U.S. Nerve Gas Hit Our Own Troops in Iraq

During and immediately after the first Gulf War, more than 200,000 of 700,000 U.S. troops sent to Iraq and Kuwait in January 1991 were exposed to nerve gas and other chemical agents. Though aware of this, the Department of Defense and CIA launched a campaign of lies and concocted a cover-up that continues today.

 

 

A quarter of a century later, the troops nearest the explosions are dying of brain cancer at two to three times the rate of those who were farther away. Others have lung cancer or debilitating chronic diseases, and pain. More complications lie ahead.

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http://www.newsweek.com/how-us-nerve-gassed-its-own-troops-then-covered-it-317250#.VRbaJzEoH5U.mailto

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Why homecoming can be particularly hard for female veterans -VIDEO

In the return to civilian life, many women find that veteran services fall short of their needs. Unemployment rates for female veterans are higher than for other women, as well as for male veterans. Female veterans are at least twice as likely to be homeless than women who haven’t worn a uniform. Special correspondent Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reports on the challenges they face.

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http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/homecoming-can-particularly-hard-female-veterans/

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The Lies Still Killing Gulf War Vets

During and immediately after the first gulf War, more than 200,000 of 700,000 U.S. troops sent to Iraq and Kuwait in January 1991 were exposed to nerve gas and other chemical agents. Though aware of this, the Department of Defense and CIA launched a campaign of lies and concocted a cover-up that continues today.

A quarter of a century later, the troops nearest the explosions are dying of brain cancer at two to three times the rate of those who were further away. Others have lung cancer or debilitating chronic diseases, and pain.

More complications lie ahead. Sirens wailed daily, but officers in charge said the chemical-detection alarms were faulty. They were not.

According to Dr. Linda Chao, a neurologist at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco: “Because part of their brains, the hippocampus, has shrunk, they’re at greater risk for Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases.” At first, the DOD was adamant: No troops were exposed.

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http://washingtonspectator.org/the-lies-still-killing-gulf-war-vets/

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Former VA Chief Of Staff Linked To Gulf War Scandal

A new Newsweek report claims former VA chief of staff John Gingrich is linked to the initial Gulf War chemical weapons cover-up as an Army battalion commander in 1991.

The Newsweek report claims Gingrich not only knew of the side effects from US troops’ own demolition of chemical weapons, but that he also was ordered to cover it up by his superiors and did so.

Gingrich later went on to oversee one of the most scandal heavy periods at VA in modern history as chief of staff, a position the appears to be little more than a promotion for a job well done in the Gulf .

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http://www.disabledveterans.org/2015/03/30/former-va-chief-of-staff-linked-to-gulf-war-scandal/

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How PTSD Disrupts Relationships – Part 2 – 50 Ways PTSD Undermines Intimate Relationships

 

In How PTSD Disrupts Relationships – Part 1- The Relationship Foundation we looked at some ways PTSD may affect the foundation, the basement and floor, of a relationship. Now I want to look more at how PTSD affects the “relationship house” that two people build on the foundation. The relationship house consists of the day-to-day relating, activities, growth, intimacy and connection that the couple creates. This is the metaphorical house they will live in together so they are trying to make it into something positive, healthy and supportive in their lives. But sometimes, sadly, things go wrong. And things go wrong easily if one partner has PTSD.

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http://www.new-synapse.com/aps/wordpress/?p=741

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Pingree & Poliquin Co-Sponsor Bill To Help Survivors of Military Sexual Assault

 

Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Montana Senator Jon Tester re-introduced the Ruth Moore Act today, a bill that will make it easier for survivors of military sexual assault to get the benefits they deserve. Congressman Bruce Poliquin joined the effort as the lead Republican cosponsor in the House.

“The sexual assault of someone who has volunteered to serve and defend this country is a crime and shouldn’t be tolerated,” Pingree said. “But when it happens we have to do everything we can to make sure the survivor gets the benefits they deserve. To do that we need to change the way these claims are treated at the VA.”

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http://q961.com/pingree-poliquin-co-sponsor-bill-to-help-survivors-of-military-sexual-assault/

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Research Suggests Many Cases of Military Sexual Assault Are More Violent than Reported

 

While the estimated number of sexual assaults have dropped, the Military Times reports that the number of violent incidents reported were significantly higher than previously thought. This calls into question the veracity of the previous reporting methodology, but confirms that the U.S. Department of Defense is at least making an attempt to change its flawed culture and provide some type of transparency.

