Corporate America’s Military Opportunity

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Team VCS

Veterans offer companies the grit and skills needed to succeed.

March 27, 2012 (Wall Street Journal) – In his State of the Union address this January, President Obama rang a bell that is still sounding 10 years after our wars began in Afghanistan and Iraq. “At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations,” he said about our men and women in uniform. “They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together. Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example.”

We can do better than imagine. We can remember.

As World War II drew to a close, many Americans worried about how to assimilate returning veterans. Some feared the economic boom of the war would quickly fall back to the hard times of the Great Depression as millions in uniform arrived home looking for work. But these military veterans—the Greatest Generation, in Tom Brokaw’s phrase—had the resilience and leadership skills to become not a weight but an engine driving the economy and the American Century.

Whether today’s military men and women—the best-trained and most experienced military force in the history of our nation—can similarly drive our economy largely depends on whether we remember our history.

After World War II, veterans were rewarded with the G.I. bill and favorable housing loans. Perhaps as important, they came to be seen as a boon to any business that wanted to recruit disciplined, mission-oriented and motivated workers. Veterans then even wore military veteran pins on their lapels because it singled them out as worthy of special consideration as potential employees.

Today’s veterans, many of whom enlisted after America was attacked on 9/11, are as deserving as their World War II predecessors. And putting them to work may well be the most selfish thing our nation can do right now. Where else might any business find better, more “can-do” men and women?

When a person has been repeatedly willing to run toward battle under orders despite the risk of death, imagine what he or she might do to inspire a company to find the grit to succeed. How do you say “no” to working overtime when your colleague is a former war veteran who is willing to say “yes?”

About veterans whose skills have been honed in hostile environments, Harvard Business School historian Nancy Koehn notes that, “Whether they’re part of a factory floor team, whether they’re part of an executive group trying to steer a company in a certain direction, cohesion, coherence, the ability to follow others and work with others toward a common goal is incredibly important in generating those widgets and the clothes and the computers and the smartphones of GDP.”

The good news is that corporate America is beginning to wake up to the benefits of bringing a fighting spirit into their companies. Executives are learning that despite misconceptions, the vast majority of veterans—82{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d}-90{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of men and 80{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the RAND Corporation—do not have a post-traumatic stress syndrome that could affect their readiness to work.

Prudential, FedEx, Gamestop, JetBlue, J.P. Morgan Chase, Coca-Cola, Sears, AT&T, NBC Universal and its parent company Comcast are among an increasing number of companies that are now seeking to hire veterans.

Gary Taylor, a top executive at power company Entergy (and a retired captain in the Air Force), puts it this way: “The skills that they bring back are a real competitive advantage, whether they’re electricians, mechanics, computer scientists, engineers—that skill seems to fit well.”

And even when a skill does not fit exactly, why would anyone doubt whether former Apache helicopter pilots or company master sergeants would be trainable? The sooner more American businesses realize the value of this sudden wealth of returning military veterans, the sooner we can stop worrying about our economy.

Our military veterans have exceeded all expectations. What could our businesses, our economy and our nation accomplish if we put their talents and courage to work here at home?

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Secretary of the Army John McHugh says in Fort Bragg visit that PTSD reversals uncommon-VCS registers our disagreement

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Team VCS

Story Photo Staff photo by Marcus Castro [+] click to enlarge Secretary of the Army John McHugh answers questions Tuesday after a two-day visit to Fort Bragg. At left are Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick and Lt. Gen. John Mulholland.

By Greg Barnes Staff writer

Preliminary information suggests the Army does not have a systemic problem of doctors reversing soldiers’ diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder in an effort to save the country money, the secretary of the Army said Tuesday at Fort Bragg.

During a congressional hearing last week, Secretary John McHugh announced that the Army Inspector General’s Office is reviewing all Army medical facilities to determine whether reversals of PTSD diagnoses are happening Armywide.

The action follows revelations that psychiatrists at Madigan Army Medical Center reversed 40 percent of the 690 cases in which soldiers facing military retirement had originally been diagnosed with PTSD. Madigan is at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

Reversing PTSD to another finding, such as a personality disorder, could have cost soldiers a significant loss of military retirement benefits. In 2008, Congress authorized a 50 percent disability rating for anyone leaving the service with a PTSD diagnosis.

The Inspector General’s Office has been reviewing PTSD practices at all Army medical centers similar to Madigan, including Womack Army Medical Center on Fort Bragg.

“To this point, the preliminary data analysis we are receiving indicates that the problems at Madigan do not appear to be systemic through the entire United States Army,” McHugh said during a news conference at Fort Bragg. “But obviously, we want to look at the IG’s final report very carefully and take whatever steps may be indicated from its findings.”

The Armywide review is separate from an inspection Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, commander of Fort Bragg and the 18th Airborne Corps, ordered in February for the post’s Warrior Transition Battalion. The inspection is supposed to be completed by Sunday, but Helmick said it could take weeks before it becomes public.

That inspection was sparked, at least in part, by a loose-knit group of advocates who were responding to complaints from soldiers in Fort Bragg’s battalion for mentally and physically wounded soldiers.

One of those soldiers, Sgt. Jody Lee Piercy, said Monday that he and three others in the battalion were denied access to a meeting with McHugh, even though they were originally told they could attend.

“It was open to anyone who wanted to come,” Helmick said. “That complaint has not reached my level.”

Helmick said he and other commanders have an open-door policy in which any soldier can come in and voice concerns or complaints.

Piercy and other soldiers say the Warrior Transition Battalion purposely excludes them from meetings with Army brass.

