PTSD Combat : Winning the War Within: July 2007

Hand2Hand Contact Brings Soldiers All the Way Home, Easter Seals Helps Vets with TBI

Back in May, just as my Moving a Nation to Care book tour began, I received an incredible email from a woman named Alison Lighthall:

I am a psychiatric nurse with a specialization in PTSD/Combat Stress (Masters Degree from UIC focused on PTSD). I work full time in the civilian sector as the Behavioral Health Clinical Team Leader at a disease management company, but I also served as a Reserve Officer in the US Army Nurse Corps.

I just separated from the Army 3 weeks ago, but up until then, I served as a Captain and was conducting briefings and debriefings for Soldiers as they were going over and coming home (medical teams, mostly, but I've trained a section of the 85th Custer Division, too). And in so doing, I have heard a lot, and learned a lot, about what they face when they come home.

I put together a PowerPoint about what they face when they return, and in January sent it to 16 friends/family members. It has now made it around the world and back, much to my utter astonishment.

Not only using visual outreach to educate, Alison's also been laying the foundation for a Chicago-area organization aimed at educating "civilians across America about the psychosocial impact of war on the returning Service Member, and to assist American communities in understanding, supporting, and reintegrating our Veterans."

Hand2Hand Contact is now online, and I invite you to take a look at the offerings she's put together for us.

In addition, Alison passed along an important program slated to begin in August in select cities (Sacramento, CA; Hartford, CT; and in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX) which will lend a hand to troops returning with traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

Here are the details:

Do you think you may have sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Easter Seals invites service members and veterans who may have sustained mild to moderate TBI to take part in a support program that is designed to improve brain function for service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan.

The program is offered free of charge to participants and is part of a service project involving Easter Seals and Posit Science. A disability rating is not needed to participate.

Sign up now. The program begins in August and runs for 14 weeks at Easter Seals affiliates in: Sacramento, CA; Hartford, CT; and in Ft. Worth/Dallas in TX. Participants who complete the program will receive a modest stipend and reimbursement for program-related expenses.

For more information, please call our toll-free number: 866.423.4981 or contact us at: veterans@easterseals.com.

Thanks, Alison, for everything you're doing. Great to have such a qualified and passionate ally in this cause!

Labels: advocacy, community, counseling, freebies, resources, tbi

A Look at Changes to Come Out of the Dole-Shalala Commission

Hopeful video describing the recommendations for change in the veterans' disability claim and aftercare system by the Dole-Shalala Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors.

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New Arizona Combat Reintegration Help Centers Seek Volunteers

From the Arizona Republic:

There will soon be two Veterans Readjustment Centers in the Valley. These facilities help retuning veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. They also help the families and provide bereavement counseling.

As part of the Carl T. Hayden Veterans Affairs Hospital, these centers also need need volunteers. The first has been open for some time at 77 E. Weldon Ave., Suite 100, in Phoenix. The second will open Aug. 1 at 1303 S. Longmore, Suite 5, in Mesa. The public is invited to the center's grand opening at 10 a.m.

Besides volunteers, items to furnish and decorate the new office are needed. For information on the Mesa center call Darlene Tryon at (480) 610-6727 or e-mail darlene.Tryon@va.gov. To reach the Phoenix center, call (602) 640-2981.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for Arizona-specific resources...

While visiting the Phoenix area, I learned of the complimentary retreat programs offered to returning veterans by the Merritt Center in Payson, Arizona. I even got to meet Betty Merritt herself at my stop at Changing Hands Books in Tempe. A great honor...

A recent post introduced you briefly to her programs; look for the latest offerings in our events listing or learn more on Merritt's retreats at their Welcome Home Program for Returning Combat Veterans page.

In addition, another special guest that thrilled me by his presence was Dr. David B. Monier-Williams, a psychotherapist, bio-energetist and spiritual counselor who sprang to action after reading an article (imagine that...) to offer complimentary counseling services to area female veterans.

Kudos to Arizona for these great resources!

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Labels: community, counseling, donations, events, family, freebies, reintegration, resources, va

As Another Suicide Occurs, Minnesota Leaders Urge DoD to Revise Post-Deployment Contact Rules

Last week, 2,600 of Minnesota's National Guard members returned from overseas duty. Following a 4-month extension, their brigade's 22-month deployment achieved something no other Guard unit has to date: the longest such continuous call-up of National Guard forces in our nation's history.*

When looking at the data on the strain of extended deployments and the special stresses of 'weekend warriors' vs. that of the active forces, it's obvious the state's leaders felt the need to be proactive in ensuring their citizen soldiers' reintegration goes as smoothly as possible. But proactive homecoming measures aren't always enough to counterbalance months on end away from family and sanity and moments of relaxation.
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* Arriving home this week vs. last, the Iowa National Guard also completed a 22-month deployment. I guess the Minnesota Guard's distinction of being the longest-deployed guard unit didn't last too long. Sigh.

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In March, NPR reported on the Minnesota Guard's extended deployment, and what the state was doing to ease the added burden:

Maj. Gen. Larry Shellito commands the Minnesota National Guard. He calls the four-month extension a sucker punch, and says it will make re-entry exceptionally difficult. "The problem is when they come back home, they'll get the hugs and kisses, they'll drink their favorite beer they couldn't drink over there," Shellito said. "They'll get mama's favorite meal cooked for them two or three times, then, about a week later, everyone goes back to work, kids go back to school, and they're home alone."

And alone can really mean alone in rural Minnesota. The 1st Brigade Combat team comes from 87 of the state's 89 counties, many of them quite isolated. Normal military policy gives a soldier a full 90 days off to reconnect at home after deployment. But Minnesota isn't taking any chances. Soldiers will be required to check in several times over those three months. Families can't always spot emerging psychological problems, Shellito said.

"Mama can't look him in the eye, wife can't look him in the eye. She'll know something's wrong," Shellito said. "But I'll tell you those buddies, those battle buddies — they'll know when he's happy, sad, lying, whatever."

In this vein, from AP:

Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman and Gov. Tim Pawlenty are urging the Defense Department to change a policy aimed at giving some breathing room to returning National Guard and Reserve troops, saying it prevents some soldiers from getting the kinds of integration services they need.

The policy exempts returning soldiers from being called for mandatory activities for 60 days after they return home from combat, although it does allow the military to organize voluntary activities for the troops.

Coleman and Pawlenty, both Republicans, argue that policy doesn’t reach soldiers who are at risk. "The guys with the problems are often the guys who don’t want to come back and have the conversation," Coleman said in a telephone interview Monday. "It’s an intervention thing."

Although most soldiers returning from combat do fine, others face challenges and stresses, Coleman said. "It’s team members and commanders and unit members, they’re the ones who can say, ’Hey, I think you need to talk to someone,’ he said. "And that’s why the mandatory becomes pretty important."

Last weekend, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman filed a blistering critique of the state's elected leaders on general issues concerning the war and its warriors. The strain of the star of the north was clearly evident:

Coleman recently was quoted saying, "We are going to be in Iraq a long time." If he thinks that's true -- and he's not against it -- he must defend it. Minnesota won't like it. Seventy percent of Americans want the troops home by next spring, and in Minnesota, where there is a palpable sense of relief over the return of 2,600 National Guard soldiers from Iraq, the percentage is probably even higher.

Even Gov. Tim Pawlenty has begun to show some exasperation. After welcoming the returning troops, he came close to criticizing the Pentagon for extending their duty and giving the Minnesota Guard the dubious distinction of having served the longest uninterrupted periods of any soldiers who have been deployed to Iraq.

But like the Scandinavian who loved his wife so much that he almost told her, Pawlenty was so upset he almost said so. When he becomes chair of the National Governors Association soon, he said, he will push for "consistency" in Pentagon deployment practices.

Bravely said, Gov. Pawlenty!

Of course, the Pentagon might achieve consistency by extending all deployments to the length Minnesota's soldiers served. That won't help. The problem is the regular Army is overextended, the National Guard has been abused (and its strength in many states depleted), all to prop up a last-ditch effort to keep Iraq from falling apart in a civil war.

While people die.

Of course, the columnist was referring to those troops killed in action overseas. And yet, they are dying at home, too. Heartrending evidence arrives today of another slipping past Minnesota's commendable efforts at helping their returning troops adjust:

An Iraq War veteran reported missing a few days earlier was found dead of an apparent suicide, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office. Noah Charles Pierce, 23, was last heard from Wednesday afternoon when he left his Mountain Iron home. His body was found Friday in the Gilbert area. He reportedly left his home carrying several firearms, authorities said. Several of Pierce's friends told authorities that he had sent them text messages indicating that he was suicidal.

The sheriff's office said Pierce had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Authorities had indicated before he was found dead that Pierce may have been a danger to himself and others.

This Minnesota tragedy comes on the heels of a highly-charged January incident; another returning veteran had taken his own life after being turned away from one VA facility and put on a long waiting list at another. With this latest case, Minnesota alone has tracked at least 14 cases of suicide of returning troops. Extrapolate that to 50 states, and that would equal at least 700 OEF/OIF troops that may have taken their own lives after returning home safely from Mideast combat zones.

Of course, this isn't a concrete figure; we have no idea how many post-deployed troops have killed themselves. The DoD isn't tracking such cases. And neither is the VA. But, along with my collaborators at ePluribus Media, we are in the PTSD Timeline, wishing with each case that it would be the last.

As today's Editor and Publisher says:

One of the least covered aspects of the fallout from the Iraq war is the rising toll of suicides, both near the battlefield and back home. Latest official figures released by the Pentagon reveal at least 116 self-inflicted fatalities in Iraq. But this does not include several dozen still under investigation, nor any of the many cases back in the U.S. ...

This past January, Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman noted in the Hartford Courant that veterans advocates had found the increase of suicides in 2006 “troubling.”

Steve Robinson, director of government relations for Veterans for America, told them he was particularly disturbed by suicides in the war zone because combat troops are supposed to be screened for mental health issues before they join the military, and throughout their careers. "These people aren't the kind of people that you would think would take this step," he said.

[Note: While writing Moving a Nation to Care and touring behind it have taken me off the PTSD Timeline project temporarily, my colleagues at ePluribus Media and I are in the process of updating the database with the far too many new incidents that we have continued to collect these past months. The timeline, meanwhile, waits solemnly. New data is currently being fact-checked and is expected to appear by mid-week.]

Family Sues VA for Iraq Veteran Son's 2004 Suicide

From the Springfield Republican:

The parents of a former Marine who hanged himself in his Belchertown home after returning from the Iraq war sued Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Nicholson yesterday, contending negligence at the Northampton VA Medical Center led to their son's death.

Kevin and Joyce Lucey, in a 27-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court, allege that the refusal by medical center personnel to admit their emotionally troubled son, 23-year-old Jeffrey M. Lucey, on June 5, 2004, caused his suicide less than three weeks later.

Kevin Lucey said yesterday afternoon that the couple was reluctant to bring the lawsuit, which also names the United States as a defendant, but he said the medical treatment of the country's veterans needs an overhaul. "At this point, we want to make sure nobody else has to follow our path," he said.

"He (Kevin Lucey) wants to feel that his son died for something," said Conway lawyer Cristobal Bonifaz, who represents the couple.

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Continuing:

Kevin Lucey was told by medical center personnel that he needed to bring his son to the Northampton facility, as it appeared he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, according to the complaint. Jeffrey Lucey was involuntarily committed to the medical center on May 28, 2004, and released four days later. "They never assessed him for PTSD," his father said. "They said they wouldn't assess him due to the fact that he would have to get his drinking under control."

When family members brought Lucey back to the medical center on June 5, 2004, according to the suit, personnel refused to have him evaluated for possible admission even though his sister, Debra, "expressed her concern ... that, unless something was done, she feared her brother would not be alive by July of 2004." Seventeen days later Kevin Lucey found his son hanging from a beam in the cellar of the family home. He had used a hose to hang himself.

The suit states that a report into Lucey's death issued by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs concluded that a psychiatrist at the medical center should have been consulted before Lucey was denied treatment on June 5, 2004.

The lawsuit follows the announcement last week by Nicholson what he would resign effective Oct. 1 and the filing of a suit by the Veterans for Common Sense on Monday in federal court in San Francisco. The suit, filed against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, alleges the agency is unlawfully denying veterans disability pay and treatment.

Kevin Lucey on his son's death:

Delving into the Veterans' Disability Ratings System

From Monday's PBS News Hour, a look at the limitations in the present disability ratings system in providing adequately for 'invisible' injuries such as pain, traumatic brain injury [TBI] and post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD].

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for second part...

Wisconsin Guard/Reserve Spouses Needed for Deployment Stress Study

From the Dunn County News:

Dr. Lois Taft, a professor and chair of the nursing systems department in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, is looking for volunteers to help with a research study on “Stress and Coping Strategies of Spouses of Deployed Soldiers.”

According to Taft, U.S. National Guard and Reserve members are deploying at higher rates than ever in history, leaving behind spouses in rural settings without the full support of the military. “Deployment to a combat zone is a major stressor for soldiers and their families and may exacerbate existing levels of stress for spouses. bringing about changes in coping strategies” said Taft.

For this research, Taft would like to interview spouses of National Guard or Reserve soldiers who are soon to be deployed, currently serving, or returned from Iraq or Afghanistan within the past year. She said the interview takes about 60 minutes and can take place in participants’ homes or at other locations convenient for them. Interviews will be tape recorded, but information will not be connected to individual participants and the names of all participants will be kept confidential.

“The goal of this project is to gain a better understanding of the unique stressors in the current war and how spouses are coping with that stress,” Taft said. “Few healthcare providers will experience what it’s like to be the spouse of a soldier deployed to a combat zone, but having an informed understanding of the experience may help us identify ways to support spouses and understand their sacrifices.”

Contact Taft at taftlb@uwec.edu or (715) 836-4911 to take part in the study.

Labels: family, guard, reserve, stress, studies

State Deptartment Diplomats Join Troops in Suffering From Combat-Zone Stress

From the Washington Post:

At least 40 percent of State Department diplomats who have served in danger zones suffer some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, Steven Kashkett, vice president of the American Foreign Service Association, said in congressional testimony yesterday.

Troubling medical and psychiatric symptoms have become a growing problem for Foreign Service personnel in recent years, particularly among those exposed to deadly violence in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where diplomats often work and live among U.S. troops, Kashkett told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

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Continuing:

The State Department has provided limited help for diplomats under duress. After the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad requested mental health services in 2003, the department sent two psychiatrists to assess the environment. In 2004, one psychiatrist joined the U.S. medical team in Baghdad but was moved the next year to Amman, Jordan, and replaced by a social-work counselor, State's medical director, Laurence G. Brown, told the panel. ...

This month, however, the State Department launched the first survey of all State personnel who have served since 2002 in "unaccompanied posts," or areas deemed so dangerous that family members are not allowed. The one-month survey is being carried on the department's internal Web site, and responses are anonymous. So far, half of the respondents said they experienced irritability and unusual hostility, and 35 to 52 percent said they suffered from one or more symptoms common to PTSD -- including social withdrawal, isolation, apathy, insomnia and anxiety -- during or after their assignments.

"Preliminary results from the State Department survey suggest that it may affect some 40 percent or more, similar to what has been reported for the U.S. military," Kashkett told lawmakers. ...

In Iraq, many Foreign Service personnel have been exposed to frequent incoming fire in the Green Zone and sleep in vulnerable aluminum trailers, he told the subcommittee. Others live on forward operating bases in the midst of combat areas, while members of the provisional reconstruction teams are embedded with mobile combat units and are as susceptible to roadside explosives and attacks as U.S. troops, Kashkett said.

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Labels: civilian, stats, stress

New York Times Explores 'In the Valley of Elah' -- And Mentions 'Moving a Nation to Care'

"In the Valley of Elah," an upcoming film by Paul Haggis ("Crash") that I shared news of last week, offers tomorrow's New York Times a chance to explore the coming stream of films dramatizing the more personal aspects of our current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Such films allow us to reflect on war's effects on both society and the warriors sent to fight on our behalf, as well as how the families that wait for their return home cope with the experience.

From "Hollywood Quickly Bringing the Iraq War Home:"

On Sept. 14, Warner Independent Pictures expects to release “In the Valley of Elah,” a drama inspired by the [recently-returned Iraq vet Richard R.] Davis murder, written and directed by Paul Haggis, whose “Crash” won the Academy Award for best picture in 2006. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones as a retired veteran who defies Army bureaucrats and local officials in a search for his son’s killers. In one of the movie’s defining images, the American flag is flown upside down in the heartland, the signal of extreme distress.

Other coming films also use the damaged Iraq veteran to raise questions about a continuing war. In “Grace Is Gone,” directed by James C. Strouse and due in October from the Weinstein Company, John Cusack and two daughters struggle with the loss of a wife and mother who is killed on duty. Kimberly Peirce’s “Stop-Loss,” set for release in March by Paramount, meanwhile, casts Ryan Phillippe as a veteran who defies an order that would send him back to Iraq.

