"Trooper"

Murphy OShea, an Iraq Veteran, has a hard time re-adjusting to society upon his return from a long tour. His world crumbles when he discovers his father, Bill, a Vietnam Veteran, is dying. Trooper is a story of a father and son, two veterans from two very different Wars, helping each other to get through each day, and heal the wounds of War.

Trailer

“Finally, a film producer that gets it right! Trooper may serve well to educate an unaware public about the epidemic level of emotional trauma that today’s young warriors are living with. It is a dark journey and this film captures its pain—and also gives us a glimmer of hope.” Rev. Bill McDonald Founder The Military Writer’s Society of America.

MOVIE REVIEW: TROOPER

Post Traumatic Stress Research

PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder): An anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. People with PTSD have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal. They may experience sleep problems, feel detached or numb, or be easily startled.


TBI (traumatic brain injury): Also called a concussion.


ASR (acute stress reaction): The immediate aftermath of a traumatic incident in a combat zone. The military describes it as normal reactions among troops confronted by abnormal situations.


CID (critical incident debrief): The Army's term for a mandatory session that takes place 24 to 72 hours after an event that may be sapping a soldier's will to fight.


National Institute Of Mental Health

At a recent conference for some of the area's leading neurologists, San Francisco physicist Norbert Schuff captured his colleagues' attention when he presented colorful brain images of U.S. soldiers who had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan and were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

That conference is covered in this article PTSD leaves physical footprints on the brain in the San Francisco Gate.

The yellow areas, Schuff explained during his presentation at the city's Veterans Affairs Medical Center, showed where the hippocampus, which plays major roles in short-term memory and emotions, had atrophied. The red swatches marked hyperfusion - increased blood flow - in the prefrontal cortex, the region responsible for conflict resolution and decision-making. Compared with a soldier without the affliction, the PTSD brain had lost 5 to 10 percent of its gray matter volume, indicating yet more neuron damage.

The hippocampus is located in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. (In this illustration of the inferior surface (underside) of the brain, the frontal lobe of the brain is at the top, while the occipital lobe is at the bottom.)


Norbert Schuff, PhD, is Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, University of California San Francisco. Who gives this observation and asks these questions.

"But we're still in the infancy of neuroimaging," Schuff cautioned later in his office. "Do you get PTSD because you have a small hippocampus? Or does a small hippocampus mean you'll develop PTSD? That, we still don't know."

Many seem to be joining into the research and care, know of some youngsters in or entering college with a focus on psychiatry and particularly interested in PTSD, combat and in the civilian population, for it's finally being understood many suffer from PTSD from traumatic experiences in their lives, one is a niece of mine who is closing out her college years.

Schuff's research is at the forefront of a bold push by the Department of Defense to address PTSD, the psychological disorder that will haunt an estimated 30 percent of the veterans returning from the current two wars, according to the Pentagon. Forty thousand veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon officials say, have already been diagnosed with PTSD, which is defined as an anxiety disorder triggered by exposure to traumatic events; symptoms can include nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks.

Left untreated, clinicians say, patients with PTSD are more likely to engage in anti-social behaviors such as alcohol and drug abuse. The disorder, neurologists are now learning, can also lead to long-term maladies, such as Alzheimer's and dementia.

Better late than never but this country should have started the research, not just the few who had and the veterans who understood, extensively after it was finally recognized. For combat PTSD has always been there, not only in military troops but civilians in the countries and area's of the many conflicts man wages on man.


They break the article up into a few subtitles, such as this,


Manhattan Project urgency

The quest is to understand how the disorder begins inside the brain. The Defense Department has invested $78 million in San Francisco's Northern California Institute for Research and Education at the VA center in the past four years, making it the largest VA research institute in the country and the only one that specializes in neuroscience. With 200 researchers on staff, and an estimated 40 ongoing studies that rely on 60 to 80 veterans as research participants, the center has the urgency of a Manhattan Project site, this time searching for a way to end a mental health crisis.

The Department of Defense "has such a compelling need for these answers," said Dr. Thomas Neylan, an associate professor of psychiatry at UCSF and director of the post-traumatic stress disorder program at the VA center. "They want to know these answers now, which is the right approach. We want the answers now; people are still going off to the war, coming back, and a lot of them are suffering for a long time."

There's more under this heading but they close it out with this:

"We're using this opportunity to also see why some people are able to walk away from these situations and live healthy lives," he said, "and why others are not."

