If Resiliency Training worked, then why are they still committing suicide?

UPDATE June 11, 2012
I ran across something that was written about what I said way back in 2009. I am no longer with the IFOC but you'll get the point. I am with Point Man Ministries now so while my "hat" has changed, what's under it is still the same.

The Burden of PTSD: An Ongoing Conversation
April 6, 2009
MATTHEW NEWTON
Writer + Reporter

Perhaps you've heard: PTSD among veterans returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is a huge problem and we might not have the resources to deal with its ramifications. GOOD recently ran my feature on the subject, "The Memory War," and since then, I've had many conversations on the topic-ranging from readers' personal experiences, to sprawling discussions on the multifacted challenges facing service members suffering from PTSD. One such discussion, however, really forced me to take a step back.

In an email exchange with Kathie Costos DiCesare, a Senior IFOC Chaplain, she expresses a view of the Army's Battlemind training program that I'd never heard, or even considered. For the unfamiliar, Battlemind is a training program used to try to counter the effects of war on armed forces. It's been heavily criticized as inadequate. DiCesare takes that criticism one step further.

"Battlemind and Warrior Mind both have the same problem and-it's my belief-have the most to do with the rise in suicides as well as attempted suicides," she writes. Both programs, she says, tell troops they can prepare their minds for war, implying that if they are somehow wounded by PTSD, it's their fault.
read more here

When I posted how psychiatrists are coming out against Resiliency Training it seemed too little too late but I was relieved to finally read it from a source other than my blog.

Every time I talk to someone, trying to get them to understand how much damage is done with this program, they look at me as if I'm insane. After all, most of the press on this has been positive because reporters are too lazy to look up the facts. None of them stopped to ask anyone from the DOD or Congress one simple question. If Resiliency Training, also know as Battlemind, was working, then why have the suicides and attempted suicides gone up instead of down?

It is not as if this failure was not known for a very long time. I took a look back at this blog and my older one to remind me of how long I've been talking about this.

Here's an example from 2007

DOD spreading mental illness one GI at a time
June 6, 2007
When you take a look at the "BattleMind" training the troops go through, it is not a far fetch to see how manipulating their thinking process can cause great harm. The first time I read about this program, I winced. Looks like I was right in finding this type of training very troubling.

Here's an example from 2009

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial?

Sorry but I just choked on my coffee.

February 16, 2009
Col. Carl Castro should have known better when he developed this program. From what is said about this program and the evidence, this program does more harm than good. Not that any of these people would ever listen to me or the veterans or the BBC investigation that showed the troops arriving in Afghanistan with 11 1/2 minutes of BattleMind training crammed into two straight days of briefings. There are parts of this program that are good and should be used but they begin with telling the troops that they can "toughen" their minds, which translates to them that if they end up with PTSD, it's their fault because they didn't get their brain tough enough. Try telling that to a Marine.

They can say whatever they want, but when you see the suicide rate go up every year, see them still not wanting to seek help, still not being treated for this as if they have nothing to be ashamed of, then there is a problem. You cannot begin by telling them they can train their brain and then tell them it's ok if they failed to do it. While they may be able to prepare for combat what they cannot do is change the fact they are human, exposed to abnormal events in combat situations and have normal reactions of stress after as a normal human! No matter what the cause, people get wounded by PTSD. The difference between civilians and the troops is that the troops are exposed to it over and over and over again when they deploy into combat. Telling them they just didn't do a good enough job to toughen their minds is the wrong way to begin what could have been a really great program. Again it's just my opinion and based on 26 years of all of this. Plus add in the fact that the Montana National Guard had to come up with their own program along with a lot of other units. That should have been an alarm bell right there, but no one heard it that is in charge.

It would be wonderful if reporters on cable news would finally take a look at this instead of only doing political reports!

Anti-war apartment owner won't rent to veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan

What makes this story worse is that Morgan is training to be a firefighter!

Mass. Veteran Sues Anti-War Apartment Owner, Alleges Discrimination
June 4, 2012

BOSTON (CBS) – A Massachusetts veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has filed a civil rights lawsuit against an anti-war activist who declined to rent him an apartment.

Sgt. Joel Morgan, 29, tried to rent a two-bedroom Dorchester apartment from 63-year-old Janice Roberts.

Morgan didn’t get the apartment. According to the lawsuit, Roberts told him his war service and her peace activism presented a “conflict of interests.”
read more here

Civil War hero may yet get Medal of Honor for Gettysburg

Civil War hero may yet get Medal of Honor for Gettysburg
By RICHARD SIMON
Los Angeles Times
Published: June 4, 2012

WASHINGTON — Alonzo H. Cushing is close to receiving the Medal of Honor, nearly 150 years after his heroic actions at Gettysburg.

A little-noticed provision of a House-approved defense bill would waive the time limit for posthumously bestowing the nation’s highest military honor, allowing the medal to be bestowed on the 22-year-old Union artillery lieutenant who died during Pickett’s Charge on July 3, 1863.

If passed by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama, the measure would end a decades-long struggle by a 92-year-old resident of Cushing’s native Wisconsin.

“I’m glad that it’s finally happening,” Margaret Zerwekh said by phone from Delafield, where she lives on land once owned by the Cushing family.

Her efforts date back to the mid-1980s, when she wrote then-Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis. The campaign to award the medal to Cushing has been championed by other Wisconsin lawmakers.
read more here

Number of homeless veterans rising in Onslow County

Number of homeless veterans rising in Onslow County
June 04, 2012
AMANDA WILCOX - DAILY NEWS STAFF

The number of veterans checking into Onslow County homeless shelters is steadily rising.

The Department of Veterans Affairs released a recent draft report that said homelessness among veterans decreased by 12 percent over the past year. Onslow County hasn’t seen those changes.

In fact, the Onslow Homeless Shelter has seen the exact opposite.

“We’ve seen a noticeable increase in veterans,” said Theo McClammy, Executive Director of the Onslow Community Outreach Program.

The Onslow Homeless Shelter served 12 veterans in 2006. That number tripled and then almost doubled again when the shelter served 36 veterans in 2010 and 52 veterans in 2011, according to a press release.

That’s a 333-percent increase in the number of veterans served over the past five years.
read more here

Health task force to survey soldiers’ records

Health task force to survey soldiers’ records
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 4, 2012

NOTE: A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE RAN IN THE JUNE 4, 2012, EDITION OF THE NEWSPAPER. THE ARTICLE BELOW CLARIFIES THAT THE ARMY WILL SURVEY SOLDIERS’ RECORDS AND NOT THE SOLDIERS THEMSELVES.

The Army will survey current and former soldiers’ records to learn about their treatment as part of its sweeping, multipronged review of behavioral health cases from the last decade of war, according to a top Army official.

The case files of current and former soldiers who were screened for medically separation by a Medical Evaluation Board will be part of the survey. The idea is “to take care of those individuals who weren’t treated well,” said Army Undersecretary Joseph Westphal, one of the officials leading the review.

The servicewide review of mental health cases dating back to 2001 is meant to ensure that soldiers suffering from a behavioral health illness were not denied appropriate medical retirement benefits.

While the time frame of the study is set, Army officials are working on determining how many soldiers’ records will be surveyed and what the selection criteria will be, Westphal said.
read more here

400,000 veterans in Central Florida deserve better

I still have the shovel with 10-24-08 on it. That's the date they had a huge ground breaking event at where the Lake Nona VA was promised to be built. News came later it wouldn't be ready until 2012. Now it looks like 2014. Now it seems very appropriate to have been given a shovel at the event filled with promises.

