I have done some reseach on fMRI and it is pretty amazing what this can do as far as allowing a person to see biological changes in the brain in response to stimuli. If you are in this area I would encourage you to check it out and help further the study of PTSD and its treatment.

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Returning Veterans Needed for PTSD Study: New Medical Technique for PTSD

HOUSTON – Many Veterans return to civilian life having experienced traumatic events. Researchers recently discovered these experiences actually produce changes in the brain. A new medical study currently being conducted at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (MEDVAMC) in cooperation with Baylor College of Medicine uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to learn how deployment affects the brain and to improve treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD). FMRI is a technique for measuring brain activity.
It works by detecting changes in blood oxygenation and flow that occur in response to neural activity. When a brain is more active, it consumes more oxygen. To meet this increased demand, blood flow increases to the active area. FMRI can be used to produce activation maps showing which parts of the brain are involved in a particular mental process. This is a relatively new medical technique. “There is limited information regarding the brain-related changes during psychotherapy,” said Matthew Estey, a research coordinator for MEDVAMC.
“We are interested in learning how psychotherapy changes neural functioning in Veterans with PTSD and anxiety disorders.” “Ultimately, we hope what we learn in our study will assist future combat Veterans who may experience PSTD and anxiety symptoms due to combat trauma,” said Wright Williams, Ph.D., the principal investigator and a psychologist. The study is funded by a pilot merit review grant sponsored by the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Program. As part of the research, eligible Veterans will use various computer applications while inside the fMRI machine.
Participating Veterans will also participate in interviews regarding their past and present difficulties. They will be compensated for their time at a rate of $10 per hour for interviews and $20 per hour for fMRI scans. Participants will also receive a free high-resolution image of their brain. For Veterans who decide to enroll in the study, the entire process takes approximately 14 weeks. “Week one includes an interview and fMRI scan,” said Estey. “Weeks two through 13 involve an hour and a half group treatment meeting. Week 14 is another interview and fMRI scan.
The study includes male and female treatment groups, and will potentially run through the beginning of 2013.” Eligible Veterans should be between 18 and 65 years old, free from current serious medical conditions, free of metal in their bodies, not claustrophobic, able to see a computer screen clearly with or without glasses, and diagnosed with PTSD. All participating Veterans receive on-going assessments by MEDVAMC mental health professionals. “Unlike most medical studies, this one involves treatment specifically for Veterans,” said Estey. “I think providing the best possible care for our nation’s Veterans is extremely important.” For more information about the study or how to enroll, call 713-794-7629.
Awarded re-designation for Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services in 2008, the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center serves as the primary health care provider for more than 130,000 veterans in southeast Texas. Veterans from around the country are referred to the MEDVAMC for specialized diagnostic care, radiation therapy, surgery, and medical treatment including cardiovascular surgery, gastrointestinal endoscopy, nuclear medicine, ophthalmology, and treatment of spinal cord injury and diseases.
The MEDVAMC is home to a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic; Network Polytrauma Center; an award-winning Cardiac and General Surgery Program; Liver Transplant Center; VA Epilepsy and Cancer Centers of Excellence; VA Substance Abuse Disorder Quality Enhancement Research Initiative; Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence; VA Rehabilitation Research of Excellence focusing on mild to moderate traumatic brain injury; Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center; and one of the VA’s six Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Centers. Including the outpatient clinics in Beaumont, Conroe, Galveston, Houston, Lufkin, Richmond, and Texas City, MEDVAMC outpatient clinics logged almost 1.3 million outpatient visits in fiscal year 2011. For the latest news releases and information about the MEDVAMC, visit www.houston.va.gov.

Afghanistan Battle Shows War Rarely Fought to Plan

Another article by our imbedded AP reporter Chris Torchia in Helmand.

