Military Health Research Forum

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH OF U.S. WARFIGHTER IS FOCUS OF MILITARY HEALTH RESEARCH FORUM

Promising Research on Traumatic Brain Injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Gulf War Illness, Substance Abuse and More is Presented at Key Scientific Meeting

Snip

Research to address these needs is underway, and the work of hundreds of investigators engaged in the effort is being showcased September 1-3 at the Military Health Research Forum in Kansas City....................

Posted by: Science Applications International Corporation, SAIC, Sep 1, 2009 7:03 am
Opening Video: The CDMRP... Improving the Quality of Life for Our Warfighters, Their Families, and Our Veterans. New approaches and innovative plans provide breaking news at the Military Health Research Forum.
All footage used in this video is for the sole purpose of depicting Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). Requests to re-use or re-cut any footage should be directed to the CDMRP: 301-619-7071

This is a video, not above, they give the embed code for


Among the highlighted abstracts:

* Innovative treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder. Depending on the conflict in which they served, 10 to 30 percent of soldiers who have spent time in war zones experience the debilitating and life altering symptoms of PTSD. Topics examined include employing virtual environments and novel medicines to help military personnel diagnosed with PTSD and or/other co-morbidities, and the use of psychiatric service dogs to help troops manage the symptoms of PTSD. Read more......

* General military health, including potential treatments for spinal cord injury, nutrition's impact on cognitive performance in pilots and the effectiveness of a family based reintegration program. Read more.....

* Treatment for and prevention of traumatic brain injury. Often called the "signature injury" of the Iraqi war, TBI can lead to a range of symptoms including headache, confusion, behavior change, memory trouble, convulsions and others. Topics examined include brain tissue regeneration, driving problems after mild TBI and the use of biomarkers to determine the extent of TBI. Read more.....

* New research on treating Gulf War Illness, a condition that affects approximately 25 percent of service men and women who served in the 1990-1991 Gulf War. Read more.....

Please visit US Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs for updates on the Military Health Research Forum.

One wonders why conferences and even congressional discussions, not to mention reported by the U.S. media and citizens demanding all be covered and funded, weren't taking place all over this country in the work up to these invasions and occupations and continuing throughout.

One wonders?, Not Really, the GOP {Grand Obstructionist Party} were in total control and to busy beating the drums while coming up with new excises for their Wars of Choice and leaving the one that had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks! Way to much flag waving, magnetic ribbon buying, and slandering of those opposed to the destructive policies by the 'super patriots', and the media joined in across the board, not one mention about the lessons supposedly learned from our conflict way back, 'Nam, or even time to listen to us, of the long term results of War!

And 8years later our soldiers are still in both theaters, now it's once again 'catch-up' time, on the results of, on the veterans administration, on these agencies gaining the modern technology to cope with the huge influx of these new combat veterans......................., and much more, same ole same ole, DeJa-Vu all over again!

'teabaggers' Protesting Opening of VA Clinic

The little 'teabaggers' protesting a VA Clinic in the guise of going after a Congressional Rep. and Health Care Reform, sorry folks we know the game and the propensity to not want to pony up for the care needed for those who serve you! And guess where, it's going to take place in that state that wants to leave the U.S. behind, by them super patriots in Texas!

Fayette County judge urges Doggett protester not to act at dedication of veterans clinic

That’s when Janecka told Boyle, vice president-secretary of the Fayette County Taxpayers Coalition, that it wasn’t a good idea to have the protest at the dedication Thursday morning of a Veterans Administration clinic in La Grange.

Snip

Doggett said through an aide Tuesday evening: “With meetings in both Washington and Texas, I have been working on getting this clinic to La Grange since 2006. Last year, I invited the VA to a meeting with veterans at the Fayette County Courthouse to involve them in the planning for this clinic. Some may call government provision of doctors and clinics like this ‘socialism,’ I call it fulfilling our responsibility to those who defended our freedom.”

He closed: “These Teabag extremists have every right to protest my unwavering commitment to health insurance reform anywhere that I go, but I hope they will do so in a way that respects the service of our veterans to whom my success in getting this new clinic open is very important.” ...................

While Serving, Family Fights Ins. Company

While this is a Government Military Health Insurance program it's another example of the private sector running government programs, unregulated or under regulated and probably lacking a doctors recommendation, this is administered by 'Humana Insurance', under Tricare, as a supposedly separate operation from their other health insurance endeavors.

Soldier's wife battles insurance company

While a North Texas soldier fights overseas, his family is in a fight with his insurance company to pay for a medical device that could help his daughter lead a normal life.

For months, Kelsi LaRoe, a 22-year-old mother living in Grand Saline, has been fighting with Tricare, a government insurance plan for military families, to pay for a $3,000 medical device for her 13-month-old daughter Chesni.....................