VA hospital delays hurt veterans
Beth Kassab, Local News Columnist
June 4, 2012

The real loss from the delayed opening of the new VA Medical Center in Lake Nona isn't in the multimillion dollar disputes over construction contracts.

It's in the disappointment of men such as Earle Denton, Joe Kittinger and Jerry Pierce. The veterans fought for their country and then fought government bureaucracy and obstinacy to finally win a VA hospital in Orlando — the largest city in the nation without one.

Now the delays could mean some of them won't be around to see it open.

"I'm probably one of them," said Denton, 82, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who served in Korea and Vietnam.

The construction disputes on the $656 million hospital could delay the opening by 18 months from October of this year to spring of 2014, according to the project's main contractor, Brasfield & Gorrie.

The VA says it will be done sooner, about a year from now.

Either way, the delay is the latest broken promise for local veterans.

"It's an absolute disgrace," said hall-of-fame aviator Kittinger, who was held captive during the Vietnam War. "It's because our politicians were not keeping the VA in gear. The people who suffer are the veterans."

Pierce, who served as an Army first lieutenant in Korea during Vietnam, said there are 400,000 veterans in Central Florida. And 90,000 are enrolled in the VA system for medical care.
read more here

Wounded Times told you resiliency training was a failure, now some psychologists agree

Maybe some reporters and politicians will listen to me now but I doubt it.


DOES COMPREHENSIVE SOLDIER FITNESS WORK?

JUNE 04, 2012
A Call for Retraction
The Army’s Flawed Resilience-Training Study
by STEPHEN SOLDZ and ROY EIDELSON

Ten years of continuous war — characterized by multiple deployments, elusive guerilla adversaries, and occupied populations seemingly more tilted toward resentment than gratitude — have taken a significant toll on US troops. In addition to those who have been killed, physically maimed, or neurologically impaired by combat, many soldiers have experienced debilitating psychological disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Large numbers are on antidepressants and other psychotropic medications, while the suicide rate among troops has risen to alarming levels.

The sobering realities of the psychological effects of war pose a serious challenge for the US military tasked with simultaneously fighting multiple wars and anticipating years of “persistent conflict” ahead. The good news is that key sectors within the military have now identified the mental health of our troops as a major issue that must be addressed. Indeed, in addition to treatment for those suffering psychological impairment, the military leadership is pursuing intervention efforts aimed at preventing such adverse outcomes by increasing soldiers’ psychological resilience to combat exposure. The largest of these new initiatives is the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program, launched in 2009 and based upon the “positive psychology” framework of psychologist Martin Seligman. And that brings us to the bad news: despite the over-hyped claims of CSF’s leading proponents, at this point there is little evidence to suggest that CSF works.
read more here

Since 2008 I've been coming out against this program because it does not work, has reduced the survival rate of the men and women after they survived combat and has left servicemen/women thinking they are mentally weak, thus leaving them with the notion PTSD is their fault! Now it looks like there have been brilliant minds looking at this even longer.

This pretty much sums up what veterans have been telling me since 2008.

Program participants may subsequently take greater risks if they think they have received some form of preventative protection. Participants may suffer from even greater stigma and shame perhaps interfering with help-seeking if after training they fail to effectively handle an adverse event. And the strategies taught may disrupt the participants prior effective coping strategies.

Most people "naturally" respond in a resilient manner when exposed to potentially traumatic events. It cannot be assumed that resilience training will be more helpful than harmful to these individuals.

Scoops picked up on the story too.
Army’s Flawed Resilience-Training Study

Here are some more links to what I posted about this
DOD message has been PTSD is your fault



The $125-million Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Failure

Pentagon has not evaluated PTSD and TBI programs, just repeated them

Repeat Iraq Tours Raise Risk of PTSD, Army Finds
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006; Page A19
U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health........

Vietnam veterans names being added to museum's Wall

Veteran's names added to county wall
Chris Agee
CNHI
June 4, 2012

PARKER COUNTY — Saturday’s third annual update of the only permanent Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall outside of Washington D.C., located in far west Parker County, included the addition of five names.

The five names of Vietnam veterans whose deaths were attributed, at least in part, to injuries sustained while on active duty, were added to the official memorial last year. Ten more names added to the Washington D.C. Memorial this year will be added to the half-size local replica next year, in accordance with law.

Following the arrival of the Patriot Guard Riders to the National Vietnam War Museum grounds, accompanied by the American Legion Riders of Anderson Post 75 in Mineral Wells, attendees witnessed an authentic representation of U.S. horse-drawn artillery units during World War I performed by the Fort Sill Artillery Half Section.

Friends of the National Vietnam War Museum Treasurer Jim Messinger introduced the ceremony’s special guests, including the widow of one soldier whose name was added to the wall Saturday. Judy Woodall traveled to Mineral Wells from Alabama to attend Saturday’s ceremony.
read more here

Vietnam veteran kept up the fight

Vietnam veteran kept up the fight
By Lou Michel
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: June 4, 2012

At 19 years old and recently graduated with a degree in aviation mechanics from Burgard Vocational High School, Al Brusetti attempted to enlist in the Air Force and the Army.

“There was no work in the area, and I wanted to continue in aviation,” Brusetti said.

He received disappointing news from both branches.

“They said I was overweight. I weighed about 220 pounds, but it was from weightlifting and sports.”

Though the economy was hurting, Brusetti secured a maintenance position with the county at E.J. Meyer Memorial Hospital starting in 1961.

But by 1965, when Brusetti was almost 26, Uncle Sam sent him a draft notice. This time Brusetti was looking pretty good, though he was still the same weight.

“The doctor who gave me the physical said I wasn’t overweight. I was ‘heavily muscled.’ Those words are actually in the report from the physical,” said Brusetti, who still gets a chuckle from them.

The muscular soldier arrived in Vietnam in August 1966 as a member of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade.
read more here

Male Iraq Veteran wants to return to service as female

John Ackley, an Iraq vet, is looking to return to the military as Ashley Ackley
10:38 AM, Jun 4, 2012
Written by
CBS NEWS


PINE CITY, Minn. (WCCO) - A Minnesota soldier is trying to pave the way for change in the military.

Specialist Ackley is a war veteran who served in Iraq with the 34th Red Bull infantry division in 2009. But a lot has changed since her return two years ago.

Specialist John Ackley is now Ashley.

She would be the first to tell you she tries to avoid gender ideals.

"I've tried to stay away from gender roles," said Ashley.

As she works on her Chevy Corvair, she's a contradiction of stereotypes.
read more here

What was Obama thinking about Memorial Day?

What was Obama thinking about Memorial Day?

From the White House website.

President Barack Obama is reflected in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall as he delivers remarks during the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War commemoration ceremony in Washington, D.C., May 28, 2012.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)


These pictures were sent by email of what this ended up looking like for all the people trying to go and honor the fallen on the Wall!





Was he thinking about the people traveling from all across the country to honor the fallen from Vietnam and Vietnam veterans or was he thinking about himself?

For all the good he has done for veterans and should be proud of, he does something like this and fuels the animosity. It is doubtful he understood what Memorial Day weekend in Washington means to our veterans.

Several groups are very upset about this. There is one place where politicians should never turn a time to honor into a time to promote themselves. THE WALL IS A PLACE TO HONOR THE FALLEN AND ALL THE VETERANS OF VIETNAM.

Montford Point Marines to receive Congressional Gold Medal

Montford Point Marines to receive Congressional Gold Medal
June 03, 2012
AMANDA WILCOX
DAILY NEWS STAFF
The Montford Point Marines will be awarded Congress’ highest civilian award later this month.

