Editorial Column – Freedoms Lost Under G.W. Bush

Posted on May 14, 2007 by Team VCS

February 1, 2005–Supporters and apologists for President G.W. Bush will often assail my assertion that the Bush administration has done more to dismantle constitutional protections of our liberties than any president in modern memory. It seems that these people believe that until federal Storm Troopers knock down the doors of their homes and drag them off to the gulags, they have lost no freedoms. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If history is any teacher, it instructs us in the incremental process that elitists use to implement their totalitarian agenda. The first step is to use an incessant, highly orchestrated propaganda. For all practical purposes, the major media in the United States is providing that propaganda. At the national level, there is hardly any investigative journalism going on. Instead, the national press corps has become little more than lazy lackeys for the White House.

The second step is to lay the foundation for totalitarianism by passing legislation that may later be used against the citizenry. And that is exactly what the Bush administration has very successfully accomplished. It very adroitly succeeded where the Clinton administration failed.

For example, most conservatives would be surprised to learn that the Patriot Act and Department of Homeland Security was the brainchild of one William Jefferson Clinton. However, a recalcitrant Republican Congress denied Clinton the opportunity to implement these plans. Of course, with the Republican, G.W. Bush, serving as President, that same Republican Congress was all too eager to pass these bills into law.

Whether or not individual Americans have been personally subjected to tyranny as a result of lost freedoms doesn’t change the fact that they have already lost these freedoms.
 
The third step is to demonize and marginalize anyone and everyone who opposes the government’s plans and ambitions. Such opponents are characterized as “unpatriotic,” “obstructionist,” “uncompassionate,” or even “ungodly.” Once again, the Bush minions have very skillfully done just that. Anyone who dares to oppose or even question Bush must be regarded as enemies of America or even as enemies of God.

Of course, the last step is to begin using the power and force of government to physically silence or remove those who are determined to require such treatment. And, as Germany’s National Socialists proved, by the time this happens, there is no one around who is capable of coming to the assistance of such people.

For those who are willing to objectively analyze Bush’s actions and policies, the truth is clearly seen: this President has systematically put in place laws, policies, and bureaucracies that can, are, and will continue to strip the American citizenry of the constitutional protections of their liberties.

Following are examples of freedoms which President Bush and his fellow Republicans in Congress have already expunged (as reported by the Associated Press):

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigations.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records questions.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation.

RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.

FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES: Government may search and seize Americans’ papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.

RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.

RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.

That good citizens are compliant and unconcerned regarding G.W. Bush’s propensity to trample constitutional freedoms bespeaks a great ignorance or a great apathy, or both.
 
These rights have already been lost! Whether individual Americans have been personally subjected to the resultant tyranny or not doesn’t change the fact that they have already lost these freedoms! This fact, alone, should be enough for any studious lover-of-liberty to be outraged.

That good citizens are compliant and unconcerned regarding G.W. Bush’s propensity to trample constitutional freedoms bespeaks a great ignorance or a great apathy, or both.

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© 2005 Chuck Baldwin. This article was originally circulated at chuckbaldwinlive.com and is republished in the Chronicle with permission of the author. The author, a minister who holds two doctorates of divinity, hosts a radio program called “Chuck Baldwin Live,’ whose broadcast area includes the Florida Panhandle and Southern Alabama. The program is described on its website as “conservative, Christian, pro-life, pro-family, and patriotic. We support constitutional government and the Bill of Rights. We hold fast to the principles and values expressed by the Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence.” The author was the Constitution Party’s 2004 vice-presidential candidate on a ticket headed by Michael Peroutka of Millersville, Md., a graduate of Loyola College in Maryland and the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Chuck Baldwin may be reached at chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com, or visit his website at chuckbaldwinlive.com.

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Treating Psychological Trauma in Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans

Posted on May 14, 2007 by Team VCS

Psychologist explains problems combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan can face when they come home – and how they can get help

May 13, 2007 – Four years ago when President Bush declared major combat over in Iraq, the first troops began to come home to an insidiously invisible war: the psychological trauma caused by their combat experience.

In a study of soldiers returning home after that first year of war, one in eight was found to have post-traumatic stress disorder or some other mental disorder, according to a Walter Reed Army Institute of Research study reported last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Now, one in three veterans of the war in Iraq, and one in nine of the military operation in Afghanistan, face mental health problems, including depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Among other things, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing family problems, drug and alcohol abuse, untreated post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicide – all directly attributable to service in a war zone, according to Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantry officer who formed the powerful veterans’ group.

Long-term studies of Vietnam veterans show that almost one third have required psychological care. PTSD affects their families as well.