“The soldiers are getting handpicked, and they are picking the ones with no real issues,” Piercy said.

McHugh, who arrived at Fort Bragg on Monday morning, said he was there to visit Helmick and Lt. Gen. John Mulholland. He also spent time with wounded soldiers, about two dozen of whom have complained to The Fayetteville Observer about the Warrior Transition Battalion since Helmick called for a review of its processes and procedures.

Those complaints include allegations of overmedication, poor treatment by doctors and those in charge of the battalion, and being kicked out of the Army on trumped-up charges, such as faking injury or illness.

Patrick Bellon, executive director of the advocate group Veterans for Common Sense in Washington, D.C., questioned the assertion that problems found at Madigan Army Medical Center are not happening throughout the Army.

“Leading off, trying to say it’s isolated, doesn’t really pass the common-sense test,” Bellon said.

Although PTSD reversals may not be prevalent at Fort Bragg and other Army bases, Bellon said, wounded warrior units at Fort Carson, Colo., and elsewhere have come under fire for their treatment and care of soldiers. He said he is hearing growing complaints about Fort Bragg soldiers being unfairly discharged.

“Clearly,” he said, “something is not right.”

Responding to related questions from reporters, McHugh acknowledged that repeated deployments have caused stress on soldiers and members of all branches of military service. More than 50,000 troops have deployed four or more times in the past 10 years, he said.

But McHugh said the stresses of war cannot be blamed for “incredibly rare aberrancies,” such as the recent slayings of 17 Afghan civilians. A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier, Sgt. Robert Bales, has been charged in those deaths. Bales’ lawyers have suggested that his mental health could play a role in his defense.

“As tragic as they are, they don’t reflect either the mental health, or, I think, the incredible sacrifices and achievements of our troops,” McHugh said. “We continue to stay focused on making sure that we have the right behavioral health programs.

“We are looking very closely, obviously, at the causes but also the treatment of PTSD and other related incidences. But we are not making a connection between those challenges and the acts that obviously have received so much attention.”

Force reductions

On another topic, McHugh said Army commanders are working on the assumption that they will have a significantly smaller force – 490,000 active-duty troops by fiscal 2017. McHugh expects the cuts to come largely through attrition and normal turnover, but he said some soldiers may soon be looking for new jobs.

“That is painful for all of us, but it really is, I think, a logical step,” he said. “Just being good enough is no longer going to be good enough … So I think it behooves every man and woman in the United States Army; they are going to have to strive to work harder to achieve greater and higher levels. And if they can do that, we will be proud to keep them on.”

McHugh said the Army anticipates two more rounds of base closings, in 2013 and 2015. He said base closures require congressional approval, and he could not project what might happen to Fort Bragg.

But he stressed that the base came out well during the last Base Realignment and Closure Act in 2005, and he anticipates that happening again.

Staff writer Greg Barnes can be reached at barnesg@fayobserver.com or 486-3525.

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VCS in the News- After the War: PTSD and Veterans’ Care

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Team VCS

BATTEN: Matthew Letterman came home from the Gulf War in 1991, but in some ways, he says, he never really left Iraq.

LETTERMAN: I left a piece of myself over there. You know, I would like to either go there and get it and bring it back, or be buried there with it.

BATTEN: When he returned to the US, Letterman knew something was wrong –

LETTERMAN: Bad dreams, flashbacks, night sweats, extreme jumpiness, hyper alertness.

BATTEN: But he couldn’t figure out what it was. Letterman has now been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as well as Gulf War syndrome, an illness caused by exposure to chemical toxins. But in 1991, Letterman says, it seemed as if no one wanted to tell him that.

LETTERMAN: It was a hey man, suck it up, move forward type thing… it’s all in your head. I went for over five years before I seen a counselor or a psychiatrist through the VA. And I can’t help but wonder how things would have turned out if I could’ve at least got the help that I needed in 1995.

BATTEN: Veterans’ care has come a long way since Letterman struggled to find a psychiatrist in 1995, but the system can still be improved. A new wave of American troops has been returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, sometimes bringing home their struggles with PTSD. As mainstream media coverage shifts away from these wars, veterans’ care may lose the attention it deserves.

BATTEN: Studies cited by Veterans Affairs, or the VA, indicate that 9{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of Gulf War veterans suffer from PTSD. But the numbers are even higher for veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and the present — one in every five veterans is battling PTSD or depression. But is the United States government doing enough to help? Letterman says that in 1995, the answer was decidedly no.

LETTERMAN: Whenever you go and you’re looking for that help and they’re minimizing or they’re downplaying it or whatever like that, you’re gonna be mad. It’s been the most frustrating portion of my life.

BATTEN: Letterman says that when he attempted to apply for treatment and benefits, a Veterans Affairs administrator told him all his paperwork fell overboard in the Mediterranean Sea. He recalls that other veterans nicknamed the VA’s avoidance of the issue “the weasel mode.”

LETTERMAN: They are messing with your world as well. It’s really hard to be sick and then be able to fight all the bullcrap that’s involved.

BATTEN: Out of work and suffering from seizures, Letterman went to the local veterans’ hospital, asking them to admit him. Letterman recalls that they turned him away, saying he was not sick. He drove to another, bigger hospital, where he says that they turned him away for the same reason.

LETTERMAN: I’m a dead man walking. When I left that hospital down there, I drove back to my home, gathered up my old rucksack, went out, threw it in the cab of the tractor. I climbed in that thing and I decided I was going to Washington DC. I had nothing to lose.

BATTEN: So in July of 2009 Letterman drove his farm tractor from Mississippi to the VA Medical Center in Washington, DC, where he says that he was admitted for treatment of Gulf War Syndrome and PTSD.

