Closing One Chapter, Opening Another

Dear friends,

Since it's been mostly quiet here the past year, it's time for me to write a note. First come the thank yous.

To those of you who have read, shared and/or supported my Moving a Nation to Care project, you are appreciated. The slim volume made bigger waves than this little fish ever expected.

To all of you who, at one time or another over the past five years, visited PTSD Combat -- and most especially to its nearly 1,300 subscribers, who supported my writing with your vote of confidence -- thank you for sharing the journey.

For all the veterans and military family members and veterans advocates I have interacted with, or humbly was able to help in some small way, or even sadly could not help due to my own time and resource limitations, my deepest gratitude for all you do for our nation.

Thank you for letting me be a part of your life.

It's been five remarkable, unimaginably productive and ever-to-be-cherished years of veterans advocacy work. What eventually became Moving a Nation to Care, was first an issue that I simply stumbled into unwittingly back in 2005.

First, as a citizen journalist, and later as a recognized expert, my attempt to understand why some of our veterans were returning home from war only to commit suicide landed me on avenues I'd never plotted for myself. Life has a funny way of pointing you in the direction you're most needed to go, it seems.

I tried to do my best and rise to the occasion.

When an opportunity to push the issue of combat PTSD presented itself, with the blessing and backing of my husband and family, I did what I could to raise Americans' awareness.

I wasn't alone.

Many of the same seasoned advocates who welcomed and helped this unknown novice writer continue the work still today. I could list all of you; but, there are too many to count. You know who you are. Thank you for doing what you do.

The work is unrelenting, exigent, and often thankless.

I know. And I say, "Thank you."

I have been honored to have been a small grain of sand in this movement to raise awareness and exact change concerning issues of so much importance to our troops, veterans, military families and even citizens. But everyone needs to regenerate and refresh themselves every-so-often, and that is certainly the case here.

Sadly, PTSD Combat is officially being retired today.

I've been grappling with this for quite some time and took a long-needed break from blogging in 2010.

Thank you so much for allowing me to have a voice on an issue that I continue to care so much about. I also look to the stars and send a thank you to my late sister, Zsuzsanna, whom we lost to suicide 10 years ago. Through that pain, I gained a deep empathy for other families going through the same tragedy.

We have much to offer one another in the world.

Above all, I hope that we continue to work to remove the stigma of imperfection that defines the human experience. We are all just trying to make our way, doing the best that we can in an imperfect world.

Tragedy and challenge define our reality.

But we need not be defined by it. Marcel Proust said, "We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it in full." My work here helped me, too. Let's continue to strive and work together so that we may all attain strength in body, peace of mind, and nourishment of spirit.

The load is much lighter, the road much brighter, together.

And there is so much healing in the doing,

Problems Accesing Content?

Sorry for the state of the website right now.

I'm putting the finishing touches on a long-needed template update. So, I'm working quite a bit in the background, which will cause some hiccups for anyone attempting to access the site.

In the next few days, you'll find some discontinuity between a number of pages (the sitemap and alternate home page at ptsdcombat.com, for example, won't integrate smoothly with the rest of the site until I finish cleaning them up and bringing them in line with the rest of the blog).

If you're having problems, please check back later.

Thanks for your patience.

Will Return to Posting in Late June

Hello, long-neglected readers.

Thanks for your patience as my writing here has stopped the past weeks while I completed my studies last month, tended to home and family responsibilities, and taken some vacation time.

I will return to posting here in late June.

My best to you until then.

Pardon the Dust...

Good morning.

Just a quick note to say what may already be apparent if you're a regular visitor: I'm in the process of sprucing up the PTSD Combat template just a tad. Although I won't have time for any really fun changes, I've been wanting to do a few things before classes begin this week. I've already added a third column to the layout and let the belt out a bit on the width of the page to make room for it.

Things aren't yet where they will eventually rest, so pardon the dust while I retool things and move the furniture around a bit today. Have a great day, everyone!

