Committee reviews VA budget for coming year
WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a hearing today on the VA budget, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki agreed that reforming the VA disability claims system must be a top priority.
“I am encouraged by the Administration’s commitment to add thousands of staff to process veterans’ disability claims, but we should be candid: it appears that the situation will get worse before it gets better,” said Akaka. “It will take years and significant resources to fully train new VA claims staff on the complex existing procedures. We need to bring systemic change to the current process if VA is to provide veterans with the timeliness and accuracy they deserve.”
The President’s budget proposes $125 billion for VA in the coming fiscal year. This is an increase of nearly $11 billion from the previous year, including a $4 billion increase in VA’s medical care account. The President’s budget would also provide funds to increase the number of Veterans Benefits Administration staff by more than 4,000 above last year’s level (including staff added due to the Recovery Act).
Following today’s hearing, Members of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee will provide the Senate Budget Committee with their views and estimates for VA’s budget. Views and estimates are a formal part of the federal budget process, in which Congressional committees recommend funding levels for programs and activities under their legislative jurisdiction. (For the Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s jurisdiction, click here.) The House and Senate Budget Committees review these recommendations when formulating the proposed Budget Resolution for the coming fiscal year.
The Chairman’s opening statement is available here. For the full witness list and the witnesses’ written testimony, please visit http://veterans.senate.gov.
-END-
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We veterans have been hearing this for years, just like the VDBC and it's recommendations, it all sounds great when they say it, but then it gets shoved to the back of the shelf and nothing happens.
Start mixing the "pudding" as Bill Cosby used to say the "proof is in the pudding" don't tell us how great it is going to be, just do it.
Friday, February 26, 2010
AKAKA AND SHINSEKI AGREE ON NEED TO REFORM VA CLAIMS SYSTEM
Thursday, February 18, 2010
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT TO YIELD BETTER BENEFITS FOR THOUSANDS OF
News Releases
http://www.lawyersservingwarriors.com/news_releases-10-0125.html
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT TO YIELD BETTER BENEFITS FOR THOUSANDS OF
VETERANS SUFFERING FROM PTSD AND THEIR FAMILIES
Veterans must opt-in by July 24 for disability rating upgrade and expedited review of benefits, NVLSP and Morgan Lewis available to counsel veterans on their rights as class members
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 25, 2010
WASHINGTON—Following an order issued by the judge overseeing Sabo v. United States, legal notices are being mailed this week to more than 4,300 veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom and were diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The court’s notice invites them to join a class action lawsuit filed in December 2008 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by signing and submitting an “opt-in” form no later than July 24, 2010. Submitting this form will allow these veterans to take advantage of a negotiated resolution that guarantees an upgrade in the veteran’s disability rating and an expedited review by a military correction board to determine the full extent of the rating improvement.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of seven veterans by the non-profit National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) and pro bono counsel Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, alleges that between December 17, 2002 and October 14, 2008, the military illegally denied benefits to an entire class of service members who returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD and were discharged from service.
As a result of the suit, the military has agreed to expedite a review of records to increase the disability ratings previously issued to all class members. To help affected veterans navigate the process of seeking the benefits to which they are entitled, NVLSP and Morgan Lewis are bringing together approximately 100 volunteer lawyers to offer free counseling to all class members.
The disability ratings which are the subject of the lawsuit are critically important to veterans with PTSD. A permanent disability rating of 30% or more entitles a veteran to monthly disability benefits for the rest of the veteran’s life, to free health care for the veteran and his or her spouse for life, and to free health care for their minor children.
“For years, the law has required the military to assign a disability rating of at least 50% to all veterans discharged for PTSD. This rating (above 30%) would give them the medical benefits they need. And, in October 2008, the Department of Defense in fact ordered the military to assign a 50% rating for PTSD going forward,” said Bart Stichman, co-executive director of NVLSP. “Yet, each of the seven named plaintiffs in our lawsuit received a rating of 10% or less. We believe there are thousands more who were likewise shortchanged.”
Eligible veterans who join the suit will be entitled to expedited review of their disability rating, a correction of military records to show their rating for PTSD was at least 50% for the six-month period following the date of release from military service, as well as a determination of whether the new rating should be permanently increased, decreased, or remain the same.
After their rating is increased, class members may receive back pay of disability benefits, reimbursement for health care expenses the military should have covered, as well as future benefits to which they and their families are entitled—potentially millions of dollars in benefits over time.