LETTERMAN: They had to carry me in because I couldn’t feel my feet or my legs, I couldn’t stand up. And Dr. Lee totally changed everything around in my life, and lo and behold it was helping. Understanding is what it finally took.

BATTEN: The good news is that the perception of shame surrounding PTSD, which made treatment so difficult for Letterman, is lessening. Patrick Bellon is a U.S. Army veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the executive director of the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense.

BELLON: Once a problem becomes of a certain size it’s hard to ignore it. No one would’ve dreamed that someone was going to go four or five times, but that’s what happened. And with that sort of stress the fractures start to show for everyone to see. And if you’re in a command position, at some point you realize that it’s your duty to recognize these things.

Read more…http://warnewsradio.org/2012/03/27/after-the-war-ptsd-and-veterans-care/

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Survey Gives Glimpse Into Minds of Recent Veterans

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Team VCS

By JAMES DAO

The 2012 edition of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America’s annual survey of its members came out on Monday. The largest such survey by the group to date, its results provide some interesting insights into what’s on the minds of recent veterans today.

Not surprisingly, the survey found that employment, mental health, disability benefits, health care, education (including the G.I. Bill), suicide and families — in that order — were the top concerns of the more than 4,200 members who responded.

Nearly 17 percent said they were unemployed when they took the survey in January, a higher rate than was documented by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which put the veterans’ unemployment rate for January at 9 percent.

Of those who are working, 37 percent said they worked for the government at some level, far outpacing the second largest industry listed, health care and pharmaceuticals, which tallied 8 percent. Similarly, of those looking for work, the largest group, about a quarter, said they wanted to find jobs in government.

In its summary of the survey, I.A.V.A. noted that because many local, state and federal agencies have been trimming their work forces, “the threat to veteran employment may grow.”

More than one in three respondents, 37 percent, said they knew someone who had committed suicide, down slightly from last year’s result. Asked if the person who committed suicide was serving or had separated from the military, respondents were almost evenly divided: 30 percent said the person had separated when the act occurred; 27 percent said the person was serving but not deployed; 25 percent said the person was serving and deployed. Another 11 percent said the person was in the National Guard and not deployed.

Two-thirds said they think troops and veterans are not getting the mental health care they need. Asked what were important factors in providing excellent mental health services, about three-quarters said that counselors should have served in the military, understand military life and culture, or have received specialized training in working with service members and veterans.

Asked about their relationships, nearly 80 percent said they were married or in a long-term relationship during a deployment. Nearly two-thirds said the deployment strained their relationships, and 6 in 10 said readjustment was difficult. Only 4 percent said their deployments had no effect on their relationships.

The vast majority — nearly 9 in 10 — said they had had no serious run-ins with law enforcement after returning from Iraq or Afghanistan. But of those who had, half said alcohol was the problem.

Of the 4,278 veterans who responded to the online survey — conducted between Jan. 1 and Jan. 16 — a little more than half submitted proof of post 9/11 service in Iraq or Afghanistan, while the rest did not.

Nearly 9 in 10 of those surveyed were men, 6 in 10 were Army veterans and more than 8 in 10 had served in Iraq. Almost half, 45 percent, were 36 years or older. Nine in 10 said they were registered to vote. Asked about their place of residence, the largest group, nearly 11 percent, said they lived in California.

The paid online surveys included some intriguing opinions about government. Neither the president nor Congress scored well when the veterans were asked if those officials listen to service members or Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs did a bit better, with 42 percent answering in the affirmative.

Asked about the Department of Veterans Affairs, half said they had a somewhat to very positive opinion of the department — though nearly 7 in 10 could not correctly name Eric K. Shinseki as the secretary.

V.A. health care and educational benefits received good or very good ratings from about 6 in 10 respondents, with disability benefits falling slightly below 50 percent. The new G.I. Bill seemed particularly important to the veterans, with 29 percent saying they were using their benefits and another 37 percent saying they expected to use the benefits in the future.

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Financial struggles common among military families—VCS in the AP

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Team VCS

Published: March 25, 2012 3:25 PM By The Associated Press  DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP (Associated Press)

SEATTLE – (AP) — Military families aren’t surprised when they hear about the financial struggles that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, his wife and children faced at home. It’s part of their lives, too.

They say money problems can never justify doing what the military says Bales did: kill 17 civilians in a nighttime shooting rampage through two Afghan villages on March 11. Still, the details emerging about his life served as a prominent reminder of the hardship they have endured over a decade of two wars.

“The stress factors with the families is just unbelievable,” said Roger J. Mealey, a Vietnam veteran who runs a website to aid struggling military families.

While laws give active-duty soldiers extra combat pay, provide housing allowances and exempt them from taxes, experts say, families are straining under multiple deployments, frequent relocations and the difficulty spouses have in getting and keeping jobs in new cities.

A 2010 military survey found that 27 percent of service members said they had more than $10,000 in credit card debt, while 16 percent of civilians do. The study also found more than a third of military families have trouble paying monthly bills, and more than 20 percent reported borrowing money outside of banks.

Service members and their families do have access to financial counselors, but many shy away from it because they don’t want their commanders to know, said Andi Wrenn, a financial and relationship counselor in Boston who has worked with service members.

The unemployment rate among military spouses is about 26 percent, according to a report from the nonprofit group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Bales’ life reflected some of that financial turmoil.

Court records and interviews showed that he joined the military 11 years ago after a Florida investment went sour. He had a Seattle-area home condemned, struggled to make payments on another and failed to get a promotion a year ago. His wife has had two, one-year jobs since leaving Washington Mutual four years ago.