A Long-Delayed Update

Thank you to everyone who has stumbled across my writing over the years, either through this blog or my book or my posts at ePluribus Media or Daily Kos. I have received many, many emails over the past two months -- the longest I've gone without blogging since I began focusing on combat PTSD issues in 2005 -- asking where I've been.

I'm still here (though I'm sorry that I haven't been able to reply to all of your emails personally, and even more painful is the fact that I haven't been able to assist those of you who've contacted me with your important projects and events).

More to Come as Time Permits

Apologies for the momentary halt to postings.

I'm currently swamped with classes and other responsibilities, but will return to updates ASAP. Until then, be sure to check out what others are saying on combat PTSD in the feeds in the right-hand column.

A Little Update on Things Here

Thought I would pass along a few quick impressions and thoughts going through my mind the past few days in reaction to the incidents at NIU, as well as share a bit of personal musings.

It has been a very hectic few days; many, many calls and emails of concern have come in and I'd like to thank everyone for caring, for giving of themselves, for listening. It all the more is appreciated because I have not been giving of myself, reaching out to you, in the same measure lately.

It's been a peculiar few months for me.

What Will 2008 Hold for OEF/OIF Vets?

Happy belated New Year to everyone.

Apologies for being so silent on this end over the holiday season. While the media has this past year done a better job of investigating and reporting on the issues that concern our returning troops and military families, I've been able to take some much-needed time off following an incredibly busy year.

Last month's weeks of completing finals, preparing and testifying before Congress, my birthday, the holiday rush of commitments and gatherings, and being under the weather for most of that period, was a remarkable culmination of an even more incredible year for me personally -- and for the issue of combat PTSD.

Remarkable, yes, but exhausting, too!

And so, I'm late in posting my review of all we've accomplished in 2007, but hope to have that for you soon. What will 2008 hold for our returning veterans? We now find their needs examined and more fully brought to light in the public sphere.

Will we be smart enough to act on what we've learned?

A Thank You to the House Veterans Affairs Committee From a Concerned Citizen

Mike and Kim Bowman, parents of local Illinois National Guardsman who committed suicide two years ago on Thanksgiving Day after having returned home from Iraq only eight months earlier, my husband, and I flew home late last night following an incredible two days in Washington, D.C. testifying before the House Veterans Affairs Committee on the issue of veterans suicide.

[Written testimony transcripts; my full testimony below.]

I have a lot going on today as a result, but wanted to share a few things quickly now and promise to return to share some of my thoughts in full as soon as I can. But I want to say how honored and moved I was to have been in that room during the two breathtaking hours of testimony the Bowmans gave.

There really was very little left to have to say after their masterful and information-rich time in front of the committee. It just makes one all the more realize the inanity of having to do study after study and call in professional after professional to analyze data and point to what needs to be done.

If the VA and the DoD really want to know what we should be doing to assist military family members through the reintegration process, here's all they need to do: ask our military families. Fortunately, these types of hearings at least offer the rest of us -- and the VA and the DoD -- the opportunity to learn straight from the source what is needed.

We must listen, and then we absolutely must act.

A Link and a Nod

I'm sure many of you who subscribe to PTSD Combat (and those who pop in from time-to-time) feel the same way that I do: There's just never enough time in a day to catch up on all the latest on combat PTSD. That's probably one of the reasons why you've subscribed in the first place.

The news on this issue increasingly comes on hot and quick these days as more and more people want to learn about the issue, and more and more media outlets bring us the coverage we need (at long last). I find it hard to keep up with it all, too.

And so, I've recently added three outside blog feeds to PTSD Combat (they're in the right-hand column, here): IAVA, Wounded Times and Healing Combat Trauma. The latter two blogs, edited by Kathie Costos and Lily G. Casura, are especially fine complements to PTSD Combat. If we lived in a perfect world, rather than simply providing a link and a nod to their great work, you'd see the three of us posting together on one site to make it easy for you to get your combat PTSD news fix all in one place.

Then again, if we lived in a perfect world there wouldn't even be a need for blogs like ours, would there? I hope the feeds provide another avenue for you to educate yourself on an issue that is not only a hot topic right now, but of great importance to our society and our returning troops and their families.