According to the Military Times, a recent survey of 170,000 service members found that “20,000 service members said they had experienced at least one incident of unwanted sexual contact in the past year, representing nearly 5 percent of all active-duty women and 1 percent of active-duty men.”

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http://ivn.us/2015/03/23/research-suggests-many-cases-military-sexual-assault-violent-reported/

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12 Things You May Not Know About Women in the Military

In honor of Women’s History Month, we gathered 12 pieces of trivia about the legacy of women in the U.S. military. See if you know them:

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http://blog.uso.org/2015/03/17/12-things-you-may-not-know-about-women-in-the-military/

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Services on track to open all military jobs to women

Pentagon officials say all four of the services are on track to open all military jobs to women by next year, and expect rules for those changes to be in place by this fall.

In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, defense officials said each of the services are reviewing the final male-only occupations within their ranks, to see what accommodations, if any, will need to be made in coming months.

Under current law, Pentagon officials have until the end of September to develop gender-neutral standards for all military occupations and until the end of December to finalize plans to allow women to compete for those jobs.

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http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/03/17/women-military-jobs-deadline/24912351/

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Troubled Iowa veteran sought help from VA hospital before freezing to death - CNN VIDEO

WATCH VIDEO:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/us/iowa-veteran-froze-to-death-ptsd-va/index.html

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Federal watchdog: DOD slow in addressing sexual assault of men

Although the Department of Defense has taken numerous steps to address sexual assaults of servicemembers in general, it still doesn’t have a clear plan for responding specifically to attacks on men, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday.

 

“DOD has taken steps to provide and improve the availability of medical and mental health care for all sexual assault victims, but DOD’s Health Affairs office has not systematically identified whether male victims have any gender-specific needs,” the report concluded.

Although the problem of sexual assault of female servicemembers has been in the spotlight for several years, sexual assault of their male counterparts has received less publicity — even though the incidents are quite common.

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http://www.stripes.com/news/federal-watchdog-dod-slow-in-addressing-sexual-assault-of-men-1.335600

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House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, VA, and Agencies Hearing Report

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the work of the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG). I will focus on the OIG's recent activities related to wait times within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) as well as other areas where we have identified the need for attention by VA and Congress. I am accompanied by John D. Daigh, Jr., M.D., CPA, Assistant Inspector General for Healthcare Inspections, Office of Healthcare Inspections, Office of Inspector General. 

The OIG provides oversight over all VA programs and operations including the delivery of health care services and operations, benefits administration, financial management, and information technology and security. The surfacing of allegations in fiscal year (FY) 2014 related to wait times and poor care at the Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS) was a watershed event for VA and the OIG.

Those allegations increased the scope of an ongoing healthcare inspection of the PVAHCS and generated a comprehensive audit effort to determine how the PVAHCS schedulers were managing appointments. We also launched investigations at 98 VA medical care facilities into allegations that scheduling was manipulated to make wait times for outpatient appointments appear to be shorter then the actual wait times experienced by veterans. The results of our investigative work for 44 of these sites have been referred to the VA Office of Accountability Review for whatever administrative action deemed appropriate by VA management. We have prioritized our investigative efforts to complete this work at the remaining 54 sites.

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http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2015/03/20/house-appropriations-subcommittee-on-military-construction-veterans-affairs-an-a-606611.html#.VQxXVZVFDIU

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REALITY CHECK: Men are victims of sexual violence too.

That is a hard pill to swallow for many people, and even laughable for some. But sexual crimes against men happen every single day. All types of men are affected, and cases occur in just about every place imaginable. 

 

Most statistics say about 10-20 percent of males in this country experience some form of sexual assault in their lifetime. However, numbers are probably much higher in reality. Men who experience sexual violence typically choose to never disclose their encounter, not even to close family members and friends. They often find themselves battling repercussions alone buried in secrecy and shame. 

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http://www.edugaytion.com/2015/01/reality-check-men-are-victims-of-sexual.html

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www.battlingthestormwithin.com
 
 

 

VA To Provide Online Benefits Help for Military Male Survivors Via MR. MST

Washington, DC – March, 16 2015 – On Monday, March 16, 2015, Undersecretary Hickey and her staff provided Men Recovering from Military Sexual Trauma (MR. MST) with online access to an MST Coordinator to answer questions and provide assistance with regard to MST issues and claims.
This assistance will be provided via MR. MST’s private, Facebook hosted male survivor forum.