"It’s been a long time coming," said retired Sgt. Maj. Nethaniel James, president of the Montford Point Marine Association, Camp Lejeune, Chapter 10. "I think it’s well deserved and it’s long been waited on."

Congress announced recently that a ceremony will be held June 27 in Washington D.C. to award the Montford Point Marines the Congressional Gold Medal.

The Montford Point Marines were the first blacks to ever serve in the U.S. Marine Corps. Overall, 19,168 black men trained at the segregated Montford Point in Jacksonville from 1942 to 1949.
read more here

In February I interviewed Charles Forman at the Orlando Nam Knights Club House

Feb 12, 2012 Last night at the Orlando Nam Knights there was a surprise guest. Charles O. Foreman, a WWII veteran, member of the Montford Point Marines came. He is part of the group of Marines receiving the Congressional Gold Medal. At 87 he is just amazing. No matter what he had to go through because of the color of his skin, he'd do it all over again. He credits the Marines with making him the man he is today.

Army Sgt. Steve Flaherty's letters home from Vietnam finally going to family

Servicemember's letters from Vietnam to be returned to families
By JENNIFER HLAD
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 4, 2012

HANOI, Vietnam — On the day that he died more than 40 years ago, Army Sgt. Steve Flaherty carried with him a stack of letters he’d written but not yet sent to loved ones back home.

In one, addressed to “Betty,” he thanked her for the “sweet card” she’d sent.

“It made my miserable day a much better one but I don’t think I will ever forget the bloody fight we are having,” he wrote.

After he was killed on March 25, 1969, the letters were taken from him and used as propaganda by Vietnamese forces during the war. Now, Flaherty’s family will finally receive his last written words.

Vietnamese Minister of National Defense Gen. Phung Quang Thanh gave the letters — along with two other sets of letters that may have belonged to other American servicemembers — to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday. In return, Panetta presented the diary of a Vietnamese soldier, which had been taken after a firefight in March 1966 by an American Marine.
read more here UPDATE from CNN

June 4th, 2012

Decades after war, US and Vietnam swap slain troops' papers By the CNN Wire Staff

Nearly four decades after the end of the Vietnam War, the United States and Vietnam exchanged personal papers taken from the dead bodies of each others' troops for the first time, the Pentagon announced Monday.

On a historic visit to Hanoi, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta handed over a diary taken by a U.S. Marine from the body of Vietnamese soldier Vu Dinh Doan in 1966.

In exchange, Vietnamese Defense Minister Phuong Quang Thanh gave Panetta letters taken from the body of U.S. Army Sgt. Steve Flaherty in 1969 and later used in Vietnamese propaganda broadcasts.
read more here

UPDATE

Vietnam soldier's letters make it home
Jun. 4, 2012 - Four decades ago, a U.S. soldier wrote home, telling of the horrors he saw in Vietnam. He was killed before he could mail the letters that were later stolen by the North Vietnamese. The letters were finally released by the Vietnamese military as part of a symbolic exchange with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. (CBS News)

POW-MIA Vietnam to open three sites to US remains recovery

Vietnam to open three sites to US remains recovery
By JENNIFER HLAD
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 4, 2012

HANOI, Vietnam – The Vietnamese government will open three previously restricted sites to allow U.S. teams to recover the remains of two airmen, a soldier and a Marine who have been missing since the Vietnam War, the top American and Vietnamese defense officials announced Monday.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh met at the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense on Monday morning to discuss strengthening ties between the two countries.

In a joint press conference after the meeting, Thanh said through an interpreter that both men see the potential for mutually beneficial cooperation.

The U.S. and Vietnam in 2010 signed a memorandum of understanding that outlines five key areas for cooperation: high-level dialogues, maritime security, search-and-rescue operations, peacekeeping operations and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
read more here

Documentary unveils rape in US military with testimonials

Documentary unveils rape in US military with testimonials
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 2, 2012

A new feature film documentary is winning festival awards and garnering national attention for its in-depth focus on the thousands of women raped every year within the U.S. military.

The makers of “The Invisible War” solicited personal stories from victims and interviewed about 70 for hours each.

At one point in the theatrical trailer, one woman, Kori Cioca, who says she was raped by her supervisor in the U.S. Coast Guard, brandished a hand knife with a blade longer than her fingers, explaining how she carries it on her at all times.

“You always have protection with Jesus but sometimes you need just a little bit more,” said Cioca, who was also holding a metal cross.

According to the Defense Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response report for 2011, of the 2,617 reported assaults, it is estimated that the figure represents only 14 percent of all actual offenses, making the total number of victims at 19,000 last year.

Of the 2011 sexual assaults, 191 military members were convicted as courts-martial, according to the film’s website.
read more here

Jail Death of Gulf War Veteran Haunts Joe Arpaio

Jail Death of Veteran Haunts Joe Arpaio, 'America's Toughest Sheriff'
Jun 3, 2012
Controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio faces a lawsuit over the suspicious death of a mentally ill veteran in a Phoenix jail.
Terry Greene Sterling reports.

On a quiet day in early January, the family of Marty Atencio, a mentally ill Gulf War veteran who had died under suspicious circumstances at one of Sheriff Joseph Arpaio’s jails in Arizona, gathered to pay their respects at a funeral home in Phoenix. In their tributes to Atencio, who was 44, the grieving family recalled his recoveries, his relapses, his homelessness—and their struggle to help him.

Last Friday, six months after Atencio was buried with full military honors, the Maricopa County medical examiner released an unusual autopsy report that paints a horrifying picture of his last hours.

Atencio’s cause of death was tied to “complications of cardiac arrest” due to “acute psychosis, law enforcement subdual and multiple medical problems,” wrote the medical examiner, Mark Fischione. The medical examiner didn’t specify whether Atencio died of natural causes or was killed by the officers.

Atencio is at least the 12th inmate to die under strange circumstances in the Maricopa County jail system. (The Phoenix New Times lists 11 other such cases here.) And listing “law enforcement subdual” as one cause of death, according to former Maricopa County chief prosecutor Rick Romley, is particularly unusual because it could implicate law enforcement in Atencio’s death.

The former soldier’s allegedly rough treatment by officers at Arpaio’s infamous Fourth Avenue jail in Phoenix was caught on routine jail video tape. By then, Atencio had been in police custody for over four hours and had been showing signs of “acute psychosis,” the medical examiner reports. The video appears to show burly officers from Phoenix and Maricopa County piling on Atencio, apparently after he said something, though exactly what remains unclear because jail cameras don’t record audio.
read more here

Wounded Marine, family stunned by generosity

Wounded Marine, family stunned by generosity
Double amputee will get customized van, power wheelchair
Becca Y. Gregg
Reading Eagle
6/4/12

Sitting in the sun outside the Reading Country Club on Sunday, Lance Cpl. Mark I. Fidler was unsure of what to say.

"We're pretty much blown away by the generosity of people," said his mother, Stacy Fidler, breaking the silence until her son chimed in.

"Right now, we have a little car," Mark explained. "We have to fold the wheelchair up every time we go somewhere."

"This will make him more independent," added his older sister, Amanda Umberger.

The Fidlers of Upper Tulpehocken Township were referring to the handicapped-accessible van and motorized wheelchair that Mark will soon receive in a donation facilitated through the James E. "Bing" Miller Charitable Foundation.

