12 Million Veterans Diagnosis Mistakes A Year?

Diagnosis mistakes for veterans: 12 million happen a year
WLOS News
by Jennifer Emert
Wednesday, February 22nd 2017

A study by VA Dr. Hardeep Singh shows more than 12 million VA and private patients are misdiagnosed a year. Singh's research blames it on doctors not getting enough time to be face to face with their patients or their medical records. The average exam time has gone from 40 minutes to 20 minutes.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Making up for past mistakes has been a focus of the Veterans Health Administration.

Overall, there's been an improvement. But, from the front lines, from several veterans' perspectives, sometimes it is a battle to get the right diagnosis.

The Charles George VA Medical Center's rating is great, recently receiving five stars. But that’s based on the VA's data on inpatient treatment.

One mountain veteran is telling a different story, a story that lasted a year and ended up with him leaving the system.

“I feel like I'm fighting more of a battle back here than I have over there,” Chad Thomas said.

At 26, Thomas fought on Iraq's front lines. He was deployed to Iraq in 2004-05 as an airborne infantryman, assigned to the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade.

“Anytime there was a convoy, that was my job,” Thomas said.

From his Humvee gunner's post, he protected soldiers in and out of Bagdad's airport. Twelve years later, Thomas' battle has gone from the war room to an exam room.

“That's usually what I see happening, when there's an infection, I usually have all this other stuff,” Thomas said.

He's waging war on an infection that six months ago was much larger, blackening the skin.
read more here

Army Reserve Medic Missing in Japan

Colorado man missing in Japan
NBC 9 News Colorado
February 22, 2017

KUSA - Rescuers and volunteers are searching for a Colorado man who disappeared while skiing Happo-one in Nagano, Japan.

Cpt. Mathew Healy, Army Reserves, is an OEF Veteran with combat medic experience according to family members. He along with his wife and 2 children have been living in Japan for 2 years as a part of his wife’s Air Force assignment in Okinawa.
read more here

UPDATE

Search continues for lost US skier in Japan

Missing Veteran Found by Coast Guard

Missing Army veteran found safe in hospital after two-day search
FOX 5 News
BY CHRISTY SIMERAL AND SHARON CHEN
February 22, 2017

SAN DIEGO -- After a two-day search for a missing boater thought to be lost at sea, a U.S. Coast Guard official ended its search Wednesday night after the decorated Army veteran from Orange County was found safe.

Garrett Ferguson

A nurse at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest saw a FOX 5 News report on the search for 36-year-old Garrett Ferguson of Huntington Beach and called police to say he was at the hospital.

Lifeguards and Coast Guard personnel scanned the ocean and shorelines around Mission Bay for a second day Wednesday in search of the Huntington Beach man, who was believed to have gone missing during a sea outing on a small motorboat.
read more here

Lawsuit: Fort Hood Multiple Murder-Suicide Could Have Been Prevented

Lawsuit claims soldier’s gun access led to murder-suicide in Killeen
KXAN News
By Claire Ricke
Published: February 22, 2017

KILLEEN, Texas (KXAN) — One day away from the two year anniversary of a Killeen murder-suicide, a family is suing the U.S. government for failing to report a Fort Hood soldier’s restraining order violations, which allowed him to purchase a gun.

In the lawsuit filed at an Austin federal court, the family claims weapon access led to the murder of three people and suicide of the soldier. In February 2015, police say, Atase Giffa shot and killed his wife and two neighbors before killing himself.

According to the lawsuit, days before the murders Giffa and his wife were arguing, which escalated when he grabbed and threw her. Giffa’s wife Dawn was told by Killeen police to notify her husband’s commander about the incident. While she called the commander, Dawn and her son went to a neighboring home to find safety.

The commander told Dawn that Giffa would be on a 48-hour watch and constrained to the barracks for seven days as well as having a restraining order filed against him, states the lawsuit. Fort Hood is accused by the lawsuit of not recording Giffa’s restraining order violations in the crime datebase that would have made it harder for him to buy a gun. The lawsuit does not state where Giffa bought the gun.
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POTUS Not Meeting With Veterans Groups?

