This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Veterans Issues

  • A Different Kind Of Stolen Valor

    viet-of-the-namPhoto by Rocklin Lyons

    Here’s a guest post from our very own Perry Gaskins. Perry was kind enough to school me a bit in copyrights, fair use, and protection of original expressions. I really appreciated that, and I try to walk with the angels in my posts. I can count on Perry to smack me if I stray.

    It’s no secret the news media has its fair share of hustlers, scoundrels, and fools. Still, only rarely does the press cross over to taking on the military in a personal manner. In a recent piece in Salon the writer Lucian K. Truscott IV comments on the recent resignation of Secretary of Defense James Mattis with a story titled Good riddance to James Mattis, Trump’s last general:

    Salon Link

    According to Salon’s own bio, Truscott is a graduate of West Point. Woven into the Mattis hit piece are also minor factoids about how Truscott was also once a platoon leader which is apparently supposed to show Truscott’s bonafides as a member of the warrior clan and resident Salon expert on things military.

    But here’s the thing: What the Salon bio doesn’t show is that Lucian K. Truscott IV did indeed graduate from West Point in 1969, and was stationed at Fort Carson for the next 13 months. Then when it apparently became likely that Truscott would be shipped to Viet Nam, our future Salon scribbler resigned his commission and received a discharge “under other than honorable conditions.” Evidently, and without putting too fine a point on it, when Truscott couldn’t be a REMF anymore, he decided to be a coward.

    Such a biographical omission, at least it seems to me, makes Truscott’s hypocrisy in the Mattis piece remarkable. What the piece also does is point out that not all stolen valor posers are those wearing a blinged-out biker vest, a do-rag, and hugging an emotional support dog. Sometimes they can hide in plain sight.

    And that would probably be more-or-less okay in the overall kharmic scheme of things, except that when the Army kicked Truscott to the curb, he didn’t fade into the background. Instead, he’s spent decades making a living by being a leftist press go-to guy for military issues. First at the Village Voice and now at Salon. Along the way, he’s also written six books. Most of those apparently having a military theme where Truscott is able to cash in on his West Point experience. Because, or so Truscott and Salon would apparently have you believe, being a graduate of West Point is the same as, like James Mattis, spending decades in active service.

    My own view is that Lucian K. Truscott IV, on his best day, isn’t qualified to shine James Mattis’ shoes. And the real mystery is why Salon pretends otherwise.

  • Last Ride for Rolling Thunder

    rolling thunder salute
    By William Vitka

    A massive annual motorcycle rally staged in Washington will end next year, with organizers citing a lack of law enforcement cooperation and “increased harassment to supporters” as reasons for stopping the 31-year-old tradition.

    Rolling Thunder began in Washington in 1987 after Artie Muller, who served in the Vietnam War as an infantry sergeant, sought to call attention to veterans in need and prisoners of war.

    In a statement Thursday, Muller said Rolling Thunder XXXII, scheduled for 2019’s Memorial Day weekend, would be “the final Thunder Run in D.C.”

    “We had so many problems in the last two or three years with the [Pentagon Police] and the parking facilities after we leave the Pentagon parking lot,” Rolling Thunder, Inc. board member Gus Dante told WTOP.

    After the 2019 run, “We are going to do it in our local areas, various states,” he said.

    It’s now up to the 90 chapters themselves to independently put rides together. For example, the New Jersey chapters can team up with Pennsylvania and New York, and maybe part of New England, and gather at a centralized location.

    Dante says there are a lot of members who believe independent organization will work out even better than Washington.

    He believes future rides will be “more personal” and get “more coverage” for veterans issues.

    “Let’s face it, we got coverage for a few seconds in D.C. and that was the end of it,” Dante told WTOP.

    The reason the ride exists is to raise money and awareness for veteran issues.

    Love them or consider them a mobile road block, you have to admit they got the message out, in a loud and visible way. I hope the independents can carry on with this and the other escort services they render. Yes, I rode a bike for some 40 years, so I’m hardly unbiased.
    Keep the shiny side up,
    AW1

    Read the rest of the article here at: WTOP 5

  • Female Veterans Quietly Struggle With Sexual Harassment, Suicide

    Female Veterans Quietly Struggle With Sexual Harassment, Suicide

    Female veterans are almost twice as likely to kill themselves as civilian women.

    Pfc. Nichole Bowen-Crawford said she was walking to lunch on her Army base near Nasiriyah, Iraq, in 2003 when she received her daily proposition from a passing fellow soldier.

    “Hey, Bowen,” the officer tossed out, “let’s go f— in the bunker.”

    Bowen-Crawford told VOA that while this was the most shocking example of the day-to-day regimen of verbal sexual harassment she experienced while in the Army between 2001-2004, it was not her worst experience — she had been assaulted by a higher-ranking sergeant earlier that year.

    When she reported the incident to a male supervisor, she was advised to stay quiet for the sake of her career.