CPT Kovalsky and me in Helmand 2010

A Co 1-17th INF from left CPT Michael Kovalsky (CO), 1SG Gene Hicks and LT Brian Zangenberger  (XO)

Afghanistan Battle Shows War Rarely Fought to Plan

NATO, Afghan troops plot their assaults each night but day brings the messy reality of war

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA

The Associated Press

BADULA QULP, Afghanistan

The intelligence said a Taliban commander planned to dispatch a suicide bomber against an American patrol base. But where? Would more than one attacker strike? What day and time? On foot, or in a vehicle that would pack more explosives?

The attack didn't happen as predicted last week in a farming area where Army units are supporting a U.S. Marine offensive against insurgents in Marjah in southern Afghanistan.

Could it happen later? Uncertainty is a certainty of war. As generals over the centuries have noted, no matter how much soldiers plan and try to impose order on the battlefield, reality rarely matches.

Over the past week, men belonging to the 5th Stryker Brigade and Afghan forces have swept through villages and compounds once held by Taliban fighters, advancing with painstaking caution to avoid casualties from booby traps and harassing fire.

In the military's innocuous-sounding jargon, the soldiers have cleared "objectives" and had "contact," which really means vicious firefights. They "engaged the enemy" and "possibly destroyed" snipers. The Taliban rarely leave their dead, if they are, in fact, dead.

At night, U.S. and Afghan commanders, with Canadian advisers, pore over maps based on satellite imagery as they plot the next day's assault. The mission has a start time and an estimated end. There are questions, comments. It has the feel of a classroom exercise, removed from the shouting, the diving and hugging of cover, the cacophony of battlefield bullets and machinery.

It's intellectual, with nothing of the fear, fury and exhilaration of men firing and taking fire.

A detachment from Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment got another taste of these contradictory currents when they moved through fields, irrigation ditches and mud-walled homes on Friday.

An Afghan villager told them the Taliban appeared the previous night with picks and shovels, possibly to hide homemade bombs and other booby traps. A soldier with a metal detector checked a wall where dirt had been freshly dug. Unfazed, the platoon bypassed it, following the point man like a trail of ants to avoid untested terrain.

All quiet, except for a barking dog.

"What's up dog? Want to fight?" a soldier said. Another joked about the suicide bomber report — the attacker could be anywhere, he said, maybe on the Pakistani border.

Up ahead, an American Stryker infantry carrier crossed a cord or string, a classic device used by insurgents for bombs known as Improvised Explosive Devices, or IEDs. A vehicle or person yanks the line unsuspectingly, and the hidden bomb detonates. In this case, nothing happened. Soldiers pulled the cord to see where it led. And pulled and pulled. Hundreds of meters of it, leading nowhere.

Sometimes, said 1st Sgt. Gene Hicks of Tacoma, Wash., insurgents put down line as a decoy to lure the Americans into another trap, or just to gauge the soldiers' patterns of behavior.

"Don't get blown up, PLEEAASE!!" Capt. Michael Kovalsky of Fords, N.J. said in a text message to Hicks, who was coordinating the operation from a communications truck in the front line.

"I won't," Hicks wrote. A 20-year military veteran, he's sparing with words.

The next set of compounds looked like trouble. Civilians, including two women in powder-blue, all-enveloping burqas, hurried from the looming shootout. Another intelligence report: Insurgents had concealed an anti-aircraft gun in one of the buildings, and would either use it on the "dismounts" — soldiers on foot — or on the vehicles as they rolled closer.

Troops on the ground tried to get a reconnaissance aircraft to take a look, but they couldn't immediately get through to the controllers. In the end, a false alarm.

Afghan soldiers approached, with half a dozen Strykers providing cover on their flank. Coordination between the two militaries slowed movement.

"There's not a job in the world that could be so exciting at one moment, so boring the next," drawled Hicks' fair-haired gunner, Staff Sgt. Van Forbes of Decatur, Ala. He ate sunflower seeds from a bag. Hicks chewed tobacco, spat into a plastic bottle.

Inevitably, gunfire began. Bullets bounced off at least one Stryker. Forbes fired bursts on his 50-caliber machine gun at a wall where two men in black were spotted. He wore safety glasses and cursed because his gun wasn't working properly. It was difficult to pinpoint the shooters.

