"You're a p- - -y and a scared little kid", 3rd Installment of "Coming Home"

The subject title above is the third installment of a week long series of reports being run at Salon.com.

The first two installment reports can be found in links below or with this link of what I posted previously

John Needham at home in San Clemente, Calif., in January 2007, during a two-week leave from his tour of duty in Iraq.

John Needham returned from Iraq, suffering from combat stress. If he had received proper care, would he be standing trial for murder?

This is the third installment in a weeklong investigative series called "Coming Home." Read a note written by John Needham here. You can also read the introduction to the series, and the first and second installments, which appeared Monday and Tuesday.

The third installment in this series, by Michael de Yoanna and Mark Benjamin at Salon.com, starts out thus:

Feb. 12, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Fellow soldiers in Iraq called John Wiley Needham "Needhammer" for his toughness. They also saw him as somehow charmed, because the tall blond Army private from Southern California always seemed to be just far enough away from danger. People died next to Needham; Needham survived.

But "Needhammer" was not indestructible after all. He struggled with the aftereffects of the explosions he'd dodged. He survived a suicide attempt while in Iraq, and, after being shipped out of the country in 2007, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury. He took so many prescription meds he could barely hold his head up. According to Needham's father, Mike, the Army's response to the soldier's problems was punishment rather than treatment.

Last year, just weeks after his discharge, he allegedly beat 19-year-old aspiring model Jacqwelyn Villagomez to death in his California condo.

It continues with this clip:

A Salon investigation has identified several trends involving Fort Carson soldiers who became homicidal. There are failures by healthcare workers and commanders to provide proper care to soldiers struggling with hidden wounds such as PTSD and brain injuries. There is a tendency to overmedicate soldiers struggling with stress or other injuries. Behind it all is an Army culture that punishes problematic soldiers instead of aiding them.

But it can't be misunderstood that Fort Carson, nor just the Army, is the only Military Base where soldiers, returning from In-Theater tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the only base where these soldiers, especially after serving multiple tours, many on extended tours of more than a year, are experiencing the problems of reintegration and suffering from the effects of war and occupation of others, especially within the culture of the military. Those of us who are 'Nam vets, and others before and after that, were there with our brothers who went through the same, and back than the tour in country was normally only a twelve month one for the greater majority. Longer tours, less down time between tours, strain of these tours on the soldier and their families, and so much more of the personal and military stress can break down even the strongest minds of many, war and occupations are the complete opposite of the way we are raised and taught how to view the world around us.

This first page of the Salon report, third installment, leads into this "We believe what happened was he had a flashback and lost control" second page, subtitled thus at the bottom of page one.

While Wolgast declines to link soldier healthcare and violent crimes to PTSD, Sheilagh McAteer, a Colorado public defender and a member of a federal Health and Human Services task force exploring ways to divert combat veterans who resort to crime, sees compelling links.

McAteer says soldiers returning home after traumatic war experiences are struggling with violence. Some are winding up in prison and Army officials need to wake up and recognize the problem, she adds.

So far, though, the Army is "refusing to take responsibility," McAteer says. "That's a problem."

Just as happened before and for the long time after, till the next War of Choice raises it's ugly head, as we never learn the real lessons of, and fail to even learn and understand the tactical.

"The Death Dealers took my life!"

Salon.com has a series running all this week called "Coming Home", researched and written by Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna.

The following is the description and lead in information on the series:

"Coming Home" is a week long investigative series on preventable deaths at Fort Carson, a U.S. Army post in Colorado, among troops who have returned from combat tours in Iraq.

Salon national correspondent Mark Benjamin and Colorado-based journalist Michael de Yoanna reviewed more than two dozen incidents of suicide, suicide attempts, prescription drug overdoses and murder involving Fort Carson troops and examined 10 of those cases painstakingly. They interviewed troops, their families and survivors of suicide attempts, studied thousands of pages of medical and Army records and conducted a prison interview with a soldier convicted of being an accessory to the murder of one of his comrades. They learned that much of the violence could have been avoided if the Army did a better job of recognizing and treating the symptoms of PTSD.

