'Crime of the Century'

Military Oath

I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

The above says it All, whether policy of orders given to invade and occupy others are wrong or right, service in our Military means just what is said by those taking the oath of Military Service to Support and Defend the Constitution of the United States!

Terror on Trial

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In the above video report they play a clip from the limbaugh radio show. First I would like to say, I agree with this limbaugh statement.

Second I would like to pass along a "Thank You rush for admitting, On Air to your so called mass audience, even with the video provided, very publicly that which most of the world, especially most in this country, already know, Crimes Were Committed By The Previous Administration, Thank You!" For you also, with that short statement stated what the reality of yours, and those like you, Fear Actually Is!!

The World still waits for this Country to be what we say we are and not act and do what we condemn others for, and that wait means to adhere to our Constitution and Our Laws as well as the International Laws we helped to write and prosecute!

On 11.13.09, the evening of the decision by the Attorney General he was interviewed on the PBS News Hour, just below is the opening segment to the interview.

Part 1: Alleged 9/11 Mastermind Among Detainees to Face Trial in N.Y.

The Justice Department on Friday announced plans to try suspected 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees, in federal court. Ray Suarez reports.

JIM LEHRER: The self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks will face trial in federal court in New York City. That announcement came from the Justice Department today. Four other detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will also be tried in New York.

And five more will face military tribunals.

Ray Suarez has our lead story report.

RAY SUAREZ: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed topped the list today. He has claimed direct credit for organizing the airliner attacks of September 11.

In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder said Mohammed and four co-conspirators will be tried just blocks from where the Twin Towers fell.

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. Attorney General: The Justice Department has a long and a successful history of prosecuting terrorists for their crimes against our nation, particularly in New York. Although these cases can often be complex and challenging, federal prosecutors have successfully met these challenges and have convicted a number of terrorists who are now serving lengthy sentences in our prisons...>>>>Rest of Transcript Here

The discussion with Jim Lehrer and Attorney General Eric Holder.

Part 2: Holder: 9/11 Trials Will Weigh 'Crime of the Century'

"This is a case that will be treated as any other criminal case."

In an interview with Jim Lehrer, Attorney General Eric Holder discusses the decision to prosecute the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees in civilian federal court in New York, calling the stakes "enormous."

JIM LEHRER: I talked with the attorney general this afternoon at the Justice Department.

Mr. Attorney General, welcome.

ERIC HOLDER: U.S. Attorney General: Thanks for having me.

JIM LEHRER: You said this morning that deciding to prosecute these five 9/11 detainees in civilian federal court was a very tough decision for you to make.

Why so?

ERIC HOLDER: The stakes are so enormous. We're talking about what literally is the crime of the century.

Where should this case properly be housed? How do I deal with the concerns of the victims? Am I placing it in a jurisdiction where we can handle the security? There were a whole series of questions that I had to ask, and answer, before I was able to say that this was the right decision to make.

JIM LEHRER: Who did you consult while making this decision?

ERIC HOLDER: I talked to the prosecutors in the Justice Department, prosecutors from the Department of Defense, people on the staff here at the Justice Department, people at Defense, a whole variety of people, who shared ideas, thoughts, gave cautionary ideas as well, and, using all of that, came up with the decision that we announced just earlier today.

JIM LEHRER: Did you run it by President Obama?

ERIC HOLDER: Just informed him of the decision...>>>>Rest of Trascript Here

9/11 widow Kristen Breitweiser

9/11 Trial, Healing or Reopened Wound

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This is a start, but the Country needs to look deep within and bring forth all the charges against our own who with their extremely failed policies, and outright crimes, created the next generations of criminal terrorist, know no borders.

Editorial: 'Unalienable rights'? No more

The foundational document of the United States of America, the Declaration of Independence, declares it to be "self-evident" that "all men ... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." Governments, it says, are instituted "to secure these rights." The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has now amended that to read "unless the government claims national security, in which case it can do pretty much whatever it wants."