His wife put their Lake Tapps, Wash., home up for sale days before the rampage. They bought it home in 2005, records show, for $280,000. They listed it for $229,000.

Last year, Mealey connected nearly 300 military families just like the Bales family with another 300 “angels” willing to help them pay a few bills or send a gift card. He said he answers calls and emails every week from military families who are having problems negotiating base life.

Their pleas for help are posted on a simple red-white-and-blue website: a soldier at Fort Stewart, Ga., with a wife and two kids can’t afford $300 for a new dress uniform; a veteran in St. Louis with a wife and two kids needs help with power bills; and a San Diego Navy wife with four kids just got laid off from her job.

Mealey’s website is one of more than 40,000 nonprofits, big and small, trying to help the troops these days. They’re called the “sea of goodwill,” said Kate Kohler, a West Point graduate and Army captain who is the chief operating officer of the PenFed Foundation, a nonprofit that helps troops with financial literacy, housing and emergency needs.

She said their hearts are in the right place but so many of these organizations are just giving handouts and not trying to fix the underlying financial problems the troops face.

Although Kohler’s organization also gives emergency loans and grants, most come with some required financial literacy training.

The mostly young service members have little experience dealing with their own finances and don’t know what to do with the ups and downs of military life. She described one symptom as the Disneyland effect: overspending when troops return home to make up for lost time with family.

An Iraq War vet who runs an organization to help veterans and active-duty military said he sympathized with Bales’ family and other military families.

It’s not easy supporting four people on a staff sergeant’s salary — about $39,000 a year — especially when one member of the family keeps getting sent overseas, said Patrick Bellon, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense.

There are laws to protect military families from speedy foreclosures and predatory lenders, but Bellon wasn’t confident those laws are being enforced.

Mortgage lenders and landlords are supposed to give military families more time to make their payments during a deployment. The armed forces have several employment programs to help military spouses, including special training for jobs they can take with them from base to base.

“It just frustrates me,” said Mealey, who started his one-man New Beginnings website for military families in 2003 after retiring from Motorola.

After the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started, he wanted to find a way to help the troops.

“If we’re asking them to serve their country and put their life on the line, I don’t think their families should be put in the position where they’re sleeping on the floor or don’t have enough food to feed their kids,” Mealey said.

____

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Veterans study says thousands wrongfully discharged for personality disorders

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Team VCS

By Erik Slavin Stars and Stripes Published: March 26, 2012

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Defense Department violated regulations by discharging thousands of servicemembers under the pretense of personality disorders during the past decade, according to a study by Vietnam Veterans of America and the Veterans Services Clinic at Yale Law School.

The study data — obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests — reinforces previous smaller studies from the General Accountability Office and supports claims by others that the military diagnosed combat veterans with personality disorders to avoid paying retirement benefits to servicemembers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

While PTSD constitutes a medical disability, personality-related diagnoses are considered pre-existing conditions by the Defense Department.

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The data showed that 31,000 servicemembers were discharged from 2001 to 2010 because of personality disorders, a group of disorders  in which a person’s behaviors and thoughts differ from their culture’s expectations, causing work and relationship problems.

The Army alone discharged 734 soldiers for personality disorders in 2002, but that number steadily climbed to 1,078 by 2007, according to the report, which was released last week.

In 2007, a series of articles in The Nation and later from other media led to congressional hearings and tighter regulations.

Subsequently, a 2010 GAO study of discharges from 2008 and 2009 found that the Defense Department was still not fully complying with those regulations, although data obtained by Vietnam Veterans of America for 2010 did show a substantial increase in compliance. In 2010, the Army discharged only 17 soldiers for personality disorders and complied with a series of notifications and diagnosis requirements in each case, according to the report.

The Navy discharged 165 sailors in 2012, down from 1,606 sailors in 2002, though it failed to notify the discharged sailors that their diagnosis did not qualify as a disability in 52 percent of cases. Compliance generally improved in both the Air Force and Marine Corps as their personality disorder diagnoses plummeted, the report stated.

The military has yet to address how, or if, it will deal with those who were wrongly discharged in the past 10 years, the report noted.

“Although the number of PD discharges appears to be declining, the military has failed to take meaningful action to review and correct the wrongful (discharges),” it said.

Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense, told the New Haven (Conn.) Register last week that she could not comment on the report because she had not reviewed it, but said the department periodically assesses its policies on discharges.

“We encourage all separating service members who believe their discharges were incorrectly characterized or processed to request adjudication through their respective military department’s Discharge Review Board and Board for Correction of Military Records,” Lainez wrote in an email, according to the Register.

For a servicemember to be discharged because of a personality disorder, a psychiatrist or a psychologist with a doctorate must conclude that “the disorder is so severe that the member’s ability to function effectively in the military environment is significantly impaired,” according to Defense Department regulation.

In January, the Army announced it would review the actions of Madigan Army Medical Center officials that reversed diagnoses of more than 14 soldiers originally found to have PTSD. The medical center reversed more than 40 percent of PTSD diagnoses for servicemembers under consideration for medical retirement since 2007, according to information released by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., last week.

Col. Dallas Homas, commander of Madigan’s medical services at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., was temporarily relieved in February.

In November, an Army ombudsman reported in a memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times that a Madigan physician warned his colleagues that PTSD diagnoses could cost up to $1.5 million over soldiers’ lifetimes.

The physician stated that “at the rate we are going the Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs will be broke” because of PTSD treatment, according to the ombudsman.