In Their Boots: Episode Two 2009; Fractured Minds

Four soldiers navigate the difficult path to recovery from traumatic brain injury (TBI), the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Season 2, Episode 2: In Their Boots: Fractured Minds



Related Organizations

Disabled American Veterans

TIRR Foundation / Project Victory

Wounded Warrior Project

HomePage, In Their Boots: Watch the first and second episodes of this years series, second is the one above. And watch the episodes from last year at the site, as well as all the referring links for veterans, military, military families and civilians.

Countries Responsibility - Veterans Care

Facing The Wall: A Mission

Witness This Engaging Account About One Woman's Struggling in Taking Care of Her Vietnam War Veteran Husband Suffering From Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

FACING THE WALL: A MISSION symbolizes the everlasting pains of war as well as our search for peace. It pays special attention to PTSD and its effects on the whole family.

Growing Problem For Veterans: Domestic Violence

"The increasing number of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) raises the risk of domestic violence and its consequences on families and children in communities across the United States," says Monica Matthieu, Ph.D., an expert on veteran mental health and an assistant professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.

Veterans oppose change in health care

They protest VA hospital contracting out surgical, emergency, ICU services

He held a sign that read: "Dole Out Burr Next." Other signs read: "Save our hospital," "Save our ICU," and "Be loud save our care."

An unspoken illness among veterans

On this Veterans Day, whether we are a veteran, family member, friend, co-worker or simply a concerned citizen, we all need to make sure we continue to fight the stigma attached to seeking mental health treatment. We need to do go the extra yard to ensure that veterans who may be suffering from mental illnesses receive the help they need.

After Two Iraq War Deployments

Army Major General Steps Forward, Breaks Culture of Silence on Mental Health

Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now he is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.

"It's part of our profession ... nobody wants to admit that they've got a weakness in this area," Blackledge said of mental health problems among troops returning from America's two wars.

Challenges remain for many veterans
People can do more for those who served, VFW commander says

“Somewhere as veterans, these people have crossed the line from normal to abnormal. They need help and they need to know they won’t be judged if they reach out for help,” he said.

Obama can make quick, modest gains on health care

**Expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover as many children as possible when it comes up for renewal in March. The program has broad support in Congress, but it was cut during its last renewal to win President Bush's signature.

**Authorize the federal government to negotiate bulk purchases of Medicare prescription drugs. Bush opposed this, but the Veterans Affairs already does it with great success.

Dems get new crop of military voters

With McCain facing a diminished role in the GOP, and Chuck Hagel retiring from the Senate, there are few prominent Republican leaders left with military bona fides. This is in stark contrast to the Democratic Party, which has seen the emergence of a new generation of veteran leaders.

In the past two election cycles, Democrats have added ten new Democratic veterans to Congress. Last week, President-elect Barack Obama helped close the gap among military voters, winning 44 percent of veterans as opposed to John F. Kerry’s 41 percent in 2004.

For all the GOP’s patriotic imagery and testosterone-infused rhetoric, the sad truth is that most of the current crop of Republican leaders – Rudy Giuliani; Mitt Romney; Newt Gingrich; Mitch McConnell; John Boehner; etc. – were all of age at the time of Vietnam but avoided serving in the military.

N.J. Hospitals, Military and Veterans Affairs Join Broad Effort to Improve Returning Vets' Healthcare

The New Jersey Hospital Association and the N.J. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs have partnered with more than a dozen national organizations in a sweeping effort to educate healthcare professionals, veterans and family members about the unique health-related problems faced by returning veterans.

Honor America's Veterans on Nov. 11

Tuesday, Nov. 11 the United States marks the 55th Veterans Day observance. Across the nation, we will pay tribute to America's 25 million living veterans and the more than one million who have given their lives in military service.

While Veterans Day is a time to recall the sacrifices of those who have protected our liberty and way of life, honoring America's veterans must be an ongoing national priority which is reflected in a strong federal commitment to veterans' needs.

Heal the Warrior,

Heal the Country.

I most certainly am not an Edward Tick, author of War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation's Veterans from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a few other books, as well as the article in Yes Magazine linked above. He is also the director and senior psychotherapist of Soldier’s Heart: Veteran’s Safe Return Initiatives.

So I'll give a few of the cuts from the article and add some other related information I've recently received.

Breaking the cycle of war making: our country will not find peace until we take responsibility for our wars.

He starts out the article with the above quote and this:

Guilt, shame, slaughter without purpose, alienation from homeland and life itself—this was the legacy that Günter passed on to his son Walt from his World War II combat service in Hitler’s Wehrmacht. Walt, “the only child born in freedom,” was born in the United States shortly after his parents emigrated here from Germany. Growing up in the Cold War 1950s, Walt longed to be an all-American boy, but was always the Indian to his friends’ cowboys and the “Kraut” to their G.I. Joes.

