A Message Of Support From U.S. Vets To The Victims Of The Boston Marathon Bombings

 

From CNN: CNN's Barbara Starr reports on a group of military veterans who as amputees have a message of support for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. They created a video to raise money for the Boston victims, survivors and their families.

How Our War Wounded Is Turning A Generation Of Young Wives Into Full Time Caregivers

Ashley Wise — Battling BARE. Facebook via Battling Bare

The Army Is Turning A Generation Of Young Wives Into Full Time Caregivers -- Business Insider

Army wives stepped forward Tuesday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference to explain the continued struggle they face in rehabilitating their spouses injured in war and the challenges that remain working with Warrior Transition Units.

The Army created Warrior Transition Units to assist in making the wounded warriors’ journey to their “new normal” as smooth and productive as possible.

The Army currently operates 29 WTUs across the country.

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My Comment: My heart goes out to these families, because I know what they are going through. My father was not injured in combat, but he did suffer a stroke that completely paralyzed his left side .... putting him into a chronic care facility. Everyday my mother would arrive in the morning and stay with him until after supper where I would then visit my dad and give my mom a lift back home. With the exception of my brother's marriage in California, she did this routine everyday for 7 years. And when my father finally passed away .... on that day I told my mom that she did her duty, she was now free, and she can now enjoy a new life .... which thankfully she has been doing for almost 8 years now. For many of these young wives .... that day may not come for decades.

The Story Of One Wounded Soldier's Journey

Nick Staback, who lost both of his legs to a bomb in Afghanistan, talks with his mother, Maria Staback, in Scranton, Pa. Maria Staback took a leave of absence from her job to move in with her son while he was recuperating at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington, D.C.. David Gilkey/NPR

Vet Walks On New Legs, With A Little Help From Mom -- NPR

On furlough from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center this summer, 21-year-old Nick Staback lounges on his parents' back porch in Scranton, Pa., taking potshots at sparrows with a replica sniper rifle. The long plastic gun fires pellets that mostly just scare the birds away.

It's been a tough year for Staback since his last foot patrol in Afghanistan.

"We [were] just channeling down a beaten trail, of course, you just don't know what's on it," he says. "We had the mine sweepers out front and everything like that."

The area was littered with homemade bombs and everyone knew it.

"I was kind of looking where I was going to step, make sure I was going to step in my buddy's footprint kind of thing," he says. "But I guess it was just the wrong time, the wrong place."

The bomb threw Staback high in the air; he landed on his back in a state of shock.

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My Comment: A moving story of one's soldier's 'journey' back to recovery.

Beware Of Charities For Disabled Vets

IRS Forms Show Charity's Money Isn't Going To Disabled Vets -- CNN

Birmingham, Alabama (CNN) -- A national charity that vows to help disabled veterans and their families has spent tens of millions on marketing services, all the while doling out massive amounts of candy, hand sanitizer bottles and many other unnecessary items to veteran aid groups, according to a CNN investigation.

The Disabled Veterans National Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., and founded in 2007, received about $55.9 million in donations since it began operations in 2007, according to publicly available IRS 990 forms.

Yet according to the DVNF's tax filings with the IRS, almost none of that money has wound up in the hands of American veterans.

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My Comment: My blood boils when I read stories like this one.

Lieutenant Dan Finds A New Role In Life

Disabled Troops Inspire Gary Sinise To Give Back -- 60 Minutes/CBS News

(CBS News) Actor Gary Sinise has spent decades performing on stage and screen, but he's probably best known for a single role: Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump. In the film, he portrays an Army officer who loses both legs in Vietnam, a character that made Sinise something of a patron saint to real-life amputees. Inspired by their heroism, Sinise co-founded the Lt. Dan Band to entertain U.S. troops and raise money for gravely wounded warriors. David Martin speaks with Sinise about his efforts, and with the veterans and their families whose lives he's changed.

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My Comment: An incredibly moving video.

Another Story Of True Grit

Quadruple Amputee Undergoes Surgery After Afghanistan Blast -- FOX News

An Army soldier who lost his arms and legs during his third tour in Afghanistan last week underwent surgery Monday as supporters from around the globe offer prayers and messages of hope on a family website.

