Female Homeless Veteran Heading to Harvard University

Alicia Watkins Was A Homeless Veteran 5 Years Ago. Now She's A Student At Harvard University
(VIDEO)
Huffington Post
Posted: 03/25/2015

Alicia Watkins is a retired Air Force staff sergeant who proudly served in Iraq and Afghanistan. She risked her life for the freedom of others, survived the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, and watched her colleagues die. But it wasn't any of her combat experiences that broke Watkins' spirit; it was the fact that she retired from the military and found herself homeless.

In 2010, Watkins' allowed "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to document her life as a homeless veteran. Her "kitchen" was a cardboard box of snacks and microwavable meals. Her bed was a car that she rented for $10 a day. Her restrooms were the toilets at various airport hotels.

"It might have been different had I not seen the children and the babies. So, I decided to be on the street and put them in the room," Watkins told Oprah five years ago. "Why wouldn't I?"

Since that emotional interview, a lot has changed for Watkins, who recently sent an update to "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" In the above video, she shares a surprising truth: Until her 'Oprah Show' interview aired, Watkins' friends and family had no idea she was homeless.
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Bowe Bergdahl Charged With Desertion

Military charges Bergdahl with desertion 
CNN
By Eric Bradner, Barbara Starr and Ed Lavandera
Updated 4:00 PM ET, Wed March 25, 2015

Washington (CNN)

The U.S. military has charged Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with one count each of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, officials announced Wednesday afternoon.

Bergdahl left his post in Afghanistan before being captured and held captive for five years. For that, he faces charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in a military prison, and he could also have to forfeit pay and be stripped for his rank, Army Col. Daniel King said as he announced the charges. 

Bergdahl now faces a military procedure similar to a grand jury deciding whether charges are appropriate, King said. Then, he could face court martial proceedings.

The decision comes nearly a year after Bergdahl returned to the United States as part of a prisoner exchange and since the Army began a formal investigation into his disappearance from his unit in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009.

The Army concluded its investigation into the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture in December. Until now, it has been in the hands of Gen. Mark Milley, head of U.S. Army Forces Command, who made the decision to charge Bergdahl.

Several U.S. military officials CNN has spoken with suggested privately that the process took longer than expected. read more here

Fort Carson Doctors Increased Malpractice Insurance But Didn't Change Practice of Mistreatment

This pretty much sums up what is going on when these folks increase their malpractice insurance because soldiers were trying to "game the system" instead of caring about causing the reasons the soldiers would even have to consider it.

This just goes to add up to the simple fact the rumors we've been hearing all these years are true.

Army Finds Toxic Climate of Mistrust for Fort Carson Wounded Warriors
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
Mar 25, 2015

The Army's investigation of wounded warrior care at Fort Carson, Colo., last year found allegations of a "toxic environment" that at times pitted the command and staff against the soldiers in treatment and undergoing evaluation.

Fort Carson soldiers who received care at the Evans Army Community Hospital told Army investigators that they also received abuse as staff and unit leaders tried to force them out of the Army.

Meanwhile, doctors at Fort Carson took out extra malpractice insurance to protect themselves against liability and accused soldiers of attempting to game the system to get more benefits, according to the Article 15-6 fact-finding investigation by Army Brig. Gen. John Sullivan, the Chief of Transportation and Transportation School Commandant.

The climate of mutual suspicion was such that the Army staff sergeant whose complaints triggered the investigation secretly recorded his sessions with staff when he was warned by a Fort Carson social worker that he was being set up to be discharged without benefits for misconduct, or "chaptered out."

Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, who ordered the Fort Carson investigation, said at a meeting with Pentagon reporters last month that the issues were ultimately resolved to the staff sergeant's satisfaction and that the Fort Carson case did not indicate a "systemic" problem with Army care.

However, the Army confirmed earlier this month that a separate Article 15-6 investigation under the Uniform Code of Military justice is currently underway on new allegations of over-medication and harassment by staff at the Fort Hood Warrior Transition Unit in Texas.

Army Secretary John McHugh said earlier this month that he had met recently with Horoho and "we addressed this matter."

Last September, a congressionally mandated Pentagon advisory panel recommended that the military scrap its entire disability evaluation system.

In its final report after four years of work, the Recovering Warrior Task Force said that the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) was impeding the goals of wounded warrior programs to return soldiers to duty or ease their transition to civilian life.