New Blogger Elbows Its Way In

Just a quick point or two about technology happenings.

Yesterday, Blogger switched me over to the New Blogger platform (I was dragging my heels; problems inevitably crop up -- as they already have -- whenever you do any type of upgrade, and I've been a bit time-crunched). While I haven't switched PTSD Combat's template over to New Blogger's 'widget' system, there are a few immediate changes I wanted to make you aware of.

One Feedburner note: I've just tweaked a problem created by the way New Blogger handles my Feedburner feed; apologies for those on the email list who received old posts along with the new ones this morning. It may occur one more time tomorrow (?) but should be corrected afterwards. Sorry for the confusion.

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

For now, the most important change is the new labels system.

The new 'Labels' line replaces my Del.icio.us 'Tags' line. I'll still maintain my Del.icio.us indexing system, but using labels will make in-house searching and grouping of related posts a lot easier. Click on a label topic, and you'll stay right here (rather than jumping over to Del.icio.us), related posts at your beck and call one after another in the PTSD Combat environment. I've updated the last 15 or so entries with the label system so you can try it out. Until I can carve out more time to update earlier posts, it'll return pretty skimpy results, though. I'll upgrade as time allows, aiming to have fully loaded labels by early summer.

Another change is the way search bar items are now returned.

In the past, typing in your keywords in the Blogger bar above returned a link list. You had to click on every link to see what the post was all about (and annoyingly sometimes those links didn't work, either). No more. Now the posts themselves are returned (in the same way as the label items are returned, one after another in the PTSD Combat environment). This alone will make it a lot easier to find what you're looking for. Yeah!

Pentagon Shuts Us Down

Well, I'm typing feverishly here, trying to get the final post in before the Pentagon pulls the plug on us. I tried, folks. Tried covering the issue of combat PTSD with some care and balance, but I guess it just wasn't enough.

Sure, I was uneasy when I saw PTSD Combat's StatCounter registered a visit by the Pentagon on Thursday, but I didn't think it would come to this. I was uneasy, but I wasn't worried. Well, I just got my notice in my email box. They're shutting it down. It's been an honor bringing you this important news. If they shut us down before I finish this post, just know th

April Fool's!


(...at least I hope :o)

March 2007's Notes, News and Navel-Gazing

As we count down the final weeks before Moving a Nation to Care's arrival (only five weeks to go?!) and we near the close of another fine month, I'd like to share a few notable mentions. Let's get right into it:

Today, a great personal honor arrives on page three of the Northern Star, Northern Illinois University's newspaper of record. I arrived Monday on campus to find that that managing editor, Michael Swiontek, wanted an interview (thx, Prof. Akst). The result? This big chunk of real estate today.

Contributing comments were Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, editor of Daily Kos (and NIU alumni inducted into the Northern Star Hall of Fame just this month), the online community (in tandem with ePluribus Media) that gave me a forum to develop and share my PTSD work, and Jim Starowicz, an active Vietnam veteran whose tireless work would exhaust lesser souls. Rounding it all off, my thanks to Northern Star photographer Mike Greene, too.

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

Reprinted in full for media kit [pdf].

March 28, 2007

Blogger from flight to fight
NIU student publishes book on the plight of our country's returning troops

Junior journalism major Ilona Meagher recently finished writing a book titled "Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops," which will hit bookshelves in May.

Article by: Michael Swiontek, Managing Editor • mswionte@northernstar.info

Tragedy changes people.

At surface level, Ilona Meagher looks like an average, attentive, 41-year-old non-traditional student.

Meagher, a junior journalism major, possesses an overwhelming passion for shedding public spotlight on the post-traumatic stress disorder engulfing the souls of so many Iraq war veterans.

Tragedy changed Meagher's plans. Becoming a journalist, editor of an online journal and author of a book were not Meagher's original ambition in life - her life soared above the clouds, with a 15-year career as a flight attendant with American Airlines.

