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Showing posts with label Soldiers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soldiers. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Afghanistan can no longer be ignored
The Taliban Strikes BackMonday 21 July 2008 by: Gary Brecher, AlterNet
After six years of ignoring Afghanistan, things have gotten bad enough to force American officials to pay attention. For the past two months, U.S. casualties in Afghanistan have been higher than in Iraq. And on July 13, Afghanistan definitely got everybody's attention when nine U.S. troops were killed in what Wikipedia is now officially calling "The Battle of Wanat." Three days after the battle, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the U.S.-dominated military force running the country, announced it's abandoning Wanat completely.
The outpost that the United States had just set up in Wanat was supposed to disrupt Taliban supply lines from Pakistan. Instead, it became a tempting target for the local guerrillas, just like hundreds of other remote forward bases in other rural guerrilla wars from Southeast Asia to Algeria. Guerrillas usually avoid open combat with conventional forces, but when they do attack in force it's usually against the smaller, more vulnerable forward bases. The Wanat base was a very tempting target because it was still under construction.
It's not so easy to be sure what actually happened in the battle there on July 13 . . .
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Soldiers have dramatic emotional changes
"We're Going to Be Paying For This For a While": Soldiers Bring the War Home
By Jill Carroll, Christian Science Monitor. Posted July 16, 2008.
When veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan bring their troubles home, police and judges often are the first to deal with them
During 21 years in the Marine Corps, Jeff Johnson saw young adults walk into his recruiting office and newly minted marines walk out of boot camp just a few months later. Now working at the other end of that pipeline at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, he sees far different, troubling changes in those coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The changes were dramatic. I'd never seen these kinds of changes in people," says Mr. Johnson of those wrestling with the mental and physical trauma of war.
The once upstanding service members were getting arrested for domestic violence and bar fights, and being pursued by police as they raced along streets at 100 miles per hour -- often with drugs or alcohol involved -- seeking to replicate the adrenaline rush of combat or to commit suicide by motorcycle or police bullets.
He was moved to action, creating a presentation about the mental injuries of war for police and other first responders, usually the ones called when a veteran hits bottom.
A year later, he's delivered his message more times than he can count and he's been in demand from police departments across the country, hungry to prepare for what they worry is a coming surge of mentally injured veterans.
"A lot of them were getting in trouble with police. If [the police] know what resources are out there then they can funnel them into that," says Johnson, who has one son who is an Iraq veteran and another entering the service.
Police departments, veterans groups, and individuals from California to Colorado to Massachusetts are taking similar steps. At the other end of the criminal justice system, a "treatment court" in Buffalo, N.Y., dedicated to veterans opened this year.
The flurry of action is spurred by numbers like these: Some 40,000 cases of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were diagnosed by the military among troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003 to 2007. The Rand Corp. estimates 300,000 troops are suffering from PTSD from those wars. Many mental-health experts expect those trends to continue, or even worsen, as the wars go on.
Police Sgt. George Masson in Riverside, Calif. -- home to many military families and near several bases -- shares those concerns. When he began his career in 1980, he encountered many troubled Vietnam War veterans. Almost 30 years later, those early experiences weigh on him.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Sergeant Masson. "We're going to be paying for this for a while."
He helped organize a large, multi-agency training session this year focused on handling troubled veterans. Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton role-played such scenarios as hostage taking and suicide attempts. They invited mental health experts and combat veterans who suffered from traumatic stress to lecture.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Police Department's crisis intervention team has added a segment on veterans to its training, says public information officer Sgt. Wilfred Williams.
Updated statistics are few, but a 2004 US Department of Justice report found 10 percent of all state and federal prisoners had served in the military, mainly during the Vietnam era. But about 4 percent were Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
the rest
By Jill Carroll, Christian Science Monitor. Posted July 16, 2008.
When veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan bring their troubles home, police and judges often are the first to deal with them
During 21 years in the Marine Corps, Jeff Johnson saw young adults walk into his recruiting office and newly minted marines walk out of boot camp just a few months later. Now working at the other end of that pipeline at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, he sees far different, troubling changes in those coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The changes were dramatic. I'd never seen these kinds of changes in people," says Mr. Johnson of those wrestling with the mental and physical trauma of war.
The once upstanding service members were getting arrested for domestic violence and bar fights, and being pursued by police as they raced along streets at 100 miles per hour -- often with drugs or alcohol involved -- seeking to replicate the adrenaline rush of combat or to commit suicide by motorcycle or police bullets.
He was moved to action, creating a presentation about the mental injuries of war for police and other first responders, usually the ones called when a veteran hits bottom.
A year later, he's delivered his message more times than he can count and he's been in demand from police departments across the country, hungry to prepare for what they worry is a coming surge of mentally injured veterans.
"A lot of them were getting in trouble with police. If [the police] know what resources are out there then they can funnel them into that," says Johnson, who has one son who is an Iraq veteran and another entering the service.