A friend sent me the first in the series, which was posted yesterday, 2.09.09, called "The Death Dealers took my life!"

Army Pvt. Adam Lieberman attempted suicide on October 30, 2008, leaving a suicide note scrawled on the wall of his Fort Carson, Colorado barracks.

Adam Lieberman tried to kill himself when he returned from Iraq. Only then did the Army take his mental health seriously.

This is the first story in a week long series called "Coming Home." Read an introduction to the series here; see photos of Heidi Lieberman painting over her son's suicide note, and a copy of the "Hurt Feelings Report," here.

The first page of this report starts out thus:

Feb. 9, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- The day before Halloween 2008, Army Pvt. Adam Lieberman swallowed handfuls of prescription pain pills and psychotropic drugs. Then he picked up a can of black paint and smeared onto the wall of his room in the Fort Carson barracks what he thought would be his last words to the world.

"I FACED THE ENEMY AND LIVED!" Lieberman painted on the wall in big, black letters. "IT WAS THE DEATH DEALERS THAT TOOK MY LIFE!"

With more following, about his unit, what happened, his mother and commander, leading into the second page, I am a queer; I am a little bitch; I am a cry baby; I want my mommy; All of the above. Leading to the third and final page of installment number one, "I wanted to rip her jaw off and scrape the skin off her face with her Goddamn teeth"


The second in the series comes on 2.10.09 is called "Kill yourself. Save us the paperwork":

Pfc. Ryan Alderman in Iraq in an undated photo.

Pfc. Ryan Alderman, now deceased, sought medical help from the Army. He got a fistful of powerful drugs instead.

This is part of the second installment in a week long series called "Coming Home." Read Ryan Alderman's sworn statement, written a week before his death, here, and a description of three other suicides of Fort Carson-based soldiers here. See the introduction to the series here.

The second, in this series, starts out with the following:

Feb. 10, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. -- It was unseasonably warm for November in Colorado as Heidi Lieberman approached the door of the Soldiers' Memorial Chapel at Fort Carson. She walked past a few of the large evergreens that dot the chapel grounds and then entered the blockish, modern beige and brown chapel topped with a sharp, rocketlike steeple.

Inside, the chapel was hushed. Camouflage-clad, crew-cut young men packed the pews. Up in front, an empty Army helmet hung on the butt of an upright M16. A pair of brown combat boots sat below, as if they had been tucked under a bunk. A soldier handed Heidi a program for a memorial service. On the front was the image of a soldier, kneeling in prayer below an American flag and illuminated by a beacon of light from above. The inscription just below the kneeling soldier read, "Lord, grant me the strength ..."

It had been five days since Heidi's son Adam, 21, a soldier at Fort Carson, swallowed handfuls of prescription sleeping pills and psychotropic drugs in the barracks, trying to die. With a can of black paint, Adam brushed a suicide note on the wall of his room. The Army, Adam wrote, "took my life."

Adam had lived. Pfc. Timothy Ryan Alderman wasn't so lucky. Alderman had been found dead of a similar drug overdose in his room in the barracks at Fort Carson in the early-morning hours of Oct. 20, 10 days before Adam Lieberman made his suicide attempt.

Heidi, who was at Fort Carson to deal with the aftermath of her own son's suicide attempt, had decided to attend Alderman's funeral although neither she nor her son had known him. She sank into a pew and tried to reconcile two warring thoughts.

The first page leads into the second, givin this title at the bottom link to: "It looked like a slaughterhouse operation to me", which than leads to the third, "That's shitty. That breaks all the rules. He was overmedicated"

Please go over and read these two reports, than follow this extremely important series. I'll be updating this post as each days report is posted.

With the long running occupations continuing, and as the multiple tours start weighing on some of these soldiers, add on the economic problems of the country, their families sacrificing and trying to carry on a normal existence while waiting, over and over, and we're just witnessing the beginning of what may be coming!

Just as those of us who served in another long running occupation, without having to serve more than one tour, watched as our own brothers and sisters returned, never leaving behind what they had experienced nor completely returning home!