"The current IDES is fundamentally flawed and DoD should replace it," the task force report said.
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Vietnam Womens Memorial Not For Playtime!

These parents should be ashamed but it is doubtful they would know why. If they understood what these memorials mean, they would have been horrified by their kids treating it like a playground area.

Vietnam Womens Memorial Foundation
Diane Carlson Evans...over 265,000 women served in the armed forces of the United States. Nearly 10,000 women in uniform actually served in-country during the conflict. They completed their tours of duty and made a difference. They gave their lives.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial was established not only to honor those women who served, but also for the families who lost loved ones in the war, so they would know about the women who provided comfort, care, and a human touch for those who were suffering and dying. The Vietnam Women’s Memorial was dedicated in 1993 as part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project was incorporated in 1984 and is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. The mission of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project is to promote the healing of Vietnam women veterans through the placement of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the grounds of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.; to identify the military and civilian women who served during the Vietnam war; to educate the public about their role; and to facilitate research on the physiological, psychological, and sociological issues correlated to their service. The Project has the support of every major veterans group in the country including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and more than 40 other diverse organizations.

In 2002 The Project changed its name to the Vietnam Women's Memorial Foundation to better reflect its mission at this time.
Diane Carlson Evans, RN
Vietnam, 1968-69
Army Nurse Corps, 1966-72

These memorials are to honor all those who lost their lives combat zones. This one is for the women who put their lives on the line in Vietnam, all volunteers, ready to die so they could save as many lives as possible.

Why should these parents understand any of this better than their children? That seems to be a good question but the better question is, why bring them there in the first place if they had no clue what these war memorials meant to the men and women these things are for?

There is a poll up with 1,669 folks voting. As it stands right now, it is 89.81% voting it was disrespectful.

Innocent or disrespectful? Picture shows kids climbing on Vietnam Women's Memorial as vets look on 
AL.com
By Crystal Bonvillian
March 24, 2015

When artist Matthew Munson visited Washington, D.C., recently, he took plenty of photos.

One photo he didn't necessarily count on was a photo of children climbing on the Vietnam Women's Memorial, located on the National Mall near the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

"There wasn't a lot of people at this point," Munson said, according to WHNT News 19, "then a big group of people showed up just as the kids were treating the memorial more like a jungle gym and the parents were laughing. Then the veterans showed up, and they looked hurt more than angry. They were quiet."
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Navy Response to ISIS Hit List Frustrates Families

Families frustrated by Navy response to Islamic State 'hit list'
By Dianna Cahn
The Virginian-Pilot (Tribune News Service)
Published: March 25, 2015

NORFOLK (Tribune News Service) — Families of some of the 100 servicemembers whose names and addresses appeared on an online "hit list" by Islamic State militants are struggling to figure out how much danger they really face.

The weekend posting by a group that identified itself as the Islamic State Hacking Division included pictures of servicemembers along with their names, home addresses, branches of service and, in some cases, ranks and titles. It claimed the information was hacked from military sites, while the Pentagon insists it was culled from the Internet. The posting, which has since been removed, called on unnamed "brothers in America" to seek out the servicemembers and "kill them in their own land."

On the list: 15 servicemembers from Hampton Roads, most of whom were assigned to warships that launched strikes against the Islamic State.

The wife of one sailor named said affected families are frustrated. They maintain that the Navy's public relations arm has been too lax in allowing information about naval operations onto the web and that the Pentagon is not taking the threats seriously enough. Additionally, they said, the Navy is not being forthcoming enough with them about how it intends to deal with the risk.
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Day From Hell For Iraq Veteran Didn't End

Veteran kept his cool in crisis but faces legal fallout 
Boston Globe
By Thomas Farragher
Globe Staff
March 25, 2015

When Jeff Lorditch went off to work early that morning, his wife of nine years and his young son slept soundly in their beds. In the quiet of that dawn, there was no trace of the tumult and tears just over his horizon.

He got to work to discover he was fired. Laid off, he says. In any case, on that mid-October morning of 2013, his job was gone.

When he got back to his home in Auburn about 9 a.m., his 7-year-old boy had left for school.

He walked in to find his wife in bed with another man. And he knew the guy. It was his brother, visiting from New Mexico.

“I think every married guy probably runs through that scenario in their head at some point,’’ Lorditch, 34, said. “I know I had.

