five years populating his resume with therapy hours and hospital visits. His resume now lists him as the newest member of Fort Drum’s Army Substance Abuse Program, where on Aug. 5 he received his government ID card.
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Trauma: Ancient phenomenon which predates our modern societies

After reading reports on PTSD for almost 30 years, it is about time this connection was taken seriously. If you are a reader of the Bible, look back into the Old Testament with a fresh set of eyes aware of what PTSD is and you'll find it in passage after passage especially in the Psalms. You'll find it in Kings and Judges with accounts of warfare. This is a struggle between heaven and hell for the soul of a warrior. It is about what is good within them to be able to risk their lives for the sake of others against what they have to do to achieve what they were sent to do. If you limit their mission to "destroy" the enemy you'll never understand this. If you look beyond into why they do it, you'll see it was for a great purpose than that. Ask any combat veteran why they did it and they'll answer, "we fought for each other."

Call for Papers: Trauma and Traumatization: In and Beyond Biblical Literature
Maybe, one day, when I have all the money I want, and all the time needed:

International Conference, June 6th – 9th, 2012

Department of Biblical Studies, Faculty of Theology, Aarhus University (Aarhus, Denmark)

Announcement: Call for Papers is now open (see details below) Deadline: September 30th, 2011

Since the effect of the Vietnam War on the individual psyche of American soldiers was first defined in the 1980’s as “PTSD” (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), trauma has become a central term of psychiatric diagnosis and therapy. In consequence, terms like ‘traumatic memory’, ‘trauma narrative’, and ‘trauma and testimony’ have been used to describe various individual and collective incidents in both present (e.g. September 11, 2001; the war in Iraq and Afghanistan up to 2010) and past tense (e.g. the Holocaust).

Trauma, however, is not only a modern concept which derives from 20th century psychiatry: It is an ancient phenomenon which predates our modern societies. Thus, the question of how the psychological impact and social characteristics of trauma can be defined for each period in history is central to the current trauma‐discourse: Here, psychiatry meets the Humanities (e.g. history, art history, sociology, politics, religion).

Since traumata affect nearly all areas of social and cultural life, reflection upon them as well as developing the ability to overcome them goes beyond pure medical science. In this frame, biblical and para‐biblical literature plays an important role: It reflects more than 1500 years of coping with traumatic incidents (e.g. temple destruction, exile, exodus, wars, passion narratives, martyrdoms, persecutions), and thus provides a substantial contribution to our understanding of trauma in both historic and modern contexts.
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Sergeant major and son join forces in Afghanistan for second time

Sergeant major and son join forces in Afghanistan for second time

Regimental Combat Team-5, 1st Marine Division Public Affairs
Story by Staff Sgt. Andrew Miller

CAMP DWYER, Helmand province, Afghanistan – Some fathers teach their sons how to throw a ball and others show their sons how to fish. Sgt. Maj. Ernest Hoopii, Regimental Combat Team 5 sergeant major, taught his son how to be a Marine.

Lance Cpl. Sean Hoopii, a fire team leader with 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, is currently serving alongside his father for the second time in southern Helmand province.

“Sean is like my mini-me,” said the elder Hoopii, a native of Maui, Hawaii. “As a kid he would get dressed up in utilities and go out in the woods. I would have a vest for him and a vest for myself; and we would have canteens, a map, compasses and a GPS, and we would go patrolling in the woods.”

The sergeant major explained that his son is a third generation Marine on both sides of the family.

“I’m a Marine, my father was a Marine, his mom’s dad was a Marine, her brother was a Marine,” he said. “So he was just destined to be a Marine.”
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Landstuhl Hospital at forefront at saving soldiers

'Not heartbreak hotel': Hospital at forefront at saving soldiers
Staff has unique experience in battlefield medicine for treating US trauma victims
By DAVID RISING
9/2/2011

Michael Probst / AP
A US soldier who was wounded in Afghanistan is lifted from a bus at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, on Monday.

LANDSTUHL, Germany — Volunteer staff from the U.S. military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center huddle outside the emergency room doors, waiting under heat lamps on a crisp morning for what has become a daily routine in a decade of war — the arrival on a blue bus of the latest casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some are in surgical scrubs, others in uniform or white hospital gowns. They crowd around the back of the modified school bus as the door opens, forming lines on either side, yelling "got it!" as they pass along the stretcher loaded with both patient and portable life support system and lower it to a wheeled gurney.

A chaplain leans over and tells the Marine who has lost both his legs to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan that he's now safe and in good hands. "When they come over here we want to make sure that it's not heartbreak hotel," said Navy chaplain Commander Manuel Mak after talking with the incoming wounded.

There's a saying in the U.S. military that once you've made it to Landstuhl, you've made it. After 10 years of war in Afghanistan and eight in Iraq, that's never been more true. The medical center boasts a unique combination of cutting-edge advances in battlefield medicine and hard-won experience in treating serious trauma.
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Vietnam veteran, 61, set to be America's oldest NAIA college football player

I am 52, back in college and I can tell you, most days, I need a nap after class. Keeping up with students my daughter's age isn't easy but they make it fun. I love making videos, so I love what I'm learning. To think this Vietnam Vet, almost ten years older than I am, is not only in class but playing football on top of it, stuns me! Just goes to show there is no stopping these veterans.

Vietnam veteran, 61, set to be America's oldest NAIA college football player
By DAMIEN GAYLE
4th September 2011

'I'm having a ball': Alan Moore, the 61-year-old Vietnam veteran who is set to become the oldest ever player in NAIA college football

It brings a whole new meaning to the term 'veteran player'.

This month a 61-year-old Vietnam veteran is set to become the oldest player in NAIA college football.

Grandfather-of-five Alan Moore, who is 62 in February, has secured himself a spot as a place-kicker on the team at Faulkner University in Alabama.