Take In A Deep Breath America

As far as suicides among active duty soldiers
and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
are concerned,
we in America have just seen the tip of the iceberg.
Two tours will be twice the chance of suicide.
Three tours will be triple the chance of suicide.
Four tours will be four times the chance of suicide.
These soldiers will be deleted by this country like
unwanted e-mails.
Why?
Because the American people do not support the troops.
Nobody wants to do the math.
Take in a deep breath America,
the wars are coming home to the stuffed closets of your
mind.
When you fall asleep at the wheel,
people die in your neighborhood.
Eventually,
they may die in your own home.
When I was in Vietnam toward the end of the war,
this is what I saw.
Blood on my hands,
brains in my lap.

Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71
February 9, 2009

Not For The Weak Stomach - Reality of War!! {UpDated}

Salon has this up at their site and I'm sure we haven't heard the end of this incident, or like others maybe we have!!


The only way that doesn't happen is if You, the Citizens Of This Country, Make Sure It Gets Investigated and Indictments come down, not for the Soldiers but for those in Leadership, Top Down!!


Friendly fire in Iraq — and a coverup


The Army says no, but a graphic video and eyewitness testimony indicate that a U.S. tank killed two American soldiers. The mother of one soldier demands answers.


I'm not going to give you much here, but Watch the Videio's, warning included, and use the above links, than slam your Representatives with the needs to investigate, help these soldiers Families and this Nation!

Editor’s note: Mark Benjamin’s friendly fire investigation contains 1) the main article, 2) video documentation {Video's Below} and 3) the Army’s own report on the killing of Nelson and Suarez.

The main article starts out with the following:

Oct. 14, 2008 | PHILADELPHIA — Once a cop, always a cop. Asked if she wanted to see a graphic battle video showing her son Albert bleeding to death, Jean Feggins, retired from the Philadelphia Police Department, said yes.

“Listen, I’ve moved dead bodies of people I don’t even know,” she told me, as she sat on a brown couch in the den of her West Philadelphia row house. “I need to know everything. Because he is not a stranger. That’s my baby. That’s my child.”

Listen carefully.

Helmet-cam footage from Ramadi, Iraq (12-min. edited version). Warning: Contains graphic violence and profanity.



An interview with Jean Feggins, mother of Pfc. Albert Markee Nelson, who died of wounds received in the alleged friendly fire incident.



This report is five pages at the site, at the bottom of each page there's a title for the next, below are these titles:

“Dude, I’m almost positive that was that tank, because I saw him flash”


“We know it was a tank. They got an ass whooping coming. That’s all I got to say”


“It is fucking plain as day that the tank shot at the building I was in and killed two of my friends”


“He said, ‘He was killed instantly. He was killed so fast that he didn’t have time to feel pain’”


Accountibility for all that this Country, and much of this World, have been put through, leading up to the Financial Collapse, must be one of the first Orders of this Countries Business when the Civilian Leadership Changes, taking with them many in the Military Ranks as well.

"Bring Them Home NOW, and Take Care Of Them When They Return"

UpDate

New probe sought in servicemembers’ deaths
Lawmaker petitions Army after video of battle suggests friendly fire

"NEWS WAR"

Tuesday on FRONTLINE (PBS)
The Press's "Perfect Storm"

More than a year ago, FRONTLINE began a special project on the news business. Our initial question sounded simple. We wanted to know: what's happening to the news? It's a question that concerns those of us who have spent a lifetime in journalism (like myself) and, more importantly, many of you who have written over the years about FRONTLINE's reporting and the reporting of our colleagues in the national press, print and broadcast.
Beginning this Tuesday night, the answers to our question will unfold in four separate broadcasts over the next two months. For a listing, preview video and dates of all four programs, Visit Here

And, express your opinion about this program

Live Online Discussion on Washingtonpost.com ...
Producer Raney Aronson-Rath will be online this Wednesday, Feb. 14, at 11am ET, to discuss "News War."
For details, see:
Washington Post