And I never knew how I was going to react and hoped I would never have to find out. But I walked in and it took me a few minutes to actually register what was going on.

“I just couldn’t process it. I did a lot of pacing. I know I did some yelling. I said some things I never say.’’

What happened next, supported by statements given by his wife and brother to the Auburn Police Department, is important because it shows that Lorditch, an Iraq combat veteran and honorably discharged US Marine, is capable of vast restraint.

His mind was racing, his temper understandably elevated. “The one thing that stuck with me is that neither of them was attacking me and I live my life by this,’’ he said. “The only time violence is ever justified is in self-defense. So even though I was going through hell at that moment, they were not attacking me.’’

Lorditch, a gun collector and former Marine marksmanship instructor, unloaded a gun he kept in the living room in front of his wife and brother, made no threats, and then left the house.
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Cater Ash Says ISIS Troops Info Taken From Social Media, Not DOD

Carter: Troop Data in Online Kill List Was Not Stolen 
Associated Press
by Robert Burns
Mar 24, 2015

WASHINGTON — The names, photos and addresses of 100 U.S. military members posted online by a group calling itself the Islamic State Hacking Division were not stolen from confidential government files, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday.

During a news conference at Camp David, Maryland, Carter was asked about the Internet listing over the weekend in which the purported hackers urged that the 100 individuals be murdered by sympathizers inside the U.S.

"The information that was posted by ISIL was information taken from social websites and publicly available," Carter said. "It wasn't stolen from any (Defense Department) websites or any confidential databases." He said the Pentagon, nonetheless, takes this event seriously.

Other officials have said it is being investigated by the FBI. "At the same time, this is the kind of social media messaging of a vile sort that ISIL specializes in" and is one reason the U.S. is determined to defeat the group, he added, using a common acronym for the Islamic State group that has captured large portions of territory in Iraq and Syria and beheaded a number of Americans.
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Google Maps Will Get Rural Veterans Care They Need, Yahoo! (Joy)

VA rule change could double number of vets eligible for health care 
CBS
March 24, 2015

Under the new interpretation, the distance veterans must travel will be calculated through commercial products such as Google maps or other websites, rather than a straight line.

WASHINGTON -- Responding to pressure from Congress and veterans groups, the Department of Veterans Affairs is relaxing a rule that makes it hard for some veterans in rural areas to prove they live at least 40 miles from a VA health site.

The change comes amid complaints from lawmakers and advocates who say the VA's current policy has prevented thousands of veterans from taking advantage of a new law intended to allow veterans in remote areas to gain access to federally paid medical care from local doctors.

The VA said it will now measure the 40-mile trip by driving miles as calculated by Google maps or other sites, rather than as the crow flies, as currently interpreted. The rule change is expected to roughly double the number of eligible veterans. "We've determined that changing the distance calculation will help ensure more veterans have access to care when and where they want it,"

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said in a statement. The change will be unveiled at a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
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UPDATE from the VA

VA Works to Expand Choice Program Eligibility
03/24/2015

Eligibility criteria for 40 miles calculation would change to driving distance

Washington -- In order to expand eligibility for the Veterans Choice Program, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced that it will change the calculation used to determine the distance between a Veteran’s residence and the nearest VA medical facility from a straight line distance to driving distance. The policy change will be made through regulatory action in the coming weeks. The Veterans Choice Program was authorized by the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (VACAA).

“VA has worked very quickly to implement the Veterans Choice Program and we appreciate the constructive feedback shared by Veterans and our partners to help us improve service to Veterans,” said Secretary Robert McDonald. “We’ve determined that changing the distance calculation will help ensure more Veterans have access to care when and where they want it. VA looks forward to the ongoing support of our partners as we continue to make improvements to this new program.”

The method of determining driving distance will be through distance as calculated by using a commercial product. The change is expected to roughly double the number of eligible Veterans.

The Veterans Choice Program is a new, temporary benefit that allows eligible Veterans to receive health care in their communities rather than waiting for a VA appointment or traveling to a VA facility. Veterans seeking to use the Veterans Choice Program should call 1-866-606-8198 to confirm their eligibility and to schedule an appointment. Since the Choice Program went into effect on November 5, 2014, more than 45,000 medical appointments have been scheduled.

