Afghan Landmine Victims

Red Cross assists landmine victims in Afghanistan

An Afghan man and a child with artificial legs are seen at the International Red Cross Orthopedic (ICRC) rehabilitation center on December 10, 2009 in Herat, Afghanistan. The aims of the ICRC rehabilitation center are to educate and rehabilitate landmine victims and others with deformities to help them return their former lives. According to the UN mine information network, 62 people on average are killed or injured by mines each month in Afghanistan. UPI/Hossein Fatemi

An Afghan child with only one leg sits next to artificial legs at the International Red Cross Orthopedic (ICRC) rehabilitation center
on December 10, 2009 in Herat, Afghanistan.

Mine-stricken Afghan girls with artificial legs practice walking at the International Red Cross Orthopedic (ICRC) rehabilitation center
on December 10, 2009 in Herat, Afghanistan.

Job Creation in Afghanistan

Afghan employees work on artificial legs at the International Red Cross Orthopedic (ICRC) rehabilitation center on December 10, 2009 in Herat, Afghanistan.

Afghan men with artificial legs wait for their doctor to check them at the International Red Cross Orthopedic (ICRC) rehabilitation center
on December 10, 2009 in Herat, Afghanistan.

There are Thirteen More Photo's at the UPI site link with descriptions on the right hand side for each as you view them.

ICBL International Campaign to Ban Landmines

Landmine Survivors Network

Adopt-A-Minefield Landmine Clearance and Support

Veterans Day 2009

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

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

No Longer a Soldier, Shinseki Has a New Mission

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

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

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

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

Honoring Our Service Members

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

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

Many Veterans Are Without A Health Insurance Plan

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

Veterans Day, A look back and one forward

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

Reid: Coburn move 'illogical'

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

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

In this report below the following is stated:

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

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

Army strain, recovery at Fort Lewis

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

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

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



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

Sen. Jim Webb: Critical to keep promise to veterans

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

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

Veteran-led Peer Support Combats Suicide

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

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

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

Iraq, Afghanistan veterans need more help at home

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

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

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

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

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

Impossible Dream - A Tribute to Native American Veterans



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

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

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

Women at Arms: Coping with PTSD

A Combat Role, and Anguish, Too

For Vivienne Pacquette, being a combat veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder means avoiding phone calls to her sons, dinner out with her husband and therapy sessions that make her talk about seeing the reds and whites of her friends’ insides after a mortar attack in 2004.

As with other women in her position, hiding seems to make sense. Post-traumatic stress disorder distorts personalities: some veterans who have it fight in their sleep; others feel paranoid around children. And as women return to a society unfamiliar with their wartime roles, they often choose isolation over embarrassment.

Many spend months or years as virtual shut-ins, missing the camaraderie of Iraq or Afghanistan, while racked with guilt over who they have become.

Snip

Some psychiatrists say that women do better in therapy because they are more comfortable talking through their emotions, but it typically takes years for them to seek help. In interviews, female veterans with post-traumatic stress said they did not always feel their problems were justified, or would be treated as valid by a military system that defines combat as an all-male activity...>>>Rest Found Here

Women at Arms

A record number of women are coming home from war with post-traumatic stress disorder. Four years after leaving Iraq, Shalimar Bien explains her continuing struggle.

Women at Arms
The Psychological Scars

Articles in this series explore how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have profoundly redefined the role of women in the military.
Previous Articles in the Series

A series many should visit and read.

"War Song"

Rock Band OAR Asks America to Open Up Your Arms -- and Focus on What Matters



Check out the exclusive music video by O.A.R. and then show your support for our newest generation of heroes at Open Up Your Arms.

The writeup about the video and it's meaning as to the reality from Paul Rieckhoff of IAVA who teamed up with O.A.R. to produce the Video and the site Open Up Your Arms

With the noise clogging the media landscape, it's hard to get the public to pay attention to anything important. Fortunately, some extremely talented musicians are working to change that.

Shinseki, Gates Address Unprecedented Forum

VA, DoD Host National Mental Health Summit

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) are hosting a first-of-its-kind national summit to address the mental health care needs of America’s military personnel, families and Veterans, harnessing the programs, resources and expertise of both departments to deal with the aftermath of the battlefield.