“Even if the military board does not end up permanently raising a veteran’s PTSD disability rating, the veteran retains the right to ask the court to do so,” added Stichman. “In short, they cannot end up worse off by virtue of joining the lawsuit and agreeing to a board review.”
WHO CAN BE A CLASS MEMBER IN THIS CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT?
All individuals who (a) served on active duty in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Air Force, (b) were found by a Physical Evaluation Board to be unfit for continued service due, at least in part, to the individual’s PTSD, (c) were assigned a disability rating for PTSD of less than 50%, and, as a result, (d) were released, separated, retired, or discharged from active duty after December 17, 2002, and prior to October 14, 2008 (regardless whether such release, separation, retirement, or discharge resulted in the individual’s placement on the Temporary Disability Retirement List).
Veterans who do not receive the legal notice, but who believe they may qualify as a class member in Sabo vs. United States, should go to www.ptsdlawsuit.com to obtain information about their rights in the lawsuit.
http://www.lawyersservingwarriors.com/news_releases-10-0125.html
Go to Web site: http://www.ptsdlawsuit.com/index.html
It only involves veterans who
(a) served on active duty in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Air Force, (b) were found by a Physical Evaluation Board to be unfit for continued service due, at least in part, to the individual's PTSD, (c) were assigned a disability rating for PTSD of less than 50%, and, as a result, (d) were released, separated, retired, or discharged from active duty after December 17, 2002, and prior to October 14, 2008 (regardless whether such release, separation, retirement, or discharge resulted in the individual's placement on the Temporary Disability Retirement List).
Key Facts Regarding Sabo, et al., v. United States
On December 18, 2009, the United States Court of Federal Claims ordered that a legal notice be sent to you and all other veterans of the U.S. Armed Services who may be eligible to join the lawsuit known as Sabo, et al. v. United States.
The Sabo lawsuit was brought by seven veterans from the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. The seven veterans were discharged from military service as a result of a finding by a Physical Evaluation Board ("PEB") that they were unfit for continued active duty service due, at least in part, to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ("PTSD"), and were assigned a disability rating for PTSD of less than 50%. You received the Court-approved legal notice because government records indicate that you -- like the seven veterans who filed the Sabo lawsuit --were discharged from the Armed Services between December 17, 2002 and October 14, 2008, were found unfit for continued active service due, at least in part, to PTSD, but were assigned a disability rating for PTSD of less than 50%.
The seven veterans in the Sabo lawsuit claim that the PEBs violated their legal rights, as well as yours, by assigning a disability rating for PTSD below 50%. The seven veterans have asked the Court to order the military services to give them - and to give you if you join the lawsuit - all of the military retirement benefits to which a veteran with at least a 50% PTSD rating would be entitled.
The military services deny that they have done anything wrong, and the Court has not yet decided that issue. For those who "opt-in" to the class, the military services agreed to prioritize applications to the records corrections boards requesting an increase of their PTSD ratings.
The Court approved the legal notice that was sent to you and other eligible veterans to inform you of your rights to either join or not join this lawsuit, and what you would need to do to join this lawsuit, if that is what you decide to do.
Under the Rules of United States Court of Federal Claims, the Court has allowed the lawsuit to be a class action on behalf of the following individuals:
All individuals who (a) served on active duty in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Air Force, (b) were found by a Physical Evaluation Board to be unfit for continued service due, at least in part, to the individual's PTSD, (c) were assigned a disability rating for PTSD of less than 50%, and, as a result, (d) were released, separated, retired, or discharged from active duty after December 17, 2002, and prior to October 14, 2008 (regardless whether such release, separation, retirement, or discharge resulted in the individual's placement on the Temporary Disability Retirement List).
If you fit this definition, you may choose to join (or "opt-in" to) this lawsuit as a Class Member.
Even though you may have a right to join this lawsuit, there is no obligation to join and you do not lose any legal rights by declining to join.
The lawyers who represent the veterans in the Sabo lawsuit are not charging the veterans a fee for their services. These lawyers have agreed not to charge you or other class members a fee if you choose to join the lawsuit.
If you join this lawsuit, neither the Court nor a military records correction board can reduce the PTSD rating(s) that the PEB assigned to you absent fraud or unusual circumstances.
The FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and Summary of Rights and Options provide more detailed information regarding this lawsui
Friday, February 12, 2010
Veterans and "Shreddergate" destruction of compensation claims
Veterans and "Shreddergate" destruction of compensation claims
Fri Feb 12, 2010 at 12:01:29 AM EST
In the latest disclosure of "SHREDDER GATE" which disabled veterans have been screaming about for years, and was just "discovered" last year when a Detroit VARO employee blew the whistle.