Using expanded authorities from VACAA, VA continues to expand access to care through increased staffing and enhanced collaboration with both the Indian Health Service and Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems. See the VACAA progress fact sheet here:

VA is enhancing its health care system and improving service delivery to better serve Veterans and set the course for long-term excellence and reform. VA has made significant progress in various areas of the legislation, such as extending the Assisted Living/Traumatic Brain Injury Pilot program and Project Arch, to expand timely access to high-quality health care for Veterans.

A fact sheet on the 40-mile-rule change can be found at VA 40 Mile Rule.

Patience Running Out for Spreaders of Misinformation on PTSD

Watchfires Only Work If You See the Light
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 24, 2015

When I was a kid and my parents tried to get me to understand something, when I finally got it, they said "Light dawns on Marblehead" not referring to the town in Massachusetts, but to my thick head.

There is a lot of talk about MILITARY TEENS AT HIGHER RISK FOR SUICIDE but while it may be new to the civilian world, it isn't' to us. None of this is. Vietnam veterans and their families set the watchfires decades ago. We didn't want this generation to go through what we did. So why hasn't the light dawned on everyone sitting at their keyboards feeling as if they just did something worthwhile?

As you can see in the following studies, there is nothing new other than congress increasing spending to "do something" without ever knowing if that something will make things better, or as we discovered, much worse.

Morbidity of Vietnam veterans
Suicide in Vietnam veterans’ children
Supplementary report no. 1
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2000

Total suicide rate

On average, between the years 1988 and 1997, children of Vietnam veterans committed suicide at a rate three times higher than children in the general population (Table 2). Pre 1988 rates have not been included because of the very small numbers of suicides (17 deaths between 1980 and 1987) and the corresponding small veterans’ children population at risk in these years. Substantial annual fluctuations have occurred in suicide rates for the veterans’ children population between 1988 and 1997, due to the relatively small numbers of deaths involved. However, no evidence of any change in pattern since 1988 is apparent.

There are several issues with the new reports attempting to usurp experiences of other veterans and their families. Especially when most of the research began because Vietnam veterans demanded it. They came home, pushed for someone to understand what combat did to them so they would not only take care of them and older veterans, but make damn sure it didn't happen to the next generation coming behind them. Can you understand what all these years of suffering, hearing promised made while the results proved no one really did much at all? Can you see what it puts them through when they see all their efforts leaving heartache and devastation instead of help ready and waiting for them?

They read about the arrests of younger veterans and remember when it happened to them and no one cared. As they sit in jail, they hear about some younger veterans, depending on where they live, being taken to veterans courts where they are given the opportunity and the resources to get help to heal instead of being locked behind bars.

As they read about younger veterans committing suicide, they remember how many of their own friends ended their battle the same way and far too many of the suicide survivors lament the fact it is still happening after decades of promises from Congress to save their lives.

Ok, so now it seems as if everyone is just repeating the same old story without adding in how long all of this has been going on. Here's some eye-openers for you because when it comes to all the "new" reports, they are all ghosts to them.

Australian veterans’ health: Vietnam
Researched and written by Maria Swyrydan
August 2012

60,000 Australian military personnel were sent to Vietnam to aid the United States between 1962 and 1972. The US had backed the South Vietnam Government against nationalists and communists who were fighting to re-unify Vietnam.

*National conscription was introduced specifically for this war and 15,381 of the serving soldiers were involuntary conscripts.

*A small number of Australian civilians also went, including 210 volunteer civilian nurses, medical staff and entertainers.

Other long-term studies have found that being the partner or child of a Vietnam veteran with PTSD predicts suffering from mental disorder, which can in turn affect grandchildren. The wives and partners of Vietnam veterans have been found to experience higher levels of PTSD themselves. Suicide levels among veterans’ children are up to three times higher than the rest of the Australian population.

A report from 2011 shows that not much has changed. While the report was published that year, notice the years the references come from.

TOGETHER WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL: CONNECTEDNESS, SUICIDE, AND SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE MILITARY
POLICY BRIEF ǀ JUNE 2011
ANTHONY FULGINITI
ERIC RICE

Mental health issues, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Major Depression, have been implicated in suicide in military populations. For instance, combat exposure has been identified as a risk factor for greater depression (Lapierre, Schwegler, and LaBauve, 2007), PTSD (Bullman and Kang, 1994; Elbogen, Beckham, Butterfield, Swartz, and Swanson, 2008), and substance abuse symptomatology (Hooper, Rona, Jones, Fear, Hull, and Wessely, 2008).