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In a post last year exploring Film and PTSD, I spoke of the role that such works play in helping us to approach and process the darker, tragic aspects of our world:

Movies have the power to present difficult social or personal problems, offering the viewer an educational benefit alongside the usual entertainment value. Movies can bring the viewer closer to topics that are often hidden away from the general public's gaze.

A valuable avenue can be opened by powerful expressions of art:

Haggis insisted that “Valley of Elah” — the title refers to the site where David fought Goliath — was not intended to enforce his point of view. Rather, he said, it is meant to raise questions about “what it does to these kids” to be deployed in a situation where enemies are often indistinguishable from neutral civilians, and the rules of engagement may force decisions that are difficult to live with.

Despite some obvious fictionalization — the Fort Benning case did not involve the authority-challenging local detective and single mother played by Charlize Theron — the film hews closely enough to fact that Mr. Haggis is considering a dedication to Specialist Davis.

But whether the case truly speaks for returning veterans will not be easily settled, even with help from Warner Independent. The studio plans to supplement some of its promotional screenings with panel discussions of post-traumatic stress disorder, a factor raised in the movie.

The question of sensationalizing a point can often be raised when using the more dramatic incidents in life to try to tell a story.

Ilona Meagher, who wrote “Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America’s Returning Troops” (Ig Publishing) and has joined Warner’s promotional effort, acknowledged that the Davis case was among the most extreme of some 170 stress-related episodes she had documented since 2005. “We all know that human beings respond/are moved by stories that are more extreme in nature,” Ms. Meagher wrote in a follow-up e-mail message.

Yes, the incident that the film is based on is a rare case -- one of extreme violence -- an outlier. But it's important to understand why such incidents are used in the first place.

As I said in the quote, human beings respond/are moved by stories that are of a more extreme nature; storytellers of all kinds throughout the ages gravitate towards the more poignant and dramatic for that reason. Opera, for example, deals with extreme tragedy in order to move its audience to *feel* something powerful and real.

This movie is no different.

The reality is that had the incident portrayed in the film ended in the soldier's merely being beaten up, we wouldn't even be talking about it, would we? Mark Boal probably wouldn't have written his "Death and Dishonor" piece that "Valley of Elah" germinated from. And Paul Haggis probably wouldn't have been moved enough to make a movie around it.

The hope, always, in such efforts is that good can come of the bad, that suffering was not in vain and that, with effort and attention, we might move our nation to caring about these faceless individuals in uniform returning from war as much as we care about our Hollywood starlets or championship athletes.

Please read the rest.

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Labels: art, films, moving_a_nation, society

Reaction to Dole-Shalala Commission Recommendations

As the Senate approved -- by unanimous consent -- its Wounded Warrior package (see details below the fold), the long-awaited draft recommendations stemming from the presidential commission set up in the wake of the Walter Reed scandal were made available online [MS Word].

Commission press release [MS Word]:

Calling its recommendations a “bold blueprint for action” to serve, support and simplify the care for our injured service members, the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors today approved six recommendations that make sweeping changes in the delivery of health care and services.

The recommendations include the first major overhaul of the disability system in more than 50 years; creation of recovery plans with recovery coordinators; a new e-Benefits website [PowerPoint]; and guaranteeing care for PTSD from the VA for injured service members from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The nine-member Commission called upon the White House and Congress to implement its recommendations as quickly as possible to ensure that those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are able to successfully transition back to civilian life or active duty service.

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A few details from Air Force Times:

If adopted, the commission’s recommendations would radically overhaul the current system, described by the commission as a “patchwork of programs, rules and regulations” that has become “tremendously complex” and often leads to “real or perceived inequities.” Of 35 total recommendations — only two of which were directed specifically at Walter Reed — just six would require legislation. The other 29 can be acted upon by the Pentagon or Veterans Affairs Department.

Under one recommendation, injured service members found unfit for continued military service would receive annuity payments from the Defense Department based solely on rank and length of service, as well as a “quality-of-life disability payment” from VA. Currently, only troops who have served more than 20 years and received a 50 percent or greater disability rating from VA can receive payments from both departments. ...

The commission also recommended making veterans eligible for transition payments after leaving the service. Those returning directly to their communities would receive short-term payments equaling three months of basic pay, as well as Tricare coverage for themselves and their families. Those taking part in VA education and training programs would receive longer-term payments. They also would be eligible for payments for earnings loss, to make up for reduced earning capacity, and quality-of-life payments to compensate for permanent physical or mental losses.

The rating system itself would be streamlined with a single, comprehensive, standardized medical exam administered by the Defense Department. Based on the results of that exam, defense officials would determine fitness for duty and VA would determine the initial disability level. The proposal resembles a Pentagon initiative announced last week.

The commission wants the Pentagon and VA to create integrated care teams of doctors, nurses, other health professionals, social workers, and vocational rehabilitation workers who would implement the recovery plan, all under the purview of a recovery coordinator — a single point of contact for patient and family.

A few stats:

According to figures provided by the commission, 3,082 of the 28,000 troops wounded in action are considered seriously wounded — that is, they have been awarded Traumatic Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, a one-time payment that varies with the severity of the injury. Of these, 2,726 have suffered a traumatic brain injury; 644 are amputees; 598 have serious burns; 391 are “polytrauma” victims; 94 suffered spinal cord injuries and 48 have been blinded.

[UPDATE July 27, 2007]: Dole and Shalala appeared on the PBS NewsHour to speak of their recommendations:

Part 1

Part 2

Immediate reaction by President Bush, according to the the Washington Post, whose reporters managed to break the long-simmering story into the national spotlight back in February:

"Making the significant improvements we recommend requires a sense of urgency and strong leadership," [the recommendations] said. Bush said his hand-picked investigative panel had interesting suggestions on improving health care for those wounded in battle. But the White House said not to expect action right away.

Short clip of the president's statement:

Other reactions included in the piece:

"It has been hurry up and wait for the results of this commission report and now the White House is telling our vets to wait even longer," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "That's why the Senate has moved ahead with our Wounded Warriors Act. The public is waiting, our veterans are waiting."

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, agreed. "It is important for the American public to understand that the Walter Reed fiasco is not over," he said. "Everything is not fixed. The follow-through will be the most important part."

Veterans Administration Secretary Jim Nicholson:

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson today thanked the members of a special presidential commission for their work examining the federal government's response to the health care needs of returning combat veterans. "We at VA are caring for the whole veteran," Nicholson said. "I look forward to reviewing the commission's final report as we work to improve our efforts to return our wounded warriors to full function, while helping all veterans receive the jobs and educational benefits they deserve."

ABC World News report:

Meanwhile, the Wounded Warrior legislation passed today:

The following is a summary of the issues confronted by the Wounded
Warriors bill passed by the Senate today:

-- The substandard facilities at Walter Reed and other military
hospitals;

-- The lack of seamless transition when medical care for troops is
transferred from the Department of Defense to the Veterans
Administration, which often leads to diminished care;

-- The inadequacy of severance pay to help those who have sacrificed
so much already support their families while they recover;

-- The need to improve sharing of medical records between the
Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs;

-- The inadequate care and treatment for traumatic brain injury
(TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by authorizing $50
million for improved diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation; and

-- The challenges facing wounded troops whose health insurance
programs, like the Tricare program for retired veterans, have
allowed gaps in coverage and medical treatment.

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Labels: bush, dod, dole, iava, murray, nicholson, oversight, shalala, stats, va, video, wramc

Veterans Issues in Sharp Focus Today in Hearings, Reports and Lawsuits

Lots going on today:

10 am EST - House Veterans Affairs Committee full committee hearing "PTSD and Personality Disorders: Challenges for the VA"

11:15am EST - Dole-Shalala Presidential Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors final meeting and vote on draft recommendations for the president

1-1:30pm EST - Melissa Kasnitz, managing director of Disability Rights Advocates, appears on MSNBC (DRA filed Monday's class action lawsuit vs. the VA)

2-3pm EST - Melissa Kasnitz answers questions at ePluribus Media

8 pm EST - CNN's Paula Zahn covers today's events, interviewing Fort Carson whistle-blower Jeff Peskoff and author Josh Kors

Join me at ePluribus Media for an exclusive online Q&A with Melissa Kasnitz and comments posted by Jeff Peskoff.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for details...

The House Veterans Affairs website has an audio stream available of the hearing -- unfortunately, C-Span does not appear to be carrying this important hearing. Nonetheless, it looks (or rather sounds) like a blockbuster gathering -- and important -- hearing, so it would be well worth your time.

Today's hearing includes the following witness list:

Panel 1
Jason W. Forrester, Director of Policy, Veterans for America
Jonathan Town, Veteran
Joshua Kors, Journalist
Paul Sullivan, Executive Director, Veterans for Common Sense

Panel 2
Tracie Shea, Ph.D., Psychologist, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic Veterans Affairs Medical Center Providence, RI, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Dean G. Kilpatrick, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor Director, National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center Medical University of South Carolina and Member, Committee on Veterans’ Compensation for PTSD Institute of Medicine and National Research Council The National Academies
Sally Satel, M.D., Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

Panel 3
Ira R. Katz, M.D., Ph.D., Deputy Chief Patient Care Services for Mental Health, Veterans Health Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs accompanied by Ronald R. Aument, Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits, Veterans Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Paul J. Hutter, Executive in Charge, Office of General Counsel, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Colonel Bruce Crow, Chief, Department of Behavioral Medicine, Brooke Army Medical Center, and, Clinical Psychology Consultant to The Army Surgeon General

For those who need a refresher: Satel, a psychiatrist and adviser to President Bush on mental health issues views who appears in Panel 2, came up with this gem (among many others):

"I'm not saying PTSD doesn't exist, but it's gotten out of hand. I mean, if you see a lot of action and then you come home you have a hard time walking your dog by the bushes at night, maybe you just avoid the bushes."

Panel 1 will set the tone with the appearance of Purple Heart veteran of Iraq, Army Spc. Jonathan Town. Here's a little about him:

Since his discharge in 2006, Town has not only dealt with the emotional scars of war, but he has also found himself at the center of a national debate on mental health care for veterans as a crowd as diverse as singer Dave Matthews [video] and members of Congress has questioned how 22,000 veterans were diagnosed and discharged since 2001.

In fact, Stars & Stripes reported updated personality disorder discharge figures last month:

Since October 2001, the services have discharged 24,723 troops under the character and behavior disorders policy. In 2006, 3,937 servicemembers were dismissed under the policy, up about 8 percent from 2005 but just above the 3,899 servicemembers dismissed in 2002.

Back to Town:

In Town's case, the discharge came two years after he was injured in an attack. In the fall of 2004, a 107 mm rocket ripped through his unit's headquarters in Ramadi, exploding two feet above Town's head and knocking him unconscious.

The rocket blast left Town with hearing loss, headaches, memory problems, anxiety and insomnia. For his wounds, he was awarded the Purple Heart.

But when he returned to the states seeking treatment for those very wounds, the Army quickly discharged him, asserting his problems had been caused not by the war but by a personality disorder that predated his military career. ... "When you see bits and pieces of actual people or people bleeding to death or anything, it's very unsettling. It's something you'll never be able to forget. Period," Town told ABC News' Bob Woodruff.

[UPDATE July 28, 2007]: Listen to Westwood One's America In the Morning show for an interview with Jonathan Town and reporter Joshua Kors.

ABC News ran a report by Bob Woodruff last week that renewed interest again on the issue of combat troops being given personality disorder vs. post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses/discharges.

Woodruff (who you might recall did some ground-breaking reporting on the traumatic brain injury, or TBI, issue earlier this year) conducted a two-month investigation, interviewing 20 soldiers discharged with personality disorder for the piece.

And today, we have this hearing in response.

[UPDATE Oct 6, 2007]: This House Committee on Veterans Affairs page links to all of the day's testimony.

------------

In addition to this hearing, another important veterans affairs event is going to begin at 11:15 EST -- the final meeting of the Dole-Shalala Presidential Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors. From their press release [MS Word doc]:

PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON CARE FOR AMERICA'S RETURNING WOUNDED WARRIORS TO HOLD FINAL MEETING TO DISCUSS AND VOTE ON RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE PRESIDENT

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25th IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

WHAT: The Commission will hold its final public meeting to discuss and vote on
recommendations to the President concerning care for America’s returning injured and wounded servicemen and women. The Commission held its first public meetings on April 14th and has since conducted 23 site visits and held seven public meetings.

WHEN: Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
Commission meeting begins at 11:15am EST
There will be a media availability about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Commission meeting, at approximately 1:00-1:30pm EST

WHERE: The Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center
Atrium Ballroom, 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.

About the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors: The nine-member Commission was established by the President to “conduct a comprehensive review of the care America is providing our wounded servicemen and women returning from the battlefield.”

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Labels: audio, dole, house, legal, oversight, pd, shalala, tbi, video

Flash Video Remembers 100+ OEF/OIF Veteran Suicides

The tireless combat PTSD advocate Kathie Costos, editor of Nam Guardian Angel, shares this 20-minute tribute to veterans who have fallen as a result of suicide. While the individuals remembered include a handful of coalition troops, the majority that flash before us are our American brothers and sisters. Keeping their families in our hearts, keeping their memories in our minds -- and using the lessons they've taught us to direct our energy towards ensuring those returning home today reject such a fate.

Thank you, Kathie, for the work that you do.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for related posts...

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Labels: incidents, suicidal, tribute, video

Upcoming Reintegration Programs for Veterans, Military Families and Supporters

Wanted to share a few upcoming reintegration programs and military-focused events taking place across the country in the coming weeks/months (more events & actions). They're all free except for the event taking place in Chicago (which does have limited scholarships available to cover the cost):

August 3-5, 2007 in Payson, Arizona
Merritt Center Men's Welcome Home Program for Returning Combat Veterans

August 10-12, 2007 in the DC Metro area
Vets4Vets Free Veterans' Reintegration Workshop

August 17-19, 2007 in Payson, Arizona
Merritt Center Women's Welcome Home Program for Returning Combat Veterans

August 31-September 9, 2007 in Payson, Arizona
Merritt Center Men's Welcome Home Program for Returning Combat Veterans

September 14-16, 2007 in Eureka, MO
Vets4Vets Free Veterans' Leadership Workshop

September 13-16, 2007 in Chicago, IL
Healing Veterans from PTSD Workshop

September 15, 2007 in Hadley, MA
The Spiritual Journey Home from War [pdf]

October 11-14, 2007 in Payson, Arizona
Merritt Center Women's Welcome Home Program for Returning Combat Veterans

November 9-11, 2007 in Blue Mountain Lake, NY
Vets4Vets Free Veterans' Leadership Workshop

Please consider attending if you're a veteran or military family member. If you're neither, please pass the news on...

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for all the details...

The Merritt Center Complimentary Veterans Retreats

The Merritt Center is offering a special retreat program for combat veterans. With the assistance of mentors, who are veterans themselves, and healing practitioners; returning vets will open the program with a Talking Circle to begin to release the experiences of war and to begin to create the dream of a new life.

Through group and individual activities, participating veterans will learn to recognize the triggers of negative combat experience and learn ways to release negativity and reorder their personal priorities. They will learn to cleanse themselves of toxins of mind, body, emotions and spirit. The final retreat weekend will include family members who will join in a celebration of service and the awakening of a new vision of their future.

All returning veterans are welcomed to participate free of charge.

Men Retreat Dates
August 3-5, 2007,
August 31-Sept. 9, 2007
Nov. 30-Dec. 2, 2007
January 11-13, 2008

Women Retreat Dates
August 17-19, 2007
October 11-14, 2007
Dec. 14-16, 2007

Location
The Merritt Center, P.O. Box 2087, Payson, AZ 85547
Phone: (928) 474-4268 [directions]

Application/Pre-screening Forms
MS Word :: PDF

Contact
You can contact the Merritt Center and Lodge via their online contact form. You can also send an e-mail to betty@merrittcenter.org OR call: 1-800-414-9880.

Vets4Vets Complimentary Workshops

Vets4Vets is a non-partisan veterans’ peer support organization dedicated to helping Iraq and Afghanistan era veterans feel good about themselves and heal from any negative aspects of service and war. As a national community of Iraq-era veterans who have served post 9/11, in weekend workshops, one-on-ones and local groups, Vets4Vets allow veterans to take equal and uninterrupted turns sharing their experiences and expressing their feelings in a truly confidential setting.

Over 300 Iraq-era veterans have attended one of our ten workshops in the last year. Many of them have returned to their home communities after these workshops and reached out to their peers to begin setting up Vets4Vets projects around the country.

Travel, lodging and meals will be provided. Applications (links below) must be submitted to Jason Ridolfi at vets4vets@gmail.com.

Priority will be given to OIF/OEF vets, especially those who have not yet attended a Vets4Vets workshop and to those who are interested in setting up and leading local Vets4Vets support groups. A few veterans from earlier conflicts will be invited as allies to help set up Vets4Vets programs in their organizations or communities.