A U.S. Marine and 2007 Hamburg High School graduate, Fidler lost both of his legs after stepping on an improvised explosive device less than a week into his first combat tour in Afghanistan last October.
read more here

Decade of service, no benefits, living in car

Decade of service, no benefits, living in car
Jun. 2, 2012
Written by
Dustin Barnes

Fast Facts

•There are an estimated 205,644 veterans living in Mississippi as of Sept. 30, 2010.
•Veterans comprise roughly 7 percent of the state population.
•In the tri-county area, there are more than 31,300 veterans.
•Nearly 5 percent of homeless veterans in the country are female.
•An estimated 67,000 veterans in the U.S. are homeless on any given night.
•8 percent of the general population can claim veteran status, but nearly one-fifth of the homeless population are veterans.
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; National Coalition for Homeless Veterans

Paula Frazier is an average, middle-aged woman who doesn't draw attention to herself.

But over the last six months, she's had to reach out - make herself known - because she needs help.

Even though she served with the Army National Guard for roughly a decade, Frazier doesn't meet the requirements to receive veterans benefits.
v So, she's living out of her car.

"I feel lost. Empty," said Frazier, 47. "It's just a constant roll of stress going over me.

"What do I do tomorrow? What do I do today?"

Frazier's efforts to reach out may be paying off - not with the local Veterans Affairs office but with a homeless advocacy group.
read more here


Former Army National Guardsman Paula Frazier, 47, lives out of her car. After learning she doesn't qualify for many benefits because she was never deployed, Frazier has been struggling to find work and save enough money to put a roof over her head. / Greg Jenson/The Clarion-Ledger

Secret Millionaire Jacobs brought to tears by homeless veterans

How could a guy that loves Harley's go wrong? After all, with all the motorcycle groups doing good work for veterans, I had a feeling this guy would have his heart tugged more by homeless veterans than anything else. I was right.

I don't usually watch the show but once I heard homeless veterans would be one of the causes, I had to watch and I ended up crying.

Last night ABC Secret Millionaire was Scott Jacobs and his daughter Alexa.
One of the places they went to was G.I. Go Transition Center in New Jersey.

G.I. Go Veterans Transition Center
The transition center was founded after a friend of the men behind the place was killed in Iraq six years ago. They help veterans adjust to life when they get back home. Scott and Alexa take part in a training session for a midnight mission to search for homeless veterans. Alexa meets Ray, a Vietnam vet who suffers from PTSD. Scott is overwhelmed to see his daughter being so courageous so far out of her comfort zone.

Scott and Alexa take part in a "Stand Down" event which provides food, clothing and medical assistance to homeless veterans and their families. They meet the mother of Seth Dvorin, the 24-year-old who saved 18 men in Iraq.

The G.I. Go fund exists to keep his memory alive. Seth's friends don't take a salary, they live at home and they barely scrape by. Scott wants to help them out right away. He presents the organization with a check for $75,000. Tears of joy stream down the face of Seth's mother. His friends are speechless. As for Scott and Alexa, they leave the place with smiles on their faces that will last the rest of the day.

ABC Secret Millionaire Scott Jacobs

Link to the video from last night

If you ever want to find a reason to like rich people again, this show will do it. They are not all greedy and out for themselves. It was easy to see how much Scott and daughter Alexa cared about these homeless veterans.

Jacobs couldn't even wait for the next day to hand them the check once he decided to donate to them. He said another day is one more day they cannot help. Lord I wish I could have given him a hug when he handed the check to them!

GI Go Fund and Mayor Cory Booker Announce the Nationwide Launch of “Midnight Missions” for Homeless Veterans, as seen on the Season Premiere of ABC’s “Secret Millionaire”

Sunday, June 3rd 2012
GI Go Fund Executive Director Jack Fanous and Newark Mayor Cory Booker will reach out to homeless vets in Philadelphia, PA, Baltimore, MD, and Washington, DC. Announcement comes during a screening of the Season Premiere of ABC’s “Secret Millionaire”, highlighting the GI Go Fund’s work with homeless veterans.
Newark, NJ (PRWEB) June 03, 2012

GI Go Fund Executive Director Jack Fanous and Mayor Cory A. Booker announced that they will conduct nationwide “Midnight Missions” for homeless veterans, a comprehensive effort spreading through several major cities that will provide veterans who have the misfortune of living on the streets with critical services that will help them find a home. The "Midnight Missions" will reach the cities of Philadelphia, PA, Baltimore, MD, and Washington, DC.

The announcement came during a live screening of the Season Premiere of ABC’s “Secret Millionaire”, which shows millionaires concealing their identity while volunteering with nonprofit groups as they assist people in their community. The first episode of the season highlighted the work that the GI Go Fund does with the homeless veteran population, specifically their “Midnight Missions”, where volunteers go out at 4:00 am to areas densely populated with homeless veterans, including Newark Penn Station and Newark Liberty International Airport, to provide them with food, clothes, emergency medical assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as to collect information critical to help homeless veterans get off the street and into a home of their own.

The episode also featured the GI Go Fund’s “Stand Down for Homeless Veterans”, which provides homeless veterans with food, clothing, medical screenings from the VA, legal assistance, haircuts, and connections to housing opportunities. Following these events, the organization was awarded a $75,000 donation by “Secret Millionaire” and acclaimed Harley Davidson artist Scott Jacobs and his daughter, Alexa.
read more here

Fallen soldier in Iraq didn't tell family he was there

One thing about tracking all of this across the country is that some reports stun me. This is one of them. A US soldier, born in South Korea, wanted to join the military and serve this country. He didn't want his family to worry about him, so he didn't tell them he had been deployed. If that isn't strange enough, this part really got me.

"I didn't trust this document, so they called someone in the military. They were told when a soldier is born outside of the United States, they change his birthplace to a U.S. state. His had been changed to Kansas.

Slain Soldier Didn't Tell Parents He Was at War
Knight Ridder
by Imani Tate
Jun 02, 2012

Besides helping freedom-loving citizens of his adopted homeland and countries fighting tyranny, Jang Ho Kim of Placentia was fighting to protect his parents and sister.

Jang Ho, the son of La Verne's Nikuni Japanese Grill owner Steve Kim, thoroughly believed people everywhere should be free of worry and fear, so he enlisted in the Army in June 2005.

Not wanting his dad, mother Sang Soon Kim or little sister Michelle to fret about his safety, he fudged in conversations about his exact whereabouts after finishing basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., and combat training in Germany.

So, when two soldiers came to tell them Jang Ho had been killed in Baghdad, Steve Kim knew it had to be a mistake.

"I had just come back from lunch when I got a phone call from my wife," said Kim, then Samsung's information technology director in La Mirada. "She said two soldiers were at the house and asked me to come home."
read more here

Clydesdales help wounded soldiers

Clydesdales help wounded soldiers
Hundreds turn out to support Yellow Ribbon Festival and Corn Hole Tournament
Posted: Sunday, June 3, 2012
By CHRIS POLK Staff Writer

EASTON The colors were red, white and blue Saturday on the grounds of the Easton VFW Post 5118 when hundreds of people showed up to support services for active-duty wounded soldiers and their caregivers.

The occasion was the Yellow Ribbon Festival and Corn Hole Tournament, sponsored by Kelly Distributing and organized by Big Tuna Promotions.

Front and center were the Budweiser Clydesdales. Eight of the enormous horses were decked out in their finest, with black and gold-trimmed harnesses and tiny red and white rosebuds woven with ribbons into their manes.

They pulled the gleaming red Budweiser wagon around the paved area of the VFW, driven by two green-capped drivers and a decorative Dalmatian hound named "Brewer." After several turns, they paused for photos, with some cameras going off like strobe lights as the crowd pressed forward.