A recent RAND survey indicated that almost one-third of servicemembers returning from deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or satisfied the criteria for PTSD or Major Depression (Kuehn, 2009). PTSD has been found to be strongly associated with suicidal behavior (Kessler, 2000) and is a potent predictor of the trajectory from suicidal ideation to attempt (Nock, Hwang, Sampson, Kessler, Angermeyer, Beautrais, et. al., 2009).*

There are reports on incarcerated veterans committing suicide going back to 2009.
Suicide Among Incarcerated Veterans includes PTSD and TBI

Among those screening positive for PTSD, 70 percent reported witnessing death or injury, 56 percent reported being physically assaulted, 34 percent had experienced physical abuse as a child, 32 percent reported neglect as a child, 28 percent reported combat, and 16 percent reported being raped or sexually molested.

Little is also known about the frequency of TBI among incarcerated veterans; this may contribute to the unique qualities of this subpopulation of veterans as well, adding to disturbances in cognition, emotion, and behavior (impulsivity). Of note, forensic psychiatric populations feature relatively high rates of TBI,50 and survivors of TBI appear to face a heightened risk of suicide, which raises the disturbing possibility that there is a population of veterans incarcerated for crimes related to the cognitive and behavioral sequelae of TBIs sustained during military service and facing elevated suicide

Essays On The Vietnam Conflict The Three Walls Behind the Wall By Michael Kelley is also really good. That's the problem.

There are decades worth of reports but just like the database I work on all day, no database is any good if folks delete records already entered. The reports were done in the US but major research on children was done in Australia as one of the leaders.

So if you are among the hacks out there just spreading this kind of misinformation, without ever once considering what you're doing, remember that as much as you think you may know, your database has just been generated while ours is running out of storage and, frankly, patience.

Not Everyone Who Came Home From War Actually Left There

Veterans Gather To Honor Richard Miles and Call for Change
WHO 13 News
BY STEPHANIE MOORE
MARCH 23, 2015

DES MOINES, Iowa–Iowans are remembering a fallen veteran and in light of his death are calling for change.

Army Veteran Richard Miles was honored Monday evening by fellow veterans and those pushing for change in veteran’s mental health care.

On Monday, Miles was laid to rest and the Veteran’s Cemetery on what would have been his 41st birthday.

“Not everyone who lost their life in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan actually died there.

Also, not everyone who came home from Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan ever left there. Richard Miles was one of those individuals,” says Former Executive Director for the Iowa Department of Veteran Affairs Pat Palmersheim.

The Veterans National Recovery Center hosted the event and say 22 veterans are committing suicide every day and if more isn’t done there will be more cases like Miles.

“There is no doubt the federal VA needs to do more to assist those veterans who have returned and been diagnosed with PTSD, they need their help and not just more medications,” says Palmersheim.
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Iraq Marine Veteran With PTSD Tormented by Coworkers

Corrections Officer Says PTSD Treated As Joke
Courthouse News
By DAVID KLEIN

March 23, 2015

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (CN) - A corrections officer and former Marine was repeatedly discriminated against by his supervisors and co-workers who saw his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as something to ridicule, the Iraq War veteran claims in a lawsuit.

Christopher Fustos served in the Marine Corps in Iraq from February 2004 through November 2007, and was honorably discharged after being wounded in combat. According to the complaint he filed in the Knoxville Federal Court, the wounding was caused by an exploding hand grenade, and the explosion left him with numerous scars on his back.

Fustos was hired by Knox County, Tenn. on March 26, 2012, to work as a corrections officer. He says the discrimination he experienced began just over two years later, when, while working on July 4, a fellow officer yelled, "So Fustos, those scars on your back, are they direction arrows for your boyfriend so he knows where to stick it?"

"During this incident, Mr. Fustos' superiors (Lieutenants) were among the crowd laughing and cheering," the complaint says.

"Multiple incidents of discrimination and harassment occurred thereafter."

Fustos goes on to claim that during another incident his "co-workers took facility-provided gloves, and popped them loudly behind Mr. Fustos' ears, stating, 'Hey, I'm helping you with your PTSD! Its therapy for you!!'"