Back From the Front: Combat Trauma, Love and the Family, a new book by psychologist and therapist Aphrodite Matsakis, explains how the psychological trauma from combat can also hurt loved ones dealing with veterans’ emotional numbing, anger, guilt and sexual difficulties – and offers ways to get help.

Author of Vietnam Wives, Matsakis has spent more than 30 years counseling veterans and their families. Her latest book is published by Sidran Institute, a nonprofit organization in Baltimore that helps people understand and recover from traumatic stress, dissociative disorders and co-occuring problems such as addictions.

For many years, the Silver Spring resident worked for the Veterans Affairs medical center and readjustment counseling services. She continues to counsel veterans and their family members in her private practice.

What is the history of combat stress? How have we looked at it?

Sending people to war has always carried a price tag. Soldiers will have some kind of stress reaction that can change a person fundamentally. In World War I, soldiers who displayed symptoms of combat stress on the battlefield were often punished and some were executed as traitors. In World War II some were accused of being cowards and put on trial. There is a dialectic here. On the one hand, we see society saying they’re traitors and weaklings while the mental health profession says this is a normal consequence.

What did you find in your early work with the wives of Vietnam veterans?

Wives would speak of husbands who were not communicative. A vet might have a sudden eruption of fury that would lead to punching a hole in the wall, then leave home for hours or days because he did not want to hurt his family.

I heard about ambivalent intimacy: a veteran very much needing the wife or girlfriend and yet being afraid to be really close. …

[Post-traumatic stress] is all about being overstimulated and understimulated, about hyperarousal and numbing. No one wants to feel like a vegetable or to be so anxious you feel as if you’re going to lose your mind.

There may be some triggers that a particular veteran might never be able to handle, like a parade, because there are too many people. He or she can’t feel safe there because they can’t monitor the situation and be fully aware of what’s going on. That can happen in any place with a lot of uncontrolled movement that’s unpredictable.

How does the public treat the spouses of veterans suffering from PTSD?

I think that basically, they’re ignored. Women I’ve counseled have shared with me that, on the one hand, they’re treated like “heroic martyrs” for “standing by their man” through thick and thin, kind of like their patriotic duty. On the other hand, they may be blamed in part for their veteran’s problems: “If only you were loving enough, understanding enough, giving enough, he wouldn’t be having half the problems he’s having.”

Wives have been accused of being “codependent” or “loving too much” by family, friends and mental health professionals. Sometimes they are accused of as being “sick” themselves for staying with a troubled veteran. If a veteran came home missing his legs, it would be expected that the wife would loyally stay with him. Yet many combat reactions have a physiological or biological basis that’s just as much to do with the body as an amputation.

Why are some vets affected more by their experience than others?

Everyone’s experience in the military is different. The rates of mental distress have been found, thus far, to be related to the degree and severity of combat experience, the degree of physical deprivation and impairment (wounded vets have the highest rates), to age – younger vets are more affected than older ones. It may matter whether or not a person was traumatized before entering combat, whether or not he or she was exposed to atrocities or friendly fire, and the amount of emotional and financial support available upon return.

What are the most common difficulties that vets suffering from PTSD show?

Feeling separate and different from those who didn’t go to war. Bewilderment and shame at having PTSD symptoms, and hence, low self-esteem, especially when the expectation is that he or she will “adjust” in a ridiculously short period of time. Depression. Being on the lookout for danger. The “death taint:” fearing that those he or she loves may be harmed. Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares which interrupt one’s sleep or ability to concentrate. Survivor guilt. Irritability, anxiety and sadness when confronted with reminders of war experiences.

Can vets recover from this trauma?

In most people’s minds, that means returning to who you were before going to war. That would also mean that he or she does not think about their experience or have feelings about it. If that were true, then for every one of us to be “normal” we’d have to forget our own history.

I think we have to look at other definitions. Freud said mental health consisted of the ability to love, work and play. You can suffer from anxiety attacks, nightmares and other symptoms of combat trauma, but if you can still love, work and play – i.e. function – then you are recovered.

What are some of the issues that a vet’s family must confront and deal with?

A veteran’s numbing, depression and reactions to triggers. There’s the veteran’s needs for down time. Perhaps they will have to deal with problems with anger, alcohol or drugs. If the veteran has missed out on significant family events, he or she may feel like an outsider for a while. The family has to get to know each other again. There may be shifts in power; the responsibilities and power need to be shared.

Children have to get to know their parent again. They may have misinformation about his or her role in the war or about the nature of war. They may wonder if their parent harmed children. They may be proud of their parent’s military role but resentful of the fact they were away.

Do veterans with PTSD suffer from media stereotypes?