Upcoming Events
DC Metro area - August 10-12, 2007: Vets4Vets Free Veterans' Reintegration Workshop :: Application [MS Word : PDF]

Eureka, MO - September 14-16, 2007: Vets4Vets Free Veterans' Leadership Workshop :: Application [MS Word : PDF]

Blue Mountain Lake, NY - November 9-11, 2007: Vets4Vets Free Veterans' Leadership Workshop :: Application [MS Word : PDF]

Organizer
Vets4Vets Staff
Vets4vets@gmail.com
(520)319-5500

Vet4Vets Coordinator
Jim Driscoll
4192 E. Boulder Springs Way
Tucson, AZ 85712,
jim@Vets4Vets.us
(520)250-0509

Healing Veterans from PTSD Workshop

Redefining PTSD as a soul wound, clinical psychotherapist Dr. Edward Tick offers hope by nurturing a positive, mature warrior identity for our veterans. He has been speaking nationally about the psycho/spiritual needs of veterans since the release of his acclaimed book, War and the Soul: Healing our Nation’s Veterans from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

This intensive healing and training workshop will provide experience in the groundbreaking techniques he has developed for over two decades and introduces in his book. He draws on methods from ancient Greek, Native American, Vietnamese, and other traditions to restore the soul so that veterans can, at last, find inner peace and truly return home to themselves, their families, and their communities.

The workshop is open to veterans and their families, counselors, therapists, and members of the clergy. Participants will find Dr. Tick’s work invaluable for veterans of any war as well as for all who love and would help them.

The workshop is co-sponsored by Quest Books and Soldier’s Heart, an organization Dr. Tick recently founded in Albany, New York for veterans’ healing. It will be held September 13-16th, 2007 at the Olcott campus of the Theosophical Society, 1926 North Main St., Wheaton, Il. Sign-in will begin at 3:00 p.m. Thursday. Dr. Tick will begin the workshop Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. and conclude at noon Sunday.

Registration fee is $395, excluding meals and rooms. Limited accommodations are available on campus; additional rooms are reserved at the Hampton Inn, 205 W. North Ave., Carol Stream, Il., (630) 681-9200. A very limited number of scholarships will be available. For more information go to www.soldiersheart.net. To register, or if you have questions, please call Christine Pomeroy: 800-669-9425, ext. 350, or email cpomeroy@theosmail.net.

The Spiritual Journey Home from War

Your faith community can share that journey...

What are the issues facing our veterans?
How can we truly support our troops as they come home?
What helps with healing? What hinders healing?
What veteran’s services and resources are available?
Let’s explore these questions, hear their stories, and educate ourselves so that we can respond better to the needs of our veterans, their families and all those affected by war.

Saturday, September 15, 2007
12:30*-5:00 PM
Registration begins at 12:30. The program starts promptly at 1:00
Wesley United Methodist Church
98 N. Maple Street, Hadley, MA 01035

Pre-registration is encouraged and a $10 donation is greatly appreciated. To register call the Veterans Education Project at 413-253-4947 or Wesley United Methodist Church at 413-549-1550 or send an email to office@wesleyfamily.org. Please leave your name and phone number, if no one is available. Download info flyer [pdf]

* There is a UMass football game at noon. Expect traffic. From Rt 9 East, turn left onto N. Maple Street at the lights near the Hampshire Mall. The church is ½ mile on the left.

Sponsors include Amherst Interfaith Service Council, Hampshire Interfaith Council, Veterans Education Project and Wesley United Methodist Church.

This is a non-political event open to members of all faith communities.

Can't attend any of these? Find others on our events list.

Labels: events, family, freebies, reintegration, resources

Class Action Lawsuit Brought Against VA

Latest updates on this and related VA/Army lawsuits posted in "As Second Legal Attempt Fails to Force VA Hand on Disability Claims Processing, Army Sued Over Discharged Veteran PTSD Disability Ratings." -- Ilona Meagher, 12/17/08

From Associated Press:

Frustrated by delays in health care, a coalition of injured Iraq war veterans is accusing VA Secretary Jim Nicholson of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment. ... The class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks broad change in the agency as it struggles to meet growing demands from veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Suing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it charges that the VA has failed warriors on several fronts -- from providing prompt disability benefits, to adding staff to reduce wait times for medical care to boosting services for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The lawsuit also accuses the VA of deliberately cheating some veterans by allegedly working with the Pentagon to misclassify PTSD claims as pre-existing personality disorders to avoid paying out benefits. The VA and Pentagon have generally denied such charges.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

From the Los Angeles Times:

[A]ttorneys for the plaintiffs say the VA is "structurally unsuitable" for dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, which the lawsuit [pdf] calls "a signature problem of veterans" of the current ongoing wars. ... About 1.6 million men and women have served in the two countries. A recent report by a special Pentagon Task Force found that 38% of soldiers and 50% of National Guard members coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan have mental health issues, ranging from PTSD to brain injuries.

Only 27 of the VA's 1,400 hospitals around the country have inpatient PTSD programs, the plaintiffs' lawyers said. "A number of veterans have committed suicide shortly after having been turned away from VA facilities either because they were told they were ineligible or because the wait was too long," the lawsuit states.

From NBC-11 [San Jose/San Francisco/Oakland]:

The proposed class includes all veterans with stress disorder, stretching back to those from the Vietnam War, as well as those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One of the groups' attorneys, Sid Wolinksy of Berkeley-based Disability Rights Advocates, said, "This lawsuit is the first class action lawsuit to directly challenge the VA's unconscionable backlog of claims and the endless waiting time disabled veterans face in receiving appropriate mental health care from the VA." ...

"Since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars began, the VA has betrayed our veterans," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, based in Washington D.C. "Instead of hiring more doctors and claims processors, the VA instituted new policies that block veterans' access to prompt mental health care.

"While we are reluctant to file suit against the VA, it is the VA's anti-veteran policies that leave us no other option than to fight for what our veterans earned after fighting on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan," Sullivan said.

The eight officials named in the lawsuit:

R. JAMES NICHOLSON, Secretary of Department of Veterans Affairs; UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
JAMES P. TERRY, Chairman, Board of Veterans Appeals
DANIEL L. COOPER, Under Secretary, Veterans Benefits Administration
BRADLEY G. MAYES, Director, Compensation and Pension Service
DR. MICHAEL J. KUSSMAN, Under Secretary, Veterans Health Administration
PRITZ K. NAVARA, Veterans Service Center Manager, Oakland Regional Office, Department of Veterans Affairs; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ALBERTO GONZALES, Attorney General of the United States
WILLIAM P. GREENE, JR., Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

Of the lawsuit, Melissa Kasnitz, managing attorney of DRA says:

This class action does not seek money damages, nor does it address the claims of any individual veteran. It seeks systemic relief for the flawed system of providing heath care and benefits to veterans. Currently, there is a backlog of over 600,000 cases in the veterans benefit system, and veterans with PTSD are not able to promptly get treatment for mental health problems, despite a statute that requires free healthcare for two years after service. We are asking to the courts to order VA to fix these problems.

Continuing from AP:

[G]overnment investigators warned as early as 2002 that the VA needed to fix its backlogged claims system and make other changes. Yet, the lawsuit says, Nicholson and other officials still insisted on a budget in 2005 that fell $1 billion short, and they made "a mockery of the rule of law" by awarding senior officials $3.8 million in bonuses despite their role in the budget foul-up.

Today, the VA's backlog of disability payments is now between 400,000 and 600,000, with delays of up to 177 days to process an initial claim and an average of 657 days to process an appeal. Several congressional committees and a presidential commission are now studying ways to improve care. ...

The lawsuit cites violations of the Constitution and federal law, which mandates at least two years of health care to injured veterans. The veterans groups involved in the lawsuit are Veterans for Common Sense in Washington, D.C., which claims 11,500 members, and Veterans United for Truth, based in Santa Barbara, California, with 500 members.

Related Documents

DRA Press Release
Combat-Related PTSD Fact Sheet [MS Word doc]
Complaint [PDF]

If you are a veteran and wish to add your name to the lawsuit:

Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) is interested in hearing from veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. We are investigating the experiences of these veterans as they seek benefits through the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

We are seeking information on how the existing system serves veterans, including whether or not they are satisfied with the speed that their claims are addressed and the outcomes. We also are interested in hearing from veterans about the quality of care they receive at VA facilities.

We encourage any Iraq or Afghani veterans with PTSD who are interested in sharing their experiences to contact us. You can call, write, or email us at: Disability Rights Advocates, 2001 Center Street, Fourth Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704, (510) 665-8644; veterans@dralegal.org. Collect calls will be accepted.

All information will be kept confidential.

Additional comments, and a visit by Melissa Kasnitz of Disability Rights Advocates, in my Daily Kos and my exclusive Q & A at ePluribus Media.

If you have an account over there, feel free to leave your questions/concerns for her; or leave them in comments here. I'll be happy to forward them to to DRA for you.

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Labels: advocacy, injustice, legal, nicholson, pd, shortfalls, stats, va, vets

PTSD Figures for Canada's Afghanistan Veterans

From the Canadian Press:

Numbers obtained by The Canadian Press show that of 1,300 Forces members who served in Afghanistan since 2005 and underwent a post-deployment screening, 28 per cent had symptoms suggestive of one or more mental health problems. Of those, 16 per cent showed signs of high-risk drinking and just over six per cent were possibly suffering from PTSD. Five per cent showed symptoms of major depression.

The numbers aren’t alarming, says Dr. Mark Zamorski of the deployment health section of the Canadian Forces, but they do show how negative combat experiences are contributing to mental health problems.

For example, only eight per cent of troops who completed post-deployment questionnaires after rotations in Kabul — a less hostile mission than the current operation in Kandahar — showed signs of mental health issues. "The magnitude of the health impact is about what we’d expect given the nature of the deployment," Zamorski said in an interview from Ottawa where he conducts research on ways to mitigate adverse health consequences on members of the Forces. "Mental health problems are a major source of casualties these days."

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Continuing:

The military says it has gone to great lengths to make sure soldiers are as prepared as they can be before they deploy to deal with stress injuries as they develop. Officials have also added several screening steps when soldiers return to help identify signs of stress disorders.

Troops are briefed in theatre before they return to Canada on what it will be like adjusting to life at home and back in the garrison. All soldiers who have been away for more than 60 days have to complete a detailed questionnaire that can indicate if they might have an operational stress injury. And they are supposed to undergo an interview with a health professional. If they are found to be in need of help, Zamorski says they can take advantage of several resources on and off base.

There is a new anonymous toll-free number staffed by health practitioners, specialized operational stress injury clinics, and trauma and stress support centres on bases across the country. And Ottawa has pledged to boost the number of mental health workers to more than 400 by 2009.

Some soldiers are also now trained in identifying potential stress problems so they can offer peer support while overseas. "I'm proud that we really are doing the very best we can to take care of people who serve the country," he said. "Not that we don't have some work to do in terms of combating stigma in particular, but we have mechanisms to try to identify people early and we've got multiple mechanisms for care."

But only a fraction of redeployed troops have completed the questionnaire or undergone the interview, raising the likelihood that some are falling through the cracks. Out of about 4,800 people who had returned from Afghanistan and were required to have the screening, 2,900 were still due for it and only 1,257 had completed the questionnaire.

The reason for the low numbers? "The units are too busy doing other things, like getting ready for the next operation," said Zamorski.

Read the rest for a few personal stories and details.

Labels: afghanistan, foreign, stats

Coming this Week: Phoenix and Seattle TV Spots Explore Combat PTSD

Media opportunities on the Moving a Nation to Care book tour have led to two upcoming local television programs I'd like to share with you this week.

In the Phoenix area (or near a computer) this Monday night?

3TV's beautiful -- inside and out -- Carey Peña begins a two-part series on combat PTSD featuring clips from an hour-long interview I sat for during my visit to Tempe's Changing Hands bookstore last month. (I learned that Peña had previously interviewed Madeline Albright in that very spot). The first segment airs tomorrow, Monday July 23, between 5:00 and 6:00 pm on Good Evening Arizona. Catch it as well in Peña's online archives.

For those in the Seattle area, my University Bookstore stop last week was taped by TVW; in addition to being available online, area viewers can watch my turn on Author's Hour Thursday July 26 at 8pm and Sunday July 29 at 9pm.

More media spots if you can't get enough!

Labels: advocacy, events, media, moving_a_nation, video

First Combat PTSD College Course for Vets, Military Families Arrives

Multiple ways to teach veterans and military families to cope with a combat deployment can only be a good thing. I'm very happy to hear of options like this cropping up around the country.

From the San Gabriel Valley Tribune:

After more than 20 years working with war veterans at the East Los Angeles Veterans Center, [former Vietnam veteran Manuel] Martinez put together a lesson plan that will help veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq transition from the battle ground to civilian life.

COUN 159: On Course to Succeed will launch at Citrus College in the fall. It will cover combat stress, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, coping skills and other issues affecting vets. The "Boots to Books" class is open to veterans and their friends and families. Martinez said it is the first such college course in the nation that may eventually branch out to other campuses nationwide.

"This is the first time that they have done outreach at the college level," Bruce Solheim, a Citrus College instructor and volunteer veterans coordinator, said in a statement. "This partnership between the VA and community college will serve as a model for all California and the rest of the nation."

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Continuing:

Martinez pitched the idea to several colleges in January after creating a similar program for those who go to his center. He got the idea to tweak it for college students coming home from wars overseas because of his own difficulties dealing with college after Vietnam.

He said drop-out rates among war veterans are higher because almost 40 percent of them return home with mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. "You don't just come back from an environment like that and expect to make rapid adjustments," Martinez said. ...

Veterans in the course will learn where their particular problems lie and healthy ways to deal with them. "I would hope that somebody in the class could identify where they're at in their own recovery process," Martinez said. "We really want them to succeed in their academic goals."

For information on the Boots to Books class call (626) 852-8096.

Specific course information:

On Course to Success - 21443 - COUN 159 - 020

BOOTS TO BOOKS: This is a special section recommended for veterans and their families
Associated Term: Fall 2007
Registration Dates: Jul 30, 2007 to Dec 22, 2007
Levels: Credit
Attributes: AA/AS, Not a basic skills course, Non-transferable

Citrus College Campus
Lecture Schedule Type - Traditional Instructional Method
3.000 Credits

3:40 pm - 6:50 pm, Mondays
Lecture
Liberal Arts - Business 306
Aug 31, 2007 - Dec 22, 2007

Labels: community, educational, family, reintegration, va, vietnam

Defense Department Contractor Leaves 580,000 Military Records Open to Identity Theft

Another failure to keep military records secure has taken place. From Stars & Stripes:

Social Security numbers, addresses and medical files of more than 580,000 military households may have been left open to identity thieves by a Defense Department contractor processing Tricare records, officials announced Friday.

Science Applications International Corp. first learned of the problem on May 29 but just this week finalized details of what and whose information was potentially exposed. Company spokeswoman Connie Custer said so far investigators have not seen any evidence the information was stolen or abused.

But officials at SAIC have promised to notify all of the affected families and offer them free credit protection services. “The security failure is completely unacceptable and occurred as a result of clear violations of SAIC’s strong internal IT security policies,” company CEO Ken Dahlberg said in a statement Friday. “We let down our customers and the servicemembers whom we support. For this, we are very sorry.”

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Labels: contractors, dod

Pace, Considering Another Troop Surge -- Now a 'Boost' -- Meets with Troops, Military Families

From the Associated Press:

There are now about 158,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, reflecting a boost of approximately 30,000 to carry out the new strategy that Bush announced in January. The strategy is focused on providing better security for Iraqis in Baghdad, but the intended effect -- a political reconciliation between the Sunnis and Shiites -- has yet to be achieved, and many in Congress are clamoring to begin withdrawing troops soon. Some on the Joint Chiefs had argued against the troop boost in January, in part out of concern that it could not be sustained long enough to have the desired effect and that it put too much strain on the military. ...

Without opining on any new course of action in Iraq, Pace stressed in [an] interview his concern that multiple combat tours for many in the Army and Marine Corps could tear at the fabric of the military. He said that is one reason he is visiting the troops now - to hear their concerns, assess their morale and to explain to them why he advocated extending Army tours from 12 months to 15 months.

He said he also would stop in Germany this week to meet with family members of military units that are affected by tour extensions. These visits are intended to give him a sense of how the military as a whole is holding up under the strain of the Iraq war, now more than four years old, and will be one important factor in what the Joint Chiefs collectively recommend to Bush in September, Pace said.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for details on his Germany visit...

In the interest of education, article quoted from extensively.

From the Military Family Network:

Over the past week, Marine Gen. Peter Pace personally thanked thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for their service. Today he traveled to this German city to thank their spouses for the very real sacrifices they and their families make in the war on terror. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff began his remarks at Conn Barracks with a simple statement: “Thank you for your service to the country.”

The post here has soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Infantry Division deployed to Baghdad, and paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team deployed in Afghanistan. Both brigades will serve 15 months in combat.