In addition he says, on two separate occasions stated in front of his fellow officers, "Hey Fustos, when your PTSD kicks in and you shoot up the place, remember who was nice to you and who gives you time off!"
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Camp Lejeune Contamination Victims Include Thousands in Florida

Thousands in Florida potential victims of Marine camp contamination 
Orlando Sentinel
By Elyssa Cherney
March 21, 2015

Christina Peach, 39, was diagnosed with stage 1 kidney cancer last year. Peach, who was born on the Marine base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, attributes her illness to contaminated groundwater she may have consumed while living nearby in 1975. Her father , Michael Hightower also died
(Tom Benitez, Orlando Sentinel)

Christina Peach's parents welcomed a seemingly healthy baby into the world in 1975 at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Camp Lejeune, the North Carolina base where her father was stationed as a Marine sergeant.

Seven years later, a chemical consulting company found that water from the emergency-room sink contained 1,400 parts per billion of trichloroethylene — 280 times its regulatory limit for drinking water today — which "has been reported to produce liver and kidney damage and central nervous system disturbances in humans," according to a memo from Grainger Laboratories in 1982.

Peach, 39, who now lives in Mount Dora, believes the water she was exposed to in utero and as an infant is responsible for the kidney cancer she developed last year and for her father's premature death.

Doctors discovered the mass growing on her right kidney when she got a CT scan for appendicitis in January 2014. Her father, Michael Hightower, 61, died 10 months later from lung cancer that had spread to his brain, bladder and bones, she said.
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Iraq Veteran with PTSD Service Dog Wins Lawsuit Against Former Employer

Jury awards Iraq vet $28,600 in service-dog case 
Chronicle
By Patrick Danner
March 23, 2015

SAN ANTONIO -- A federal jury on Monday awarded nearly $28,600 to an Iraq War veteran who sued his former employer, a Schlumberger subsidiary, over his request to bring a service dog to work to help him cope with his post-traumatic stress disorder.

Juan Alonzo-Miranda, 33, alleged that Schlumberger Technology Corp.'s delay in granting him a "reasonable accommodation" for his disability violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The company took about six months before it approved the request in November 2012.
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Iraq Veteran Sues After PTSD Service Dog Not Allowed on Job

Artist Matt Mitchell Decade of 100 Veterans' Project

In artist’s project, veterans’ words complete their portraits 
Stars and Stripes
By Heath Druzin
Published: March 22, 2015

At times, it was a struggle for Mitchell, now 45, to make ends meet as the project became a full-time job. He was helped by a few grants and most of all by his wife, Rebecca Guay, a fellow artist whom he says made tremendous sacrifices to help him.

As bombs fell on Baghdad and Kabul, Matt Mitchell went about his normal routine, an unaffected spectator while troops died overseas. “I found I could just live my life as if nothing was happening, and it got under my skin,” he said.

So the artist sought understanding through a familiar medium: portraiture.

That was in 2005, and nine years later he finally completed “100 Faces of War Experience” and put it on display for the first time at the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago. 

Mitchell reflected the range of experiences of returning troops by creating 100 oil-on-canvas paintings, spending 40 to 80 hours on each life-size head-and-shoulders portrait.

Many times, the veterans would tell him their experiences, often painful ones, as he painted. Their stories were often emotionally draining, he said, but ultimately were “uplifting” and educational for him and viewers of the project.

“Sure, you talk about heavy things, and the project is pretty heavy, but you realize that every single [veteran] out there fills in part of the picture,” he said. read more here

Veterans Court May Provide Intervention in Florida

Veterans court would provide intervention for troubled vets in Manatee-Sarasota
Bradenton Herald
BY JAMES A. JONES JR.
March 22, 2015

MANATEE -- A delegation from Bradenton-Sarasota visiting veterans court Monday in Pinellas County can expect to see a court proceeding that is unique, emotional and even uplifting.

Those who have watched Judge Dee Anna Farnell preside at veterans court describe her as passionate in her desire to help troubled vets overwhelmed by psychological and physical wounds suffered while in service to their country.

"She is a very dynamic person. She comes off the bench and stands next to the veteran," said Patrick Diggs, who serves as a justice-outreach coordinator for Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.

"It takes a special type of judge to facilitate the delicate balance between compassion, helping the veteran and public safety," Diggs said.

State Attorney Ed Brodsky of the 12th Judicial Circuit wants to explore launching veterans court in Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties as a way of helping vets who honorably served the United States, and may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, homelessness and unemployment. Veterans court would be keyed to nonviolent offenders who pose a threat to themselves but not society.
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