Larry Scott of VA Watchdog.org (links to all articles about shreddergate) has en extensive online library of news stories related to this mess. I was reading his newest article and a few things caught my attention. Like the possibility the VA was destroying more than one million documents a year (in one office) they have 57 offices around the world. It hasn't been proven that destruction has happened at every office, just most of them.
But reading the Office Inspector General Report (OIG) I ran across a sentence that "shocked me" and that isn't easy to do any more, after fighting these bastards for the past decade before having a Judge make them service connect my cardiovascular disease, nothing they can do bother me, but this did.
The VA has been telling veterans and Congress that it takes 3-4 years to train a Veterans Service Representative in how to properly rate a compensation claim. Given the complexity of all the medical conditions, and medical evidence and statements from doctors and veterans medical records, and court martials, military police statements, civilain police statements and any and every other kind of evidence that can be used to validate a claim.
A 42-page document containing interviews by VAOIG's Criminal Investigations Division (CID) with VARO employees ... available for viewing or download here. This document makes the best reading. We have some employees spilling the beans, others confused and some playing Sgt. Schultz: "I know nothing." You will find numerous statements by many New York VARO employees that "recycle bins" were used to discard unopened mail, which was shredded and numerous incidents where huge piles of unopened mail just "disappeared" overnight or over weekends. And, you'll find the testimony of a VBA employee who says they were told to shred mail, but do it a little at a time so as not to garner attention ... and, that the worst thing that could happen is that some veterans might have to re-file documents.
OIG Interviews this is the document that Larry says is the best reading, the paragraph that got my attention is on page 3.........
It just makes me ask a few more questions that are not answered anywhere
if this one office has a 91% new employees of less than 2 years, how many more offices are similar?
Since it is supposed to take 3-4 years to train a representative, who are the experienced workers doing the claims decisions?
Why did 91% of the employees quit or leave or were they fired?
My claim has ten years of experience laying around the local VARO and in the BVA office in Washington DC, does it have all new employees working on it and is that why it took so long?
Are they going to improve the retention rate of employees so veterans can get their claims handled properly in the future, or keep giving bonuses to the VARO officials to keep firing or chasing off experienced employees, so the veterans can't get benefits they are due?
I am sure other veterans can think of their own questions below, of and why isn't the visible media cable news, broadcast news, newspapers or anyone else reporting this stuff?
Original article on shreddergate
Shredding Our Trust in the VA
VA investigators find entire claims and other critical documents in shredding bins at Detroit Regional Office. VA official will only say, "I can't talk about that."
by Larry Scott
Many veterans who have filed disability claims with the Veterans’ Benefits Administration (VBA) of the Department of Veterans’ Affair (VA) will relate horror stories of misdated, misfiled or lost documents all leading to delays in processing or an outright denial of the claim. The mantra for veterans dealing with the VBA has become: "Delay, Deny and Hope that I Die."
It has been assumed by many veterans, their Service Officers who help file claims and attorneys who specialize in veterans’ law that the VBA operates in such a way as to deliberately stall or hinder the claim process with the goal of frustrating the veteran to the point where they just forget about the claim and go away. This isn't some grand plan to purposely hurt veterans, but rather a combination of ignorance, arrogance, incredibly bad management and non-existent oversight. While this viewpoint has been labeled cynical by some and outright paranoid by others, new information is surfacing that shows the cynics, and even the paranoids, to be correct.
What We Know
The VA’s Office of Inspector General (VAOIG) has been conducting audits, or investigations, of a number of VA Regional Offices (VAROs). There are over 50 VAROs around the country, each set up to handle the claims of veterans in a particular geographical area.
The latest series of VAOIG investigations centers on charges that VARO administrators and employees deliberately falsified "timeliness" statistics sent to the VA’s Central Office (VACO). This would be information that shows when a claim was received and how, with a documented timeline including date/time stamps, it moved through the process.
The first heads have begun to roll in this investigation. During the week of October 6, 2008, four employees at the New York VARO, including the Director, were placed on administrative leave. More accurately, they were removed from their positions awaiting the outcome of the investigation. Sources close to this investigation say that those removed, and others, were found to have been fudging the "timeliness" figures. And, there are allegations that documents, including paperwork essential to the claim process had been destroyed.
Another VARO under investigation is Detroit. On September 5, 2008, VARO employees were called to a meeting with the main topic being their poor performance levels. They were told that the Director had been called to Washington to answer questions regarding the poor performance.