“This is about doing what is best for those who serve this country and using every federal, state and community asset to do it,” said Secretary Shinseki. “We’re proud of the people and the organizations who have stepped up today to make sure everyone who fought for this country gets a fighting chance for a sound mind and an independent life.”

The summit, which opened today at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., invited mental health experts from both departments, Congress, the president’s cabinet and more than 57 non-government organizations to discuss an innovative, wide-ranging public health model for enhancing mental health for returning service members, Veterans, and their families.

Snip

VA operates the largest mental health program in the nation. VA has bolstered its mental health capacity to serve combat Veterans by adding thousands of new professionals to its rolls in the last four years. The department also has established a suicide prevention hotline (1-800-273-TALK) and Web site available for online chat at Suicide Prevention Lifeline-Veterans....>>>

Gates: Injured troops face too much red tape

Calls their paperwork 'frustrating, adversarial, and unnecessarily complex

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that troops injured in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to face too many bureaucratic hurdles.

Paperwork alone for them can be "frustrating, adversarial, and unnecessarily complex," Gates said.

Gates spoke at a mental health summit with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. By appearing publicly together, they sought to reinforce their commitment to tackling veterans' health issues and the stigma associated with seeking mental health care.

Snip

Shinseki said veterans from the recent wars are coming homes with "invisible wounds" that are just as debilitating as physical traumas sustained on the battlefield.

"Who's vulnerable? Everyone," Shinseki said. "Warriors suffer emotional injuries as much as they do physical ones."...>>>

The "Noble Cause" of War

That "Noble Cause", which one "GoldStar Mom" asked to be answered very publicly and never was, comes when those who serve do everything in their power, and know those around them will do same, to save and protect those they are serving with, especially as they serve the Country and are sent into others Countries, wrong policies or right!

When the battles start that's what's on their minds, even before saving themselves!

With "Honor":

President Obama: Our Nations Highest Honor to Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti



A Medal Of Honor For Sgt. Monti, Who Went To Save His Man

The nation pays its highest military tribute to a fallen hero today when President Barack Obama awards a posthumous Medal of Honor to Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti of Raynham, Mass.

As NPR's Tom Bowman reported on Morning Edition, the 30-year-old Monti made a valiant effort to save one of his men during a ferocious firefight on a mountaintop in Afghanistan three years ago. Staff Sgt. Chris Cunningham tells Tom that when Monti heard during the battle that one of his men was missing, the 1st Sgt. said "he's my guy, I'm going to get him":

At the Pentagon today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked if he is concerned by the fact that there has not yet been a Medal of Honor awarded to any living veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gates said he is bothered by that -- and that it was one of former president George W. Bush's "real regrets" that he did not have such an opportunity. Then, Gates added that it's his understanding there are "some living potential recipients that have been put forward":

There is one more "Noble Cause" of war, those who recognize when the policies are not only flawed but extremely negative as to humanity, theirs and the countries people they occupy, and damaging for what we call our 'National Security' in the present and long term, the country they took an oath to serve and protect!

These soldiers become emotional "Conscientious Objectors" to the inhumanity of these Wars of Choice and the Occupations of others, they speak out in the attempts to get their brother and sister soldiers out of harms way and brought home. Saving them as well as the innocents in the countries of these man made conflicts and the failed policies of lies and wants of certain civilian, as well as military, leadership!

That's the "Noble Cause!"

Rest In Peace, All Our Brothers and Sisters, Who Have Served And Given Their Lives To The "Noble Cause" For Those They Serve With!

Sept. 18, 2009 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day

POW/MIA Day honors heroes

The flag of the National League of Families of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia will be flown over the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service System Headquarters, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and national cemeteries across our country.

This black and white banner, symbolizing America’s missing, is a stark and powerful reminder to people around the world that our nation will keep faith with those who have served and sacrificed, that we will not rest until we receive the fullest possible accounting of every American missing in service to our country.

Sept. 18, 2009 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I ask all citizens to join me in honoring former American prisoners of war and those whose fate is still undetermined. I also encourage you to remember with special sympathy and concern the courageous families who maintain their steadfast vigil and who persevere in their search for answers and for the peace that comes only with certainty...>>>>Read The Rest Here

Please join us for this solemn, poignant and important event. We must let every nation know that we will “never forget!”