Yes. They are portrayed as walking time bombs, or as having five-hour flashbacks where they don’t know where they are or what they are doing . These sensational images make the news and make movies interesting but are hardly representative. These images are also unfair, overly simplistic and a great disservice to vets and to their families. In your book, you make the point that combat can also develop character in a positive way.

What are some of its potential benefits?

A greater appreciation of life and a greater desire to have close relationships with family and friends. There can be spiritual development as well. It may increase their ability to work in a team as well as discipline and loyalty. There’s the ability to sacrifice for a cause greater than self. Ability to handle change and uncertainty and ambiguity. Ability to handle crises.

How can we treat our returning soldiers better?

People need to learn about the full range of combat reactions (not just PTSD) and see them as a normal continuation of survival mechanisms from war. Calling vets “crazy” or “weaklings” or seeing them as “super machos” who can handle anything are also perceptions that have to go.

Only a true anti-social personality or true psychopath or a truly crazy person out of touch with reality could go through a war and not be changed by it in some way, not suffer some loss of innocence, not be anxious, angry or depressed about some aspect of his or her experience.

People need to learn not to press vets to talk and to allow them the space they need to process what happened without calling them “loners” or “anti-social.” They must respect the veterans’ emotional pain, whatever form it takes.

linell.smith@baltsun.com

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Christian VA Chaplain Tries to Convert Orthodox Jew Veteran

Posted on May 14, 2007 by Team VCS

U.S. Navy veteran David Miller said that when he checked into the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, he didn’t realize he would get a hard sell for Christian fundamentalism along with treatment for his kidney stones.

Miller, 46, an Orthodox Jew, said he was repeatedly proselytized by hospital chaplains and staff in attempts to convert him to Christianity during three hospitalizations over the past two years.

He said he went hungry each time because the hospital wouldn’t serve him kosher food, and the staff refused to contact his rabbi, who could have brought him something to eat.

Miller, an Iowa City resident and former petty officer third class who spent four years in the Navy, outlined his complaints at a news conference in Des Moines on Thursday. The event was sponsored by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an activist group based in Albuquerque, N.M.

He described the Iowa City facility as an institution permeated by government sponsorship of fundamentalist Christianity and unconstitutional discrimination against Jews.

Miller has been classified as 100 percent disabled because of chronic painful problems with kidney stones, and he has repeatedly visited the center as a patient and outpatient.

The hospital’s chaplains and staff, Miller said, have the attitude that you either accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior and you are saved, or you are damned.

He said he has tried to resolve the problems with the hospital’s administration without success.

“I am not trying to get rid of the chaplain corps,” Miller said. “When I was in the Navy, I was a religious program specialist. I worked with Christian chaplains, and I believe in the value of the chaplain corps, but not using it to bludgeon people, for heaven’s sake.”

Kirt Sickels, a spokesman for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City, said the facility’s administrators take Miller’s allegations seriously.

“We will look into these concerns that Mr. Miller is talking about. The Iowa City VA respects the rights to religious beliefs for every patient. If they have a request for any kind of religious needs, we try to accommodate whatever those needs or beliefs might be.”

Kosher meals are available to Jewish VA patients in Iowa City, Sickels said.

Michael Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and an attorney who worked in the White House under President Reagan, said Thursday that he is preparing to sue the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in federal court over Miller’s treatment. He said he suspects other veterans have been treated similarly and that Miller’s case could become a class-action lawsuit.

“He has been in the situation where clearly his faith – which happens to be the Jewish faith – is the wrong faith for the [VA],” said Weinstein, an Air Force Academy graduate.

Miller, a divorced father with four sons, said his first two visits by chaplains involved attempts to convert him to Christianity. These visits occurred while he was suffering acute chest pains and was wired to a heart monitor, he said.

When he complained, he said a hospital official told him he simply needed to object more strenuously to terminate such proselytizing. Miller said he considered such a request to be ridiculous, considering his medical problems.

Over the past two years, Miller said, he has been asked over and over by the Iowa City VA medical center’s staff within its offices, clinics and wards, “You mean you don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah?” and “Is it just Orthodox Jews who deny Jesus?” He said one staffer told him, “I don’t understand; how can you not believe in Jesus; he’s the Messiah of the Jews, too, you know.”

Sickels said it is standard practice within hospitals nationwide to conduct a spiritual assessment of each patient upon admission. Ministry and pastoral counseling are available, but “it is always the patient’s right to decline any of these services.”

David Brown, an Assemblies of God minister who is a chaplain at the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, declined to comment when reached by a reporter Thursday afternoon.