If this is how the government "protects" us from terrorism, we have lost more than we have gained...>>>>

That is our legacy we are leaving to those who come after us, our children's children and theirs!!

The World Still Waits!!

American Justice Returns

From VetVoice

American Justice for Terrorists who Target America

by: Richard Allen Smith OEF/OIF Veteran
Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 15:26:35 PM EST

STATEMENT ON TRANSFER OF KHALID SHAIKH MOHAMMED,
OTHER TERRORISTS TO U.S. TO FACE TRIAL

Washington, DC -- Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are strongly supporting the announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and four other terrorists are being transferred to the U.S. to face trial.

Jon Soltz, Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org said in a statement:

"Finally, after years and years, those responsible for the worst terror attack on America will start to face American justice.

"Showing the world that we operate on a higher moral plane than fiefdoms, theocracies and dictatorships when it comes to justice will be a dagger in the heart of al Qaeda recruiting, as Guantanamo Bay has been one of the terror group's most effective recruiting posters. That helps our troops, and protects America.

"Additionally, this will prove that Liz and Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and their cohorts have been engaging in pure politics. Contrary to what they've said, transferring detainees to the US to face justice and punishment will be secure, safe, and strong, as it has been for nearly 200 other terrorists. Once that becomes evident, it will be clear that their only interest in opposing real justice was to take down President Obama -- American security be damned."

VoteVets.org is part of the Campaign to Close Guantanamo, found at Close Gitmo Now.

VoteVets.org is the leading progressive, pro-military organization of veterans, dedicated to the destruction of terror networks around the world, with force when necessary. It primarily focuses on education and advocacy on issues of importance to the troops and veterans, and holding politicians accountable for their actions on these issues.

This is a start, but the Country needs to look deep within and bring forth all the charges against our own who with their extremely failed policies created the next generations of criminal terrorist, know no borders, that is our legacy we are leaving to those who come after us, our children's children and theirs!!

Gen. Eric Shinseki: Short and Open Discussion

If history judges correctly, one of the Best of the Military Leaders of these past, failed policies of civilian and military leaders, to present times one name will stand out above all the others as a true Understanding Leader and that will be one General Eric Shinseki. Those of us in the present already know much about what this military leader was put through and by whom, but he has been brought back to lead again, lead in the way he seems to have also done, with compassion and understanding for those he has been placed in command of, throughout his military careerer and his life.

To fight for and try and rebuild an agency to long ignored by this Country, since after WWII, through their representatives. Especially this past decade as we allowed not one but two long running invasions and bloody occupations of two countries and No One Mentioned {those that forcefully supported}, or they blocked, any enhancement of what would be needed for those coming back from. Causing many of those that should be receiving the help they deserve for their service to country many problems and even denial of service, as well as the peoples representatives obstructing, doing the peoples will, the obvious results of the Wars and Occupations we send our military personal into. As well as causing those that work in, or even the volunteers, to do so under the restrictions placed on them by the government and especially the lack of funding, costing more in personal problems and funding as the agency continues to try and play catchup or do what is right under the pressures of limited resources, especially when sending new generations of soldiers into wars and occupations creating another huge influx of military and veterans seeking what was promised them and what they deserve.

This agency, as are most government agencies, has been forced to work with the technologies of the past decades and not quickly stay abreast of advancing technologies, this costs much more to operate, thus more funding needed to even function. Ret. General Shinseki is trying to help it join the 21st century.

This is a True Military and now Civilian Leader!

The following is a short discussion with the General on the Morning Edition on NPR radio on November 13, 2009:

Shinseki Measures Scope Of Veterans' Mental Issues

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and President Obama mark Veterans Day on Wednesday during a ceremony at the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

In his first nine months as head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, retired Gen. Eric Shinseki has spent hours just listening to veterans talk. Shinseki tells NPR's Steve Inskeep that he feels a strong obligation to "give back" to the men and women he once served with.

Last week, Shinseki spoke to a group of young veterans attending college. A former Army chief of staff who was wounded during his service in Vietnam, Shinseki asked the veterans if any of them suffered from post-traumatic stress.