At that meeting, VARO officials announced an "amnesty period" for anyone who had old claims at their desk or stashed in other places around the office, a direct procedural violation. Employees were told to turn in paperwork so they could try to get the "timeliness" numbers up. Officials also stated that a VAOIG team would be coming shortly to inspect the VARO and urged all employees "to be prepared."
By mid-September the VAOIG team had arrived at the Detroit VARO. What they found staggers the imagination. VAOIG discovered hundreds of claims, documents critical to claims and other valuable information in the shredder bins. Those bins were removed from the shredder area and the documents were screened by upper management.
It is unclear if the VAOIG team actually "seized" any of the documents in the shredder bins. What we do know is that after the VAOIG investigators left the Detroit VARO, management continued to find more critical documents in shredder bins. A meeting was called and the Director told employees that it was known who had thrown out the documents and that they would be fired. The "amnesty period" for turning in mail kept at employee’s desks was extended in the hope of turning up all "lost" claim documentation.
On October 2, 2008, the Detroit VARO Director began a "no record mail" program. This was meant to find all mail in the offices for which there, literally, was no record. Quoting from an employee directly involved in this process: "...discovered in the thousands of pieces of ‘no record mail’ we found original applications, medical evidence for veterans’ claims that had not been included in the decisions, informal claims (that likely could affect original dates of claims), and other relevant identifiable mail items."
On October 7, 2008, quoting again from the VA employee, "...the Director, Service Center Manager and other top management ransacked our work areas in search of mail that was being stored/stashed at individual’s desks. They sent some individuals home, and the others were told to wait in the break room until the end of their shift. I can’t attest to what they found in the work areas, but individuals were pulled aside and questioned."
Then, on October 9, 2008, quoting again, "During a training session the Director...stated that other regional offices have already placed numerous supervisors on administrative leave in regards to ‘cheating’ on their numbers, and that with as poor as our station numbers [are]...at least we aren’t cheating on our numbers, or at least not cheating well."
So, what is being done in the Detroit VARO to put an end to this mess? Not much. The VA employee adds with a noticeable sadness, "...They don’t seem to have any answers yet. They have juggled the supervisory staff around to different departments for some reason, and have been telling us to stand by for further training on our job functions. There are still items of mail at my desk currently that I have been told to hold on station since they don’t know the disposition of these types of mail yet [and]...they keep finding new piles of mail that date back to March of 2008 [and further] that’s had no action taken on it."
What We Don’t Know
At this time, we don’t know how many VAROs have been caught up in this investigation or if the VAOIG teams just went out to "sample" some VAROs and hit pay dirt in New York and Detroit.
We also don’t know what VACO is going to do about this. A highly-placed VACO official, when told that this information was going public, gulped, paused, and said, "I can’t talk about that." And, one of the VAOIG investigators who was at the Detroit VARO will not return phone calls on this matter.
The worst part is, we don’t know if any documents were actually shredded. By its very nature, shredding would eliminate the evidence of what was shredded. We may never know unless a VA employee comes forward and says that they did it or saw it done.
CYA Time
We will have to wait for the VAOIG reports before we can get a handle on how widespread this problem of "timeliness" is. Is this happening at all 50+ VAROs? A number of former VA employees have said that they believe the "timeliness" issue exists in all VAROs. They are of the opinion that there is widespread abuse of documents as they come in to the VARO. No one felt that any VARO Director would actually tell employees to hide or destroy documents, but the general feeling is that this is "winked at" and a standard way of handling the paperwork crunch at the VAROs.
Several former VA employees have postulated about how the VAOIG reports will turn out. They feel that the VA will claim that any hiding or destruction of documents was done at the lowest possible level and without the consent or knowledge of anyone above that person’s grade, then make promises that it will never happen again. A former VA attorney decided that it is impossible for such "widespread abuse to occur" without knowledge of its existence at all levels of the VARO.
We can expect statements of outrage from VA Secretary James Peake. We can expect hearings from the politicians on Capitol Hill. But, what will this really accomplish? Will any of this change the way the VAROs operate? Don’t count on it.
I have not posted the entire article and Larry has let me post entire articles in the past, most regular Kos readers know that I have been posting VA watchdog articles for nearly 5 years now...... just to remind people what shreddergate is about....
Veterans Administration and "shreddergate"
Israeli Biological Warfare Drill Draws International Crowd
Israeli Biological Warfare Drill Draws International Crowd
Written by Arieh O’Sullivan
Published Thursday, February 11, 2010
Link to original article source
At first people will be feeling sick with a high fever, itchiness, perhaps a rash and back aches. Then the blisters will appear. If it’s small pox, it’s highly contagious and death is quite certain.