They go into:


The effects of IEDs

The link between mild brain trauma and PTSD is being studied at the VA center in San Francisco by Dr. Gary Abrams, whose preliminary studies show that the overlap between PTSD patients and sufferers of mild brain trauma injury "is tremendous." Abrams has yet to release definitive numbers.

And you will find a paragraph under this next subtitle that one might find interesting and can be viewed at the title link.


Recent attempts to estimate frequency


Under this next one they give a brief description of four experiments now being taken in attempts to ease the burden some have from the stress and trauma of Conflicts and Occupations


Experiments probe further into post-traumatic stress disorder

Nasal spray: Scott Panter is developing a battlefield-ready nasal spray for troops who suffer brain trauma. After the trauma occurs, the brain swells, causing tissue damage. Panter's nasal spray, applied within 20 minutes of a trauma, would aim to stop the swelling process. Troops could carry the spray in their packs and self-apply or administer to others.

D-cycloserine: Dr. Charles Marmar is conducting trials on PTSD patients using D-cycloserine. The drug, which was originally used as an antibiotic for tuberculosis, has also proved to help lab animals "unlearn fear responses." Given in small doses 30 minutes before a therapy session, D-cyclo is meant to help PTSD patients open up about their traumatic experiences and become more willing to engage in therapy. The hypothesis is that the group taking D-cyclo will make more and faster progress in therapy.

Blood/gene test: Dr. Lynn Pulliam is trying to establish a blood profile to diagnose PTSD. Using gene array technology, researchers will be able to take an RNA test, much like a DNA test, to determine whether a patient "tests positive" for PTSD.

Sleep experiment: Dr. Thomas Neylan is conducting a study on improving veterans' sleep habits without drugs. Neylan said PTSD patients often feel anxious about sleeping, in part because they anticipate insomnia but also because they worry about nightmares. Subjects are coached to avoid substances that interfere with their sleep. "If we get them to sleep better at night," Neylan said, "they'll have fewer nightmares and feel better during the day."

There is another recent report out hitting on what the military is doing for those who may be coming under the stress and trauma of the conflicts In - Theater.



Army treats combat stress in the field

Sgt. Seth "Doc" Musikant could be a recruiting poster for the Army's new approach to PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.

In April, Musikant and his team were driving around a traffic circle in the city of Tuz. It was their second time through the roundabout that day, and between trips somebody had planted a homemade bomb. It blew up their Humvee.

Sgt. Musikant had this to say firther down:

"It's like there's an invisible wall," Musikant said about the anxiety that temporarily troubled him.

For one thing, it's cheaper to treat PTSD than it is to train a new recruit. For another, Bourque said, "the healthier their personnel, the better off the Army is."

Now the Army identifies a condition called acute stress reaction, or ASR -- the immediate aftermath of a traumatic incident in a combat zone. Since PTSD takes months, sometimes years, to manifest itself, military doctors and counselors prefer the new term to describe what they regard as normal reactions among troops confronted by abnormal situations.

You can read the whole report here, it isn't that long.


I'm been an advocate of PTSD, among other causes, since returning from Vietnam and knowing many who suffered from as well as the many of my brother Vets who took it on as a profession to help their brothers and others. It's once again one of the many extremely important causes that the society shuns, they don't want to spend the needed funds to research and help, yet it costs them more as time passes. They don't want to hear about those suffering who finally just break and cause problems, some extreme, within the communities, because they weren't receiving the help they were asking for, nor are there enough who understand to give the help needed.


For me, PTSD should be right up there along side 'War as a Last Resort' before this country sends it's Military into another's to invade, destroy than occupy. For the aftereffects of War on many as to PTSD are like the unexploded ordinance found throughout the many lands man wages conflicts, it keeps the continuation of War long after they supposedly end for the greater majority!


And in todays World the enemies we the so called powerful make leads to the less powerful to continue and intensify the Criminal Terror that has been occurring with rapid growth for a number of years!

Treating PTSD - Soldiers Placed In Barracks Next To Firing Range?

Who are the Total Idiots within the ranks of the Military Health Care that thought this would help?

Nearby Firing Ranges Complicate Soldiers' Recovery From Stress

Firing Range a Reminder for Soldiers with PTSD

Army Sgt. Jonathan Strickland sits in his room at noon with the blinds drawn, seeking the sleep that has eluded him since he was knocked out by the blast of a Baghdad car bomb.