Army Staff Sgt. Travis Mills, of Vassar, Mich., was injured when he stepped on an IED April 10 while serving with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. He is recuperating at a hospital in Germany and hopes to return stateside on Tuesday, three days after his 25th birthday, his father told FoxNews.com.

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My Comment: I am speechless.

David Wood Of The Huffington Post Wins A Pulitzer Prize For His 10 Part Series "Beyond The Battlefield"

Photo: David Wood

Huffington Post Awarded Pulitzer Prize -- Huffington Post

NEW YORK -- Huffington Post senior military correspondent David Wood has spent decades covering war, watching as wounded combat troops are loaded onto medical evacuation helicopters and, he said, "go off in a cloud of dust." But after their sacrifice on the battlefield, Wood said, "you never know what happened to them."

So for eight months this past year, Wood reported extensively on the lives of severely wounded veterans and their families in "Beyond the Battlefield", a 10-part series awarded Monday with the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting. Wood's Pulitzer marks the first win for the seven-year-old Huffington Post and a milestone in the influential Pulitzer committee's recognition of online-only news organizations.

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My Comment: I have been reading David Wood's columns for years, and it is a joy to see him receive this recognition.

"Beyond The Battlefield" is what he is being recognized for, and it is a 10 part series that examines the lives of our wounded soldiers when they return home for treatment and recuperation. This is an excellent piece of work, and it can be viewed here.

Afghanistan's Wounded Struggle With Genital Injuries

Beyond The Battlefield: Afghanistan's Wounded Struggle With Genital Injuries -- Huffington Post

Before they went off to fight in Afghanistan, the guys of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines talked quietly about their deepest fear. Not dying. Not losing a leg or an arm.

It was having their genitals ripped off, burned away or crushed in the fiery blast of an improvised explosive device.

This was no idle concern to young men bursting with testosterone. The makeshift bombs known as IEDs are taking a frightening toll in Afghanistan, the blasts shearing off arms and legs, ripping through soft flesh, crushing organs and bone, and driving dirt, rocks and filth deep into torn flesh -- often leaving the genitals shredded or missing. Some guys said they'd rather be dead.

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My Comment: My father told me the same thing when I got him once to talk about his Second World War experiences .... his nightmare scenario was to lose a limb, his sight, or his genitals.

Taking Care Of Our Wounded Warriors

Photo: Marine Lance Cpl. Juan Dominguez, one of the patients at Naval Medical Center San Diego. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

After Severe War Injuries, A New Battlefield -- L.A. Times

Troops with severe war injuries such as multiple limb loss face a long and difficult rehabilitation. Naval Medical Center San Diego is where some learn a new way of life.

Reporting from San Diego — Marine Lance Cpl. Juan Dominguez has come a long way since October, when a roadside bomb in Afghanistan ripped off his legs above the knees and shredded his right arm above the elbow.

A Navy corpsman, part of the same patrol, kept Dominguez from bleeding to death and wisely refused his pleas for morphine, lest he go into shock. Then there was the Navy doctor at nearby Forward Operating Camp Dwyer who "wouldn't let me die" and the intensive care he received at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

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Update #1: Naval Medical Center San Diego steps forward for 'wounded warriors' -- L.A. Times
Update #2: Wounded warriors on the ballfield (Photo Gallery) -- Washington Post

My Comment: The above picture puts everything into perspective .... don't complain about all the difficult things in life .... others have it far worse.

War Amputations Rising Among U.S. Soldiers Wounded In War Zones

Report Reveals Steep Increase In War Amputations Last Fall -- Washington Post

The majority of American soldiers undergoing amputation for war wounds last fall lost more than one limb, according to data presented Tuesday to the Defense Health Board, a committee of experts that advises the Defense Department on medical matters.

Military officials had previously released data showing that amputations, and especially multiple-limb losses, increased last year. The information presented to the 20-member board is the first evidence that the steepest increase occurred over the last four months of the year.

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My Comment: This is a disturbing report on our soldiers who are injured and crippled by ieds.... read it all.

We Are Failing Our Wounded Veterans .... Again

Fabiene Uran of Bellevue, Washington, spends many hours taking care of her wounded soldier son Matthew Uran, who received a brain injury from an army helicopter crash in Kuwait. Peter Haley / Tacoma News Tribune / MCT

Families Of Severely Wounded Veterans Still Waiting For Help -- McClatchy News

WASHINGTON — Fabienne Uran quit her job after her son, Matthew, broke his neck and fractured his skull and pelvis in a helicopter crash in the Kuwaiti desert in 2005.