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Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans Push Back Against Stereotype of ‘Crazy Vet’

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Team VCS

March 20, 2012 (chron) – The shooting massacre of Afghan civilians in Panjwai earlier this month has sent pundits and journalists scrambling for clues to explain what could have led Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales to sneak off his base and allegedly slaughter 16 unarmed men, women and children.

Reporters interviewed Bales’ neighbors, tracked down his childhood friends, scoured his financial records, and detailed his run-ins with the law to produce profiles of 38-year-old soldier that ran in newspapers across the country over the weekend.

Now Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the blogosphere are pushing back against what they see as an all-too-common tendency for such coverage to perpetuate a stereotype of the “dangerous veteran.”

On Ink Spots, a blog dedicated to security issues, Iraq War veteran Jason Fritz argues that “Robert Bales is not the victim“:

Ever since the massacre, Fritz wrote, “newspaper outlets (are) tripping over each other to explain why it was everyone’s fault except SSG Bales’ (again, assuming he committed the murders based on his apparent confession) that 16 Afghan men, women, and children ended up dead.”

Fritz goes on to challenge what he describes as innuendo and inaccuracies in articles published by The Washington Post and Bloomberg, including the possibility that Bales’ failure to get promoted caused him stress, that his family’s finances had been strained “to the breaking point” by multiple deployments on a sergeant’s salary, and that Bales had been told his deployments were over, “and then literally overnight that changed.”

Fritz says that Bales should have known the Army can’t promise not to deploy a healthy soldier again, and points out that he actually made more on a sergeant’s salary than the median income for the area where he lived in Tacoma, Wash. Fritz also speculates that Bales’ promotion might have been thwarted by his own actions — possibly because of past arrests for assault and a hit-and-run accident.

“Hundreds of thousands of troops have gone through what SSG Bales has gone through – or worse – and none of them shot 16 Afghan civilians,” Fritz concludes. “This entire situation is sad – for the Army, for Bales and his family and his unit, and especially for the Afghans who lost loved ones. Let’s keep perspective on that. And let’s not take the easy way out and blame The Man for the actions of a man because it fits your narrative. That’s not justice and it’s irresponsible. Robert Bales is not the victim here – the victims are in Afghanistan.”

Joao Hwang, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, also wrote about Bales in his Huff Post blog:

It is not fair to justify the killing of innocent civilians because they practice the same religion as al Qaeda, it is not fair to judge all the people in Afghanistan for the actions of insurgents, nor is it fair to judge all Muslims by the actions of some. By the same rationale, it is not fair to judge the hard work and integrity of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan for the actions of one soldier. By and large, coalition forces in Afghanistan try to do the right thing and work hard to engage the local communities in an extraordinarily complex environment. I know my colleagues and I did the best we could when we were there. There were times when we suspected the very people we greeted with “Zengay” (“Hello”) during the day might have had sympathies with the Taliban, but we carried on with common courtesy and tried to win their “hearts and minds.” An incident like the one in Panjwai does much to damage the work done by the rest of the coalition forces.

Hwang says if you want to support the troops, ask the right questions:

What was his mental state when he allegedly killed those civilians? If he was under mental distress, why was he not removed from the battlefield? Were there signs before the deployment? What is the military doing to take soldiers out deployment rotations if they show such signs? What is the military culture regarding soldiers’ mental health help? Is there a stigma? If so, what is the military doing to change it? What kind of mental health assistance are they getting after they leave the service?

Such questions are not meant to weaken our nation’s military. They are meant to improve the quality of life of those who fight and have fought for our nation. Those questions should be asked of our policymakers and military leaders, because it is a matter or military readiness. These questions are meant to strengthen our nation’s military because such incidents do affect the mission, as we’re seeing now in Afghanistan. I believe we can do better, and that we need to do better.

In an appearance on the Sunday talk show Meet the Press, Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the nonprofit group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, cautioned against stereotyping veterans as unstable because of the terrible actions of one man. But Rieckhoff said Americans have to ask themselves if it’s fair to send troops back to war zones for four and five tours.

Nobody has been asked to do so much for so long, such a small group of people, less than one-half of 1 percent of the American public.  And we don’t know a lot of the facts on the ground about the situation, they continue to unfold, but what we do know is that our troops are under tremendous strain.  But there’s not necessarily a connection with, for example, traumatic brain injury or PTSD and murderous rampage behavior like this.  This is the exception.  This is not what our troops are made of.  They are honorable, they are courageous, and we all as Americans have to take a deep breath to make sure that we don’t let this man represent so many who have done so much for this country while most folks really haven’t been paying attention.  So if this is what it took for our country to have this conversation about, about the inequality of what we’re asking our folks to do, then that’s a good thing.  But let’s make sure that we understand that coincidence doesn’t necessarily equal causality here.

For Chron.com milblogger Nick Tran, the fallout from the mass shooting in Panjwai could have a direct impact on his own safety. He is training to deploy to Afghanistan as a medic with the Texas Army National Guard. He wrote about his reaction to the news on his blog, Medic Without Borders:

My heart goes out to the innocent people who lost their lives (especially the children) and the families of the victims in the villages. Wrong is wrong and there is absolutely no justification for that act. I don’t care what you have been through, or how much stress you’ve endured, killing innocent women and children is unacceptable within the Warrior Code. That is supposed to be the defining factor that separates us from our enemies. I’m afraid of the domino-effect that this will have in the upcoming weeks and months as the Taliban has vowed revenge on Western forces.