He got only silence — so Shinseki asked about symptoms...>>>>Rest Here

Continuing the Veterans Day Messages......

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 11.11.09, I caught a couple of important discussions in the continuing known by us veterans are the results of wars and occupations of choice, or any war and occupation, as to the veterans and military personal once they've been sent to serve in and then return home, most being discharged from their service obligation after serving the time they signed up for, all at that point or later becoming the veterans of their service.

This first one is just a news report I happened upon but hits on the issue many of us are long time advocates of and adds to the rest posted below it.

Veterans struggle with stress, PTSD

November 11, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Along with the common bond of serving the country, many veterans share the burden of dealing with post-war stress...>>>>>

On the NPR Diane Rehm show the following discussion took place in the first hour of her show:

Diane Rehm NPR Show: America's Wars Observed

Guest host: Susan Page

On the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan: A journalist and a photographer document, in unflinching detail, the complex, contradictory and often tragic experiences of U-S troops at war.
Guests

Tammy Duckworth, assistant secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs

David Finkel, author of "The Good Soldiers" (Farrar,Straus & Giroux) national enterprise editor, The Washington Post

Peter van Agtmael, photographer, "2nd Tour Hope I Don't Die"

Listen to the Show:

Windows Media Player

Real Audio Player

Publisher Comments:

It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences, he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.

Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad, and almost every grueling step of the way.

What was the true story of the surge? And was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines. Combining the action of Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale--not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.

Publisher Comments:

A collection of Peter van Agtmael's photography of America's Wars from January 2006 to December 2008

Then on last nights PBS News Hour this was part of their show, first part of a discussion with a veteran of our recent occupations then a discussion on Post Traumatic Stress in many military personal and veterans of all conflicts as to the stress of war:

PBS News Hour: For Some Veterans, the Battle Continues Against PTSD

After returning home from Iraq, Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Workman struggled with the memories of war. As Betty Ann Bowser reports, soldiers like Workman are finding that often time, returning home can mean a new battle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Snip

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Eventually, Workman was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In his new book, "Shadow of the Sword: A Marine's Journey of War, Heroism, and Redemption" Workman chronicles that traumatic day in Fallujah and his five-year struggle with PTSD. After returning from Iraq, Workman was sent to Parris Island to be trained as a drill instructor, a much-respected job in the Marine Corps, but he found it made his PTSD worse.

SGT. JEREMIAH WORKMAN: It was pretty bad. I mean, mentally, it was just killing me inside...>>>>>Rest of Transcript Here with Audio Link

Part 1: Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Workman


Part 2: Counseling Soldiers with Traumatic Stress


Extended Comments with Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Workman

Publisher Comments:

Awarded the Navy Cross for gallantry under fire, Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Workman is one of the Marine Corps' best-known contemporary combat veterans. In this searing and inspiring memoir, he tells an unforgettable story of his service overseas-and of the emotional wars that continue to rage long after our fighting men come home.

Raised in a tiny blue-collar town in Ohio, Jeremiah Workman was a handsome and athletic high achiever. Having excelled on the sporting field, he believed that the Marine Corps would be the perfect way to harness his physical and professional drives.

In the Iraqi city of Fallujah in December 2004, Workman faced the challenge that would change his life. He and his platoon were searching for hidden caches of weapons and mopping up die-hard insurgent cells when they came upon a building in which a team of fanatical insurgents had their fellow Marines trapped. Leading repeated assaults on that building, Workman killed more than twenty of the enemy in a ferocious firefight that left three of his own men dead.

But Workman's most difficult fight lay ahead of him-in the battlefield of his mind. Burying his guilt about the deaths of his men, he returned stateside, where he was decorated for valor and then found himself assigned to the Marine base at Parris Island as a Kill Hat: a drill instructor with the least seniority and the most brutal responsibilities. He was instructed, only half in jest, to push his untested recruits to the brink of suicide. Haunted by the thought that he had failed his men overseas, Workman cracked, suffering a psychological breakdown in front of the men he was charged with leading and preparing for war.