Now she takes care of the former pilot on a full-time basis. For her efforts, she figures she should get paid at least $600 a week by federal taxpayers.

"I'm modest about my expectations," said Uran, 60, of Bellevue, Wash.

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My Comment: I cannot even come close to imagining how difficult it must be for the families to take care of their loved ones .... everyday.

An Investigative Series On Wounded Soldiers

Wounded U.S. Army soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division are moved for evacuation in Kamdesh, Afghanistan, after suffering shrapnel wounds to their eyes and foreheads in a fire fight with Islamic militants. Xinhuanet

Investigative Series on Wounded Warriors (Updated)-- Small Wars Journal

SWJ friend, Carl Prine, recently published an investigative series on wounded warriors for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Thousands of sick and wounded soldiers within the Army's Warrior Transition program aren't receiving psychological care they need and are being discharged into communities ill-prepared to help them. A nine-month investigation by the Tribune-Review, buttressed by documents passed to the newspaper by soldiers and the Pentagon's Office of Wounded Warrior Care & Transition Policy in Alexandria, Va., reveal an Army reeling from an epidemic of mental and behavioral health problems after nearly a decade of constant combat overseas.

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My Comment: An excellent series from the Small Wars Journal. Read it all.

We Are Failing Our Wounded Soldiers

Photo: Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Noel Koch

Documents Show Army's Disservice To Broken Soldiers -- Pittsburgh Tribune Review

WASHINGTON — The Army's special medical units should be healing more than 9,300 soldiers entrusted to their care.

But a nine-month probe by the Tribune-Review found America's sick and injured soldiers must struggle to mend inside 38 Warrior Transition units the Army has turned into dumping grounds for criminals, malingerers and dope addicts.

Originally designed to treat the wounded from twin wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, after nearly a decade of battle these barracks snag soldiers in red tape. Despite an epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, brain injuries and substance abuse linked to repeated combat deployments, soldiers sometimes spend years despera

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My Comment: A sobering article on what is the state of medical care for many of our soldiers. Read it all.

Hat Tip: Small Wars Journal

A Third Of Wounded U.S. Soldiers Are Addicted To Drugs

Photo: Traumatic: U.S. soldiers help a wounded comrade after they were struck by an IED in Afghanistan (file photo).

Up To 35% Of Wounded Soldiers Addicted To Drugs -- USA Today

Medical officials estimate that 25% to 35% of about 10,000 ailing soldiers assigned to special wounded-care companies or battalions are addicted or dependent on drugs — particularly prescription narcotic pain relievers, according to an Army inspector general's report made public Tuesday.

The report also found that these formations known as Warrior Transition Units — created after reports detailed poorly managed care at Walter Reed Army Hospital— have become costly way stations where ill, injured or wounded soldiers can wait more than a year for a medical discharge.

Read more ....

More News On This Growing Addiction Problem

Report: 1/3 of warrior-unit soldiers addicted -- UPI
Problems in Army’s Trauma Units -- New York Times
Report: Many Wounded Army Soldiers Are Drug-Dependent -- Kasllink.com
Drug Addictions Affecting Wounded Soldiers -- EMaxHealth

My Comment: Only 35%? I expected the percentage to be much higher.

Another Outrage To Our Wounded Vets

The Pentagon's New Disservice To Soldiers -- Leslie H. Gelb, Daily Beast

Recently, the Pentagon was called out by me and by others for failing to get its new brain trauma facility in Bethesda fully up and running. Now they've responded to our criticisms—with typical Byzantine bureaucracy and towering ineptitude.

You would think that the Pentagon brass would be expediting the full opening of a new brain trauma facility in Bethesda, Maryland. After all, there's been a stirring front page story in the Washington Post by Greg Jaffe about the innumerable sufferers, there have been entreaties from top commanders in the field, and there was my own Daily Beast blog echoing the plaintive “Where are they now?” question from the facility’s chief fundraiser, addressed to all those officials who had two years to ready this facility and did not get the job done.

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My Comment: What can I say but another outrage against our wounded soldiers.