Her life, like those of many others, was firmly in place before the events of 9/11 shook the foundation of her existence.

Post-9/11 cutbacks put Meagher in position to take an early-out package. She created a freelance business specializing in Web design and copy editing. Then, one day, an article she read from across the country changed her life.

An article in Seattle Weekly shocked Meagher, prompting her to ponder several questions. Meagher, whose sister took her own life in 2000, learned that several Iraq war veterans committed suicide after suffering from PTSD. A self-proclaimed natural researcher, Meagher's quest to get answers drove her deeper into the questions.

Meagher discovered her passion for writing by her desire to advocate awareness of post-war PTSD. A citizen journalism cooperative, ePluribus Media, discovered her data online, and helped by compiling the database, fact-checking and editing. Meagher feels fortunate she has received so much help informing the masses on the issue.

The success of her online journal, PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within, has led to other ventures.

"All these incredible opportunities came to me," she said.

Tragedy also has changed Meagher's aspirations. One year ago, a publisher from New York contacted her, expressing interest in a book on post-war PTSD written by Meagher. The network of experts and journalists she developed a rapport with made the seemingly overwhelming task of writing a book without any formal training manageable, she said.

Meagher's book, "Moving the Nation to Care," will be released by Ig Publishing on May 1.

Recently, Meagher became a contributor to the Clark Community Network's Troops and Vets series, the blog of former presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark.

Though Meagher has no military experience herself, her father fought for both the Hungarian and U.S. military, giving her the foundation to pursue military topics, she said. She credits her husband, who still serves as a pilot with American Airlines, with giving her the ability to work on her blog unpaid.

A nonprofit company has contacted Meagher about potentially presenting her a grant for her blog work and her contribution to the PTSD database.

"As difficult as it has been to juggle everything, I learn something with every class," she said. "No matter what the topic is, the more informed you are about a variety of issues, the more you are going to be able to understand a lot of concepts that are bigger than post-traumatic stress."

Meagher spends an average of three hours per day corresponding through e-mail with veterans and their families, editors, citizen journalists and other bloggers.

Even with the strong feelings and opinions presented on both sides of the Iraq war debate, Meagher has not chosen a public stance.

"It doesn't matter what party affiliation you have, you can get PTSD," she said. "I have met so many people that are working hard on this issue - citizens, activists and veterans. While the data is depressing and hard, I have met so many incredible people through email and meetings - they inspired me."

Anyone who says that good journalism doesn't change lives would find themselves at odds with my experience. Please read the rest; the PDF version contains a sidebar of quotes from Markos and Jim.

[UPDATE Aug 31 2007]: Previous links are now broken, so I've excerpted in full for archiving and saved a PDF of the cached page.

News:

• On March 13, 2007, I became Spot-on.com's Hotspot. Very cool. (Thanks, Chris!)
  
• I'm penciled-in to appear at firedoglake's Sunday Book Salon, hosted by the gracious Taylor Marsh, on the afternoon of May 6 (5pm ET/2pm PT).
• Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) has offered to have his organization officially sponsor my New York City-Greenwich Village Barnes & Noble appearance. He says he'll try to make the event himself (crossing fingers), which takes place on May 18.
  
• Air America's smashing Sam Seder has me slated for an on-air interview sometime in May. No date set yet, but will pass it along as soon as I know it myself.
  
• Although not officially announced as of yet, I've been invited to be a member of August's YearlyKos Convention veterans' panel -- a great opportunity. Last year, C-Span covered many of the panels, so maybe we'll get lucky and have a chance to get our message out to a wider audience.

Aldon Hynes, editor over at Orient Lodge and many other domains (he did some outstanding reporting from his seat at the recent Lewis 'Scooter' Libby trial), had this nice comment earlier this month:

When you start talking about PTSD of returning soldiers, I want to point out Ilona Meagher’s book Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops. I’ve met Ilona at a couple conferences. She is a great writer and I’ve managed to get a review copy of her book. I highly recommend it to anyone concerned with the fate of our servicemen and women.