'There's certainly a generational gap with the kids,' Mr Moore told the New York Daily News yesterday.

'They call me a little bit of everything: "grandpa", "old man", "old school", "pops", "grand-daddy".

'But I don't mind it. I eat it up. I'm having a ball.'
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Camp Lejeune Marine Killed In Wreck

Camp Lejeune Marine Killed In Wreck
A Camp Lejeune marine was killed in a wreck early Thursday morning according to Highway Patrol.
Posted: 3:04 PM Sep 3, 2011

According to troopers around 2 a.m. on Thursday Edward Rhoades was driving North on Highway 17 in Pollocksville when he ran off the road to the right, over-corrected, hit a ditch, then a utility pole, and his vehicle flipped several times.

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Fort Hood Army Corporal dies in apparent drowning on Kauai

Wisconsin man dies in apparent drowning on Kauai

By Star-Advertiser staff

A 32-year-old Wisconsin man died after being pulled from waters off Haena Beach Park on Kauai on Friday.

According to the Kauai Fire Department, Chester Stoda of Black River Falls, Wis., scuba diving with a friend near Tunnels Beach.

Stoda was an Army corporal and combat engineer assigned to the 937th Engineering Company, based in Fort Hood, Texas, according to his Facebook page.

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270 Camp Pendleton Marines Return Home After Year In Afghanistan

Marines Return Home After Year In Afghanistan

270 Marines From Regimental Combat Team 1 Headquartered In Helmand Province
CAMP PENDLETON -- More than 250 Marines from Regimental Combat Team 1 returned home on Friday after spending more than a year in Afghanistan.

With Patriot Guard Riders leading the way, nearly a dozen buses brought 270 Marines closer to the moment they had waited a year for.

As the Marines marched in formation, loved ones could hardly contain themselves. Jaime Ballard of Encinitas said she had only 36 hours with her new husband before he shipped out.
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Special homecoming for soldier who survived Ft. Hood shooting

Special homecoming for soldier who survived Ft. Hood shooting

by Alicia E. Barrón
azfamily.com
Posted on September 2, 2011

Capt. Antonia Carreon was featured in Glamour Magazine for her service in Iraq and was at Fort Hood when a shooter opened fire. It was an emotional homecoming as she arrived at Sky Harbor.
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Troy Yocum raised just over $500,000 for military families

Iraq War Veteran Is Back Home, But Plans Another Tour
Devin Katayama September 3, 2011

Yocum raised just over $500,000 dollars by Thursday and around 34 sponsors will donate an undisclosed amount on Sept. 14 in New York City, he said.

Iraq War veteran Troy Yocum is already planning another U.S. trip after finishing a nearly 8,000 mile hike around the county to raise money and awareness for military families.

Yocum and a group of 50 walked the last mile to the Louisville Slugger Museum on Saturday. He walked a total of nine miles in the final day. He was lead by a full military marching band playing down Main Street. Some people stopped to take pictures of the celebration, as Yocum held the hands of his mother and his wife, Mareike Yocum, who walked the first 4,000 miles of the journey with him.
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9/11 attacks lead to more study of post-traumatic stress disorder

9/11 attacks lead to more study of post-traumatic stress disorder
There are widespread symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder among those connected to the attacks. Mental-health professionals have a greater understanding of the disorder from studying them.

Two women hold each other as they watch the World Trade Center burn on Sept. 11, 2001. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder have been seen in a number of people affected by the attacks. (Ernesto Mora / Associated Press / September 5, 2011)

By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times
September 5, 2011
For New York City resident Esperanza Muñoz, the attack on the World Trade Centers is not over 10 years later — not by a long shot. At odd moments, the stench of death still rises to her nose, and the 55-year-old woman slides into a haze of nausea and tears. She suffers headaches and is awakened several times a week by nightmares of headless bodies and shoes with bits of feet left inside. She dreads the sound of sirens or a passing plane.

Muñoz lives in the New York City borough of Queens, and can't — or won't — go into Manhattan, even to attend her support group for Latinas still scarred by the events of Sept. 11, 2001. She went to a meeting a few blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center once, six or seven years ago, but she became so panicked she had to leave.

Muñoz has a classic case of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, even though she is not a classic victim of the disorder. She has not survived a violent crime, warfare or even a clear sense that her life was threatened. She watched the fiery collapse of the World Trade Center towers from the roof of her apartment building in Queens, horrified but safe.

Two days later, the office and residential cleaning company that employed Muñoz assigned her to the blocks surrounding ground zero, where she picked up office mementos, charred debris and body parts from the ground almost every day for nearly four years. By 2009, the woman who had left a peaceful life in Colombia so she could send her son to college had twice attempted suicide.
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4-H students to help train service dogs for soldiers

Centralia 4-H students to help train service dogs for soldiers
A Washington State University Extension and Lewis County 4-H program will train service dogs to help ease the pain and nervousness of wounded soldiers returning to civilian life.

By Christopher Brewer
The (Centralia) Chronicle

Many soldiers returning from war bring with them injuries and emotional trauma that make it hard to resume the lives they knew before deploying.

But one program the Washington State University Extension and Lewis County 4-H will begin soon aims to make that transition easier for wounded warriors and other disabled people by providing service dogs to help ease their pain and nervousness.

Through the Lewis County 4-H Service Dog Project, willing 4-H volunteers in grades six through 12 will raise and train 12 puppies provided by Brigadoon Service Dogs of Bellingham for use in a variety of daily activities.

The dogs will be trained for constant companionship, says project leader Tim Brix, of Centralia, who will run the program with his wife, Deanna.

