07/07/07
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Dr. Dahlia Wasfi - Life in Iraq Under U.S. Occupation
07/07/07
Andrew Pogany, former Soldier Helping Other Soldiers-PTSD
It aired this morning on NPR's Morning Edition-Saturday, at the end of this post about Andrew there's another short inteview with Tammy Duckworth.
Any reading this, click through to listen to the reports and read the reports. The traffic will show that many care forcing the MSM to follow through with that which is important, Understanding what War's are and what they do to those participating and living in the Theaters of operations, especially War's Of Choice, not Need!
Former Soldier Helps Others Fight Army for Help
by Daniel Zwerdling
Download and Listen or click the title link and listen from site.
Former soldier Andrew Pogany, shown in his home basement office, gets dozens of calls a day from soldiers with serious mental health problems who need help dealing with the Army.When Jason Harvey came back from Iraq to Fort Carson, Colo., two years ago, he started having screaming nightmares. His records show he told the medical unit he thought about killing himself.
Andrew Pogany {center} finishes up a breakfast meeting with Fort Carson soldier Ryan LeCompte and his wife, Tammie. They contacted Pogany because they say supervisors punished LeCompte instead of helping him get treatment for PTSD. Since then, LeCompte has been getting help."No one at Fort Carson was there for Jason," she recalls. "They take children and they send them to war. And then they don't take care of them."
One night last year, Harvey slashed his arms and wrists and was rushed to the hospital. Today, both he and his mother will tell you there's one main reason he's still alive: Andrew Pogany.
As NPR reported last year, numerous soldiers from Fort Carson who have come back from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious mental health problems have been kicked out of the Army with few or no benefits. Those reports prompted a bipartisan group of U.S. senators, as well as officials at the Pentagon, to investigate Fort Carson. In turn, the public attention pressured commanders to pledge that returning soldiers would get better treatment.
The Case of Billy Talley
Andrew Pogany is working as an advocate for Fort Carson soldier Billy Talley. Pogany has studied Talley's Army files, which show that his commanders hailed him for "unmatched bravery" while he was fighting in Afghanistan. But after Talley came home on leave, he started shaking uncontrollably and crying, and he didn't get on the plane to return to combat. Although Talley was diagnosed with chronic PTSD and depression, his commanding officers charged him with a military crime and demoted him in rank. Talley has appealed, and Pogany is meeting with Talley's officers at Fort Carson. {Highlights in documents are NPR's.}
His case drew national headlines, and Pogany says that at one point, he nearly gave up. But then, he decided to fight back, using the counterintelligence techniques the Army had taught him. "Once I figured out that they're just not going to tell the truth, then I said to myself, 'Well guess what, then I'm gonna tell the truth.'"
He gets dozens of calls a day, from people like soldier Billy Talley and his wife, Natasha.
"If we hadn't met Andrew, we wouldn't have known very much about PTSD because the Army, even the Behavioral Health Center, is not telling us a whole lot," Natasha Talley says.
The interview closes with the following:
The inquiries have also spread beyond Fort Carson. The Government Accountability Office has announced that it's examining how bases across the country treat soldiers in emotional trouble.
That's encouraging news for Andrew Pogany.
"The soldier's creed says 'I will never leave a fallen comrade,'" Pogany says. "At the end of the day, when I put my head on my pillow, I can say that the yellow ribbon is not just a magnet that I put on my car. I actually put my yellow ribbon into action."
And then Pogany poses a question. "What have you done to support troops?"
Related NPR Stories
June 15, 2007 Pentagon Report Cites Mental Health Concerns
May 26, 2007 Return to Fort Carson Raises More Questions
May 24, 2007 Gaps in Mental Care Persist for Fort Carson Soldiers
May 24, 2007 Checking In on Fort Carson, Part II
April 19, 2007 Senators Call for Inquiry into Mental Care for Troops
March 6, 2007 Military Mental Health Care Under Scrutiny
Dec. 28, 2006 Army to Court-Martial Soldier Featured in PTSD Story
Dec. 21, 2006 Pentagon Holds Mental Health Treatment Hearings
Dec. 8, 2006 Pentagon to Investigate Mental Health Treatment
Dec. 6, 2006 Soldiers Say Army Ignores, Punishes Mental Anguish
Mental Health Care at Fort Carson
MAIN REPORT PAGE
Pentagon Report Cites Mental Health Concerns
Return to Fort Carson Raises More Questions
Gaps in Mental Care Persist for Fort Carson Soldiers
Web Resources
Veterans for America
Report from the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health, June 2007
More By Daniel Zwerdling
Pentagon Report Cites Mental Health Concerns
Return to Fort Carson Raises More Questions
More »
More on Andrew Pogany
Boulder Weekly | NewsandViews | CoverStory
Colorado soldiers Andrew Pogany and Bill Howell were devastated by ... Andrew Pogany,
whose cropped hair and boyish face made him look younger than his age
Colorado Springs Gazette
Rivera said he backs programs to help soldiers, but the good intentions of
Operation Just One are muddied by Robinson, and Georg-Andreas Andrew Pogany
Colorado soldiers Andrew Pogany and Bill Howell were devastated by ... PDF
Sgt. Andrew Pogany. Bill had been deployed later than. the rest of his team; by
the time he?d arrived in Iraq,. Pogany had been shipped out of the country.
