Rachel Maddow Turned VA SNAFU Into Full Blown FUBAR

Last night while waiting to fall asleep I was channel surfing when I came across the Rachel Maddow Show as she was talking about the VA. (go there to watch video before you finish reading this)

Seems Rachel is suddenly aware of what we've been talking about forever!

I actually thought I was dreaming when the graphics popped up with the same one I used last week on this very subject.
Veterans Message to Congress We're Not Disposable

Part of me thought it was great someone with a huge (ok, well, at least bigger than mine) audience getting paid to talk about all of the crap that has been going on, was actually doing it, until it dawned on me members of her staff must read Wounded Times because this crossed the line of simply being ironic.

Maddow had a chance to do the right thing on this but, as part of the MSNBC agenda, she had to get political saying that the group, Concerned Veterans For America were behind this.

Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit which seems to be funded almost entirely by the Koch brothers donor network.[1] CVA advocates for reductions in federal spending and free market policies, focusing its campaigns on themes related to veterans.

The group's CEO, Pete Hegseth, was the former executive director of the pro-Iraq War Vets for Freedom[2] and as of June 2014 was finance chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota.[3] Hegseth appears to have attended at least one Koch network summit meeting.

An investigation by ProPublica found that Concerned Veterans for America submits its IRS filings under the name Vets for Economic Freedom Trust. Those documents list former Koch Industries managing director Wayne Gable as a trustee.[4]

The problem is, maybe the same folks were part of this all along but as John Boehner put it, he's been pushing to privatize the VA for "decades" yet this group only goes back a couple of years.

Nice try on Maddow's part but she turned snafu into full blown fubar!

VA threatened by conservative privatization push
Rachel Maddow shows how right wing groups have worked to create a political environment where the previously radical idea of privatizing veterans' health care can be presented as a viable alternative to the VA.

So just as wrong as Maddow was on the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act needing to be passed, even though it was simply a repeat of all the other bills Congress has pushed out like the result of a heavy duty laxative, moaning and groaning about needing to do something to get their name on a bill as if they actually did something worthwhile, she failed to see how long it has all been going on.

What is worse is she had a chance to show that aside from the wasted time, needless suffering and money flushed down the drain, there were lives involved in all of this.

Veterans suffered while Congress got to screw around and screw up long enough to convince folks the boogymen to blame were heads of the VA and not take the time to look at who was really behind all of it. (Oh, by the way, in case Maddow's staffers are reading this again, that would Congress.) The only way to privatize the VA is to destroy it and they just didn't care how many veterans were destroyed in the process.

As usual, Maddow showed up with some good information but managed to just keep her eyes closed to the biggest picture of all. Veterans suffered a lot longer than just going back to when Reagan turned the head of the VA into a cabinet position. (Yep, I caught that reference too!)

UK:Almost 1,000 Personnel Required Psychiatric Treatment After Taking Lariam

Almost 1,000 members of Armed Forces require psychiatric treatment after being given anti-Malaria drug linked to mental health problems
Daily Mail
By COREY CHARLTON FOR MAILONLINE
15 April 2015

Almost 1,000 personnel required psychiatric treatment after taking drug
They were prescribed anti-malarial drug Lariam by the Ministry of Defence
The discredited product's side effects include psychosis and hallucinations
Retired Major General Alastair Duncan is currently in a psychiatric unit
He was prescribed the drug prior to a deployment in Sierra Leone

A retired major general is among 1,000 British service personnel requiring psychiatric treatment after taking an anti-malarial drug issued by the Ministry of Defence.

New figures released by the MoD show that since 2008, 994 personnel have been treated for mental health issues after having been prescribed Lariam.

Despite Lariam - the brand name for the drug mefloquine - being banned by the U.S. military due to concerns over side effects, the MoD has ignored appeals to stop prescribing it in what critics say is an escalating 'scandal'.

Major-General Alastair Duncan (pictured) is currently in a psychiatric unit after having been given the drug prior to a deployment in Sierra Leone

According to The Independent's Jonathan Owen, retired Major General Alastair Duncan is currently in a psychiatric unit following a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder episode four months ago.

Maj-Gen Duncan was given the drug Lariam before a deployment to Sierra Leone.

read more here


We did know about this, but they just stopped talking about it.

Links to medications suspected with non-combat deaths

April 27, 2004 DoD, VA to study malaria drug’s side effects Associated Press

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs will study the side effects of Lariam, a drug given to servicemen to prevent malaria, Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner said.