We both attended the National Conference on Media Reform held in Memphis in January (and the preceeding Journalism That Matters sessions). I was his guest at a Democracy for America dinner meet-up one drizzly evening, shared on the DFA website.

View more pics of both the dinner as well as the other two events we'd attended in my Flicker album.

Finally, I'd like to share news of my inclusion in unConventional, a book capturing last years' YearlyKos Convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada:

UnConventional, YearlyKos: Citizens, Focus and Action, an in-depth eBook covering the first YearlyKos convention is available NOW. A team of four brilliant photographers led by Mona Brooks along with an editorial staff led by Hunter of Daily Kos fame, documented every aspect of the convention, from caucuses to keynote speeches, from volunteers to political heavy-hitters, so many Kos bloggers, and more.

The book combines complete convention coverage with personal essays [and] beautiful portraits to boot...

Some incredible writing (and my own essay slipped in as well) available in a visually stunning snapshot of a positively-charged and dynamic gathering of hearts and minds. Feel free to head back over to my Flicker album to view more photos of YearlyKos 2006 to see what I mean. Looking forward to taking part in YK2007...

Join us!

Notes, News and Navel-Gazing @ PTSD Combat

What a week it's been.

I have Dana Priest and Anne Hull to thank for not getting much else done around here following the arrival of the Washington Post's ground-shattering series on Walter Reed Army Medical Center's handling of our returning troops in their care. A 'sacrifice' of time I'm only too happy to give up, especially if it leads to improvements in veterans' care.

Alongside juggling my Google News alerts, I've been doing some long-overdue sprucing up of the place around here. I've swapped a Flash element for the static banner of old (for some reason it didn't show up in my IE browser -- though it's fine in Firefox -- when I tested it; anyone else having that problem?).

Besides moving the deck chairs around here, PTSD Combat has gotten a few nice mentions and links of late. Not ground-breaking, but still worthy of a mention.

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

Meta navel-gazing, here we come...

Think Progress gave a nice link and nod:

...John at AmericaBlog has been covering the Walter Reed issue extensively, and has a nice round-up of veterans news here. PTSDCombat, FireDogLake, Carpetbagger, Daily Kos and Atrios have more.

Now, that's a nice list to belong to (that is, if you don't mind being lumped together with all of those nasty bloggers out there. :o)

AOL Top News included a link over from their Bush Promises Help for Wounded Warriors story to my More WaPo Fallout: Senators, WH, Veterans and Pundits Chime In post (find the link from their 'Read Related Blogs and Articles' pop-up near the bottom of the page).

Didn't realize that you were going on a wild goose chase, eh?

Legacy of War gave me a nice mention:

Ilona Meagher's blog ... is a wonderful resource for all who are concerned about our military who have PTSD. I have been inspired by her commitment to this issue and credit her with making many aware of the limitations of the care given to our brave veterans.

Blush, blush, blush.

toniD's ya think? ("Keeping an eye on our government") linked to my post on this week's important Navy Times article with the words New Blog you MUST read! Thanks, ToniD!!!

Sen. John Kerry's blog was probably the most surprising and kind link; Violet Bliss Dietz quoted extensively from a post I'd written exactly one year ago, Unutterable: For Reagan it Was AIDS. For Bush, PTSD? Here's a bit of what she had to say:

In researching what's happening with veterans issues and the regular survey of the blogosphere, I've found some related items that I want to share. The first item is old but it's good.

From Ilona Meagher at PTSD Combat blog:

Unutterable: For Reagan it Was AIDS. For Bush, PTSD?

How many times has the Bush Administration uttered the phrase 'post-traumatic stress disorder' in speeches or remarks archived at Whitehouse.gov? I did a search this afternoon and found not even one document returned.

Why is a disorder that afflicts tens of thousands of our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans unutterable by this administration? And are Democrats also silent on this issue?

To head off any confusion, the question I'm proffering here is: Is PTSD as radioactive to the Bush administration as AIDS was to Reagan's? I'm not comparing the two illnesses with one another.

