Battling the Storm Within Blog

As the Author of the #1 Amazon National-International Best Seller War Memoir “Battling the Storm Within” about living 20 years undiagnosed with PTSD, MST and the GWI. My mission is to empower others to address their own personal traumas, be healed, restored and live again. I believe in telling the truth, living the truth and being the truth. I will share the truth for it sets you free. I have battled my storm that was within me and won, so can you! Peace and blessings Sgt. Stephanie J. Shannon

Friday, December 22, 2017

VA Make the Connection Video - Sgt Stephanie Shannon - Video

“If you’re brave enough to serve, you’re brave enough to heal.”
That’s Stephanie’s message to her fellow #Veterans. You can find support and move forward like she did.

Read more...
https://maketheconnection.net/stories/693

VA specialty clinic opens in Ann Arbor

Opened late last month, the 10,000-square-foot Green Road Outpatient Clinic, 2500 Green Road, is managed by the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. The VA Ann Arbor operates several major outpatient community clinics, including ones in Flint, Toledo and Jackson.

Read more...
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20171221/news/648311/va-specialty-clinic-opens-in-ann-arbor

Veterans face health care crisis Jan. 2 as key program is set to lose funding

Funding for the Veterans Choice Program could run out as early as Jan. 2, 2018, and as late as Jan. 16, 2018, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) notice.

Read more...
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2017/12/veterans-face-health-care-crisis-jan-2-as-key-program-is-set-to-lose-funding/?utm_source=dvf&utm_campaign=alt&utm_medium=facebook

Program Seeks To Serve Female Veterans Who Feel Uncomfortable At The VA

Clinical psychologist Miatta Snetter (right) speaks to Marine Corps veteran Sherry Pope at the Fullerton College Veterans Resource Center. Snetter says woman sometimes feel uncomfortable around male veterans at the VA.

A new program in Los Angeles is trying to provide female veterans with health care outside the VA, which some consider a male dominated environment.

Libby Denkmann reports on a new effort to provide services to female veterans

Read more...
http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/program-seeks-serve-female-veterans-who-feel-uncomfortable-va-0

VA Rolls Out New Medical Marijuana Policy For Vets

There has always been some disconnect between veterans and medical marijuana.
Although there has been plenty of evidence to suggest cannabis would be beneficial to veterans for a wide array of ailments, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been reluctant to allow their doctors to formally recommend it as a treatment option. However, as the VA rolls out a new medical marijuana policy tor vets, it appears doctors are now permitted to at least discuss potential use with their patients.

Read more...
https://hightimes.com/news/va-new-medical-marijuana-policy-vets/

Proposed bill would provide child care for veterans receiving mental health care

Legislation pending in Congress would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide short term child care for veterans receiving mental health care at its medical facilities.

The bill, the Veterans Access to Child Care Act, passed the House but is awaiting action in the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Read more...
http://www.theday.com/article/20171217/NWS09/171219473

Veterans groups sue the military for sexual assault records

Two veterans groups have filed a lawsuit against the Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security, alleging that the government is illegally denying records requests involving sexual assault and harassment cases.

The two veterans advocate groups — Protect Our Defenders and the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center — filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court Wednesday.

Gulf War Syndrome: US Veterans Suffering from Multiple Debilitating Symptoms

After their service in the Gulf War conflict from 1990-1991, hundreds of thousands of our country’s veterans began suffering from multiple and diverse debilitating symptoms including neurological and respiratory disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, psychological problems, skin conditions and gastrointestinal issues

Read more...
https://www.globalresearch.ca/gulf-war-syndrome-us-veterans-suffering-from-multiple-debilitating-symptoms/5508825/amp

Toxic Command: US Army Ignores Nurse’s Yearlong Pleas for Help; 1LT Survives Attempted Murder by Deranged Civilian

At approximately 5:10 p.m. on September 7, 2016, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (NP) at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, heard screaming from an office adjacent to hers at Munson Army Health Center. The civilian NP ran into the hallway and found 26-year-old 1LT Katie Ann Blanchard, an active duty Registered Nurse (RN) and mother of three, on fire from the waist up. (Details of the attack from the FBI Criminal Complaint, dated 8SEP16 can be found here.)