News Crawl 1-20-07

A Grim Milestone: 500 Amputees

Last Tuesday marked another grim milestone: the arrival of the 500th amputee. Army officials said the victim, a 24-year-old corporal, lost both legs in a roadside bomb explosion on January 12. He was treated at the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, before landing at Andrews and being taken to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Soldiers may not get needed mental help
Returning vets aren't screened unless they say they need aid, officer says

Mental health screening isn’t consistent for U.S. troops returning from war, and if they don’t say they need help, they often don’t get it, the Army’s top medical officer said Friday.
“If an individual checks nothing, 'I have no mental health issues,' they’re not necessarily being sent to mental health counseling,” said Army Surgeon General Kevin Kiley, speaking at a hearing on military medical readiness before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
It is estimated that about 17 percent of returning war fighters have post-traumatic stress disorder or severe anxiety and depression, compared with about 6 percent or 7 percent of the general population, Kiley said.

Psychologist: Navy faces crisis

An experienced Navy psychologist warns that the U.S. military does not have enough mental health professionals to meet the growing number of emotionally damaged war veterans.
Moreover, Navy Cmdr. Mark Russell says, many of the mental health professionals on staff lack formal training in core therapies for post-traumatic stress syndrome. Russell predicts a "perfect storm" of dire health care consequences.

"We cannot provide the standard of care to treat PTSD via psychotherapy when we can barely keep up with new referrals and have to manage crises while filling in for the staffing gaps and vacancies due to deployment, attrition or no billeting," Russell says. "This is why I have been so outspoken."

Then he brags:

As a result, he says, the military has a record of returning more than 98% of troops with emotional issues back to their units.

The Parrot

Laura Bush bought George a parrot for his birthday.

She told Dick Cheney, "The bird is so smart! George has already taught him to mispronounce over 200 words!"

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Cheney said. "But you realize that he just says the words. He doesn't understand what they mean"
.
"That's okay," Laura replied. "Neither does the parrot"

.


No 'Surge' for Them
Kurdish Force Heads to Baghdad Battle Zone

Chapman says there have been desertions. He expects only several hundred soldiers to show up in Baghdad, out of a battalion of 1,600.

Damn.....
Almost forgot.

Tune in this after noon 3PM PT or tonight 6PM ET to 'The Progressive Radio Network', online for the About Face show which will be a recorded show continuing the Sunday show, last week, with Members of the Appeal For Redress you won't be sorry!

Give it a try at 5PM ET as for some reason that's when it came on last Saturday, if not than it will be at 6PM ET!

And give 60min a call, they taped a show with a few of these Military Personal that has already been pushed aside Twice, it needs to be aired!!


Hush now, little one ...

Layla Anwar ...Since you love economics and you count so well when it comes to figures, dollars and dimes, let us do together a simple calculation. -In the 13 years of sanctions from 1991 to 2003, a conservative estimate places the number of dead Iraqi babies to 500'000 .(and the price was well worth it according to M.Albright, your democrat.) -Since 2003 , another conservative estimate is 260'000 dead Iraqi kids due to lack of medical care and a health system in total chaos. -Amongst the official figure of the Lancet report of 650'000 Iraqis dead, let's assume that at least 10% of that number were children killed by violentacts. So that makes around 65'000. (knowing that Iraq has a big youth population). -In the latest census by the UN, which was not taken into account when the Lancet report came out, 34'450 (plus) were killed due to violence. Assuming again a mere 10 % were children, that brings my calculation to3'400.
(...) So a quick summing up will give us a total of : 829'300 Iraqi children Dead. (...) As for the very progressive left and the rest of the apparatchik, well what can I say? They are already dressed in black chadors, beating on their chests, thumping on their heads, wailing in advance, for a improbable farfetched attack on some other country... They have turned their attention from the scene of the crime. Too much for you darlings? A mirror of your impotence or of your sellout? 800'000plus, Iraqi Children dead. I congratulate you. Let your new patron give you 800'000plus, medals as proof of your dedication for peace on earth...