A powerful resource for additional information regarding this important issue may be found at the Department of Defense Web site: Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personal

Photos of fallen Vietnam veterans sought

A new project is trying to put a face to each of the 58,195 names listed on the Vietnam Wall.

The organizers of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Federal Express are issuing a nationwide "call for photos" to help document the stories of those lost in the war...>>>>>>

Sept 27th: Gold Star Mothers

Gold Star Mother's Day in United States

Gold Star Mother’s Day is observed in the United States on the last Sunday of September each year. It is a day to for people to recognize and honor those who have lost a son or daughter while serving the United States Armed Forces.

Gold Star Moms Website

Sept. 18, 2009 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day

POW/MIA Day honors heroes

The flag of the National League of Families of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia will be flown over the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service System Headquarters, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and national cemeteries across our country.

This black and white banner, symbolizing America’s missing, is a stark and powerful reminder to people around the world that our nation will keep faith with those who have served and sacrificed, that we will not rest until we receive the fullest possible accounting of every American missing in service to our country.

Sept. 18, 2009 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I ask all citizens to join me in honoring former American prisoners of war and those whose fate is still undetermined. I also encourage you to remember with special sympathy and concern the courageous families who maintain their steadfast vigil and who persevere in their search for answers and for the peace that comes only with certainty................Read The Rest Here

Please join us for this solemn, poignant and important event. We must let every nation know that we will “never forget!”

A powerful resource for additional information regarding this important issue may be found at the Department of Defense Web site: Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personal

As MoJo Calls It: A Few Good Kids?

The Pentagon in the Classroom

We were saying what was actually going on but those doing it kept denying, as they passed on the talking points to their public mouths and those were carried forward by the flocks, that relished in being led, on any online board, right wing feeding troth site, and in reply's wherever they could be placed.

No child left behind.... the battle lines?

How the No Child Left Behind Act allowed military recruiters to collect info on millions of unsuspecting teens.

This was just more from the cheney/bush cabal acts against the country, and their growing list of proof of crimes against this Nation and Our Constitution, no one was safe, especially our children, needed to fill the ranks of bringing democracy? to others by extreme force!!

John Travers was striding purposefully into the Westfield mall in Wheaton, Maryland, for some back-to-school shopping before starting his junior year at Bowling Green State University. When I asked him whether he'd ever talked to a military recruiter, Travers, a 19-year-old African American with a buzz cut, a crisp white T-shirt, and a diamond stud in his left ear, smiled wryly. "To get to lunch in my high school, you had to pass recruiters," he said. "It was overwhelming." Then he added, "I thought the recruiters had too much information about me. They called me, but I never gave them my phone number."

Nor did he give the recruiters his email address, Social Security number, or details about his ethnicity, shopping habits, or college plans. Yet they probably knew all that, too. In the past few years, the military has mounted a virtual invasion into the lives of young Americans. Using data mining, stealth websites, career tests, and sophisticated marketing software, the Pentagon is harvesting and analyzing information on everything from high school students' GPAs and SAT scores to which video games they play. Before an Army recruiter even picks up the phone to call a prospect like Travers, the soldier may know more about the kid's habits than do his own parents.

Gee now who was that that foretold the coming future, and how close were the predictions of this thought of "Big Brother!"!!

Recruiters hit pay dirt in 2002, when then-Rep. (now Sen.) David Vitter (R-La.) slipped a provision into the No Child Left Behind Act that requires high schools to give recruiters the names and contact details of all juniors and seniors. Schools that fail to comply risk losing their NCLB funding. This little-known regulation effectively transformed President George W. Bush's signature education bill into the most aggressive military recruitment tool since the draft..........Read Rest Here

Now why does this Vitter name ring a bell, hmmmm, known but only important as to show what a total snake and lackey to his masters, not those he's hired to represent, is capable of doing while under the guise of being a family values man.

The MoJo article is from David Goodman who is a contributing writer for Mother Jones and coauthor {with wife Amy} of "Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders and the People Who Fight Back". For more of his stories, click here.

Episode Four: Broken Soldier

This is Where We Take Our Stand - The Series

Broken Soldier

Broken Soldier from Displaced Films on Vimeo.

Why are so many veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan psychologically damaged? Is it the natural trauma of war, or the product of military whose mission is to occupy and suppress the civilian population? Zolie Goodman recounts the racism against Iraqis imbued in his unit, while Kris Goldsmith reveals the hatred that finally made him a “broken soldier,” caught in the endless web of the Veterans Administration. And the parents of Jeffrey Lucey mourn their son, one of thousands who could no longer live with what he had become............