"We'll get each kid a puppy and they'll raise them in an environment basically where they will be exposed to everything a human would in their daily lives," Brix said. "They're not just learning to sit down and stay, but they'll be taken throughout the community so they're exposed to different noises, different places. We're thinking these will more than likely be used by veterans who suffer from PTSD."
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Outreach boosts hiring of Texas vets

Outreach boosts hiring of Texas vets
By WILLIAM PACK, Staff Writer
Published 03:40 p.m., Saturday, September 3, 2011

A comprehensive jobs outreach effort led by the Texas Veterans Commission has helped Texas place more veterans in jobs than any other state, officials said.

The commission has had responsibility for veteran job searches for just four years but in that time has helped veterans prepare themselves for the labor force and sent recruiters out to workplaces looking for jobs that create the best fit for both sides.

"We try to match employees with the skills employers need," said Stan Kurtz, the commission's operations specialist in the employment sector. "No other state is focusing on employment outreach like we do in Texas."

U.S. Department of Labor statistics released by the commission show those efforts have succeeded.

For the 12 months ended June 30, 2010, the most recent data available, 38,714 veterans in Texas found jobs after seeking the commission's assistance. That's about 18,000 more jobs than veterans filled in the second-most-successful state, North Carolina.

Part of Texas' success is due to the size of its veteran population. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that Texas is home to nearly 1.7 million veterans, second only to California, with 2 million, and just ahead of Florida.
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Veterans struggling to pay for school this semester

Veterans struggling to pay for school this semester
Friday, September 02, 2011

by Nancy Osborne, News Team
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno State University has welcomed returning veterans to its campus to enroll and work toward a college degree. Some are now having a tough time following changes from Washington that the university has to enforce.
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Portland Vietnam veteran reunites with family after three decades

A Portland veteran reunites with family after three decades
Published: Saturday, September 03, 2011
By Kelly House, The Oregonian
CORNING, N.Y. -- At his lowest point, filthy and infirm with a catheter duct-taped to his leg, Ed Saxbury yearned to see his family.

It was a daily wish, but shame and fear of rejection kept him from calling home for 28 years.

Ed, a short, stocky, bespectacled man with a sallow complexion and a pronounced scar on his forehead, had been a small-time crook and, in his own words, "a deadbeat dad." He lived under the Morrison Bridge and near the South Waterfront marina for a decade, fueling his alcoholism by raiding trash bins outside Portland breweries.

"I wanted to contact home so bad, I just ..." Ed's voice trails off as painful memories emerge. He shudders. Tears fill his eyes as he removes his glasses, nervously tapping them against a footstool in his Southeast Portland home. "I was too embarrassed. What am I going to say?"
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Unusual Non-Profit To Help Other Vets Fight PTSD

This Analyst Turned Army Medic Started An Unusual Non-Profit To Help Other Vets Fight PTSD
Robert Johnson
Sep. 3, 2011

Jason Parsons just doesn't get it.
He left a promising career in finance, joined the Army after 9/11, overcame Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and started a non-profit to drive money toward PTSD research—but he's convinced the media's not giving him a chance.
"Sometimes it feels like I keep hitting walls," he says. "It seems people are just ready for all this to be over."
But the wars are not over, and Parson's Graffiti of War project takes the experiences all combat vets share and shapes it into an outlet to ease the transition from the platoon to the street.
The idea began with when Parsons thought back to all the art-covered t-walls and Jersey barriers he'd left behind in Iraq. He put up a website calling for pictures, and the response was overwhelming. He took an expedition back, and collected hundreds of images before they were lost forever.
Now the artwork is pouring in, forming a bond among veterans, but also conveying the violent, life-changing trauma of war to the people who weren't there.

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ABC Reporter Takes Part in Experiment to Alter Memory and Expunge Fear

As you read this you'll know some "research" ends up in unplanned ways.

ABC’s Nick Watt Takes Part in Experiment to Alter Memory and Expunge Fear
September 2, 2011
By Staff
ABC News Reporter’s Notebook By Nick Watt

(AMSTERDAM) — “Does that hurt yet?” the lab assistant asked after administering an electric shock.

“Yes,” I replied. “But I think I can take a little more.” It was sore. But I was trying to be tough and cool.

She upped the voltage and hit the switch again. I convulsed, jumped from my chair and heard laughter from the other side of the wall. The lab assistant was laughing because my colleagues — producer Paolo and cameraman Andy — were laughing.

I was wired up for a bizarre experiment in an Amsterdam basement. Not an S&M basement, you understand, but the basement of the University of Amsterdam’s psychology department.

The lab assistant was calibrating just how much voltage I needed for the shock to be unpleasant without making me really, really sore. Why? I was playing guinea pig in an experiment.

These Dutch psychologists believe they have found a chemical way to alter our memories — specifically, to expunge fear from bad memories.
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The problem is, some researchers don't understand what they are trying to "cure' us of.

Like most kids I had a lot of things I feared caused by my own mind. The monster under the bed ended up moving into the closet. That monster was killed off when I had something else to fear. My Dad. He was a violent alcoholic when I was young. He caused a lot of heartache and most of the time ended up beating my older brother when he was not just breaking things in the house. Then a strange thing happened. When my parents got along, we'd go to a drive-in movie. We'd put on our PJs, put popped corn into paper bags and Kool-aid into plastic jugs, hop into the back of the car for a night out. One night I escaped from my older brothers, headed over to the big kids play area, climbed up to the top of a towering slide and froze. It was the first time I was alone that high up. I was 4. A kid behind me got tired of waiting for me to go down. He pushed me. Instead of sliding down I went over the side. My oldest brother thought I was dead when he found me on the ground.

After that, I was afraid of heights but I was't afraid of my Dad anymore. I just didn't like him anymore. I faced death for real so whatever he could do to the rest of the family was only something to get angry about. I wasn't afraid of much after that other than heights.