If bio-terrorists or enemy states were to introduce small pox today it could mushroom into a catastrophic calamity for any nation.
At Tel Hashomer hospital just outside Tel Aviv, hundreds of “patients” began flooding the emergency ward during a recent exercise. They were met by medical personnel – decked out in impermeable white plastic suits, gloves and head coverings which left no part of the body exposed to germs to prevent the spread of a biological epidemic.
“The purpose of the drill is to see if we are able to detect what is the source of the disease at the right time the right place and the right bacterial virus and to give the right response,” said Col. Dr. Ariel Bar, Surgeon General of the Home Front Command.
Over 1,000 volunteers were recruited and trained to behave as though they had been exposed to biological agents. The drill, code named Orange Flame, was the largest of its kind in Israel’s history and was aimed at evaluating the ability of the Home Front Command, medical services, rescue teams and municipal authorities to respond to a biological catastrophe.
The major challenge was to contain the damage as much as possible. As the patients were wheeled into quarantined rooms, doctors and nurses began to ascertain their symptoms. This information was rushed to a command center where computers began to analyze which disease it could be.
Israelis are arguably the most protected civilian population on earth. Each home is required to have a bomb shelter or security room that can be sealed off from a chemical or biological attack as well as conventional strikes.
Furthermore, this spring, the Home Front command will be distributing newly upgraded gas masks to its citizens, and the medical services and hospitals are constantly drilling for major catastrophes. It’s not just paranoia. It’s a well-oiled system and it has to be.
Millions of Israelis have been under missile attacks from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip in recent years. During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein pounded the Tel Aviv area with 39 Scud missiles which were feared to have chemical warheads. Israeli military intelligence warns that the country faces growing biological, chemical and nuclear threats.
“We are relatively more protected than most nations in the world,” said Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Ze’ev Livne, a former head of the Home Front Command. “It is not paranoid, but it comes out of the threats that we have faced until now and we look into the future and it is not going to be reduced.”
The Israelis have become such experts that their skills are in demand all over the world. This drill was part of a major conference called International Preparedness and Response to Emergencies and Disasters. It drew some 200 foreign nationals from 30 countries including, India, Turkey, Europe and North America, African nations and former Soviet states.
There were no representatives from either Egypt or the Palestinian Authority, but one keynote participant was Mohammed al-Hadid, the head of the Jordanian Red Crescent and the immediate past-chairman of the standing commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, the highest body in the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
“If any type of weapon of mass destruction is used in the region it is not going to only affect Israel,” al-Hadid said. “It is going to affect many, many Palestinians and even some Jordanians. The distance is very close and spread of these weapons of mass destruction would be horrific.”
The foreign doctors and medical personnel witnessed first hand Israeli strategies to deal with a sudden influx of people injured in a mass-casualty disaster. They were shown how Israeli hospitals operated in teams together with first responders as they engaged in triage to weed out the serious cases.
Dr. Michele Alzetta is the chief of emergency at the Venice Hospital, Italy. He said the Israeli training was exposing him to techniques he wanted to take back with him to Italy.
“I came here specifically because I wanted to understand how such sort of drills could be applied and implemented in our reality,” Alzetta said. “We do something like this for mass casualties. We’ve never done anything specifically on biological warfare, but of course it is everyone’s duty to be prepared nowadays for anything.”
For the Israelis, the conference was not solely a one-way learning affair. Col. Bar said that Israel had proven experience in dealing with man-made disasters like missile attacks, but little involving natural disasters.
“We are good in some aspects, but there are some things that we lack and we are not good enough and we want to be better prepared,” Bar said. “So we are interested in learning more about hospital evacuation and biological attacks which, for example, the United States experience and we don’t.”
Prof. Kristi Koenig, an internationally recognized expert in the fields of homeland security, emergency management and emergency medical support, agreed.
“I think Israelis are very much protected but we all need to learn from each other because these issues are global issues,” she said. “Disasters cross boundaries, cross cultures and we always have more to learn.”
Monday, February 1, 2010
Tough old soldier battles new enemy: Suicide epidemic
Tough old soldier battles new enemy: Suicide epidemic
Posted on January 30, 2010
By Halimah Abdullah
McClatchy Newspapers
Retired Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes, an Iraq war veteran, spends time with his horses at his home in Harris County, Georgia, January 29, 2010. "The one thing that I've found when talking to soldiers and leaders, a lot of the response has been this is the first time we've had a senior leader who has dealt with this talk about it," Rhodes said. Photo courtesy of Mike Haskey/Columbus Ledger-Enquirer/MCT
WASHINGTON — Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes keeps pictures of the dead in his pockets.