It is unknown if the combination of the these incidents will drive the Administration to move up their timetable to bring the troops home sooner, or reduce the amount of units that are scheduled to deploy. I fear for the safety of the servicemen and women currently there and it will certainly make any upcoming deployments (to include mine) exponentially more dangerous, not to mention making our objective to build relationships with the Afghan people difficult.

Nonetheless, being a medic, I still want to go. Many will think that I am crazy for feeling that way, but with greater power comes greater responsibility and the greater power that I am referring to in this case are the skills that the ARMY has given me as a healer. I have taken lives in my previous deployments, but on this upcoming one as a medic, I hope to be able to save at least one. I know the special people in my life won’t agree and would prefer that I stay at home. I love them for that, but what good is it to have all of this knowledge if it can’t be put to good use where it’s needed the most?

What do you think? Is the media asking the right questions about Bales and the victims of the shooting?

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Suicides Highlight Failures of Veterans’ Support System–VCS Lawsuit Discussed

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Team VCS

This article really shows the importance of our lawsuit.
By AARON GLANTZ
Published: March 24, 2012

Francis Guilfoyle, a 55-year-old homeless veteran, drove his 1985 Toyota Camry to the Department of Veterans Affairs campus in Menlo Park early in the morning of Dec. 3, took a stepladder and a rope out of the car, threw the rope over a tree limb and hanged himself.

It was an hour before his body was cut down, according to the county coroner’s report.

“When I saw him, my heart just sank,” said Dennis Robinson, 51, a formerly homeless Army veteran who discovered Mr. Guilfoyle’s body. “This is supposed to be a safe place where a vet can get help. Something failed him.”

Mr. Guilfoyle’s death is one of a series of recent suicides by veterans who live in the jurisdiction of the Department of Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. The Palo Alto V.A. is one of the agency’s elite campuses, home to the Congressionally chartered National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The poor record of the Department of Veterans Affairs in decreasing the high suicide rate of veterans has already emerged as a major issue for policy makers and the judiciary.

On Wednesday, the V.A. Inspector General in Washington released the results of a nine-month investigation into the May 2010 death of another veteran, William Hamilton. The report said social workers at the department in Palo Alto made “no attempt” to ensure that Hamilton, a mentally ill 26-year-old who served in Iraq, was hospitalized at a department facility in the days before he killed himself by stepping in front of a train in Modesto.

The Bay Area was also shocked by the March 14 death of Abel Gutierrez, a 27-year-old Iraq war veteran, who the police said killed his mother and his 11-year-old sister before shooting himself. Two weeks earlier the Gilroy Police Department intervened to ask the V.A. to help Mr. Gutierrez.

An examination of each case reveals faulty communication inside the V.A. system, which missed opportunities to help the veterans.

“I know people at the V.A. care a lot and work hard, but it’s a pattern that’s disturbing,” said Representative Jerry McNerney, a Democrat from Pleasanton who serves on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. “It doesn’t look good.”

Last May, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit accused the department of “unchecked incompetence” and ordered it to overhaul the way it provides mental health care and disability benefits.

Noting that an average of 18 veterans commit suicide every day, Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote, “No more veterans should be compelled to agonize and perish while the government fails to perform its obligations.” The department appealed, and Judge Reinhardt’s opinion has been temporarily vacated, pending a ruling from a an 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit.

Gordon Erspamer, a San Francisco lawyer representing the two groups that brought the suit, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, said it was “incredible that this sorry record of ineptitude and lack of procedures for emergency cases continues even under the watchful eye of the Ninth Circuit.”

Two weeks before Mr. Gutierrez’s death, his family called the Gilroy Police Department and asked for officers to come to their home “to get him some help,” according to Sgt. Chad Gallacinao, a spokesman for the police department. Sergeant Gallacinao said a police officer who was also a military veteran was dispatched to the house and took notes.

Two days later, Sergeant Gallacinao said, the officer returned to the Gutierrez home with a representative of the Community Veterans Project, a nonprofit organization that trains law enforcement officials in interaction with psychologically wounded veterans.

“They made contact with the V.A. specifically to obtain services for Mr. Gutierrez,” Sergeant Gallacinao said.

Dave Bayard, a V.A. spokesman in Los Angeles, confirmed that a call had been placed to the Vet Center in Santa Cruz, but said the request was mild. “It wasn’t like ‘This guy is really in need of mental health,’ ” Mr. Bayard said.

The V.A. said Mr. Gutierrez had briefly received care at a department facility in Washington State, where he was a National Guardsman, but never visited a department campus in California.

In an e-mail, Kerri Childress, spokeswoman for the V.A. Palo Alto Health Care System, said that despite the intervention of the Gilroy Police Department in Mr. Gutierrez’s case, “We had no way of knowing he was even in the area.”

Shad Meshad, a Vietnam War veteran and former combat medic who heads the National Veterans Foundation, was unpersuaded. “It’s about time that they don’t make excuses,” Mr. Meshad said. “Why would you say it’s not serious when the police called?”

Mr. Meshad said the responses of Mr. Bayard and Ms. Childress were typical of the “finger-pointing” exhibited by the department when tragedy strikes.

Before Mr. Hamilton killed himself, he said he saw demon women and regularly talked to a man he had killed in Iraq. He had been admitted to the Palo Alto V.A.’s psychiatric ward before on nine separate occasions. Three days before he died, Mr. Hamilton’s father brought him to a community hospital in Calaveras County, which, according to hospital records obtained by The Bay Citizen, tried to transfer him to three V.A. hospitals, including the one in Palo Alto. But at 4:39 p.m., a department social worker wrote that day in his notes, the Palo Alto facilities “would not accept a transfer of a veteran for admittance this late in the day.”