The Warrior’s Path

Our troops do not enlist because they want to destroy or kill. No matter the political climate, most troops seek to serve traditional warrior values: to protect the country they love, its ideals, and especially their families, communities, and each other. If they must kill or be killed, they need transcendent reasons to do so. Throughout history, the only reason for fighting that has survived moral scrutiny is a direct attack with real, immediate threat to one’s people. PTSD is, in part, the tortured conscience of good people who did their best under conditions that would dehumanize anyone.

Warriorhood, however, is not so valued or nurtured in modern society. “Warrior” is not even a recognized social class. A veteran, especially one with disabilities, appears to many, and sometimes to him or herself, as a failure in terms of normal civilian identity. Michael fears that, as an experienced combat veteran, the only place on the planet he now fits is in the French Foreign Legion.

The Echoes of War

War abroad fosters war at home. When we go to war, we inevitably bring its violence and horror back to our homes and streets. We cannot help it.

Cleansing the Warrior

War poisons the spirit, and warriors return tainted. This is why, among Native American, Zulu, Buddhist, ancient Israeli, and other traditional cultures, returning warriors were put through significant rituals of purification before re-entering their families and communities. Traditional cultures recognized that unpurified warriors could, in fact, be dangerous. The absence of these rituals in modern society helps explain why suicide, homicide, and other destructive acts are common among veterans.

A Double Wound

Sitting Bull and his warriors, and other bands from innumerable traditional cultures, were never plagued with self-doubt about the value of their mission, as many of our soldiers are today. In order to do battle with a whole heart, the danger and threat to one’s home must be real, and the people must experience it as immediate and about to threaten their total existence; there must be no alternative. A people and their warriors must be in unity.

Ed goes on to explain further each of the topics above and has a few more topics of explaination below those. He closes with this:

I asked Walt’s permission to tell his story during our farewell visit in the hospital where he was dying of Agent Orange cancers. He was surprised at first, but finally said, “I was afraid my life was worthless. But please tell my story. Please make it mean something. Maybe it can help some other poor souls avoid my fate.”

Read an excerpt from conscientious objector Aidan Delgado’s The Sutras of Abu Ghraib: Notes from a Conscientious Objector in Iraq

Read the Rest of Edward Ticks article Here

And some links:

Pentagon spends record on TBI, PTSD research, a drop in the bucket of what's needed, was needed long ago, and will cost even more if not taken seriously this time!

MOAA & USNI Host Wounded Warrior Defense Forum in D.C.

Substance Use Disorders and Clinical Management of Traumatic Brain Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Prevalence of Chronic Pain After Traumatic Brain Injury

Stress Management Important Throughout Military Careers

Computer-based program helps retrain the brain after injury

PTSD - Katrina, Combat Theater Vets, Psychologist Who Developed It Herself

Katrina

The following, Hurricane Katrina Victims' Mental Health Worsens was aired on NPR's Morning Edition on Nov 1st

A new report on the mental health of Hurricane Katrina victims shows patterns in the Gulf Coast that are contrary to post traumatic stress disorder usually seen after major disasters. The mental health of Hurricane Katrina victims is worsening with the drawn out recovery time.

You can listen to a discussion of the report at subject link above.

Now if you follow Dr Kessler's name over to Harvard Medical School you will find this Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group this link being the Project Overview of this Advisory Group.

At the top of the page you find a link for Dr Kessler as he testified before the US Senate Commitee on Homeland Security, Post-Catastrophe Crisis: Addressing the Dramatic Need and Scant Availability of Mental Health Care in the Gulf Coast, you'll need to slide the player bar over to the 1hr. 47min. spot into the hearing to listen to Dr Kessler and a few others.

There are a number of side links at the Project Overview page, such as 'Oral Histories', 'Publications', and others.

In the Reports link, on the left of page you find the following:

The Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group: Overview of Baseline Results
Katrina Baseline Report: August 25, 2006 (PDF). This is an 108 page report put together by the Advisory Group, I'm not completely sure if this is the report mentioned in the NPR report, but it is the only one published at site.

On page 5, of this PDF report you find this:

Post-traumatic stress reactions
• About 15% of survey respondents were estimated to have a serious mental illness
at the time of interview and another 15% were estimated to have a less serious
current mental illness. These are about twice as high as the prevalence estimates
for this population in the years prior to the hurricane.
• Despite the higher prevalence of mental illness, suicidal ideation and suicide plans
were not significantly more common in the post-Katrina survey than in surveys
carried out in similar samples in the years prior to the hurricane.
• Analysis of survey results suggests that the absence of an increase in suicidality is
linked to a pervasive optimism in the sample regarding the likelihood of being
able to reconstruct their lives.