"I can't see where it's coming from," Forbes said. The Afghan soldiers fired more freely, but the Americans couldn't identify their target. Then the Afghans, their Canadian mentors not far behind, moved into the Americans' line of fire.

"Want to make sure I'm not lighting up the Canucks," Forbes said.

"Frustrating," Hicks said.

More waiting. But sure enough, gunfire started up as scheduled.

The military vehicles rolled forward in a field, staying off trails in case IEDs were planted there. Hicks saw what looked like moist earth, a favored place for hiding bombs because it's easy to dig up the earth. Insurgents also pour water to break up the soil.

"See those two soft areas directly in front of us? Let's not run into those," Hicks said to his driver, Staff Sgt. Jorge Banuelos of Mission, Texas.

Surveillance from the air and ground, the high-tech and human kinds, yielded more circumstantial evidence of Taliban movements. A motorcycle moving in the area. Two vans heading away. A dark spot on the thermal imaging camera of a Stryker. Was it a person kneeling? Or maybe a flag blowing in the wind? In the bright sun, Hicks saw something: Is that an insurgent or a tree branch?

"Now look across the pasture here at those buildings. ... OK, now we're taking fire. ... Stand by to suppress those buildings," he said, headphones wrapped around his helmet, a microphone millimeters from his lips.

A plan and a schedule was made. At 1309 and 30 seconds, the Strykers would fire intensively to kill or force the insurgents to pull back. At 1310, Afghan troops would advance. The guns thudded, and Kovalsky gave the go-ahead to fire a light anti-tank missile at a building. The soldiers were delighted, as though getting to play with a new toy.

The missile made a loud noise, but didn't score a direct impact. Later, soldiers found a blood trail that suggested an insurgent sniper had been injured or killed. Was he even a sniper? He had a lot of targets, but didn't hit anyone.

"It could be just a guy who didn't have a Kalashnikov. It could have been an Enfield," Forbes said. "It could be a guy with a scoped rifle who doesn't know how to zero it."

Still, objective cleared.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures

Peace talks not harmed by urinating-Marines video

Its a fine line between fighting terrorists and making terrorists. Makes me even more mad knowing that this is a Sniper team (or STA, Surveillance and target acquisition). Marines are better than this and like every other service you unfortunatly suffer from the thoughless acts of others.

Peace talks not harmed by urinating-Marines video

By NBC, msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated at 6:58 a.m. ET:
President Hamid Karzai's government "strongly condemned" the video and called the actions by American soldiers "insulting" and "insane."
"The Islamic republic of Afghanistan is demanding the investigation and punishment for the solders from the U.S. government regarding this film as soon as possible," the presidential palace says in a statement released Thursday.
Updated at 6:31 a.m. ET:
The NATO-led International Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan comes close to acknowledging that it thinks the video is real and promises a criminal investigation.
"ISAF strongly condemns the actions depicted in the video, which appear to have been conducted by a small group of U.S. individuals, who apparently are no longer serving in Afghanistan," the coaltion says in a statement on Thursday. "This behavior dishonors the sacrifices and core values of every service member representing the fifty nations of the coalition."
"Therefore, a United States Criminal Investigatory agency has launched an investigation. It will be thorough and any individuals with confirmed involvement will be held fully accountable,” ISAF's statement adds.
Published at 5:15 a.m. ET:

An Internet video showing what appear to be U.S. forces in Afghanistan urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters will not affect efforts to broker peace talks, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban said Thursday.

The video, posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." Another makes a lewd joke.

"This is not a political process, so the video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange because they are at the preliminary stage," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.

The footage, which the U.S. military said appeared to be authentic but had not been officially verified, could complicate efforts to promote reconciliation as foreign troops gradually withdraw.

The Obama administration, seeing a glimmer of hope in its effort to broker talks, is launching a fresh round of shuttle diplomacy with an immediate goal of sealing agreement for Taliban insurgents to open a political office in the Gulf state of Qatar.

Marc Grossman, Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, begins a diplomatic blitz this weekend that includes talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul and top officials in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

'Very, very bad impact'
The video will not help his efforts to build confidence among the warring parties.