The thing that got me over this and a long list of other things came naturally. Back then we didn't know about traumatic brain injury, PTSD or the long list of things that go with them. We didn't know because there weren't any psychologist to tell us. It just came naturally to my family, yes, even a dysfunctional one like mine. Things were talked to death. When there was nothing more to say, the subject was then dropped. No reason to keep talking about it when emotionally we killed it. We made peace with it and buried it as one more part of our lives that couldn't cause any more harm.

I had support from a really big family and most of the time from my parents. My Dad stopped drinking when I was 13 and he tried to make up for all the harm he did. I forgave him, my Mom did part way but both of my brothers hung onto the pain he caused.

By the time my life was on the line for a second time, I didn't really care. I was driving on 128 in Massachusetts, a notorious highway that makes I4 in Orlando look like a country road in rush hour. I was in the passing lane when traffic slowed down and a car hit me at full speed. My car was sent into a spin and I when I saw the guardrail I covered my face by crossing my arms over it. I thought my Mom would kill me if she couldn't have an open casket for the funeral. Yep, I was that much at peace with dying. The fear of heights was added to with the fear of driving. Dying wasn't the outcome I feared the most. Getting hurt was.

Life happened and more things happened but there came a day when it finally sunk in that if I'm not afraid of dying, then there was nothing to really be afraid of. We can get hurt tripping over air and landing wrong. Someone else can always hurt us by being careless. Then there is the fact we could die in our sleep but somehow manage to fall asleep every night anyway.

When I lost fear, I won over everything that tried to destroy me. I had people to talk to which was a huge plus. I had faith that if I died, I was going to show up in Heaven with a lot of explaining to do. What I also took away from all of this is none of it was from God. He gave me what I needed to get through what happened. I could still pray to Him for help in "times of trouble" knowing He wasn't the one sending the trouble in the first place. I could still cry out to Him in tears knowing He wasn't up there enjoying them. Talking things out helped because I felt safe to do it. I knew my family wouldn't stop loving me just because I told them what was going on. I had faith to hold onto knowing there were no secrets to keep from God even though I didn't tell my family everything, He knew. I am a victim of nothing but I am a survivor of circumstances beyond my control.

If researchers really want to develop something that works, they only need look as far as their local support group to find the answer.

Memphis VA fighting against suicides

Memphis VA Fights Veteran Suicide
Updated: Friday, 02 Sep 2011, 8:14 PM CDT
Published : Friday, 02 Sep 2011, 8:14 PM CDT

Lynn
Lampkin
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The suicide rate for American veterans is so startling, that the Veteran Affairs Department is now stepping in. Friday in Memphis, the VA kicked off the start of National Suicide Prevention Week.

WARNING | GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

"I was in military uniform. I had my 40 caliber pistol at my waistband. I said I'm going to kill myself. I put the gun to my head… and I pulled the trigger."

14-year military veteran Patrick Crowder said the images he saw while serving in desert storm are permanent.

"There were a lot of burned bodies and soldiers left in the truck and vehicle over a mile radius. It was devastating. The smell of burning flesh is something I can still smell today."
read more here

Memphis VA Fights Veteran Suicide: MyFoxMEMPHIS.com

Marine Corps Takes Some Blame in Tampa DUI Death, Trouble Began in Iraq

I have to admit I am stunned by this. Not that a hero ended up in jail waiting trial for manslaughter, but that the Marine Corp has taken responsibility for this. It shows we've come a very long way since the beginning of this battle to save their lives after combat. That is what this is really all about.

If you know nothing about the military, the first thing you need to know is that they are not like you, or me for that matter. They have something tugging at them to serve and they know following it comes with a very high price to pay. They don't do it to "kill" but they do it to save someone else. They know the hardships they will head into just as much as they know the burden they will put on their families, but to them, it would be worse to not go where they are being called to go. It is already in their soul. These are not selfish/self-centered people. They do not take a casual view of life anymore than they take this country lightly. For them to come home after living a lifetime wanting to serve and commit crimes against others, we need to understand something terrible is happening inside of them to cause it.

Scott Sciple was a hero during war and saved lives. What happened back home is another story that didn't need to happen.

Marine Corps Takes Some Blame in Tampa DUI Death, Trouble Began in Iraq

Untreated spiral began in Iraq, led to Tampa death, report concedes.

"Had Capt. Sciple been referred and treated in a timely manner," the report said, "it would have broken the chain of events leading up to his accident and his arrest for DUI manslaughter."

By JOHN BARRY
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
Published: Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:35 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:35 p.m.
TAMPA | The Marines made Scott Sciple a combat officer and war hero. Did they also help make him an inmate of a jail psychiatric ward, awaiting trial for drunken-driving manslaughter?


The Marine Corps takes the blame for standing by and letting it all happen.

The 38-year-old captain had survived four combat tours since 2003. One of several close-range explosions had blown a hole in his right arm and caused him to almost bleed to death. He wore three Purple Hearts for wounds and a Bronze Star for valor. A Marine Corps summary of his heroic acts under fire is 19 pages long.

He had acted strangely for months. He was in pain from his arm wound and plagued by flashbacks and memory loss. He ducked company, drank alone, often walked in his sleep. He went out to buy sunglasses in San Diego and found himself in Mexico.

Still, the Marines declared him neurologically sound, fit for full duty and ordered him to report in April 2010 to MacDill Air Force Base for a classified office assignment. Soon after landing in Tampa, Sciple drove drunk and killed someone. He could face years in prison.

Excerpts
Excerpts from a summary of findings and recommendations signed by Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, commander of Marine Corps Forces Central Command:

The Investigating Officer has established by a preponderance of the evidence that Captain Sciple was incapable of making fully informed cognitive decisions; i.e., he was and is mentally incapacitated to some extent. There is substantial evidence that Captain Sciple has been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, and the compounded effects of his medication, with and without alcohol consumption, from which he experienced multiple disassociate episodes (memory loss, sleep walking, blackouts) as documented in his medical records and witness statements.