Episode Five: This is Not Human Nature will launch September 7, 2009.

Episode Six: No Longer a Monster will launch September 20, 2009.

Calley Apologizes For My Lai Massacre

August 21, 2009

Lt. William L. Calley, Jr., in April 1971, during his court-martial at Fort Benning, Ga

Speaking in a soft, sometimes labored voice, the only U.S. Army officer convicted in the 1968 slayings of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai made an extraordinary public apology while speaking to a small group near the military base where he was court-martialed.

"There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai," William L. Calley told members of a local Kiwanis Club, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported Friday. "I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry."

SNIP

Wearing thick glasses and a blue blazer, he spoke softly into a microphone answering questions for a half-hour from about 50 Kiwanis members gathered for their weekly luncheon in a church meeting room.

"You could've heard a pin drop," said Al Fleming, who befriended Calley about 25 years ago and invited him to speak. "They were just slack-jawed that they were hearing this from him for the first time in nearly 40 years."

Both Fleming and Lennie Pease, the Kiwanis president, told The Associated Press in phone interviews Friday that Calley's apology came at the beginning of his brief remarks before he began taking questions................

Only comment to this I will give is it isn't only about the slaughter, Atrocity and not the only one, of these Innocent Vietnamese but also the Soldiers Killed and Maimed, in an invasion and occupation that should never have been, as a direct result of! As in All Wars Atrocities bring the Blowback and aid the so called enemy, those fighting to rid their country of an occupier, and are no different then that we accuse of in our self righteous arrogance and apathy!!

Afghan War Takes Toll on Civilians

PBS News Hour Friday, August 21, 2009

August 7th is Purple Heart Day

A Day to Honor America's Combat Wounded and Fallen Heroes

By Executive Order 9277, dated December 3, 1942, the decoration was extended to be applicable to all services and required that regulations of the Services be uniform in application as far as practicable. This executive order also authorized the award only for wounds received.

PURPLE HEART RECIPIENTS

War I: 250,000¹
War II: 964,409
Korea: 136,936
Vietnam: 200,676
Persian Gulf: 590
Afghanistan: 3,495 *
Iraq: 34,808 *
Total Estimated: 1.7 M¹

NOTE¹: Estimates only. Battlefield awards and incomplete records; 1974 fire in St. Louis repository.

*Data as of 6/20/2009

And what will the 'rushlicans' do, why they'll bring out fresh 'purple heart bandages' and laugh and laugh and laugh........................................!!

Like this:



Showing they don't respect those that serve, even the ones amoung them that did, but this is what the Purple Heart and it's being Awarded Means:

Each year on August 7th, Americans should pause to remember and honor the brave men and women who were either wounded on the battlefield or paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives. The Purple Heart is awarded to any member of the U.S. Armed Forces that has been wounded or died as a result of a wound in battle.

This now includes those persons who died in captivity while a prisoner of war (POW). We now celebrate Purple Heart Day on the anniversary of its inception, August 7th. On this day it is our patriotic duty to remember and recognize those people willing to serve our country, no matter the price..............Rest Found Here

Soldiers of Conscience

Receives an Emmy® Award Nomination!

Trailer

Last week, Soldiers of Conscience was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing!

As many of you know, the Emmy is the highest television award there is - an equivalent of an Oscar for TV.

A special congrats goes to the film's editors - Gary Weimberg and Josh Peterson.

As you can imagine, this is the kind of recognition that helps the film bring greater attention to the critical issues of conscience and war facing us all - service members and civilians alike.

The award winners will be announced at a ceremony in New York City in late September. We'll keep you posted - but keep your fingers crossed!

For a full list of the nominees, visit: EmmyOnline.tv

Johnny & Jane Marchin Home to........

Johnny comes marching home — to no job
Out of Iraq’s frying pan, into an economic fire

Why do we still continue to ignore the fact that women serve, Johnny comes marching home and similar, in greater numbers and are a big part of our military operations? They have always been a Big part of the Military Family and an Important part!

The gathering might have been even more boisterous were it not for the realization that these Guardsmen are coming home to face a new enemy — a swooning economy that has landed like a KO’d heavyweight on the canvas of their home towns......