Wounded Vet Billed For $3K By The U.S. Military For Equipment He Lost When He Was Shot In Iraq

Shot By Sniper In Iraq, Billed For $3K By Military In U.S. -- KVAL.com

LEBANON, Ore. -- A former Oregon National Guard soldier and Purple Heart recipient is being billed for military-issued equipment he believes was lost in Iraq after he was shot and evacuated from the country.

Gary Pfleider II feels disrespected by the charges. He said he lost sight of the gear when he left Iraq and believes he should not be responsible for it now.

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Hat Tip: Theo Spark

My Comment: Unbelievable .... completely unbelievable. And my friends wonder why I am always skeptical when it comes to U.S. treatment for our wounded.

A Las Vegas Salute To Our Wounded Warriors

Sen. John Ensign mingles with veterans and active duty military personnel after speaking to a group of injured veterans who were invited for a four-night stay at the Venetian. Elf Buchholz

Veterans Get Las Vegas Salute At Venetian’s ‘Pounded Warrior’ Event -- Las Vegas Sun

The Great Hall at the Venetian was lined with shouting, sign-carrying employees, but this was no organized labor demonstration.

It was Veterans Day and for the fourth straight year, Las Vegas Sands employees, from the public-meeting desk personnel to housekeeping staff, lined up from the front entrance to the outdoor lagoon to create a path for the day’s honorees — 70 “wounded warriors” and their families and friends.

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My Comment: These little things are so important .... these experiences will last a life time.

U.S. Military Sees Increase In Wounded In Afghanistan

From NPR/AP:

Far from winding down, the numbers of wounded U.S. soldiers coming home have continued to swell. The problem is especially acute among those who fought in Afghanistan, where nearly four times as many troops were injured in October as a year ago.

Amputations, burns, brain injuries and shrapnel wounds proliferate in Afghanistan, due mostly to crude, increasingly potent improvised bombs targeting U.S. forces. Others are hit by snipers' bullets or mortar rounds.

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My Comment: The numbers are just staggering .... and they show no letting up.

Disabled Vets And The Healing Power Of Music

(Courtesy Of Musicorps)

In the Key of Healing at Walter Reed -- Washington Post

A Composer Offers a Lesson in the Creativity That Could Help Wounded Vets

Two years ago, someone called up Arthur Bloom with an unusual request: A badly wounded soldier, a former drummer, wanted to start playing music again. Trouble was, he'd lost a leg in Iraq and couldn't use his old drum kit. Did Bloom have any ideas?

As it happened, Bloom did have some ideas. He is a classically trained pianist who can mix a rap song, a composer whose work has been performed by the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Def Jam records and everything in between. Tinkering with musical instruments is the kind of thing he does for fun. Bloom went to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, met the drummer and rigged up a drum set. Then he went back -- again, and then again -- until finally he founded a program, Musicorps, designed to teach music to disabled soldiers. It wasn't just the appeal of "helping veterans" that drew Bloom in. It was also what he learned about what one of his proteges has memorably described as "the healing power of death metal."

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My Comment: The inspiration that these men and women give should be a beacon for all of us to follow.

Is The British Government Mistreating Its Wounded Soldiers?

Government To Cut Wounded Soldiers’ Awards -- Times Online

The government will this week launch an attempt to deny soldiers crippled in battle full compensation for their injuries.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will go to the Court of Appeal on Tuesday to try to slash the compensation awarded to two injured soldiers by up to 70%. If the government wins, it will fuel the mounting disquiet over the relatively paltry payments some soldiers are receiving for lifelong injuries.

The legal action comes as British troops are suffering their heaviest casualties since the beginning of the conflict in Afghanistan in 2001.

Yesterday a soldier from the 40th Regiment Royal Artillery became the 20th to die this month, and the 189th overall, when he was killed in an explosion in Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.

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My Comment: The U.K. Labor Party is out of touch .... I am surprise that their popularity is not in the single digits. I can now understand why the rate for re-enlistment in the British military is so low .... who would want to sign up with the expectation that this is how you are going to be treated.

Update #1: The Army’s Been Hit by Brown’s Unfriendly Fire -- Michael Portillo, The Times opinion

Update #2: We Owe a Debt to the War Wounded -- The Times editorial.