Read more...
https://www.armywtfmoments.com/2017/08/toxic-command-us-army-ignores-nurses-yearlong-pleas-help/

Why Military Women Are Missing from the #MeToo Moment

For military women, before #MeToo there was #NotInvisible, our attempt to draw attention to the epidemic of sexual assault in the military which continues to be largely ignored by the American public. Now as the #MeToo reckoning sweeps other industries, from Hollywood to politics, America is once again leaving service women behind

Read more...
http://time.com/5060570/military-women-sexual-assault/

False reports outpace sex assaults in the military

False complaints of sexual abuse in the military are rising at a faster rate than overall reports of sexual assault, a trend that could harm combat readiness, analysts say.

Virtually all media attention on a Pentagon report last week focused on an increase in service members’ claims of sexual abuse in an anonymous survey, but unmentioned were statistics showing that a significant percentage of such actually investigated cases were baseless.

Read more...
https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/12/false-reports-outpace-sex-assaults-in-the-military/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

VA: More alternative therapy options available to fight PTSD

WASHINGTON — Pressurized oxygen chambers, light-emitting helmets and neck injections are all treatments the Department of Veterans Affairs is using to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Following an announcement last week that the VA would offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy to some veterans with PTSD, the agency said Thursday that the move is part of an effort to explore alternatives to the traditional therapies for PTSD and TBI, VA Secretary David Shulkin said in a statement.

3 Ways PTSD Has Made My Life Difficult

My post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) requires so much energy and planning to manage on a daily basis. But who am I kidding? It’s often hourly and sometimes minute by minute. For me, it’s basically a full-time job with no benefits, lousy hours and no overtime pay — but plenty of overtime, and an asshole for a boss.

Read more...
https://themighty.com/2017/06/ptsd-ways-life-is-difficult/

Military toxins are becoming more harmful to our veterans

Imagine surviving two deployments in Iraq, constantly dodging bombs and enemy gunfire, only to realize that the air you were once thankful to be able to breathe was making you sick. This is what happened to Sergeant Major Rob Bowman, who passed away from cholangiocarcinoma, a rare form of bile duct cancer, at the age of 44.

Unfortunately, as many military families know all too well, Sergeant Major Bowman’s situation is not unique. “Of the 30 men in Rob’s platoon who returned home, nearly one-third of them developed uncommon cancers and medical conditions,” said Coleen Bowman, Rob’s surviving spouse, “and the first doctor we saw confirmed immediately that the cause of Rob’s cancer was environmental, not genetic.”

Read more...
http://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/363903-military-toxins-are-becoming-more-harmful-to-our-veterans

Pentagon prepares to accept transgender recruits beginning in January, as Trump’s ban hangs in the balance

The U.S. military is preparing to accept transgender recruits for the first time beginning in January, the Pentagon said Wednesday, the latest signal that President Trump’s desired ban may not materialize after all.

Officials are “taking steps to be prepared” to bring in the first transgender recruits on Jan. 1, as required by a federal court order issued recently, said Army Maj. David Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman. He declined to comment further, citing open litigation, but said that the Defense Department and Justice Department are consulting on the issue.

The Navy and Army fail to report violent offenders at rates higher than the Air Force and Marine Corps

From left: Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer, and Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, during a Senate Armed Services committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 19, 2017.

WASHINGTON - A Defense Department review released Tuesday found significant failures throughout the military to report violent offenders to federal law enforcement, a breakdown that allowed Air Force veteran Devin Kelley to purchase the firearms he used to commit a massacre in Texas last month.

Yet while the focus in that case has been the Air Force’s failure to submit Kelley’s criminal history to the FBI’s background-check database, the other military services mostly performed far worse.

Read more...
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2017/12/05/The-Navy-and-Army-fail-to-report-violent-offenders-at-rates-higher-than-the-Air-Force-and-Marine-Corps/stories/201712050271

Trump ends homeless vets program as their numbers rise for first time in 7 years

Donald Trump, from the outset, cast himself as a champion of veterans, and promised that he would improve veterans care as president.
But the toxic right-wing ideology of Trump and his administration has nonetheless seeped into the way they take care of and prioritize veterans.
According to Politico, a popular program to house homeless veterans is on the chopping block — and at the worst possible moment:

Read more...
https://shareblue.com/trump-ends-homeless-vets-program-as-their-numbers-rise-for-first-time-in-7-years/

Gulf War Compensation

Southwest Asia theatre of military operations: Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, U.A.E., Oman, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea

Gulf War

Veterans discharged under conditions other than dishonorable who served in the Southwest Asia theater of military operations, which includes the areas specified by regulation, but not Afghanistan, may be entitled to disability compensation for certain undiagnosed illnesses, certain diagnosable chronic disability patterns, and certain presumptive diseases ( as described below) even though these disorders did not become manifest during qualifying service. Veterans who served in Afghanistan on or after September 19, 2001, may be entitled to disability compensation for certain presumptive diseases.