Like many of the wounded soldiers living in the newly built "warrior transition" barracks here, the soft-spoken 25-year-old suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. But even as Strickland and his comrades struggle with nightmares, anxiety and flashbacks from their wartime experiences, the sounds of gunfire have followed them here, just outside their windows.

Why are they even using Benning as a Treatment Center?

Soldiers interviewed said complaints to medical personnel at Fort Benning's Martin Army Community Hospital and officers in their chain of command have brought no relief, prompting one soldier's father to contact The Washington Post. Fort Benning officials said that they were unaware of specific complaints but that decisions about housing and treatment for soldiers with PTSD depend on the severity of each case. They said day and night training must continue as new soldiers arrive and the Army grows.

stressing that the battalion's mission is "getting those soldiers to heal."

Right!! Healing Soldiers is the last thing on the minds of these leaders!!

This Ought To Be Good?

VA Staffer To Testify Over PTSD Email

A Veterans Affairs clinic coordinator is to face questions from lawmakers keen to determine whether a controversial email she sent was simply misguided advice from an individual, or part of a widespread effort by the VA to avoid paying veterans benefits for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

With the above report breaking, lets just Add More Stupidity to the Pile!!!!!!

Ilona meet Ilana, Ilana meet Ilona - Combat PTSD Research

Teen PTSD researcher Ilana Rice

Why do I get the feeling you two are destined to meet? And by all means don't change your first names!

Many already know Ilona Meagher, many have worked with her, and she posts on many of these boards, when not the busy young lady she's become with her dedication to her new found much needed cause as she joined many of us who had already been trying to get others to pay attention to. She has done wonders, as have all those who joined her from ePluribus Media, in their research and their PTSD, and other, Timelines which are used by many.

For those who don't know Ilona, I won't go into a book writing here, she's done enough in a short few years that could turn into a personal history book, already, but will say that she hosts her own well visited site PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within and she has written a great referance book Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops

Visit her site to find out more about this remarkable young woman if you hadn't before.

This post is an introduction, not only to Ilona about Ilana but for all to meet, to what seems to be another remarkable young lady, a very young lady with a growing dedication beyond her years.

Yesterday, 5-24-08, I had NPR on while driving back from getting some work done on my van. Weekend America was on and in the second hour of the show, when I caught "PTSD Research" and I thought "Ilona" as the name given, had the radio down low as my cell had rang. Thought that Ilona was being interviewed and hadn't told anyone about it, than I heard the voice, it seemed much younger and not how Ilona sounded, as we've heard her being interviewed before. Than the name was said again and it was Ilana.

As soon as I got home I brought up the Weekend America site.

This was the title of this short interview and report Teen Researcher Targets PTSD Treatment

A New York researcher hopes that veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan won't take decades to work through their Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) issues. Maybe her youth as something to do with her impatience -- Ilana Rice is only 16.
For the past year and a half, she's been studying how relationships can help heal PTSD. The high school junior hopes her study will help fill in the gaps in the research about the disease.
She became interested in the subject through her mother's work as a psychologist at a Veteran's hospital. Weekend America's Desiree Cooper asked Ilana to describe the focus of her study:

She has a unique approach to her PTSD research and study, through relationships, and a very intelligent approach I might add, she really has paid attention watching and listening to her mother.

Ilana, why are you interested in PTSD?
When I was younger, my mom is actually a VA psychologist. So that's why I've become so passionate about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in combat veterans. I used to send them Veteran Day cards every year, and some of them saw these cards and offered to meet me. And I've known some of them for many years and when I got older, someone of them shared their stories with me.

I love it when a youngster says "when I was younger", but in this case she's is matured well beyond her young years, with it seems more understanding than the majority of adults who think they are adult.

How hard has it been to find people to fill out the questionnaire?
That has been the single most difficult part of this project. I think it's... a lot of it has to do with the fact that I am a high school student. My resources are not that extensive. I'm really working with a lot of local organizations when it comes to actually finding people. Originally I was looking only at the most current Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and there are simply not enough of them to fill out a questionnaire so my study would be valid and that my data would be accepted. So I had to expand it to include Vietnam vets, veterans of the Korean War, Desert Storm, as well as the two most recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's also very difficult to find people who have non-veteran romantic partners who are married to or living with them. Sometimes these partners don't want to fill out the survey.

These are but a few cuts of a short important interview, there's abit more at the subject link as well as backtrack links to important PTSD information.