Navy health care providers and Captain Sciple's chain of command reasonably should have known the substantial risks associated with deferring to the patient's desire to return to the fight while disregarding the clear evidence of repeated trauma and compounded wounds Captain Sciple sustained. As apparent in this case, a screening system dependent on full disclosure by the patient is a flawed system.

This investigation is forwarded for further review by Marine Corps leadership and Navy medical experts and administrators to examine the issues the Investigating Officer has noted. . . . This may include the effectiveness of screening, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment for PTSD, Traumatic Brain Disorder, alcohol dependence, and other "invisible injuries" by Navy medicine and the Marine Corps.

I also direct the Marine Corps Forces Central Command Chief of Staff (to) confirm and/or implement sufficient screening measures and effective support resources for "at risk" Marines attached to MARCENT, with careful attention to Marines with documented exposure to traumatic experiences being processed for deployment.

read more here

Orlando soldier who just became citizen dies in Afghanistan

Orlando soldier who just became citizen dies in Afghanistan
Pfc. Alberto L. Obod Jr., 26, died Sunday after rollover crash in Kandahar, officials say
By Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
11:13 p.m. EDT, September 1, 2011

New American citizen Private Alberto Obod smiles as he looks over his certificate at the Joint Sustainment Command - Afghanistan Naturalization Ceremony at Kandahar Air Field, Kandahar, Afghanistan on Friday, April 22, 2011. (S.K. Vemmer/Department of State)

In April, U.S. Army Pfc. Alberto L. Obod Jr. beamed as he officially became an American citizen. On Sunday, officials said, he lost his life while serving his nation in the Middle East.

The 26-year-old soldier and Orlando resident died Sunday in Afghanistan's Kandahar province after he was fatally injured in a vehicle rollover, the U.S. Department of Defense said.

Obod was assigned to the 391st Combat Sustainment Support Battalion of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command's 16th Sustainment Brigade, based in Bamberg, Germany.

A native of the Philippines, Obod had a natural talent for tumbling, family said, and worked as a traveling acrobat before suffering an injury at age 17.
read more here

Thousands of Miles in 100 Days for Wounded Warrior Project

Thousands of Miles in 100 Days: Local Man's Journey Across the Country
Posted Thursday, September 1, 2011 ; 06:58 PM
Updated Friday, September 2, 2011; 05:17 PM

A Morgantown man will run from Oregon to Maryland to raise money and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.
By Kelly Rippin


MORGANTOWN -- Running a marathon is no easy task and running an ultra marathon is an even more difficult challenge.
A local man is using those races as training for the run of a lifetime.

Just a few years ago, Jamie Summerlin made the decision to run a marathon.

During the former marine's long runs an idea came to mind: A run across the country to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.

In 206 days, Jamie's journey across the country will begin.

“I'm going to stick my foot in the bay in Coos Bay, Oregon and 100 days later end up in Baltimore, Md. at the Inner Harbor. I’m running across the country for 100 days, 3,500 miles, rain sleet, snow or hail. Whatever we have to do to get across the country," said Jamie Summerlin.

Jamie and his wife, Tiffany, are both former Marines and the idea to run for the Wounded Warrior Project seemed fitting.
read more here

Armed soldier surprises men attempting to rob stranded women

Armed soldier surprises men attempting to rob stranded women
From staff reports
Published Friday, September 2, 2011

Two men convicted Thursday of trying to rob women stranded on Interstate 95 near Walterboro last year got more than they bargained for when one of the women's passengers turned out to be a trained -- and armed -- soldier recently returned from Iraq.

Jurors found Antwan McMillan, 22, and David Jakes, 20, of Smoaks guilty Thursday at the Colleton County Courthouse of three counts of attempted armed robbery, possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime, and three counts of first-degree assault and battery.

Judge Perry M. Buckner sentenced Jakes to 35 years in prison and McMillan to 30 years, according to the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office.
read more here

Central Florida soldier killed in Afghanistan

Central Florida soldier killed in Afghanistan
BY MIAMI HERALD STAFF WRITER

A soldier from Central Florida who served in the Army’s 10th Mountain Division has been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Friday.

Army Spc. Dennis James Jr., 21 of Deltona, died Wednesday “from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device in Wardak province, Afghanistan,” the Defense Department said in a statement.

James had been a soldier for more than three years and had served in Afghanistan for more than 10 months, according to the Army’s Public Affairs office at Fort Drum, NY.
read more here

St. Petersburg ordinance would make it illegal for panhandlers to lie about being a Veteran

St. Petersburg ordinance would make it illegal for panhandlers to lie on their cardboard signs

By Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, September 2, 2011

ST. PETERSBURG — The city is proposing a new ordinance aimed at truth in advertising — on those cardboard signs people hold up on the side of the road.

The new ordinance would ban "fraudulent panhandling," making it illegal for panhandlers to claim that they're homeless or disabled or a veteran or stranded if they're not.

"Most of the people who fly the cards say they're homeless or veterans, but most aren't veterans or homeless," said Robert Marbut, the city's consultant on homelessness. "But they are making a lot of tax-free money."