In the background, the down-home strains of Bird Dog and the Road Kings could be heard as the corn hole tournament started getting warmed up in the "Beer Garden" area. Children tried to wear themselves out in the moon bounce games and alternately got their faces painted.
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Obama's focus on unemployed veterans hits close to home

Obama's focus on unemployed veterans hits close to home
Posted: Jun 02, 2012
By Christina Killion Valdez
The Post-Bulletin, Austin MN

On a trip to Minnesota last year, President Obama had lunch with Joseph Kidd, of Stewartville. But when Obama visited Minnesota on Friday, Kidd was happy to be at work instead.

When he met the president at a Cannon Falls restaurant, Kidd, a Navy veteran, had been unemployed since he was discharged in April 2011. The frustrating part, however, was that his years of military medical training didn't transfer to civilian experience, he said.

Obama is trying to change the situation for veterans, though, and on Friday, while speaking at Honeywell’s Golden Valley facility, he called on Congress to pass Veterans Job Corps legislation. The bill would leverage skills developed in the military to put Afghanistan and Iraq veterans to work as cops, firefighters and other jobs serving the community.

The president also announced a "We Can’t Wait" initiative to help thousands of service members with manufacturing and other high-demand skills receive civilian credentials and licenses.

"That would be great to help other veterans," Kidd said.

Kidd, though, is already looking to change his career track, from medicine to business, after following a friend's recommendation to apply for a job as a meter reader for Minnesota Energy Resources.
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Deaths under investigation at Camp Lejeune

Deaths under investigation
June 02, 2012
AMANDA WILCOX and MIKE MCHUGH
DAILY NEWS STAFF

The deaths of a Lejeune Marine and a Jacksonville man are under investigation, Jacksonville police said Friday.

The bodies were discovered late Thursday night. Jacksonville police were notified that someone was shot in the parking lot of Navy Federal Credit Union at 422 Yopp Road.

JPD, along with the N.C. Highway Patrol, found a black Dodge truck in the parking lot backed into the building. Jason Eimer, 30, of Jacksonville, was found dead inside the truck with multiple gunshot wounds, according to a release.

JPD.were then notified that a shooting suspect, Christoffer Apger, 32, of Jacksonville, was at the New River Harley Davidson at 2394 Wilmington Highway. As police officers arrived, Apger walked to the rear of the building and shot himself.

A Marine Corps spokesman confirmed that one of the men involved in the shooting was a Marine, but he could not confirm whether that man was Apger.

However, neighbors said Apger was an enlisted Marine from Texas stationed on Camp Lejeune who recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan.
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Camp Lejeune Marine murdered posted on Facebook

Soldier Killed, 2 Injured In Overnight Bar Shooting

Soldier Killed, 2 Injured In Overnight Bar Shooting
Shooting Happened Outside Colorado Springs Bar
Written By Justin Adams, News Editor
POSTED: 10:02 am MDT June 2, 2012

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A soldier was killed outside a Colorado Springs bar Saturday night in a shooting that also injured two other people.

The shooting happened around 1 a.m. at the Golden Cue Bar near the intersection of South Academy Boulevard and Hancock Expressway.

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, police reported there were several fights at the bar that night. The soldier who was shot was taken to Fort Carson in a private car.
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A Lone Marine Salutes

A Lone Marine Salutes
POSTED BY PATRICK EDABURN, ASSISTANT EDITOR IN AT TMV
JUN 2ND, 2012

Every year the veterans group Rolling Thunder holds a special event in Washington DC. They ride from the Pentagon to the Vietnam War Memorial both to bring attention to POW/MIA issues and to pay honor to the fallen.
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Widow pushes for change in treatment for PTSD

Our job really begins when they claim the title of Veteran and it does not end as long as they live. They will be a combat veteran 365 days a year.

The general public assumes it is all over for them and their families when they come home but as we've seen with the backlog of claims and the long lines at the VA, they may finally be getting the fact that for them and us, it is not over.

Widow pushes for change in treatment for PTSD
Jun. 3, 2012
Written by
JESSE BASS
American Staff Writer

Camp Shelby
Petal military widow Alicia McElroy cares for her 4-year-old son in the absence of his father.

"I see myself as raising a hero's son and not as a poor, single mom," she said.

Staff Sgt. James "Mac" McElroy had served in some of the most dangerous - and deadly - war zones.

A deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps to Afghanistan in the early 2000s.

A tour in Iraq with the Mississippi Army National Guard in 2005.

A return to Afghanistan in 2010 for a tour of duty with the National Guard.

But it wasn't on a battlefield where James McElroy lost his life.

Instead, nearly a year ago, the 30-year-old died suddenly - and unexpectedly - on American soil in a military hospital while undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Now, his widow has joined a list of families who want to see change in military standards for treatment of PTSD.
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also
Soldier's widow wages war against meds she says killed her husband

Armor of God Military Ministry

1st. LT Ryan Presnal talks about going to war and coming back but the danger of combat is not over when they come home. He is stationed at Fort Hood. Members of his unit got divorced and some committed suicide.

The story of how one family dealt with the deployment and return of their son and the issues they dealt with and how the Armor of God Military Ministry was formed to offer hope and healing to our troops and their families. Armor of God Military Ministry is an outreach ministry of the WoodsEdge Community Church of The Woodlands, Texas.

Combat loss of genital or urinary organs now covered?

This is something veterans were not paid for before this? WOW!

TSGLI to start paying $50K for loss of genitals
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jun 1, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department announced Friday it will begin paying $50,000 in traumatic injury insurance to service members who suffer severe genitourinary losses.

The $50,000 payment of Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance traumatic injury payments will apply to the loss of genital or urinary organs as a result of military service, for injuries incurred on or after Oct. 7, 2001, VA announced in a Federal Register notice.
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Injured Iraq war vets to take lap around Belle Isle's Grand Prix track

Injured Iraq war vets to take lap around Belle Isle's Grand Prix track
June 2, 2012
By Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Nick Koulchar is a former Army sergeant who lost his legs in 2008 in Iraq. Since then, he has become a hand cycle marathoner with the Achilles Freedom Team and can go 26 miles in about two hours. / Larry Sillen/Special to the Free Press

Nick Koulchar won't be driving a race car when he does his lap around the track just prior to Sunday's Detroit Chevrolet Belle Isle Grand Prix. But fans are likely to cheer him all the same.

Koulchar of Macomb Township will pedal a hand cycle around the track just before the pace car leads the racers around, as part of the Achilles International Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans.

Koulchar is a former Army sergeant who lost both legs above the knee in 2008 when a car bomb exploded while he was on a routine patrol in Iraq. Since then, he has become a marathoner with the Freedom team and participated in last fall's Free Press/Talmer Bank Marathon. He can go 26 miles on his hand cycle in about two hours.

His goal is to help raise awareness about veterans such as himself, who came home with life-changing injuries.
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Increase Funding for the VA Health Care System

Increase Funding for the VA Health Care System
June 1, 2012 Update


Earlier this year, DAV and our partner organizations in The Independent Budget, recommended that funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) FY 2013 health care budget be increased by $3.8 billion in order to meet increased demand and rising health care costs. By contrast, the Administration’s budget proposal called for a $2.3 billion increase for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), a difference of $1.5 billion. We strongly believe the additional funds we identified can be put to effective use within VA, including better meeting the needs of new veterans of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On May 31, by a vote of 407-12, the House passed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bill. The bill includes a measure that would boost suicide prevention and homeless assistance funds for veterans. It would also provide $71.7 billion in discretionary funding for veterans’ benefits about four percent above the FY 2012 level, but $1.5 billion less than The Independent Budget recommendation.