They’re the faces of young soldiers whose eyes stare out resolutely from photocopied pages worn and creased by the ritual of unfolding them, smoothing them flat and refolding them.
They’re the faces of men who, haunted by problems at home or memories of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — the dead children, the fallen comrades and the lingering smell of burnt flesh — pressed guns to their heads and pulled the triggers or tied ropes with military precision and hanged themselves.
The pictures remind Rhodes of how close he came to joining them and how, sometimes when the sadness presses in, dark and suffocating, he still mentally pens suicide notes.
“How many times have I written that letter in my head? I still think about suicide, but when I start thinking about it I have to think, ‘What’s the impact on everyone I care about?’ ”
It’s been roughly five years since Rhodes came home from his third tour in Iraq. And despite a highly decorated 29-year career in the Army, a new book, more than a hundred speaking engagements and praise from the likes of Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, for his efforts in suicide prevention, Rhodes still wrestles with his own demons. When he speaks to crowds and gently holds up the photos of fellow servicemen who’ve committed suicide, it’s as if he’s holding up a mirror.
“It’s not about me,” he tells soldiers. “Every one of us can tell our own story. Start telling it. Change the culture of silence.”
Rhodes, 49, is among a small cadre of senior non-commissioned officers and officers who are opening up about their journeys back from the brink of suicide — efforts that top military commanders applaud as they battle a suicide epidemic. The open support from the military’s uppermost ranks for openly discussing a topic long considered taboo is a revolution triggered largely by both greater awareness and pressure to curb record-high suicide rates.
This month, the Defense Department reported that there were 160 reported active-duty Army suicides in 2009, up from 140 in 2008. Of these, 114 have been confirmed, while the cause of death in the remaining 46 remains to be determined. The increase in military suicides includes men between the ages of 18 and 30, mid-career officers and, increasingly, women.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other military leaders have said the increase is likely related to repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the stigma long associated with seeking treatment for mental health problems. Many soldiers are embarrassed to seek help and worried that doing so will hamper their prospects for advancement.
In response, the Pentagon has poured millions of dollars into new suicide-prevention programs and thousands of hours on helping soldiers suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Through programs such as the Real Warriors Campaign, with its catchphrase of “Resilience. Recovery. Reintegration,” the military encourages soldiers to help others by sharing their stories of sorrow.
Veterans such as Rhodes put a different face on grief.
“The one thing that I’ve found when talking to soldiers and leaders, a lot of the response has been, ‘this is the first time we’ve had a senior leader who has dealt with this talk about it,’ ” Rhodes said. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much money we put into this system to change policies and whatever else. At the end of the day, it’s leadership.”
For Rhodes — who grew up in Ringgold, Ga., and lives in the shadow of Fort Benning, near Columbus, Ga., where he once commanded troops — the Iraq war was a greedy ghost that stole him away for 30 months and gnawed at his marriage and his sanity.
He lost both during his third tour. Rhodes’ sky cracked open in April 2005.
“The first hundred days, we didn’t have a boy get a scratch. Then we lost two guys when their suits caught on fire. It started then. Then a couple days later we lost a few more.”
Then the unit lost two captains — younger men with children and career aspirations.
“We arrived at the scene, and that was the first time I saw a human body in so many dismemberments. A young private walked over to me with a hand and said, ‘What do I do with this?’ I took his ring off and said, ‘Put this over in that bag.’ ”
In all, he watched 37 soldiers die during his time in Iraq. Rhodes pushed on through heavy fighting, fatigue and a grief so deep that it threatened to swallow him whole.
Then one day, everything went dark.
“I woke up on the helicopter, and a young soldier put a card in my pocket and said, ‘You’ve been serviced by Angel Flight.’ ”
Rhodes was flown to a military hospital in Baghdad and was diagnosed with PTSD. He made what he calls “a deal with the devil” and was offered an opportunity to slow down and receive counseling.
He was also prescribed medication for depression, which he rarely took. Soon he started sleepwalking.
“I’d tie myself to my bunk at night. One time I was found on top of my bunk and was brought back down.”
Back home, his wife, Carol, found that she could relax only after 10 at night, figuring that the Army would never bring her news of her husband’s death any later than that. His son, Sam, dropped out of college and joined the Army in the hopes of fighting alongside his father in Iraq.