But the proposal raises many questions: How would the police check the accuracy of those claims? Can the city really regulate what people write on signs? And after the city's successful crackdown on the homeless and panhandling population, who's left to break the new law?
read more here

Family of veteran with PTSD files suit against police

Family of man who died in police custody files suit

By TONY RIZZO

The Kansas City Star

The family of a man who died after he was restrained by Kansas City police in 2009 has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the department. The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City alleges that officers used “excessive and unreasonable force” when they encountered Gilbert Dixon after he was found without clothes and screaming in the street on Oct. 8, 2009. Dixon, 60, of Lexington, Mo., was experiencing a flashback related to post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service, the suit contends. After handcuffing Dixon and applying leg shackles while he was facedown on the ground, officers sat Dixon up but allowed his head to slump forward with his chin on his chest, according to the suit.
read more here

Blue Water Ship list for Agent Orange

VA Posts Online List of Ships Associated with Presumptive Agent Orange
Exposure



WASHINGTON (Sept. 2, 2011)- Veterans who served aboard U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships operating on the waters of Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975, may be eligible to receive Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation for 14 medical conditions associated with presumptive exposure to Agent Orange.

An updated list of U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships confirmed to have operated on Vietnam's inland waterways, docked on shore, or had crewmembers sent ashore, has been posted at
Exposures Agent Orange to assist Vietnam Veterans in determining potential eligibility for compensation benefits.


"Posting of the ships list is an important recognition of the sacrifices U.S. Navy and Coast Guard Veterans made for this Nation," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "It provides an easier path for Veterans who served in Vietnam to get the benefits and services they are entitled to under the law."

VA presumes herbicide exposure for any Veteran with duty or visitation within the country of Vietnam or on its inland waterways during the Vietnam era. Comprehensive information about the 14 recognized illnesses under VA's "presumption" rule for Agent Orange is also located on the webpage.

In practical terms, Veterans with qualifying Vietnam service who develop a disease associated with Agent Orange exposure need not prove a medical link between their illnesses and their military service. This presumption simplifies and speeds up the application process for benefits.

For questions about Agent Orange and the online list of ships, Veterans may call VA's Special Issues Helpline at 1-800-749-8387 and press 3.

When a claim is filed by a Veteran, surviving spouse or child, VA will determine whether the Veteran qualifies for the presumption of exposure based on official records of the ship's operations. Ships will be regularly added to the list based on information confirmed in these
official records.

Even if a Veteran is not filing a claim, a Veteran may conduct his or her own research and submit scanned documentary evidence such as deck logs, ship histories, and cruise book entries via email to 211_AOSHIPS.VBACO@va.gov.

Service on board ships anchored in an open water harbor, such as Da Nang Harbor, or on ships on other open waters around Vietnam during the war, is not considered sufficient for the presumption of Agent Orange exposure. For Veterans interested in obtaining deck logs, contact the National Archives at College Park, Md.

The Agent Orange Claims Processing System website located at https://www.fasttrack.va.gov/AOFastTrack/
may be used to submit claims related to the three conditions added to the list of Agent Orange
presumptives last year (Parkinson's disease, hairy cell and other chronic B-cell leukemias, and ischemic heart disease).

This website makes it easy to electronically file a claim and allows Veterans and their physicians to upload evidence supporting the claim. It also permits online viewing of claim status.

Veterans claiming other conditions may file online at VA's My-eBenefits web site at:
My-eBenefits.
They can check the status of their claim with a premium account (confirming their identity), and use a growing number of online services.

Servicemembers may enroll in My-eBenefits using their Common Access Card at any time during their military service, or before they leave during their Transition Assistance Program briefings.

Veterans may also enroll through their myPay or MyHealtheVet accounts, by visiting their local VA regional office or Veteran Service Organization, or by calling 1-800-827-1000.

Survivors of 9/11 Remember God's Grace on 10th Anniversary

When you see so much horror and suffering it is hard to see God's love. If you look only at the suffering you just can't see how a loving God would ever allow it to happen in the first place. Yet if you look at the people around you, you can see love coming and then surround you. It all depends on what you're looking for.

How do people manage to rise above their own pain to put others first? How does someone battered and wounded care more for a stranger than they do for themselves? When you are suffering and someone comes to help you, who do you think sent them? When you pray for help from God and a stranger shows up, that is from God's love.

Reporters cover the anger of a riot but they don't cover the hope as people hang onto their dreams and rebuild their businesses and homes. They cover a tragic accident but never cover the funeral when hundreds of people take the time to offer comfort to the families. When they bother to cover war, they report on the deaths but never seem interested in the fact the men and women they served with set their own pain aside to support each other.

After 9-11 this is the picture that took my breath away.

Like most in the world, I was glued to the TV and reading whatever was on the Net but this is the picture that was proof of God's love when these men gently carried this man of God out of the rubble. The compassion they had was not damaged by what happened by the evil acts of others. The compassion the responders had for days piled onto days searching for remains was not weakened by the worst others had to offer. God was there every time someone reached out a hand. He was there every time a stranger showed mercy and He was there to hear the prayers of this nation for the sake of so many suffering and He sent so many to help in His place.

Buried, Burned Survivors of 9/11 Remember God's Grace on 10th Anniversary
By Eryn Sun
Christian Post Reporter

As Americans everywhere prepare for the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, two survivors live to testify not to the brutality but the grace extended to them on that frightful day.

Sujo John and Brian Birdwell, though personally unconnected in their lives, share one similarity – September 11.

While John worked in the North Tower of the Twin Towers, Birdwell was employed at the Pentagon when the multiple suicide attacks occurred ten years ago, leaving one critically injured.

Both men, who are reminded daily of their life-changing experience, share another similarity: their remarkable faith in Christ, which to this day continues to grow.

In videos released on I am Second, a website featuring authentic stories meant to inspire people to live for God and for others, John and Birdwell tell their own story of personal struggle, transformation, and hope in honor of the 9/11 anniversary.
read more here

Westboro hate group stalking another family funeral

After all, stalking is what this is. They do not show up at every military funeral so they decide who to go after. They find out where the funeral will be and gear up to tell them how much God hated their family member.

Westboro Baptist Church members to picket funerals in Chester

By: TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF From staff reports
Published: September 02, 2011

Members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church plan to picket the funerals today of a man and his young son who were found slain in a triple homicide Sunday in Chesterfield County.