American Legion defends VA health care, still trying to meet with Trump
Stars and Stripes
Nikki Wentling
February 22, 2017

WASHINGTON — The American Legion is trying to arrange a meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss the importance of veterans service organizations, the group’s executive director said Wednesday.

American Legion officials stand to be recognized during Secretary of Veterans Affairs nominee Dr. David Shulkin's Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, Feb. 1, 2017.
JOE GROMELSKI/STARS AND STRIPES

“It’s important that the president meets with us, and we’re working right now to set up a meeting,” American Legion Director Verna Jones said during an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. “We want to… make sure that he understands the value of [veterans service organizations], what we bring to this veteran space and what veterans need.”

Jones said she wants five other veterans organizations included in the meeting with Trump. Veterans of Foreign Wars, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Vietnam Veterans of America, American Veterans and Disabled American Veterans, along with the American Legion, are informally known in Washington as the “Big Six” and collectively represent approximately 5.6 million veterans.

The six groups attempted to obtain an in-person discussion with Trump in December before he selected a new Department of Veterans Affairs secretary, but they never had a meeting. Leaders of major veterans groups were not present when Trump held a listening session about the VA earlier this month with health care executives.
read more here

Air Force One Savings Questioned by the Air Force?

Air Force Stumped by Trump's Claim of $1 Billion Savings on Jet
Bloomberg
by Anthony Capaccio
February 22, 2017

Cost estimates for a new Air Force One still being refined
Service awards next contracts for design, aircraft by June 30

The Air Force can’t account for $1 billion in savings that President Donald Trump said he’s negotiated for the program to develop, purchase and operate two new Boeing Co. jets to serve as Air Force One.

“To my knowledge I have not been told that we have that information,” Colonel Pat Ryder, an Air Force spokesman, told reporters Wednesday when asked how Trump had managed to reduce the price for the new presidential plane. “I refer you to the White House,” Ryder said. A White House spokesman didn’t respond to repeated inquiries about Trump’s comments.

Trump has boasted that he’s personally intervened to cut costs of two military aircraft -- the F-35, the fighter jet built by Lockheed Martin Corp., and Boeing’s Air Force One.

“They were close to signing a $4.2 billion deal to have a new Air Force One,” Trump said at a rally on Saturday in Florida. “Can you believe this? I said, ‘No way.’ I said, ‘I refuse to fly in a $4.2 billion airplane. I refuse.’”

Instead, Trump said, “we got that price down by over $1 billion, and I probably haven’t spoken, to be honest with you, for more than an hour on the project. I got the generals in, who are fantastic. I got Boeing in. But I told Boeing it’s not good enough. We’re not going to do it. The price is still too high.”
read more here

Fire within led firefighter to take his own life

Fire within led firefighter to take his own life
KSDK News
Jacob Long
February 22, 2017

On Saturday, September 24, 2016, McMullin was on duty for West County EMS and Fire’s station house #2 in Ballwin when he took his own life.

The family of Sean McMullin mourning his death. On Saturday, September 24, 2016, McMullin was on duty for West County EMS and Fire’s station house no. 2 in Ballwin when he took his own life. He was 46.
(Photo: KSDK, KSDK)

ST. LOUIS - Beth McMullin never imagined that someday, she would be married to a firefighter.

“No, I never pictured it. I always pictured a suit and a briefcase. The typical 9 to 5 job,” she said.

Even when she met her husband on a blind date more than 15 years ago, the reality of becoming a first responder’s wife never really dawned on her.

“I was 20 years old when I met him. I married him when I was 21. I guess I didn’t really know what I was getting into,” she said.

But love clearly had other plans.

“It felt comfortable. It felt right. It was just great,” she McMullin said.

And now, the St. Charles County woman is learning all about the unexpected heartbreak that can come with that role.

“We keep going because we have to. I just try to be there for my boys and get them through the day,” she said, wiping tears away from her eyes.

McMullin is a mother of four and the widow of Sean McMullin, 46, a veteran firefighter and paramedic.