The use of Lariam came up in investigations of murders and murder-suicides involving Fort Bragg soldiers in the summer of 2002, when four soldiers were accused of killing their wives. Two of those soldiers committed suicide immediately and a third killed himself in jail.

The three soldiers who killed themselves had served in Afghanistan, where Lariam is routinely used by U.S. troops. The fourth, who is still awaiting trial, did not serve there.

A November 2002 report by the office of the Army Surgeon General said two of the four soldiers had taken Lariam, but the Army would not say which. The report said Lariam probably did not factor in the killings.

Turner said a subcommittee of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board met two weeks ago to consider ways to study the use of Lariam among service members. A Veterans Affairs spokeswoman said the VA will review the issue but has not issued a report on the study.

Lariam, which is also known as mefloquine, is routinely prescribed to soldiers working in countries where malaria is a problem. Some people have blamed it for causing psychotic reactions, including depression, hallucinations and thoughts of suicide.

Doctor: Anti-malarial drug may be harmful
Army Times

In the past six weeks, Dr. Michael Hoffer has treated nine service members who returned from Iraq or Afghanistan unable to walk a straight line or stand still without staggering. Some said objects appeared to spin around them for more than an hour at a time.

A Navy commander and director of the Department of Defense Spatial Orientation Center at Naval Medical Center, San Diego, Hoffer believes the problems are linked to a drug called Lariam "known generically as mefloquine" that the military gives to troops to prevent malaria.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has urged the Pentagon to set a timeline for a Defense Department study, announced in March, of negative effects from Lariam and other anti-malarial drugs.

And then there were more

VA Warns Doctors About Lariam, United Press International, 25 June 2004

And even more on Wounded Times for Lariam

California Airman's Death Under Investigation

DoD Identifies Air Force Casualty
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Department of Defense
Release No: NR-125-15
April 14, 2015

The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve.

Tech. Sgt. Anthony E. Salazar, 40, of Hermosa Beach, California, died April 13, at an air base in southwest Asia in a non-combat related incident.

The incident is under investigation.

He was assigned to the 577th Expeditionary Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force Squadron, 1st Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group, U.S. Air Forces Central Command.

Film Festival For and About Military

A film festival for the military emphasizes inspiration 
The Washington Post
By Alyssa Rosenberg
April 15, 2015

War is a grim business, but the messages at the kickoff of the ninth annual GI Film Festival yesterday were nothing but positive. “Our mission is to foster a positive image for men and women in uniform and to connect service members to society,”

Festival co-founder and president Brandon Millett (who described himself as “one of those curious creatures known as a male military spouse”) told a group of reporters.

Among the criteria for a film’s selection in the festival? “Do you walk away with a greater sense of appreciation and respect for what men and women and uniform do for us on a daily basis?” Millett explained. 

And while the festival’s selections touch on a wide range of issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide, substance abuse and finding employment in the civilian world, “all of our films focus on inspiration and finding solutions,” his wife Laura Millett-Law, a West Point graduate and army veteran, emphasized.

Accentuating the positive makes sense, especially if you’re trying to woo an audience that feels it has been burned by mainstream pop culture in the past. But the short films Millett and Millett-Law screened for reporters provide an important reminder that inspirational messaging has its limits.

Constantly telling us that great characters and interesting scenarios are uplifting and aspirational can drown their stories in schmaltz, rather than letting them stand on their own merits.
read more here

Huge Protest After Afghanistan Veteran Killed by Police

If you are guessing this is yet another case of PTSD being labeled something else, you're not alone.

Georgia veteran shot dead by police needed more help from VA, partner says
The Guardian
Max Blau
April 14, 2015

Bridget Anderson says Anthony Hill, who was shot dead by police in Atlanta in March, did not receive proper medical care for bipolar disorder

A Georgia military veteran who was killed by police last month did not receive enough medical support from the US Department of Veteran Affairs for his bipolar disorder and was forced to self-medicate with marijuana, his girlfriend said.

Anthony Hill, a 27-year-old US air force veteran, was shot dead on 9 March at his apartment complex outside Atlanta.

Police officers had been responding to a 911 call for an episode during which Hill was not wearing clothes, crawling on the ground and banging on his neighbors’ doors.

His death, one of a growing number of fatal shootings of unarmed black men by white police officers, has prompted further questions about the mental health treatment available to him from the VA prior to his death.

