Category Archives: Post

House Committee, seeking information from VA, subpoenas Shinseki

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By Daniel Moore, News21

Lawmakers say they cannot effectively hold the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs accountable because the agency has not responded to nearly 100 requests for information, some of them more than a year old.

The House Committee on Veterans Affairs on July 9 launched “Trials in Transparency,” a website that will keep track of requests for VA information.

“The leisurely pace with which VA is returning requests – and in some cases not returning them – is a major impediment to the basic oversight responsibilities of the committee,” according to a statement.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) also subpoenaed VA Secretary Eric Shinseki for more information from his August 2012 request, related to $6.1 million spent on training conferences for employees in 2011.

“After the personal assurances I received from Secretary Shinseki and the accommodations made by congressional investigators, there can be no excuse for the continued delay,” the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said in a statement.

Issa originally requested internal VA communications following an Inspector General report that revealed spending at two human resources conferences in Orlando, Fla., had “weak, ineffective, and in some instances, nonexistent” oversight from the VA. The report labeled at least $762,000 as “unauthorized, unnecessary, and/or wasteful expenses.”

Since then, the committee staff has called or emailed the VA more than 45 times, according to a press release.

The VA has declined to comment on the subpoena.

What We’re Reading, Week 8

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By Chad Garland, News21

Going Home (Chris Bloxom, 6/30, ESPN SportsCenter) Surprise military homecomings at sporting events seem to have become almost commonplace in the past decade and this six-minute ESPN video produced for the July 4th holiday shows why: they’re too touching to pass up.

Inside SportsCenter’s ‘Going Home’ video salute to soldiers’ family reunions at sports venues (Dan Quinn, 7/3, ESPN Front Row) Features producer Chris Bloxom wanted to add a structure to the string of YouTube video clips featuring military members reuniting with family members at sports events. Bloxom turned to the Army to find an Afghanistan veteran and his family to re-enact a homecoming as a way of creating what he called “intrigue.”

House veterans committee creates site to prod VA (Gregg Zoroya, 7/9, USA Today) Apparently frustrated with the amount of time it is taking the Department of Veterans Affairs to respond to its requests for information, the House Veterans Affairs Committee set up a website listing some of the nearly 100 requests the VA has not fulfilled, some dating back more than a year.

Over Water, Under Fire  (7/10, Powering a Nation) This interactive documentary special report produced by fellows at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill tells the story of the Colorado River. Text and graphics focus on the changes humans have made to the river and their impacts to the environment along America’s most endangered river, according to the American Rivers organization. These elements are woven into a video story about Army veterans traveling down the river together as a means of therapy and recovery.

Therapy dog aids veterans with PTSD

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By Bonnie Campo, News21

She rarely barks, but she always wags her tail as she enters some of the most difficult and darkened doorways of the Veterans Affairs Eastern Colorado Health Care System.

Elizabeth Holman demonstrates Waffle's ability to lean against patients on command, which Holman says brings comfort to PTSD patients at Denver's VA Medical Center. (Photo by Jake Stein, News21)

Elizabeth Holman demonstrates Waffle’s ability to lean against patients on command, which Holman says brings comfort to PTSD patients at Denver’s VA Medical Center. (Photo by Jake Stein, News21)

Waffle comes from a high pedigree of Labrador retrievers, but more importantly, she is the secondary caretaker for terminally ill veterans who are fighting their last battles. The 2-year-old pup also assists veterans who are newly returned home, those who have conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, and some who are just seeking a smile.

Waffle’s skill set includes responses to approximately 50 commands that range from her giving high-fives to opening doors for the disabled. Her handler, Elizabeth Holman, has worked four years for the Denver VA. Holman, a clinical psychologist, delivers palliative care, which focuses mainly on pain and stress.

Waffle offers an avenue for others to speak about their ailments, Holman said. She “can’t even imagine” what her practice would be like without Waffle, Holman said.