Veterans for Peace - Maine
Philip Goodrum and Andrew Pogany both served in Iraq. They're both. being treated
now for post-traumatic distress disorder. Thank you for joining us tonight-transcript
frontline: the soldier's heart: transcript | PBS
NARRATOR: In late September, 2003, Staff Sergeant Andrew Pogany arrived in Iraq.
Andrew was a military interrogator and a member of the U.S. Army special
The Pogany Case
Richard Travis Pogany's attorney at Anderson & Travis in Colorado Springs, Colorado
and Georg-Andreas Pogany Army Staff Sergeant, formerly charged with cowardice says the anti-malarial drug Lariam caused his breakdown in Iraq
Listen
And Tammy is doing a great job for you Illinois Veteran's, present and past.
Illinois to Screen Its Vets for Brain Injuries
Illinois is to begin testing all of its National Guard returning from Iraq and Afghanistan for brain injuries. The number of brain injuries among veterans has increased with the use of roadside bombs and other explosives. Tammy Duckworth, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, speaks with Scott Simon.
Download and Listen
None of this should be left up to the states to take care of the Veterans who Served this Country, this should be the Sacrifice the Nation Makes for Waging the Wars of Choice, and Cheering those on!!
Right now I don't care who gets elected to the Presidency, this should have already been taken care of, in the 2008 coming election, or in congress. I'll take either Andrew or Tammy as head of the Veterans Administration, and there are a few others out there as well, but these two are High on My List!!
Thursday, July 05, 2007
He Has Subverted the Rule of Law and the System of Justice
U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson Reacts to Bush¹s Commutation of Lewis
³Scooter² Libby Jail Sentence in Outing of Valerie Plame *
Three days after President Bush commuted the thirty-month jail sentence of
Dick Cheney¹s former chief of staff Lewis ³Scooter² Libby, we spend the hour
with former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Wilson¹s wife, Valerie Plame, was
outed as a CIA operative after Wilson publicly challenged the Bush
administration¹s reasons for going to war on Iraq. Libby was found guilty of
perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements in the
investigation into who blew Plame¹s cover. Wilson says he believes Libby¹s
commutation was a quid pro quo for his silence on the role of President Bush
and Vice President Dick Cheney, whose administration he calls ³corrupt from
top to bottom.²
Listen/Watch/Read
And Join Merle In Rebuilding America
Merle Haggard - America First
He's still an Okie from Muskogee, but he ain't no Busheep.
Merle makes it clear how he feels about the policies of the Bush Criminal Empire,their useless war, and the absolute failures of their domestic policies!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
"We Do Not Want America to Represent Torture"
Last week President Bush got a personal rebuke from an unexpected source. In
a meeting with this year¹s high school Presidential Scholars, he was handed
a letter signed by fifty of the students criticizing the White House¹s
detention policies and support for torture in the so-called war on terror.
We speak with two of the students.
Listen/Watch/Read
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Ahhh, a Societies phony phrase "Support The Troops"
Lets take "Support The Troops" first.
We all know about the Walter Reed problems, somewhat updated Here or at least, as the article points out, getting there. This after how many years of our current two theater conflicts?
Or, for those that don't follow, or believe, the toll that War takes on us Strong Human Animals, not just the deaths and maiming but the mental toll, the examples are numorous and will grow even higher with these mutiple tour conflicts.
Like this:
Post-Traumatic stress: Invisible Wounds
When the 20-year-old infantry soldier woke up, he was on the locked-down psychiatric ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A nurse handed him pajamas and a robe, but they reminded him of the flowing clothes worn by Iraqi men. He told the nurse, “I don’t want to look like a freakin’ Haj.” He wanted his uniform. Request denied. Shoelaces and belts were prohibited.