Post-traumatic personal growth
• The optimism noted in the last point is part of a larger pattern of resilience found
throughout the sample. For example, 88.5% of respondents said that their
experiences with the hurricane helped them develop a deeper sense of meaning or
purpose in life; 83.8% said that the hurricane led them to realize that they had
inner strengths that they did not previously know they had; 83.4% reported that
they had a lot of faith in their own abilities to rebuild their lives.
• These aspects of what has been referred to in the literature as “post-traumatic
personal growth” cut across the full range of social and demographic variables
assessed in the survey.
• It is not clear, though, how stable these beliefs and feelings will be over time,
especially if personal success in rebuilding lives does not keep pace with the high
expectations of respondents. It is conceivable that the low rates of suicidal
ideation, plans, and attempts found in the sample will become much higher if
these positive beliefs and feelings erode.

On page 17 we find this:

Post-traumatic stress reactions
As one might imagine, a substantial proportion of respondents reported having
emotional problems related to their experiences in the hurricane. Our paper published the
same day as this report was posted, which appears in the Bulletin of the World Health
Organization, showed that the proportion of CAG respondents who screened positive for
a clinically significant anxiety or mood disorder at the time of the survey (5-8 months
after the hurricane) was double the number in a comparable survey carried out two years
before the hurricane in the same Census Divisions as the areas affected by the hurricane
(Kessler et al. in press).
We also asked about anxiety reactions associated with traumatic stress reactions
and found that many survey respondents reported experiencing such reactions within the
month of the interview even though the interviews were carried out between four and
seven months after the hurricane. A full one-fourth (25.3%) of survey respondents, for
example, reported having nightmares in the past month about their experiences in the
hurricane. (Table A30) Upsetting thoughts or memories about the hurricane, flood, or
aftermath were reported by 50.5% of all respondents. (Table A31) More than one-third
(37.6%) of all respondents reported being more jumpy or easily startled than usual (Table
A32), while more than half (51.8%) reported being more irritable or angry than usual
(Table A33).

Importantly, distress symptoms were higher in those who lived in New Orleans,
the most affected area. Nightmares were reported by 49.6% of the respondents who were
pre-hurricane residents of New Orleans City, 8.0% of them reporting that these
nightmares occurred most every night and another 7.1% two to four nights a week. A full
one out of every four respondents from New Orleans City reported having these thoughts
just about every day. More than half (52.8%) of those living in New Orleans reported
being more jumpy or easily startled than usual and 79.4% reported being more irritable or
angry than usual.
A question can be raised whether these emotional reactions are indicative of
clinically significant mental disorders or are merely normal reactions that one might
expect of anyone exposed to experiences as stressful as those associated with Hurricane
Katrina. We are still in the midst of carrying out clinical follow-up evaluations of
respondents by mental health professionals to address this question. Preliminary results
suggest that, as one would expect, a minority of the CAG members who reported these
emotional reactions are judged by our clinical interviewers to have significant mental
disorders, while the majority is judged to have normal emotional reactions. Specific
estimates of the prevalence and correlates of clinically significant post-traumatic stress
disorder, though, are not yet available.
( HEAR ORAL HISTORIES ABOUT POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS REACTIONS )

They end page 21 with the following header:

Suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts
As readers of our recent paper in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization
will know (Kessler et al. in press), our analyses of the baseline CAG data in comparison
to data from an earlier survey suggest that the post-traumatic growth documented in the
last section might be protective against suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and suicide
attempts among Katrina survivors with clinically significant anxiety and depression. It is
noteworthy that the indicators of post-traumatic growth were not strongly related to
serious mental illness (SMI) or mild-moderate mental illness (MMI), which means that a
great many Katrina survivors are, understandably, depressed by their loses and anxious
about their uncertain future.
However, the suicidality often associated with these syndromes in the general
population was much lower at the time of the baseline interview among people in the
CAG who were able to develop a sense of new purpose and meaning and inner strength
in the wake of the hurricane. The causal processes underlying this pattern presumably
involve the creation of positive future orientations that provide psychological scaffolding
protecting against the suicidality often associated with extreme distress. Although
processes of this sort have long been discussed in the psychoanalytic literature (Frankl
1959; Heisel and Flett 2004), the current study is, to our knowledge, the first to provide
quantitative evidence regarding such a pattern in an epidemiological sample of a disaster
population.
This is an extremely encouraging finding. However, an implicit caution in the
results also has to be pointed out: that the low suicidality might be temporary, if the
feelings of purpose, meaning, and inner strength reported by so many respondents are
linked to an expectation that the practical problems of living created by the hurricane will soon be solved, and if these expectations are not met as time goes on. One could easily
imagine that this type of situation could lead the positive cognitions we documented to
erode and to be replaced with a sense of hopelessness that, in the presence of the high
levels of estimated mental illness found here, could lead to a substantial increase in
suicidality. The finding of low suicidality, then, should be considered evidence of a shortterm
postponement -- a window of opportunity for the officials who are leading the
recovery efforts -- rather than as a permanent absence of suicidality in this population.