Dogs provide comfort, but they are no substitute for established PTSD treatment, according to the National Center of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a division of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Waffle quietly rests beside Elizabeth Holman in front of Denver's VA Medical Center. (Photo by Jake Stein, News21)

Waffle quietly rests beside Elizabeth Holman in front of Denver’s VA Medical Center. (Photo by Jake Stein, News21)

“Although people with PTSD who have a service dog or emotional support dog may feel comforted by the animal, there is some chance he or she may continue to believe that they cannot do certain things on their own,” according to the VA Center website. “Depending on a dog can get in the way of the recovery process for PTSD.”

Even though most veterans are on medications, this treatment is an alternative that Holman said seems to be working, especially for those who are seeking some immediate relief.

Holman cited studies that report simply petting an animal lowers patients’ blood pressure and stress.

“This is her mission,” Holman said.

Holman thinks that some wounded veterans cannot speak comfortably to doctors — who must continuously jot notes and make personal assessments — as they might interact with an animal, she said.

Waffle came from the Canine Companions program and has provided therapy since February. She already is greeted like a celebrity in about every room she enters.

“We didn’t name her, but someone said that it fits her because she melts the veterans heart like butter,” Holman said.

It is too soon to have a clear evidence base to prove whether therapy dogs are an effective treatment, according to the national PTSD Center website, but Holman said she can see the difference in her patients.

For now Waffle’s four paws will continue to march hallways in the hospital, dispensing happiness to new and old faces.

Army Sergeant uses music to combat PTSD

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By Bonnie Campo, News21

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/100358285″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

The Warrior Resilience Center at Fort Bliss, Texas, continues to explore multiple treatment options for post-traumatic stress disorder, while official and traditional treatment offer two options.

Doctors and clinicians at Fort Bliss treat active duty troops who primarily served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Treatment at the center is offered from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. in a program that lasts four weeks. Each day is tailored to the patient’s needs, said Vicki Thomas, who is chief of the Warrior Resilience Center.

Sgt. John Welsh finished the program June 21 and said that every day spent at the clinic encouraged him.

“I am about 65 percent recovered,” Welsh said. “But I have more hope now than I did when I began the program.”

Welsh benefited from his treatment, but because of his mental trauma will remain at Fort Bliss. Asked if he would be deployed, he said, “That’s not an option right now. I’m unfit for duty.”

That doesn’t mean Welsh will stop trying. He believes in the progress he has made, but he also advocates helping those who struggle with the same horrors and memories of war.

“A lot of soldiers ignore their problems until it becomes to much to bear; I was one of them,” Welsh said. “I am willing to do anything to help combat related trauma.”

And he has. Welsh produced a song for a friend in 2011, just two weeks before Welsh left for Iraq. That friend was Sgt. Brett Cornelius, who sustained a traumatic brain injury. One of the only things Cornelius can remember is his wife, so Welsh  took a poem Cornelius wrote for her and put it to music.

Welsh returned from Iraq nine months later with PTSD. Cornelius’s memory is approximately 15 minuets because of his TBI. But when they hear the song, Welsh said, they get to remember life before war, before the explosions, and before they were no longer fit to serve.

Through this act of kindness they both are heading toward success, just like the name of the song “On My Way.”

The song can be purchased on iTunes and proceeds from the song go directly to Sgt. Brett Cornelius and his family, minus legal and copyright expenses.

Oklahoma nonprofit helps veterans with claims

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By Kelsey Hightower, News21

A Goldsby, Okla.,-based nonprofit organization has assembled a national community of volunteers to help veterans and their families negotiate the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs claims process.

Veterans wait to talk to a volunteer at the Goldsby Community Center in Goldsby, Oklahoma. (Photo by Kelsey Hightower, News21)

Veterans wait to talk to a volunteer at the Goldsby Community Center in Goldsby, Oklahoma. (Photo by Kelsey Hightower, News21)

Every Thursday at Veterans Corner, which is south of Norman, Okla., former military from across the country get assistance in filing their disability claims. The setting is modest. Volunteers work quickly to unload tables, printers, and office supplies to set up Veterans Corner in the Goldsby Community Center. In minutes, an empty building is transformed into an office and waiting area for the average 150 walk-ins.