Every month, between 20 and 40 soldiers are evacuated from Iraq for mental problems, according to the Army.
Individual therapy with a trained clinician, a key element in recovery from PTSD, is infrequent and targeted group therapy is offered only twice a week.
Now what does "Support" really mean, that is outside of false flag waving, slapping a magnetic ribbon on a vehicle, condemning fellow citizens as 'unpatriotic' and in camp with the supposed enemy. It certainly doesn't mean reading about a total lack of real "Support" or real Concern from a society that cheers on, some continue the cheering while sitting on their butts in the comfort of their homes listening and watching the few others who call themselves journalists spreading the fear and false patriotism, sending our military, not in Defense of the Country, but in Invasion and Occupation of anothers.
Battlefield breakdown: The full price of war in Iraq
Tucker walks in pain and says both feet need surgery. He was recently fitted for a hearing aid -- one toll of being exposed to many explosions.
He also has been on medications for sleep disorders and depression that started after his first deployment four years ago. His wife, Nicky, worries the nightmares and sleepwalking will continue in Iraq when she is not around to keep watch.
"From when he first went in and now -- he is not the same," Nicky Tucker tells us. "He's always trying to be the bigger man and take care of himself but there's a point where he has to be looked at and he needs to be taken care of, but the mission always comes first and he has to worry about himself later."
And certainly not taking care of those who need the care when they return!
1,800,000 U.S. VETERANS HAVE NO HEALTH CARE
As the nation struggles to improve medical and mental health care for
military personnel returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, about 1.8
million U.S. veterans under age 65 lack even basic health insurance or access to care at Veterans Affairs hospitals, a new study has found.
The ranks of uninsured veterans have increased by 290,000 since 2000, said Stephanie J. Woolhandler, the Harvard Medical School professor who presented her findings yesterday before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Filner says PTSD misdiagnoses cheat vets
The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee plans a summer attack on the military’s disability review system, hoping that congressional hearings focusing on what he called the “terrible scandal of deliberate misdiagnosis” of mental health problems could lead to an overhaul of government policies.
Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., said he expects to have veterans testify they were improperly diagnosed as having pre-existing personality disorders rather than post-traumatic stress disorder, a move that denies service members military disability benefits and could, under some circumstances, even leave them with no post-service veterans’ benefits if their mental health problems have led to misconduct, such as abuse of alcohol or drugs.
Funds for vets and the wounded
Since the president announced an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003, deaths of military personnel in Iraq have risen from 138 to nearly 3,600 today. Also, more than 95 percent of the American personnel wounded in Iraq {35,000 to 53,000, depending on how they are counted, according to a recent Associated Press series} have been sustained since the end of major combat operations. Under these circumstances, now would not be an ideal time to reiterate a White House threat to veto the military construction/veterans affairs appropriation if it exceeds the level the president proposed in his 2008 budget. So, the White House has wisely retreated from a veto threat that would have been a political disaster for the president, the vice president and their party. Political ramifications aside, it also would have been a slap in the face to returning wounded warriors.
That's only a few.
Now lets look at "Strong National Defense". We have ever growing huge defense budgets, with appropiations outside of budgets for continuation of our invasions and occupations, and very few even ask the questions of 'Where are these Billions upon Billions really going?', instead thinking the more spent the more secure we are, while those reaping the benefits of the wealth laugh at the rest of us.
For a "Strong National Defense" you first have to have the want to take care of those that serve while they are serving, and than especially taking care of the ones needing the care after they return, no matter the cost nor the lenght of time that care is needed. You want Wars, that cost Billions to wage, than you had better be prepared to pay the Multi Billions needed for the results of!
For a "Strong National Defense" a country needs to remember the lesson of previous failures of it's own National Policies and certainly not repeat those failures, one way is by not engaging the same policies again.
Lets take a walk down memory lane, as to a time, not long ago, of a total failure of National Policy with just two lessons not learned:
Questions Like,‘Would You Rather Fight Them Here Or In Pasadena?’”
From: Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam, by Christian G. Appy, U. Of North Carolina Press, 1984
The justification of the war that new soldiers found most persuasive was a version of the domino theory that emphasized the threat to the United States if communism triumphed in Vietnam.
The focus was not so much on the potential threat to other nations.
Instead, the soldiers were most drawn to interpretations that stressed the necessity of the war to prevent a direct attack on American security.