Read more...
https://www.benefits.va.gov/COMPENSATION/claims-postservice-gulfwar.asp

VA reverses plan to cut homeless veteran housing program after outrage

The Department of Veterans Affairs has reversed course on a plan to essentially end a $460 million program that helps provide housing to homeless veterans after facing blowback when news of the decision broke.

VA Secretary David Shulkin said in a statement that “there will be absolutely no change in the funding to support our homeless programs,” and the department “will not be shifting any homeless program money to the Choice program,” which allows veterans to seek health care at facilities outside the VA

Read more...
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/363803-va-reverses-decision-to-cut-homeless-veteran-housing-program-after#.WinEDNzwKmo.facebook

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Base Rates: U.S. Military Bases by Rates of Sexual Assault Reports Filed

The Friday before Thanksgiving, the Pentagon quietly and for the first time released raw figures on the number of reports of sexual assault across all U.S. military installations at home and abroad, by base. The release of this data generated a certain momentary buzz in headlines across the U.S., but failed to provide context in terms of rates by population.

Large bases with greater numbers of personnel could be expected to generate larger numbers of reports; but without a sense of rate by population size of the base it continues to be impossible to compare bases with one another. But never fear, not-so-gentle Internet. Those missing context-providing rates can be generated from verified population figures, and we’ve done that work.

Read more...
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/base-rates-us-military-bases-by-rates-of-sexual_us_5a25bd58e4b0b1dc3502ab10

How Desert Storm Destroyed the US Military

The US military that won Desert Storm or Gulf War I in 1991 was a spectacular military, a gargantuan industrial age military with high tech weaponry and well trained personnel, that when called upon, achieved victory with the speed of Patton and the elan of Teddy Roosevelt.

Overlooking the vast eight mile carnage on the Highway of Death in Kuwait, destruction that was caused by a US Air Force and Navy that bore almost no resemblance to the two services now, a sergeant in the 7^th US Cavalry remarked, “America sure got its money’s worth from those Joes.”

Read more...
http://usdefensewatch.com/2017/04/how-desert-storm-destroyed-the-us-military/

USA TODAY Investigation: VA knowingly hires doctors with past malpractice claims, discipline for poor care

Neurosurgeon John Henry Schneider racked up more than a dozen malpractice claims and settlements in two states, including cases alleging he made surgical mistakes that left patients maimed, paralyzed or dead.

Read more...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/12/03/usa-today-investigation-va-knowingly-hires-doctors-past-malpractice-claims-discipline-poor-care/909170001/

US Dept. VA - Make the Connection Video - Sexually assaulted Woman Vet - Healing Story

While serving in the Army, Stephanie was sexually assaulted. She carried her pain home with her and had trouble finding emotional, financial, and familial support. After finding the courage to reach out to VA and open up to treatment, she uncovered the tools to empower herself and her son.

Watch VIDEO more...
https://maketheconnection.net/stories/693

VA too 'male-centric,' female vets tell legislators

GARFIELD — Not enough doctors focused on their needs. Poor access to mammograms. A hospital that feels more like a strip club than a medical center.

These were just some of the concerns shared by female veterans Friday, when they spoke at a round table hosted by Rep. Bill Pascrell and Sen. Cory Booker, both Democrats, at Garfield VFW Post 2867.

For suicidal veterans, loneliness is the deadliest enemy

A photo of a soldier's boots in front of the American flag.

About 20 veterans commit suicide every day. The primary enemy most veterans face after service is not war-related trauma but loneliness, according to a new study by researchers at Yale and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The study, scheduled to be published Oct. 1 in the journal World Psychiatry, followed 2,000 veterans over a period of four years to help explain why studies have shown that vets are more than twice as likely to kill themselves as their civilian counterparts. At enrollment, the participants never had suicidal thoughts and were representative of U.S. military veterans as a whole: They were predominantly older, with an average age of 62, and two-thirds had never seen combat.

Read more...

https://news.yale.edu/2017/09/28/suicidal-veterans-loneliness-deadliest-enemy

Gillibrand Reintroduces Military Justice Improvement Act

There were an estimated 15,000 sexual assaults in the U.S. military last year.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has reintroduced her Military Justice Improvement Act that would put military sex assault prosecutions in the hands of trained prosecutors. She spoke on CBS This Morning.