This has been the routine for five years.

Dale Graham, founder and director of Veterans Corner, said that the organization was established to help veterans who say the VA wasn’t helping them get the disability benefits they deserved.

When Graham returned from his deployment in Vietnam he went to therapy sessions for his post-traumatic stress disorder.

Gulf War veteran Charles Russell and his wife Janet seek help filing a VA claim at the Goldsby Community Center. (Photo by Kelsey Hightower, News21)

Gulf War veteran Charles Russell and his wife Janet seek help filing a VA claim at the Goldsby Community Center. (Photo by Kelsey Hightower, News21)

“I went to the VA in the early ’90s and talked to them about [my] problems,” he said. “They didn’t want to hear about it and they certainly weren’t going to do anything about it.”

Graham set out to change that. “I was convinced to learn their system,” he said.

He began by helping his friends work through the claims process. Graham continues to fight for fellow veterans with the support of his 100 volunteers.

Veterans Corner has helped approximately 20,000 veterans and surviving spouses receive about $50 million annually in VA disability benefits, Graham said. Through this journey, as Graham describes it, his PTSD has improved.

“If you’re helping somebody else, you’re helping yourself,” he said.

Veterans unemployment rate continues to fall

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By Riley Johnson, News21

The overall employment picture for post-9/11 veterans continued to improve as the unemployment rate fell for the fifth consecutive month, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday.

At 7.2 percent, the June unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans dropped one-tenth of a percentage point from May.

Unemployment was higher, however, among women than men in June and highest yet among the youngest veterans, those 24 and under. Among that group of post-9/11 veterans, unemployment continues to hover above the non-veteran rate by four percentage points at 20.5 percent.

Art Burrola, program director at the Kino Veterans’ Workforce Center in Tucson, Ariz., said he has seen employment improve for younger veterans lately.

The center serves more than 200 veterans a month, Burrola said, about 40 percent of whom are post-9/11 veterans. More employers are hiring veterans, Burrola said, and he thinks national efforts to reduce veteran unemployment are working.

“It’s good for vets,” he said of the veteran employment situation. “It’s never going to be perfect for anybody.”

The five months mark the longest streak since the bureau started collecting data on veterans whose service in Iraq and Afghanistan came after 2001.

Overall, the economy grew by 195,000 jobs as unemployment held steady at 7.6 percent, the BLS reported.

What We’re Reading: Week 7

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By Chad Garland, News21

Texas Monthly's July 2013 cover story is a photo essay about soldiers returning home from war.

Texas Monthly’s July 2013 cover story is a photo essay about soldiers returning home from war.

What We’re Reading:

The Call of Battle (Matt Cook, 7/2013, Texas Monthly) After two Iraq deployments, Matt Cook left the Army in 2006. He found success writing and making films, where he “mined” his memories — some that haunted him, some that slipped away. Eventually, he no longer recognized himself as a soldier, and that’s when he felt the need to return, “to feed on the pain of war again.” In November 2012, he embedded with his old unit, then in Afghanistan.

4th of July Fireworks a Nightmare for Shell-Shocked War Veterans (Susan Donaldson James, 7/3, ABC News) On the eve of Independence Day, some veterans are looking for alternatives to the customary fireworks displays. Startling noises, such as fireworks, can be a trigger for veterans who served in combat zones where frequent mortar shelling, gunfire and other explosions ingrained second-nature reactions or traumatic memories.

Troops still wary of admitting mental health problems (Gregg Zoroya, 7/3, USAToday) A confidential survey of troops in Afghanistan last year reveals that nearly half of Army troops and 60 percent of Marines who reported psychological problems feel they would be seen as weak if they sought help. A review of previous versions of the survey shows these attitudes have changed little since the first was conducted in 2003.