At the bottom, in case some might miss it, you'll find this:

If you are interested in participating in Ilana Rice's study, please Click Here to fill out our contact form.

To Listen to the podcast visit the site link

Earlier they had another report on, that is equally important and also on the subject of PTSD, but this one is covering the Combat Vets of the past before Vietnam.

Decades Later, Haunted by PTSD

Leslie Martin, at the head of the table, is director of PTSD Outpatient Services for Los Angeles Veterans Affairs. She runs the support group for older vets with PTSD. Here she is with "her guys," as she affectionately calls them.
Credit: Krissy Clark

A white cap, gray trousers and a navy-blue jacket, pinned with medals -- that's what Don LaFond will be wearing this weekend when he attends a Memorial Day ceremony in Los Angeles. He goes every year, and he always wears his Purple Heart.
Don earned that medal in World War II in the battle for Saipan. He showed incredible courage -- but also fear:
"You never know where the bullets coming from -- over here, over here, coming overhead. Like mortar shells, bombs, artillery. You're frightened. Anybody who says they're not afraid when they go into combat, they're a big... they're a liar, you know."
Don is 84 years old, and like many veterans of his generation, he has never been too open with his emotions about the war -- until recently. Now, he talks about them every Friday, in a support group for older vets. Weekend America's Krissy Clark dropped in on them:

Every one of these men is in his 70s or 80s. Every one fought in a war that ended more than a half century ago. And every one has been living with strange symptoms since then: constant nightmares, anxiety, emotional numbness. Most of these men had never given the collection of feelings a name. They've discovered recently it is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
"I'm 84-years-old now, and all this stuff happened when I was in my early 20s," LaFond says. "It makes you wonder, gee whiz, if it will ever leave your mind."

We could have been much more advanced in treating PTSD once it was finally taken for the serious result of War after Vietnam if the Nation had paid much moree attention to those Veterans who took up the cause and Especially the civilians, to few in numbers, who recognized how serious it is and how common to Veterans of all conflicts. The advancements would have been felt worldwide and understood in the civilian population of those who live through traumatic life events and develope their own PTSD, suffering in silence!

The Veteran's Administration now estimates one in 20 veterans of World War II -- the "good" war -- probably have symptoms similar to LaFond's and probably suffer from PTSD. The numbers are vague, because most older vets were never diagnosed.

Sometimes Martin asks herself why now, after all these years? She thinks there are two main triggers. First, retirement: Men who long buried their war traumas under work and responsibilities have more time to dwell on old fears. Second, because we're at war again now. "It's everywhere," Martin says. "There are movies about it, it's on television." And it brings things up again for her guys.

"Not too many people know that I come to meetings," he says. "People think it's a weakness. I don't want to be classified as such. Macho thing, I guess." But Medina says he does have fewer nightmares since he's come to meetings.

To listen to this podcast visit the site link

There's abit more at the site visit and read, you won't be sorry, it isn't long but it is powerful and informative, especially those who have returned, are still there, or in rotation for another tour In-Country. These two present day conflicts OIF and OEF, and especially with the multiple tours and stop loss, I fear will cause even greater problems for the individuals, their families, their communities as well as the Nation if we all don't step up and give the care promised, for All related War injuries, physical and mental!

We will have many more stories like this, Iraq put his life on the trigger

But the carousing masked Morris' troubled state. His PTSD was so severe, his friends said, that he couldn't sleep. He had terrifying visions of people he had killed in combat.

Morris showed his friends horrific photos from Iraq -- "people with their heads blowed off . . . guts ripped out on barbed wire . . . bullet holes in every piece of body," said a friend, Dustin Newton.

Sometimes, friends said, Morris would show the photos and laugh.

Video Presentations and More

Picking Up the Pieces

With Jane Pauley
Meet the families of wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers' loved ones are making inspiring and often shocking sacrifices to care for them. Jane Pauley talks to some family members and also interviews ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and his wife, Lee, who share their personal story of recovery and healing.

When Wounded Vets Come Home

Hosted by Sheliah Kast
Families of veterans disabled in Iraq and Afghanistan are becoming their primary caregivers, and support from the federal government and the military is, in many cases, woefully inadequate. "Inside E Street" visits families, talks to members of Congress, the Wounded Warrior Project, and Veterans of Foreign Wars about the challenges these servicemen and women and their loved ones face.