She goes onto search Cheney's record as well as the President's record and finds no record of them uttering those words. Then she goes onto query the Dem leaders. ...

Dietz also quotes a snippet from a more recent post, BusinessWeek Covers Unique Struggles of the Reservist-Entrepreneur, that mentions Kerry's years long work on the Military Family Bill of Rights.

So as not to end entirely on myself here, but rather to refocus on the more important issues that demand our attention, I'd like to share a bit of Dietz' post on Kerry's reaction to the Walter Reed scandal (is there really any other word for it?):

JK is responding to the story about the conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. According to a statement released earlier this afternoon, he is joining with Senators Obama and McCaskill in introducing legislation aimed at improving conditions at the WRAMC. The focus of the proposed legislation is assisting patients in acquiring the counseling and rehabilitation services that they need.

WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced today that he will co-sponsor legislation to improve the lives of recovering veterans at Walter Reed and other medical centers by eliminating paperwork and improving physical conditions. Kerry also said he would explore options for directing new funding to Walter Reed and to make immediate improvements to the buildings where veterans are housed. ...

The legislation that Kerry is co-sponsoring would do the following:


* Simplify the paperwork process for recovering soldiers

* Improve the ratio of caseworkers to recovering soldiers

* Increase the training of caseworkers

* Require more frequent IG inspections of hospital facilities and standards of care

* Establish timelines and benchmarks for repairs to substandard facilities

* Provide recovering soldiers with psychological counseling

* Require regular reporting to Congress on:

o the total number of recovering soldiers at military hospitals

o the number of caseworkers

o the average waiting time for treatment

o the number of suicide attempts, accidental deaths or drug overdoses

JK spoke out today:

“We owe our returning veterans a debt of gratitude, not sub-standard treatment at an overcrowded medical facility. The Administration has consistently talked a big game but shortchanged the needs of veterans. How can the president talk about a troop escalation in Iraq while failing to keep faith with the Iraq War veterans we’ve already brought home?

Brave men who have been blinded or lost a limb in Iraq should not be sitting in moldy, mouse-infested buildings. Period. It’s unacceptable and this Congress needs to do something about it.”

I couldn't agree more.

20,000 Unique Visitors Reached

Well, my stat counter currently has us at 19,957 unique, fascinating visitors. We will easily reach 20,000 as the day unfolds. Sure, our traffic won't ever reach Amazon proportions; but, it's quality, not quantity, that impresses me about this place! As with the 10,000th visitor post, I present some of our latest tire-kickers. Appreciate your coming by...

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

Nice to see so many educational institutions coming around to pick through some of the data online here PTSD Combat. This is just a sampling of a few of the visitors recorded over the past seven days:

Education: Universities of Ohio State, Indiana State, North Carolina State, Kansas State, Northern Illinois, Western Illinois, Northern Kentucky, Long Island, California State-Long Beach, Salford (England), Minnesota, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Tennessee, Washington State, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Texas-San Antonio, Marquette, Azusa Pacific, Wittenberg, Columbia, San Francisco, Pennsylvania State, Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Massachusetts-Amherst, Thomas Jefferson, Butler, Yale, Texas A&M, North Alabama, Victoria (British Columbia), Universite De Haute Alsace (France) and Bunkyo (Japan); State Universities Of New York, New Mexico and Montana, Indiana University Of Pennsylvania; Boston and Hamilton and Plymouth State and Quinnipiac and Chabot College; Oklahoma State Regents, Wyoming, Ocean State and Massachusetts Higher Education systems, City College of San Francisco, Manchester College Of Arts & Technology, St Clair College Of Applied Arts And Technology, Community Colleges of Catonsville, Santa Fe, Allegheny County, State Of Connecticut, and Caldwell; Schools; Hawaii Dept. Of Education, West Virginia Network For Educational Telecomputing, Georgia Institute Of Technology, New York City Technical College, Dallas Independent School District, Big Rapids Public Schools and the Georgia Public Library Service, Davis County Library.

Government: The U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms, Suffolk County Department Of Civil Service, DOT - Highway Bldg, Social Security Administration, and the States of Georgia and Florida.