Later that night, Mr. Hamilton was admitted to David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force base in Fairfield. That Sunday, the medical center discharged Mr. Hamilton. Within hours, he was dead.

V.A. officials have said they have no record of Mr. Hamilton being denied care and that their records do not show any telephone calls between the Calaveras County hospital and the Palo Alto V.A. But the inspector general’s report revealed that the Palo Alto hospital had no method of tracking incoming calls and that “no outgoing calls were recorded” from any Veterans Affairs Medical Center extension.

During the investigation into Mr. Hamilton’s death, the inspector general learned of yet another incident, in May 2011, when the doctor on duty refused to accept a veteran for treatment. According to the report, the psychiatrist said, “We don’t accept patients for transfer at night.”

In an e-mailed response to questions, Dr. Stephen Ezeji-Okoye, deputy chief of staff of the Palo Alto V.A., said that since Mr. Hamilton’s death his network had “revised our tracking mechanism so we are better able to analyze the disposition of any cases referred to the V.A. Palo Alto Health Care System.” Dr. Ezeji-Okoye said the Palo Alto V.A. had always accepted psychiatric patients 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Ms. Childress, the agency spokeswoman, said the Palo Alto V.A. was committed to improving the quality and availability of mental health care. The hospital is building a new 80-bed inpatient mental health center, she said, which is scheduled to open in June. It will have “patient access to enclosed, landscaped gardens” and “ample use of natural light to all internal patients,” she said, with a color scheme “specifically selected to support the healing process.”

 

aglantz@baycitizen.org

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Returning Women Veterans Face Challenges in a System Designed for Men

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Team VCS

Returning women veterans face challenges in a system designed for men

March 19, 2012 (PRI) – Almost eight percent of U.S. veterans are women, but the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is geared primarily toward men. That’s meant a lot of women veterans are homeless and living on the street — or on waiting lists for the services they need.

Women have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts in unprecedented numbers making up eight percent of U.S. veterans.

Both in deployment and at home, female veterans face challenges their male counterparts don’t. That includes a Veterans Affairs department that’s just beginning to figure out how to take care of them.

Jackie K’s House is a small duplex cottage run by a non-profit called Soldier On, at the VA in Leeds, Mass. It’s one of only a handful of homeless shelters exclusively for women vets. And there’s often a waiting list to get in.

“There’s a lot of trauma in the house, and a lot of PTSD,” said social worker Laurie McGrath.

It’s not easy for 11 homeless veteran women to live together. But life at this shelter offers a respite from the streets. It offers security. And there’s an almost homelike atmosphere. But despite constant efforts to make the house feel like a home, McGrath said reality is the women here are suffering, badly.

“They aren’t choosing to live with these people. And they come in in crisis and even something as simple as a door slamming can trigger somebody,” she said.

Somebody like 21-year old Christianna Carrero, who enlisted in the Army National Guard at 17 during her senior year in high school. She said she was star struck by the military. She liked the uniforms, the parades, the marching, the guns. She figured the military would put her though college and provide job security. And then the letter arrived.

She shipped out to Iraq in July 2009. Once there, she found even the basics were hard. There’s a requirement for women soldiers to travel in twos at all times; and one day she and her battle buddy tried to get into the bathroom. But the door was locked.

“The men’s bathroom wasn’t locked,” Carrero said. “It was just the women’s bathroom. And they didn’t even try to sugar coat it. (They said) ‘yeah we’ve had a couple of rapes so that’s what we had to do.’”

Carrero was given a combination code for the bathroom door.

“I’m like, oh, but all the men in the housing authority know it. That makes me feel safe,” she said. “You better believe that I showered with my rifle on the towel hook.”

Then there’s the fear and anxiety caused simply by being in a war zone. You don’t see people with half of their bodies blown off in a regular hospital in a city.

Amy, who preferred not to use her last name, did three tours in Iraq. She said none of her experiences as an emergency room trauma nurse in the states prepared her for wartime medicine, beginning with her first patient.

“We removed a body from the stretcher that they were on (and moved it) to our hospital stretcher, and his arm came off. And I kinda stood there bewildered. Somebody ran up to me and grabbed it out of my hand,” Amy said. “Within two weeks I was, like, ‘Oh, body parts, I need a red bag.’ You just become very hardened and very used to it really quick because you have to.”

Amy said she started drinking heavily in Iraq. Alcohol was officially banned, though she claims it was easily available. But it wasn’t a problem through the three tours. Then she got home.

“My kids would come up to me and look at my soda and say ‘mommy can I have a sip or is there booze in there?’ ” she said.

Amy suffered from PTSD, but, like so many of her peers, was in denial. She got into trouble at home. And at work.

Amy ended up trying to commit suicide, lost her nursing license and was thrown in jail after three DUI arrests. She’s staying at Jackie K’s House on parole.

In addition to the stresses of being a soldier, Amy said women are often preyed upon by their male colleagues. A big part of the problem, for Amy and the others, is that they’re women. And there’s often nowhere to turn. Once home, women find the VA is a bastion of care for male vets. But not for women. Or families. And while things are changing, officials acknowledge many of the improvements fall short.

Connecticut’s Commissioner of Veterans Affairs, Linda Schwartz, said: “There are too many women willing to serve, and they are doing a good job, and they’re very important to the whole defense posture of this nation.”

Schwartz said post-combat problems aren’t unique to women, but they do hit women especially hard. And that’s why shelters like Jackie K’s House are needed. Not only is the shelter exclusively for women, but all the employees are women. Schwartz said this is vital to the women’s recovery.