Resources for Family Caregivers of Vets

Numerous organizations and agencies provide assistance to Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans and their families.

And Much More

And from NPR Morning Edition:
Army Hospitals Struggle to Stop Drug Overdoses

Eleven medications were found in Nichols' body, including painkillers to treat his physical wounds from an explosion in Iraq and drugs to ease the nightmares, insomnia and memory loss caused by his post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
You can listen here

Poet-Soldiers Lend Voices on Iraq War

This Sunday's New York Times Regional Section has an article about Soldier-Poets of Post Traumatic Press. Walt Nygard is featured at The Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck, NJ. Any vets wishing to submit for the 'Post Traumatic Press 2008' should contact editor Dayl Wise.

Vet Poets Wanted For 2008

Again contact Editor: Dayl Wise - 1st CAV RVN

Support The 'Woodruff Fund'

Bob and Lee Woodruff know how to draw a crowd.

They will be hosting the "Stand up for Heroes" gala on Nov 7th, those showing up include Journalists, Generals, Politicians & Comedians Coming Together To Support The Woodruff Fund, a partnership between the New York Comedy Festival and the Bob Woodruff Family Fund

Conan O'Brien hosts the event which is being chaired by Peter and Megan Chernin of News Corp., Bob Iger and Willow Bay of Disney, Les Moonves and Julie Chen of CBS, Dick and Laura Parsons of Time Warner and Jeff and Caryn Zucker of NBCU.

This event is billed as "an evening of laughter, tributes and gratitude dedicated to our nation's injured service members."

Those attending and making up the honorary committee are Generals Barry McCaffrey and John Abizaid; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver; Senators Bob Dole, Elizabeth Dole, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Tim Johnson, John McCain, John Warner and Jim Webb; and presidential candidates John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth and Mitt Romney.

The benefit committee includes journalists Christiane Amanpour, Wolf Blitzer, Tom Brokaw, Steve Capus, Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric, Kimberly Dozier, Charlie Gibson, Kayce Jennings, Jon Klein, Sean McManus, Martha Raddatz, Tim Russert, Diane Sawyer, Lynn Sherr, Claire Shipman, Greta Van Susteren, Barbara Walters, Jim Walton, David Westin, and Brian & Jane Williams.

"We are a very lucky family with Bob's recovery and we are well aware that not every family has the outcome we have had," said Bob and Lee Woodruff. "We were determined to use our journey to draw attention to the number of traumatic brain injuries from this war and to ensure that all service members returning from the war continue to receive the best care and attention in rehab and beyond."

Those joining Conan O'Brien in hosting and perfoming will be Lewis Black, Bruce Springsteen, Robin Williams and Other Special Guests.

It takes place on November 7, 2007 at the New York City Town Hall

Proceeds from the evening going to the Bob Woodruff Family Fund

It will start at 8:00PM on wednesday November 7th.

The Honorary Committee for this unprecedented event to support our injured service members is led by President and Mrs. George W. Bush, President George H.W. Bush and President William J. Clinton.

Also joining the Honorary Committee are Senator Bob Dole, Senator Elizabeth Dole, General John Abizaid, Senator Joseph Biden, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Congressman Bill and Beverly Young, Senator Tim Johnson, General Barry McCaffrey, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, Senator Carl Levin, Vice Admiral Donald Arthur, Senator John Warner, Senator John and Elizabeth Edwards, Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, Senator Chuck Hagel, Senator Jim Webb, Senator John McCain, Congressman Steve Buyer, General Michael Hagee, Governor Mitt Romney, Judge William Sessions, Congressman Robert Filner, Congressman Duncan Hunter, Senator Robert Byrd, Congressman Walter Jones, Congressman Jerry Lewis, Senator Pat Roberts, Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Congressman Ike Skelton and others.

The growing Benefit Committee list includes Christiane Amanpour, Jeff Bewkes, Wolf Blitzer, Tom Brokaw, Tina Brown, Steve Capus, Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric, Kimberly Dozier, James Gandolfini, Charlie Gibson, Kayce Jennings, Jon Klein, Cindi Leive, Sean McManus, Janice Min, Robbie Myers, Martha Nelson, Mike Nichols, Dan Peres, Martha Raddatz, Kelly Ripa, Tim Russert, Diane Sawyer, Lynn Sherr, Claire Shipman, Leonard and Allison Stern, Greta Van Susteren, Barbara Walters, Jim Walton, Harvey Weinstein, David Westin, Brian and Jane Williams and Fareed Zakaria to name a few. In addition, GFI Group Inc. is a prime sponsor of the event.