In response to the Undersecretary’s decision to help, MR. MST President Brian Lewis released the following statement: “We are pleased that the Veterans Benefits Administration has taken a first step in reaching out to male survivors of military sexual trauma. Undersecretary Hickey, and her staff, have taken the first steps by this Administration to treat male survivors of sexual crimes as victims needing assistance.”

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http://mrmst.org/

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This Jarring Photo Series Captures What PTSD Really Looks Like

 

A recent study showed that roughly 22 U.S. veterans commit suicide every day — about one every 65 minutes. Photographer Devin Mitchell shared his photo series on the subject exclusively with BuzzFeed News.

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http://www.buzzfeed.com/emaoconnor/this-is-what-a-veteran-looks-like?bffb&utm_term=4ldqpho#.diQgljVa5

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Why distinguishing a moral injury from PTSD is important

 

Even on the short overnight ops, sometimes we talked about things we knew we'd carry home. On a cold night in March 2010, Jeff brought up the kid he'd shot a month earlier, when the battle for the Afghan city of Marjah was hot and there was no shortage of 15-year-olds picking up Kalashnikovs off the ground. Jeff had killed one of them with four shots from a heavy-caliber semi-auto that made a soft thud when the bolt released. The kid had a rifle, and even kids with rifles can kill Marines, Jeff had figured.

A few weeks later, we were on the side of the road watching for Taliban fighters digging bombs into the ground, and Jeff was telling me about it. He described the way the kid fell and how he wasn't sure he'd done the right thing.

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http://www.stripes.com/opinion/why-distinguishing-a-moral-injury-from-ptsd-is-important-1.333520

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Tackling her toughest battle yet: A 'broken' VA system

COLORADO SPRINGS — Driving along the winding roads of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Allison Hickey looks out at the snowy forested mountains of the campus, a place she first came to by bus as a teenager almost 40 years ago, and admits it still haunts her.Hickey, 57, now a retired brigadier general and one of the highest-ranking women at the Department of Veterans Affairs, was in the first class of female cadets to graduate in 1980.

They endured frequent threats from male classmates, she recalled. She was once cornered by a male cadet yelling: "If I could take you behind a barn right now and beat the you-know-what out of you, I would."Her time at the academy made her "very uncomfortable." It was a feeling that would stick throughout her trailblazing career, bedeviling her but making her stronger, a leader.

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http://readingeagle.com/article/20150316/AP/303169882

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It's not over: Veterans waiting months for appointments -VIDEO

Los Angeles (CNN)Thousands of veterans who are patients at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System have been waiting months just for an appointment, CNN has learned.

CNN Investigations

 

What's more, administrators in charge of the massive VA facility in greater Los Angeles may have been hiding wait times, and may have misled Congress on the delays and exactly how long veterans are being forced to wait for care, according to new information obtained by CNN.

 

This revelation means that the scandal over delays in care and wait times for veterans, which embroiled the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last year and even led to the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, is apparently not over. And the changes promised by the VA and the Obama administration may not be working.

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http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/13/us/va-investigation-los-angeles/

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Lawmakers want IG to probe VA's women's health policies

 

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is asking for an investigation into the Veterans Affairs Department's outreach efforts to female veterans, calling the issue critical to the future of the agency.
The letter, sent Thursday by 11 members of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, asks VA's Inspector General's office to look into privacy policies, facility access and gynecological services available throughout the Veterans Health Administration.

"Female veterans are the fastest growing population served by [VA]," the letter states. "Women currently comprise about 10 percent of the population of the VA, but are about 20 percent of the active-duty components. It is critical that [VA staff] are prepared to serve the unique needs of female veterans."

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http://www.militarytimes.com/story/veterans/2015/03/12/female-vets-va-investigation/70212614/

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VA Finds PTSD Manifests Differently In Women Than Men

With women now serving on the front lines like never before in our nation’s history, the military faces the new challenge of understanding the toll combat takes on the female psyche.
 