Miller said the Christian influence at the Iowa City medical facility is so pervasive that he couldn’t even escape it in a patient waiting room. He described how an elderly couple played a keyboard and sang hymns, such as “The Old Rugged Cross,” much to the delight of Christian veterans waiting for doctor’s appointments.

“It was driving me nuts, and they were enjoying it. I was not going to go in front of all of these people and say, ‘Hey, will you stop?’ and then have all the other veterans turn on me. They were setting me up to be further ostracized. It was just ridiculous.”

Reporter William Petroski can be reached at (515) 284-8547 or bpetroski@dmreg.com

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Crowd Protests Iraq War at Senator Levin’s Lansing Office

Posted on May 13, 2007 by Team VCS

Organizers call for timetable to bring troops home

May 11, 2007 – The debate over the Iraq war echoed across Lansing on Thursday.

Three veterans of the war flew into Capital City Airport just long enough to criticize U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers for not sufficiently breaking ranks with President Bush.

Meanwhile, about 45 anti-war protesters gathered outside U.S. Sen. Carl Levin’s Lansing office to urge him to do more to end U.S. involvement.

“We’re four years into this war, and it’s getting worse,” said retired Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, a 27-year Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. They (American service men and women) didn’t sign up for incompetence, they didn’t sign up for disregard of the will of the American people.”

The event was organized by votevets.org, a national group that says Bush has mismanaged the war and supports a timetable for withdrawal. The Lansing stop was near the end of a two-day blitz through six states.

Rogers, R-Brighton, was targeted because he has criticized Bush’s surge strategy but voted against the funding bill that would have set a timetable for withdrawal. Horne said that Bush will only respond to pressure to change course if he’s worried about his vetoes being overturned.

Rogers criticizes

The group also is running television ads in the targeted areas in which retired Major Gen. John Batiste disputes Bush’s claim that he took the advice of the commanders on the ground.

Rogers said the trip to Lansing only served to divide, not find solutions.

“This is not a veterans group. It’s a Democrat group that’s trying to inject partisan politics that may affect and jeopardize the life and safety of U.S. soldiers,” he said.

Rogers said he offered an alternative to the surge, which included beefing up forces to fight al-Qaida terrorists in Al Anbar province while seeking to improve conditions in Baghdad through such things as better intelligence, combat air support and a new approach to reconstruction.

He said he voted against the spending bill that included a timetable because “it tells the enemy exactly what your game plan is.” It was subsequently vetoed by Bush.

The downtown protest was sponsored by the Greater Lansing Network Against War and Injustice.

The protesters beat drums made of 5-gallon buckets and wore T-shirts with anti-war slogans. They waved signs reading “Troops Home Now,” “Out of Iraq” and “Fight Greed, Not Iran” at cars passing on Capitol Avenue. A few honked in support.

Margaret Nielsen of East Lansing, 65, has opposed the war since its beginning. She said she hoped Levin would lead others in cutting off future spending on the war.

Levin, D-Detroit, chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee and has been highly critical of Bush’s handling of the war.

Messages for Levin

“He’s given a lot of leadership trying to stop it, but he hasn’t done enough,” Nielsen said. “He needs to push our president.”

Elizabeth Jesse and her 13-year-old son, Cody, made the trip from Eaton Rapids for the protest. Jesse’s older son, Michael, 22, has served with the Army in Iraq. She held a sign over her head that read “Senator Levin, Bring Them Home Now.”

“I want our guys home and I don’t want anyone else to die here or in Iraq,” Elizabeth Jesse said.

Several protesters carried a letter, a fabric scroll decorated with a dove of peace and messages to Levin from people around mid-Michigan, and a rhubarb pie upstairs to Levin’s office.

“We appreciate the work that he has done,” said Jack Smith of Williamston, one of the protest organizers. “He has a position of leadership and will have a lot to say about the future of the war.”

Contact Chris Andrews at 377-1054 or candrews@lsj.com. Kathleen Lavey contributed to this report.

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Newspaper Editorial: VA bonuses an insult to our troops

Posted on May 13, 2007 by Team VCS

May 11, 2007, The horror stories about substandard medical care for veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are by now well-known.

Perhaps even more shocking are the results of a recent investigation by the Associated Press , which found that, despite a $1 billion budget shortfall last year, the Veterans Administration handed out $3.8 million in bonuses to senior executives who run the agency. Some executives received bonuses of $33,000, equal to one-fifth their total annual salary.

This round of handouts took place while the list of veterans awaiting decisions on their disability benefits has reached 400,000. They wait an average of six months to receive the benefits they earned on the battlefield.

In hearings before a congressional committee last week, VA head Jim Nicholson vowed to improve care and service. He pointed to progress on a joint Pentagon-VA effort to reform the system. In addition, he said the bonuses were necessary to attract and hold quality employees.