Police departments, veterans groups, and individuals from California to Colorado to Massachusetts are taking similar steps. At the other end of the criminal justice system, a "treatment court" in Buffalo, N.Y., dedicated to veterans opened this year.
The flurry of action is spurred by numbers like these: Some 40,000 cases of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were diagnosed by the military among troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003 to 2007. The Rand Corp. estimates 300,000 troops are suffering from PTSD from those wars. Many mental-health experts expect those trends to continue, or even worsen, as the wars go on.
Police Sgt. George Masson in Riverside, Calif. -- home to many military families and near several bases -- shares those concerns. When he began his career in 1980, he encountered many troubled Vietnam War veterans. Almost 30 years later, those early experiences weigh on him.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Sergeant Masson. "We're going to be paying for this for a while."
He helped organize a large, multi-agency training session this year focused on handling troubled veterans. Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton role-played such scenarios as hostage taking and suicide attempts. They invited mental health experts and combat veterans who suffered from traumatic stress to lecture.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Police Department's crisis intervention team has added a segment on veterans to its training, says public information officer Sgt. Wilfred Williams.
Updated statistics are few, but a 2004 US Department of Justice report found 10 percent of all state and federal prisoners had served in the military, mainly during the Vietnam era. But about 4 percent were Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.
the rest
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Response From Tripler Army Hospital
Tripler Begins a new Warrior Transitioning Program - (hoping for the best!)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Iraq War Documentaries
THE OIL FACTOR: BEHIND THE WAR ON TERROR (2005)
"After assessing today's dwindling oil reserves and skyrocketing use of oil for fuels, plastics and chemicals, "The Oil Factor" questions the motives for the U.S. wars in the Middle-East and Central Asia where 3/4 of the world's oil and natural gas is located."
A COMPANY OF SOLDIERS (2004)
"In "A Company of Soldiers," Frontline reports from inside the U.S. Army's 8th Cavalry Regiment stationed in Baghdad for an up-close, intimate look at the dangers facing an American military unit in Iraq. Shot in the weeks following the U.S. presidential election, the film tracks the day-to-day challenges facing the 8th Cavalry's Dog Company as it suddenly has to cope with a dramatic increase in attacks by insurgents." -washingtonpost.com
NO END IN SIGHT (2007)
"Chronological look at the fiasco in Iraq, especially decisions made in the spring of 2003 - and the backgrounds of those making decisions - immediately following the overthrow of Saddam: no occupation plan, an inadequate team to run the country, insufficient troops to keep order, and three edicts from the White House announced by Bremmer when he took over: no provisional Iraqi government, de-Ba'athification, and disbanding the Iraqi armed services. The film has chapters (from History to Consequences), and the talking heads are reporters, academics, soldiers, military brass, and former Bush-administration officials, including several who were in Baghdad in 2003."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED (2004)
"This guy has a lot of balls and curiousity. He takes a video camera and an interpreter to the major conflict areas of Iraq and shows what the average citizen and the extremists believe and what the US soldiers are facing day-to-day. Unadulterated realism. Highly recommended."
THE LOST YEAR IN IRAQ (2006)
"Weeks after the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, ambassador L. Paul Bremer and a group of administrators went to Iraq with the goal of establishing a democracy. One year later Bremer left, but a growing insurgency and broken economy have continued to pose a challenge to U.S. troops and the young Iraqi government." -washingtonpost.com
THE FIFTH ESTATE : THE LIES THAT LED TO WAR
"Since the US-led invasion four years ago, the fifth estate has covered Iraq and the war on terror from virtually every angle--the military, media, intelligence, politics--revealing aspects of the story that you didn't find anywhere else. Now, as the White House warns about the latest threat in the region, this time from Iran, it's worthwhile looking back to examine the deception, suspect intelligence, even lies, that convinced the world of the rightness of targeting Saddam Hussein."
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for TBI
A patient at the Hyperbaric Medicine Center read the recently published Honolulu Weekly article on Military Veteran Stephen Imamoto, and immediately brought the article to the attention of Helen McCracken, nurse and owner with husband Alfred, of the Hyperbaric Medicine Center in Honolulu, one of 20 hyperbaric therapy centers in the United States.
The patient wanted Stephen Imamoto and others suffering from TBI (traumatic brain injury) to know about how the Hyperbaric Chamber can help them. So Helen contacted me, and after a very interesting discussion with her, I started doing some research on hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which I will continue persuing in the hope this non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical therapy can help our many Veterans.
Dr. Paul Harch, Emergency Medicine Specialist, Director of the LSU Health Sciences Center's Hyperbaric Medicine Fellowship Program.
The Oxygen Revolution is the definitive guide to the miracle of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, from a pioneer in the field.
There's nothing more valuable than oxygen, and The Oxygen Revolution is your owner's manual
May 2, 2007 David M. Freels
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) can save us millions of heartaches and billions of dollars. Read The Oxygen Revolution, and you'll understand how HBOT can save our very lives and the lives of our loved ones.
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