Significant research has been done on the emotional impact of combat on the soldier. The blockbuster film American Sniper did much to raise public awareness of the toll combat can take on soldiers and those they love. In the film, Chris Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper, manifests some of the common symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

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http://www.westernjournalism.com/va-finds-ptsd-manifests-differently-women-men/#6xqTieW1wcXlxcAZ.99

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http://www.westernjournalism.com/va-finds-ptsd-manifests-differently-women-men/#Y6OwzpJwLZ1X8olX.97

VA Manager mocks veteran suicides in email - #22toomany

March 09–A manager at the Roudebush Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis appears to mock the mental health problems of returning combat veterans in an email to her employees.

The email obtained by The Indianapolis Star contains photographs of a toy Christmas elf posing as a patient in what appears to be the hospital’s transitional clinic for returning veterans. In one photograph, the elf pleads for Xanax. In another, he hangs himself with an electrical cord.

The woman who sent the email is Robin Paul, a licensed social worker who manages the hospital’s Seamless Transition Integrated Care Clinic. The clinic provides returning veterans with transition assistance, including mental health and readjustment services.

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http://popularmilitary.com/va-manager-mocks-veteran-suicides-in-email/

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Sgt. Shannon Honored as Hero of the Game by Applebee's - 2/17/15 - U of M vs State Game

First Lady Michelle Obama's letter of honor to Author Sgt. Shannon "Battling the Storm Within"

Detailed study confirms high suicide rate among recent veterans

                   

Recent veterans have committed suicide at a much higher rate than people who never served in the military, according to a new analysis that provides the most thorough accounting so far of the problem.

The rate was slightly higher among veterans who never deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq, suggesting that the causes extend beyond the trauma of war.

"People's natural instinct is to explain military suicide by the war-is-hell theory of the world," said Michael Schoenbaum, an epidemiologist and military suicide expert at the National Institute of Mental Health who was not involved in the study. "But it's more complicated."

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http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-veteran-suicide-20150115-story.html

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Why homecoming can be particularly hard for female veterans - WATCH VIDEO

In the return to civilian life, many women find that veteran services fall short of their needs. Unemployment rates for female veterans are higher than for other women, as well as for male veterans. Female veterans are at least twice as likely to be homeless than women who haven’t worn a uniform. Special correspondent Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reports on the challenges they face.

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http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/homecoming-can-particularly-hard-female-veterans/

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www.battlingthestormwithin.com

Air Force veteran’s suicide sheds light on female soldiers and PTSD

It’s a chilling statistic: Twenty-two United States veterans commit suicide a day, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The latest victim: Thirty-year-old Air Force Reserve Capt. Jamie Brunette. Brunette, the youngest of five children from Milwaukee, had served two tours of duty in Afghanistan during her 11-year Air Force career. On Feb. 9, police in Tampa, Fla., found her dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Yahoo News’ Bianna Golodryga sat down with two of Brunette’s friends at a gathering this week to honor Brunette’s memory and raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder, something Brunette’s friends say was hard for her to talk about.

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http://yahoonewsdigest-us.tumblr.com/post/112817028049/air-force-veterans-suicide-sheds-light-on-female

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Kirsten Gillibrand: Taking On Military Sexual Assault, One Bill at a Time

“We should all be able to agree our brave men and women in uniform deserve blind justice,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), on the hot-button issue of sexual assault in the military.
The Senator, who has been in office since 2009—following former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s appointment to the Obama Administration and subsequent vacancy in the New York Senate—has been making a name for herself in politics ever since her election to the House of Representatives in 2006.

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http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/03/04/kirsten-gillibrand-taking-on-military-sexual-assault-one-bill-at-a-time/

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Reporting Sexual Abuse in the Military Is "Inherently Unfair." Here's Why.

Some progress has been made, but the chain of command creates big problems.

 

A junior officer at the Air Force Academy reads a speech to cadets about US troops recently killed in action and urging students and coaches to stand up to fight sexual assault on campus. Brennan Linsley/AP

 

Around two and a half years ago, a well-publicized sexual-assault scandal rocked the Air Force's basic training program in San Antonio. Nearly 70 people came forward to accuse more than 30 training instructors of offenses including unwanted touching, inappropriate relationships, and rape. General Mark Welsh, the Air Force chief of staff, described sexual assault as a "cancer" infecting the culture of the base.

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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/03/military-sexual-assault-reporting-chain-of-command

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