Military/Veteran: Department of Defense (DOD), Army Information Systems Command, National Defense University, United States Military Academyand the U. S. Naval Oceanography Command Center; Forts Mcpherson and Jackson; Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; USO World Headquarters, Vietnam Veterans Of America Foundation and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)...and Canada's Defence Research Establishment-Ottawa.

Health: American Counseling Association, Mayo Foundation, Wayne State University Medical Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Medical University Of South Carolina, Fraser Health Authority, Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, Schering-Plough Research Institute, Victim Support Lambeth (London) and Academic Medical Centre (Amsterdam).

News Organizations: Time Warner, News Corporation, CBS, Waco Tribune-Herald, Houston Chronicle.

Miscellaneous: Caribou Coffee Store, Philips Electronics North America, Abbott Laboratories, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Equitable Life Assurance, Archer Daniels Midland, Deloitte & Touche, Bank of America, Lloyd Lamont Design, G W Graphics & Publish, Creative Type, Parsons Computers, Flare Industries, Mount Paran North Church Of God, Mclane Company, Inc., Accutrade, Inc.Triton Technologies, Inc., and the United Parcel Service.

Thanks for your support and interest -- one and all!

Visit My Amazon.com Profile Page/Blog

Although my new Amazon.com Profile page will occassionally have unique posts on events and news regarding my new book, Moving a Nation to Care, PTSD Combat won't quickly be replaced. I would, however, like to invite you to help me build my Amazon.com Profile's recommended reading list.

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

While doing my research for my book, I did a good measure of reading up on combat PTSD and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in general. There are some well-written accounts from our troops as well as from their family members.

They'll all be listed in Moving a Nation to Care's bibliography, but I wanted to pass along a few that I'd absolutely recommend anyone read. They'll go far in getting you closer to the subject.

• The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell: An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford
  
• Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier's Fight for America from Baghdad to Washington by Paul Rieckhoff
  
• War and the Soul:Healing Our Nation's Veterans from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder by Edward Tick, MD
  
• Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide, and the Lessons of War by Penny Coleman
  
• What Was Asked of Us: An Oral History of the Iraq War by the Soldiers Who Fought It by Trish Wood
  
• Down Range: To Iraq and Back by Bridget C. Cantrell, PhD, and Chuck Dean

Please feel free to add your reading suggestions in comments, and I'll be happy to include them on my Amazon.com Profile page...and on my own reading list.

You can check my book's Amazon.com sales rank from this page (it's on the book's main page, too). Wow, currently at #42,833? Hey, did someone just buy a one!? Thanks! Scroll down under my blog post entry on that page, and look for a center column called "Bibliography" to find the sales rank number.

• Moving a Nation to Care: Latest News
  
• Moving a Nation to Care: Reviews
  
• Moving a Nation to Care: Book Tour Dates
  
• Moving a Nation to Care: Author Bio
  
• Galley Copies of Moving a Nation to Care Mailed
  
• Visit my Amazon.com blog
  
• Moving a Nation to Care: Now Available for Pre-Order
  
• Looking Backwards. And Forwards.
  
• Follow My Work as I Research and Write

Looking Backwards. And Forwards.

About September 11th, I can't add anything more that hasn't already been said.

Many of you know I was a flight attendant for American Airlines on September 11, 2001. I'd been based in Chicago for most of my career, with side adventures flying international out of Miami and JFK in the mid-90's. I turned in my wings after 15 years in November 2001. I took the leap not out of fear, but out of a need to grow in new directions. Fortunately, I found that new direction last year: advocating for and writing about our returning veterans. (Steve Robinson of Veterans for America has asked me to share an LTE with you guys on this issue, and that follows below along with more news).

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




As for today, last year I submitted a photo essay in remembrance of the 4th anniversary, sharing pictures I took of my journey to Ground Zero three weeks following the attacks. Twelve months earlier, I'd submitted an essay describing my day and a few that followed, and asked others to share theirs as well. That diary turned out to be one of my most treasured, filled with some of the most incredible contributions.

