Giving Back to Veterans

Giving Back - Great Article in Times Mag

Coping with PTSD

Check out a new blog about a families struggle with PTSD from a deployment.

Home Front Battles

Military Handbooks

Here’s a link with great info!

http://www.militaryhandbooks.com

Study says 300,000 U.S. troops suffer mental problems

Study says 300,000 U.S. Troops Suffer Mental Problems

By David MorganThu Apr 17, 2:15 PM ET

Click here for link to story

About 300,000 U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, but about half receive no care, an independent study said on Thursday.

The study by the RAND Corp. also estimated that another 320,000 troops have sustained a possible traumatic brain injury during deployment. But researchers could not say how many of those cases were serious or required treatment.

Billed as the first large-scale nongovernmental survey of its kind, the study found that stress disorder and depression afflict 18.5 percent of the more than 1.5 million U.S. forces who have deployed to the two war zones.

The numbers are roughly in line with previous studies. A February assessment by the U.S. Army that showed 17.9 percent of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from acute stress, depression or anxiety in 2007, down from 19.1 percent in 2006.

But the 500-page RAND study, based in part on interviews with more than 1,900 soldiers, sailors and Marines, also said that only half of troops suffering debilities receive care. And in half of those cases, the care is only minimally adequate.

“There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Terri Tanielian, a RAND researcher who helped head the study.

“Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for them and for the nation.”

FEAR OF STIGMA

The study said many service members do not seek treatment because they fear the stigma associated with psychological problems could harm their careers.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, can result from wartime trauma such as suffering wounds or witnessing others being hurt. Symptoms include irritability or outbursts of anger, sleep difficulties, trouble concentrating, extreme vigilance and an exaggerated startle response.

RAND recommended that the Pentagon create a way for service members to receive mental health service confidentially and monitor the quality of care.

Army Col. Loree Sutton, director of the U.S. Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, welcomed the study.

She was concerned at the finding that only about half of those who sought help received “minimally adequate” treatment and said it would spur the military to try harder to recruit more mental health specialists.

The Army wants to hire 275 civilian mental health professionals but a tight labor market and difficulties getting civilians into war zones has slowed the effort, officials say.

RAND, a private research organization, estimated that stress and depression among returning soldiers cost $6.2 billion in the two years following deployment, mainly due to lost productivity, medical costs and a higher risk of suicide. (Additional reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Alan Elsner and Will Dunham)

Military Kids

Washington Examiner
April 11, 2008

The 3-Minute Interview: Linda Davidson

By Dan Genz

Linda Davidson is the co-founder of Our Military Kids, a McLean-based nonprofit organization delivering grants of $500 or less to the children of National Guard members and Army reservists serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon honored Davidson and co-founder Gail Kruzel this week for distributing more than $1 million in the last three years.

How did you get involved in this project?

I was setting up another project dealing with military families that gave me the occasion to speak to spouses of deployed National Guardsmen. They shared the stories of the difficulties they were having with their children.

Why provide small grants to children for activities like youth sports?

We started this program in the hopes that the child can begin something new so they can get engaged in things that serve as a distraction when Mommy or Daddy are gone.

How do the grants make a difference?

It’s interesting how the parent who is not there shares the child’s experience. Children learning karate or piano, they really take pride in sharing their progress in that, and the child is very proud when Daddy comes home and they can come to a recital or tournament.

Do you have any family in the military?

I do not, and that’s part of the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing. My family has been very blessed, and the only way we’ve been affected by 9/11 are the longer lines at the airport. When I was speaking with these families, I was thinking how thankful we were that we have families who are willing to make huge sacrifices.

Do the kids appreciate the grants?

Absolutely. It’s easy for parents to tell our children you’re making a sacrifice, but to have somebody, a national organization removed from the family, recognize them for the service they’re doing for our country means a lot to them.

Western Governors University Focuses on Military Members and Military Spouses

 

Salt Lake City, Utah – (March 11, 2008)  Western Governors University (www.wgu.edu), the non-profit online university created by 19 U.S. governors, is making further strides in serving military members and their families. WGU’s commitment to the Troops to Teachers and Spouses to Teachers programs continues with its offering of supplemental scholarships of $1,500 for both programs. In addition, WGU is now offering Spouses to Graduates scholarships of $1,500 to help spouses of active duty military personnel earn a degree online in business, education, healthcare, or information technology.

This recent expansion of the WGU Spouses to Graduates scholarship (www.wgu.edu/militaryspouses) widens the opportunities for military spouses beyond only teacher education into three additional fields that will allow spouses a variety of future career choices.

 Because of these efforts, Western Governors University was recently named one of the Top 30 Military-Friendly Schools by Military Advanced Education Magazine. (December 2007). This honor recognizes WGU’s commitment to access and diversity of educational opportunities for both service members and their families.

WGU is working to further focus on military and military spouse education with the addition of John Gantz as new Director of Military Relations at WGU.

            Mr. Gantz has a long and deeply rooted connection to the militar  because of his tenure as Chief of Troops to Teachers for Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) from 1993through 2007, where he helped create and run the program. He also served in positions as Deputy Director and European Advisor of

DANTES, Deputy Education Director for HQ Army Forces Command,

and Education Director for HQ Army Southern European Task Force

over the last 30 years. His expertise in aiding military members and

their families is invaluable and will result in many more candidates

finding WGU as a fitting institution at which to earn their degrees

while associated with the military.

                           “I want to help broaden awareness of WGU’s unique competency- based approach, which can be a good fit for the soldier or spouse who is determined to complete a degree,” says Gantz. “I’m excited to be in the position now to help bridge the gap and bring WGU together with student candidates from the military and military spouse sectors. We have a lot to offer them, particularly for self-directed learners at a distance.”