Sgt. Russell See of Elkhart said he found out in April that his job as a welder at Valmont Industries had vanished, a development that was communicated via an e-mail from the human resources department........

Another of the many promises this Nation doesn't keep, though in tough times holding the jobs for those who serve in the Guard can be real tough for a small business. And the big corporations don't have the money left, even if there's work needed to be done to help their bottom lines and give to investors, after the hugely gross compensation packages, gross amount of company perks and those really gross bonuses even for total failure!

And why aren't they spending that money, keeping the reaganomics/free market promise of 'trickle down' to those that produced the products and services? Teabaggers pay attention!

While they serve, their civilian jobs are protected by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), but that is no help when layoffs occur, unless discrimination can be demonstrated......

Oh, and how many of their kids are serving...

he figures he has only eight months or so to either find a job or consider what is now almost unthinkable — signing up for a third tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan......

Probably not many at all, no need to if sending the same fighting soldiers back over and over!

And oh again, speaking of the younger family members of the wealthy, as well as so many more. Just some more of those who are serving you as well:

"HE KEPT US SAFE"

THE DECLINE OF AMERICAN CHARACTER

THE "CRINGING WIMP" GENERATION

For years we hear little else, "But he kept us safe." The "but" refers to bankrupting the country, stealing elections, suspending Constitutional Rights, poisoning the air and water and turning the country over to racketeers from oil, drug, insurance and crooked financial services..........

Gee, now who could Gordon be talkin about?

Our crimes are so heinous that our new government is fearful of allowing trials for the criminals, believing the entire world would rise against us if they knew what we had done. The process of declassification intended to bring the truth to the world has stopped as we are faced with unimaginable acts of cowardice, brutality and greed, all hidden behind the words, "But he kept us safe." ...........>>>>>Rest Here

Still wondering, well read the rest of what he writes. As I add my meager two cents, and that's not even worth what it used to be, below.

Oh and on this: "believing the entire world would rise against us if they knew what we had done", they already know, a few have participated, but more important in the two theaters of occupations they knew long before us here on the "homeland?", and not just in the occupation zones but the whole region. They had already started growing their ranks, taking to retaliation and the knowing blowback, these acts only adding to those committed against them in the invasions and now long running occupations. Killing and maiming the U.S. and other nations soldiers, anyone working with the occupation, and the citizens, women and children included, who we also killed, not joining them in their brutal attempts to rid their countries of the occupiers and puppet regimes!

These last years only enhanced, greatly, the already growing hatreds from our past failed foreign policies in meddling in their countries, resources, and politics. They have greatly increased the numbers of those we label as al Qaeda or Taliban and especially the new 21st century label, for all who oppose us and our actions, similar to theirs, "Terrorist", as we wage our Terror! Only ours is High Tech terror,, with greater destruction and death, theirs low tech, so ours is righteous, it cost more, and well we're the supreme power and leader of freedom? and democracy?!! "God Bless America"?!!

Gordon just lays out what many others have in a justifiable rant, he does that often, of a society of "cringing wimps" that still exists, as it fears holding those Responsible to the Accountability for their crimes committed, In Our Names!

"Dust Off"

Hospital sees more GIs from Afghan frontline
‘We’ve seen a lot ... and I hope we can handle it,’ says one staffer

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

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan - The urgent call came in: Roadside bombs had ripped through two Humvees and wounded eight or nine U.S. soldiers.

Medevac helicopters immediately hit the air to ferry the soldiers to the main U.S. military hospital. But when they arrived, they carried only five patients.

The other four were dead..........

Bob & Lee Woodruff's New Cause

A Memorial Day Goal for Bob and Lee Woodruff

"Hey Friends -- Would you give a dollar to someone who risked their life for you? We are in a big push this weekend to try to get every American to give $1.00 (or better yet $5.25 - to signify the date of Memorial Day) to help our wounded troops. This is what Memorial Day is all about.

"Yesterday by being on CNN and CNBC to talk about it-- Bob and I raised $21,000 just from people twittering and going to the website to give."............

ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and wife Lee raise funds for injured service members. They join CNN's TJ Holmes.


You can Visit Tweet To Remind, or ReMind.org to find out much more about 'A Memorial Day Goal for Bob and Lee Woodruff'.