In Shadow of the Sword, a memoir that brilliantly captures both wartime courage and its lifelong consequences, Workman candidly reveals the ordeal of post-traumatic stress disorder: the therapy and drug treatments that deadened his mind even as they eased his pain, the overwhelming stress that pushed his marriage to the brink, and the confrontations with anger and self-blame that he had internalized for years.

Having fought through the worst of his trials-and now the father of a young son-Workman has found not perfection or a panacea but a way to accommodate his traumas and to move forward toward hope, love, and reconciliation.

I recently was contacted by Michael Anthony, who last October returned home from a tour of duty from Iraq as an Operating Room Medic with the Army reserves. Upon returning home he began writing a memoir of his time in Iraq. A few months ago he signed a deal and his memoir is now in bookstores. The book is titled: "Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq"

Publisher Comments:
From the Introduction:

Look around, the drill sergeant said. In a few years, or even a few months, several of you will be dead. Some of you will be severely wounded or so badly mutilated that your own mother can't stand the sight of you. And for the real unlucky ones, you will come home so emotionally disfigured that you wish you had died over there.

It was Week 7 of Basic Training . . . 18 years old and I was preparing myself to die.

They say the Army makes a man out of you but for 18-year-old SPC Michael Anthony, that fabled rite of passage proved a very dark journey. After soliciting his parentsa approval to enlist at only 17, Anthony began his journey with an unshakeable faith in the military born of his family's long tradition of service. But when thrust into a medical unit of misfits as lost as he was, SPC Anthony not only witnessed the unspeakable horror of war but the undeniable misconduct of the military firsthand. Everything he ever believed in dissolved, forcing Anthony to rethink his loyalties, and ultimately risk his career and his freedom to challenge the military he had so firmly believed in.

This searing memoir chronicles the iconic experiences that changed one young soldier forever. A seasoned veteran before the age of twenty-one, he faced the truth about the war and himself in this shocking and unprecedented eyewitness account.

This is Michael Anthony's Website with more information about him as well as his book.

American Muslim Veterans

Muslim veterans in Charlotte condemn Fort Hood shooting

The vets said they hope not all Muslims would be blamed for the actions of one man. The suspected shooter who killed 13 people is Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who is said to be a devout Muslim.

"I'm not a terrorist. I love America," said Salahuddin Hasan, a veteran of the Vietnam War.

Hasan and the other vets gathered at the Masjid Ash-Shaheed mosque on West Sugar Creek Road in Charlotte where Khalil Akbar is the Imam...>>>>>Rest Found Here

Commentary: Many Muslims have died in the service of America

Leonard Pitts' latest tackles ugly online comments about Muslims in the military.

I would add to the above commentary by Pitt, the meme's of another group this past decade, So Have Many Hispanics, Citizen and Non Citizen!!

Notice, and it's not hard to, that most of those who are condemning, and have been these past years, a whole group of people, in these times of a religious ideology and the regional countries they live in or are from, because of the acts of a few or in the Ft Hood Extreme Tragedy just one person, have never served this country in any form especially the Military and these aren't only the talking heads of our opinionated, called news? programs, 24hr cable news? channels but also the civilians living in an extremist ideology of hate, racism and fear! Young enough to be serving in these two occupations of choice and the old farts who went out of their way to dodge the draft and service while many of us were sent to our other years long occupation of choice, Vietnam!

Service means No ideology, political and Especially religion, always has and always will, and us older Vets have known and served with many who Honorably Serve then are dumped by a Nation after that service.

Just like a society the Military is no different in it's diversity and those that try and use diversity and condemn should and will be called out for their embedded hatreds and false flag waving!!

Veterans Employment Council

White House Creates Council On Veterans Employment

Last night the President signed an Executive Order creating an interagency Council on Veterans Employment to advise the President and Administration on how to set the bar for hiring and employing veterans.

The Council will be chaired by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, with Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry serving as the Vice Chair and Chief Operating Officer of the Council.

