WWII Veteran attacked at Oklahoma Veterans Center

Oklahoma veteran attacked in Claremore Center
KFOR News 4
BY ALI MEYER
JULY 25, 2014

CLAREMORE, Okla. – There are more than 300,000 veterans in Oklahoma, and seven state-run facilities for those vets in their golden years.

The family of one veteran recently contacted NewsChannel 4 after a horrific situation at the vet center in Claremore, Oklahoma.

Seaman First Class Richard Morrison enlisted in the Navy when he was just 15 years old.

He fought World War II in the Pacific and today fights a different battle; dementia.

His family noticed about a year and a half ago that he was showing signs of Alzheimer’s and needed help.

Morrison’s family tried live-in nursing care for almost two years.

They eventually decided his best option was the Claremore Veterans’ Center.

He had been here just five weeks when he was attacked by another resident in the dementia wing.

Richard Morrison’s case is just the latest in a string of complaints out of the Claremore Veterans’ Center in recent years. In fact, conditions were so bad at Claremore a few years ago the state legislature asked the State Health Department to step in. The state now conducts regular, unannounced visits to all the vet centers around the state.
read more here

Bad outcome:Awareness up, spending up and so are military suicides

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 26, 2014

In 2009 I was able to figure out that Comprehensive Soldier Fitness would increase military suicides.

"If you promote this program the way Battlemind was promoted, count on the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides to go up instead of down. It's just one more deadly mistake after another and just as dangerous as sending them into Iraq without the armor needed to protect them."

Finally the reduction of military personnel is being factored in on the suicide reports like this.

After years of attempting to prevent suicides, these numbers are more proof it isn't working. One more factor to include in this is there are less serving this year than last year. According to the DOD Army 537,135 April 2013 went down to 518,576 April 2014. Marines had a decrease from 194,703 to 191,599 and the Air Force went from 334,255 to 329,979. The Navy had an increase from 318,999 to 323,788. But why include the other side of the numbers that do in fact matter?

When you think of the design of the Capitol it is totally appropriate it is a huge circle. Members of Congress keep running around and arriving right back at the same place others started.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Over and over again members of Congress come up with Bills to address suicides but other than doing a lot of talking, they simply repeat what has already failed. The military is just as guilty. How is it that no one has been held accountable for the billions spent each year when the result has been more suicides and less recovering?

How is it that Generals like Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno got away with blaming soldiers and their families for suicides and was not ever forced to apologize for what he apparently believes?

"First, inherently what we do is stressful. Why do I think some people are able to deal with stress differently than others? There are a lot of different factors. Some of it is just personal make-up. Intestinal fortitude. Mental toughness that ensures that people are able to deal with stressful situations."

"But it also has to do with where you come from. I came from a loving family, one who gave lots of positive reinforcement, who built up psychologically who I was, who I am, what I might want to do. It built confidence in myself, and I believe that enables you to better deal with stress. It enables you to cope more easily than maybe some other people."

What exactly would he say to veterans after they survived? What would he say to all the Medal of Honor Heroes talking openly about their own issues with PTSD and thinking about suicide? What would he say to Dakota Meyer's face after he did in fact try to kill himself with a gun put up to his head and he pulled the trigger not knowing his Dad removed the bullets?

No one has been held accountable for any of this and we got excuses while families were forced to plan funerals instead of retirements. Think the problem in the VA is bad with claims and wait times for appointments? Then think of this other fact. Senator Joe Donnelly said, "43 percent of service members who committed suicide never sought help. He says trying to combat the problem of military and veteran suicide needs to involve erasing the stigma of seeking help." avoiding the fact that also means 57% committed suicide after seeking help. Next time you read a report on the over 22 veterans a day ending their own lives remember that fact. Next time you read a story on servicemembers committing suicide think of the rest of what you read. If you were not already pissed off then you were not paying attention!

Number of military suicides showing uptick
By Patricia Kime
Staff writer
July 25, 2014

The number of military suicides so far this year is running slightly higher than for the same time frame last year, but without the context of force reductions, the raw data say little about current suicide trends in the armed services.

