For Generals healing troops is a labor of love

Here are two Generals who stepped up to make sure the men and women they commanded would get the one message they needed to hear! PTSD is not a sign of weakness!

General Carter Ham way back in 2008 started to share his story and kept on talking about it to save lives! 

I was thankful for General Carter Ham and still am!

I am thankful for all of the men and women serving this country and those who served coming forward to talk about PTSD. All these years later after the first studies were done, there are now so many that soon no one will ever wonder again what PTSD is. 

There are literally hundreds of their stories on this blog but the most magnificent thing about all of them is that they were willing to talk about it no matter how much others wanted to stigmatize them. Their courage is a testament of the human spirit.

When commanding officers are willing to say they have PTSD because of their service, it sets an example for all others to follow. Because of General Ham, his willingness to face this wound without any kind of shame will allow all others to come forward to seek the help they need to heal.

Thankful story two belongs to General Carter Ham. As you read his story think of all the others coming forward and know we all owe them a debt of gratitude.

In 2008, another General stepped up. Major Gen. David Blackledge  "I have dealt with it. I'm dealing with it now. We need to be able to talk about it."

Special Forces, the toughest of the tough, were proving that PTSD is not a sign of weakness but not getting help was deadly. This came out in 2014.

Earlier this month, Socom commander Adm. William McRaven told a Tampa intelligence symposium that commandos are committing suicide at a record pace this year. Though he offered no figures, he was repeating a concern he first raised in February at a Congressional hearing on his budget. 

“The last two years have been the highest rate of suicides we have had in the special operations community and this year I am afraid we are on the path to break that,” McRaven, whose headquarters is at MacDill Air Force Base, said at the GEOINT 2013* Symposium in Tampa earlier this month.

In August Brig. Gen. Donald C. Bolduc stepped up.

Bolduc, who recently retired from Army active duty status as the commanding general of U.S. Special Operations Command-Africa, will address U.S. security challenges, best practices in leadership and experience with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Medal of Honor heroes were talking about having to battle PTSD after proving their courage in combat.

So when, exactly, do the men and women in the military get the message all of these people have been sending them all these years? 

The BS of 22 Pushup Challenge

Will reporters ever get a clue on 22?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 3, 2018

Yet again, the ear worm of "22" has penetrated another community. This time in Indiana. It was reported on WTHI 10 News.

22 PUSH UP CHALLENGE LOOKS TO BRING AWARENESS TO AN IMPORTANT ISSUE

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - 22 people...over 22 days are pushing out a message. A message of suicide awareness among veterans. It's the third year of the 22 Push Up Challenge.The Hamilton Center brings together groups of 22 people to do 22 push-ups.The challenge is a message for veterans and active military members to be aware of their resources...and it's more than just pushups."Sometimes it's about being silly but sometimes it's about bringing a message. and if one person hears that message and we stop one person from taking that step into hopelessness or suicide then we're doing what we're supposed to do," William Little, from the Hamilton Center said.

The "third year" of the challenge? Yep!

How many times does the truth have to be told before this BS stops? It is happening all over the country with good intentions have replaced good information.

I ran up against it with one of my buddy's when we were doing videos for PTSD Patrol.

My friend Dave Matthews, otherwise known as Sgt. Dave, sat down at the Lake Baldwin Vietnam Memorial and did a couple of videos. In this one, we talked about the facts and how "22" number is not helping anyone.Then Dave became unable to control himself, dropped down and did, you guessed it, 22 push-ups. I called him an idiot!

Then he challenged me to come up with something else for the "22 a day" groups to do that would be positive and helpful. This is the start of the list and go to Combat PTSD Wounded Times for more you can do.

Dave is one of my good buddies and is totally dedicated to other veterans. I've known him for a very long time. He is far from stupid. Trust me on that one. So how is it that even after we talked about how no one knows the number of veterans who lost their battle, did he still stay trapped in the "easy to remember" number of 22?

He said that is the number everyone knows. What he could not explain is how that number, how raising awareness on a false number is helping anyone. It isn't.

The only number families know is the one who is no longer here.

The veterans I have worked with over the last three decades have been pissed off that they reached the point where they almost took their lives because no one told them the things I said before.

You know, like getting them to understand what PTSD is and why they have it, but beyond that, what they can do to live a better quality of life. 

If you go to PTSD Patrol, I have put up some of my older videos on PTSD going back to 2006. If you really want to do something to prevent suicides, then stop talking about something that is not true, just because "everyone knows" it. Much like when folks thought the world was flat...turns out it was not. Now I know how the informed people felt back then when they were called liars too!