That November, Rhodes was sent to Fort Benning to help lead a brigade. By day, he was a stalwart commander, barking out orders and in full control. At night he’d go back to his now empty apartment — he and Carol had divorced — drink and think about whether in death he might find some sort of respite from the nightmares and the overwhelming guilt he felt because he’d survived and others hadn’t.
“I went to a friend’s house, a retired veteran, I got a gun from him with bullets, and the next day I was trying to figure out when and where to do it.”
Col. Charles Durr, the brigade commander, sensed that Rhodes was having problems and pulled him aside.
“He spent the day with me, and he recognized I was having issues; he didn’t know I was considering suicide,” Rhodes said. “It was just a very positive day. He told me I was doing a good job. When somebody says something positive to you and reinforces you’re doing good things, it makes it seem better.”
Slowly, painfully, Rhodes found his way back.
He met Cathy, a friendly Army IT specialist who made him feel new. They married in a small, spur-of-the-moment ceremony in Fort Benning’s chapel, then dashed off for a whirlwind honeymoon in Las Vegas.
It was willfully impulsive, and it was the closest thing to normal he’d felt in a long time.
He also rediscovered a love of horses and found catharsis in stoking their smooth coats and silently unburdening all his troubles on his quiet, gentle companions.
Rhodes also came to realize that his father, William Rhodes, a highly decorated World War II veteran who’d saved the life of future Georgia governor Marvin Griffin in combat, also suffered from PTSD and drank to deal with his demons.
Fearing a generational curse, Rhodes told his son, who’s currently serving in Iraq, about his own and his grandfather’s problems, and he prays that the military’s changing attitude about mental health might help spare Sam his father’s and grandfather’s fate.
He decided that he might be able to help others, too. So one day, following a presentation on suicide prevention in the Army, Rhodes went up to the facilitator and said, “I think I can help.”
He has. Rhodes receives hundreds of e-mails every week from soldiers who pour out their hearts with secrets they don’t feel they can tell their spouses or their commanding officers. He encourages them to get help, and every once in a while they do.
“The other week, we were at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and we were walking into the building, an old theater, this E-7 (Sergeant 1st Class) was sitting there with his sunglasses. (Rhodes) said hi to him ’cause the guy looked disturbed,” Cathy Rhodes said. “People came up after the presentation. This one soldier came up to him and had taken off his sunglasses, and he said, ‘Sergeant Major, I want to thank you.’ That really touched my heart.”
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(c) 2010, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau on the World Wide Web at www.mcclatchydc.com.
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GRAPHIC (from MCT Graphics, 202-383-6064): 20100129 Army SUICIDES
ARCHIVE GRAPHIC on MCT Direct (from MCT Graphics, 202-383-6064): 20100119 Military suicides
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I have been writing of my own battle with PTSD since 2004 on Daily Kos, at IAVA and on this blog, until upper level NCOs and Officers, (the leaders) admit to the mental health aspects of war, to many low level officers and NCOs and enlisted personnel will continue to treat it as a stigma that is to be avoided at all costs.
There is nothing wrong with a normal reaction to an abnormal situation (war) people sent to kill and then see the after math of IEDs, bombs, booby traps, collateral damage among friendly civilians, and then to see men and women they trained with, treated as brothers and sisters and cared as much for them as they did their own blood relatives if not more, then PTSD will exist, and regardless of how many times some shrinks and politicians tell them to "just get over it" theycan't and they won't, they need mental health care and to be taught coping mechanisms to lessen the symptoms of thePTSD they deal with, I firmly believe the earlier treatment is sought the less severe the long term affects will be, waiting 3-4 decades like the Vietnam veterans and in some cases Korean war and WW2 veterans waiting 50-60 years before walking into the VA and saying I need help other than medicate these elderly veterans there is not much "coping" that can be taught to them, now it is just how best to keep the "demons at bay".
Monday, January 25, 2010
Legislation would create burn pit registry
Legislation would create burn pit registry
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 01/21/2010 02:59:07 PM MST
Military members concerned that exposure to toxic open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan may have caused long-term health problems can face a significant obstacle if they try to prove their ailments are connected to their service.
The U.S. military has not compiled a complete history of its burn pit use; nor does it have a way to account for where many of the 2 million members were exposed to pits while serving at war between 2001 and 2009.
New legislation introduced this week by Rep. Tim Bishop would change that. The New York Democrat is asking Congress to sponsor an official registry documenting the tens of thousands of troops exposed to the pits, where the military has discarded of much of its combat trash including chemicals, plastics, vehicle parts and medical waste.