This year, the four services have seen 162 confirmed or suspected suicides — 151 among active-duty troops and 11 among reserve component members — through July 20, according to Pentagon documents obtained by Military Times.

The Navy and Air Force both had an uptick in suicides, while the Army and Marine Corps are down from their 2013 year-to-date numbers.

In the same period last year, there were 160 total deaths by suicide across the four services. In 2012, there were 209.

While the numbers appear to signal a reversal of the decline in military suicides in 2013 compared to the year before, the breadth of the change, if any, will be determined when the Defense Department calculates the current incidence rate of suicide — a measure that weighs the number of suicides against the number of personnel serving.

The most recent rates published by the Pentagon show that in 2013, the incident rate among active duty personnel was 18.7 per 100,000. In 2012, it was 22.7 per 100,000 — the highest it has been since DoD began closely tracking the data in 2002.

A current incidence rate was not included in the 2014 year-to-date suicide report. The figure is challenging to calculate, since it is based on the number of troops on active duty as well as the number of mobilized Guard and reserve troops — numbers that fluctuate as service members train and move between active and reserve status.

Of the 162 confirmed or suspected suicides to date this year for both the active and reserve components, the service breakdown is Army, 71; Air Force, 34; Marine Corps, 21; and Navy, 36.

This time last year, the figures were Army, 85; Air Force, 25; Marine Corps, 26; and Navy, 24.

The Navy is well ahead of its pace at this time last year and in fact is already closing in on its total of 43 for all of 2013.
read more here

Veteran died soon after release from hospital called "suspicious"

Deputies investigating Mercer County veteran's 'suspicious' death
WKYT News
Mark Barber
Jul 26, 2014

MERCER COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - Investigators say they found a 48-year-old veteran dead in his Mercer County home Friday night.

They tell us James Price had health issues but they believe there could be more to his death.

Deputies are calling his death suspicious because they say he was alive when he left UK Hospital Friday afternoon but he was found dead not long after he was dropped off at home.

"I thought it was all very strange," said a neighbor who didn’t want to be identified.

He says he called 911 when he saw Price fall out of a Lexington taxi on South Cedar Lane about 6 p.m. Friday.

"The guy kind of fell out, he couldn't sit up, stand up or anything. The cab driver picked him up from behind and carried and dragged him into the house and laid him on a couch and left," said the neighbor.
read more here

UK:Double amputee robbed while in rehab

Burglars raid home of Afghanistan veteran who had legs blown off in roadside bomb while he was away undergoing rehab on his prosthetic legs
Daily Mail
By GEMMA MULLIN
26 July 2014

Chris Middleton, 23, pictured at Headley Court military rehab centre in Surrey where he was undergoing training on his prosthetic legs

Chris Middleton, 23, lost both his legs after bombing Helmand in 2011
Attending military rehab in Surrey when intruders broke into his home
Stole two 50-inch plasma TV's, two Mac computers and some clothing
Home was ransacked and photographs of Chris smashed in the process
Sister Gemma, 20, came home from night shift to find house devastated
She believes burglars were looking for money they may have had hidden

Burglars ransacked the home of a double amputee Afghanistan veteran while he was at a military rehabilitation centre adapting to his prosthetics.

Chris Middleton lost his left leg above the knee and the right below the knee when he was caught in a roadside bombing in Helmand in 2011.

The 23-year-old from Syston, Leicestershire, was at Surrey's Headley Court military rehab centre when the offenders broke into his home.
read more here

Sgt Jacob Lee Hanson, Born at Fort Lewis, Died at Fort Carson

Sgt. Jacob Lee Hanson, 27
Montana Standard
July 25, 2014

Sgt. Jacob Lee Hanson, 27, was born May 20, 1987, at Fort Lewis, Wash., and died July 21, 2014, at Fort Carson, Colo.