He spent more than 20 years protecting local communities like Webster Groves, Berkeley and West County.
read more here

Homeless Air Force veteran, Casey Kathleen Finnegan to be buried with honor

First Female Veteran Honored in Portland through the Dignity Memorial® Homeless Veteran Burial Program 
Salem-News.com 
February 21, 2017

This service will be unique with all lady veteran pallbearers at the conclusion of the graveside. Also, theater students from Clackamas High School, who are preparing to release a rendition of “A Piece of My Heart,” a true story of women who served in Vietnam, will be in attendance to pay tribute.

The public is invited, and encouraged, to attend. A reception will follow. (PORTLAND, Ore.) - A graveside service will be held at 1 p.m., Monday, Feb. 27, 2017 in Willamette National Cemetery to honor the life of Air Force veteran, Casey Kathleen Finnegan, a.k.a. Anne Kathleen Finnegan. 

Ms. Finnegan passed away Jan. 26, 2017 in Portland, Ore. with no family to claim her. The Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s office, Portland Veterans Administration and the State of Oregon Department of State Lands performed background checks to locate next of kin. 

The searches yielded no results. The medical examiner contacted Lincoln Memorial Park and Funeral Home, which they knew to be a Dignity Memorial® Provider and provider of funeral services through the Dignity Memorial® Homeless Veteran Burial Program. read more here

Soldiers Death in Iraq Under Investigation

Death of Mass. soldier in Iraq under investigation 
WCVB 5 News Boston 
Feb 21, 2017

Brian Patrick Odiorne

WARE, Mass. — A soldier from Massachusetts died Monday in a non-combat related incident in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. 

Pfc. Brian P. Odiorne, 21, of Ware, was part of Operation Inherent Resolve in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. 

The fatal incident is under investigation by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the DOD said. read more here

When Veterans Are In Crisis, Fight for Their Lives!

We need to stop taking "no" for an answer, especially when we're asking for help to save someone's life. When a veteran reaches the point where they are in crisis and ask for help, do not walk away from the VA! Tell them to either find a bed there or send you some place else.

I actually heard someone say that veterans do not call 911 or show up at an emergency room for civilian care because they do not want to get stuck with the bill. DEAL WITH IT! 

We did! In the 90's they didn't have a bed for my husband but I told them we were not leaving until they found a place for him. They saved his life and we got stuck with the bill because our private insurance wouldn't pay for something the VA doctor said was tied to Vietnam. When we couldn't afford to pay, they took our tax refund for years. Six years later, when his claim was finally approved, we got most of the money back.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't easy. But giving up on him getting the help he needed was not an option. Why it is still happening is beyond excuses from Congress but it is what it is for now until they are forced to fix the problems with the VA. Still don't blame the VA for everything because when you'll deal with the same thing in civilian hospitals. You just have better chances with them since there are a lot more beds in their hospitals.

Wife of veteran says Topeka VA didn’t do enough to help suicidal husband

Travis Patterson died on Jan. 27 at age 26

On Jan. 25, Travis tried to kill himself. The couple went to the Topeka VA’s mental health building. Staff said it was closed and to go the VA emergency room. Rachel said the emergency room doctor took Travis’ vital signs and told them there wasn’t much they could do that night. They were given the option to be admitted and seen in the morning or to go home and come back the next day. They opted to go home.

When Travis Patterson sought care at the Topeka VA after attempting suicide, his wife, Rachel Patterson, said they were told no one could provide immediate help. Two days later, Travis Patterson killed himself at the age of 26.

“He was driven to this because he didn’t get the help he should’ve gotten,” Rachel Patterson said.

Travis Patterson, also known as “Patt,” had been in intense pain since December, his wife said. Much of his physical pain stemmed from his time in the service. Travis was deployed three times — to Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria. In Afghanistan, his truck was blown up. In June 2016, he was discharged from the military.

He suffered from bulging disks, nerve pain and migraines, Rachel said. The pain, at times, prevented him from going to work or school, and he walked with a cane. In December, it worsened. Rachel said doctors wouldn’t prescribe a different medication.

“As a veteran, being treated like that, basically treated like you’re a criminal, it hurts your pride. It doesn’t make you feel like you’re a person and that definitely contributed,” Rachel said.

read more here

Remains of Combat Medic Will Naugle Found by Hikers

Family: Body of missing U.S. Army reservist found
KOIN 6 News Staff
Published: February 20, 2017

Will Naugle was last seen on January 26

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The body of a missing U.S. Army reservist has been found, according to family members.