Read more...
http://www.wwnytv.com/story/36864074/gillibrand-reintroduces-military-justice-improvement-act

Over 70,000 military sexual assaults took place last year -- Congress must take action

Congress should act swiftly to approve long overdue legislation introduced Thursday to strengthen the prosecution of sexual assault in the military.

The Defense Department estimates that about 8,600 women and 6,300 men were sexually assaulted in our armed forces last year. Most victims were attacked more than once, resulting in over 70,000 sexual assaults in 2016 alone.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Preserving the past: 9 tips on obtaining missing military records (and awards) for you or a loved one

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, it’s expected that about a half-million will be alive at the end of 2017.

Many veterans of this and other conflicts will take with them stories of service that can’t be replaced. Some will have earned commendations they mentioned only in passing, or ignored out of modesty, or locked away alongside painful memories.

Vet set himself on fire after long VA waits, appointment cancellation, investigation finds

WASHINGTON — A veteran committed suicide by setting himself on fire in front of a New Jersey VA clinic after staff at the clinic repeatedly failed to ensure he received adequate mental health care, an investigation of the death found.

Department of Veterans Affairs staff canceled an appointment Charles Ingram had in fall 2015 because a provider was unavailable, didn’t follow up to reschedule, and when he walked into the clinic to ask for an appointment, they didn’t schedule it until three months later, the VA inspector general found.

Army To Provide Medical Care For Thousands Of Veterans Who Were Test Subjects

Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET Wednesday
After thousands of U.S. veterans won a class action suit against the military over being used in chemical and biological testing, the Army says it will pay for their medical care. But the group's attorneys say the service is falling short of meeting its obligations and that it's withholding details veterans are seeking about what agents they were exposed to.

The Army says veterans can be treated for any injuries or diseases caused after the service used the soldiers as research subjects in the period from 1942 to 1975.

Read more...
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/14/563095946/army-to-provide-medical-care-for-thousands-of-veterans-who-were-test-subjects

Veteran says women's military service deserves more recognition

In recent years, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has been taken a lot more seriously. But, the general public is often not aware of the struggles returning veterans have with the disorder.

Stephanie Shannon is a veteran of Desert Storm and Desert Shield operations during the first Gulf War. She’s the founder and CEO of Michigan Women Veterans Empowerment and she joined Stateside to talk about how women who fight for our country deserve more recognition for their service.

Read more...
http://michiganradio.org/post/veteran-says-womens-military-service-deserves-more-recognition

2017 Health of Women who have served findings

This report provides a national baseline and comparative portrait of the health of women who have served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces and those who have not. Findings highlight the positive health experiences as well as health challenges affecting women who have served. In particular, key findings from the most recent period, 2014-2015, indicate that as compared to women who have not served, those who have served have:

Significantly higher overall rates of mental illness including lifetime depression, any mental illness in the past year, and suicidal thoughts in the past year.
Better overall self-reported health status, yet significantly higher rates of chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease, COPD, cancer, and arthritis.
Significantly higher overall rates of health insurance coverage, access to primary care, and utilization of preventive services such as cancer screenings.
Significantly lower overall rates of physical inactivity and obesity, yet higher rates of insufficient sleep.

Army lifts ban on waivers for recruits with history of some mental health issues

WASHINGTON – People with a history of “self-mutilation,” bipolar disorder, depression and drug and alcohol abuse can now seek waivers to join the Army under an unannounced policy enacted in August, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY.

The decision to open Army recruiting to those with mental health conditions comes as the service faces the challenging goal of recruiting 80,000 new soldiers through September 2018. To meet last year's goal of 69,000, the Army accepted more recruits who fared poorly on aptitude tests, increased the number of waivers granted for marijuana use and offered hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses.

Patients with Gulf War Illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Show Distinct Molecular Changes After Exercise

A new study reveals distinct molecular mechanisms underlying two long-misunderstood brain disorders: chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and Gulf War Illness (GWI). These two illnesses, which were long thought to be psychological in nature, share significant commonalities such as pain, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and exhaustion after exercise.

Read more...
https://psychcentral.com/news/2017/11/12/patients-with-gulf-war-illness-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-show-distinct-molecular-changes-after-exercise/128630.html

Studies Yield Clues to Roots of Gulf War Illness

Combat in the Gulf War of 1990-91 lasted less than two months, but it’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of the troops who served in the Middle East during that time may still experience symptoms of Gulf War Illness (GWI). Thought to be caused by exposure to chemical and biological weapons or other hazardous chemicals, GWI’s symptoms include difficulties with memory and speech, mood swings, and chronic pain.

