I can’t quit thinking about Iraq combat vet Jesse Huff and his recent suicide. Because this happened in my old hometown of Dayton, Ohio, it especially “hits home.” I believe his story needs to be explored, so I am posting more on him today.
I have relatives working at the Dayton VA, and I know how much it must hurt to know this young soldier saw no way out of his pain, but to literally “blow his brains out,” on the VA campus. Continue reading 'More on the Suicide of Iraq Combat Vet Jesse Huff'»
From an article in The Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, we learn of another combat vet suicide. Jesse Huff, a 27-year-old honorably discharged soldier, suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and from physical injuries from a roadside bomb in Iraq. He had been living with chronic, severe pain in his lower back and legs.
His sister, Heather Lake, said “He was truly depressed, because he wanted nothing more than to be in the military.”
Huff arrived at the emergency room at the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center around 1 a.m. April 16th, and sought immediate help because he was “paranoid someone was after him” according to Scott Labensky, the father of Jesse’s half-brother Dalton. Continue reading 'Iraq Army Combat Vet Commits Suicide on the Steps of the VA’s Patient Tower'»
While visiting the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association website, I found some eye-opening statistics: As of 12-16-2009:
- Total Number of Veterans Deployed to Southeast Asia at the End of the Vietnam War:
OVER 3, 403,100!!
- Total Number “in-country” (boots on the ground) 2, 594,000.
- Total Number “off-shore” Blue Water Navy: 514,300.
- Current estimate of Vietnam Veterans still living: (less than) 850,000.
- Total Number of Vietnam Era Veterans Receiving Compensation: 1,015,410.
- Total Number of Vietnam War Veterans Who Died Between 2000 and 2007: 490,135.
- Potential Number of “off-shore” Vietnam War Vets Still Living: 168,525.
- Potential Number of TLC (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia) Still Living: 96,600.
From everything I’ve been able to find, many Blue Water Vietnam Veterans are still fighting to get benefits for their exposure to Agent Orange. It seems they are fighting an uphill battle in these times of tight budgets. This is an injustice of huge proportions. I found the numbers of Vietnam Veterans who died between the years 2000 and 2007, to be staggering. Continue reading 'Some Interesting Statistics on Vietnam Veterans'»
In an article by William R. Levesque, he writes that a bill in Congress provides a seemingly straightforward answer to a question that has vexed tens of thousands of Americans who served in the U.S. military.
Who is a Vietnam veteran?
The answer is vitally important to Navy personnel who served in Vietnam’s territorial waters. For now, the Dept. of Veterans Affairs definition of a Vietnam veteran does not include these men and women.
Legislation introduced in the House would change that, clearing the way for Navy veterans to get disability payments and free health care for ailments linked to the herbicide Agent Orange, from type II diabetes to a variety of cancers. Continue reading 'Navy Vietnam Veterans Seek Equal Benefits'»
In a January 19th, 2010 article by Bart Jansen, we learn that Florida veterans are urging Congress to shorten the backlog for disability claims and to eliminate an overlap in survivors benefits.
Veterans are particularly wary of cuts in Medicare for the elderly and disabled that could ripple through the military health-care system called TRICARE for troops, their dependents and retirees. These are among the top concerns that advocacy groups will raise at a roundtable with the House Veterans Affairs Committee in Wahsington.
Florida is second only to California as a home for veterans with 1.9 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Brevard County has 77,169 veterans, Lee County 66,081, Escambia 38,510 and Leon 20, 561, according to 2008 Census figures. Continue reading 'Florida Veterans Advocacy Group Looks For Help'»
There is some hopeful news in an article by Jamie Reno, published in Veterans Today. He writes “They are the invisible wounds of war, the battered minds and bruised spirits we have come to recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. By one estimate, more than 300,000 of the nearly two million U.S. servicemen and women deployed since 9/11 suffer from the often -debilitating condition, with symptoms that include flashbacks and nightmares, emotional numbness, relationship problems, trouble sleeping, sudden anger and drug and alcohol abuse.”
Reno notes that the number of cases of PTSD is expected to climb as the war in Afghanistan continues, and could ultimately exceed 500,000, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University. Mental health experts say PTSD is the primary reason suicides in the military are at an all-time high; 256 sodiers took their own lives in 2008, the highest number since that data was first tracked, in 1980. Continue reading 'Changes Underway at the VA May Mean Better Treatment for Thousands of Veterans with PTSD'»
Combat Vet Resources, PTSD Treatment and Research
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In an article by Kurt Schauppner, he writes of the bill that was signed in California. “In front of Vietnam veterans and active-duty Marines, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law an assembly bill calling for March 30 of every year to be known as “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” in California.
One of the Vietnam veterans in attendance was Andy Grow, who served in the Navy from 1961 to 1970 and served in Vietnam in 1963 and 1965. “We didn’t get a very nice welcome when we came home and we were pretty angry about it. All we were doing was trying to liberate those people from the communists and we were the bad guys.”
Creation of “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day”, Grow says, acknowledges that they were not the bad guys. “If they have parades, I will go to the parades and celebrate that we made it.” Continue reading '“Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” is Now a Reality'»
Part Two:
More thoughts from Richard Danielson’s article “They Wage a War Far from the Battlefield”:
To count as PTSD, the symptoms such as nightmares, insomnia, or flashbacks, must have lasted more than a month, and must have hurt the patient’s ability to function at work or in relationships. A key factor in the diagnosis is being directly exposed to a traumatic event. This wasn’t the case with psychologist Sunich’s patient, a wife of a deployed soldier.
Tom Berger, a senior analyst for veterans benefits and mental health issues for the Vietnam Vets of America notes, “There’s a lot of research to show that partners and spouses and kids suffer from secondary PTSD.”
A 2005 study of the fmilies of Dutch peacekeepers found that partners of soldiers with PTSD symptoms reported more trouble sleeping and marital problems than partners of soldiers with no symptoms. Dr. Carri-Ann Gibson, director of the PTSD and trauma recovery program at James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, Florida, says “If somebody is with you and they’re constantly hypervigilant … you can sometimes take on that kind of anxiety.” Continue reading 'Military Spouses and Secondary Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder'»
Part One:
In an article by Richard Danielson, he writes of an interview with psychologist Michael Sunich. Sunich had a new patient come in one day. She looked so “put together” with her collar-length bob, dark blazer and big diamond ring. She made a good first impression.
Yet within minutes, he saw she was anything but. She wrung her hands and cried easily, recalling nightmares and panic attacks. Six months before, her soldier-husband had returned from a 16-month deployment to Iraq. He was unhurt and untroubled. But she was a wreck. Continue reading 'Spouses of Soldiers Deployed Often Exhibit Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder'»
An article by Randy Dotinga, looks into the findings of a Yale Study on the effects of war on men, the homefront, and society. He writes, “Two decades after the Vietnam War, a new study concludes that male veterans who spent time in combat were more than four times as likely as other men to engage in domestic violence.”
The Yale University researchers also found that combat vets were at much higher risk for divorce, depression, and unemployment. Co-author Holly G. Prigerson, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale notes that the findings are striking. “Being exposed to and witnessing these horrible things puts you at risk of a lot of bad outcomes for a long time.”
The combat vets were 4.4 times more likely to have abused a spouse or partner than other men, and were 6.4 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. They were also two to three times more likely to suffer from depression, substance abuse, unemployment, divorce and separation. Continue reading 'Yale Study Shows Combat Vets Most Prone to Domestic Abuse'»
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Themocracy