The anti-gay, anti-Semitic group — known for heckling at military funerals claiming God kills soldiers as punishment for national tolerance of homosexuality — faxed a statement announcing it will picket the funerals of Thomas Scott Allred, 40, and Allred's 7-year-old son, Morgan, outside the Chester Chapel of J.T. Morriss & Son Funeral Home on West Hundred Road.
read more here

The Story of Vietnam Veteran Andrew Elmer Wright, Proof of Love

The following is a post I did over a year ago about a homeless veteran and the church that loved him. Last month the story ended up proving what love can do.

Thursday, March 25, 2010


Vietnam Vet Andrew Elmer Wright found a home as a homeless vet
A simple casket with an American flag for Vietnam Veteran Andrew Elmer Wright.

A simple bouquet of flowers was placed with a simple photo a church member snapped.

By all accounts, Andrew was a simple man with simple needs but what was evident today is that Andrew was anything but a "simple" man.

A few days ago I received an email from Chaplain Lyle Schmeiser, DAV Chapter 16, asking for people to attend a funeral for a homeless Vietnam veteran. After posting about funerals for the forgotten for many years across the country, I felt compelled to attend.

As I drove to the Carey Hand Colonial Funeral Home, I imagined an empty room knowing how few people would show up for a funeral like this. All the other homeless veteran stories flooded my thoughts and this, I thought, would be just one more of them.

When I arrived, I discovered the funeral home was paying for the funeral. Pastor Joel Reif, of First United Church of Christ asked them if they could help out to bury this veteran and they did. They put together a beautiful service with Honor Guard and a 21 gun salute by the VFW post.

I asked a man there what he knew about Andrew and his eyes filled. He smiled and then told me how Andrew wouldn't drink the water from the tap. He'd send this man for bottled water, always insisting on paying for it. When the water was on sale, he'd buy Andrew an extra case of water but Andrew was upset because the man didn't use the extra money for gas.

Then Pastor Joel filled in more of Andrew's life. Andrew got back from Vietnam, got married and had children. His wife passed away and Andrew remarried. For some reason the marriage didn't work out. Soon the state came to take his children away. Andrew did all he could to get his children back, but after years of trying, he gave up and lost hope.

A few years ago, after going to the church for help from the food pantry, for himself and his cats, Andrew lost what little he had left. The tent he was living in was bulldozed down in an attempt to clear out homeless people from Orlando. Nothing was left and he couldn't find his cats.

Andrew ended up talking to Pastor Joel after his bike was stolen again, he'd been beaten up and ended up sleeping on church grounds in the doorway. Pastor Joel offered him the shed in the back of the church to sleep in so that he wouldn't have to face more attacks.

The shed had electricity and they put in a TV set, a frying pan and a coffee maker. They wanted to give Andrew more but he said they had already given him enough.

Pastor Joel told of how Andrew gave him a Christmas card with some money in it one year. Pastor Joel didn't want to take money from someone with so little, but Andrew begged him to take it saying "Please, don't take this away from me" because it was all he had to give and it meant a lot to give it to the Pastor. Much like the widow with two cents gave all she had in the Bible, Andrew was truly grateful for what little he had been given from the church.

What was soon made clear is that Pastor Joel gave him even more than he imagined. Andrew took it on himself to be the church watchman. While services were going on after Andrew greeted the parishioners, he would travel around the parking lot to make sure the cars were safe. At night he made sure any guests of the church were equally watched over. Pastor Joel not only gave him a roof over his head and food, he gave him something to make him feel needed.

More and more people came to the service and there was a lot of weeping as Pastor Joel spoke. What was very clear this day is that Andrew was called a homeless veteran but he was not homeless. He found one at the church. He lost his family and his children, but he found a family at the church.

From what was said about Andrew, he was a Vietnam veteran with PTSD and he wanted no help from the VA. Too many of them feel the same way and they live on the streets, depending on the kindness of strangers to help them out. Andrew wasn't one of the panhandlers we see in Orlando. He refused to beg for money and he wanted to work for whatever he was given. His health got worse but he still did what he could. Right up until March 16, 2010 when Andrew passed away, no matter what happened to him during his life, Andrew proved that this veteran was not hopeless, not helpless because he found the fulfillment of hope in the arms of strangers who took him in and he found help as he asked as well as gave.

The legacy of this homeless veteran is that he touched the lives of so many hearts and will never be forgotten.

Behind this church, in a tiny shed, Andew spent his last hours on this earth. Born in Riverside Park NJ on November 5, 1938 he returned to God on March 16, 2010.

John 14:2-3
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.



Matthew 25

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

While deployed to Iraq with the Marines a young Staff Sgt. was searching the Internet for information on his Dad. He found what he was looking for but it came with a heavy heart. He had to read about his Dad from my blog discovering his Dad passed away.

This video tells the rest of the story. If you want to believe again people can make a huge difference in the lives of others, watch it. If you want to believe that God is still interested in all of us, watch the video. This is a time in this country when people have decided the rich can scream for more money while the poor do with less and politicians support this. It is a time when the sick are told to suffer without health insurance to afford a doctor and folks are no longer ashamed to admit that is the way they feel. It is a time when some churches are telling folks God wants them to be rich when Christ had a different story to tell. In this day and age most of us find it impossible to believe that God is still active. I can tell you He is very busy in our lives if we listen.

Rev. Joel and this church touched me so much I had to do the post on what they did for Andrew. Because God tugged at them to help and tugged at me to get the story out, a Dad's love for his children was finally known.