“You can’t mainstream them and say, ‘OK, you’re going to in there and sit with these men.’ More than 25 percent of the women in the military have experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault. We need to maintain the special clinics,” Schwartz said. “There are too many women willing to serve and they are doing a good job and they are too important to the defense posture of this nation.”

But that’s not the message being heard by thousands of homeless women veterans who leave the military and find the doors shut on what they had hoped would be a soldier’s welcome home.

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Lautenberg Intros Bipartisan Veterans’ Education Bill

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Team VCS

March 20, 2012 (NJToday) – U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and five of his Senate colleagues  have introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at providing every veteran who  receives educational assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)  with the counseling services needed to make informed decisions about their  education. The legislation is co-sponsored by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Scott  Brown (R-MA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jeff Merkley  (D-OR).

“If we don’t follow through on the promise of the G.I. Bill and ensure our  veterans are succeeding in school, then its benefits are greatly diminished,” said Lautenberg, an Army veteran and beneficiary of the original G.I. Bill. “The  G.I. Bill can only be fully effective if veterans have the tools needed to  choose the school that is right for them. Today’s veterans have made tremendous  sacrifices for our country and they deserve a quality education in gratitude for  their service.”

Recent reports have indicated veterans at some educational institutions are  persuaded to enroll by unscrupulous or deceitful marketing tactics and are never  given the quality education they are promised. However, many veterans may not be  aware of counseling services offered by the VA designed to help them navigate  the educational process. Last year, fewer than 6,500 beneficiaries of VA  educational assistance—out of hundreds of thousands receiving these  benefits—requested assistance and under current law only those who request help  can receive counseling services.

The “GI Educational Freedom Act of 2012” would address these issues by  providing comprehensive educational counseling to all veterans eligible for  educational benefits. In addition, this bill would establish a tracking system  at the VA for veterans to report instances of waste, fraud, and abuse at their  schools to ensure veterans are receiving quality education. A copy of the bill  language can be found on Lautenberg’s website.

Rubio said, “Providing our veterans with the benefits of the G.I. Bill when  they return is important, but it is just as important to help them use these  opportunities in an effective way. I am proud to cosponsor the G.I. Educational  Freedom Act which would help guide our returning men and women with educational  counseling services so they make informed college decisions.”

“We have an obligation to provide both veterans and active duty members with  the tools they need to make sound decisions about their education,” said Brown. “While there are many educational options for those who sacrifice so much, we  need to make sure that these important assistance programs are held to the  highest standards of quality. By ensuring veterans have access to counseling  services and information to make informed decisions, this bill is a good  starting point for putting service members on a course for future success.”

“It’s one thing to fight a war. Our veterans shouldn’t have to come home and  fight for quality education,” said Mikulski, a member of the Senate Military  Family Caucus. “The Post-9/11 GI Bill represents America’s commitment to those  who have served our nation. This bill will help honor that commitment by giving  veterans the counseling they need to make sure they have the information they  need to make a sound decision and are protected from scams and schemes. Veterans  earned these benefits and they deserve the best educational opportunity  available to them find a job, or get a better job than they had in the past. I  want America’s veterans to know that America supports them.”

“Arming our veterans with key information about their educational benefits  and options empowers them to make an informed decision about which school best  meets their needs,” said Harkin. “And by creating a student complaint system,  this pro-consumer legislation also takes an important step at safeguarding both  veterans and taxpayers from fraud, waste, and abuse. These are common-sense,  basic measures for protecting the integrity of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill.”

“The G.I. Bill is a powerful tool. It helped create the middle class. It laid  the pathway to good-paying jobs for millions of Americans. We must ensure that  the veterans who have served our country so admirably and honorably have all the  information they need to make best-use of the G.I. Bill,” Merkley said.

The bill is supported by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the Iraq and  Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and the Military Officers Association of  America (MOAA).

“The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill could be the transformative benefit for today’s  service members and veterans, but the VFW believes that we must ensure that our  veterans have all the tools they need to succeed in higher education. This bill  will do just that,” said VFW Executive Director Bob Wallace. “Through just a few  simple steps, we can ensure that student-veterans are armed with the best  information to make an academic choice, and that they can take action when a  school doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain. This bipartisan bill presents  some common sense, easy-to-implement solutions that will help our  student-veterans succeed in higher education without restricting their choice of  schools or placing unreasonable burdens on campuses that open their doors to  student-veterans.”

“IAVA supports the GI Educational Freedom Act of 2012. Making sound  educational choices is at the heart of veterans’ ability to succeed as students  and receive the job training and education necessary to position them for  success in the civilian workforce. Currently, gaining access to clear and  consistent information is difficult: either it does not exist or, when it does,  is difficult to find and understand,” said Paul Rieckhoff, Founder and Executive  Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). “Many veterans also  do not have the tools available to evaluate their educational options and take  full advantage of their educational benefits, including the GI Bill. Further  confusing the issue are the efforts of some schools who engage in deceptive  recruiting practices. They’re failing to deliver the quality job training,  skills, or education that our country promised our veterans, leaving many with  nothing to show for the time, effort and money that they expended. IAVA refuses  to let these practices and outcomes jeopardize the entire future of the New GI  Bill which we fought so hard for.”

“MOAA strongly supports measures to strengthen counseling opportunities and  establish a complaint resolution process for veterans using their GI Bill  benefits after service to the nation,” said MOAA president VADM Norb Ryan  (USN-Ret). “MOAA believes these actions can help our veterans’ readjustment and  protect the integrity of new GI Bill benefits Senator Lautenberg strongly  supported for Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. MOAA pledges its full support for  early enactment of the GI Educational Freedom Act.”

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