Will Naugle was last seen on January 26. He was scheduled to report for annual training and vanished.

Naugle was a combat medic and connected to the U.S. Army Reserves at Camp Whithycombe in Clackamas.

The reservist’s family said he was found dead at Powell Butte in Crook County. The family also said they believe Naugle committed suicide.

Naugle’s body was found by hikers, and it is being turned over to a funeral home.
read more here

Investigations continue of death at Oklahoma veterans center

Investigations continue of death at Oklahoma veterans center 
Pilot Online 
Feb 19, 2017

"I took care of Leonard almost three years before I had to put him in there. In all of that time, he never swallowed or wanted to eat anything that was inedible," Harger said. "This has upset me so bad — and not just about Leonard. It's all of these other men down there that are not getting the care that they are needing."

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Federal and state investigations are underway into the choking death of a man with later-stage dementia at the Oklahoma Veterans Center in Talihina. 

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs have launched separate investigations into the Jan. 31 death of 70-year-old Leonard Smith, formerly of Sapulpa. 

Smith died in the nursing home's locked-down, special-needs unit. read more here

MOH for Chesty Puller?

Is it time to give Chesty Puller the Medal of Honor?
Marine Times
By: Jeff Schogol
February 19, 2017

More than 300 Marines have earned the Medal of Honor since award’s inception in 1861. But missing from that list is perhaps the most legendary Marine, whose memory still looms large in the lore of the Corps: Lt. Gen. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller.

Lieutenant General Lewis "Chesty" Puller

The image of Puller’s iconic frown and his memorable quips about combat have come to define what it means to be a Marine for generations. Puller once told his troops, when surrounded by enemy fighters in Korea: “All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us ... they can’t get away this time.”

Puller earned five Navy crosses, the nation’s second-highest honor for valor. At least two serious attempts have been made to get one of Puller’s awards upgraded to the Medal of Honor, but they failed. Even today, Marine veterans and devotees still grumbled that Puller deserves to be recognized with the nation’s highest honor and the book has not been closed on the matter.

“Marines still today in boot camp chant his name. They all still do know about him and they should keep his spirit alive,” said Kim Van Note, president of the Basilone Memorial Foundation, a charity named for one Marine Medal of Honor recipient who served under ­Puller’s command at Guadalcanal, ­Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran Joins Phi Kapa Sigma Faternity

Fraternity initiates Vietnam veteran
Indiana Daily Student News
Larmie Sanyon
February 20, 2017

After returning from the Vietnam War, Army Col. Gregg Hammond said he struggled to integrate back into society because he felt alienated. Since serving in Vietnam and eventually Iraq, Hammond said he learned how to cope with society, both as a veteran and a citizen. When Phi Kappa Sigma initiated him Saturday, Hammond said he had an opportunity to share his experiences with a young group of people.

Retired Army Col. Gregg Hammond, right, was initiated into the fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma on Saturday. DOMINICK JEAN

Hammond, a native of Peru, Indiana, graduated from IU in 1979 and served about 33 years in the Marines and Army. Sophomore Jake Olson, the fraternity’s president, said the 167-year-old initiation kept with traditions at Bryan Room in the IMU.

The standards and traditions reminded Hammond of the Army after he retired in 2009.

“I started to research it after I retired and I found the values of Phi Kappa Sigma to be almost identical to the Army’s core values.” he said.

The fraternity’s local chapter, the Delta Pi chapter, recognized the colonel by initiating him along with 14 other young men in their winter class. Hammond said he never had an opportunity to join a fraternity while at IU or any other institutions, but he remembered one of his classmates being a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma and 
enjoying his experience.
read more here

Soldier Saved Seven Lives After Motorcycle Crash Claimed His

Soldier gives ultimate gift to seven strangers
Claremore Progress
Diana Dickinson
February 19, 2017

While family members were praying to God to save their loved one after a tragic motorcycle crash left him brain dead, other individuals elsewhere were praying to God for another day.

Twenty-one-year-old Oklahoma Army Reserve National Guardsman SPC Teddy L. Keys Jr., of Oologah, was a soldier who saved or improved the lives of seven people when doctors could not save him after a crash on April 27, 2015.