As I stated above, it's a long report of many pages, these were just snippets of the problems developing within the communities who went through Katrina, and they are being exasporated by the almost total lack of Government Policy, of aiding the citizens, in many of the area's of the Gulf Coast especially New Orleans.

Now added to the stress levels and trauma, so long after the devestating destructive hurricane reports are coming out, once again, about survivors living in FEMA trailers and suffering from formaldehyde exposure, such as this report FEMA U-TURN ON TRAILER TESTS

Combat Theater Vets, Psychologist Who Developed It Herself

Also on November 1st the following was aired on NPR's All Things Considered:

Memoir Details Psychologist's Combat Hospital Duty

Heidi Squier Kraft, author of a new memoir called Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital, served more than seven months as a clinical psychologist at a remote air base in western Iraq.

The book's title is based on two rules of war from the TV show M*A*S*H: (1) that young men die; and (2) that doctors can't change rule No. 1.

Kraft talks with Melissa Block.

You can listen to the interview at above link, Heidi relearned her profession in Psycology by being a War Theater Clinical Psycologist.

This is an excerpt of her book which can be found at the site link and Heidi reads at the beginning of the interview:

Excerpt: 'Rule Number Two'

by Heidi Squier Kraft

In this passage, Dr. Heidi Squier Kraft describes riding in an unarmored convoy between two air bases in western Iraq, just as U.S. Marines were laying siege to the city of Fallujah in April 2004. She recalls a patient she knew as Corporal Dunham, a badly injured Marine whom she helped resuscitate before he was airlifted from her field hospital.

We sped into the night. An ebony sky extended in every direction, and with each passing mile, new stars appeared. Starlight alone illuminated the road. Shuddering in the cold, I pulled my fleece face cover over my mouth and nose. I briefly considered gloves but decided against them when I imagined how slippery the wool would feel next to my pistol. Slippery was not good.

After the first half hour, I allowed myself to lean my head back, focusing on the muscles in my shoulders, which felt like rubber bands under tension. Had it only been twelve hours since that mass casualty? I scrunched my eyes shut, willing the tears to stay inside. Distracted by my trepidation about this convoy, I had not allowed myself time to think about Corporal Dunham. Or about that young lance corporal I had met early in the day as he recovered from surgery on our ward. I remembered the tattoos on his arms. One said USMC. And one, he told me, used to say SEMPER FI. After that day's car bomb had taken out most of his forearm, only the S and the E remained.

I remembered his tears and the way he swiped mercilessly at them. He felt fear. He felt shame that far outweighed the fear. He went on to explain that he had been in Iraq almost two months. This injury would earn him his third Purple Heart. He told me he was afraid his luck was about to run out.

He was ashamed to feel afraid.

I remembered struggling to form the words that would normalize this nineteen-year-old man's experience. And, using a therapeutic technique I made up as I went along, I consciously decided to take another path instead. I told him there was nothing normal about three Purple Hearts in two months. I told him there were no feelings that were usual for people in that situation. I told him he was going home. He laid his head on his pillow and sobbed without making a sound. I sat with him a long time. I thought of my Brian, only seventeen months old. I pictured myself lying in bed when the phone rang in the darkness. I physically experienced that sick, sinking sensation that must invade every mother's heart the moment she hears a shrill ring fracture the night. I thought of that lance corporal's mother. I thought of Corporal Dunham's mother. I bit my lip hard and tasted blood.

The roar of the Humvee's engine changed pitch, whining with the decrease in speed. My eyes flew open and I peered outside. Through tall, leaning shadows I discerned storefront buildings lining the road. Decrepit and broken, they reminded me of a movie set for an old Western. I remembered our Marines calling the Al Anbar province of Iraq "the Wild, Wild West."

Now I knew why.

My driver called back over his shoulder. "We're in Hit," he yelled, easing on the brake. A quiver shot through my chest. The street curved to the right in a half circle around a patch of dirt and a dead tree. The vehicles of our convoy sped up as they rounded the half circle and slowed as they left it. My pulse pounded in my fingertips pressed against the handle of my pistol. And then, maintaining that perfect interval between vehicles, our convoy stopped — in the middle of the highway. Our driver dismounted, telling us in a low voice to stay where we were. I remembered his instructions and turned my chest square to the fabric hatch, ensuring that my body armor faced outward. I rested the barrel of my pistol along the edge of the hole in my door.