In statements prior to the signing, all involved gave their reasons for why the initiative is so important to them...>>>>

For Immediate Release November 9, 2009
Executive Order

- - - - -
Employment of Veterans in the Federal Government

By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, I hereby order as follows:..>>>>

Veterans Day 2009

Below is just a small group of articles and reports coming in on this Veterans Day 2009. Some about Veterans Day, some about Veterans older and to the present, some about todays Veterans and Soldiers. Much will be said today, much seen, some will even think about, some.

While important it isn't so much about what will be said or done by our political leaders, it's really more about how the greater majority in this country who don't serve, don't want to really sacrifice, but are quick to use those who do, and their families, then quickly move away from their false meme's when it comes time to actually heed the calls for the funds to pay for the results of our occupations of choice. And as always by not heeding those calls for sacrifice it ends up causing more suffering by those who've suffered enough for country and much much more in the costs of the results of their service!

No Longer a Soldier, Shinseki Has a New Mission

But the visit also underscored Mr. Shinseki’s current mission: to modernize his problem-plagued agency, which was struggling to care for aging veterans even before the flood of young ones from Iraq and Afghanistan began.

For months, Mr. Shinseki has been crisscrossing the country as President Obama’s pinstriped evangelist for veterans’ care, raising concerns about a coming tide of post-traumatic stress cases, traumatic brain injuries and other physical and psychological scars of battle.

Having led soldiers in Vietnam as a young West Point graduate, until a mine tore off part of his right foot and nearly ended his Army career, he can speak about the “baggage” of war with deep feeling.

“All of us who went through combat, we were carrying a little bit of baggage from the experience, the stress,” he said in an interview before the Fort Hood shootings...>>>>

Honoring Our Service Members

A By-the-Numbers Look at Difficulties Facing America’s Veterans on Veterans Day 2009

This Veterans Day, we at the Center for American Progress once again honor the millions of brave men and women in the active and reserve components of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have made great sacrifices to protect our country and our freedoms—especially those who have given their lives. We also honor the families, friends, and loved ones who made their service possible...>>>>

Many Veterans Are Without A Health Insurance Plan

Doesn't the Veteran's Administration provide health insurance and medical to veterans? That is largely the case. However, many veterans uninjured in combat are--surprisingly--considered ineligible for VA insurance. The post-military income levels deemed too high to receive benefits are surprisingly low; a veteran with no dependents can only take advantage of the government's health insurance plan if he or she earns under $29,400 per year, while one with four dependents can earn around $41,300 before losing eligibility for VA benefits. Such incomes aren't quite poverty level, but are the domain of working-class Americans (including civilians) unable to afford private insurance if their employer doesn't offer it. Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are also struggling with unemployment, and are a disproportionate percentage of the nation's homeless. Many are working low-paying jobs that push them just above Medicaid and VA eligibility. This makes it even harder for them to become insured...>>>>

Veterans Day, A look back and one forward

This year, we are struck by an additional sentiment, the solemn duty that falls to all citizens to make sure that the nation never sends its men and women in uniform into harm's way without sure and certain justification. We write this as two U.S. wars grind on in Asia, and the president weighs the advice of one of his highest commanders to escalate the war in one of those theaters, Afghanistan/Pakistan, by an additional 40,000 troops...>>>>

Reid: Coburn move 'illogical'

{this is an automated voice read of the short article written}

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) “illogical" for holding up a veterans care bill Tuesday, criticizing the Oklahoma Republican for supporting war funding while blocking health care funding for veterans...>>>>

In this report below the following is stated:

"I don't think we've really cracked the nut on how to really get at PTSD and TBI," said the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Danny Dudek. "This is the most complex job I have ever had. Being in a battalion where people are going through the most difficult thing they've ever had to deal with."

Well for some four decades Veterans, starting with us 'Nam Vets which opened up and brought forth our Korean and WWII brothers, and some really dedicated civilians who did hear us, have been yelling into the Winds of a Country that didn't want to Listen. That Country hires it's representatives who weren't forced to pay attention, and the Circle Comes Back Around adding this time not just serving but serving Multiple Times under the extreme stress of Conflict adding to lives stress!!

Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis

Veterans Day traditionally has been set aside more to honor those who have served rather than those still serving. But eight-plus years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have created a huge class of combat veterans who still wear the uniform, many of them with two or three or more deployments under their belts and perhaps more in their futures.

Ballard, for example, is determined to rejoin his unit in Afghanistan. He is a medic in a Stryker brigade and was injured on one of the unit's first missions after deploying to northern Afghanistan a few months ago.

"We ran over an [improvised explosive device]," Ballard said. "I remember the floor coming up very quickly, and it forced me straight down to the ground, and then there was that brief second in time where I was sort of floating as the vehicle dropped and I was still in the air."...>>>>



Vice President Biden speaks at a Fort Lewis memorial ceremony to honor seven Stryker brigade soldiers killed in Afghanistan. June 24, 2009

Sen. Jim Webb: Critical to keep promise to veterans

Each year on this day, Americans take a pause from school and the workplace to commemorate the service of our nation's veterans. With one of the largest populations of veterans and active-duty military service members, Virginia plays a vital role in our nation's defense.

As the son of an Air Force officer, the father of a Marine and a Marine combat veteran myself, I understand the value of having leaders in Congress who know firsthand what it's like to be deployed, to have close family members deployed and, ultimately, to join the ranks of my fellow veterans...>>>>

Veteran-led Peer Support Combats Suicide

Last month in Washington, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki made a staggering announcement: more veterans have committed suicide since 2001 than have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Coming within weeks of the release of the US Army's suicide prevention guidebook, the VA Secretary's statement underscores the commitment to teaching service members and veterans the methods for overcoming combat stress.

While for many the manual will be an important tool, veteran-to-veteran peer support is often the best way to stay mentally healthy during and after wartime service...>>>>

Iraq, Afghanistan veterans need more help at home

More resources may be needed to help care-givers cope with a rising caseload of damaged or suicidal veterans in need of counseling.

Floyd Meshad, Vietnam vet, was in a Ralphs supermarket in Westchester when his cellphone rang at 9 o'clock one evening not long ago.

It was Meshad's suicide hotline, and a soldier was being patched through.

Meshad, a psychiatric social worker, walked outside the store so he could concentrate while trying to talk the soldier out of killing himself. He gets lots of calls like this from all over the country, more now than ever, and he knew one thing:

This soldier, calling from Florida, was serious...>>>>

Impossible Dream - A Tribute to Native American Veterans



When I was discharged back in '71, after my four years of duty in the Navy, all shore bases, I didn't expect nor even look for this Country to welcome me nor give much back, been in for four and once joining the community of soldiers then veterans it's quickly seen and known what real support there is for those who serve once out. My last year of service was in country Vietnam which for us 'Nam Vets compounded the known of payback, what with the coming results of our countries use of Defoliants, Agent Orange plus, as it started not only affecting many of those who served in the area's where sprayed from our planes but the Vietnamese civilians as well. Then we finally started to understand what always has been as to extreme traumatic events and stress on the human mind, Post Traumatic Stress, and for many the life long nightmares of a war that never goes away, and for civilians replying their own traumatic life tragedies that have been done to them. And so much more.

I came out unscathed, not wounded physically but having served in a occupation conflict with the knowledge not only had I changed but so had everyone else who served as well as those we occupied, the trauma of wars. While not having flash backs nor nightmares I did feel that we all are now wounded with post traumatic stress, most not having more then our memories every once in awhile but not so as to be debilitating nor effecting our daily lives.

I, like many many of my brothers and sisters, became an advocate for the care of those physically and mentally wounded in our Wars of Choice, advocates that for the most part weren't listened to. Until Now, and that has been brought about by once again a Nation accepting the failed policies of the few who controlled the leadership and easy to come to them lies and propaganda sending our soldiers into not one but two long running occupations, we're still in both!