Asked about the budget shortfall, Nicholson said the VA “can probably always make good use of more money.”

Of course, despite that budget shortfall last year, Nicholson had extra money on hand for bonuses.

Members of Congress, taxpayers and most especially veterans and their families, have a right to be outraged by the situation. First District Rep. Tim Walz is among those in Congress supporting legislation that would withhold bonuses until the backlog of disability cases is reduced to fewer than 100,000. It is unfortunate that Congress has to make such threats to get action for our veterans.

A government that sends men and women to war has an obligation to provide gold-standard care when those veterans return. After four years of war, this government is not meeting that obligation. To hand out bonuses in the face of that failure is an insult to the troops.

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Editorial Column: Veteran Steve Robinson Stands Tall for Sick Soldiers

Posted on May 13, 2007 by Team VCS

An Army general said Wednesday that a “Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade” would come soon to Fort Carson. It will help soldiers with post-traumatic stress and brain injuries.

As Brig. Gen. Michael Tucker spoke at Colorado’s Mountain Post, no one from Veterans for America stood beside him.

They should have. VFA played as big a role in Tucker’s announcement as any of Fort Carson’s brass.

Veterans for America, a group run by ex-military personnel, has forced the Army’s hand across the country by exposing bad treatment of soldiers who return from war with psychological wounds.

“What we do, plus the debacle of Walter Reed, has made them do things,” said VFA’s director of veterans affairs, Steve Robinson.

Before whistle-blowers attracted media attention, sick soldiers were being ignored or even forced from the military without the support they needed.

“We use media as a last resort,” said Robinson, “when we can’t get the attention of people who can make changes.”

Fort Carson conveniently announced formation of the Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade the week before nine senators send staff members to Carson. The senatorial staffers will investigate claims of inadequate health treatment of soldiers. Guess who raised the charges?

That’s right – Veterans for America.

Robinson said he met in Washington, D.C., on Monday with Tucker, the deputy commanding general of Walter Reed Medical Center and the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command.

“I gave him 10 cases of soldiers who had not gotten the correct treatment,” Robinson said. By Thursday, nine of those 10 soldiers had told Robinson that the general had interviewed them.

Yet to hear Tucker talk at Fort Carson, you would not know that VFA played any role in his trip to Colorado.

Instead, Tucker spoke of Fort Carson as “a great example of what right looks like.” In fact, Robinson and other advocates say, Fort Carson has made positive changes in health care for soldiers. The post does offer care models for other military bases.

But too often, it had to be embarrassed into action.

“Leaders at the unit level still don’t understand how to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury,” said Robinson. “Without help, people with PTSD turn to drinking and drugs. People with traumatic brain injury have discipline and anger issues. And yet they still say that PTSD and brain injury are not an excuse for bad behavior.”

Veterans for America’s latest charge is that the Army is forcing out some soldiers with war-related post-traumatic stress by claiming they have pre-existing personality disorders.

It is just one more thing in a years-long pattern. “Without (Veterans for America), more people would have killed themselves,” said an ex-Special Forces soldier who spent months in “medical hold” at Fort Carson in 2004 awaiting treatment.

The man didn’t want his name published. He feared the military would try to take away his disability benefits.

Problems treating post-traumatic stress or brain injury “were not going to go away without pressure and oversight” from outside the military, the ex-soldier said. “When I was (at Fort Carson), they just wanted to get soldiers with problems out of the service without giving them adequate care. In my case, if I didn’t have a medical background, I wouldn’t have gotten the treatment I needed.”

That’s a searing indictment. Almost as bad was a Fort Carson spokesman’s reaction to recent Veterans for America complaints. “They’ve said it a thousand times, and we’ve responded a thousand times, and we’re not going to get into it today,” the spokesman said.

Veterans for America has surely been a pain in the military’s butt, but if the Walter Reed scandal and the establishment of a Wounded Warrior Transition Brigade prove anything, it is this:

Without groups like Veterans for America, this country’s war casualties would be victims of tunnel vision as deadly as friendly fire.

Jim Spencer’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1771, jspencer@denverpost.com or blogs.denverpost.com/spencer.

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Fighting the Terror of Battles that Rage in Soldiers’ Heads

Posted on May 13, 2007 by Team VCS

COLORADO SPRINGS, May 8 — The nightmares that tormented Sgt. Walter Padilla after returning home from Iraq in 2004 prompted extensive treatment by Army doctors, an honorable discharge from the military and a cocktail of medication to dull his suffering.