I watched the lance corporal. He held his rifle at shoulder level, pointing it at the night, moving it slowly back and forth as he gazed through his goggles. I was glad the blackness in front of my eyes was not in front of his. Our vehicle had stopped beside a small dirt hill, overgrown with desert brush and weeds. Skinny trees peppered the landscape. I squinted past the mound, making out the shadow of a house in the lot behind it, four hundred feet off the road. All the lights were off. A dog barked in the distance. My driver froze, his rifle aimed just left of the hill. Moving only my eyes, I focused on his face, waiting for a move from him. The dog barked again. I heard the distinct crack of a twig under a boot and sucked in my breath. The barrel of my driver's rifle and of the rifles of the other men who stood on the road beside him moved in unison toward the sound.

Oh God, I thought. I cannot believe this is about to happen. I braced myself for an assault of gunfire. Four or five minutes passed in total silence. My lungs burned with every breath. Each swallow fought with my pounding heart for space to move down my throat. My eyes watered in the cold, dry air.

Suddenly the desert night was shattered by a tremendous boom. I ducked, lowering my helmet below the level of my window. In that same moment, I realized the source of the sound. They were Cobras, the Marine Corps' awesome attack helicopters. Their big, beautiful rotor blades chopped the air, flooding the night with thunder as they roared overhead. They flew tight circles over our convoy. Limp with relief, I crumpled at the waist, lowered my weapon to my lap, and rested my helmet on the door.

Our driver got back in the vehicle. The truck in front of us pulled away, and he followed. He yelled back at us, "Well, whoever that was out there, they're gone now." He grinned broadly as he looked upward out the windshield at the Cobras.

The muscles along my neck burned as if they'd been seared by an actual flame. I leaned my head so I could see the stars out the window, feeling the wind blast my face. This time I did not reach for my face warmer. My eyes began to water again, streaking my cheeks with cold tears — one after another, in that perfect interval.

Near the end of the interview Heidi explains her own developing trauma's from her experiances and the help she sought, part of which was in writing the book.

Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital

She also has a site up for her book, called Rule Number Two that you might want to visit.

There has Finally been a number of reports, and studies, along with many books, such as Ilona Meaghers extremely well researched referance book Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops, on Combat PTSD.

Will this Country, as well as the Planet, finally come to terms with not only what happens to many in Theaters of Man Made Wars but also effects, and changes lives, of many who experiance a whole host of devestating traumatic experiances, and how it effects not only them but the societies they live in and in many cases the rest of us!

Combat Theater Veterans - PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries

Here are just a few of the recent reports, articles, and studies on PTSD as well as Traumatic Brain Injuries:

Veterans For America Releases Major Report: Trends In Treatment Of America’s Wounded Warriors.

by jamesboyce on Nov 7, 2007

Today, we are proud to release a ground-breaking report on the challenges facing our wounded warriors who are suffering from the “signature wounds” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and psychological trauma.

Having visited every single demobilization site in the United States and overseas, Veterans For America investigators found that care for these injuries is significantly lacking and that the decisions made by the military will negatively impact our veterans for the rest of their lives.

DNC: Bush Talks About Veterans Funding in Texas While Threatening to Veto it in DC

War Veterans Receive Poor Treatment for Combat-Induced Mental Illness, Says VFA Study

Tom Harkin: Rising Number Of Homeless Veterans A Disgrace To Our Nation

Stars and Stripes - PTSD and TBI awareness programs launched

Mental health services for returning vets in short supply

Help for soldiers outside Ft. Carson, with Video

One US soldier's father calls it the silent injury. Now Britain's forces centre is braced for an influx of cases

Outpatients move into new digs at Landstuhl

Demand Action For Our Veterans

There are many many more of these trickling out. But who is really paying attention to them, in a Society that seems to be, once again, Apathedic about a Combat Theater, two actually, that sent our Military in to destroy and be destroyed.

This Society gives more credance to it's stars and starlets than it does to those who serve in it's Military, which makes up an extremely small percentage of the whole!

As this Veteran says "Happy Veterans Day, NOT!".

Our Soldiers, PTSD, Multiple Tours, Prozac, Death!

The Los Vegas Sun had a series of articles last month about just one of the many Military personal who have died, In-Theater, Iraq, this one by Suicide!

The first ran on September 1st and was titled Soldier from LV dies of self-inflictedgunshot

He took antidepressants before returning to Iraq

Virgadamo told them he had been so frightened, he had sought and received psychiatric counseling from the military in Iraq. He received additional counseling during a trip home in late July, his family said.

bush and company would want everyone to exist in their fantasy world of Success in a War Theater they started and have No Idea How To End!

the 19-year-old had died that day of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a forward post just outside of Baghdad

Life is just ducky, just ask the Iraqi's who are fleeing, or those who've been ethnicly cleansed from their homes, neighborhoods, and many right out of the cities into the refugee camps in the desert, or have left the country to live in neighboring countries who can't spport the millions that have entered!