Jake spent his younger years in Pine River, Wis., where he attended Pleasant View Elementary School. The family moved to Deer Lodge in 2000, where he graduated from Powell County High School in 2005. He attended two years at MSU Bozeman when he then decided to enlist in the Army in 2007, and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. He was selected to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 2008, where after completing three years, he chose to return to the enlisted ranks. He was then assigned to Fort Carson, Colo., HHC Brigade, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team 4th Infantry attaining the rank of sergeant.

On July 13, 2013, he married his sweetheart, Jessica Fjermestad. Jake was a kind, loving husband, son and friend. He would do anything for anyone.
read more here

PTSD Vietnam Veteran Long Way to see "Brother"

Friendship forged in combat: Two Vietnam War veterans reunite in Fayetteville
Fayobserver
By Drew Brooks Military editor
Posted: Friday, July 25, 2014

Their friendship was forged in combat.

But for the last nearly 50 years, Larry Moore and Thurman P. Woodfork had each assumed the other was dead.

Today in Fayetteville, the two men reunited for the first time since serving together on a small outpost in Vietnam.

Woodfork, who lives in Washington, D.C., was greeted at Fayetteville Regional Airport this morning by Moore, who lives locally.

The two veterans embraced, then exchanged pins for hats that denote their service.

Despite age and a few extra pounds, each man said the other resembled their old self.

"It's pretty fantastic," Woodfork said of seeing Moore.

Ahead of the reunion, a near-giddy Moore said he was anxiously awaiting his old friend.

A veteran of Special Forces, the former Green Beret credited long-delayed treatment for post-traumatic stress for making the day possible. In his darker days, Moore said he couldn't imagine seeing his old friend.

He said 18 months in combat in Vietnam made him wary of people.
read more here

Paralyzed veteran beaten and robbed causes international reaction of love

Paralyzed Marine thrown out of wheelchair, customized surfboards stolen
KUSI News San Diego
By John Soderman
Posted: Jul 25, 2014

When asked his reaction to the outbreak of love and compassion generated by his story, Abbott is visibly shaken.

"When I have people who don't even know me and they call me from Hawaii, Australia and France and say 'Hey, just get back in the water and surf and you're gonna be ok. We love you buddy!' That means a lot to me."

The following story is generating an outpouring of compassion and support across San Diego and around the world. It's the story of a paralyzed Marine, assaulted and thrown out of his wheelchair by two suspects who stole his customized surfboards in Oceanside.

Randy Abbott gets around in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. But that hasn't prevented him from surfing three or four times a week. You see, it wasn't that long ago doctors told him he would never surf again after a back surgery went terribly wrong.

After spending fourteen years as a Marine Corps recon scout sniper, Abbott's body got pretty banged up. When he got out of the service he needed back surgery. But during that surgery his spinal cord ended up getting accidentally severed, leaving him paralyzed.

But Abbott turned his tragedy into a triumph, opening a surf camp for kids with disabilities. After all, he was able to get back into the water himself because of specially designed surfboards. Surfboards that ended up getting stolen Monday night after two thugs assaulted Abbott, leaving him with cuts and scrapes after they threw him out of his wheelchair.

"One guy was cutting the straps and I said 'Hey, I'm paralyzed, don't steal my surfboards!'" said Abbott. "And then the other guy came at me and took a swing at me, and I took a swing at him. He missed, and I connected. I caught him with a pretty good uppercut."

"The guy that was cutting the straps had come around behind me, and threw me out of my wheelchair, and then kicked my wheelchair and it rolled probably 50 feet down the parking lot. Then they threw my surfboards in the back of their (Toyota) 4Runner and took off."
read more here

Iraq Veteran wanted ashes scattered in Iraq before suicide

There are not many sites I trust on Facebook. Facebook 22 Too Many is one I have no doubts about. I was just updating Veterans Wounded Times when I spotted this from 22 Too Many.

Horror Of PTSD Puts One Marine Mom On A Mission Of Mercy "Brandon told his mother, ominously, that when he died, he wanted his dust scattered in Iraq, because he had already died there anyway."

"Brandon Meyers, a Marine with all the right “Semper Fi” stuff and with two tours of war to his credit, “this whole dream that he had became a nightmare,” said Wendy."