Recently, we saw evidence of the negative effects of inadequate funding at a Senate hearing when witnesses testified that VA is failing to meet the mental health needs of the veterans it should be serving. VA’s Inspector General reported that these problems were caused by a multiplicity of factors, including funding and staffing shortages, and lack of quick, easy access by veterans to VA’s many mental health programs. The Inspector General’s findings are consistent with DAV’s own internal survey of the VA mental health care system that showed serious problems with access and response for veterans seeking care.

If you or a family member have experience with VA mental health care and would like to add your voice to our continuing survey, please complete the survey here.

We need grassroots support: please use the prepared e-mail to write your Senators to urge them to increase funding for VA’s FY 2013 appropriation by at least $1.5 billion for medical care services to match or exceed the recommendations of the Independent Budget. We are concerned that failure to provide this increase could lead to further disruptions of VA health care and other vital programs, including its critical mental health efforts.

As always, we at DAV are grateful for your participation in our legislative and grassroots advocacy program. Without your active assistance DAV would not be able to accomplish many of our goals in support of the interests of sick and disabled veterans.

Homeless Vet Aided Dying Bellevue Mom in Seattle Shooting

Homeless Vet Aided Dying Bellevue Mom in Seattle Shooting

Gloria Leonidas of Bellevue was one of Ian Stawicki's victims in Wednesday's shooting spree in Seattle. SeattlePI.com reported that a homeless veteran was among those who came to Leonidas' aid after she was shot.
By Patch Staff
June 1, 2012

A homeless veteran, a married couple and a passerby who abandoned her running car were among those who came to the aid a Bellevue mother of two killed in a Seattle shooting rampage that took the lives of six people, the SeattlePI.com reported.

Gloria Leonidas of Bellevue was fatally shot and her Mercedes SUV taken by Ian Stawicki, who had fled the scene of a mass shooting at Cafe Racer coffee shop in the Ravenna neighborhood earlier in the day, Seattle police said.

Seattle police say that Stawicki, 40, shot five people at Cafe Racer, killing four of them and critically wounding the fifth.
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Camp Lejeune Marine murdered posted on Facebook

Murder-suicide appears to be result of lover's triangle
Posted: Jun 01, 2012
By: WECT Staff

Police in Jacksonville are investigating a murder-suicide that happened late Thursday night. (Source: WITN)

ONSLOW COUNTY, NC (WITN/WECT) – Police in Jacksonville are investigating a murder-suicide that happened late Thursday night. Apparently, it was the result of a lover's triangle. The victim may have posted a warning on Facebook that something was about to happen.

WITN is reporting Jason Eimer, 30 of Jacksonville, and Christopher Apger, a Marine from Camp Lejeune, were killed in the incident.

According to WITN, police received a call just before midnight. Several officers responded and had a "significant presence at the New River Harley-Davidson dealership" in Jacksonville.
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Army Specialist Brandy Fonteneaux was stabbed 74 times

Houston soldier stabbed 74 times in brutal murder
Jun 01, 2012
By Ned Hibberd, Reporter

HOUSTON (FOX 26)

Seventy-four stab wounds: those are some of the injuries inflicted on a female soldier from Houston, in her own barracks.

The new information comes as her alleged murderer, a fellow soldier, is claiming he suffered from temporary insanity.

"I had to know. I had to see just what this man did to my daughter," said Verona Fonteneaux.

Her daughter, 28-year old Army Specialist Brandy Fonteneaux, was stabbed and choked in her room at Fort Carson in Colorado on January 8.

Plenty of moms would leave it at that. But Verona Fonteneaux needed to know. Everything.
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Women Combating PTSD, "The Silent Killer of the Military"

Women Combating PTSD, "The Silent Killer of the Military"

*Click here for an exclusive interview with an active female veteran.
Comparing The PTSD Rate Among Military Men Vs. Women Serving In The Military

You know all about physically wounded warriors. You hear their stories on television and you read them online. It's important to realize the "Silent Killer of the Military" is just as debilitating to our nation's troops. That is, to our servicemen, as well as servicewomen."

The statistics are surprising.

- Eight out of 100 men (only 8%) serving in the military in the United States have PTSD.
- Twenty out of 100 women in the military, or one in five (20%) have been diagnosed with PTSD.
- It's also important to remember that perspective is key in this data. The military is made up, in a large majority, of men, not women. Yet, the PTSD rate among military women is double that (or higher) compared to men. Of those members of the military deployed right now in Iraq or Afghanistan, only 15% of them are women.

Shadowing One Of Texoma's Female Veterans – Kymm Putman, Iowa Park

Kymm R. Putman is a veteran of the United States Air Force. She spent about 14 years serving in the Air Force. Kymm spent time serving her country overseas on numerous occasions, including in Germany. She was stationed across the globe, including in Germany at times, but was also deployed to various regions, as well.

In November 2003, toward the beginning of the war in Iraq, Kymm Putman was deployed to Tallil, Iraq, as part of the 4077 Expeditionary Medical Group for the United States Air Force. Her deployment was four and a half months long. While deployed, her squadron's focus and dedication was on public health.
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Quadruple amputee Taylor Morris story goes viral

UPDATE
September 17, 2012
Amazing love story of Taylor Morris

Funds roll in after injured sailor's story goes viral
By PAT KINNEY
Posted: Friday, June 1, 2012

Taylor Morris, right, and his dad, Dan, rest at Walter Reed Army Hospital. (Courtesy Photo)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- The story of Taylor Morris, the Cedar Falls sailor recovering from injuries he suffered in an Afghan bomb blast, has gone viral.

A Venice, Calif.-based Internet site called theChive.com posted a story about Morris on Wednesday, along with online fundraising links set up by the family.

The site invited viewers to make contributions toward a cabin for Taylor and girlfriend Danielle Kelly. Morris told theChive.com co-owner John Resig that would be his dream home.

Just 12 hours after posting the story, $143,000 had been raised through online donations at TaylorMorris.org.

"I think it's amazing," Taylor's mother, Juli Morris, said this morning by phone from Washington, D.C., where Taylor is recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

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Quadruple amputee Taylor Morris says "I chose this path"

Veterans being scammed by calls claiming to be from the VA

Posts Tagged: ‘veterans administration’
Scam of the day
May 30, 2012 – More veterans scams
May 29, 2012 Posted by Steven Weisman, Esq.

Just a few days after Memorial Day, it is a good time for us to remember our veterans and their service to our country. Unfortunately, scammers always are thinking of veterans, but when they think of veterans, they think of how they can steal from them and make them victims of scams.

One of the more common recent veterans scams involves a telephone call or an email from someone purporting to be with the Veterans Administration asking for the veteran to update his or her debit card number or financial records.
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Another VA laptop stolen with veterans' personal data

Stolen laptop contained veterans' information, VA says
Laptop had personal data of 824 veterans
By Kyle Martin
Staff Writer
Friday, June 1, 2012 4:12 PM

The personal information of more than 800 veterans was contained in a laptop that was stolen two months ago, the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center said Friday.

The 824 affected veterans have been notified and offered free credit monitoring for a year, according to a news release.
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Over 40,000 Veterans Appeals Ignored

VA Audit: Over 40,000 Veterans Appeals Ignored
Posted on June 1, 2012 by VCS
From Ben Krause VCS AD for Advocacy and founder of disabledveterans.org

VA Regional Offices are ignoring 18.5 percent of veterans’ appeals on average, according to a recent audit. The Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that ignoring claims causes a processing delay of 444 days.

Let’s hope the VA notices your appeal. In “Audit of VA Regional Offices’ Appeals Management Processes” report, auditors found that one veteran’s claim had been ignored for over 1,500 days.