    Ummm… No Pfc. Nichole Bowen-Crawford I do not believe you.  An “officer” that said such a thing to anyone let alone a Private would find his and or her ass in deep shit.   The probability that an Officer cares less about their “career” than a Private does is nonsense.

     

    “Certainly a mental health diagnosis like PTSD is a risk factor for suicide,” said Megan McCarthy, VA deputy director of suicide prevention. “Certainly, there’s some evidence that experiencing MST (Military Sexual Trauma) is associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, so those that have experienced MST are more likely to think about suicide and possibly more likely to attempt suicide.”

    McCarthy told VOA that the relationship between suicide and trauma is complex. The VA’s own research has shown that veterans who experience MST tend to be at higher risk for suicide. A 2016 VA survey of 60,000 veterans found that more than 41 percent of female veterans had experienced sexual harassment.

    Quoting, “The VA’s own research…” does not add any credibility to the matter.  We have seen so many of these Posturing for Profit studies its hard to believe anything they report.

     

    Women are not experiencing increased Sexual Harassment in the military.  That is simply not true.  Does it happen?  Sadly, yes it does.  What women in the military are experiencing is a lowering of the bar for what defines sexual harassment.

    How about one of those fancy studies to determine how many times during a woman’s career they use their sexuality for their own benefit.  Find me in a drunken stooper and I can give you a dozen examples off the top of my head.

    How about another one of those fancy studies to determine how many times some woman makes false claims.

    How about “they” do a study to see what the effects of making every veteran in the country a victim of something are and what that is doing to us as a Nation.

    You can read the rest of this Posturing for Profit nonsense at the link below.

     

    Source: Female Veterans Quietly Struggle With Sexual Harassment, Suicide

  • CBD is about to revolutionize the veteran community and PTSD, taking America by storm

    reefer
    Melissa Leon

    CBD is the latest product taking the United States by storm, and chances are you’ve probably already heard about it by now.

    The CBD market has grown so much that it has drawn in everyone from U.S. senators to multi-billion-dollar companies – and the veteran community, where it already has a huge following of vets who use the product to help with PTSD.

    Even Coca-Cola, the world’s largest soda company, released a statement earlier this year saying it is closely watching the growth of CBD “as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world,” leading to speculation of a future CBD-infused drink.

    The CBD market is expected to grow to $22 billion by 2022 – an astronomical growth compared to its expected $591 million this year.

    Many people already swear by CBD’s pain-relieving, anxiety-relieving properties, delivered without a “high” or any psychoactive effects on body functions. There are veterans who say it has helped them deal with anxiety and PTSD more than anything they can get prescribed by the VA or a doctor.

    Veterans’ Experience

    We spoke with several veterans who have experience using CBD oil, specifically to treat PTSD.

    U.S. Army veteran Mike Stedman said he was taking anti-depressant and anti-anxiety pills for PTSD after he got out of military in March 2017.

    A friend recommended CBD oil to him, so he tried it.

    “I tried and it said ‘wow, it’s actually really good,’” Stedman, 24, recently told American Military News.

    He has been taking it for about a year and six months, Stedman said, and he orders it online.

    “When I wasn’t taking it, I had really bad anxiety and was constantly on the alert. I’d go out to public places and it was too much,” Stedman explained.

    “I started taking it, and everything calmed down. I’m more tolerable in public places. I love flying again. I used to hate being in planes with other people,” he said.

    “The good thing about CBD is, it doesn’t get you high or anything. You have THC and CBD [from hemp] – there are two compounds. THC gets you high, but CBD is what helps you relax and takes your nerves away, makes you calm,” Stedman explained.

    Plus, you don’t get addicted to CBD oil, he pointed out.

    Any port in a storm. To read the entire artical (and you should) go to American Military News.

  • An “Unclaimed” Veteran’s Funeral

    In a nursing home in Ashland City on 4 November 2018, Leo Stokely died at age 69.

    Someone in a nursing home dying is not terribly uncommon. Given his age, neither is the fact that Stokely was a USMC veteran who’d done a tour in Vietnam.

    As a veteran Stokely was set to receive a military funeral, to be held on 9 November. Unfortunately, Stokely’s remains were unclaimed. None of his family members could be located.

    Enter the Cheatam County Veteran’s Service Office, and Bob Counter.

    Counter posted about the unfortunate turn of events on the organization’s Facebook page in an attempt to locate any of Stokely’s surviving family. In that, he was unsuccessful.

    However, Counter’s Facebook post went viral. And when Stokely’s funeral was held on a cold, rainy Friday . . . he had a proper send-off. Literally hundreds of individuals showed up to pay their respects to a man they didn’t know.

    Fox News has an article with a few more details. It’s short, and IMO worth a read.

    Thanks, Mr. Counter. Yeah, you were just “doing your job”. Thanks anyway.