Pace said the success of the soldiers is heavily dependent on the support the families give them. “What I learned about families I learned most of all in my own kitchen,” the general said. “When we deploy, you stay here and you pray we come home safe. You don’t know when we’re in trouble, therefore you worry every day. When we do come home safe, you stand in the background as we get our awards and you pretend you have nothing to do with it,” he continued. “You had everything to do with it."

“When we get tired, you remind us of how important what we do is to you, to our families and to the nation. I’ve watched military families for 40 years. You serve this nation as well as anyone who has worn the uniform. I’m proud to stand before you and thank you for all you do to keep our nation free.”

On deployment extensions:

Studies in September through November 2006 led to the decision to surge five brigade combat teams into Baghdad and its suburbs. He said the plan called for increasing the number of troops, along with the international community increasing economic development and the Iraqis making political progress.

“As we thought through how we were going to do that, we started to see that a brigade would be extended by 45 days, and another by 73 days and another by such and such amount of time,” he said. “We were on a system where, about 90 days before folks were due to come home, we would then tell that unit that they were going to come home on time, or they would be extended X number of days. “That just jerked people around,” he continued. “It also did not let us plan long-term for the units coming in after that.”

The right thing to do was to extend all active duty Army units going into the country to 15-month tours, he said. “So when you change the calendar on the refrigerator door, you did it once instead of every other week,” Pace told the spouses. “You could have some kind of stability and knowledge of what was going to happen.”

Reaction to Pace's visit and comments:

“I’m surprised the general came here,” said Clara Gaskins. “We’re not exactly a crossroads of the world. He answered many of the questions that I hear people ask. We are all very concerned about the deployment length. Fifteen months is a long time. Some of the young families have babies and they’ll be toddlers when the spouses come home.”

Another spouse said she is willing to make the sacrifices, but wants to know if it is worth it. “We’ve lost many soldiers lately,” Michelle Garner said. “We want to know if they are making a difference.(Pace) put that in perspective.”

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Labels: deployment, family, pace, shortfalls, stress, tempo

'In the Valley of Elah' Coming September 21

Wanted to share the trailer for the long-anticipated Paul Haggis ("Crash") film, In the Valley of Elah, released by Warner Independent Pictures and arriving in theaters on September 21. [UPDATE Aug 30 2007]: Correcting premiere date from September 14; the film will now debut the following week, on September 21. --ed.

The movie's genesis:

Readers of Playboy magazine were shocked by “Death and Dishonor,” Mark Boal’s investigative article published in the summer of 2004. Boal interviewed Lanny Davis, a former U.S. Army M.P., about the death of his son, who had been reported AWOL following a tour of duty in Baghdad. Davis, refus[ed] to accept the army’s version of his son’s disappearance...[and I don't want to give away any more of the plot line].

Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon and Jason Patric, the film (which I've been given the opportunity to see in advance) drives us into the darkest side of war's personal fallout and doesn't let up on the pedal until its shattering conclusion.

A terribly important film. Hurry, September.

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Labels: art, films

Who Will Be the New VA Secretary?

Now that Veterans Administration Secretary Jim Nicholson has announced his resignation, replacement names are starting to be bandied about. Here are a few...

From Time magazine:

President Bush has a job opening for the head of a department with a crushing backlog of work, a sharp increase in demand for services and a battered public image.

And yet the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs will have an easy act to follow, according to those for whom the job-holder serves. Jim Nicholson resigned the post Tuesday amid widespread criticism by veterans groups of his 29-month tenure. They urged the President to replace him with a strong advocate who has knowledge of the vast VA bureaucracy, health care and the growing complexity of the military. "We hope for somebody who knows their primary allegiance is to the veteran and not to the Administration or anybody else," said Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. ...

The resignation gives Bush a chance to demonstrate his commitment to veterans, including the growing numbers of those who had fought in his wars. Their representatives want a secretary who "understands that this is a new military, a new war, and there are new issues ranging from traumatic brain injury to the fact that 15% of our forces are women," said Rieckhoff. He said the President could make a "powerful statement" by choosing someone who has fought in Iraq or Afghanistan, like Tammy Duckworth, an Army helicopter pilot who lost both legs in Iraq and is now director of veterans affairs in Illinois. Appointing Duckworth would send a message beyond the veterans community. She lost a congressional race last November, running as a Democrat.

As with Max Cleland, a Vietnam War amputee who was secretary under Jimmy Carter, choosing Duckworth would let vets know that "one of their own" was tasked to "help care for them," Rieckhoff said. "Max Cleland is an inspiration to generations of veterans regardless of your political affiliations. Tammy is cut from the same cloth."

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

From the Denver Post editorial board:

Jim Nicholson's resignation as Secretary of the Veterans Administration gives President Bush a golden opportunity to harness the growing bipartisan determination to improve the care given to America's veterans.

With less than 18 months to go before he leaves office, the president should resist the urge to appoint a place-holder to head the VA, which, with 235,000 employees, is the federal government's second-largest agency. Instead, Bush should replace Nicholson with someone like Jesse Brown, the disabled Vietnam veteran who revitalized the VA during the Clinton administration, spurring it to provide more veterans greater access to a broader range of health care services. ...

A presidential commission chaired by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Donna Shalala, who was Health and Human Services Secretary under Clinton, is now pressing for sweeping reforms in the VA's network. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed those efforts Wednesday while criticizing shortcomings at the agency, including a backlog of more than 400,000 veterans-benefit claims waiting to be processed by the VA.

The momentum is thus building for far-reaching reforms to aid American veterans. We urge President Bush to seize the moment and appoint a dynamic new leader at the VA.

From the East Valley Tribune [Phoenix, AZ]:

Former Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley, a disabled Vietnam War veteran, is being recommended by members of Arizona’s congressional delegation to become the new secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., has recommended to the White House that Romley be appointed to replace Jim Nicholson, who announced his resignation as secretary of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday, Kyl spokesman Ryan Patmintra said Thursday. Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., also sent a letter to President Bush recommending Romley for the job.

Romley, a Republican who had already taken a job to be a personal adviser to Nicholson, said Wednesday he has not been contacted by the White House. “If I was asked to assume that position, I would be honored,” Romley said. “There’s not a greater honor than to serve the veterans of this country.”

Will add to this as more names are tossed up.

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Labels: bush, cleland, dole, duckworth, iava, kyl, nicholson, opinion, pelosi, politics, va

Veterans Find Comfort With Unusual 'Therapist'

This is a great story:

In Los Angeles, some recovering war veterans are getting therapeutic help for post-traumatic stress disorder from an unlikely source: rescued and abused parrots. Physicians say it's an exercise in mutual healing for both parrot and patient.

Click over to NPR to listen to the program.

Labels: audio, counseling, nature

Does Vermont Have the Model Combat PTSD Care Program?

From the Boston Herald:

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is touting a Vermont program that helps veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan as a model for the nation. The program, begun a year ago with the help of a $1 million federal appropriation, sends outreach workers to visit with each member of the Vermont National Guard and all active duty veterans the workers can find after they have returned from overseas.

In many cases it’s easier for the veterans to open up about difficulties they are facing in their lives while meeting in their homes or in other non-clinical settings, Sanders, an independent, said Monday during a Burlington news conference. ... Sanders is going to introduce legislation that would provide $30 million to help expand the Vermont program across the country. "Post-traumatic stress disorder is a very difficult illness. You never know when it is going to surface," said Sanders, who was joined at the Burlington news conference by Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, the head of the Vermont National Guard, officials with the White River Junction Department of Veterans Affairs hospital and other officials.

Dubie said about 2,000 members of the Vermont National Guard have served overseas since Sept. 11, 2001. And several hundred of them have been overseas more than once. Most of the veterans are readjusting to life after military service overseas without difficulty. "Some of our people need assistance," Dubie said. "The idea of the outreach program is to get people out knocking on doors. The biggest question is ’How are you doing?’" ... And the program does more than just work with the veteran. It can also involve family members. "Our job is simply to contact everybody who has been deployed," said James MacIntyre, a retired National Guard chaplain and the outreach specialist for the program.

I'd love to hear what the Vermont vets think about this program.

Labels: benefits, counseling, family, guard, legislation, local, senate, tbi

House Omnibus Bill to Ease Post-Combat Readjustment, Vet Homelessness Moves Forward

Yesterday the House Veterans' Affairs Committee approved an omnibus measure, the Veterans’ Health Care Improvement Act of 2007 (HR 2874). The bill was introduced by Congressman Mike Michaud [D-ME], Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health. Details:

The purpose of this bill is to improve VA’s capacity in several areas, including mental health and homelessness. ... “Many of our veterans are exposed to unique stresses during their military service,” said Michaud. “Therapeutic readjustment programs have helped our veterans deal with a number of health related issues, including post traumatic stress disorder. This bill will allow the VA to make grants to conduct workshop programs that have been shown to assist in therapeutic readjustment and rehabilitation.”

H.R. 2874 also expands readjustment and mental health services for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans. Expanding access to these programs for veterans is important because an increasing number of recent veterans are suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In fact, according to the Government Accountability Office, an estimated one-third of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing mental health challenges, and up to 300,000 troops are expected to return from Iraq suffering from TBI.

H.R. 2874 contains several other provisions that seek to improve veteran’s health care and assistance for homeless veterans. “Each night, as many as 200,000 veterans, both male and female, are homeless. Many more veterans are at high risk of homelessness because of poverty, dismal living conditions, and lack of support,” said Michaud. “This bill takes steps to improve homeless assistance programs provided by the VA, and we will be doing more in this area in the coming months.”

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Continuing:

The bill expands and extends the successful VA program of referral and counseling for at-risk veterans transitioning from certain institutions. The program is extended until 2011 and expanded from 6 locations to 12. These services are largely directed toward incarcerated veterans. Section 8 of the bill requires the VA to ensure that domiciliary programs are adequate in capacity and safety to meet the needs of women veterans. And critically, section 9 of H.R. 2874 authorizes funding for the Secretary to provide financial assistance to eligible entities to provide supportive services for very low-income veteran families residing in permanent housing.

The bill also creates a new grant program to encourage innovative transportation options to improve access to VA health care in rural areas and provides permanent authority for VA treatment of participants in DOD chemical and biological testing.

Read the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report for a list of other veteran-specific legislation approved by the House Veterans' Affairs Committee yesterday.

Labels: benefits, counseling, homelessness, house, legislation, michaud, tbi, va

Army Begins 90-Day Push to Educate 1 Million Soldiers on PTSD/TBI

From Army Public Affairs:

The Army today launched a "chain teaching" program as part of an aggressive campaign to educate more than 1 million Active, Reserve and National Guard Soldiers worldwide within the next 90 days about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injuries.

"Chain teaching" is a technique where leaders train their immediate subordinate leaders in small groups, who then in turn train those whom they lead, who in turn train the next level of leadership and so on, further down the line, until all Soldiers have received the required training. Key elements of this technique are the mastery of the information by leadership at all levels because they must teach the subject, plus the significance of the issue is made prominent by the teaching coming directly from unit's own leadership.

Visit the army's download page for training videos/materials.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

[UPDATE Aug 13, 2007]: From www.Army.mil - Jini Ryan explores the Army's current focus on the after effects of combat stress.

Continuing:

All Soldiers in combat suffer stress, but most recover quickly. Those whose symptoms persist may have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is a condition that often follows a terrifying physical or emotional event, causing the person who survived the event to have persistent, frightening thoughts and memories, or flashbacks, of the ordeal. People with PTSD often feel chronically, emotionally numb.

Mild TBI is a physical injury to the head due to any circumstance. The enemy's weapons of choice include improvised explosive devices, mines and other explosives and their cumulative blast effects may cause behavioral health symptoms such as sleep problems, memory problems, confusion and irritability. Many Soldiers experiencing these temporary symptoms may not know why they have them.

As Soldiers continue to deploy on multiple combat tours, brain injuries and combat-induced psychological stress are the primary health care concerns for Army leadership. The recognition, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of PTSD and TBI are essential steps needed to care for Soldiers and their Families.

This chain teach program also will help erase the perceived stigma that discourages soldiers from seeking treatment for mental and behavioral health concerns. "Combat is inherently brutal and difficult, and it impacts humans in different ways," said Gen. George Casey Jr., chief of staff of the Army. "We have made significant improvements in the identification and treatment of PTSD and mild TBI, but we must aggressively work research, prevention and treatment of these injuries and, most importantly, encourage Soldiers and their Families to seek treatment."

This aggressive chain teaching program will augment behavioral health assessment tools and measures already in place, and emphasize the Army's commitment to providing the best health care possible. Senior Army leaders also hope to diminish the stigma attached to mental health treatment and counseling.

"We have more than 144,000 Soldiers in combat today," said Secretary of the Army Pete Geren. "And more than 750,000 have deployed to and from the combat zones in Central Command. Our Nation and our Army owe these Soldiers and their Families nothing less than our total support. The Army is committed to ensuring all returning Soldiers receive the behavioral health care they need and deserve. True to our ethos, we will never leave a fallen comrade."

Information regarding the chain teaching program and other behavioral health programs is located at http://www.behavioralhealth.army.mil. The Army Medical Department's site provides resources and mental well-being information for Soldiers and their family members.

Media seeking more information on the chain teaching program should contact Army Public Affairs (703) 697-2564.

[UPDATE Aug 13, 2007]: From www.Army.mil - Medical Editor Col. Paul Little, M.D., explains what PTSD is, who suffers from it and how to spot warning signs for those who may require some help.

Labels: army, family, psychology, stigma, stress, tbi, training

Guardian/BBC Documentary Shows Combat's Stress and Strain

From the Guardian:

[A]ward-winning photographer and filmmaker Sean Smith spent two months embedded with US troops in Baghdad and Anbar province. His harrowing documentary exposes the exhaustion and disillusionment of the soldiers.

Here's an introductory clip (some graphic scenes):

Please view the full program that ran on BBC. h/t Jim.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Response to Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson's Resignation

From the Associated Press:

VA Secretary Jim Nicholson abruptly resigned Tuesday after months of the Bush administration struggling to defend charges of shoddy treatment for veterans injured in the Iraq war. Nicholson, a former Republican National Committee chairman and a Vietnam veteran, was picked by President Bush to head the Veterans Affairs Department in 2005. Planning to return to the private sector, he said his resignation is to take effect no later than Oct. 1.

Nicholson, 69, is the latest in a line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of the Bush administration. "This coming February, I turn 70 years old, and I feel it is time for me to get back into business, while I still can," Nicholson said. He had no specific jobs lined up.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for reactions to the news...

NBC's announcement:

A compilation of reactions to the news of Nicholson's resignation.

National Veterans Affairs Council (NVAC) of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) which represents over 150,000 Veterans Affairs (VA) employees:

"The ensuing changes in the department represent a crucial opportunity for the Department of Veterans Affairs to reexamine its framework," said Alma Lee president of AFGE's NVAC Council 53. "Our members in the VA provide care for more than 5.8 million veterans, it is critical that we take this opportunity to accent our strengths and address the system's critical failures of chronic budget shortfalls, inadequate resources, and staffing shortages. We believe this is an opportunity for significant change." ...

"As the employees' representative, we are committed to working with the new leadership in a meaningful way to provide essential, expert care to our nation's veterans," said John Gage, national president of AFGE. "As the VA employee union, we have an obligation to ensure that our veterans receive quality health services and actively advocate in their best interest."

Throughout Secretary Nicholson's tenure the rank and file employees of the VA actively expressed their concerns over the adequacy of healthcare being provided to veterans. These employees, many of whom are veterans themselves, have been at the forefront of veterans' healthcare advocacy by leading the fight against privatizing health services and contracting out within the VA system.

President Bush:

Nicholson "has served his country and his fellow veterans with distinction. ...For over two and a half years, Jim has worked to improve the federal government's ability to care for our nation's veterans," the president said. "As our troops continue to fight in the global war on terror, Jim has led innovative efforts to ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs is better prepared to address the challenges facing our newest generation of heroes after they return home."

The Canton [OH] Repository:

President Bush may say that Jim Nicholson was an innovative leader at the Veterans Affairs Department, but his tenure was marked more by crisis management. Nicholson's abrupt announcement Tuesday that he will resign was greeted by cheers in Washington that sounded more like "good riddance" than "job well done."

Nicholson's two years as VA secretary have been marked by monumental problems, from poor health-care planning and inadequate budgeting for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, to the largest data security breach in government history. He is a Vietnam war veteran, but nothing else in his background recommended him for the complex administrative job Bush gave him in 2005.

The former owner of a construction company, Nicholson has been U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and chairman of the Republican National Committee. Bush's favoring cronyism over competence has ill-served our men and women in uniform at a time when their needs should be paramount.

Rep. Phil Hare [D-IL]:

"In May, I called on Secretary Nicholson to resign after he approved a number of bonuses for senior VA personnel at the same time the Department was failing to meet the needs of our veterans. While I believe a change in leadership at the VA is absolutely necessary, the ongoing hurdles veterans face when attempting to access health care and other services goes much deeper than the shortcomings of one man.