"Such action will leave a very, very bad impact on peace efforts," said Arsala Rahmani, the top negotiator from Karzai's High Peace Council.

"Looking at such action, the Taliban can easily recruit young people and tell them that their country has been attacked by Christians and Jews and they must defend it," he said in the first comments from a high-ranking Afghan.

The New York Times reported that Grossman's efforts have been going on for the past year and involved a small team of American officials who secretly met multiple times with a shadowy representative of Afghanistan’s Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, in the hope of starting peace talks.

It reported the administration’s best chance for ending the war in Afghanistan had reached "a critical juncture."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the newspaper on Wednesday there appeared to be support, for the first time, for a political resolution that included Taliban leaders who ruthlessly ruled the country from 1996 until the American invasion after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“The reality is we never have the luxury of negotiating for peace with our friends,” it quoted Mrs. Clinton as saying. “If you’re sitting across the table discussing a peaceful resolution to a conflict, you are sitting across from people who you by definition don’t agree with and who you may previously have been across a battlefield from.”

The U.S. Marine Corps has said it would investigate the Internet video of abuse.

Marines to be 'held accountable'
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan described the acts depicted in the video as "highly reprehensible" and "disgusting".

"The behavior depicted in this video is reprehensible and is not in keeping with the values of U.S. Armed Forces," ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings said.

A U.S. official said "it should be pretty easy" to identify the Marines in the video and those involved "will be held accountable for their actions."

The Marines, though not identified by name, were confirmed to be a sniper team out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., U.S. military officials told NBC News. They were deployed to southern Afghanistan from early 2011 until August of 2011.

In a formal statment, a Marine Corps official said: "The actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps."

At first, the Marines could not determine whether the incident took place in Iraq or Afghanistan, but it was later determned to be Afghanistan.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group in the United States, condemned the alleged desecration of corpses in a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and obtained by Reuters.

"Any guilty parties must be punished to the full extent allowed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice and by relevant American laws," the letter said.

"For those I love, I will sacrifice"

I true look at why we serve our families, our Nation and our brothers in arms.

Wounded Big Red One Soldier continues to serve Army family

January 9, 2012
By Mollie Miller, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs
FORT RILEY, Kan. (Jan. 9, 2012) -- Love can make people do some crazy, unusual, heroic things.

A dance outside in a rain storm, a midnight flight across the country, a dash into a burning home, none of these are outside the realm of what people will do for those they love.

For one 1st Infantry Division Soldier, his love for his family and his country led him into an Army recruiter's office, onto basic training, up the road to Fort Riley, Kan., and around the world to Afghanistan.

And then that love led him right to death's front door.

Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry, 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, joined the Army in the fall of 2010 after a summer full of friends, dirt bikes and post high school graduation parties. Joining the Army was the realization of a dream for the young man from Marietta, Ohio.

"I always wanted to serve my country, protect our freedom, to keep the life that all the ones I love live safe," the 19-year-old said recently.

Hockenberry's enlistment wasn't much of a surprise for his parents, Chet and Kathy Hockenberry.

"Being a Soldier was all Kyle ever talked about, even when he was little," Kathy said of her youngest son. "I still have all his G.I. Joe guys that he always used to play with because he didn't want me to get rid of them."

Kyle graduated from basic training in January 2011 and was assigned to the Big Red One's 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment "Pale Riders." The Pale Rider team was already busy making final preparations for a deployment to Afghanistan when Kyle arrived and the new Soldier began his own preparations for this upcoming mission -- a mission that would have him leaving Kansas in less than six weeks.

First on Kyle's list of deployment preparations was a visit to a tattoo shop in Manhattan, Kan.

"I had wanted a tattoo for a long time and I wanted to finally get one before we left," he said.

One evening, shortly before the deployment, Kyle and a few fellow Soldiers "went under the needle." One of the Soldiers had his children's names or birth dates tattooed, some had a lucky number or special picture done but Kyle selected a seven word phrase that had been rolling around in his head ever since he decided he was going to be a Soldier.

