“Many of them are going through multiple deployments, and they’re just kids.’’
"Safe at home; After Red Sox visits to Walter Reed, team foundation and MGH launch effort to help struggling war veterans" by Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff | September 17, 2009
Safe at home? A shattered soul, but safe at home 'cause the Sawx are helping out? Am I the only one offended?
The Boston Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital will announce today the launch of a $6 million program to treat the rising number of men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries and to encourage reluctant veterans to seek services....
The Red Sox Foundation and Mass. General each have promised to raise at least $3 million over three years; the Red Sox also will produce an unspecified number of public service announcements....
I guess that's not such a bad kickback after TRILLIONS were invested in starting and keeping this thing going!
Dr. John Parrish, a Mass. General physician and Vietnam veteran who has suffered from post-traumatic stress, will head the Home Base Program. He said the rate of the disorder among veterans today appears to be much higher than for men returning from Vietnam.
Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan “had multiple deployments and were in constant danger from roadside bombs,’’ he said. “There was no safe place, even if you had a desk job.’’
He's not serious, right? He's not comparing desk work to field risk, is he?
***********************
Many veterans in the rehabilitation unit for amputees also suffered from post-traumatic stress. One patient did not want to leave his room, so he gave his baseball cap and glove to his mother, who asked catcher Jason Varitek to sign them for her son, said Dr. Laurence Ronan of Mass. General, chief internist for the Red Sox, who accompanied the team. Pitching coach John Farrell visited a neighbor’s son, who was in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury, Ronan said.
Look at what the lies have done to our people, 'murka. When you going to get mad and DEMAND that these things END RIGHT NOW?!!!!!
A number of studies have found that post-traumatic stress, an anxiety disorder some people develop after experiencing a life-threatening traumatic event, and traumatic brain injuries are rampant among veterans returning from the Middle East.
Of the more than 1.6 million troops deployed since October 2001, nearly 20 percent report symptoms of post-traumatic stress or major depression, and 20 percent have possible traumatic brain injuries, according to a report from the Rand Corporation in April 2008.
The Rand report estimated that almost half of the 300,000 military service members who had returned home with symptoms of post-traumatic stress or depression had not sought treatment.
Navy Chief Petty Officer Bryan Zimmerman, 36, said he delayed getting help because he was scared of harming his Navy career. Unlike in most civilian jobs, commanders in the military are told when a subordinate is being treated for medical or emotional problems, he said.
Zimmerman, who lives in Rhode Island and appears in the first public service announcement with Wakefield, was a physician’s assistant in the battle of Fallujah in November and December 2004, some of the heaviest urban combat US Marines have experienced.
Also see: Memory Hole: Willie Pete
Zimmerman took care of injured Marines in the city, meaning he was exposed to constant enemy fire. He was able to save 30 Marines who had life-threatening injuries, but 22 in his unit died.
“When I first came back, I felt normal, as if I were just like everyone else,’’ he said. But several years later, he became aggressive and violent toward his family and his co-workers at a medical clinic in Newport....
--more--"
That's the price of glory, right?
"Children of war dead to receive honor" by Associated Press | September 18, 2009
WASHINGTON - “This tribute is intended to show families that their fellow Americans care about their loss,’’ said Carmella LaSpada, commission director.
--more--"You know what would honor them more?
BRINGING the TROOPS HOME RIGHT NOW so we DO NOT LOSE ANYONE ELSE to this LIE!
We are going to be PAYING for BUSH'S LIES for DECADES anyway, so you MIGHT AS WELL END IT NOW, this minute, Obama!