                           Mr. Gantz is visiting military bases, especially those that are in the pilot project for the Spouse Career Advancement Initiative, a joint project of the Department of Labor and the Department of Defense, designed to provide financial support to help spouses complete their degrees. WGU is also a member of  SOC (Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges).

 

 About Western Governors University (WGU)

 WGU is the only accredited university in the U.S. offering online

 competency-based  degree programs. The private non-profit university

 was founded and is supported by 19 governors, as well as more than

 20 leading corporations and foundations, which include corporations

 and foundations such as AT & T, Bearing Point, Dell, Bill and

 Melinda Gates Foundation, Hewlett-Packard, HCA, Microsoft, Oracle,

 Qwest, SunGard SCT, Sun Microsystems, and Zions Bank. WGU

 offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, information

 technology, teacher education, and health professions, with students in

 all 50 states. More information is available at  www.wgu.edu.

Looking for Vets

There is a court reporter & interview transcriber. She is working on an awesome project to interview / transcribe stories especially from WWI and WWII veterans to publish for the Library of Congress. They are happy to interview any veterans from foreign war, but she is focusing on WWI & WWII due to the fact that this generation’s age. I am helping her look for veterans to interview and students to do the interviewing. She suggests that the students be at least the age of Sophomores or older due to potential graphic content of the stories.

If you know of any veterans who would like to be interviewed or have contacts to schools/students/organizations who would be interested, please let me know & I’ll hook you up with her.

Email Jen at  weisjen@charter.net

Hope Rides Alone

Sgt. Jeffers was a strong soldier and talented writer. He died in Iraq on September 19, 2007. He was a loving husband, brother and son. His service was more than this country could ever grasp - but the least you can do for the man who sacrificed his life for you is listen to what he had to say. Listen up and pay attention to all of the Cindy Sheehans and Al Frankens of the world. To MSNBC, CNN, and CBS. To all who call themselves Americans

Hope Rides Alone.

By Eddie Jeffers

I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods.

My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others.

I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again. And yet, I too, am just a boy….my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead. I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid… because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and……..it is always there. There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own…but that are necessary for survival. I’ve made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this.

Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets… who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not. And to think, I volunteered for this… And I am ignorant to the rest of the world…or so I thought. But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn’t fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.

I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home. I use the words boys and girls, because that’s what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.

People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or, at least I hope they are. They don’t realize its effects on this war. In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy’s brutality because it’s against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward’s war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation’s news outlets.

And every day, the enemy changes…only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society… and they are becoming our enemy.

The Senate Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word “quagmire” around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war. Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the Internet… and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed…for doing their job.

It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we’ve done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It’s all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.

America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It’s not like World War Two, where people rationed food, and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a service member, it’s life as usual…the war doesn’t affect you. But it affects us. And when it is over, and the troops come home, and they try to piece together what’s left of them after their service…where will the detractors be then?

Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can’t touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.

We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped, and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause, and see it to its end.

But the country must unite in this endeavor…we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It’s supporting our President, our troops and our cause. Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn’t. Let’s stop all the political nonsense, let’s stop all the bickering, let’s stop all the bad news, and let’s stand and fight!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie’s father, David Jeffers, writes:

I’m not sure how many letters or articles you’ve ever read from the genre of “News from the Front,” but this is one of the best I’ve ever read, including all of America’s wars.

As I was reading this, I forgot that it was my son who had written it. My emotions range from great pride to great sorrow, knowing that my little boy (22 years old) has become this man.

He is my hero.

God bless.

Though Eddie is no longer with us, you can help to let his voice be heard. And pass his words on to others…

HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE MILITARY THERE WOULD BE NO AMERICA

Say Thank You

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

I thought this was very cool!

Wounded Warriors to Serve at Merchant Marine Academy

 
Secretary Peters Announces Plan to Benefit Veterans, Midshipmen

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters announced today that U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point (USMMA) will be opened to U.S. Navy and Marine Corps veterans recovering from combat injuries for assignment. The Academy, located on Long Island, New York, will provide an opportunity for wounded sailors and Marines to continue active duty as they recuperate from their injuries in a setting that is relatively close to their homes and families. Students at the Academy will benefit through interaction with veterans with recent combat experience, she added.

Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton, along with Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter and Representative Gene Taylor (4th-MS), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces, joined together to develop the new program. The participating veterans will be eligible for light duty assignments at Kings Point, such as classroom instruction and student mentoring, under the Navy’s Safe Harbor Program and the Marine Corps’ Wounded Warrior Regiment.

“Our wounded sailors and Marines can bring home the ideals of courage, service, and personal sacrifice and their experience will provide inspiration to the Academy’s cadets,” Secretary Peters said.

Administrator Connaughton agreed, adding, “We will be honored to welcome these heroes to Kings Point. It will provide them a safe haven for recovery, and provides the benefit of their knowledge and experience for the faculty and staff, as well as the midshipmen.”

Chairman Taylor, who made the formal request to the Navy, said, “Our wounded veterans want very much to continue to contribute in a meaningful way. This gives them the opportunity to do so. Being surrounded by enthusiastic young people can only speed their recovery. I commend Secretary Winter for his continued dedication to ensure our wounded sailors and Marines are given the best chance at a full recovery.”

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, is operated by the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration. It trains men and women for service in the merchant marine, and all graduates are required to serve either in the U.S. maritime industry or in the U.S. Armed Forces