The next Secretary will inherit a disability claims backlog of 600,000, staffing shortages at our vet centers, and ongoing challenges at Walter Reed and other medical facilities that care for our wounded soldiers. Democrats in Congress have offered their help-passing the single largest funding increase in the 77 year history of the VA this year. But our veterans deserve leadership from the executive branch as well. Part of that leadership demands a Secretary that is forthcoming about the resources the Department has and the resources it needs to ensure no veteran slips through the cracks.

I strongly urge President Bush to nominate a veterans' veteran-someone in the mold of former Republican VA Secretary Anthony Principi-who will put the needs of our fighting men and women above any political ideology. I look forward to working with the new Secretary to help provide every single veteran with the benefits they deserve."

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA):

"Secretary Nicholson's resignation should be welcome news for all veterans. Tens of thousands of veterans currently are waiting for their first VA appointment, and the backlog of veterans' benefits claims has increased by more than 50% in three years, to more than 350,000. The VA under Secretary Nicholson has also been woefully unprepared for the influx of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, consistently underestimating the number of new veterans who would seek care, and failing to spend the money Congress allotted to treat mental health issues." said Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "Bottom line: Secretary Nicholson is the FEMA Director Michael Brown that America doesn't know about." ...

"President Bush now has a tremendous opportunity to replace Secretary Nicholson with a well-qualified and effective candidate. We urge the President to reach far and wide into the growing community of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for feedback and possible replacements. Our nation's heroes and their families deserve the best possible leadership President Bush can provide."

For more information on Secretary Nicholson's tenure at the Department of Veterans Affairs, please see our Fact Sheet [pdf].

Sen. Larry Craig [R-ID]:

Idaho Senator Larry Craig says Veterans Administration chief Jim Nicholson deserves praise for leading the agency during the difficulties caused by the Iraq war. ... Craig, a Republican, says Nicholson deserves credit because he fought hard to improve care for those dealing with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Craig also says Nicholson recently directed the VA to hire more outreach coordinators to make sure those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan get needed care and approved over 80 new community clinics to bring VA care closer to the nation's veterans.

From the Rochester [NY] Democrat & Chronicle:

Stability needed for V.A. department

Departing Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson had exactly the kind of record in office that many predicted when the former Republican national chairman was shoehorned into the job two years ago. In a word, disastrous.

Nicholson's only skill proved to be his survivability in the face of failure. President Bush should have eased him to the door when the scandal involving the care of returning Iraq war veterans broke last year. If anything, the V.A. should be ensuring the exemplary care and treatment of veterans in a time of war. That's a fundamental task, and Nicholson didn't accomplish it.

The V.A. secretary has been a revolving-door job in Washington for years. Bush has gone through two V.A. heads; Clinton had four. Appointments have been overly political, though in that regard, Nicholson's was perhaps the most blatant.

Bush should quickly name someone with a strong record on veterans' issues and an administrative background suited to the job of running a $77 billion department. And, ideally, it will be someone who understands the special needs of young and aging veterans in upstate New York. As V.A. resources have been moved to the South and West, this region's needs too often have gotten short shrift. A final call on use of the Canandaigua medical campus has been too long delayed.

The V.A. needs stability at the top. Those returning from Iraq deserve no less, as do those who served this country in wars past.

Sen. Patty Murray [D-WA]:

"These are serious times for the Department of Veterans Affairs and we need the president to send us a serious nominee to fill the job. That means a truthful advocate for veterans, not an apologist for this administration's failures to plan," said Murray, a Washington Democrat and a senior member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

"The next VA secretary must have a record of being a strong and independent voice for veterans — not someone being rewarded for political loyalty," said Murray, who has battled with Nicholson over problems ranging from conditions at psychiatric wards at the VA hospitals in Seattle and Tacoma to overall care of the nation's veterans.

"The VA secretary's duty is to protect veterans, not a dishonest administration," Murray said. "Our veterans deserve to know that the head of the VA system can stand up to the White House and fight for the resources and benefits our veterans need."

American Legion:

"The American Legion wishes VA Secretary Jim Nicholson well in his future endeavors. We thank him for his service both as a U.S. Army veteran and for his leadership as head of the nation's largest health care system. We look forward to working with his successor on continuing to improve health benefits and services to America's veterans."

VoteVets:

"This resignation is long overdue, and welcome. Jim Nicholson had no business handling our nation's veterans, and was an inept political appointee like Michael Brown at FEMA," said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran who is chair of the largest political group of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, VoteVets.org. "The result of his tenure at the VA was a bungled budget that was billions short, budget cuts that hurt veterans, and personal data of thousands of veterans being stolen. Nicholson resigning is the best thing to happen to our nation's veterans during the Bush administration."

Sen. Wayne Allard [R-CO]:

“I was surprised to hear about the resignation of my friend and fellow Coloradan, Secretary Jim Nicholson. Having assumed control of the VA at an extremely difficult time, he has been a tireless advocate for veterans, and his efforts have helped to bring the VA up to speed in order to meet the current needs of our veterans.

“I would especially like to commend Secretary Nicholson for the instrumental role he played in reinvigorating the construction of a new VA hospital in Aurora on the Fitzsimons campus. Without his support, this project would not have progressed to the point were it is today. I will certainly miss Secretary Nicholson, and I thank him for his exceptional service on behalf of our veterans.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA]:

"Secretary Nicholson's resignation provides President Bush with an opportunity to break with the Administration's history of underfunding VA health care and work with Congress to meet the needs of America's veterans.

"The President's repeated failure to request adequate funding for the VA has undermined the quality of health America promised to our veterans. A recent VA report outlined 1,000 specific problems at VA facilities around the country. There is also a backlog of more than 400,000 veterans benefit claims waiting to be processed by the VA.

"To bring change to Washington and finally begin to meet the needs of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, House Democrats passed the largest increase in veterans' health care in the 77-year history of the VA and provided for improvements in VA benefits totaling nearly $12 billion.

"With the VA expected to treat 5.8 million patients in the coming year -- including more than 260,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans -- we must invest in the health care and benefits we promised our returning heroes. I urge the President to appoint a new VA Secretary who will work with the Democratic Congress to ensure that our veterans receive the health care and benefits that they were promised and that they deserve."

Vietnam Veterans of America:

"Vietnam Veterans of America is surprised by the sudden announcement of the departure of Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson. We respect Jim Nicholson's attempts to address several of the problems confronting his department's ability to meet the growing needs of veterans," VVA National President John Rowan said today upon learning of Nicholson's intent to end his tenure as leader of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which with today's announcement will end by October 1st.

"While not generally known to the organized veterans' community prior to his appointment at the beginning of President Bush's second term, Mr. Nicholson did preside over a number of accomplishments during his almost three years at the head of the VA, as well as weather some real storms of controversy," Rowan said. "While Secretary Nicholson was able to expand the number of Community-based Outreach Clinics, begin to restore much needed staffing levels in mental health, and greatly expand the outreach and services for younger veterans from the wars of today, his tenure was also marked by public funding shortfalls in the summer of 2005 and the highly publicized losses of highly personal and confidential medical information for millions of veterans."

Sen. Barack Obama [D-IL]:

Obama says it's clear that Nicholson is leaving the VA worse off than he found it. Obama said "Nicholson oversaw one of the most tumultuous periods in recent VA history, including billion-dollar budget shortfalls, ongoing cuts in services to certain groups of veterans and the continuation of a dysfunctional bureaucracy that keeps many veterans from getting the disability benefits they deserve."

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Labels: bush, craig, iava, murray, nicholson, obama, pelosi, va

Personality Disorder Discharges Under the Gun

Last week while I was in Seattle [video up of my University Bookstore book signing], ABC News had a report by Bob Woodruff [video] that renewed interest again on the issue of combat troops being given personality disorder vs. post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses/discharges.

Woodruff [who you might recall did some ground-breaking reporting on the traumatic brain injury, or TBI, issue earlier this year] conducted a two-month investigation, interviewing 20 soldiers discharged with personality disorder for the piece.

From ABC World News:

Since his discharge in 2006, [Spc. Jonathan] Town has not only dealt with the emotional scars of war, but he has also found himself at the center of a national debate on mental health care for veterans as a crowd as diverse as singer Dave Matthews and members of Congress has questioned how 22,000 veterans were diagnosed and discharged since 2001 [the figure has jumped to 24,723 according to Stars & Stripes].

In Town's case, the discharge came two years after he was injured in an attack. In the fall of 2004, a 107 mm rocket ripped through his unit's headquarters in Ramadi, exploding two feet above Town's head and knocking him unconscious.

The rocket blast left Town with hearing loss, headaches, memory problems, anxiety and insomnia. For his wounds, he was awarded the Purple Heart. But when he returned to the states seeking treatment for those very wounds, the Army quickly discharged him, asserting his problems had been caused not by the war but by a personality disorder that predated his military career.

Interview with Dave Matthews:

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

In the interest of education, article quoted from extensively.

Continuing:

Since 2001, more than 22,000 servicemen and women from all branches of the military have been separated under the personality disorder discharge, according to figures provided by the Department of Defense. ...

Servicemen and women undergo mental and physical screenings when they enter the military and again before they deploy. "Either the military didn't see it or they ignored it," [Russell K. Terry, founder of the veterans' advocacy organization, Iraq War Veterans Organization] said.

"We do histories and physicals on every recruit that comes in, but people may not always tell us everything," [Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a psychiatry consultant to the U.S. Army surgeon general] said.

Another soldier tells his story:

Donald Louis Schmidt of Chillicothe, Ill., was being treated for posttraumatic stress disorder after his second combat tour in Iraq. His commanders at Fort Carson later decided he was no longer mentally fit and discharged him with personality disorder. "They just slapped me with that label to get me out quicker," Schmidt said. He said superiors told him "'Everything will be great. Peachy keen.' Well, it's not."

The discharge left Schmidt ineligible for disability pay and benefits. He was also required to return more than $10,000 of his $15,000 reenlistment bonus, but he said no one explained that to him until it was too late. "If I didn't have family, I'd be living on the sidewalk," Schmidt said.

"It's not right that they would do this to him after him going to war for us," Schmidt's mother, Patrice Semtner-Myers, said. "They threw him away. They're done with him. He's no use to them anymore so they say, 'We're done. … Thanks for nothing.'"

Much of these details had been reported on previously [January coverage here and here] when the same diagnosis was given to Steven Green, the soldier charged with raping an Iraqi girl and then killing her and her family in Al Mahmudiyah. However, ABC News added some additional legs to this story when it found a whistle-blower:

On the day he was discharged in the fall, Town met with Jeff Peskoff, a civilian employee in the personnel office at Fort Carson in Colorado, and learned he owed the Army $3,000 to repay his enlistment bonus. "At some points it looked like he wanted to cry and at some point he looked like he wanted to rip my head off," Peskoff said.

Peskoff, who served 10 years in the Army, including a tour of Iraq, recently quit his job in disgust and is now speaking publicly for the first time. "If you have a combat tour and you are getting labeled as a personality disorder, there is something wrong. It's a lie," Peskoff said. "It's a quick way to get rid of that body and bring in another body. And it's a quick way to save money."

In the span of several months, Peskoff said he processed the personality disorder discharges of Schmidt, Town and hundreds of other combat veterans he believed were actually suffering physical and psychological trauma because of the war. "They [Army officials] are basically washing their hands of them," Peskoff said.

Fort Carson officials declined to talk to ABC News about this story. The Government Accountability Office is currently investigating Fort Carson as part of a larger study of mental health services for veterans.

Please continue on [scroll down] to the ABC News piece to read about the incredible stuff Dave Matthews is doing to spread the word on this issue. Town's story not only inspired him -- and in turn 23,000 of his fans -- but it affected elected officials on Capitol Hill as well:

Town's story also inspired 31 senators, including four presidential candidates, to write to Defense Secretary Robert Gates calling for an investigation into the military's use of the personality disorder discharge. "We are concerned over continuing reports from veterans' services organizations, the media and individual U.S. service personnel that personality disorder discharges have been implemented inappropriately and inconsistently," the letter said.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said, "We want to make this something that is widely understood and gain the momentum for necessary changes to the system." Just today, six senators including Bond and Barack Obama, D- Illinois, introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would temporarily suspend personality disorder discharges for combat veterans until there is a comprehensive review of the current procedures.

Gates and other Defense Department officials declined to speak to ABC News, saying the issue was under review by the veteran care commission headed by Democrat Donna Shalala and Republican Bob Dole.

After all the recent attention focused on Town, the Department of Veterans Affairs recently began treating him and paying disability benefits. Matthews was asked whether his actions had helped Town. "I think the push, the publicness of the whole thing had some bearing on that, and if it did, it's great that it did. But there are still a lot of other soldiers that need to have the same attention paid on their behalf."

At home in central Illinois, Donald Schmidt is waiting.

As mentioned upstream, Stars & Stripes reported updated personality disorder discharge figures last month:

Since October 2001, the services have discharged 24,723 troops under the character and behavior disorders policy. In 2006, 3,937 servicemembers were dismissed under the policy, up about 8 percent from 2005 but just above the 3,899 servicemembers dismissed in 2002.

For anyone interested in doing some advocacy work on this issue, you may be interested in this comment left at ABC News:

Again ... I am the mother of the 2nd solider that got interviewed by ABC nightline, I am going to start an support/protest group for these soliders that are getting this phony discharge.... If you care, help me. I want the soldiers to know the American People care and are behind them 1000 percent. Don't let this go by just gasping and not doing anything.Stand up with me and do something. These soliders are feeling ashamed and embarassed and rejected. Don't let them feel betrayed. My son is Donald Schmidt, and I am one mad mother. I will fight this to my death and I need your help. Email me at semtner60@yahoo.com. We need to organize and let the government know they must represent us, the American people, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Help me get this together to show Congress and President Bush we will not settle for this treatment. Again email me at semtner60@yahoo. We must do this for our soldiers.Patrice Semtner-Myers.PS Jeff Peskoff please contact me @ semtner60@yahoo.com

New VA Rule Would Require Vet Lawyers to Pass Test

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a proposed rule that would require lawyers to take a test before representing veterans. The rule has been attacked by law firms that often provide such services for free. They say a written exam is unnecessary and would deter lawyers from participating.

At particular risk are the nation's homeless vets, a number variously estimated between 200,000 and 500,000 at any one time. "The intent of the VA may have been noble," said Michael Taub of the Philadelphia-based Homeless Advocacy Project, "but it turns out to be misguided."

VA officials say they are reviewing the rule before deciding its final form. "We kind of expected this would be controversial," said assistant general counsel Richard Hipolit.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

In the interest of education, article quoted from extensively.

Continuing:

The tale begins in December, when Congress passed legislation pushed by Sen. Larry E. Craig (R., Idaho), then-chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, to eliminate an 1866 law that prohibited veterans from hiring lawyers to help with initial benefit claims.

Lawyers during that era were often self-trained and many were considered unscrupulous. The law stipulated that veterans couldn't hire a lawyer until the administrative claims process was exhausted. Veterans received assistance in filing claims through service organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans, or from lawyers taking the cases pro bono.

Craig and others say that having lawyers involved from the start could help reduce a large and stubborn backlog of an estimated 800,000 claims. The new law said veterans may hire lawyers as soon as a notice is filed showing a veteran disagrees with a decision, such as a denial of benefits or a benefit deemed inadequate. But the law also empowered the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that lawyers and others had the correct qualifications to represent veterans before accrediting them.

And this is where the controversy started.

The VA interpreted this provision of the law to mean that they could make lawyers sit for a written test to prove that they understood the procedures for handling benefit claims for vets. The testing requirement was spelled out in a proposed rule published by the agency in May. In the ensuing 30 days allowed for comment, the VA was barraged with objections to the draft rule.

Making lawyers get tested before being able to represent military clients will likely dissuade some pro bono attorneys from choosing such clients...it will too much of a hassle some are saying.

"If you go to attorneys with their own practices, families and other distractions and say 'We want you to sit for an exam so you can represent homeless vets,' these attorneys will say they will find some other pro bono causes to take on," Taub said last week in an interview.

Taub's view was echoed by lawyers supervising their firms' pro bono work. "If this thing passes, I might sit for the test - but I might not and just find some other cause to work on," said Craig Martin of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge in Wilmington. "My real concern is how I would be able to recruit other people to do it."

Karen L. Forman, pro bono counsel at Saul Ewing in Philadelphia, said her firm had assisted some 60 veterans since 2005, the "vast majority" being homeless. "Lawyers have a choice about what pro bono work they do - and given they have choices, they may choose another area that is not so burdensome," Forman said. "There is a huge area of unmet need. It doesn't seem fair to veterans to put the roadblock in."

In one case cited by Forman, a homeless female veteran who had been rejected three times by the VA for a claim of post-traumatic stress disorder won a lump-sum payment of more than $18,000 and had her monthly disability payment increased after a Saul Ewing lawyer took her case.

A final ruling is expected to be issued in August.