Bridget Anderson, Hill’s girlfriend, who was driving to celebrate their three-year anniversary on the day he died, said Hill had bipolar disorder and social anxiety after returning from Afghanistan in 2012. Hill had faced difficulties finding regular work, performing daily activities and getting his life back on track, Anderson said.
read more here

Veteran's Dogs Did More to Save Life than Suicide Prevention Hotline

Veteran says he was repeatedly put on hold by veterans' suicide hotline 
Hotline has problems with handling number of calls
ABC News
Adam Walser
Apr 13, 2015

He put himself in danger to protect our country, but when he needed help to save his own life all he got was a recorded message. Ted Koran was thinking about committing suicide Saturday night.

He reached out to the VA and the Veterans Suicide Hotline for help, but said he couldn't get any until after he was repeatedly put on hold for up to 10 minutes at time.

Veterans in Crisis: Vets put on hold for 36 minutes His case is just the latest the I-Team has been exposing for months now.

When the Veterans Crisis Hotline was first set up by the VA in 2007, it averaged 60 calls a day on four manned phone lines.

Now, 52 operators at a time field about a thousand calls a day, and that's not always even enough to keep some veterans on the verge of suicide from being placed on hold. read more here

Suicides In Washington Reminder of Taxes and Burdens

This is a reminder for the first part of the article from Daily Kos you'll read below.

Man who set himself on fire on National Mall is identified
NBC News
By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer
October 8, 2013

The man who died after having set himself ablaze last week on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was identified Monday night by police, who gave no indication they had any idea why he did it.

John Constantino, 64, of Mount Laurel, N.J., suffered "significant" burns over his entire body and died at a hospital, D.C. police said. Constantino doused himself with gasoline from a red canister and set himself on fire Friday afternoon near the National Air and Space Museum, further rattling a city that was already on edge a day after a Connecticut woman was shot dead after she tried to ram her car through a White House barrier.

While I know it may be stunning to learn after all this time, it did happen. But there were no protests or marches through city streets for lives of veterans that are supposed to matter at least as much as when we send them off to war.

Well, there was another public suicide. Thanks to the Daily Kos and a friend from Facebook, all of us know about it.

"Tax The 1%": Political Statements by Suicide in DC Shall Not Go Down the Memory Hole
by thirty three and a third
MON APR 13, 2015

Latest DC suicide holds “Tax the 1%” sign as he shoots self/Lapdog media hush reveals complicity/These men didn't die in vain.

When 64 yr old Vietnam Vet John Constantino burned himself to death on the DC Mall in October of 2013 I couldn’t stop thinking about this man and his act. Who was he? What compelled him? What was his life’s story? What were his political views, his life’s station, etc? I wanted to write a blog then but didn’t.

Then Saturday happened.

On the kind of beautiful sunny day when hope springs eternal, an older gentleman wearing a backpack walked over by the fountain in front of the Capitol Building in Washington DC. And a sign. According to people who saw him, it said simply:

Tax The 1%”

The police captain on the scene who addressed the news cameras eerily avoided the question, mumbling that it was “something about social justice,” as if he were annoyed to address any specifics. So, we know nothing else. Not even a name was given. A dog run over by car might have gotten more respect and news coverage than this unknown man.

What kind of a society have we become? A man decides to commit suicide as an act of political courage, and is dismissed by both the police and media as unworthy of further examination?
read more here

First Female Joins Blue Angels Flight Team

Blue Angels' first female pilot takes flight 
APRIL 10, 2015

When military aviation buffs pack into the Marine Corps Beaufort Air Show in South Carolina, they'll be wowed by the Navy's Blue Angels.

But a new kind of history will also take flight in the team: a woman in the cockpit. 

U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Katie Higgins is the first female pilot in the team's 69-year history.

Michelle Miller took to the sky to see how Higgins got her wings. go here for video

Department of Defense Trying to Account for USS Oklahoma Crew Members

DoD Seeks to Identify Unaccounted-for USS Oklahoma Crew Members 
DoD News,
Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, April 14, 2015

By 1950, all unidentified remains associated with the ship were re-interred as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly known as the Punchbowl.

The remains of up to 388 unaccounted-for sailors and Marines associated with the USS Oklahoma will be exhumed later this year for analysis that could lead to identifying most of them, Defense Department officials announced today.

On Dec. 7, 1941, 429 sailors and Marines were killed when Japanese torpedoes sank the ship during the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

Upon disinterment, the remains will be transferred to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory in Hawaii for examination, officials said in a news release, noting that analysis of all available evidence indicates that most USS Oklahoma crew members can be identified upon disinterment.

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work approved the disinterment and established a broader DoD policy that defines threshold criteria for disinterment of unknowns. “The secretary of defense and I will work tirelessly to ensure your loved one’s remains will be recovered, identified, and returned to you as expeditiously as possible, and we will do so with dignity, respect and care,” Work said.