Prescription medications that Army doctors doled out failed him

Former platoon sergeant says marijuana was 'the only thing' that controlled his PTSD
By BILL MURPHY JR.
Stars and Stripes
Published: September 1, 2011

Former Army Sgt. Jamey Raines came home from Iraq and fought another battle with post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming largely from memories of losing friends in combat. He says he overcame the debilitating effects of PTSD with the help of marijuana. Courtesy of Jamey Raines

Jamey Raines tried marijuana once or twice in high school, but he said he had no interest in it after he joined the Army in 2000. He served in heavy combat in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 and rose through the ranks from private to platoon sergeant. Along the way he drank and smoked cigarettes like many infantrymen do, but he said he was “100 percent against” using any drug in any form.

Five years out of the military as of next month, however, Raines has changed his mind.

Using marijuana, he said, was the only way he could control his intense anger and anxiety as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder. The drug was a crutch, but a necessary one, he said, and it enabled him to go to college, earn his degree and land a decent job.

It succeeded, he said, where the fistfuls of prescription medications that Army doctors doled out failed him.
read more here

VFW battles to attract members

VFW battles to attract members
As older veterans fade from the scene, the group is seeking to recruit younger vets.
By Jessica Kwong

Months in advance, Pedro Santiago already knew what he wanted to wear to his first Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention. What he ordered from a catalogue wasn't a uniform like the kind hundreds of others donned in San Antonio this week, but a baseball cap with special embroidery.

“Vietnam veteran,” he beamed. “You can wear this hat now, but if you wore it in the late '60s and '70s, (people) would throw rocks at you.”

Vietnam veterans make up 36 percent of total VFW membership, more than World War II vets, and are destined to eventually become the organization's newest older generation. But the VFW's long-term future now depends on how well it attracts much younger veterans.
read more here

Widow Calls for Recognition of Husband’s Service After He Commits Suicide

Army Widow Calls for Recognition of Husband’s Service After He Commits Suicide Ahead of Redeployment

On Tuesday, Democracy Now! spoke with Ashley Joppa-Hagemann, the widow of a U.S. Army Ranger who confronted former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about her husband’s suicide on Saturday ahead of his eighth deployment overseas.

In part two of our interview, Joppa-Hagemann calls for a military memorial for her husband, and notes she has not received a condolence letter from President Obama. We also speak with Jorge Gonzalez, executive director of Coffee Strong, a veteran-owned, veteran-operated GI coffeehouse just outside of Ft. Lewis, Washington. He’s a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War who joined Joppa-Hagemann in confronting Rumsfeld. "Our campaign right now is called Operation Recovery, which is calling for to end the redeployment of all traumatized troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, whether they’re suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, [or] military sexual trauma," says Gonzalez.
read more here

Family found for Army veteran who died alone

Family found for Army veteran who died alone
David Charles Becker, 61, died in July without a trace of family to speak of
11:30 PM, Aug. 31, 2011
Written by
ANDREW WALKER

MUNCIE -- For about a month and a half, Delaware County officials wondered whether they would ever find the family of Army veteran David Charles Becker.

Becker, 61, was found by Muncie police officers July 13 lying dead on his couch after a neighbor trimming weeds around Becker's apartment building noticed an odor coming from the downstairs area.

Delaware County Coroner Scott Hahn and Jerry Griffis, Delaware County veterans service officer, could only uncover basic details of Becker's life: They believed Becker was from Evansville, Griffis determined Becker was a U.S. veteran, they knew Becker had moved around the country several times and that Becker, who died of natural causes, typically kept to himself.

And that's about it.

But just when the trail had seemingly ran cold, a close family member was discovered who was more than willing to offer a lending hand.

'Now he's at peace'
Barbara Garnett, Becker's aunt, said she was shocked last week when she received a copy of an Aug. 8 Star Press article noting Delaware County officials' efforts to find Becker's family.

She said it had been at least six or seven years since she had last heard from her nephew.
read more here

If you like this story then check back later today for another one that will restore your faith in miracles still happening today.

Beyond PTSD: Soldiers Have Injured Souls

Healing the soul of the veteran is what Point Man International Ministries has been doing this work since 1984.

Beyond PTSD: Soldiers Have Injured Souls
Now that modern militaries accept that war creates psychological trauma, therapists wonder about its toll on the spirit.
By Diane Silver

“They have lost their sense that virtue is even possible,” Shay says. “It corrodes the soul.”

John Fisher got his soul back when he visited a cemetery in Greece.

Shelley Corteville felt “rocketed” into healing when she told her story at a veterans’ retreat after 28 years of silence.

Bob Cagle lost his decades-long urge to commit suicide after an encounter at a Buddhist temple.
These veterans and thousands like them grapple with what some call “the war after the war” — the psychological scars of conflict. Working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and private organizations, these men and women are employing treatments both radically new and centuries old. At the center of their journey is a new way of thinking that redefines some traumas as moral injuries.

The psychological toll taken by war is obvious. For the second year in a row, more active-duty troops committed suicide in 2010 (468) than were killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan (462). A 2008 RAND Corporation study reported that nearly 1 in 5 troops who had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress or major depression.

Since the American Psychiatric Association added post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, to its diagnostic manual in 1980, the diagnosis has most often focused on trauma associated with threats to a soldier’s life. Today, however, therapists such as Jonathan Shay, a retired VA psychiatrist and recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant; Edward Tick, director of the private group Soldier’s Heart; and Brett Litz, a VA psychologist, argue that this concept is too limited.

What sometimes happens in war may more accurately be called a moral injury — a deep soul wound that pierces a person’s identity, sense of morality and relationship to society. In short, a threat in a solder’s life.

Neither the military, VA nor the American Psychiatric Association have sanctioned this as a diagnosis, but the concept is gaining traction. In April, psychologists, officers and chaplains led a plenary session on the topic at the Navy and Marine Corps Combat and Operational Stress Control Conference in San Diego.
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