'These people just want to be left alone'

In Afghanistan the US soldiers are losing heart for a fight they feel their presence is only prolonging:

Sean Smith spent a month embedded with the US Army's 501st Parachute Regiment in June this year. With inadequate vehicles, relations with Afghan security forces at a standstill and the constant threat of IEDs, the soldiers are losing heart for a fight they feel their presence is only prolonging

Peaceful End to Cold War in Europe

From: National Security Archive

New video: the Archive's Svetlana Savranskaya discusses the peaceful end to the Cold War in Europe

In this video, Russia Programs Director Svetlana Savranskaya discusses the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A new book from the National Security Archive, Masterpieces of History: The Peaceful End of the Cold War in Europe (forthcoming in 2010, Central European University Press), chronicles the role of peaceful revolutions in Eastern Europe in 1989 and 1990 through documents collected from US, European, and Russian archives.

Fall of Berlin Wall Caused Anxiety More than Joy at Highest Levels
Secret Documents Show Opposition to German Unification

The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago generated major anxiety in capitals from Warsaw to Washington, to the point of outright opposition to the possibility of German unification, according to documents from Soviet, American and European secret files posted on the Web today by the National Security Archive...>>>

Prague Communists Called for Wall to Open on November 8, 1989
East German Refugee Crisis in Embassies in Prague Turned Hardliners into Advocates for Change 20 Years Ago

New Documents from Prague, Berlin, and Bonn detail the pressure on the "System" from East Germans voting with their feet

Just before the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, even the hardline Czechoslovak Communist leaders called for the opening of the German border, according to documents from high-level archives in Berlin, Bonn and Prague published for the first time in English and posted on the Web today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University...>>>

Outside The Wire

The newest episode to the reports from the online series In Their Boots

Three women service members return from Iraq and Afghanistan to find they face a new battle—a battle to treat their wartime injuries.



American Women Veterans this is their Facebook site page.

This is their New Site Page: American Women Veterans

American Women Veterans is the nation's preeminent Women Veterans organization dedicated to being the voice of Women Service Members and Veterans. They welcome veterans and supporters from all branches and eras. They foster a continued desire to serve our country and our comrades by raising awareness of women veterans' issues in military, civilian and veterans' affairs. They strive to enlighten, engage and empower women veterans from all services and eras!

Fall of Berlin Wall

Fall of Berlin Wall Caused Anxiety More than Joy at Highest Levels
Secret Documents Show Opposition to German Unification

The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago generated major anxiety in capitals from Warsaw to Washington, to the point of outright opposition to the possibility of German unification, according to documents from Soviet, American and European secret files posted on the Web today by the National Security Archive...>>>

Prague Communists Called for Wall to Open on November 8, 1989
East German Refugee Crisis in Embassies in Prague Turned Hardliners into Advocates for Change 20 Years Ago

New Documents from Prague, Berlin, and Bonn detail the pressure on the "System" from East Germans voting with their feet

Just before the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, even the hardline Czechoslovak Communist leaders called for the opening of the German border, according to documents from high-level archives in Berlin, Bonn and Prague published for the first time in English and posted on the Web today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University...>>>

The Forever War of the Mind {An Added Link}

No one is trying to find excuses nor defend what the Major did at Ft Hood to his fellow soldiers, but what he was doing for his service career, whether it helped push him over the edge or not, is of major concern for what this country faces for it's support of it's extremely failed policies.

I have been trying to follow any facts, and not the rantings from the extremist within, but facts, of this tragic event. And the more I find the more it looks like one huge failed Military Cluster F**k again, joining the many we already know about, of these present times, and those of our time as we served and returned from Vietnam and the years after. Like why he was even transfered to Hood, why was he promoted, why the Army seemed not to be listening to him as he had to get a lawyer in trying to get discharged, why was he getting enhanced weapons training at Hood in preparation to leave for Afghanistan, why he even had orders to deploy, why there seems to be reports prior to just listed that should have started the lights going off in the Command Structure. I hope to try and put something together if I can wrap my mind fully around all these seemingly Military failures and this Major's Extreme Criminal Act. But let me say this, expanded abit from what a brother 'Nam Vet stated earlier today: "Everyday a Ft Hood happens in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now in Pakistan, they've already suffered through Many 9/11's in these nine years!!"