Because he became brain dead prior to his death and had maintained great physical health, his bones, tissues and other organs were all eligible for reuse and were harvested.
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New Hampshire Army Ranger Shot by Other Soldier Receives Outpouring of Support

Over $20,000 raised in 1 day for NH soldier shot by fellow Army ranger
NH1.com
February 18, 2017

HUDSON - There has been an outpouring of support from the community after a soldier from New Hampshire was shot in the neck by another Army ranger earlier this week.

A GoFundMe page for Joshua Keller has already collected more than $20,000. He was accidentally shot in Washington, and the other solider is facing charges.

His father Matt Keller spoke with NH1 News earlier in the week. He said his family has been in Washington since Sunday to be with their son.
read more here

Solider from NH shot by fellow Army ranger, in critical condition
The Associated Press
February 14, 2017

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — An Army ranger from the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state has been charged with shooting a fellow soldier, who remains in critical condition.

The Olympian reports that Spc. Thomas Patrick Popek was arraigned in court Monday on an assault charge. The 23-year-old victim from Hudson, N.H., is in critical condition and unable to breath on his own.
read more here

Topeka VA Delivers Care While Searching for Psychiatrist

Care continues at the Topeka VA during difficult search for a psychiatrist
Topeka Capital Journal
Justin Wingerter
February 19, 2017

Bob Portenier, a Vietnam combat veteran and former PCT patient who raised alarms when the PTSD psychiatrist transferred in December, said he was referred to a mental health clinic and has been impressed with the care he received.

Dr. Michael Leeson, chief of behavioral services at the Colmery-O’Neil

VA Medical Center, speaks during an interview at the hospital Wednesday.

(Thad Allton/The Capital-Journal)

Eight weeks after the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it would transfer its lone post-traumatic stress disorder psychiatrist at Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center to another department — worrying veterans who had come to rely on the doctor — PTSD patients and hospital administrators say treatment has largely continued unabated.

On the third floor of Building 2, three psychologists, a nurse and an administrative clerk care for minds wounded by war. Together, they make up the PTSD Clinical Team, or PCT in hospital parlance.

Before mid-December, they were joined by a psychiatrist. When the psychiatrist left to work in the hospital’s understaffed inpatient ward for severe mental health crises, veterans feared a loss of the doctor they had come to trust — the one who knew them, knew their stories and knew their conditions.

Patients with few symptoms were transferred to the primary care wing. Patients who did not require medications were transferred to the three PCT psychologists. Others chose to seek treatment outside the hospital through the VA’s choice program.
read more here

Police Kill Suspect After Woman Found Brutally Beaten

PTSD is no excuse for things like this and as a reminder, it is a rarity.

Friend of Claremore man killed by police in east Tulsa says he could have prevented shooting
KJRH 2 News
Feb 19, 2017

TULSA -- A friend of the kidnapping and rape suspect who was a shot and killed by police officers in east Tulsa on Friday is speaking out.

The man told 2 Works for You reporter Corley Peel that he could have prevented officers from shooting his friend, David English, 34, if police only gave him a chance.

Wayne Youngwolfe says although English was his lifelong friend, he immediately stepped in when he said he saw English had brutally beaten his girlfriend. He said if police would have let him get to English beforehand, he would have never been shot.

"They didn't give me a chance to go get him," Youngwolfe said. "This is what they wanted, so they got it."

Youngwolfe said English was battling Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"The war messed him up. He has never been the same person since he came back," Youngwolfe said.
read more here

Australia: Veteran Denied Service Dog Because His Wife Could Do It?

Veterans’ office ‘feudal, chaotic’
The Australian
RORY CALLINAN
February 20, 2017

Minister for Veterans Affairs Dan Tehan. Picture Kym Smith

One veteran was refused a mental health assistance dog because “his wife could do everything a dog could”.

Another was told her post traum­atic stress disorder claim was false because she was pregnant and was suffering from depres­sion related to that instead.

A third had to get his wife to secretl­y record his commander abusing him. The abuse related to his claim over being wrongly investi­gated and disciplined for alleged­ marijuana use in Afghanistan. He was also told he would end up as a “trolley pusher at Coles” if he didn’t follow directives from a Veterans’ Affairs staffer.