The second thing they all wanted to do was to help other veterans heal too! This site has far too many reports on veterans taking their own lives who did not find what they needed to heal because of all the people putting the ear worm of suicide into their brains.

Veterans digging history and healing PTSD...seriously!

U.S. veterans use archaeology to dig through trauma in Israel
NBC News
by Paul Goldman and Francis Whittaker
Sep.02.2018

"Because of their separation from the military culture, a lot of them are really isolated."

The site in Beit She'arim, Israel, run by American Veterans Archaeological Recovery program.Paul Goldman / NBC News

BEIT SHE'ARIM, Israel — Like many veterans, Nichol Fuentes has struggled with some aspects of life since leaving the Marines in 2013.

Fuentes, 38, a retired sergeant, suffered recurring ankle injuries while in Iraq and while stationed in Japan. She has also been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

But the New Jersey mother of three and wife of an active-duty Marine has been invigorated by an unexpected field: archaeology.

“It’s almost like therapy,” she told NBC News amid the dust and stones of an excavation site at Beit She’arim, a World Heritage site and national park in northern Israel. “It’s helped me a lot. It’s given me something to focus on and a purpose."

Fuentes said that a dig she recently took part in helped her recapture the sense of “camaraderie” she had lost since leaving the military.
read more here

More than 10,000 visit "Wall That Heals" in Wisconsin

More than 10,000 visit 'The Wall That Heals' in Crivitz
WBAY 2 News
By Cearron Bagenda
Sep 01, 2018

CRIVITZ, Wis. (WBAY) - More than 10,000 visitors have come to 'The Wall That Heals' in Crivitz since Thursday. Visitors are getting closure and paying their respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War.

'The Wall That Heals' display at the Crivitz Community Veterans Park

'The Wall That Heals' is a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The wall displays more than 58,000 names of those who gave their lives during the Vietnam War, and 1,500 names of unaccounted service members.

"I mean we've had people from all over the United States, it's a moment of healing, just to be able to touch that name of a friend or a relative. My classmate is on that wall and I’m able to walk up and say goodbye," said John Deschane, Crivitz Village President.
read more here

Amputee sunk to new low to re-enlist...in dive tank~

Amputee soldier takes re-enlistment oath at bottom of dive tank
AL.com
By Lee Roop
August 31, 2018

If you were looking for Huntsville soldier Michael Brown on Friday, you needed to search 30 feet under water in the U.S. Space and Rocket Center's dive tank.

Two thumbs up from a re-committed soldier
Staff Sgt. Michael Brown gives two thumbs up when he surfaces after taking a re-enlistment oath at the bottom of a dive tank. Brown wanted to celebrate the passion he developed for diving since it became part of his rehabilitation from losing a lower leg in combat in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Brown, a combat veteran and wounded warrior based at Redstone Arsenal, went to the bottom of the tank to take his oath of re-enlistment from fellow diver and Lt. Col Gary Blount.

Brown chose the center's Underwater Astronaut Trainer "as a fitting location to marry his two passions, the Army and scuba diving," the Army said in a press release. It's where Brown loves to be, and that's something of a surprise to him and everyone else.

"In 2007, two years after joining the army, my left leg was blown off below the knee," Brown explained after surfacing. It happened in Mosul, Iraq, 33 days after he deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom. An RKG-3 anti-tank grenade hit Brown, and he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Hospital where military doctors have learned how to perform surgical miracles.

Brown got specially designed prosthetic leg and also something to think about. "I was taught to scuba dive as part of adaptive rehabilitation - to think outside the box about what my 'new normal' could be," Brown said Friday.
read more here

Military writer, 53, hanged herself beside love letter to her husband

Military writer, 53, hanged herself beside love letter to her husband as memory loss and ME began to stop her ability to pen articles
Daily Mail
By TERRI-ANN WILLIAMS FOR MAILONLINE
31 August 2018

Kate Perrett-Clarke's symptoms meant she was overwhelmed by fatigue
Mother of three compared getting around her home to 'running a marathon'
Writer was described as a 'joy and a whirlwind' by family and friends

A talented writer and mother of three hanged herself after she began losing her ability to pen magazine articles due to bouts of illness.

Kate Perrett-Clarke, 53, had forged a successful career in writing academic pieces for military publications but her medical conditions, which included memory loss and the chronic fatigue syndrome ME left her barely able to draw a clock face.

This inability to continue to pursue her passion led her to take her own life.