As of the date of the audit, 246,000 disability appeals were on file. If the 18.5 percent average holds across the entire VA, another 45,000 appeals claims are not on record despite the VA having the appeal on file.

To assess appeals processing, the Veterans Affairs OIG created a sample of VA regional offices across the US. These offices served as the “average” regional offices. The auditors then handed the different offices 783 potential NOD’s. VA adjudicators failed to identify 145 of these as potential appeals.

Here is how the process works. A veteran files an appeal because they disagree with a decision by the VA. In this form, it is considered a Notice of Disagreement (NOD). Once a review of the claim is completed, if the reviewer does not agree with the veteran, a Statement of the Case is created by the VA. If the veterans still disagrees, they appeal and VA then certifies the appeal to the Board of Appeals.

For the Notice of Disagreement portion, the VA has set a target of 125 days to complete the review. The VA has also set a 180-day target for the certification process.

In 2010, VA took an average of 656 days to fully process an appeal. This audit does not provide the average for 2011, but one unidentified regional office averages 1,219 days.
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New Education Benefit for Vets

 

New Education Benefit for Unemployed Veterans Has Strong Response

VA Outreach for Veterans Retraining Assistance Program Garners Over 12,000 Applicants since May 15

 

WASHINGTON (May 31, 2012) – Within two weeks of being announced, a program to give skills training to some unemployed Veterans has garnered over 12,000 online applications, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

 

“VA is committed to supporting Veterans as they seek employment.  This initiative will help provide education and training so that Veterans have an opportunity to find meaningful employment in a high-demand field,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We will continue to build on the success of our initial outreach efforts to Veterans.”

 

Called the Veteran Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), the program allows qualifying Veterans between the ages of 35 and 60 to receive up to 12 months of education assistance.  Maximum payments are equal to the full-time rate for the Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty, currently $1,473 monthly. 

 

Under VRAP, Veterans apply on a first-come, first-served basis for programs that begin on or after July 1.  VA began accepting applications on May 15.  Forty-five thousand  Veterans can participate during the current fiscal year, and up to 54,000 may participate during the fiscal year  beginning Oct. 1, 2012.

 

The goal of the program is to train 99,000 Veterans for high-demand jobs over the next two years.

 

To qualify Veterans must:

• Be 35 to 60 years old, unemployed on the day of application, and have been issued discharges under conditions other than dishonorable;

 

• Be enrolled in education or training after July 1, 2012, in a VA-approved program of education offered by a community college or technical school leading to an associate degree, non-college degree or a certificate for a high-demand occupation as defined by the Department of Labor;

 

• Not be eligible for any other VA education benefit, such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the Montgomery GI Bill, or Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment;

 

• Not have participated in a federal or state job training program within the last 180 days; and

 

• Not receive VA compensation at the 100 percent rate due to individual unemployability.

 

While the initial response has been encouraging, VA officials stress the need for a sustained effort to reach potential VRAP applicants. 

 

“Besides the Veterans themselves, we are asking anyone who knows of an unemployed Veteran to help us get the word out so everyone can take advantage of this new benefit,” said Curtis Coy, VA’s deputy undersecretary for economic opportunity.  “With the help of our Veterans community and our partners in the Department of Labor, we hope to reach as many eligible Veterans as possible.”

 

In addition to its national outreach campaign, VA will seek out potential VRAP-qualified Veterans through online applications and at the National Veterans Small Business Conference being held in Detroit June 26-28.  During 2012, VA representatives will also provide VRAP information and assistance at hiring fairs sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce through the Hiring Our Heroes campaign.

 

For more information on the Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) program, the Hire Heroes Act of 2011, VRAP, high demand occupations, and application procedures, visit the website at www.benefits.va.gov/VOW, or call VA National Call Center toll free at 1-800-827-1000. 

 

Veterans may also access the VRAP application online athttps://www.ebenefits.va.gov through eBenefits, a joint project between VA and the Department of Defense.

Veterans are also encouraged to visit the nearly 3,000 One-Stop Career Centers across the nation for assistance from staff, Local Veterans’ Employment Representatives (LVERS), and Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program (DVOP) specialists.  Center locations are listed at www.servicelocator.org.

Army adds more charges against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales

Army drops murder charge in Afghanistan shooting rampage

SEATTLE (AP) — The Army has dropped a murder charge, but added others, including steroid use, against a soldier accused in a deadly shooting rampage in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is now accused of gunning down 16 civilians in pre-dawn raid on two Afghan villages in March.

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Marriage and family -- a hidden casualty of war

Marriage and family -- a hidden casualty of war
By Major General Mastin M. Robeson, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
Published June 01, 2012
FoxNews.com

As we celebrated Memorial Day last weekend and remembered those who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom, many Americans spent the day with their families and friends, perhaps at a backyard barbecue or by a lake or the seashore. For others, the day was one of sadness as people across the country visited cemeteries and honored loved ones laid to rest. But there are those in our military who were, and are, grieving from a different kind of loss, a hidden casualty of war: military marriages.

I saw a lot of family heartache during my 34 years of service in the United States Marine Corps, but the last 10 years have proven to be the most difficult on military marriages and families.

Statistics from the Department of Defense report that since the start of operations in Afghanistan in 2001, the military divorce rate has continued to rise. Last year alone, the marriages of some 30,000 military personnel ended in divorce (USA Today, December 2011).

This has been the longest war in America’s history. We have been hugely successful at preparing our forces for a dynamic battlefield, protecting the individual warrior from an array of complex threats, and providing for the spouse and family left behind.

However, the more subtle challenge that cries for attention is the ever-mounting pressure on the marriages of our military personnel. Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are not new to the battlefield, but multiple lengthy deployments are increasing their impact.

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Soldier's widow wages war against meds she says killed her husband

Soldier's widow wages war against meds she says killed her husband
Posted: May 31, 2012
By Ashlea Surles, Reporter

HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM)
"We met on Valentine's Day at a Bitter Ball for singles in Mobile, Alabama," said Alicia McElroy, sitting on her couch in her Petal home describing the day she and her husband met. "He was awesome, he was your dream guy. He was too good to be true almost."

Alicia and James McElroy knew they were it for each other from the start.

"Ever since the day we met we never were apart, we were inseparable," said Alicia.

They dated for about a year, were married, and had a son - Dane. James, a Mississippi National Guard soldier who everyone called 'Mac', worked close to home at Camp Shelby.

"We had a good life, we had a happy family," said Alicia. "It was perfect, I mean you couldn't ask for more."

But that was all about to change.

"We got the call on our anniversary in 2009 that he was being deployed." James left in April and came home on leave in October and, Alicia says, he had changed. "Mac was crying all the time, he was depressed, he was anxious, just real agitated and irritable, he couldn't sleep."

He had done a tour in Iraq and once before in Afghanistan, and halfway through his third combat deployment he was breaking down.

"He had been in bed all day and I had been out here with Dane, I didn't want Dane to see his dad like that and I went in the bedroom that afternoon to check on him," said Alicia. "He was in bed sobbing ... He was curled up in the sheets, head, pillow, everything just crying his eyes out," Alicia said. "And after a little while he said 'Please help me, get me some help."

The military sent him to Fort Benning in Georgia to begin receiving treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
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Risky RPG Removal from Marine's Leg

UPDATE Marine talks about what happened that day.

You have an RPG in your leg

Risky RPG Removal from Marine's Leg
Posted 2 days ago by Member 26835147 Lt. Cmdr. Gennari talks to CNN's Brooke Baldwin about his risky role in the removal of a live rocket-propelled grenade embedded in a Marine's leg.