Moskos found these common responses: “The only way we’ll keep them out of the States is to kill them here,” “Let’s get it over now, before they’re too strong to stop,” “They have to be stopped somewhere,” and “Better to zap this country than let them do the same to us.”
John Sack quotes this statement as typical: “The communists win in Vietnam it’ll just be Laos, Thailand, the Philippines, and then we’ll have to fight in California.”
In 1968, Michael Herr found such views most pervasive among the top brass, who were fond of asking skeptical journalists questions like, “Would you rather fight them here or in Pasadena?”
{“Maybe we could beat them in Pasadena, I’d think, but I wouldn’t say it,” Herr writes.}
Many “lifers” - career officers and NCOs -- did their best to indoctrinate their troops with this either/or proposition; either you fought in Vietnam or the entire U.S. population would be attacked.
Soldiers were to believe that even though they were on the other side of the planet, they were truly fighting for the folks back home.
Frank Mathews had his first experience of killing in 1966. After looking at the Viet Cong corpse, he vomited and remained sick and depressed for several days.
An “old salt” sergeant tried to lift his spirits with these words: “Just figure it this way -- that [man you killed] could have been the one that was in the States screwing your mama, or your wife, or your girlfriend, and that’s the reason you killed him.”
This psychosexual version of domino theory “made a lot of sense” to the young soldier.
He was a gung-ho combat volunteer and remained so through the remainder of his tour.
While his motivation centered on avenging the deaths of buddies who had died -- a desire to pay back the enemy -- whenever he looked for a larger rationale for the war, he always returned to the sergeant’s promise that the war was protecting American women.
And this:
“Atrocity Was Intrinsic To The Very Nature Of American Intervention In Vietnam”
“Given The Policy Of Fighting A Counterrevolutionary War On Behalf Of A Client State Incapable Of Winning Widespread Support Among Its People, American Atrocities Were Inevitable”
From: Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam, by Christian G. Appy, U. Of North Carolina Press, 1984
One might argue, as I have, that atrocity was intrinsic to the very nature of American intervention in Vietnam; that given the policy of fighting a counterrevolutionary war on behalf of a client state incapable of winning widespread support among its people, American atrocities were inevitable.
In truth, American soldiers were not responsible for the war. Most were not even old enough to vote. {The voting age was not lowered from twenty-one to eighteen until.
1971.}
Harper's own views about the war, as he readily conceded, were confused. In the same breath he could denounce limitations on American bombing and the initial U. S. intervention in Vietnam.
That is not necessarily a contradictory position. In effect he said, we should have won the war or stayed out.
A simple enough argument to state, but one that evades the questions of whether the war could have been won or whether it was worth winning (that is, a just cause) and the further question of why it would be right to continue trying to win a war in which the original intervention was wrong or misguided.
When those questions are broached, Harper's conflicted feelings and those of many veterans are drawn to the surface.
A 1979 Harris survey found that a vast majority of veterans (89 percent) agreed with the statement, “The trouble in Vietnam was that our troops were asked to fight in a war which our political leaders in Washington would not let them win.”
Yet a clear majority of veterans {59 percent} also agreed with a completely contrary viewpoint: “The trouble in Vietnam was that our troops were asked to fight in a war we could never win.”
The general public shared this contradictory view {73 and 65 percent agreeing with each statement, respectively}.
Of course, both formulations have a common appeal: they put the onus of responsibility for the war and its outcome on American leaders, not on ordinary soldiers and civilians.
They also pose the same attractive alternatives suggested by Harper: win or stay out.
As for the moral legitimacy of the war, Steve Harper struggled to defend U.S. intervention. The United States, he said, was helping the people of Vietnam, people who “wanted us there” and who “wanted their freedom.”
Hard as he tried to sustain that view, however, his memories of the war kept contradicting it.
He could not forget how the Vietnamese almost always seemed to be helping the Viet Cong {“they take all the Americans have to offer and give us nothin' and give the VC all they have”}.
Nor did he try to disguise his disdain for the Vietnamese military and government, which he saw as riddled with corruption and unable and unwilling to fight successfully against the Viet Cong {“they'd turn and run, from their officers on down”}.
This Country, our Whole Society, has neither the will nor the want to "Support The Troops", never has, as the same lack of support is repeated over and over, during and long after any policy that puts our military in harms way, nor does any one political party have an exclusive hold on the term "Strong National Defense", if they did we wouldn't need to keep reminding them of what they are Hired to do, not just say!
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