Still, Sergeant Padilla, 28, could not ward off memories of the people he had killed with a machine gun perched on his Bradley fighting vehicle. On April 1, according to the authorities and friends, he withdrew to the shadows of his Colorado Springs home, pressed the muzzle of his Glock pistol to his temple and squeezed the trigger.

Sergeant Padilla had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder at Fort Carson Army base here, where concerns over the treatment of returning soldiers struggling with the condition, compelled members of Congress last month to ask the Government Accountability Office to reassess the military’s mental health policies.

A letter signed by nine senators refers to “a number of upsetting allegations” at the base regarding a lack of treatment for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and the stigmatization of those with the condition. On Monday, some of those senators’ staff members will visit Fort Carson to meet with soldiers, families and commanders, the fourth time this year Congressional staff members have traveled to the base.

The Army, reeling from fallout over its poor handling of outpatient soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, dispatched Brig. Gen. Michael S. Tucker to Colorado to speak with the base’s leaders and soldiers on Tuesday.

General Tucker, the deputy commander of Walter Reed, commended Fort Carson for its treatment of post-traumatic stress and said he viewed the Congressional visits as a means of highlighting the base’s programs that deal with the condition, said an Army spokesman, Paul Boyce.

But Veterans for America, an advocacy group that has lobbied the Army and Congress on behalf of returning soldiers, said the Army must do better, particularly at Fort Carson, where soldiers with the stress disorder have spoken of being punished by their commanders.

The base has 17,500 soldiers assigned to it, and about 26,000 of its soldiers have been deployed to Iraq since the war began.

“Fort Carson is overwhelmed with men and women coming home from Iraq with psychological injuries from war, and there are unit commanders here who don’t understand these medical conditions,” said Steve Robinson, director of veterans affairs for the group.

Col. John Cho, the base’s chief medical officer, said Fort Carson had treated 1,703 soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder, or P.T.S.D., since 2003. Colonel Cho disputed the assertion that problems at Fort Carson were widespread. “We’re never going to fully eliminate the stigma associated with P.T.S.D., but the leadership at Carson has been fully supportive of getting soldiers they help they need,” he said.

The Army reports seven suicides of active duty soldiers at Fort Carson since 2004 but says it does not know if any were linked to the disorder. Sergeant Padilla was not included among the seven because he died after being discharged.

Most recently, Staff Sgt. Mark Alan Waltz, who was being treated for post-traumatic stress, was found dead in his living room on April 30. An autopsy of Sergeant Waltz, 40, is pending, but his wife, Renea, believes her husband died from a reaction to the antidepressants he was taking for stress and painkillers prescribed for a back injury. Ms. Waltz is also convinced that the psychological wounds he carried from battle played a part in his death.

Ms. Waltz said her husband was reluctant to seek treatment after returning from Iraq in 2004 because he thought a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder would cost him his rank. She said the condition was eventually diagnosed and he was referred for treatment. Even then, she said, he was “picked out, scrutinized and messed with continually” by his commanding officers.

“It’s not right that our guys are going over to Iraq, doing their job, doing what they’re supposed to do, and they when they come back sick, they’re treated like garbage,” Ms. Waltz said.

Army officials at Fort Carson said Sergeant Waltz’s death was still under review and, citing privacy laws, would not comment further.

Mr. Robinson, of Veterans for America, said the group’s research indicated that since 2004, there had been at least six incidents in which Fort Carson soldiers with stress disorder have died, either from suicide or from accidents involving narcotics or medications.

In addition, the veterans group is investigating some 30 cases of Fort Carson soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury or personality disorders who have complained of mistreatment.

One case involves Specialist Alex Lotero, who returned from Iraq late last year suffering from anxiety attacks and nightmares after dozens of combat missions, including one in which his convoy was struck by a roadside bomb.

Specialist Lotero, a thick-muscled 20-year-old from Miami, said his superiors treated his diagnosis disdainfully, showering him with obscenities and accusing him of insubordination when he missed training for doctors’ appointments.

“They belittled my condition,” he said. “They told me I was broke, that I didn’t have anything left.”

Specialist Lotero eventually checked himself into nearby Cedar Springs Hospital for a few days and is waiting for his medical discharge request to be processed. He points to his forearm, draped in a tattoo of a machine-gun wielding, Vietnam-era soldier. The soldier’s face is ghoulish, his body gaunt and rotting. “This is how I feel right now,” he said.

In an interview, Maj. Gen. Gale S. Pollock, the acting Army surgeon general, said Fort Carson had taken “the bull by the horns” in combating the stigma associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.

General Pollock said the Army was developing initiatives to lessen that stigma and cited examples of officers publicly seeking treatment for combat stress as a means of encouraging their soldiers to follow suit.