She was found by her husband Malcolm last March, next to her was a love letter she had previously penned to him before he had travelled to Scotland for six weeks.
read more here

Most attempted suicide survivors did not seek help first

Many soldiers who attempt suicide have no prior mental health diagnosis
Journalist's Resource
Chloe Reichel

Soldiers without a documented history of mental health concerns were much more likely to attempt suicide early in their service than those with a documented diagnosis history. Nearly 60 percent of the attempts among soldiers without a history occurred in their first year of service, compared with 20 percent for those with a history.

One risk factor unique to those without a mental health diagnosis history was enlisting at a young age – before age 21.

Over one-third of a sample of American soldiers who attempted suicide did not have a prior mental health diagnosis, a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry finds. But the risk factors that predict suicide attempts in these soldiers are largely the same as those for soldiers who previously have been diagnosed with a mental health issue.

Dr. Robert J. Ursano, a psychiatrist at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and lead author of the study, said this points to the importance of broad screening efforts.

“There are those at risk who never come into specialty care,” Ursano told Journalist’s Resource.

This research gets at how to better identify this population.

The study looked at administrative records belonging to a sample of 9,650 enlisted U.S. Army soldiers with a documented suicide attempt occurring between 2004 and 2009. Nearly three-quarters of the sample was male. The researchers looked at the risk factors among these soldiers, comparing the factors involved for those with and without a prior history of mental health concerns.

Veterans as a group are at a higher risk for suicide than civilian adults — 22 percent higher, according to a 2016 report from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Nationally, across the whole population, suicide rates are increasing, according to statistics issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
read more here

This does not mean they did not have PTSD. It means they did not seek mental health help!

Edmonton Firefighter Suffered in Silence

#BreakTheSilence
Marc Renaud took a job to save others as a firefighter. He was surrounded by others willing to die to do the same. 

So why didn't he think he was worth saving too?
#TakeBackYourLife

Edmonton firefighter’s death prompts discussion about PTSD, mental health
Global News
By Julia Wong
Digital Broadcast Journalist
September 1, 2018

Paul Semeniuk, president of Mental Rescue Society, said showing support is key to helping someone in distress.

“A lot of people… don’t want to say the wrong thing. They don’t know what to say to show comfort or show empathy. A lot of people will just step back. I think it’s important that we step forward and show we are supportive,” he said.

Hundreds of firefighters from the Edmonton area gathered Saturday at the funeral of one of their own, as the fire chief spoke openly about mental health and post traumatic stress disorder.

Marc Renaud, 29, died by suicide last weekend. Renaud, who was off-duty, had been with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services for approximately seven years.

In 2014, another firefighter in Edmonton died by suicide, according to the organization Heroes are Human.
read more here

Operation Desert Storm Veteran Got The Leash

Side by side: Blount County veteran sees brighter future with service dog
Daily Times
By Melanie Tucker
August 31, 2018

And on Thursday, in a emotional “Passing of the Leash” ceremony, these two were teamed for life.

The Daily Times Joy Kimbrough

Stewart’s story goes back decades when in 1989, he suffered an injury while a member of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division. A parachute accident and a misdiagnosis of two compression fractures have left him with debilitating pain. Stewart said the injury healed incorrectly; it now also affects his hips, in addition to his back.

A deployment during Operation Desert Storm, two in Afghanistan and four to Iraq have left one Blount County veteran grateful to even be alive but also suffering the repercussions.

At 51, Army Sgt. First Class (retired) Chuck Stewart has good days like anyone else, but on those bad days, his post-traumatic stress disorder takes over, and injuries from a parachute jumping accident leave him barely mobile.

“I have a 99-year-old body,” the decorated veteran said. His commendations include two Bronze Stars. He is on VA disability and turns 52 in September.
read more here

Break the sound of silence before it is too late

Reach Out in the Darkness and Keep a Friend
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 1, 2018

Preventing suicide begins when you reach out to those who have lost hope. Not by reducing them down to a number because you think it is easy to remember. They do not need to be made more aware of others who lost their battle.

When people tell me they are spreading "awareness" with a number, that is simply not correct, it is repulsive! This lazy attitude has replaced their commitment to the cause they claim be devoted to. It is not that they do not care. They did not care enough to become aware of facts first.

No one fights alone and the battle for their lives requires us to be aware of truth, not what is sold as a true effort to change lives before they are lost.

Men and women, dedicated to saving lives of others, should never be more fearful of asking for help. They already know how to die, but they do not know how to heal.

If we really honor and remember their sacrifice for the sake of others, then we need to make sure to do the work to help them heal and save their lives for a change. PTSD is something that can be defeated but it requires knowledge first and action afterwards. Not the other way around.

"Reach Out In The Darkness" and you may keep a friend!



Tried to boost this on Facebook but they disapproved of it.

Gee you see the post and it is not political. When will Facebook get this censorship right?