"I will continue to fight to bring an end to these reckless policies which endanger our troops and to ensure that our veterans receive the medical care they need," Bishop said.
His bill would also fund the construction of a complete history of the scores of burn pits used in Iraq and Afghanistan and order annual reports to Congress on burn pit-related sicknesses.
Among those who believe they have been sickened by exposure to the pits is Utah National Guard soldier Casey Malmborg, who has had trouble breathing since returning from him 2007 deployment to Iraq.
"I went on the deployment as a healthy 19-year-old," Malmborg said last month. "Now I'm stuck
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with asthma for the rest of my life."
At www.burnpits.org, an informal gathering place established by Bishop's office last year, veterans have shared stories of cancer, blood disease, skin problems and leukemia -- all of which they believe to be connected to exposure to the pits.
But former Hill Air Force Base environmental health officer Darrin Curtis -- who warned of chronic health problems related to the pits during his 2006 tour of duty in Iraq -- says that it could be decades before epidemiological studies tie symptoms and diseases to a cause.
But lead cosponsor Rep. Carol Shea-Porter believes Congress can act now. "The toxins emitted from burn pits can cause serious and chronic health problems," the New Hampshire Democrat said. "Our troops shouldn't have to worry about becoming ill from toxic air produced on their own bases."
For several years, military health officials denied that exposure to the pits was causing long-term damage to U.S. troops. That changed last month when the military's senior official for health protection acknowledged to The Salt Lake Tribune that it was "likely" that exposure contributed to chronic illnesses for some service members.
The military has replaced dozens of pits with cleaner-burning incinerators, but dozens of others remain in use throughout the warfronts.
mlaplante@sltrib.com
http://blogs.sltrib.com/military
Thousands of vets could get benefits upgrade
Thousands of vets could get benefits upgrade
By KIMBERLY HEFLING,
Associated Press Writer
Mon Jan 25, 7:11 am ET
WASHINGTON – The military has agreed to expedite a review the records of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans discharged with post-traumatic stress disorder to determine whether they were improperly denied benefits.
The agreement stems from a judge's order in a class action lawsuit originally filed by seven combat veterans who alleged the military illegally denied benefits to those discharged because of the disorder during a six-year period that ended Oct. 14, 2008.
Legal notices are currently being mailed to about 4,300 veterans informing them that they can "opt-in" to the lawsuit until July 24 to participate in the expedited review. Attorneys for the veterans estimate that millions could be paid to veterans under the agreement, with some veterans receiving hundreds or more dollars in increased monthly benefits.
The National Veterans Legal Services Program was to discuss the suit at a press conference Monday.
Former Army Sgt. Juan Perez, 36, of Owosso, Mich., said the resolution of the suit filed in 2008 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims was a relief. Perez, a father of five who did two tours in Iraq, said he struggles with migraine headaches and an eye injury related to a head injury sustained in Baghdad. He also has nightmares and takes medication for his mood related to PTSD.
Since he left the military, he said he and his wife were laid off from their jobs and declared bankruptcy, in part because of medical bills from the birth of his two youngest kids.
"I'm glad that they are finally moving forward and reevaluating the soldiers that need to be reevaluated and doing the right thing," Perez said. "It's been kind of a struggle not only for myself but a lot of individuals that didn't get what they were supposed to get in the first place."
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop after a terrifying event where the person was physically harmed or felt threatened. Symptoms range from flashbacks to problem drinking.
The lawsuit addresses the issue of the disability rating given by the military to veterans discharged with PTSD. Each of the seven plaintiffs was given a rating of 10 percent or less.
The law requires the military to assign a disability rating of at least 50 percent to those discharged for PTSD, said Bart Stichman, co-executive director the National Veterans Legal Services Program, a nonprofit organization that represents the veterans. Since October 2008, the military has given the 50 percent rating to those discharged with PTSD, Stichman said.
The higher rating ensures that the veteran receives lifelong monthly disability payments, free health care for the veteran and the veteran's spouse, as well as health care for the veteran's minor children.
If a veteran qualifies for a higher disability rating, they may receive back pay as well as reimbursement for health care expenses.
To help the affected veterans, the National Veterans Legal Services Program and Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP law firm have coordinated about 100 volunteer lawyers to offer free counseling.
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On the Net:
Information on lawsuit: http://www.ptsdlawsuit.com/
National Veterans Legal Services Program: http://www.nvlsp.org/
PTSD Information Center: http://ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/information/