“We have to reinforce it again and again,” she said. “I talk with patients, and many of them have looked at me through cheerful eyes and said, ‘You mean I’m not crazy?’ ”

Lt. Col. Laurel Anderson, a psychiatric nurse in charge of behavioral health at Fort Carson’s soldier readiness center, said the number of soldiers referred for mental health screenings had risen from about 12 percent of those seen at the center to 25 percent over the past year.

Colonel Anderson said soldiers sometimes refused her referrals to psychiatrists. “They don’t want anyone to know,” she said.

This year, Colonel Anderson began training officers to de-stigmatize post-traumatic stress disorder within their units. Another training session, this one for noncommissioned officers, is scheduled for Monday.

The Army is also considering sending a unit to Fort Carson and other bases to help soldiers navigate the administrative tangle of medical treatment. But Sergeant Padilla’s death showed that even when a soldier feels comfortable enough to seek treatment, that may not be enough.

Friends and family say Sergeant Padilla complained that antidepressants and painkillers were no substitute for talking with someone who understood what it was like to kill.

“He told me that the doctors weren’t helping him,” said his mother, Carmen Sierra, in a telephone interview from her home in Puerto Rico. “He told me that they couldn’t understand him, that he was still having those nightmares.”

A few months ago, Sergeant Padilla told his girlfriend, Mia Sagahon, that maybe it was time he start speaking with a doctor again. He never did.

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What is PTSD?

Posted on May 13, 2007 by Team VCS

Q: I keep reading about our military people coming back from the war in Iraq suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. What exactly is this and is there any treatment?

A: Common harmful events, such as touching a hot stove, lay down memory traces in the brain as a normal protective mechanism.

Horrific traumas, such as those that occur in a war zone, may leave the affected neuronal pathways in an abnormally hyper-vigilant state. That sets the stage for the haunting flashbacks and nightmares, startle reactions, insomnia, angry outbursts and other symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

Why do some individuals develop PTSD after an overwhelming trauma and others don’t? As with most disorders, some people are innately more vulnerable.

Genes involved in creating fear memories have been implicated. A gene that controls levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in mood, may help fuel the fear response.

Brain areas thought to play roles in PTSD include the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.

The amygdala, an almond-shaped structure deep within the brain, is involved in both learning to fear an event and in “unlearning” a fearful memory.

The prefrontal cortex, involved in judgment, decision-making, and problem-solving, influences the response to stress. It puts the brakes on the amygdala, preventing it from overreacting. Another part of the prefrontal cortex helps abolish fearful memories.

Psychotherapy and medications are used to treat PTSD.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most-used form of psychotherapy.

The serotonin-specific antidepressants sertraline (Zoloft) and paroxetine (Paxil) are FDA-approved to treat PTSD. A current study is comparing sertraline and cognitive behavioral therapy to see which might work best.

One small study found that prazosin (Minipress), a medication used for high blood pressure and enlarged prostate, helped alleviate PTSD symptoms.

Another small study found that the antibiotic cycloserine (Seromycin) could potentially help by boosting the activity of a chemical required for fear extinction.

The beta-blocker propranolol (Inderal), widely used for high blood pressure, angina and irregular heart rhythm, seems to help block the neuronal encoding of fearful memories. The drug has been used to reduce or prevent PTSD in trauma victims.

It’s been reported that Iraqi war veterans with PTSD symptoms may be reluctant to seek help because of the stigma associated with mental disorders. Tragically, some have committed suicide.

Part of this problem lies with the pervasive view that “mental” disorders are not quite as real as “physical” disorders (e.g., diabetes).

But that’s just plain incorrect. The mentality is a physical process carried on by parts of the brain. We know that thoughts and emotions are generated by chemicals (neurotransmitters) squirting between neurons. The mind is a part of the body. Therefore, mental disorders are physical disorders.

No shame or stigma need be attached to PTSD and other mental disorders. Returning combat veterans weighted with such burdens deserve the best treatment this country can provide.

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Iraq War Veteran Surrenders After Standoff in New York

Posted on May 12, 2007 by Team VCS

Eden, New York – May 10, 2007  – An Iraq war veteran who triggered a tense five-hour standoff in Eden is in hot water Thursday afternoon.

Police say 26 year old Eric Pedosek had been on the phone with his sister when she heard gunshots and called authorities Wednesday afternoon.

Police and members of the SWAT team surrounded a house on Route 75 and eventually were able to talk Pedosek into surrendering peacefully.

Parents of Eden school children had to come pick up their kids from school during the standoff.