Former U.S. Marine and amputee brings the heat as rising underwear and fitness model (Nina Golgowski, 6/18, New York Daily News) Alex Minsky, a 24-year-old Marine Corps veteran who lost his right leg below the knee in an explosion in 2009, turned to alcohol to cope with the challenge of recovery. When he finally went sober, he was discovered in a Southern California gym just two days later, launching his career as a fitness and underwear model.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Casualty Who Became a War Hero (Clay Tarver, 7/2, The New York Times) Before he joined the Army, before he became a member of the elite U.S. Army Special Forces, before he fought the Taliban in Afghanistan, Jason Everman was in a rock band. In fact, he was in two. They just happen to be Nirvana and Soundgarden, two of the most well-known alternative rock groups from the 1990s era grunge movement, and Everman just happens to be the one guy who was kicked out of both.

Army vehicles add seatbelts

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By Bonnie Campo, News21

The Heavy Recovery Vehicles that soldiers steer into battle are getting retrofitted to increase safety against the high threat of improvised explosive devices. At Fort Bliss, Texas, for example, the U.S. M88A2, M1A2 Abrams and the M2A3 Bradley already have gotten seatbelts that resemble harnesses instead of traditional lap belts.

Felix Mendoza, logistics management specialist, and his crew work on the combat vehicles. Seatbelt modifications prevent soldiers from being bumped around when under attack, he said.

“We inspect the vehicles here, send them off and they get taken apart piece by piece, apply the modifications and then we get them back for a final inspection,” he said.

Mendoza’s team at Ft. Bliss also will begin placing aircraft materials to the HRVs to make them more secure, he said. Those changes include intricate suspension systems to absorb shock from the floor and Kevlar blankets to prevent cabin fires.

Mendoza knows how valuable the alterations can be. He was deployed twice to Iraq, for about a year each and now is a civilian employee at Fort Bliss. Mendoza served from January 1981 to January 2007. He was a New Equipment Training Team Instructor and a drill sergeant at Fort Knox, Ky.; a battalion motor sergeant at Fort Carson, Colo.; a First Sergeant in South Korea, and a task force motor sergeant in Iraq.

He retired as a master sergeant, but his workload hasn’t changed since he returned home.

Mendoza worked on combat vehicles in Iraq too, but said there was one difference: guns and mortar fire. It was a powerful reminder to him that soldiers leave their homes with a strong connection to their country, but in life and death situations, there is only one-thing men and women in uniform fight for — each other.

As he sat inside one of the Bradleys, Mendoza’s voice changed.

“Soldiers fight for their buddy, the guy sitting right here next to them,” he said.

He has reached retirement, but Mendoza continues to serve those willing to die for America.

“I got a call from a guy I went to basic with. He said he needed someone who could work on vehicles and speak Spanish. Well that was me,” Mendoza said.

He said that the companionship shared between those who serve now and served before will always be life long.

His active duty service has ended, but Mendoza still considers his job of retrofitting fighting vehicles a duty that allows him to continue to protect the lives of American warriors.

Calls to veteran suicide crisis line increasing

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By Jeff Hargarten, News21

The Veterans Crisis Line, managed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, has experienced steady increases in calls, texts and chat sessions from former soldiers struggling with suicidal thoughts since its launch. Counselors have answered about 840,000 calls since the crisis line started in 2007, according to VA statistics.

Online chat sessions since 2009, and text messages since last year, also have increased.

“The phone has not stopped ringing,” said Jan Kemp, the VA national suicide prevention coordinator and program manager of the crisis line.

Crisis counselors fielded 9,379 calls in the first year. Each year the call volume has increased, reaching a high of 193,507 calls in fiscal year 2012. Through April 2013, more than 151,000 callers have asked for help. Chat sessions leaped from 864 in fiscal year 2009 to about 45,000 in 2012. Text messages also have exceeded 4,300 in this fiscal year, up from 3,800 last year.