“While not all families will receive an individual identification, we will strive to provide resolution to as many families as possible.”

The disinterment policy applies to all unidentified remains from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and other permanent American military cemeteries. However, this policy does not extend to sailors and Marines lost at sea or to remains entombed in U.S. Navy vessels serving as national memorials, officials said. read more here

Preventing Veteran Suicides No Guessing Game

When will the press stop turning to families for answers after they lost someone they loved? When will they stop putting pressure on them to do something about it?

This keeps happening every time a family agrees to talk to reporters about the suicide of a veteran or active duty servicemember.

They want to do something to prevent another family from knowing that kind of grief but wanting to help and being able to do it are two different things.

Reporters should never question their intentions any more than they should question their resolve. They must question their ability on many different levels. Putting families in that kind of position isn't fair because they are not equipped to do it.

I should know simply because I am one of them. After over a decade of being prepared, PTSD research topped off with helping other veterans, we still lost my husband's nephew. I knew the cause, knew what to say, knew what he had to do to heal but what I didn't know was how to find the right way to get him to listen to me.

To this day, everytime I read about another family facing that kind of heartache, it is like a rusty nail being jabbed into my soul because I've seen the flipside of this when they get the proper help and heal enough to live a better quality of life.

I think these families are heroes talking publicly about what used to be whispered during funerals.

They give other families permission to stop feeling guilty long enough to grieve and start the healing process. The trouble is when they decide to do something to save others without knowing what that something should be as reporters want to know their answers.

The pressure is a tremendously unnecessary burden on their shoulders.

I've been doing this for over 30 years now and I still don't have all the answers. I have a list of experts to turn to whenever I am faced with something beyond my ability. Even with that level of support, experience has shown me I can only go so far with the veterans I work with. Usually it is just getting them to understand what PTSD is and what can change just enough so they are willing to go for the proper help.

These families are not trained and lack the understanding they need to help heal veterans however they are in a position to help other families with peer support. The experience is healing, not just for the other families, but for them as well. The trouble comes when they are put into situations where they don't know what to do.

I have a strong support system behind me when it gets too hard. Who do they have? They may have other family members and friends but if they lack the necessary knowledge to actually help, their good intentions can actually do more harm than good.

The same thing is happening in Washington. We've all heard or read about family members telling their stories to members of Congress.

These hearings are usually followed by Bills that are simply renamed repeats of what has already failed because politicians are not trained any more than they are reminded of what has been done in the past.

Hey, it sounds good to Congress, so they just do it without ever once understanding the ramification of each word they choose, time they waste and funds they throw away.

Each time they repeat history, they end up with more families bearing the burden of sharing their loss hoping to save another veteran from the same fate. Good intentions do not help when folks are just guessing instead of spending the time to learn before they attempt to teach.

Have any of them actually explained how things got this bad after all they've "done" before?

Former Marine Charged with Murder in Shooting Death of Wife

Former Marine charged with murder in shooting death of wife at Jemison doctor's office 
AL.com
By Carol Robinson
April 13, 2015

A domestic shooting on Monday, April 13, 2015 led to the fatal shooting of Leaj Jarvis Price, 24. Her husband, 26-year-old Eric Heath Price, is charged with murder. Facebook

Authorities late this afternoon charged a man with murder in the shooting death of his wife at a Jemison doctor's office earlier today.

Eric "Heath" Price, a 26-year-old former U.S. Marine, was taken to UAB Hospital where he remains under police guard.

Price's family members say he was wounded during the takedown, but law enforcement officials say Price shot himself in the head and is expected to survive.

Jemison Police Chief Shane Fulmer identified the victim as 24-year-old Leaj Jarvis Price. She died on the scene from a gunshot wound to the head.

Price apparently posted on Facebook shortly after the shooting of his wife. "im sorry everyone, its been real, good bye and i love you all" and "I dei today."

The Facebook page was taken down just before 11:30 a.m.
read more here

Iraq Veterans Fight By Side of Kurds

US Vets Return to Mideast to Battle Past and Present Demons
Associated Press
by Vivian Salama and Bram Janssen
Apr 14, 2015

"I wouldn't want our American servicemen and women to have to fight a third war in two decades," Windorski said. "I've lived through the loss of loved ones fighting on foreign soil. I have seen families with deployed loved ones. It's hell on everyone involved."

BAGHDAD — A decade after his first Iraq tour, former U.S. Marine Jamie Lane has returned to the battlefields of the Middle East to fight a still unvanquished enemy and wrestle with the demons of his past.