We can talk all we want about veterans and what is happening to them because the VA was not able to take care of all our veterans, but that avoids talking about the simple fact that not all of our over 22 million veterans go to the VA. We can talk all we want about how PTSD veterans do not get treated on time and how 43% do not seek help for it from the VA before committing suicide, but that avoids talking about how 57% committed suicide after seeking help. We can talk about how the VA was not prepared to treat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, but then we avoid talking about how they were not prepared after the Gulf War, Vietnam, Korea, WWII and WWI.

We can talk about the failures of President after President but then we avoid talking about how congress has failed to do their jobs for decades.

We manage to avoid talking about so much but the biggest thing we will not talk about is how we have allowed all of this to happen over and over again.

Brandon ended his pain with a bullet into his head. Over 21 others died that day by their own hands because we let all of this happen.

Attempted murder charges filed by Navy after stabbing

Charges filed in stabbing at Navy barracks
ABC 27 News
Posted: Jul 25, 2014

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The Navy has filed charges against one of its sailors for repeatedly stabbing another in a barracks near a naval hospital.

The Navy said Friday that Petty Officer 3rd Class Wilbur Harwell is charged with attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon.
read more here

After 5 suicide attempts Veteran with PTSD and TBI saved by center facing closure

Clinic treating Oklahoma veterans for PTSD in danger of closing
Patriot Clinic officials say they will be forced to close if they don't raise funds quickly
KOCO News
By Erielle Reshef
Jul 25, 2014

OKLAHOMA CITY —A center that uses a hyperbaric chamber to treat Oklahoma veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries is out of money.

Patriot Clinic officials said Friday that if they don’t raise funds quickly, they will be forced to close the center’s doors.

Chris Gregg, director of the clinic, served two tours of duty.

“I was in the first Gulf War; disarmed explosives,” he said. “I was EOD, landmines, package bombs, car bombs that type of thing.”

The horrors of war have haunted him ever since, taking a dramatic toll.

“I've been hospitalized five times for (attempted) suicide,” he said.

After receiving hyperbaric therapy at the Patriot Clinic in southwest Oklahoma City, he said, it changed his outlook and eased the emotional trauma.

“I was alive a couple months ago. I wasn't living at all, you know?” he said. “The fact that I'm able to enjoy my daughters – it's a big difference.”
read more here


Warning:Video includes combat footage on explosions.
Published on Jul 4, 2012
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Stroke and Concussions. Includes Doctor and Patient Testimonials.

Congress had 68 years to fix the VA

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 26, 2014

The House Veterans Affairs Committee was first seated in 1946. Among their duties was to ensure our veterans had whatever they needed to recover after putting their lives on the line for this entire nation. 68 years later members of Congress accepted no responsibility for what happened to veterans.

Representatives and Senators want to pretend everything they have been hearing about veterans issues are all news to them. How dumb do they think we are? We know veterans have been calling their offices, reporters have been covering the news in their districts and we also know they have been getting an earful during their campaign stops to get support for their political life.

It has been their job to know and fix it.

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives was authorized by enactment of Public Law 601, 79th Congress, which was entitled "Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946." Section 121(a) of this Act provides: "there shall be elected by the House at the commencement of each Congress the following standing committees": Nineteen Committees are listed and No. 18 quotes: "Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to consist of 27 Members." This Act has since been amended so that there are now 22 Standing Committees in the House of Representatives. The number of Members (Representatives) authorized to serve on each Committee has been changed from time to time. There are currently 29 members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs is the authorizing Committee for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Committee recommends legislation expanding, curtailing, or fine-tuning existing laws relating to veterans' benefits. The Committee also has oversight responsibility, which means monitoring and evaluating the operations of the VA. If the Committee finds the that VA is not administering laws as Congress intended, then it is "corrected" through the hearing process and legislation. We are the voice of Congress for veterans in dealings with the VA.

You read the details on Congressional VA failures on Wounded Times all the time but they are so detached from reality they may actually believe they have gotten away with it. Last night on The Rachel Maddow Show it was made very clear too many of these people, elected to do their jobs, just show up to get a paycheck and free healthcare.