Two studies presented at the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting on November 11 and 14 provide some clues to GWI’s biological basis. The first, described by Anika Patil of Drexel University College of Medicine, treated cultured rat neurons with a sarin gas analogue, and found it led to the deacetylation—and destabilization—of the cells’ microtubules, which are needed to transport mitochondria and other cellular components. Pretreating the cells with corticosterone to mimic the effects of stress exacerbated the effect. For deployed service members, “there is an ongoing stress from the moment you leave until the moment you return,” commented Col. Deborah Whitmer of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, who moderated a press conference about the findings.

Read more...
https://mobile.the-scientist.com/article/50930/studies-yield-clues-to-roots-of-gulf-war-illness

Time for America's military to face its own problem of sexual assault

While the Harvey Weinstein scandal has focused the attention of the public on sexual assault in the workplace, it is important to note that one highly regarded American institution, the U.S. military, has been struggling with the issue for more than 25 years.

Each time new scandals involving the services become public, the uniformed military leaders force some service members to retire early, promise to increase training and announce a zero tolerance policy. But what they and their supporters will not do is remove the cases from the chain of command, that is, place sexual assault accusations in the hands of military lawyers free of influence or impact by the commanders where sexual assault incidents are alleged to have occurred.

Read more...
http://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/358659-time-for-americas-military-to-face-its-own-problem-of-sexual-assault#.Wfz4jUO0e3g.facebook

Why More Veterans Should Run for Office

Are America’s best days behind us? And if so, what can we do about it?
For years, Americans have been losing faith in our institutions, and many are asking questions like this about our country’s future.

No national institution is suffering a crisis of trust more than Congress. Public confidence in Congress hovers slightly above 10%, down 30 points since 1986.

Read more...
http://time.com/5014163/veterans-run-for-office/

A new VA motto would signify commitment to culture change for women veterans

Every single day, one of the 2.2 million women veterans in our country walks into her local Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital. When she enters the building, she will likely be met with a sign on the door that reads: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and his widow and his orphan,” the motto of the VA. Perhaps she’ll even think twice about going in.

Read more...
http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/359513-a-new-va-motto-would-signify-commitment-to-culture-change-for-women

Brain chemistry study shows chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War illness as unique disorders

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have found distinct molecular signatures in two brain disorders long thought to be psychological in origin—chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and Gulf War Illness (GWI).

In addition, the work supports a previous observation by GUMC investigators of two variants of GWI. The disorders share commonalities, such as pain, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction and exhaustion after exercise.

Read more...
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-11-brain-chemistry-chronic-fatigue-syndrome.html

Five myths about female veterans

Veterans Day is an occasion to recall the service of our troops. But women’s stories have often been absent from those recollections. Works of fiction and nonfiction, memoirs (such as Mary Jennings Hegar’s), documentaries (including “The Invisible War”) and dramas (such as “Blood Stripe”) have helped show this side of the armed forces.

Still, myths about female veterans endure. Kayla Williams, who wrote a memoir about serving as an Army linguist in Iraq, remembers an infantryman who was “sure that women troops would be flown by helicopter to shower every three days.” Here are some of the most persistent misconceptions.

Read more...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-female-veterans/2017/11/10/31a6398a-c560-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html?utm_term=.ce2ed126a8b6

Veterans Day should serve as a reminder that the military is more diverse than perceived

Dwight Hanson, U.S. Marine Corps Ret., salutes as boy scout Sam Perkins carries out the national fla

On this Veterans Day, let’s take an opportunity to dispel a few misconceptions about veterans.
First off, veterans tend to look different than the “all-American hero” stereotype some people might imagine. Indeed, the military is in many ways as diverse as the rest of the nation.

A full 30% of the active military and selected reserve force identifies as black or Latino, which is about the same as the percentage nationwide.

Read more...
http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/opinion/tn-dpt-me-commentary-andrea-20171101-story.html

Leading health organization calls for ending school recruiting

In 2012 the American Public Health Association, (APHA), one of the country’s foremost health organizations and publisher of the influential American Journal of Public Health, adopted a policy statement calling for the cessation of military recruiting in public elementary and secondary schools.