  • Chutzpah? Yep. PTSD? Not So Much.

    Yeah, PTSD is real. And some people really are screwed up bigtime from it.

    But I have my doubts whether all PTSD claims are on the up-an-up. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out a large fraction are BS, either totally or in part.

    Why? Well, if the multiple doubtful cases previously presented here at TAH weren’t enough – here’s yet another reason.

    Short version: a guy named Michael Pecka from Fairport, NY, claimed to suffer from “PTSD”. He claimed it was due to “witnessing” and “helping investigate” two suicides while serving in Kuwait during 2004-2005. The experience supposedly left Pecka “traumatized,” and he filed disability claims with the VA twice on that basis, in 2011 and 2014.

    The VA granted Pecka compensation for his “PTSD” – to the tune of $3,000+ monthly. He eventually collected about $92,000 in tax-free VA disability compensation.

    Yeah, the words in quotes above are in quotes for a reason. When the VA OIG investigated Pecka’s case in detail, they found he didn’t witness either suicide or help with any investigations. Hell, he wasn’t even in the same country at the time one of the suicides occurred (the suicide in question occurred IVO Fort Drum while Pecka was deployed to Kuwait).

    Oh, and did I mention that Pecka had the gall to file the first of his claims with the VA while in prison on unrelated bank fraud charges? Color me “shocked, shocked” to find out that a convicted fraudster would attempt yet another fraud.

    Pecka recently pleaded guilty to making a false claim in connection with his VA disability application. He’s now facing a maximum possible sentence of 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He’s to be sentenced in Jan 2019.

    You can read more about the case in this article. Personally, I hope the judge gives this lying a-hole the absolute max sentence (and fine) allowed. I also hope the judge orders Pecka to pay restitution.

    We give the VA grief when they screw up. But here, the VA figured out that they were dealing with a Pecka-head sh!tbag – and nailed him to the wall.

    Kudos, VA OIG. Hopefully, this is just a start. Perhaps perusing this site’s archives would be helpful in the way of leads.

    —–

    Note: hat tip to frequent commenter AnotherPat for originally identifying the case in this comment to another article.

  • A Wounded Warrior’s message to students claiming PTSD from “election trauma”.

    A Wounded Warrior’s message to students claiming PTSD from “election trauma”.

    Many of us believe PTSD is being overdiagnosed at epidemic levels.

  • Army veteran withdraws from Kansas City mayor campaign to focus on depression and PTSD

    Army veteran withdraws from Kansas City mayor campaign to focus on depression and PTSD

     

     

    Jason Kander (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Getty Images)

    Jason Kander, army veteran, former Missouri secretary of state, and current Kansas City, Mo., mayoral hopeful, announced on Tuesday that he was withdrawing his candidacy. The reason for his withdrawal has sparked messages of support and kindness from people who want to see more attention paid to mental health awareness.

    Kander, a Democrat who was seen by many as the favorite to win the 2019 election, issued a statement on his websiteand his Facebook page announcing his decision to withdraw and to instead focus on his treatment for depression and PTSD.

    Kander served on a four-month tour in Afghanistan in 2006 as an army intelligence officer, investigating activities of al-Qaida and the Taliban. He told himself that he couldn’t “have PTSD … because [he] didn’t earn it.”

    Despite those feelings, four months ago he contacted the VA for help. “I went online and filled out the VA forms, but I left boxes unchecked — too scared to acknowledge my true symptoms. I knew I needed help and yet I still stopped short. I was afraid of the stigma. I was thinking about what it could mean for my political future if someone found out,” he wrote.

    He buried himself in his work, but despite becoming a best-selling author, leading an effective Let America Votecampaign, and finding out he was on track to raise more money than any Kansas City mayoral campaign ever had in a single quarter, Kander still found himself troubled enough to call the Veterans Crisis Line, where he acknowledged he had suicidal thoughts.

    “Instead of dealing with these issues, I’ve always tried to find a way around them. Most recently, I thought that if I could come home and work for the city I love so much as its mayor, I could finally solve my problems. I thought if I focused exclusively on service to my neighbors in my hometown, that I could fill the hole inside of me. But it’s just getting worse.

    So after 11 years of trying to outrun depression and PTSD symptoms, I have finally concluded that it’s faster than me. That I have to stop running, turn around, and confront it,” he wrote.

    He hopes that his honesty will help “veterans and everyone else across the country working through mental health issues realize that you don’t have to try to solve it on your own.” He added, “Most people probably didn’t see me as someone that could be depressed and have had PTSD symptoms for over decade, but I am and I have. If you’re struggling with something similar, it’s OK. That doesn’t make you less of a person.”

    Messages of support and gratitude are already pouring in.

    I do not know Jason Kander, I am glad he is seeking help.  I detest it when anyone makes a public spectacle out of being victimized by their service in the military.  I guess he will be seen as a humble hero for being so brave.  Raising “awareness” is a tough business.