******************************

Beyond the Invisible: Living with Brain Injury

Produced by the Brain Injury Association of New York State (BIANYS), and narrated by Lee Woodruff:

This 30-minute documentary focuses on three veterans who sustained a
brain injury in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The film is designed to educate
the public, professionals, and advocates about what it means to live with a brain injury...........More at the Documentary Site

******************************

Memorial Day a time to pledge

that we never again enter a war based on whim or blind mistakes

The sight of those rows of white headstones dotting the rolling acres of Arlington National Cemetery evokes chills and tears, for each is a testament to bravery; a monument to sacrifice.

I have never gone there when I did not cry.

On this Memorial Day, each of the more than 300,000 gravesites there — containing the remains of individuals from every war fought by this country — will be decorated with small U.S. flags, the symbol of the republic they held dear.................

The Pledge we 'Nam Vets made, the Pledge this Country made, "We will never forget the lessons of Vietnam!", back than! Those lessons weren't on how to fight a Guerilla Insurgency of residents of another country We Invade, But Never Wage Wars Of Choice!!
And our collective Apathy and Arrogance allows failed policies towards others which leads the few to Beat The Drums Of War Of Choice and we encourage the slaughter!!

Military,VA and PTSD Around the Country: Vets Urged To Seek Treatment

A number of reports have sprung up in the last few days following the very tragic shooting by one soldier in killing five of his fellow soldiers at an in country military stress clinic, of which he himself was receiving care.

Military training alone starts the process of the change needed from how most are brought up and what they are taught and told to be able to serve and defend, if needed, this country.

Place these now trained soldiers in a War Zone creating the Occupation of same lasting many years and now in these times many tours being served and not only in one but two and for many the stress of war, what they experience, their individual incidents, what they see, feel, and just know, is overwelming!

They aren't the only ones, think of those who live in these occupied countries! It also isn't only a war that creates the traumatic nightmares, individuals that experience trauma in theirs lives also can suffer, most silently, from those traumas!

Below is a number of recent reports, this subject should have been takin seriously many years ago after finally realizing what War and Trauma can do to a Human Being!

Local Veterans Affairs Boosts Treatment for PTSD Patients - Video

After a shooting killed five U.S. Soldiers at a Military Clinic in Iraq, U.S. officials are saying the incident is an isolated situation.
The local Veterans Affairs clinic is taking all the steps they can to make sure our local veterans are getting the treatment they need.
They say they've seen close to 300 people for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The V.A. also says they've seen a high success rate for those soldiers who come in for help for PTSD.
If you would like to find out more about the programs the Veterans Affairs office offers, visit their website at: VA.gov

Amarillo VA Hospital treating combat stress disorders

Coworkers say he was doing exactly what he wanted to be doing.

Amarillo psychiatrist Matthew Houseal was killed while treating soldiers at the combat stress control clinic in Camp Liberty, Baghdad.

Houseal volunteered for Operation Iraqi Freedom and was activated about four months ago, according to coworkers.......

Soldiers' Don't Receive Proper Mental Health Care, Local Army Wife Says - Video

Days after a U.S. soldier shot and killed five other American servicemen, some local families said they too have concerns about mental health care for their loved ones overseas.

Officials said Sgt. John Russell was in the process of being debriefed at a stress clinic when he opened fire.

The shooting is not a confirmed case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but officials said Russell was on his third tour of duty in Iraq at the time.

A Wheeling woman said her husband suffers from PTSD, but continues to serve overseas. In an e-mail from the U.S. Army, officials assured her that mental health professionals are giving her husband support, but when she talks to him on the phone, her husband said that is not the case..........

'John Wayne' attitude cited in military mental health issues

Hundreds of local veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. But many more remain untreated and undiagnosed, because they don't want to appear weak or unfit for military service, say local military health officials and veterans.

The stigma attached to mental health treatment may have played a role in Monday's deadly shooting at a U.S. military base in Baghdad. Army Sgt. John M. Russell, accused of killing five fellow troops, may have become nervous that the Army was setting him up for discharge after he was ordered to undergo counseling, his father said.........

Veteran Talks About PTSD in Hopes of Helping Others

Iraq War veteran Luke Nielsen says there are things he’d rather not remember about fighting in the war. Nielsen served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. He says, “There’s always s pressure in a war zone. That’s just a fact.”