Or even better, and closer to home, ask those serving, In-Theater, or freshly back, if not in flag drapped coffins.

Someone should have listened to 19yr. old Army Pfc. Travis Virgadamo long before he killed himself, and listened closely!

His aunt, Rebecca McHugh, complained: "They gave him Prozac and sent him back to Iraq."

The second ran on September 5th and was titled Words of comfort, call for pullout

Reid mourns soldier who killed himself, says many service people are suffering

The death of a 19-year-old Las Vegas Army infantryman by his own hand last week inspired words of sorrow and comfort Tuesday from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who reiterated his call to end the Iraq war.

All I have to say to the above is "Reid, Do It, Stop the funding of this Debacle that should never have been, and has cost way to many lives, 3781, of our own Brave Military Troops, Men and Women! And way to many Iraqi deaths, 1,044,607, many of them children, innocent children, and some 298 Coalition deaths! And tens of thousands of American, Iraqi, and others Maimed for life, missing limbs, or severly wounded physically and thousands to tens of tousands mentally!"

That's it Reid, and the rest of Congress, the balls in your court, us citizens have already excepted our guilt, it's time you representatives excepted yours!

Berkley, a member of the House Veteran's Committee, has promised that the committee will investigate military suicides in Iraq, Cherry said.

We had a rubberstamp congress, before we gave the reins over to you, that did absolutely no investigations, the reports that have come out since the beginning of the year prove that out. It isn't only investigating about suicides In-Theater, it's about the Care received Period. The Multiple Tours, of a broken, and breaking further, Military! It's about the War Profitteering while our Military Personal are Sacrificing All and the Country is Sacrificing Nothing! It's about the Crimes that got us into this and those that have kept it going! It's about our Country Falling Apart!

Berkley is following up on the suspected suicide of a soldier who had returned to Southern California . Recently diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, he had received antidepressants while in Iraq and apparently overdosed back home.

The United States was not prepared for what would happen to military health care after the invasion , let alone mental heath, and both fields have been neglected, Cherry said.

The incompetence that has been this administration and previous congresses must be Stopped and Now! The reality of the World Situation because of this debacle must be taken over by the Responsible Adults who may exist in the seats of the peoples representatives, not the politicians, and It Must Be Ended! Engage the Countries of that region, for it's for their own benefit, to get involved in the security of Iraq and the Region. Engage the Religious leaders of the region to talk to the religious leaders in Iraq and calm the hatreds of the differing sects. Engage the tribal leaders, of the region, to talk to their counterparts in Iraq.

We've lost any semblance of bringing calm to the Hell we've produced!

The next article followed on the 6th of September and was titled Rushed back to the front

Experts: A depressed soldier on a potentially dangerous drug needed more time

In it we find this:



And this starts out the artcle.

A Las Vegas Army infantryman who was prescribed Prozac for depression and several weeks later killed himself in Iraq should have undergone at least three months of observation before returning to normal duties, psychiatrists and other medical experts said in interviews Wednesday.

Family and friends of Pfc. Travis Virgadamo say he told them he was prescribed daily doses of 12.5 milligram's of the anti depressant Prozac beginning in July. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound last Thursday outside of Baghdad, the military said.

We have a totally broken Civilian and Military Leadership of our Military Forces and it's only going to get worse. The Civilian leadership are so incompetent they don't even engage country into the Sacrifice the Military and Their Families are suffering through daily and in most cases for the rest of their lives!

The next, and last, was an editorial on the 9th of September titled Editorial: Family needs answers

'Self-inflicted' death of soldier in Iraq raises questions about mental health treatment

The military is not yet commenting about the death in Iraq of Army Pfc. Travis Virgadamo, other than to say he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a post outside of Baghdad.

Fve years into this Quagmire, and 30plus years after Vietnam, and the Military, the Government, and this Countries Citizens still don't Understand what can happen Mentally to those engaged in, or living in, a War Theater by Man's Hand, a Hell on Earth!

Before Vietnam it was brushed off as being temporary or being a coward, for the soldiers, and it still is. But nobody even thinks or talks about the civilians living in and through that Hell, if they survive!

The Military leadership know how to stay quiet, one Goldstar Mom here, Summer Lipford, still hasn't received the full report of her sons death, in Iraq, early on in this conflict!

Family members in Pahrump, however, are outspoken about what they think contributed to the death of the 19-year-old soldier.

Katie O'Brien, Virgadamo's grandmother, says she thinks Army commanders knew he was suicidal. She told the Las Vegas Sun that Virgadamo had experienced bouts of anxiety and depression dating to his boot-camp days in 2005.

But they need that cannon fodder for their War Profitteering and Twisted Power wants, so buck up soldier and do your duty!!

And outside of PTSD, or actually alongside, is the most common War Injury of these conflicts, Tramatic Brain Injury or TBI. The following wasa recent News report of two soldiers recovering from, or hopefully recovering from.

