Veterans

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Comment by Alice Hooper on November 14, 2008 at 2:01pm

Organization started by Bob Woodruff (ABC News)

http://remind.org/standupforheroes/

Comment by van den Bosch on November 12, 2008 at 11:02pm

Thank you for your service, Jeff. And thank you for joining us here. We want to find ways to all help together. Here is where we can share ideas. Some of us are discussing applying for a National Service grant to help support AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members - perhaps veterans themselves - to help vets with TBI. Any related ideas or resources for something like this? I'm imagining online and face-to-face supports. Ideas? we'll need a coalition, at least. Civic groups. Faith communities. And more.

Comment by Jeff Hartson on November 12, 2008 at 5:19pm

In 2001 I spent 3 weeks at ground zero w/red cross doing communications work. I got my TBI in 2003 from an inmate assault while working as a correctional officer. Due to my injury I want to reach out in support for our guys and gals who return home with a TBI. You guys are in my thoughts and prayers every day. Thank You for your service.

Comment by Sherry Stock on October 19, 2008 at 9:03am

Another major issue with returning vets:

Spouse Calls:
PTSD, hope and forgiveness
By Terri Barnes, Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes Scene, Sunday, October, 19 2008



Post traumatic stress syndrome is part of the fallout of war. Toxic and sometimes deadly, it forever changes the lives of its sufferers and their loved ones. Some military families survive these injuries of heart and mind. These families possess an extraordinary measure of devotion, which they express through love and acceptance.

An Army wife named Ann posted this comment on the Spouse Calls blog:

I was reading the blog about the woman who, after 12 years of marriage, divorced her husband because he came back from Iraq angry and mean. I know how she felt. Mine came back the same way, nothing I did or said was good enough for him.

One day he crossed the line. He put his hands on me. Two days in jail, $3,500, and two months later he is attending anger management classes, seeing a personal counselor.

We are in marriage counseling, and he still apologizes. Everyone tells me to run, get out while I can — no forgiveness. But for most, they do not understand why he is so angry and mean.

He does not understand why he is so angry, either. His counselor diagnosed him with PTSD and depression. He stopped drinking. That was only adding to the problems.

Even more important to it all, he started talking to God again — one thing that he stopped doing after his first tour to Iraq. He believed he was no longer worthy of forgiveness, and his actions would never be forgiven.

We forget that the Army takes our loved ones and turns them into mass murderers, with no conscience or hope. We forget that they either find God or turn their backs on Him. They become a large ball of anger and hate that only sleeps, eats, and does what it is told. They have no other way of living and forget that there is something other than war.

I understand her pain and sorrow. If being with him is where she really wants to be, it is a long hard daily struggle. The understanding that you are not living with a normal person must always be up front. Change is hard for all of us, yet it must be all of us who change.

Every day I walk in the door, and the first thing that I do is hug him, kiss him and tell him how much I love him. If I see him getting frustrated or angry, I immediately hug him. The power of a loved one’s touch can change the world.

He attends group every week and actively listens and talks. He shares a lot with me, but I know and now realize that he will never share Iraq with me. I do not ask either. I give him time often, just so he can have those moments of peace that he has only come to appreciate. Most importantly I forgive him of his past mistakes.

I am a strong woman. As an Army wife, I have learned that sometimes I need to only be strong when he cannot be, to admit fault when it’s mine, not to boast in his faults, to let the small things go, and above all forgive.

I know this sounds strange to some people, but the life of an Army wife is different than that of a civilian wife. Then when you add war into the mixture, it changes the rules even more.

He will be leaving soon for Iraq again. This will be his third tour and my second, but I have learned a lot from the first one that I will bring with me to this one.

Comment by Sherry Stock on October 18, 2008 at 6:47pm

Recent article and something that we have been discussing

Experts watching mental health of Army children
Oct 16, 2008
BY Elizabeth M. Collins

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 16, 2008) - Studies show that most military children are just as healthy and resilient as civilian children, but psychiatrists are concerned about their stress levels, said a mental health expert during the Association of the United States Army annual meeting last week.

Retired Col. Stephen J. Cozza, M.D., the associate director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress and a professor at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine's psychiatry department, told the audience at the third and final Family Forum that experts need to know more about how multiple deployments and changes like combat injuries, death and post-traumatic stress disorder affect military children.

He pointed out that although several studies are currently being conducted, most of the existing research and data comes from Operation Desert Storm or earlier and civilian studies.

"Military deployments are changing and military deployments are different," said Cozza. "First deployments can be different than second deployments and third deployments, so as we're moving into increasing optempo...how do we better understand it?"

With each deployment comes increased stress, which he said can eventually become distracting and difficult to manage, both for children and their caregivers. He pointed out that child maltreatment and neglect rates rise during deployments, so it's important that communities, leaders and support programs remain strong as well.

And then there is the stress families and children undergo when servicemembers return from deployment, which is also of particular concern, especially if the deployed parent suffered from injuries, or is experiencing PTSD or depression.

"We know that the health of military families and Soldiers are interconnected, Cozza said. "So if one is not doing well, it's likely that the other is going to be powerfully impacted by that. There isn't a whole lot of data in our military literature about the impact of psychiatric illnesses in parents, but we do know from the civilian literature that it can profoundly impact and impair children.

"It can disrupt parental roles. It can lead to child confusion and distortion about how they understand the changed behaviors they notice in parents, and it can also lead to increased risk behaviors, whether that has to do with domestic violence or substance misuse. PTSD itself is likely to be a significant and powerful impactor on relationships within families," he continued.

According to Cozza, the existing literature on military PTSD comes from Vietnam and shows that it had huge impacts on patients' spouses and children. In addition, civilian literature on serious injuries and traumatic brain injury also indicate behavioral changes and unique childhood experiences.

In one of the few recent studies, experts interviewed spouses of wounded Soldiers at Walter Reed and Brooke Army Medical Centers to examine the effect of combat injuries on families. It found families faced huge changes and challenges in separation, living arrangements, schedules, discipline, time devoted to children and parental concerns about the emotional impact on their children.

"Those experiences were profound ... We've coined this term: injury communication. The question a lot of parents want to know is, 'What do we tell our kids? We don't really know how to talk to them about this. So how do we help find and give them the words that they need in order to better talk about it?'" Cozza said.

"Trauma is not an event," he added. "It's a process. It puts in place a whole confounding group of events," including Soldiers separating from the military and the resulting moves and school changes. And because families might move to civilian communities with little understanding of military trauma, Cozza said it should be a national concern.

He also mentioned that because many of the Soldiers with catastrophic injuries are young fathers with young children, they're often used to rough housing and playing sports with their children. Their injuries may even mean finding new ways to think about parenting and playing with their children.

And if a parent is killed in action, children experience even more profound changes and loss, he said. They may also face additional upheavals in their lives such as moving, and are not only extremely vulnerable, but at increased risk for developing PTSD themselves.

"There are certain instances in which children are powerfully impacted or there are images that they have that are hard for them to get out of their head. It's difficult for them to move past the normal grieving process. They continue to be pathologically attached to that person who's died and have difficulties thinking about them, talking about them, without becoming tremendously distressed. We need to be thinking about whether that occurs in our community. We don't know whether it does or not. Certainly if children are demonstrating those symptoms, we want to make sure we get them help," Cozza said.