"We are a very lucky family with Bob's recovery and we are well aware that not every family has the outcome we have had," said Bob and Lee Woodruff. "We were determined to use our journey to draw attention to the number of traumatic brain injuries from this war and to ensure that all service members returning from the war continue to receive the best care and attention in rehab and beyond."

The Bob Woodruff Family Fund assists service members injured while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Special emphasis is placed on the "hidden signature injuries" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan traumatic brain injury (TBI) and combat stress injuries including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Fund works with private industry and government to develop public awareness and excellence in research, education, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, support and resources for the injured and their families as they reintegrate to duty or civilian life. For more information, please visit the Bob Woodruff Family Fund

For ticket information on the "Stand Up for Heroes: A Benefit for the Bob Woodruff Family Fund" event, please email Benefit or visit the site.

This event is produced by Caroline Hirsch, Lee Woodruff, Jeff Ross, Andrew Fox and Louis Faranda.

The Fourth Annual NYCF's roster also includes celebrated comics Rosie O'Donnell performing at Avery Fisher Hall on November 6; Sarah Silverman at Carnegie Hall on November 7; "Comedy Cares for the Homeless" with Joy Behar and Kathleen Madigan at Carolines on Broadway on November 7; Andy Borowitz "Countdown to '08" with Mo Rocca and Arianna Huffington at the 92nd Street Y on November 7; Denis Leary at the Beacon Theatre on November 8; Louis CK at Town Hall on November 8; The writers of the Late Show with David Letterman at the Paley Center for Media on November 9; Artie Lange at Town Hall on November 9; Damon Wayans at the Beacon Theatre on November 9; "Scrubs: The Farewell Tour" at the Paley Center for Media on November 10; Bill Maher at the Beacon Theatre on November 10; DL Hughley at Town Hall on November 10; ASSSSCAT with Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh at Irving Plaza at 9 pm; and "Family Guy's" Seth MacFarlane at Avery Fisher Hall on November 11.

The NYCF sponsors include Jeep, American Express, exclusive broadcast partners WNYW/Fox 5 and WWOR/My9 New York, internet media sponsor MySpace.com, The New York Post and Time Out New York. The 2007 NYCF is produced by Carolines on Broadway and The Alliance Agency.

This ought to be an interesting, and well needed, fun event. It makes me wonder if there will be some well needed Public Sparks flying. Just looking at the cast of characters performing and the cast of characters sitting on the committee's one wonders if this somehow can bring about a togetherness that is greatly needed in this country. Will the closeness of the deverse ideologies bring about Common Sense and Real Conversation about the Realities we now live in? Will minds be changed? Will Real Support, and not just empty words, be spoken and understood? Will Real Representation come back to the People? Will life go on as it is now, after this event?

As a Veteran I know there probably will be many questions in the Veteran's Community, for I had them popping in my head as I read about this event.

Why is there such a need for this event, or any like it, being held to Support our Wounded and looking for funds to Support them and their families?

What if Bob Woodruff, or someone as prominant and having such damaging wounds, hadn't been so unlucky In-Theater, would others just take up this cause?

Why is there an extreme need for these types of events, most of those performing, hosting, and chairing this event are benefiting nicely from the huge taxcuts they received?

Where is the Sacrifice of the rest of the country, is just pulling out their wallets and giving a couple of bucks, than saying they "Support The Troops" enough?

Why is it this Country Cheers on Wars, like some sort of sporting event, which are Unnecessary, Tragic, and in most cases Illegal Conflicts {built on lies and supported on same}, than refuse to Honor the Contracts and Oaths of those they send into these Hells on Earth, which totally destroy the peoples lives, countries, cultures of those we wage them on?

There are, and have been, many more questions rolling through my little mind, as there are for most. Many of them are questions that shouldn't even exist, the answers should have been a part of this countries makeup and ideology if we really are a leading Nation of Example!

I Strongly Commend Bob and Lee Woodruff, for they Truely Recognize the Important Need, but that Need should not even exsist, and yet it does, and has, for Most Who Honorably Serve This Nation, Right or Wrong!!!!

So untill this Nation "Really Does Support" I ask you Support Bob and Lee and all the others that Really Recognize That Need, and Support what this country Really should be, not what we like to think and say it is, in our Arrogance and Apathy towards others!!!!