Thank you

It looks (bloody) great!

Thank you SO much!

OpEd has come such a long way since I last posted an item, which was prior to the OpEd changes, regarding women on the rise from an "inner call". http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/print_friendly.php?
p=opedne_virginia_051102_women_and_the_civil_.htm

The ease of posting this to social websites was a breeze and very motivating. Rob has worked a wonder with this site!!

Wish I had stuck IAVA's website into the article though. They have worked SO damned hard. www.iava.com.

Also, my articles on PTSD, anxiety and so on run on www.taliaman.com, just click free articles.

Thank you for this opportunity to spout off! This really is a life and death issue.

Virginia

by ladybroadoak (38 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 391 comments) on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 8:36:59 AM
 

Thanks

Virginia:

 Thanks for the kind words - the URL is actually www.iava.org.

Ray Kimball

by Ray from IAVA (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 11:32:39 AM
 

National Council can help.

Virginia,

The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is on the issues surrounding PTSD. Granted, they aren't doing enough but the Council and its members are gearing up to do much more. Please see my article in OpEdNews.com and feel free to contact Meena Dyak [MeenaD@nccbh.org] at the Council for more information. In the meantime, please let me know what I can do through additional articles in OpEdNews to help you and others who are suffering from PTSD.

by Kenneth Briggs (126 articles, 88 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 111 comments) on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 3:37:27 PM
 

Is this ever nice to read!

I sincerely meant what I wrote .. the corrupted System is ignoring the leaders of tomorrow! And such a sick, sick planet they are being handed. They will lead IF they can heal their souls together.

I started reading about PTSD over 20 years ago, so I have maintained a very vigilant watch over all the literature and done the seminar circuit to ensure that I stay up to date as much as possible. I find it so disturbing that the APA and others are not doing their part in making this a front page item in the news day after day as it might. To put another entire generation though treatment limbo after what happened and was so clearly exposed during the Vietnam era seems of grave concern to me. We aren't talking about some mild form of depression here: we are exposing the ravages of PTSD. The APA has pulled out of Guantanamo after being ill-used, why were they not at the forefront of this treatment battle ..?

This conflict is so marked by the high numbers of critically wounded and the stats on this go largely "under the radar". To have your body torn to shreds AND be saddled with PTSD would be to my mind beyond endurance. Yet, this is going on with the direct knowledge of the military brass.

I remember things only got better for Veterans of Vietnam when the Secretary of Defense's son suffered the scourge of Agent Orange. What's it going to take for this administration to see that what they are doing to this generation?

So, yes, I am finger pointing. I am asking each and every segment of those who have responsibility for this horrific "oversight" to come to their responsibility.

The survivors of each and every war have their shell shock victims. We've been taught to demure to that old line -- "war is hell" and so it is. But this war adds a dimension that we have never ever seen before. Weapons of mass destruction available at any time during engagements. The use of depleted uranium in particular would trouble any mind that came near it or had anything to do with it. Are the treatment in these times keeping up with these developments ..? Not on the scale they need to be addressed. This puny new staff allotment is going to have to do an awful lot of homework to even begin to catch up with war as it is today.

I did not go into the details of what havoc this has caused in my own family. I don't intend to get into it here either. But I do want to say that I see HUGE treatment holes occuring, things that need URGENT address. I am lucky, damned lucky, my son is alive, but he is NOT well. I know how long it took to "reach me" when I finally had a chance for adequate treatment;it took many years for me to finally reclaim my soul after being rejected for the problems the PTSD caused me. This issue is a daily wound to my soul and to that of both my sons and into the next generation. It is a wound to all families who have to take the time to heal; many do not make it.

And next, the issue of addictions is SO very very important and this "round" of concessions is really too little, too late for many. To get vets into detox and started on real recovery must be the highest priority. The 24 hour wait for approval is so insuficient and so poorly considered that I am at a loss for words to describe it. Someone, somewhere is surely aware of what this implies.

Digging in our heels and demanding treatment NOW is absolutely vital. After the TRILLIONS of dollars spent on this ME carnage, the lack of regard for PTSD sufferers and/or those with addictions is absolutely savage. It cannot be tolerated. I was so full of apprehension for Jeans Cruz when I read about his "case" as I could see the deadly implications under the mass of details being reported. While it is hard to put a "face" on suffering when dealing with the multitude, this horrible rejection surely put a face on it.

I dream of a brighter tomorrow where we realize that we are all ONE: one people, one planet, one Mother Earth and we never fall into this situation again. But I am no New Age Pollyanna living in denial afraid to face the truth. There is real, very real suffering going on.

Let them with the pockets began to fund the healing! Let the corporations and other war profiteers put their money where their mouths are and cough up for adequate treatment. They can surely shell out the money. Even the mercenary soldiers blogs are full of complaints about the lack of rehabilitation options. Sad to say, we must shame those who stood to gain so much, as they are so little accountable.

Your comment is so much appreciated by me. I carry a very real, living wound each day and I weep by myself. I am willing to write whatever I am asked, write when I am NOT asked and say the things that must be said throughout the upcoming struggle. I am glad to have ALLIES in the healing. I think as we struggle with this, it will have implications far, far wider than any of us yet realizes ... the hurting must stop.

As I write this, the tears are flowing done my face, cacading from my eyes to the keyboard. They are tears of JOY. I am glad, so glad we can come together and discuss this. This is a trail not to be travelled alone., a trial not to be borne in silence, isolation and denial. I thank you for your comments from inside the most deep part of my heart.

by ladybroadoak (38 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 391 comments) on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 4:37:26 PM