Related Posts

Labels: benefits, claims, craig, homelessness, legal, va

IAVA's Rob Timmins on 'Moving a Nation to Care;' Good Mag's 'Volunteers'

While I was in Seattle last Thursday, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America's

Field and Outreach Director, Rob Timmins, posted his musings on Moving a Nation to Care.

I'm a bit partial to Rob particularly and IAVA in general. You might remember that Rob came out to speak to those of us assembled at my NYC-Greenwich Village Barnes & Noble signing back in May (that's Rob to the left, and the two of us with NY Metro Vets' Joe Bello in the thumbnail below).

Rob, who served as an Army Infantryman in Najaf and then Mosul during Operation Iraqi Freedom, came out to talk to us at the request of the equally tireless Paul Rieckhoff, IAVA's founder and executive director.

Rob reflected briefly on my book last week at IAVA:

I’ve come across many books that deal with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their aftermath. Recently though, I had the privilege of meeting Ilona Meager and read her book; [Moving a Nation to Care] should be essential reading for anyone who wishes to help our returning veterans readjust back into society.

Oh that absolutely rocks. Thanks, Rob and IAVA.

Especially meaningful when that praise comes from those of you who've served overseas. Ever thankful that so many of you guys and gals made yourselves available during the process of researching and writing Moving a Nation to Care.

Paul Rieckhoff, of course, was instrumental and has my great admiration; members Perry Jefferies, Abbie Pickett, and Zack Bazzi were no less accommodating and giving to this green civilian. I'm honored to have all four IAVA members in my book; they reveal the wide range of service and experience that can be found in our returning troops. Each one more eloquent and sharper than the next, every one of them with a great heart and much passion for telling their tale and sharing their stories.

Let's listen. They are our guides...

Learn more about IAVA by visiting their website, and consider supporting their hard work; then check out Good Magazine's hot-off-the-press multimedia presentation, "Volunteers," to meet many more of IAVA's incredible members.

More than Good.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for related posts...

Related Posts

Labels: advocacy, iava, moving_a_nation, vets, video

CBS Early Show: Helping Troops Deal with PTSD

From a recent CBS Early Show segment:

Labels: caregivers, counseling, deployment, stress, video

'Moving a Nation to Care' Seattle Stop a Stunner

Dramatic headline, huh? Well, I just returned this evening from this week's Moving a Nation to Care book signing/community pow-wow and it was another stunning gathering of hearts and minds, this time at Seattle's University Bookstore.

That's Dudley and Dean Evenson (I introduced them to you a few days ago), yours truly and Iraq veteran and poet John Roth and the most lovely Mrs. Roth. You'll also catch Gordy Graham, a Vietnam veteran who runs a state program to get veterans involved in environmental projects, talking to John and his wife in the bottom right photo. Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

We filled 2 hours crammed full to the brim with conversation on the topic of how best communities can come together in support of their -- and our -- returning troops and military families. We ran so late (they just couldn't get any of us to stop talking with one another) we had very little time for pictures to do the gathering justice. (Thanks go out to my bro-in-law, one of my favorite Vietnam vets, for these awesome pics and for the limo service!)

So many people were vital to the success of Moving a Nation to Care's University signing, many who can't be seen in this handful of photos. Like my Seattle city guardian angel, Ramona Gault (who literally made all of it possible; thank you for the invite to your city and for coordinating what I believe -- and others would likely agree -- was a valuable community gathering), and Sally Jo Gilbert de Vargas -- both of Soldier's Heart -- Seattle. You are doing such wonderful work in your area of the country. So many others that we missed photographing -- like even the audience! Oh, and what an audience it was.

Fortunately, the evening was filmed by a crew from TVW, the Washington State Public Affairs Network. You are invited to have a seat in the audience, too, so-to-speak when my appearance on Author's Hour (oh dear, our evening ran to two hours so they have more than enough footage to use...) will air in two weeks, on Thursday, July 26th at 8pm and again on Sunday, July 29th at 9pm on Seattle's TVW. I'm not sure what local tv channel to point you to, but listen or watch the program via the following online live broadcast streams if you're near a computer:

Thursday, July 26th at 8pm
Sunday, July 29th at 9pm

VIDEO:
* Dialup: Real Video, Windows Media Video
* Broadband: Real Video, Windows Media Video
* Español traducido: Real Video, Windows Media Video

AUDIO ONLY: Real Audio, Windows Media Audio

[UPDATE November]: Video of our evening appears no longer to be online; audio of the event is still available.

Labels: advocacy, community, events, moving_a_nation, reading, vietnam

Join Me and Soundings of the Planet in Seattle for an Uplifting Community Gathering

Soundings of the Planet's Dudley and Dean Evenson have been creating healing music for decades. I was fortunate to meet them in Boulder recently (that's us in the picture to the right at my Boulder Book Store signing).

When I heard that their musical compositions are used at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, I invited them to share that with the others.

Ah, but I was the lucky dog who got to leave with samples! [Check out their Flash Galley for your own sampling...] After listening to Eagle River by Dean and the Soundings Ensemble, I can see clearly how this music must go a long way in bringing a bit of beauty and comfort to our service members and their family supporters when they need that soothing the most.

As fortunate as I was to have had a chance to meet them, my greater fortune is that the Evensons were only visiting Boulder; their home base is in Bellingham, Wash, and they've confirmed that they will join us tomorrow night at University Bookstore! Yeah.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Join me this Thursday@University Bookstore, 7 pm.

Oh, we are going to have a great gathering. In addition to my short presentation, we've convened quite a group of hard-working hearts out in the Seattle area.

Dean and Dudley Evenson will be my special guests. Owners of Soundings of the Planet in Bellingham, their most recent 'peace through relaxation' DVDs and booklets are being used at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Visit soundings' Partners in Healing page for more.
In addition, my incredible sponsors, Soldier's Heart-Seattle, have invited these guests for an informal panel:

Gordon (Gordy) Graham, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD who runs a state program to get veterans involved in environmental projects;
John Roth, a wounded Iraq vet currently writing a book about his experiences;
Sally Jo Gilbert de Vargas, a member of the Soldier’s Heart Seattle steering committee who recently attended one of Dr. Edward Tick’s retreats for veterans with PTSD and their caregivers (upcoming events).

Download and share the press release [pdf].

See you in Seattle!

Labels: events, moving_a_nation, music, pdf, resources

Fort Bliss PTSD Recovery Center Aims to Return Troops Quickly to Battle

Editor's Note: Please scroll down to the 'Related Posts' section below for more in-depth coverage of this issue. -- Ilona Meagher

From the El Paso Times:

On Wednesday, officials will dedicate the Fort Bliss Restoration and Resilience Center, which will employ a holistic treatment approach including everything from meditation to medication. The center's first-year goal is to bring approximately 200 soldiers with PTSD back to "battle-readiness."

"We have every hope we will help these soldiers get back to fighting strength," said John Fortunato, head of the R&R center. "The soldiers who become disabled to the point they can't function are few."

However, there is an intensive screening process to try to make sure the soldiers chosen for the program are not just going to be reopening old wounds if they are sent back. "If they were going to come back from a tour in even worse shape, we wouldn't do it," Fortunato said

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Continuing:

Recent research has shown that maintaining the alertness required to survive a tour in Iraq for months at a time creates physical changes in the brain, Fortunato said. The "fight-or-flight" center enlarges and the more contemplative, decision-making part of the brain shrinks. ...

The center -- which required a $549,000 renovation of a World War II-era building and $150,000 in equipment -- will use a nine-month program starting with a 35-hour-a-week routine that includes individual and group psychotherapy, movement therapy, a nutrition program and more, Fortunato said. Also included will be a spiritual component. "War raises all the questions about life and death," he said. "Like, 'Who is God and who would allow all this carnage?'"

Other elements include drug and alcohol treatment, massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, yoga, tai chi, biofeedback that trains a person to calm themselves, and more. Of the meditation room, he said, "I don't think you will find another one of these in the Department of Defense."

El Paso veterans advocate Ron Holmes said the center is "long overdue." "Why aren't they implementing it everywhere?" he asked. "Circumstances are a lot different than they used to be and we need to do everything we can to help these guys out." Innovations that prove effective eventually will be used throughout the Army, Powell said. "All of these services are being offered under a research program," Fortunato said. "A lot of this is going to evolve."

Although money is not the prime concern, Fortunato said, the program is cost effective. He said the nation loses nearly $1 million in training, future disability payments and other costs when a soldier is medically discharged. And he added that much of the stigma of PTSD -- once called "shell shock" and ignored for the most part -- has diminished as soldiers are reporting symptoms in greater numbers.

Quick Stats on Types of VA Services Being Drawn by Returning Troops

From the [Maryland] Herald-Mail:

Military members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have more exposure to improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, than veterans of past wars, so doctors are seeing more blast and blunt trauma injuries, according to officials at the Martinsburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Other medical conditions these veterans are dealing with upon returning home include traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Of approximately 686,000 troops who had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan and left the military, about 229,000 had gone to Veterans Affairs facilities as of April for health care, whether it was a veteran getting a flu shot or a quadriplegic receiving perpetual care, said VA spokesman Phil Budahn in Washington, D.C.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Some info on traumatic brain injuries:

Budahn said he didn't have specific statistics for injuries caused by IEDs, but the VA was treating about 400 people for traumatic brain injuries. Such injuries could range from subtle symptoms such as loss of concentration all the way up to extreme personality changes and short-term memory loss. In the past, everyone thought they understood the risks of traumatic brain injury to be obvious physical injury such as shrapnel, so traumatic brain injury wasn't always properly diagnosed, Budahn said.

But in 2003, a study out of the Tampa, Fla., VA hospital pointed out that people could experience a closed head trauma, or concussion, with no visible wounds, just from being close to a bomb going off, said Dr. John Sentell, chief of Mental Health Service at the Martinsburg VA Medical Center. The brain can get injured from an IED blast without visible blood; even from the brain being jostled in the skull from the blast, Sentell said. These less obvious traumatic brain injuries are more common in today's wars and often make diagnosis difficult.

More injury stats in a recent USA Today piece:

More than 800 of them have lost an arm, a leg, fingers or toes. More than 100 are blind. Dozens need tubes and machines to keep them alive. Hundreds are disfigured by burns, and thousands have brain injuries and mangled minds.

These are America's war wounded, a toll that has received less attention than the 3,500 troops killed in Iraq. Depending on how you count them, they number between 35,000 and 53,000. More of them are coming home, with injuries of a scope and magnitude the government did not predict and is now struggling to treat. ...

Survival rates today are even higher than the record levels set early in the war, thanks to body armor and better care. For every American soldier or Marine killed in Iraq, 15 others have survived illness or injury there. Unlike previous wars, few of them have been shot. The signature weapon of this war — the improvised explosive device, or IED — has left a signature wound: traumatic brain injury.

Soldiers hit in the head or knocked out by blasts — "getting your bell rung" is the military euphemism — sometimes have no visible wounds but a fog of war in their minds. They can be addled, irritable, depressed and unaware they are impaired.

VIDEO: Troop injuries overwhelm government

Only an estimated 2,000 cases of brain injury have been treated, but doctors think many less obvious cases have gone undetected. One small study found that more than half of one group of wounded troops arriving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center had brain injuries. Around the nation, a new effort is underway to check every returning man and woman for this possibility.

Some of those on active duty may have subtle brain damage that was missed when they were treated for more visible wounds. Half of those wounded in action returned to duty within 72 hours — before some brain injuries may have been apparent. The military just adopted new procedures to spot these cases, too.

Back home, concerns grow about care. The Walter Reed hospital scandal and problems with some VA nursing homes have led Republicans and Democrats to call for better care for this new crop of veterans. A lucky few get Cadillac care at one of the VA's four polytrauma centers, where the most complex wounds are treated with state-of-the-art techniques and whiz-bang devices like "power knee" or "smart ankle" prosthetics. Others battle bureaucracy to see doctors or get basic benefits in less ideal settings.

Returning to the Herald-Mail:

The VA Hospital in Martinsburg has the largest post-traumatic stress disorder program among VA hospitals in the nation, hospital officials said. Typically the 50-bed residential treatment unit is full with one-fourth of those patients having served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom. ...

The Martinsburg VA Medical Center added outpatient treatment within the last six months, Sentell said. Many veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are reservists with spouses and jobs, so they don't want to take the time to enter a residential program. They get individual and group counseling after hours.

While some Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans are more likely than veterans of past wars to show up for help with their spouses or parents, there are still some veterans who hesitate to seek counseling because of the perception of a social stigma, VA officials said.

VA Medical Center officials said their hope is that veterans will seek out assistance through the VA if they need it. Some of the programs set up to help veterans include counseling not just with the veterans, but also with their families because they also are affected, officials said.

Read the rest, find VA services near you or graze through many more OEF/OIF stats.

Related Posts

Study: War Effects Mental Health of One-Third of Military-Separated OEF/OIF Veterans

Labels: benefits, counseling, family, guard, reserve, stats, stigma, tbi, va, wounded

Buzzflash Review of 'Moving a Nation to Care'

Yeah! Buzzflash reviews Moving a Nation to Care:

Ilona Meagher is a product of the new citizen journalism. Coming upon the plight of GIs with PTSD returning from Iraq, she decided to start an online account of the plight of troops with PTSD. In turn, this drew the attention of other blogs and websites.

Eventually, she developed enough material for a compelling...wake-up call to the nation to help those who served our country. ...Beyond the compelling subject matter of "Moving a Nation to Care," Meagher's book is evidence that citizen journalists are creating a new media that is more relevant, in many ways, than the mainstream media.

Additional reviews. Click on 'Article Link' below tags for much more...

ePluribus Media spoke on this whole citizen journalism thing Buzzflash mentions. Last week, Cho wrote about her recent Wisconsin Associated Press Editors Annual Meeting keynote address, "Bridging the Gap Between Traditional Media and the Citizen Journalists."

A year ago, as a participant in the UMass MediaGiraffe project in Amherst, I was struck by how, even in a symposium dedicated to sticking our necks out and sharing ideas across boundaries, the attendees, myself included, seemed to cling to our own tribes. Print media over here; broadcasters over there; citizen journalists and bloggers in that corner, activists in yet another.

Much of this self-segregation may have been caused by the venue itself, an underground concrete space with dark large cavernous rooms. It wasn’t until the last day that real sharing began, and by that time, most of the representatives from the traditional media had gone home.

But much has changed in a year.

Cho continues (or rather begins):

Steve Outing in his June 2005 PoynterOnline article identifies 11 phases of citizen journalism, moving from the “one to many” to the “many to many” model of news. The 11 phases go from a simple dabble one’s toes in the water to a full scale, powered-by-the-people journalism effort. His article seeks to give advice to the traditional media trying to understand and harness the energy and dynamism of online citizen- produced news.

Two years later, a recent google on the search string citizen journalism produced over 1,280,000 hits. Clearly, it is a term with many connotations and flavors, but the common element is the so-called non professional contributing to the news (and some say the noise) in the public sphere. My talk identified the five types most commonly known. ... [they include hyperlocal, participatory, activist, blogger, and aggregator]

Activist Journalism advocates for an issue, but is not limited to politics, though the most commonly known are. Two such examples are the work of Ilona Meagher and Susie Dow who research, document and advocate for their issues: for Meagher (another Media Giraffe alum), [PTSD] in returning veterans resulting in her recent book Moving a Nation to Care and for Susie Dow, the missing details about civilian contractors in theaters of war.

The term Bloggers is sometimes used interchangeably with that of citizen journalists – but more and more “blogger” is becoming the pejorative to refer to the pajama clad, wild-eyed rantist who, working in solitude, cuts and pastes material from traditional media publications and keyboards a screed. Despite that perception, within the ranks of the solo blogger are many outstanding experts – several of whom are far more well-informed in their area of expertise than the Washington beltway pundits.

These bloggers provide an often untapped wealth of information about their subject matter. One well-known example is Juan Cole a University of Michigan professor, who through his blog Informed Comment – is now regarded as one of the leading experts on the Middle East.

Please read the rest as the Buzzflash review propels us out:

Meagher cares deeply about how this administration crafted a war that maximized the likelihood of increasing the occurrences of PTSD -- and then didn't provide adequate funding or support for its victims. Like wounded Iraqis, GIs with PTSD are just so much collateral damage to the White House.

What makes "Moving a Nation to Care" particularly significant is that it is grounded in personal accounts of how many GIs with PTSD arrived at where they are. This is a well-researched book that combines facts, details and personal accounts into a compelling call for assisting our own victims of a fraudulent war.

Ilona Meagher truly supports our troops and cares about their well-being as they return to a country. ... Meagher identified an injustice done to our troops and has sought to do something about it with the power of the pen.

That, our friends, is a true patriot.

Cheers and thanks to Mr. Karlin and everyone at Buzzflash.

And ePluribus Media without fail, too.

Labels: cj, moving_a_nation, opinion, politics, reading

Returning Veterans and Suicide: Alaska's Perfect Storm?