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South Dakota Case Highlights Army’s Mental Health Challenge for Iraq War Veterans

Posted on May 12, 2007 by Team VCS

May 12, 2007 – Spc. Ryan LeCompte of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe was on his way last week from Fort Carson, Colo., to a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Sheridan, Wyo.

The former scout with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment will be treated for post traumatic stress disorder, and his wife, Tammie LeCompte, hopes he also will be evaluated for a possible brain injury suffered during two tours in Iraq from 2003 to 2005.

To get this care, his wife says, LeCompte had to overcome a Fort Carson military bureaucracy that refused to acknowledge the seriousness of his condition and primarily tried to treat him for a substance abuse problem. He also had to endure slurs from superiors that he was “a drunken Indian.”

On the contrary, says Lt. Col. David Johnson, Fort Carson public affairs officer, leaders of LeCompte’s unit worked diligently to get him into the VA center, and an investigation is ongoing into whether LeCompte was harassed because of his background.

“We’re not sitting idly by,” Johnson says.

Their accounts of LeCompte’s ongoing struggle vary wildly. In the disparity, they offer a look at a growing challenge faced by the military. On one hand, it must keep itself focused forward to retain readiness to fight effectively in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the other hand, casualties of those fights with mental and behavioral problems strain military health care systems and force institutions such as the Army to make tough calls on whether such soldiers can be salvaged.

Fort Carson is at the center of an ongoing General Accounting Office inquiry prompted by Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Christopher Bond, R-Mo., Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. The senators want to know whether Fort Carson officials are downplaying mental health conditions among returning soldiers or are trying to force soldiers with such problems out of the Army.

“My husband is not an alcoholic,” Tammie LeCompte insists.

After a night of drinking in mid-April, LeCompte spent two weeks in a civilian emergency mental health care facility near Fort Carson. The facility is set up to house patients for 72 hours. However, Fort Carson officials prevailed to extend LeCompte’s stay until they could get him into the Wyoming VA center. Johnson calls that “a perfect example of us making sure we care.”

Tammie LeCompte has a different view. “They threw him in there for two weeks. The doctor said, ‘We’re not equipped for this.’ ” But military officials insisted, “You leave him in there until we figure out what to do with him,” she says.

The drinking incident was an attempt by her husband to deal with ongoing mental trauma, she says. LeCompte’s uncle, Orval Langdeau Jr., Lower Brule vice chairman, says his nephew never started drinking until about age 20, when he joined the Army seven years ago.

“In my opinion, all the Army did was make him drink more than he did,” Langdeau says.

As a scout, LeCompte saw hard fighting. That changed him, his wife says.

“At night he would get up and he would be so disoriented he would think he was still over there. He would be crawling around on the floor thinking he was still in combat.

“He was just angry. His eating habits changed. There was just so much.”

LeCompte suffers both short- and long-term memory loss, she says, and he has seizures.

Army medical officials were convinced the root of LeCompte’s problems was substance abuse. He failed two substance abuse treatment programs at Fort Carson, Johnson says. He cancelled or failed to show up for more than 20 appointments for treatment.

A requirement of getting into the Wyoming VA program, Johnson says, is that LeCompte acknowledge he does have a substance abuse problem.

Tammie LeCompte says because he was never treated for PTSD or evaluated for a brain injury, substance abuse therapy was fruitless.

Failing to complete the two programs at Fort Carson could be grounds for LeCompte to be discharged, Johnson says. The fact he isn’t being forced out “shows how Fort Carson and the leadership here are fighting for LeCompte,” Johnson says.

Tammie LeCompte counters that Fort Carson officials were indeed trying to make her husband leave the Army until she and the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe asked South Dakota’s congressional delegation to look into his case. Spokesmen for Sens. Tim Johnson and John Thune and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin say their offices did inquire on LeCompte’s behalf, but citing the federal medical privacy law, they declined to be more specific. Thune’s spokesman, Kyle Downey, said Thune “is working to ensure returning veterans receive the appropriate health care they need and deserve.”

In happier times, Tammie LeCompte says her husband was notable for sly humor. The couple live with their four children ages 19-4. She has three other children who live in Dallas. Because her husband returned from Iraq with behavioral problems, Tammie LeCompte says she has been forced to resign her own job to take care of him and their children. During that time, her father also died.

“It’s one tragic event after another,” she says. “We’re living day by day.”

The LeComptes met in 2001. “A whole group of us girls had gone out,” she remembers. Eleven years older than “this very extremely gorgeous Native American man, I tried to introduce him to girls his own age,” she says. “The next thing I knew, he was calling me.”

Now she wonders if she’ll ever get that person back.

“I think we can get him recovered eventually,” she says. “It will take some time.”

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