Nielsen’s wife Melanie said she was just grateful when her husband came home. “They are home. We’re just so happy to have them home and in our arms.”

When Nielsen returned from war, his family was together, but he had changed. Noises and crowds upset him. He easily became angry and was withdrawn and depressed. His children had to be careful. “The kids can’t run and jump in the house. You had to be careful not to have loud noises, or you would get him in defensive mode,” Melanie said..............

Lab helps veteran cope. Hill says Frankie aids in his battle with PTSD

An Iraq war veteran and the Muskingum County dog who is helping him with his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are going to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show on Friday.

Sgt. Allen Hill, of Kansas, is crediting Frankie, a dog who came from Shannon Valley Labs in Frazeysburg, with giving him the treatment he needs to deal with his PTSD.

Frankie, a beautiful golden lab, helps Hill through his nightmares, in crowds and with his claustrophobia on a daily basis.........

The war off the battlefield

BENEATH THE shadow of Antenna Hill, which sits at the center of the camp and is used as a radio tower for military communications, Camp Liberty is a sprawling forward operating base that houses thousands of soldiers conducting combat operations in Baghdad and the surrounding suburbs. It is part of a larger base called the Camp Victory Complex, which includes the military section of Baghdad International Airport.

As an infantryman with the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division, I was stationed at Camp Liberty from August 2005 to July 2006. When I heard the Army's version of the incident, I was reminded of the living conditions I experienced there, which the military conveniently left out of its reports to the media...................

Disabled vets find relief through yoga

Suzette Byrd served as a registered nurse in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era, and then again in the Navy during the 1980s.

Forty-four-year-old Mitch Morales is a Gulf War veteran who survived a helicopter crash but now has degenerative disc disease and experiences pain in his lower back and shoulder.

Jenna Sena was a linguist with the Army Security Agency at the Defense Language Institute during the Vietnam era.

David Cornes, 37, said he’s planning to re-enlist soon after 10 years in the service because he’s been offered a $10,000 signing bonus.

They all have service-related disabilities....................

“Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak Out About War and Terror"

Courage to Resist and Susan Galleymore. April 29, 2009

Courage to Resist co-founder Susan Galleymore made international headlines by taking the extraordinary and even dangerous step of traveling to Iraq to visit her US Army son stationed on a military base in the so-called Sunni Triangle, north of Baghdad. She is now on tour to promote her new book "Long Time Passing: Mothers Speak about War and Terror".

What Susan found in Iraq – the horrors of war which was at once heartbreaking and compelling - challenged her to continue her journey interviewing mothers in war zones including Iraq, Israel and the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan and the US. These powerful first-person stories offer dramatic insight into the impact of war on mothers, families, communities, and cultures around-the-world.

Susan shares:

As I wrote in "Long Time Passing", when "my son was deployed to Afghanistan in 2003 I awoke from nightmares almost every night: the knock on the door, uniformed military personnel on the doorstep, “We’re sorry to inform you…,” images of my son disabled like the soldier in Johnny Got His Gun, bombs raining on a family’s home while a mother screamed out her children’s names….

My first real encounter with the vast horror that is war was meeting Holocaust survivors when I was a child. Then I had reacted by imagining how I would steel myself for hearing the worst news. But now, try as I might, I couldn’t hold for more than a few seconds the thought of my own child’s direct involvement: the pain was overwhelming. I couldn’t imagine how mothers could—how I might have to—adjust to the unthinkable: the death or maiming of a beloved child, the nightmare vision of that child killing or maiming others."

As an adult immigrant to the United States I didn't grasp that my own children were candidates for military recruitment. Surely, I thought, a volunteer military was, well, voluntary. I was unaware of, so did not consider, the marketing efforts and exorbitant amounts of money the US military poured into maintaining the veneer of "volunteer".

Mothers Speak About War and Terror

PTSD: Hoping Their Stories Help!

Pentagon hopes stories help troops with PTSD

During the wars of 5 B.C., the ancient Greeks would perform plays about conflict for audiences of soldiers.

Some dealt with the psychological toll of combat on warriors, long before the coining of the phrase "post-traumatic stress disorder."

This closes the report:

Servicemembers interested in telling their stories as part of the campaign can send an e-mail to:
DCoE Real Warriors