The following really touches on the reality of these times as to the soldiers serving multiple tours in these occupation theaters and were printed in media outlets today:

Shortage of military therapists creates strain

Amputations. Combat stress. Divorce. Suicide. For troubled service members, military therapists are at their sides.

But with the U.S. fighting two wars, an acute shortage of trained personnel has left these therapists emotional drained and overworked, with limited time to prepare for their own war deployments.

An Army psychiatrist is suspected in the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, and the rampage is raising questions about whether there's enough help for the helpers, even though it's unclear whether that stress or fear of his pending service in Afghanistan might be to blame.

An uncle of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan said Saturday that Hasan was deeply affected by his work treating soldiers returning from war zones. "I think I saw him with tears in his eyes when he was talking about some of patients, when they came overseas from the battlefield," Rafik Hamad told The Associated Press from his home near the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., a psychologist in the Navy Reserves, said the toll is sometimes described as "compassion fatigue" or "vicarious trauma."...>>>Rest Found Here

My subject title comes from this Op-Ed By Max Cleland in the New York Times

“EVERY day I was in Vietnam, I thought about home. And, every day I’ve been home, I’ve thought about Vietnam.” So said one of the millions of soldiers who fought there as I did. Change the name of the battlefield and it could have been said by one of the American servicemen coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan today. Wars are not over when the shooting stops. They live on in the lives of those who fight them. That is the curse of the soldier. He never forgets.

Snip

War is haunting. Death. Pain. Blood. Dismemberment. A buddy dying in your arms. Imagine trying to get over the memory of a bomb splitting a Humvee apart beneath your feet and taking your leg with it. The first time I saw the stilled bodies of American soldiers dead on the battlefield is as stark and brutal a memory as the one of the grenade that ripped off my right arm and both legs.

No, the soldier never forgets. But neither should the rest of us.

Veterans returning today represent the first real influx of combat-wounded soldiers in a generation. They are returning to a nation unprepared for what war does to the soul. Those new veterans will need all of our help. After America’s wars, the used-up fighters are too often left to fend for themselves. Many of the hoboes in the Depression were veterans of World War I. When they came home, they were labeled shell-shocked and discharged from the Army too broken to make it during the economic cataclysm...>>>Rest Found Here

Max has just came out with a book of his life, I put up a post about this as he was making the rounds discussing it, this is a cut from one post:

Former Sen. Max Cleland (D., Ga.) lost his legs and one arm in the Vietnam War. More than 30 years later, he returned to Walter Reed to be treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His new book, "Heart of a Patriot:" begins with an open letter to America’s soldiers, urging them to seek help when they need it.

What are the chief obstacles for a soldier seeking treatment for PTSD?..>>>>>The Rest Found Here

Max's Book: "Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove"

UpDated Added Link:

"This is such a betrayal"

A Chaplain Discusses the Long Recovery From Ft. Hood and the Lasting Legacy of PTSD

An ordained Baptist chaplain and army captain, Roger Benimoff spent two tours of duty in Iraq and months between deployments counseling soldiers in the U.S. During his career, he provided spiritual guidance to American soldiers through crises of faith, bereavement, and trauma until he himself broke down. While training and working as a chaplain at Walter Reed during the height of its crisis, Benimoff was diagnosed with chronic PTSD and spent months of treatment at some of the facilities where he trained as a caretaker.

Snip

Is "contact" or "secondary" PTSD a genuine problem?

Oh yes, definitely. I didn't have much time to counsel before I was deployed—I had only three weeks active duty before going over—but I would debrief my soldiers in Iraq all the time about events I was not present at.

Snip

Why did you leave the army?

I could not stay in the army any longer and do good. There was a part of me who hated all of humanity because I could not understand the atrocities that people would commit, the horrors that people are capable of. I hated humanity and I hated God and I hated myself...>>>Rest Found Here