These accounts, from veterans’ advocate Rod Thomp­son, are contained in one of more than 500 submissions lodged with an inquiry­ by the Senate standing committee on defence into suicide by veterans and ex-service personnel. They give a devastating insight into the mindset of, and difficulties facing, veterans trying to navigate assistance and compensation claims after they leave the Australian Defence Force.
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Are Awareness Raisers Satisfied with More Suicides?

Repeating Something Means Being Satisfied with Results

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 19, 2017

What, no pushups? We've had more than enough evidence that this type of publicity stunt does no good at all. So why do it? Why continue to do something that doesn't work? Why continue to repeat a number that is not real? The really odd thing is, about 70 of them marched the 70 miles without knowing that number is a lot closer to the number of veterans taking their own lives everyday.

The only reason to repeat something is being satisfied with the results. Does that mean the awareness raisers are satisfied with the rise in suicides or are they satisfied with the publicity and funding they gain?

Grueling march from Fort Hood to State Capitol raises awareness of PTSD
KXAN Staff
Published: February 18, 2017

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Statistics show 20 veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder take their own lives each day.

It’s the reason about 70 people spent the last three days marching all the way from Fort Hood to the State Capitol in an event called Carry the Fallen, which is put on by the group Active Heroes.

That’s about 70 miles. And they did it with weights on their backs to symbolize and remember the vets who killed themselves.

Those who made the trek say walking that far with complete strangers brings you a lot closer together.
read more here

Here are the published results of a decade of raising awareness. 

Less serving but more suicides.

The Army’s reduction in force size, driven by budget cuts, was in fact accelerated by two years due to the severity of the sequester in FY 2013.2 From a height of 566,000 in FY 2011, the Army’s end strength in FY 2014 was on a downward slide to 490,000 Active Army soldiers by the end of the fiscal year. The ongoing debate between the White House and Congress (and within Congress) over funding levels as constrained by the Budget Control Act of 2011 will determine whether the Army is able to sustain a projected end strength of 450,000 or must reduce further to 420,000 soldiers.

The FY 2017 DoD budget request^[4] plan calls for an active duty end strength of 1,281,900, a decrease of 19,400 from the 2016 baseline as a result of decrements in the Army (15,000 fewer personnel) and Navy (4,400 fewer personnel) strength. The budget request also calls for a reserve component end strength of 801,200, a decrease of 9,800 personnel.

Chart from Department of Veterans Affairs Suicide Report 2012

Less veterans but suicide numbers remained the same.

Number of veterans in US Census Data from 2000

26.4 million.

Number of veterans in US Census Data from 2016

21,369,602

The last suicide report from the Department of Veterans Affairs stated there are 20 veterans committing suicide per day.

Compared to the data from the 2012 report, which estimated the number of Veteran deaths by suicide to be 22 per day, the current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 Veterans a day died from suicide...

THE REPORT CONCLUDES: Approximately 65 percent of all Veterans who died from suicide in 2014 were 50 years of age or older. Veterans accounted for 18 percent of all deaths from suicide among U.S. adults. This is a decrease from 22 percent in 2010. Since 2001, U.S. adult civilian suicides increased 23 percent, while Veteran suicides increased 32 percent in the same time period. After controlling for age and gender, this makes the risk of suicide 21 percent greater for Veterans. Since 2001, the rate of suicide among U.S. Veterans who use VA services increased by 8.8 percent, while the rate of suicide among Veterans who do not use VA services increased by 38.6 percent. In the same time period, the rate of suicide among male Veterans who use VA services increased 11 percent, while the rate of suicide increased 35 percent among male Veterans who do not use VA services. In the same time period, the rate of suicide among female Veterans who use VA services increased 4.6 percent while the rate of suicide increased 98 percent among female Veterans who do not use VA services.

This means that Congress must be content with the results as well. They keep writing the same type of Bills and funding them that have not worked.

This means that military leaders must be content since they keep pushing the same "resilience training" that caused the increase in suicides.

This means that all the awareness raisers out there must be content with the results since they keep repeating the same stunts all across the country.