UPDATE

Pulling A Live Rocket From A Wounded Marine Is All Part Of The Job For This Navy Sailor
Robert Johnson
Jun. 2, 2012

It's part of the job for American medical teams to care for civilians caught up in the bloody mess of Afghanistan fighting, so when a call came over the radio January 12, to help an injured three-year-old girl, an Army medical team rushed to save her.

The child had a bullet lodged in her back and had been doused by shrapnel, but when the medical unit arrived they found an even more pressing problem — a 22-year-old Marine Lance Corporal named Winder Perez had been hit as well — and the rocket propelled grenade (RPG) that had taken him down lay unexploded in his leg.
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13% of deployed Marines consider suicide 2006-2007

If it was this bad back then, what would a new study show?

Study: 13% of deployed Marines consider suicide
By Gidget Fuentes
Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 31, 2012

SAN DIEGO — More than one in 10 Marines who deployed overseas reported having suicidal thoughts or plans to attempt suicide, according to a study looking at suicidal predictors.

As part of the study, which was briefed at the Navy-Marine Corps Combat Operational Stress conference here in late May, researchers sought to identify potential links to suicidal behavior that may have been evident within a month before a Marine attempted to take his life. They analyzed variables such as post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, substance or alcohol abuse, and social support, looking also at “negative life events,” such as trauma prior to deploying, combat exposure and the “mundane” worries of everyday life.

“In our sample, unfortunately, 13 percent of people reported some type of suicidal thoughts or plans,” said Cynthia Thomsen, a research psychologist with the Naval Health Research Center.

The anonymous study of 1,517 active-duty Marines and sailors was conducted in 2006-2007. A wide cross-section of the Corps was represented, including the infantry, aviation and combat support communities.

Most participants were male (93 percent) and from the junior enlisted ranks (E-1 to E-4). Nearly half had done more than one overseas deployment, but 11 percent were not combat-related.
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Reasons to hire a veteran

Sgt. Daniel Angus' family await apology after Air Force mortuary scandal

Tampa Marine's arm sawed off to be "dressed" for funeral?
Family of slain Marine await apology after Air Force mortuary scandal
By Robbyn Mitchell
Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, June 1, 2012

TAMPA
Silently, the Angus family waited.

The mother, father and sister of Sgt. Daniel Angus bided seven months to see what punishment would come for the morticians and supervisors responsible for sawing off the arm of the Marine killed in Afghanistan.

Last week, a reporter — not the Pentagon — called the family with the news.

And they grieved for Daniel Angus yet a third time.

This time, they wanted to be heard.

"More than anything, we deserve an apology that doesn't start with 'I'm sorry, but …' " said his mother, Kathy Angus, in a news conference Thursday. "Everyone involved needs real consequences for what they did."

The Air Force said in a statement last week that Dover Air Force Base Port Mortuary supervisors Col. Robert Edmondson and Trevor Dean were punished for retaliating against employees who complained about the way servicemen and servicewomen's bodies were being handled.
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Military kids in Germany being "accosted"

Another Child Accosted at Base in Germany
May 31, 2012
Stars and Stripes
by Jennifer H. Svan

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- Despite heightened security on Kaiserslautern-area military bases following two reports of child molestation and an attempted child abduction, Air Force officials said another attempted abduction was reported Wednesday.

In addition, officials at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom are urging parents there and at nearby bases to be vigilant after an American boy reported an incident while he was walking off base May 2, though officials said there were conflicting accounts of what happened and it was not clear whether it was an attempted abduction.

In Kaiserslautern Wednesday, an 11-year-old boy reported that a man in an Army uniform tried to grab him at about 4:30 p.m. while he was walking alone on the side of Vogelweh that houses Vogelweh Elementary School and Armstrong's Club, said Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, the commander of the Kaiserslautern Military Community and 3rd Air Force.

Military investigators are treating the incident as an attempted abduction and are seeking additional information and possible eyewitnesses to confirm what happened, Franklin said.

Franklin has called two town hall meetings for Friday to inform parents of the latest incident and to update them on the investigation. The first town hall will take place at 11:30 a.m. at Armstrong's Club on Vogelweh; the second town hall is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the Hercules Theater on Ramstein Air Base.
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Joe Mantegna: Our Returning Troops Need Jobs

Joe Mantegna told the country to hire veterans and he is practicing what he preaches! I just read that he told quadruple amputee veteran Taylor Morris to look him up when he is ready and he'll put Taylor on Criminal Minds.

If you subscribe to this blog, you know I don't have much time for TV anymore but one of the shows I watch all the time, (including reruns) is Criminal Minds. There are times when I think the show could do a better job addressing Combat PTSD veterans coming home instead of showing the harm they can do but at least they do it with compassion.

Criminal Minds' Joe Mantegna: Our Returning Troops Need Jobs
By Adam Bryant
TV GUIDE
May 25, 2012

Criminal Minds star Joe Mantegna has a message for Americans this Memorial Day: Our veterans need jobs.

Mantegna, who will return as co-host of Monday's National Memorial Day Concert on PBS with fellow CBS star Gary Sinise, is also actively working with America Wants You!, a new initiative that encourages corporate America to hire men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Mantegna and Criminal Minds co-star Thomas Gibson have also filmed PSAs to spread the word.
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National Memorial Day Concert: Joe Mantegna and Dennis Franz help give tribute

Quadruple amputee Taylor Morris says "I chose this path"

Simply remarkable! Taylor Morris lost parts of his limbs but has no regrets for taking on a dangerous job.

Quadruple amputee sailor: ‘I chose this path; I’m doing fine’
By PAT KINNEY
For The Globe Gazette

Taylor Morris remembers and feels everything.

He remembers the explosion that blew him off the ground and took portions of all his limbs.

He still feels his hands — every knuckle, every fingernail — as though they’re knotted up inside him and being crushed, and the stinging where his legs were, as though they’ve fallen asleep.

But he feels other things, too, the recuperating Cedar Falls sailor said Wednesday in an exclusive interview from his hospital room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesdsa, Md.

He feels the love and support of a family and his girlfriend, Danielle Kelly, who have never left his side; of comrades in arms including fellow amputees; of brothers and sisters who are raising funds for future expenses; and of folks in Northeast Iowa he barely knew or never knew, including people organizing fundraisers or simply sending checks.

“Tell folks back home I chose this path, and I knew it was dangerous going into it,” Morris said from his hospital room at Walter Reed via Skype and telephone. “And it’s unfortunate it happened. But I don’t want them to pity me or to feel bad. I’m doing fine, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get back to 100 percent.”
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Brendan Haas gives Disney to fallen soldier's family

Boy Who Donated Disney Trip to Soldier’s Family Wins Vacation of His Own
By ABC News
May 31, 2012
ABC News’ Linsey Davis and Lauren Sher

Nine-year-old Brendan Haas, who spent three months trading things so he could win a vacation to Disney World and then gave it away to a girl whose father was killed in Afghanistan, was surprised with his own Walt Disney World trip today on “Good Morning America.”

To reward Brendan for his generosity, the Disney Company, the parent company of ABC, awarded Brendan’s family with an all-expense paid trip of their own, and made Brendan an “honorary citizen of Walt Disney World.”

But instead of accepting the trip, Brendan said he wanted to pay it forward yet again and that he’d be able to find another family of a fallen soldier who deserves it.

“We can’t accept a trip to Disney but we have many more people who would like to have an all-expenses paid [trip] …so we can do another raffle,” he said today from his home in Kingston, Mass.
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