Soldier Brain Injuries Challenge Doctors

The war in Iraq is not over. One legacy has already spread across America: an epidemic of brain-damaged soldiers.

Some recent reports on PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury.

San Francisco VA researchers reach out to Iraq and Afghanistan vets

A study getting under way at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) aims to identify the best ways to encourage veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to seek treatment for their combat-related problems. It also seeks to identify the most efficient ways for veterans to get the services they need.

The VA website for returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan is . Seamless Transition Home.

Nist explains challenges vets, families face with PTSD

Marine Sgt. Dean Nist, an Iraq War veteran, explained to a group of Central Ohio veterans, their families and mental health workers, about the difficulties of living with post traumatic stress disorder, and the challenges of caring about someone with PTSD.

“The decisions I had to make, the things that I saw, that’s why I have PTSD,” he explained.

He also works with veterans with traumatic brain injury, or TBI, a disability affecting thousands of Iraq veterans. Nist said he is concerned that the soldiers currently serving in Iraq may have difficulty finding appropriate treatment when they return from the war.

Just like my brothers of 'Nam these soldiers are reaching out to their peers striving to help, for they truely understand the trauma's gone through and what it can do, to themselves and others!

For, as many of us know, way to few in the civilian society care or even think about those who serve, once they've returned. The ones that do, though few, are extremely dedicated, and that dedication lasts their lifetime!

This must not be allowed to happen again. As Ilona Meagher titled her book Moving A Nation To Care, this Nation must move as one towards the reality of our actions, on us and especially on others if we are to be the Nation we profess ourselves to be!

Brain injury is a growing problem for soldiers returning from war

“I went home - R&R for 10 days - and the day I got back is the day I got hit,” Bryan Malone said.

“It was two weeks, you moron. It was 15 days,” scolded his friend, Eric O’Brien, adding to others: “The problem with him is he’s as dumb as a box of rocks to begin with. We’ve got no baseline on him.”

Their jokes and sarcasm mask a serious worry.

Thousands of U.S. troops coping with brain damage, uncertain futures; doctors challenged

"I've been in the field for 20-plus years dealing with TBI. I have a very experienced staff. And they're saying to me, 'We're seeing things we've never seen before,'" said Sandy Schneider, director of Vanderbilt University's brain injury rehabilitation program.

There are many other articles seeping into the mainstream on PTSD, and Traumatic Brain Injuries, and in this new age, with video so prevalent online, one doesn't need to depend on the Media for reports on these and the other sacrifices our militaty and their families are going through.

But one small simple thing everyone reading this, or similar posts, can do is to click through the links giving traffic to the sites reports, telling those who are investigating them and writing about them that others really care, many others. Which will cause them to seek out more stories and investigative reports, building the momentum for 'Moving A Nation To Really Care', and that's Nation, not a Village!

Wounded Soldier's Family Feels Forgotten by Army

Army Spc. Ron Hinkle was deployed to Iraq in December 2005. He was injured in an IED blast four months later.

This is the first of a two-part report.

All Things Considered, September 12, 2007 · Two years ago, Army Specialist Ronald Hinkle left a good trucking job, a working ranch, a wife and two daughters in Byers, Colo., to serve in Iraq.

Now Hinkle is one of more than 13,000 American service men and women who have suffered serious wounds in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hinkle survived an IED blast but festering wounds nearly killed him.

He and his family are struggling to rebuild lives completely transformed by that explosion in Iraq.

SNIP: View and Listen to this NPR story and find links to all related media content Here

This is the second of the two-part report.

Wounded Soldier's Care Tangled in Military System

All Things Considered, September 13, 2007 · Four months after Army Spc. Ronald Hinkle left his ranch and family in Colorado to serve his country in Iraq, he was injured in an IED blast. He now suffers from a traumatic brain injury and is unable to think clearly. He suffers from seizures and cannot be left alone.

Ron's wife, Reece, quit her high-paying job to care for him. They live on their Byers, Colo., ranch with their two daughters, Rebecca, 14, and Callie, 13, and Reece's mother, Lois White.

SNIP: View and Listen to this NPR story and find links to all related media content Here

Raising Roberto (Again)

A devastating brain injury in Iraq leaves soldier Roberto Reyes with a support system of one—his mother

On January 26, 2005, Specialist Roberto Reyes Jr. was returning to base after a five-day mission when the Humvee he was riding in hit a mine just west of Baghdad. The force of the blast threw Reyes 20 feet and caused the ears of his comrades to bleed.
The sergeant who found Reyes crawling on all fours with his skull hanging open saw Reyes's helmet nearby. A shimmering liquid in it caught his attention; as he poured it out, he realized what it was: part of Reyes's brain.

Read Rest Here