OIF/OEF, Welcome Home, But Not In My Neighborhood!

GUERNEVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- Merry Lane, a cul-de-sac shaded by redwoods in Sonoma County wine country, would seem a pleasant place to recover from the psychic wounds of war. Nadia McCaffrey's dream is to set up a group home there for veterans plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder.

Group Housing for Vets Raises Concerns

I posted about Nadia McCaffrey's, her sons wife and childs, dream of a Memorial to Honor her sons Service and Sacrifice, 'Veterans Village', Here. Part of that post:

Veterans are the light at the tip of the candle, illuminating the way for the whole nation. If veterans can achieve awareness, transformation, understanding, and peace, they can share with the rest of society the realities of war. And they can teach us how to make peace with ourselves and each other, so we never have to use violence to resolve conflicts again".
Thich Nhat Hanh

Sergeant Patrick Ryan McCaffrey
Foundation for War Veterans


Please visit the Veterans Village.org for further information.
Mission
The mission of Patrick McCaffrey’s Foundation is to promote mental and holistic wellness and palliative care among veterans returning from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), by providing a live-in retreat village, wherein with the help of trained professional staff and volunteers, veterans will find inner healing and an eventual re-entry into society. The Patrick McCaffrey Foundation, named after Sergeant Patrick R. McCaffrey, the first California National Guard, since WWII, (from the 579th Engineer Battalion from Petaluma), to lose his life in Iraq on June 22, 2004, is committed to bringing healing and hospice, as well as career counseling and training, to veterans returning from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its founding member and President, Nadia McCaffrey, mother of Sergeant Patrick McCaffrey, wants to carry on the work her son would have pursued had his life not been curtailed so prematurely. Patrick, who did not expect to be deployed to Iraq, decided to honor the commitment he made to help people by going to Iraq as a leader and Combat Life Saver, bringing healing and love to his fellow soldiers and the Iraqi children.

Visit the Veterans Village Site for further information.

Before the deployment to Iraq: Patrick McCaffrey with wife and daughter

PLEASE JOIN US IN MAKING The Patrick Ryan McCaffrey Village-Retreat for Veterans, a Reality.

A place of peace, a place to heal, a place to renew… …. a place built by gratitude.

A few days later I followed it up with this post at my site, and a few other sites, as well. The video there doesn't play after YouTube booted me.

Now in Guerneville Calif there's a stop work order on the Memorial, for some questions as to the building annd surroundings, even though the plans apparently were stamped approved and the building is far along in construction, as you can see in the top photo of Nadia.

Being in construction, I think there's more going on here as snips of a recent article leads me to believe, seen this happen to many times in the past.

they are also worried that deranged veterans will move in.

Deranged Veterans?
Who sent them into a War of Choice?
How many of these neighbors were in the 70plus percent waiting impatiently for 'Shock and Awe' to flash on their TV screens?

"one person was concerned that even firecrackers would set these people off,"

OIF/OEF welcome to the flashback of the 'Nam Era! You've already learned about the Military Care, and the games played, as well as the Veterans Administration and theirs as well!

"they are afraid of it because they don't want to understand it."

Looks like you'll be carrying the Battle for understanding and what this country owes you for the next 30plus years, as your 'Nam brothers and sisters have, along with some really concerned and caring civilians.
Probably to the next debacle/quagmire, which will more than likely happen even quicker than a short 38yrs. after, as your brothers and sisters pass away with nothing resolved, and a society that has it's own PTSD problem within, from the trauma's people experiance, with still no understanding nor want to understand, Denials Too Easy and Cheaper!

in part because of the many news accounts of traumatized veterans committing suicide or murder.

"We're all, frankly, failing in properly educating society about what PTSD is and what its effects are," said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org,

People don't want to be Educated, it costs to much to them personally, in money, to Care! As they don't question the Costs of the Conflicts and Occupations of others They Cheer On!

"This could have been Grandmothers for Harmonious Peace and it wouldn't have made a difference."

But he also raised questions about the screening and supervision of the veterans.
"Generally PTSD guys are normal people," Eckers said. But he added: "Some are shell-shocked and they need to be in an institution."
McCaffrey said screening would be done by veterans and a psychiatrist, and supervision would come from volunteers from a nearby veterans clinic.

And in this Country, that thinks of itself one way but lives the opposite, caring and understanding neighbors would do wonders in helping the Veterans of it's Failed, but Supported, Policies, as well as their own Communities and citizens of who suffer, Silently, from their Trauma's!

"If it wasn't for my brother, I might be one of those homeless vets on the street," Martinez said in a telephone interview from San Antonio. "A place like that would be ideal for a person like me or a person in my shoes who didn't have someone to lean on like an older brother to get help."

Than of course we have this recent breaking report:

Col.: DOD delayed brain injury scans

For more than two years, the Pentagon delayed screening troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because officials feared veterans would blame vague ailments on the little-understood wound caused by exposure to bomb blasts, says the military's director of medical assessments.

To add to the many, other Veterans have All Lived Through Before, of this Countries 'Support of the Troops'!!!