APHA demands the elimination of the No Child Left Behind Act requirement that high schools both be open to military recruiters and turn over contact information on all students to recruiters and eliminating practices that encourage military recruiters to approach adolescents in US public high schools to enlist in the military services.1

Read more...
http://nnomy.org/index.php/en/resources/blog/pat-elder-series/item/734-recruiting-is-psy-ops-at-home.html

New PBS documentary explores the history, problems of the VA system - VIDEO

“Every morning when I wake up, a memory of what happened to me in Iraq lingers in my mind,” retired Marine Sgt. Carlos Villasenor recounts in a new PBS documentary. “They didn't really prepare us on how to feel or how to react coming home.”

And when Villasenor turned to the VA for help, the agency canceled a scheduled appointment with him and promised to call back soon to reschedule.

How to Stop Violence - Mentally ill people aren’t killers. Angry people are.

I n the 1980s, around the time of the massive deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, I was working toward my degree in clinical psychology by training at a psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C. One sweet, diminutive, elderly patient sometimes wandered the halls. She had been committed to the hospital after she stabbed someone in a supermarket. She was what is sometimes referred to as a revolving-door patient: She was schizophrenic and heard frightening voices in her head, and when she became psychotic enough, she would be hospitalized, stabilized on medication, and then released back to the community. There she would soon go off her medication, become psychotic, be rehospitalized, stabilized again on medication, released, etc.

Read more...
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/04/anger_causes_violence_treat_it_rather_than_mental_illness_to_stop_mass_murder.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_fb_top

New Erie Co. law cracks down on veteran impersonation

BUFFALO, N.Y. – New legislation in Erie County called the “Theft of Valor” law aims to crack down on and criminally prosecute people who impersonate veterans.

County Legislator Edward Rath proposed the Theft of Valor law and the proposal passed unanimously on Thursday. The legislature’s hope is that it will be signed by county executive Mark Poloncarz in time for Veterans Day, which is next Saturday, Nov. 11.

Read more...
http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/new-erie-co-law-cracks-down-on-veteran-impersonation/489192432

Local veterans share stories of depression, struggles with federal assistance- VIDEO

The VA just kept sending him more prescriptions through the mail," said Duncan. "He attempted suicide in January by taking all the pills. After that he was prescribed more medications that made him depressed."

On March 3, Duncan found her father's body inside his Brazos County home. The 67-year-old Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War used a handgun to take his own life.
Read more...

http://www.kbtx.com/content/news/Local-veterans-share-stories-of-depression-struggles-with-federal-assistance-455436363.html

Vigil focuses on women veterans

For Jennifer Dischler, it was her years in the Illinois National Guard that gave her a deep respect for military veterans — and her career as a social worker at Pleasant View in Ottawa.

Friday, Nov. 3, with rifle in hand, she will be showing that respect as the first of 96 veterans to take a 15-minute watch during the ninth annual 24-hour Veterans Honor Guard Vigil at the War Memorial in downtown Ottawa’s Washington Square.

The few, the proud, women marines define themselves.

It’s never been easy to be a woman in the Marine Corps, which is the most physically demanding branch of the military and the one with the smallest percentage of female service members: 7.6 percent. Disturbing revelations in March made it even tougher: Male members of the 30,000-strong Marines United Facebook group had been soliciting and posting explicit photos of current and former female Marines without their permission, often accompanied by violent and obscene comments.

Read more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2017/11/02/the-few-the-proud-women-marines-define-themselves/?utm_term=.b69382076c95

Her husband is killed in Afghanistan, then she opens his laptop and finds a file he had hidden from her

This happened a while ago, but it contains one of the most beautiful expressions of love I’ve every seen so I couldn’t help but share it again here.
Back in September 2010, U.S Army 1st Lt. Todd Weaver was serving in Afghanistan when he was killed by an explosive device.
His widow, Emma, was devasted, and his 9-month-old daughter, Kylie, would never know her loving daddy.
Todd’s body was flown back to the U.S. and he was given a hero’s funeral in Arlington National Cemetery.

Read more...
https://wavysauce.com/her-husband-is-killed-in-afghanistan-then-she-opens-his-laptop-and-finds-a-file-he-had-hidden-from-her/?utm_source=post&utm_medium=org&utm_campaign=rk

Iraq and Afghanistan vets call VA motto ‘sexist’

WASHINGTON — A group of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is demanding the Department of Veterans Affairs change its motto, which they argue is sexist, outdated and exclusionary.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, an organization with approximately 425,000 members, has advocated all year for expanded services for women veterans. The group renewed its efforts this week to challenge the VA’s motto by sending a letter to VA Secretary David Shulkin and appealing to lawmakers and other VA officials.