That night, the tattoo artist etched, "For those I love, I will sacrifice" onto Kyle's right side.

"I thought since I was in the military that it would be a good one to get," he said. "'Those I love' is for everyone -- for my parents, my brother and all my family but it really for everyone in the country."

Kyle left for Afghanistan in February 2011. Less than four months later, during a June 15 patrol outside of Haji Ramuddin, the young man who never wanted to be anything other than a Soldier was forced into a better understanding of sacrifice.

"We were in a firefight in Haji Ramuddin and I don't know if I was trying to move into cover or something but I stepped on a pressure plate (improvised explosive device)," he said. "I don't remember anything after that for a long time."

The blast from the pressure-plate-initiated improvised explosive device cost Kyle both legs and his left arm. It cost Spc. Nick Hensley his life.

"I received a phone call at work on June 15 and the caller said Kyle had been seriously wounded in Afghanistan and that we would get another call later with more information," Chet said. "Every call, they kept telling us that they were right by his side doing everything they could for him. They were dedicated 100 percent to getting him home to us and we are very appreciative of what everyone did for Kyle."

Getting Kyle home to his family was no easy task. Kathy said medics "lost" her son several times on the battlefield and in the medical evacuation helicopter. Kyle's kidneys and liver failed and Army representatives prepared Chet and Kathy for a trip to Germany as they didn't think Kyle would survive the flight back to the states. But then Kyle stabilized and the Army transported him to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

The young infantryman has been there ever since.

Kathy said the recovery and rehabilitation process has been challenging but her son has shown an amazing strength in the face of some great tests.

"I'm not surprised though," she said. "Kyle has always been very tough."

If it weren't for people like Kyle and his fellow Soldiers who sacrifice so much, the country would be in pretty bad shape, according to Chet.

"We are just so proud of them and all their service," he said. "They are all heroes in our eyes."

Although many pieces of the future remain uncertain for the young man from Ohio, Kyle is sure of one thing -- if the Army will have him, he wants to stay on active duty and do whatever he can to continue to help his brothers and sisters in uniform.

"I want him to be happy," Kathy said. "Whatever he chooses to do, I just want him to be happy."

For now, Kyle is looking forward to being fitted for his prosthetics and getting healthy enough so his doctors will clear him to travel to Fort Riley in April to attend the 4th Sqdn., 4th Cav. Regt. Welcome Home Ball.

"If everything is good, I plan to be there," he said.

As far as his mom is concerned, this is certainly a goal easily within her son's reach.

"If there was ever something out there you told him he couldn't do, he would tell you he could and then he would do it," Kathy said. "Kyle wants to be at that ball and if he has anything to say about it, he will be at that ball."

For Lt. Col. Michael Katona, commander of 4th Sqdn., 4th Cav. Regt., having the 19-year-old Soldier who has served as an inspiration to so many at the ball would be an honor.

"He is still part of this squadron," he said. "He will always be part of our family."   

Refections on hating Christmas

This is a piece shared by my great friend Raub Nash whom I served with in "Deuce Four" 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry in Mosul, Iraq.
He makes a great point when he speaks about reflecting "I see it as a cathartic view into how people need, and should, reflect on everything that happens to them that they did not control." I encourage people to think back about some times when you served write it down and send it to me. Respond and tell us what you think;

Reflections on hating Christmas

By Raub Nash

Last year in Graduate School I was inundated with the idea of reflection and how it is the key to successful development. For 30 years I pretty much took every day for what it was worth and I rarely looked back on what I did or, more importantly, what events happened to me that I could not control. As I prepared to take over my new job as a leader developer at West Point, I felt as though I should at least try out what I would be preaching – it was scary.

A lot of things have happened in my short career, as I no doubt know is the same for all Soldiers in this time of a two-front war. What scared me was how little I knew how these events have changed me –both for good and bad.