The looking forward part of my diary has to do with looking for ways to try to make the world a better place, and find my way in it since I left a career behind that I'd loved.

The career, as anyone flying these days knows, isn't the same; so, I don't have any regrets. I was fortunate to see a lot of the world, meet a lot of interesting people, and made many good friends and even met my husband at AA. (If you're a nurse, don't ever say you won't date a doctor. And if you're a flight attendant, don't ever say you won't date a pilot. The fates will conspire against you every time. :o)

Anyway, last year at this time I'd just begun getting curious about what was happening with our troops as they returned home to us. Two events led me down what would become my new life's path: 1) losing a sister to suicide in 2000; and 2) reading an August 31, 2005 Seattle Weekly article that talked about a handful of vets that had returned home only to commit suicide.

From that article, and questions that flowed from it (Is this happening a lot? What's the military doing? Why isn't the media reporting on this? What can I do?), I began the work that I had no idea would transform the direction of my life. Thanks to people at Daily Kos, and at My Left Wing, and at Political Cortex, but most most most especially the wonderful people, now friends and colleagues, over at ePluribus Media for the greatest support under the heavens.

It's been an incredible year, and we've done a lot in that timeframe. I'm now in the final weeks of finishing up my first book, Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops. The process has been grueling, but filled with small little pockets of miracles and help from far and wide. Working with the military families who extended themselves and their stories to help with the book has been a humbling and deeply moving experience.

One of those miracles came bundled in the work that I was able to do with Laura Kent, mother of 1st Lt. Phillip Kent, a soldier who committed suicide on September 28, 2005. His story will be presented among those of, sadly, many others. I believe I'm the first author she agreed to give the story to; her first news interview was just broadcast this evening. A video clip and transcript are now available at WIS-10/Columbia, SC.

I won't go into sharing what the miracle was that she and I shared, but suffice it to say that if nothing else is accomplished with the book, it will have been worth it for my having had the opportunity to get to know Ms. Kent if even just a bit. (A thank you and deep gratitude to Wade Hampton for being the person to bring us together).

So, while I pray for the victims of September 11th, I also pray for those lost in our new century's wars. I dedicate this diary to Phillip. And I continue to ask for your help as we move forward to do right by those who have been asked to give up so much.

Wishing you all peace today...



Paul Sullivan asked via Steve Robinson at Veterans for America that I share this with you.

To the Editor:

As a former Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters project manager who monitored returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, I agree with Paul Krugman's comment that the V.A. is a stunning success for quality medical care ("Health Policy Malpractice," column, Sept. 4). But the V.A. is running full steam into a brick wall because of a lack of capacity.

Why? This administration failed to plan for the consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The V.A. fell $3 billion short last year, and both wait times and the doctor-to-patient ratio rose.

Nearly 1.5 million men and women have been deployed to war since 2001. Army research indicates that one-third of recent war veterans may need mental health care. The V.A. can expect a staggering 500,000 combat veteran mental health patients in the next few years.

Sadly, Dr. Frances Murphy, the V.A.'s deputy under secretary for health, confirmed the V.A.'s lack of capacity this May, saying some V.A. clinics do not provide mental health or substance abuse care, or if they do, "waiting lists render that care virtually inaccessible." Without adequate financing and a comprehensive plan to increase capacity, the V.A. may spiral further into crisis and buckle under a tidal wave of demand.

Paul Sullivan
Washington
Sept. 4, 2006

The writer, a Persian Gulf war veteran, is director of programs at Veterans for America

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PTSD Combat: 'Blog of the Week' at Genetics and Health

A quick thank you to Genetics and Health (an incredible blog edited by Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University), for showering us with featured blog status for the week. Thank you for your positive nod and help in educating others to the plight of some of our returning veterans.

Our First Week Comes to a Close

Thanks to every single one of you for making PTSD Combat's first week a successful one. We had 273 visitors kind enough to give the place a once-over. Please keep checking back as I improve and add to the site in the coming weeks.

Week #2, here we come!