The 29-year old from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan served as a machine gunner from 2004 to 2008, mainly in the western Anbar province, where he saw fierce fighting against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Now, as a private citizen suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he is back in the region to battle its successor, the Islamic State group. "In order to aid my recovery from PTSD, I have taken it upon myself to fight on my terms, against an enemy I know is evil," said Lane, who joined Kurdish militiamen in Syria.

"It is redemption, in a sense." He is one of a small but growing number of Iraq war veterans who are making their way back to the Middle East, not as uniformed soldiers, but as individuals waging their own personal battles.

Many describe feeling a sense of unfinished business as they watched the Islamic State group rampage across the country last summer, seizing territory they had fought and bled for during the U.S.-led intervention.

Some express remorse for taking part in that war, while others say they are driven by the same sense of moral obligation that brought them here in the first place, joining their fate to that of a deeply troubled country. read more here

Two Veterans With PTSD and Same Name Spotlight PTSD

Sunnyvale: Veteran killed in officer shooting, but not missing vet with same name
Mercury News
By Robert Salonga
POSTED: 04/13/2015

Joseph Jeremy Weber, 28, an Army veteran out of Sunnyvale
was shot and killed by police April 8, 2015 after an
alleged liquor-store robbery.

( California Dept. of Motor Vehicles)

SUNNYVALE -- The man shot and killed by police after wielding a knife during a liquor-store robbery last week was an Army veteran reportedly dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, authorities said.

But the suspect, Joseph Jeremy Weber, 28, is not to be confused with missing Joseph George Weber IV -- also 28, also a 2004 alum of Fremont High School, and also an Army vet reportedly battling PTSD -- who disappeared last fall.

Both Joseph Webers knew of the other while attending Fremont, but otherwise had no significant overlap besides the occasional confusing of the two.

Joseph Jeremy Weber, 28, an Army veteran out of Sunnyvale, was shot and killed by police April 8, 2015 after an alleged liquor-store robbery.

It was strong enough that when Weber the suspect was seen at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System about three weeks ago, Sunnyvale police contacted the family of Weber the missing person -- who also visited the same VA hospital -- to let them know it wasn't their son.

They made a similar call Wednesday after the fatal afternoon shooting in an alleyway off Tasman Drive.
read more here

Combat PTSD "Fighting With the Man in The Mirror"

Exclusive: Colt Ford’s New “Workin’ On”
Music Video Premiere

NEW VIDEO SHINES LIGHT ON PTSD.
Country Weekly
Published: Apr 13, 2015

With song titles like “Chicken and Biscuits” and “The High Life,” it should come as no surprise that gregarious hick-hopper Colt Ford likes to have a good time. But it’s not all fun and games for the former pro golfer, and the proof is in the new video for his latest single, “Workin’ On,” which tackles the heavy subject matter of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The normally lighthearted Colt took a decidedly heartfelt approach to the video after befriending Marcus Luttrell, retired U.S. Navy Seal and author of The Lone Survivor.

“This song really moved me,” says Colt. “When I reached out to Marcus and told him what I wanted to do for the video and the impact I wanted it to have, he was all in. I’m just a guy who sings, Marcus is a real American hero.”
read more here

Here is part of the song

Workin' on coming to Jesus, kicking the bottle,
Wrestling with our roots,
Trying to turn off Mama's tears, and fill our Daddy's boots Shutting off our pride, fixing bridges we burned, learning how to live and learn
Keeping our demons down and our trucks up and running
Loving them angels sitting pretty in the middle of 'em
Fighting with the man in the mirror til' we gone
Yeah, that's what all us good ol' boys gonna go out workin' on
Gonna go out workin' on

Iraq Veteran and Wife Saved Shooting Victim in Idaho

Iraq War vet helps save Hauser shooting victim's life 
KXLY News
Author: Alex LeFriec , Multimedia Journalist Published
On: Apr 13 2015


HAUSER, Idaho - A shooting in Hauser, Idaho left the community shaken, but neighbors are thankful they were able to help save a man's life.

Around 9:30 Sunday night, Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies were called to the Westside Mobile Home Park for a reported shooting.

When they arrived, they found 40-year-old Jeremy Stutheit shot in the abdomen.

"At that time, I saw a car speed out, heard it squeal its tries, and then I hard some wailing and moaning," said a neighbor, who wanted to remain anonymous.

That neighbor and her husband, an Iraq War veteran with medic training, immediately began life saving measures on Stutheit. That care probably saved his life.
read more here