An Anchorage Daily News piece from a couple of weeks ago, filled with stats worthy of noting (more war stats):

As bad as the suicide rate in Alaska already is, the situation could grow even worse once thousands of new veterans return home from combat duty in Iraq. That's the warning local public health officials are culling from a new study that finds male veterans twice as likely to die by suicide as men with no military service -- and even more so if they're physically or mentally impaired.

Such news is particularly worrisome now, veteran advocates say, with hostilities in Iraq having left 52,000 U.S. troops either wounded or hospitalized for ailments ranging from insect-borne boils to severe depression.

According to the Department of Defense, 111 active-duty U.S. troops in Iraq have committed suicide since the beginning of the war. With one of the highest concentrations of veterans in the U.S. -- and suicide rates that often lead the nation -- Alaska was already at risk for suicide, according to Portland State University public health specialist Mark Kaplan, lead author of the new study. But now Iraq adds a new factor. "That's the perfect storm," Kaplan said of the convergence of Alaska and an influx of newly disabled vets. "This (study) foreshadows some ominous trends."

Tracking the lives of more than 320,000 U.S. men -- about a third of whom were veterans -- the Oregon-based research team found that over a period of 12 years (from 1986 to 1997) more than 500 members of the study group committed suicide, including 197 veterans. Those with the highest risk for suicide were veterans who were white, college-educated and living alone in a rural area, most often in a Southern or Western state, the study found. Veterans were half again more likely than non-vets to kill themselves with guns.

Notably, those whose daily activities were limited by physical or mental impairments were 4.4 times more likely to take their lives than vets who were unimpaired. "They had problems functioning at school, at work, at home," Kaplan said. "That really stood out in our analysis."

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

In the interest of education, article quoted from extensively.

Continuing:

If the government fails to adequately care for its returning vets, expect to see skyrocketing rates of divorce, homelessness and suicide, says Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, based in New York. "Veterans will show the psychological scars of these wars for years to come."

Hoping to prevent that, the VA has conducted an extensive survey of Vietnam-era vets who committed suicide. It hasn't yet released its findings.

But Jonathan Shay, a psychiatrist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Boston, estimates that more Vietnam vets have died by suicide than all of the 58,000-plus troop casualties listed on the Vietnam memorial wall -- if you define suicide broadly as death by deliberately reckless behavior. Like the previously rational soldier who decides to walk across a minefield at night. "The multitude of (vet suicide) deaths are ambiguous," Shay said in a telephone interview. "They're single-vehicle accidents. Single motorcycle accidents. They have shoot outs with police. They're bar fights, where somebody goes in, unknown, and picks a fight with the biggest, meanest looking person in the room."

One deeply depressed vet he knew didn't do drugs, Shay says -- until one night he killed himself with a heroin overdose. Says Shay: "I am morally certain that was a suicide."

VETS TOUGH TO TRACK

Across the U.S., more than 30,000 people kill themselves each year -- almost double the number of homicides -- and approximately one-fifth of those cases involve veterans, according to Kaplan. Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death among all U.S. men.

With its small population, Alaska contributes relatively few suicide cases (about 140 a year) to the national total. But the suicide rate (20.8 per 100,000 people from 2003 to 2005) is almost twice the U.S. average.

One more bit:

Alaska's death statistics don't record the veteran or military status of people who commit suicide, says Ron Perkins, executive director of the Alaska Injury Prevention Center, which conducted the follow-back study.

But according to Kaplan, lead-author of the Oregon research, the number of vets who commit suicide nationwide is much larger than reported in previous studies, since most were based on data provided by the VA. "One thing we found is that three-quarters of veterans are not served by the VA," Kaplan said. So a huge portion of the vet population was previously ignored.

Co-authored by Nathalie Huguet, Bentson H. McFarland and Jason T. Newsom, the veteran suicide report is due to be published in the July issue of "Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health."

More stats:

Suicide risks for veterans

Male veterans: 2 times more likely to kill themselves than male non-veterans.

Disabled: 4.4 times more likely than unimpaired vets.

Living alone: 3.4 times more likely than vets living with others.

White: 3.2 times more likely than non-white vets.

College-educated: 2.7 times more likely than less-educated vets.

Western state: 1.9 times more likely than Northeastern state vets.

Rural: 1.5 times more likely than urban vets.

Underweight: 2.4 times more likely than normal-weight vets.

Source: "Suicide among male veterans: a prospective population-based study."

PERFECT STORM?

U.S. veterans by state

(2002)

RANK STATE PERCENT TOTAL

1 Alaska 17.1 71,552

2 Montana 16.2 108,476

3 Nevada 16.1 238,128

4 Wyoming 16.0 57,860

5 Maine 15.9 154,590

Total U.S. veteran population: 26,403,703 (12.7 %)

Source: 2000 U.S. census

U.S. suicides by state

(2004)

RANK STATE PER 100,000 TOTAL

1 Alaska 23.6 155

2 (tie) Montana 18.9 175

2 (tie) Nevada 18.9 440

4 New Mexido 18.7 356

5 Wyoming 17.4 88

Total U.S. suicides: 32,439 (11.1 per 100,000 people)

Source: Suicide State Data Page (2004), American Association of Suicidology Suicide in Alaska

Suicide in Alaska

Interviews with relatives of 56 people who committed suicide -- out of a total of 426 cases in the past three years -- provides the following small-sample portrait of Alaskans who take their own lives:

• 54 percent had an illness or disability.

• 61 percent were born outside Alaska.

• 62 percent were taking prescription medication for mental or behavioral health problems.

• 43 percent drank alcohol daily (63 percent drank at least weekly).

• 66 percent expressed thoughts of hopelessness or a wish to die.

• 84 percent owned one or more firearms (compared to 32 percent who own firearms in the general U.S. population, according to the Centers for Disease Control).

• 87 percent had verbal fights or arguments with others.

Source: Alaska Suicide Follow-Back Study, Sept. 1-2003 to Aug. 31, 2006

Related Posts

Labels: dod, local, stats, studies, suicidal, va

On Those Who Have Served in Afghanistan

Moving piece by an OEF vet in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Afghanistan is littered with literally millions of unexploded mines from decades of war, and many foreign nationals work there clearing these mines -- by hand. When two African nationals got careless one day, one was blown in half, and the other lay mortally wounded. One of our troops nearby charged into the minefield and carried the wounded man out. When I asked him later if he had been put in for a citation for bravery, he shyly replied: "I don't know, sir. I'm just kinda happy to be alive."

After an explosive ordnance team set a timer on a controlled detonation of captured munitions in Afghanistan's Farah province, members quickly exited the area. When their Hummer hit a land mine, the entire engine compartment was separated from the rest of the vehicle.

Without thinking, four of our troops -- part of a security team -- climbed into their vehicle and sped in to help, knowing that a huge explosion was imminent. When they reached the disabled vehicle, they realized that there was no room for the casualties in the Hummer. Thinking quickly, they stacked the wounded EOD soldiers on the hood and scrambled away from the danger. Only after the explosion did they consider that where there was one mine, there were surely more.

These are only a few snapshots of the soldiers I had the privilege and honor to serve alongside overseas. Having witnessed their courage and dedication firsthand, I have had to reassess my view of the "Greatest Generation."

The men and women who've fought for this country -- in any conflict -- deserve this distinction. And the soldiers with whom I served in Afghanistan are the greatest of the great.

I'd heartily agree.

Labels: afghanistan, opinion, tribute

Springtime Leg of 'Moving a Nation to Care' Tour Ends, Summer Leg Kicks off Thursday in Seattle

Well, hello to summer.

Lots to pass along of my adventures on the road these past two months. What a truly treasured time. Have had the expected bumps (and some unexpected bruises) along the way, but the most breathtaking discussions with the most extraordinary audiences out there make any complaint pale in comparison.

I've posted pictures of my recent stops in Boulder and Denver below and mixed in a few recollections from my June wanderings and ramblings. More pics over at Flickr and Facebook.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for Colorado pics...

My Colorado stops were greatly anticipated all spring long.

Not only did I have a number of new colleagues I was looking forward to meeting for the first time, Elizabeth Hawkins and Stephen Robinson of ONE Freedom chief among them, I'd also been anxious to get an overnight visit in with old friends, too. As anyone on the road can tell you, the more people looking out for you the better, and I was surely in good hands on this trip.

I joined my friend Mike (a former co-worker from American Airlines days, photographer and presently an LPN) on his daily rounds tending to the needs of his clients. That's Manuel and me mugging for the camera. Below us are a number of shots from my Boulder Book Store signing later that evening. The man in the purple shirt was a kind-hearted Vietnam veteran who'd taken a bus in for the event; he handed me a folder filled with articles on PTSD and a personal note listing his own long journey home from the battlefields of his youth.

Following a successful community gathering and discussion at Boulder Book Store (oh, that beautiful book-signing table...), the local Drinking Liberally crew took us out for a night cap (WeatherDem's recap).

Before the next evening's signing at Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore, I sat (not very still) for an quick photo shoot. The turnout was smaller than at Boulder the night before, but I was pretty moved by the number of personal stories told by the many military families in the audience. Everywhere I go, receptionists and bookstore event coordinators and members of the audience have reached out to tell of their concerns and experiences.

It's a pretty powerful thing.

Thanks again to everyone, including Drinking Liberally Denver, for showing us such a good time in Colorado.

An invitation for those out in the Seattle area:

Join me this Thursday@University Bookstore, 7 pm.

Oh, we are going to have a great gathering. In addition to my short presentation, we'll be convening quite a group of hard-working hearts out in the Seattle area.

Dean and Dudley Evenson will be my special guests. Owners of soundings of the planet in Bellingham, their most recent 'peace through relaxation' DVDs and booklets are being used at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Visit soundings' Partners in Healing page for more.
In addition, my incredible sponsors, Soldier's Heart-Seattle, have invited these guests for an informal panel:

Gordon (Gordy) Graham, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD who runs a state program to get veterans involved in environmental projects;
John Roth, a wounded Iraq vet currently writing a book about his experiences;
Sally Jo Gilbert de Vargas, a member of the Soldier’s Heart Seattle steering committee who recently attended one of Dr. Edward Tick’s retreats for veterans with PTSD and their caregivers (upcoming events).

Related Posts

Labels: events, moving_a_nation

Bookworms Review of Moving a Nation to Care

From the Bloomer [WI] Advance, July 4, 2007:

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for text of review...

Since the Advance, which has served the northwestern Wisconsin farm community of Bloomer for over 120 years, has not made the text of their Bookworms column available online, I do hope they will allow me to share this kind review with you.

(Thank you, Shirley, for your guiding hand in this one.)

Bloomer Advance, Inc. Wednesday, July 4, 2007
~Bookworms~
By Norma Hovland

MOVING A NATION TO CARE
... Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops ...
by Ilona Meagher

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that has.... Margaret Mead

Suggested by a dear-friend, this book is a must-read for all patriotic Americans.

An incident in the author's personal life prompted her to begin researching depression/suicide and, along the way, she found an all-too-frequent incidence of depression/suicide among returning Iraq veterans, setting off an alarm that pushed her to probe further.

Her interviews with many of these veterans and their families are shared with the reader and reveal serious gaps for treatment in a timely manner often with tragic results. The issues of an overstressed - - and underfunded - - VA Health Care System continue to escalate, burning out of control, and need to be addressed seriously by the powers-that-be.

During World War II, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) was often diagnosed as cowardice, a yellow streak, frequently resulting in an other than honorable discharge. However, Meagher's findings reveal that much has been learned in the ensuing years. Yes, PTSD is real and needs to be treated with empathy; our veterans deserve the best care possible. Indeed, it should be the American way, so let's rally behind the troops with actions and deeds toward healing and hope!

As Ilona Meagher readily admits, she is not schooled as a doctor nor a therapist, just an ordinary citizen concerned about our returning veterans, those suffering disabling injuries, PTSD and their families trying to cope. Or to heal from losing them, cutting short unfulfilled lives caused by the ravages of war, bringing to mind: There but for the grace of God go I....John Bradford

A thought for this Independence Day: As we celebrate this July 4th, let us be grateful to the veterans of all wars, many of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedom.

A copy of this book is being donated to our public library. Thank you, Ilona, for sharing your research and moving a nation to care.

Until next time, thanks for reading ...

Thank you, Ms. Hovland, for writing so kindly.

Labels: authors, moving_a_nation, reading

An Independence Day Walk in the Shoes of One Returning Veteran

The very best of 4th of July wishes to you and yours -- and most especially to those troops and military family members who do not have the pleasure of each others' company again this year.

I thought it might be fitting to point you to a compelling piece of journalism in today's Philadelphia City Paper, one that takes us alongside one troubled Iraq veteran's road to dealing with his wartime injuries while living in one of the city's rougher neighborhoods. Not all of our returning troops return to the comfort and relative security of a sleepy bedroom community. Not all of our soldiers and Marines come home straight into the warm embrace of loved ones who've somehow managed to stick it out after endless deployments and separation and stress and strain.

This holiday, I'm keeping all of our military families -- no matter where they may be or be from -- in my thoughts as we celebrate the birth of our nation. Thank you for your sacrifices for Old Glory and for those fortunate to have lived on her shores.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

From Philadelphia City Paper:

A small gang of insurgents hiding behind a red pickup truck off the side of the road had detonated the bomb. Then they opened fire. [Erik] Arroyo was jolted awake by the cracking of heavy machine guns and bullets whizzing over his head. He squirmed and pushed, but couldn't free his left foot.

Johnson, who Arroyo had radioed just seconds ago, was dead, his head nearly decapitated after it smashed into the Humvee's top frame. Arroyo looked around. "I felt blood coming down my face, my helmet was gone, my 9mm gun was gone, everything was gone," Arroyo, 27, recalls of that day. "Someone yelled for me to get the fuck out of there. I told them I couldn't. Someone ran over and pulled me out of the ditch."

They carried Arroyo to safety behind a parked Humvee, where he felt his face swelling. There were pieces of shrapnel lodged in his forehead and under his right eye. His leg twisted, Arroyo slid in and out of consciousness. Someone handed him a 9mm, which he held on his lap — just in case. He asked for a cigarette, and someone stuck one in his mouth, unlit.

REVERSAL OF MISFORTUNE: When Arroyo was young, he sold weed. That stopped when he got arrested. "They said they never wanted to see me doing that again," recalls Arroyo. They didn't, since he joined the Army instead. Jones unleashed his M240 on the insurgents, providing cover as a Black Hawk helicopter swept in, collected the dead and injured and flew back to the military hospital in Balad. "Arroyo should not be here," Jones said five months later. "It's only by the grace of God that he is. Arroyo should be dead."

Arroyo was transferred to a hospital in Germany, and on Feb. 4, he arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he started grueling physical rehab and speech therapy classes. Doctors noticed that sudden sounds and surprises startled him, and diagnosed him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Around the same time, Jennifer, his wife of about a year and a half, came to his bedside. Instead of offering consolation, she told Arroyo she was leaving him for a co-worker: That she no longer loved him, and wanted a divorce. They have joint custody of a 7-year-old daughter from Arroyo's previous relationship. Dasia is a friendly girl with tiny cornrows in her hair and a fondness for math class. He was devastated.

Two months later, Arroyo and seven other soldiers were awarded Purple Hearts during a ceremony in the hospital's auditorium. Walter Reed staff, two generals and hundreds of veterans from past wars — none personally knew Arroyo — turned out for the event. "It's an honor," he recently said, "I'd rather not have.

"At that point, I just wanted to go home to my daughter, my family, my familiar surroundings," he said. "I wanted to recover, and get back to life again. I wanted some peace."

He was discharged almost three months later, in late April. Instead of a M240 Bravo gun, the Army issued him a PDA. It keeps track of dozens of monthly appointments: behavioral therapy on Fridays, occupational therapy on Wednesdays and outpatient surgery on his sinuses in July. He takes eight medications: some to help him heal, some like Zoloft to keep him mentally stable.

Doctors said he couldn't live alone. He was given orders to remain at his parents' row house on Seventh and Tioga in the city's Nicetown section, the same house where he grew up. Being around family would make it harder to act on impulses, doctors said. It would protect him from his troubled marriage. It would protect him from himself.

Nobody said anything about his neighborhood.

Please read the rest.

Labels: anniversary/holiday, incidents

The American Conservative and IL Governor Take on Traumatic Brain Injury

A couple of items to share with you on the issue of TBI. The first is a very informative and well-written piece appearing in the July 2, 2007, issue of The American Conservative magazine. "Hidden Wounds," written by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos (who also authored a solid 2006 FOX News piece on PTSD in which she was kind enough to quote me in as well), is well worth taking the time to read.

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An opening graf:

If TBI is the silent affliction of this war, the casualty count should be the canary in the coal mine. As of mid-May, the military in Iraq suffered 14,804 injuries that required medical transport off the battlefield. This included 7,628 combat wounded and 7,176 non-hostile injuries, plus 19,589 “diseases,” which cover everything from a bacterial infection and mental disorder to cancer and pregnancy, that also required medical air transport. In Afghanistan, 6,213 injured soldiers were evacuated from the field, including 743 combat-related, 1,458 non-hostile, and 4,012 diseases.