Veterans Crisis Line Call Volume 2007 - April 2013

Kemp was skeptical that veterans would call the crisis line, she said. Now 800 to 1,000 calls daily reach the crisis line, she said, along with chats and texts.

A 2012 VA report found 19 percent of callers to the VCL call more than once per month and that most callers are male aged between 50 and 59. Also, the percentage of those thinking of suicide when calling the VCL has decreased, as have calls resulting in rescues from suicide attempts.

Initially calling it the Veteran Suicide Hotline, the VA found that veterans were less likely to call if they weren’t feeling imminently suicidal. The name was changed and that made a “huge difference” in the number of veterans using the line, Kemp said.

The line isn’t merely for those with suicidal feelings, but those experiencing any kind of crisis, Kemp said, to help head off possible future suicidal tendencies.

There are nearly 21.5 million veterans in the United States, according to the 2011 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The VA estimates 22 veterans die by suicide each day, according to a 2012 report. But officials said that rising suicide rates don’t indicate that the VCL is ineffective.

“We have to ask: what would the suicide rate be if we weren’t doing these programs? It seems like it might be worse,” said Craig Bryan, associate director of the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.

The VA also started Make the Connection, a campaign that includes a website with information on common mental health symptoms and conditions, links to screening resources and a video series where veterans talk about their personal struggles.

The Veterans Crisis Line can be reached online or by calling 800-273-8255.

Camp helps veterans cope with PTSD

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By Chase Cook, News21

Matthew XXXXX smokes cigarettes with Jaydee Faulkner at their interim house on June 25th, which is part of the PTSD Foundation of America's Camp Hope in Houston, Texas. The camp offers housing for struggling veterans, like Faulkner who suffers from post-traumatic stress brought on by his service in the Army. (Photo by Chase Cook, News21)

Matthew Marshall smokes cigarettes with Jaydee Faulkner at their interim house on June 25th, which is part of the PTSD Foundation of America’s Camp Hope in Houston, Texas. The camp offers housing for struggling veterans, like Faulkner who suffers from post-traumatic stress brought on by his service in the Army. (Photo by Chase Cook, News21)

If it weren’t for Camp Hope, Jaydee Faulkner would be dead.

“I would have killed myself,” the Army veteran said.

After Faulkner came home from duty in Iraq, he battled with post-traumatic stress disorder. The only emotions he could feel were anger and depression, Faulkner said, and he knew that needed help after he lashed out and struck his wife.

He discovered the PTSD Foundation of America Camp Hope in Houston, Texas. The organization places struggling veterans in transitional housing so they can focus on recovery. Transition can last up to six months, depending on veterans’ needs. The PTSD Foundation also places veterans in support groups and offers faith-based services.

Faulkner has been at Camp Hope for six weeks and said he is improving. His wife and daughter joined him two weeks ago.

Faulkner’s progress and successes by others have motivated Camp Hope officials to double the number of veterans they can house, increasing to 16 by fall 2013. Two more homes are being built to support four people or a family, Retired Lt. Col. Ann Marie LaRoque said.

One of the homes will be available for female veterans as the need arises, LaRoque said.

Each veteran in an interim home gets a single room and shares a living room and kitchen with other residents. They may personalize their space, and some do, with drawings done by their children, for example.

Housing is granted according to when a veteran arrives and the level of need evident.

“There are people we turn away right now because there aren’t enough beds,” LaRoque said. “We can get people into the support groups, but with the current infrastructure we can’t house anyone else.”

Having veterans live at Camp Hope, where they have access to other veteran workers or residents is paramount to their recovery, Executive Director David Maulsby said.

“Civilians have no idea what they have gone through,” he said.

After the two new homes are built in the fall, LaRoque said, attention will shift to construction plans next year for a building that would house 23 veterans, expanding the potential number of residents to 39.