RACHEL MADDOW 07/25/14 Will do-nothing Congress do nothing on VA?

Senator Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about whether this Congress, arguably the worst Congress ever, has the ability to pass a badly-needed bill addressing the needs of veterans and the V.A.

Bernie Sanders, Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is right about treating veterans should always be considered a price associated with what it costs to send troops into combat. So how is it that members of Congress have been able to get away with whining about not having enough money in the budget to take care of our veterans? How is it they think the other part of their job, in control over what the VA doesn't do as much as what they do do, is not their responsibility?

They got away with it because no matter how much our veterans are loved in this country, voters are no longer interested in the best and brightest serving them. They are no longer interested in voting on the issues. What is worse about most of us is the fact we hold none of them accountable for anything they fail to do.

This country is in deep trouble but the one obligation we have, no matter what part of the country we live in, is to take care of our veterans. They risk their lives, put up with extreme hardships in our name and suffer for the rest of their lives after being wounded or disabled. Widows and orphans mourn the loss of someone they love and then have to face needing this nation to step up for their sake.

They do all of this with political ideals in the proper ranking far behind what their buddy needs up to and including them to take a bullet to save their lives. Members of our congress are too cowardly to take on their own party for the sake of veterans and stand up for them.

That is the biggest shame of all. If they fail veterans, what else are they willing to sacrifice for some political game?

Combat and PTSD 100 years of research leaves leaders still clueless

100 years after a psychiatrist undertook battlefield mental health we have arrived at a time and place where there has never been more money spent on Combat and PTSD and never more suffering. That is a devastating indictment for all of us. Less serving in the military but suicides are up?

"English Professor at Dickinson College, Wendy Moffat is writing the biography of Doctor Thomas Salmon, a civilian psychiatrist who voluntarily went to the front during WWI to study, diagnose and treat mentally broken soldiers. He's the first U.S. Army psychiatrist and the first to recognize PTSD."

Published on Jul 23, 2014
Thomas W. Salmon was the first American military psychiatrist and a pioneer for mental health research during World War I. In this video, his story is told by Dickinson College Professor of English Wendy Moffat. Moffat is a biographer and social historian of the modern period in America and Europe.

Special thanks to Camille Fife-Salmon and the Salmon family for permission to use photographs.

Wisconsin Iraq Veteran Hero Firefighter Killed in Car Crash

Eagle firefighter, veteran killed in crash
WISN.Com
By Mike Anderson
July 24, 2014

WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. —Two communities are mourning an Iraq veteran and an Eagle Fire Department hero.

The Eagle Fire Department is draped with black and purple bunting, and its flags are lowered to half staff. It's a symbol of mourning for the family of Lt. Jed Ellenson who died Tuesday night.

"Jed was hired in 2009. It was shortly after he got out of the U. S. Marine Corps. He served two tours in Iraq, and he really found his niche and his calling once he joined our organization," Eagle Fire Department Chief Justin Heim said.

Ellenson was on the job about a year when the town was hit by a 125-130 mph tornado. His Iraq training was a lifesaver in the community.

"He was out there helping folks and doing what needed to be done and even since then," Heim said.

Ellenson's pickup truck slammed into a tree in his hometown of Mukwonago.
read more here

Vietnam Veteran once paralyzed walks to wed

Love’s ‘double delight’
Longtime couple weds at rehabilitation center that aided groom
Boston Globe
By Derek J. Anderson
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
JULY 25, 2014

When Dennis O’Brien was admitted to a rehabilitation center in Roslindale six weeks ago, he was caught in a nightmare: diagnosed with a rare disorder and paralyzed from the neck down.

But on Thursday afternoon, life took a dramatic turn for the 66-year-old Vietnam veteran. O’Brien, able to walk now and standing with only a cane in the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, married his longtime girlfriend Dorothy K. Smith in front of family, friends, and staff.

“It was a double delight,” said O’Brien, who was discharged the same day. “We had a marriage today, and I got to walk out the door when we were finished.”

O’Brien was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder that causes the body’s immune system to attack the nerves.
read more here