Symptoms of TBI can turn up in any of the these categories. According to various reports, of the 1.4 million who have rotated through Iraq and Afghanistan, anywhere from 10 to 30 percent have been exposed to a bomb blast or other head trauma, leaving them with at least mild TBI. A recent study by doctors at Fort Carlson Army base in Colorado found that 18 percent of their returning soldiers had incurred a brain injury in Iraq.

A bit more of the American Conservative article (including a quote of mine that made the cut), along with news of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's new program aimed at testing his state's National Guard troops for war's most invisible of wounds. Illinois veterans returning with TBI and/or PTSD will get the care and resources they need to ease their transition home.

Article quoted from extensively for educational purposes.
First back to the American Conservative:

Some 60 percent of the veterans in the VA’s Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center in Tampa, Florida, one of 21 centers handling vets with severe, multiple injuries, have a brain injury, according to ABC newsman Bob Woodruff in a February series he put together after his own year-long recovery from an IED blast. Meanwhile, officials at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, the military’s primary research and treatment facility for TBI, has treated 2,130 patients since 2003.

“That’s just a small percentage of the total number, and the fact is, nobody really knows how many have mild [TBI],” said Col. Jonathan Jaffin, Commander of U.S Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Maryland and a spokesman for the DVBIC. He said 70 percent of their cases are mild and those affected may, with the right treatment, recover or at least adjust to their disabilities. But it is not clear, according to doctors, how soldiers with cumulative concussive injuries will fare long-term. All seem to agree the body of research on non-fatal blast injuries is thin.

One more bit:

“Mild head injury for years had been somewhat neglected,” Jaffin says, with standard testing for TBI often missing less severe cases. “So people would be suffering and being told they are normal.” As the pervasiveness of TBI among returning service members became clear, he said, the military and VA began developing better ways to detect it—though advocates will dispute their commitment.

VA officials say they are treating nearly 400 veterans diagnosed with moderate to severe TBI, while overall they have seen more than 1,600 potential cases since 2002. They acknowledge, however, that the system has yet to compile statistics for mild cases or outpatients.

Meanwhile, symptoms of mild to moderate TBI go unchecked, crowded out by the more obvious injuries. Furthermore, misdiagnosing TBI—most likely mistaken for PTSD—is commonplace.
“When it does occur, PTSD and TBI together can be especially difficult to spot. The problem lies in the overlapping symptoms—increased anxiety, short attention span, limited concentration, problems with memory. This overlap muddles things up,” points out Ilona Meagher, author of Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America’s Returning Troops. “Once you have these kinds of errors on military records,” she added, “it creates a whole other level of problems down the road for the veteran after they’ve returned home.”

That road is paved with the stories of men and women who find that the system is no more compassionate than it was for their counterparts returning from Vietnam a generation ago. The PTSD label is not only stigmatizing, but its symptoms are often mistaken for personality disorders and are blamed for behavioral problems like insubordination and substance abuse, resulting in a one-way ticket out of the military with no retirement pay or benefits.

“This time it’s all about money—they just don’t want to pay,” insists Sullivan. But unlike previous wars, there is a small army of veterans’ advocates, many who cut their teeth on behalf of Persian Gulf soldiers in the 1990s.

Steve Robinson, also with Veterans for America, packed his experience and reputation along with his bags and spent most of May around Fort Carson, pulling together a massive case accusing the command of erroneously discharging 276 soldiers for personality disorders. These servicemembers all suffered from PTSD, and many had accompanying TBI diagnoses. His organization is also investigating more than 40 current cases on the base. They include bad discharges but also complaints from soldiers that their brain injuries and mental-health problems were mishandled or ignored by superiors.

Please read the full piece for a fuller exploration of this story. Meanwhile, Gov. Blagojevich is charting his own course to tackle the problem. From the Illinois Government News Network:

Gov. Blagojevich announces landmark Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder program for Illinois Veterans First in the nation program to provide TBI screening for state’s returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, mandatory screening for returning Guard members and 24-hour PTSD helpline

CHICAGO – On the eve of Independence Day, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich was joined by Tammy Duckworth, Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) to announce a first-of-its-kind program to screen every returning Illinois National Guard member for traumatic brain injury (TBI), offer TBI screening to Illinois Veterans, and 24-hour toll-free psychological assistance for Veterans suffering from PTSD. The program increases health care benefits for Veterans and will later become part of the Governor’s Illinois Covered insurance plan.

The program will work in two parts: The TBI portion will mandate screening for all Illinois National Guard members returning from deployment and offer free screening to all Illinois Veterans, especially those returning from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The PTSD portion will offer 24-hour, toll-free psychological assistance to give Veterans suffering from PTSD a place to turn, day or night, for help.

“As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, we’re seeing what a serious toll combat can take on the mental health of the brave men and women fighting on our behalf. Every day our troops are encountering danger, violence and tragedy that most of us can’t even imagine. After they’ve given so much to protect our freedom, we should do everything we can to help them live productive and stable lives when they return home. We can’t wait for the federal government to catch up with the new and growing mental health needs associated with combat, or for Illinois lawmakers to approve the comprehensive Illinois Covered program. Too many returning soldiers and Veterans need help now,” said Gov. Blagojevich.

The announcement makes Illinois the first state in the nation to establish a statewide TBI program offering screenings for all Veterans and mandatory screening for Illinois Army National Guard members. The new PTSD and TBI program will later become part of the Governor’s Illinois Covered plan to provide access to affordable health coverage for every Illinoisan.

“As this war continues, and more of our troops are being deployed multiple times into combat, the number of Veterans suffering from TBI and battling PTSD will only grow as these brave men and women return home,” said Tammy Duckworth, IDVA Director. “The time is now to help our heroes who have fought for our freedoms, who have sacrificed their lives for us. We must, at the very least, make sure they all have access to the health and psychological care they deserve. I am proud to see Illinois set an example of how to care for and treat those who have served this country by establishing this PTSD and TBI program.”

On June 15th, the Pentagon Task Force on Mental Health released a report declaring that the military "falls significantly short" in providing adequate psychological care to service members. The report stated that mental illness has become a major issue because of the system’s lack of fiscal resources and trained personnel, the prejudices towards mental illness, and the long exposure to combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. The report found that there is a stigma attached to mental health problems among service members that interferes with access to care, quality of care and continuity of care. The report also stated that service members who were deployed multiple times were more likely to screen positive for a mental health issue.

The use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq has led to a sudden rise in traumatic brain injuries. The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) and the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) will be working with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) to implement the screening tool for TBI. The tool was created by Dr. Elliot Roth, Senior Vice President, Medical Director, and Felise Zollman, Medical Director of the Brain Injury Program at RIC. The screening will take approximately 20-30 minutes. The program will offer mandatory screenings for Illinois Army National Guard and the option for all returning Illinois Veterans, especially those returning from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“Traumatic brain injury is one of the most complicated injuries to treat. The brain is the human body’s most complex organ, its injuries can manifest in ways that are not readily apparent and the process of detecting and determining the extent of injury can be highly complex,” said Dr. Felise Zollman, Medical Director for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Brain Injury Medicine and Rehabilitation Program. “RIC stands ready and eager to serve our nation's injured service men and women by lending our expertise and providing the best clinical care in rehabilitation that our country has to offer.”

Because TBI shares many of the same symptoms as PTSD, healthcare professionals often misdiagnose mild traumatic brain injuries for PTSD, especially when visible wounds are lacking. This misdiagnosis becomes problematic because TBI and PTSD are treated differently. The screening will assist clinicians in diagnosing the service member and refer them for further TBI screening if needed.

According to numbers reported by the Associated Press on June 23, 2007, “only an estimated 2,000 cases of brain injury have been treated, but doctors think many less obvious cases have gone undetected. One small study found that more than half of one group of wounded troops arriving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center had brain injuries.”

On the federal level, earlier this year Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) authored legislation in the Senate to require the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Veteran Affairs (VA) to implement a comprehensive program to diagnose, treat and rehabilitate service members and Veterans who have suffered a service-related traumatic brain injury.

“TBI and PTSD are signature wounds of this war,” Senator Durbin said. “We need to improve care at the federal level so Veterans across this country have all the resources they deserve. I applaud Governor Blagojevich and Director Duckworth for stepping in and taking action on behalf of Illinois Veterans.”

The PTSD portion of the program will include a 24-hour, toll-free psychological assistance service to all Illinois Veterans. The toll-free number will ring into a call center staffed by trained clinicians or nurses with at least one trained Psychiatrist at the center and on call at all times. The psychiatrists and staff will be trained in the area of combat-related PTSD and other psychological issues facing Veterans. When a Veteran calls the hotline, a clinician will perform an initial over-the-phone screening and determination for the next steps.

The PTSD program will help Illinois Veterans in many ways, they include:

Offering 24 hour toll-free assistance that will be available for Veterans to call at the very time they need support, day or night. Assisting with the resistance to seek help due to the stigma that is often associated with PTSD. The 24 hour toll-free number enables Veterans to simply pick up the phone at anytime and receive immediate care without having to wait the days and weeks that they would typically experience when trying to access care through the Federal VA system.

Traveling long distances often deters many Veterans suffering from PTSD who are not able to go the distance to obtain the necessary help. The Governor’s PTSD program allows all Veterans to access help regardless of their proximity to a VA facility.

Kudos to the governor of Illinois and other communities being proactive in reaching out to their population of returning troops.

Labels: benefits, blagojevich, duckworth, local, state, stats, stigma, studies, tbi, wounded

Final Hearing Held by Dole-Shalala Presidential Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors

From Kaiser Network Daily Reports:

A presidential commission on health care for soldiers on Friday held a seventh and final hearing that focused on problems with "moving patients through various stages of aid," the New York Times reports (Palank, New York Times, 6/30).

President Bush in March named former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), a disabled veteran of World War II, and University of Miami President and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala as co-chairs of the nine-member commission. Bush formed the commission after the Washington Post published a two-part series that examined problems with the conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the process by which injured veterans seek disability compensation (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/16).

At the hearing, commission members said that current veterans are more likely than veterans of previous wars to require complicated treatments for multiple injuries -- such as shrapnel wounds, burns and brain injuries. In addition, many veterans with physical injuries experience post-traumatic stress disorder, commission members said.

Commission members also said that more veterans should receive care at home to reduce stress on families that in some cases must travel long distances to Department of Veterans Affairs or Department of Defense medical centers. VA also does not provide adequate help to families that care for veterans at home, commission members said (New York Times, 6/30).

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Continuing:

The commission this month plans to release a final report.

Report Details
Shalala said that the report will include about a dozen recommendations and will determine "in a more systematic way" whether the reported problems at Walter Reed are indicative of problems throughout the health care system for veterans. "One thing that will make our report truly different is that it will be evidence-based, based on the current science and present-day practice," Shalala said.

Related Posts

Labels: benefits, bush, dole, oversight, shalala, wounded, wramc

President Bush Threatens to Veto VA Funding Bill

From the Providence Journal:

Moves in Congress to give the Department of Veterans Affairs as much as $3.8 billion more than the Bush administration proposed has drawn an indirect veto threat from the White House.

“If Congress increases VA funding above the president’s request and does not offset this increase with spending reductions in other bills, the president will veto any of the other bills that exceed his request until Congress demonstrates a path to reach the president’s top line of $933 billion,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.

The Veterans Affairs budget currently stands at $36.5 billion, and the administration has proposed raising it to $40.1 billion. In Congress, a conference committee is attempting to reconcile a House bill providing $3.8-billion beyond that with a Senate measure that would increase the administration’s proposal by $3.6 billion.

Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, chairman of the House veterans affairs appropriations subcommittee, said, “This bill is about respect, and honors the promises made to our veterans with historic increases in funding to provide them the health care and benefits they earned when they put on our nation’s uniform.”

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One-Third of Dishonorably-Discharged Marines Exhibit Mental Health Conditions

From USA Today:

Battle stress may cause combat-hardened Marines with clean records to get into trouble after they return home, according to new Marine Corps research. The Marines have a plan to help these troops but not the resources to implement it, said a leading mental health expert with the Corps. Stress-related misconduct can involve drug and alcohol abuse and may result in dismissal from the service and the denial of Department of Veterans Affairs services.

In the first four years of the Iraq war, 1,019 Marines were dismissed with less-than-honorable discharges for misconduct committed after overseas deployments, said Navy Capt. William Nash, who coordinates the Marines' combat stress program. At least 326 of the discharged Marines showed evidence of mental health problems, possibly from combat stress, according to the Marine study.

Nash said he urges that "any Marine or sailor who commits particularly uncharacteristic misconduct following deployment … be aggressively screened for stress disorders and treated." He said the screening results could be used to ease the tough military prosecution of misconduct in cases involving post-traumatic stress disorder. USA TODAY reported in November that veterans with less-than-honorable discharges are usually denied health care services by the VA. Nash's mental health study was conducted after that article was published.

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Continuing:

The Marine Corps and Navy, which provides medical services to the Marines, have not started screening because they don't have the mental health workers to provide it, Nash said. His proposal has been pending since early this year.

The chronic shortage of military mental health caregivers is highlighted by several recent task force investigations, including one by the Defense Mental Health Task Force created by Congress last year. Co-chaired by Navy Surgeon General Donald Arthur, the task force report released last month called military mental health staffing "woefully inadequate" and complained of a continuing stigma within the military toward PTSD.

Labels: benefits, discharge, dod, injustice, marines, navy, oversight, self medication, shortfalls, stigma, stress, studies, va

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Hand2Hand Contact Brings Soldiers All the Way Home, Easter Seals Helps Vets with TBI

A Look at Changes to Come Out of the Dole-Shalala Commission

Sunday, July 29, 2007

New Arizona Combat Reintegration Help Centers Seek Volunteers

Saturday, July 28, 2007

As Another Suicide Occurs, Minnesota Leaders Urge DoD to Revise Post-Deployment Contact Rules

Friday, July 27, 2007

Family Sues VA for Iraq Veteran Son's 2004 Suicide

Delving into the Veterans' Disability Ratings System

Wisconsin Guard/Reserve Spouses Needed for Deployment Stress Study

Thursday, July 26, 2007

State Deptartment Diplomats Join Troops in Suffering From Combat-Zone Stress

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

New York Times Explores 'In the Valley of Elah' -- And Mentions 'Moving a Nation to Care'

Reaction to Dole-Shalala Commission Recommendations

Veterans Issues in Sharp Focus Today in Hearings, Reports and Lawsuits

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Flash Video Remembers 100+ OEF/OIF Veteran Suicides

Monday, July 23, 2007

Upcoming Reintegration Programs for Veterans, Military Families and Supporters

Class Action Lawsuit Brought Against VA

PTSD Figures for Canada's Afghanistan Veterans

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Coming this Week: Phoenix and Seattle TV Spots Explore Combat PTSD

Saturday, July 21, 2007

First Combat PTSD College Course for Vets, Military Families Arrives

Defense Department Contractor Leaves 580,000 Military Records Open to Identity Theft

Pace, Considering Another Troop Surge -- Now a 'Boost' -- Meets with Troops, Military Families

Friday, July 20, 2007

'In the Valley of Elah' Coming September 21

Who Will Be the New VA Secretary?

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Veterans Find Comfort With Unusual 'Therapist'

Does Vermont Have the Model Combat PTSD Care Program?

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

House Omnibus Bill to Ease Post-Combat Readjustment, Vet Homelessness Moves Forward

Army Begins 90-Day Push to Educate 1 Million Soldiers on PTSD/TBI

Guardian/BBC Documentary Shows Combat's Stress and Strain

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Response to Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson's Resignation

Personality Disorder Discharges Under the Gun

Monday, July 16, 2007

New VA Rule Would Require Vet Lawyers to Pass Test

Sunday, July 15, 2007

IAVA's Rob Timmins on 'Moving a Nation to Care;' Good Mag's 'Volunteers'

CBS Early Show: Helping Troops Deal with PTSD

'Moving a Nation to Care' Seattle Stop a Stunner

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Join Me and Soundings of the Planet in Seattle for an Uplifting Community Gathering

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Fort Bliss PTSD Recovery Center Aims to Return Troops Quickly to Battle

Monday, July 09, 2007

Quick Stats on Types of VA Services Being Drawn by Returning Troops

Buzzflash Review of 'Moving a Nation to Care'

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Returning Veterans and Suicide: Alaska's Perfect Storm?

On Those Who Have Served in Afghanistan

Springtime Leg of 'Moving a Nation to Care' Tour Ends, Summer Leg Kicks off Thursday in Seattle

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Bookworms Review of Moving a Nation to Care

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

An Independence Day Walk in the Shoes of One Returning Veteran

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

The American Conservative and IL Governor Take on Traumatic Brain Injury

Monday, July 02, 2007

Final Hearing Held by Dole-Shalala Presidential Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors

President Bush Threatens to Veto VA Funding Bill

One-Third of Dishonorably-Discharged Marines Exhibit Mental Health Conditions

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