As we come out of the traditional Christmas leave period, I was forced into a realization that, I hope, will make future Decembers better for me and those I spend the time with. For the longest time, or since about 2004, I have never really been in the uplifting mood that a father and husband should be in around this time. The old me would say that it was because I was raised on little extravagance, especially with respect to Christmas and gifts in general. After one evening of some rather disturbing and violent actions on my part – no one was hurt, just a sliding glass door, a scotch glass, cooler, and a shirt – I had to look in the mirror and try to understand why and where that person came from.

I was forced to think about several things on the journey to the realization of what caused my actions and what consistently causes my less than uplifting spirit over this time every year. The first event that came to mind was December 21^st, 2004. It was a pristine day in Mosul, Iraq. Clear skies and mild temperatures made it quite bearable. I was a young 2^ndLieutenant Platoon Leader in 1/24 IN. We had been in Mosul for only about 2 months. I finally had some sort of routine, without which I am a mess, and normalcy was setting in – normalcy does not mean complacency. Our platoon had already had our share of the“baptism-by-fire” incidents and we were operating as a cohesive unit for the first time. A routine patrol day started out with the usual events; drive up to our platoon area, search houses/garages/offices, chase some people that ran from our patrol and drive back.

By the time we returned to the FOB it was time for lunch. So, we dropped our gear and headed on the long walk to our chow hall. Before we headed out, our commander and a few other officers asked my Platoon Sergeant and me to go with them to get lunch. We declined so we could help close up our vehicles and let our Soldiers get to chow before us. The routine was almost always the same: clear your weapon and wash your hands outside, get a tray and choose main or short order line, get some salad and dessert in the middle of the chow hall, sit down to eat and talk about whatever, and finally clean up and leave. This day however would deviate drastically from the routine.

About the time I sat down, I noticed that I was the first one in our group of 4 that would sit together. I took a quick look around and quickly saw the other 3 heading over. I followed this with obligatory wave of the hand to let them see where I sat and for them to join me. No sooner did my Platoon Sergeant sit down in front of me than a flash of light and a loud boom shocked our world. I did what I think, especially regarding the fact that normalcy also included the occasional mortar attack, most everyone did – I jumped up, looked for those by me and we ran to a bunker just outside the door. I won’t write anymore about what happened next. It is an image and an event that I still want to keep buried somewhat. The result of the event was that I had my first experience with the loss of a comrade. My commander, CPT Bill Jacobsen, and our NBC NCO, SSG Robert Johnson, were killed while they ate lunch on the safety of their own FOB. They were not the only ones that died that day, but they were the ones I knew.

8 days later, our Platoon responded to an event that would also change me. A suicide car bomber drove a dump truck full of explosives precariously close to an outpost and detonated the device. PFC Oscar Sanchez was killed in the blast, but what most people don’t know is that he probably saved his entire platoon mates lives. If that truck made it another 100 feet or so, the entire building would have most certainly collapsed. This event I recall not because of the incident in itself, but of my actions during this. I was forced several times to place my Platoon Sergeant and the squad with him in danger. When I say forced, I really mean it. I did not like the orders I was getting, but a leader understands that sometimes orders must be followed and that people can get hurt following them. What scares me about this incident is how happy it made me to see things get destroyed while in this firefight. It was eerie how I could feel great joy as we engaged suspected – yes, suspected – targets with heavy machine guns and strafes from F-16s and, the now retired, F-14. I don’t know why I felt as though I did, but I suspect it was because I was in the young stages of burying my emotional destruction that came from the chow hall bombing.

Fast forward to December 20^th, 2007. I am a young Company Commander in the 101^st and we were finishing up an operation that my Soldiers dubbed “Operation Shitty Christmas”. This was one of those times that, much like the outpost bombing, I really did not agree or understand the intent of what we were trying to accomplish. But, the orders were legal, ethical, and moral and I was given ample time to object and add my spin on the operation – so, we executed it. After about 5 days in the middle of nowhere during an unusual cold spell, we trudged away at the invisible goal trying to find a non-existent enemy. This day was just like the others – except that we had finished our mission and were moving back to our base. One of my platoons was tasked with following a route clearance team on an untraveled route to open it for further use by our sister company. I chose to move with my main effort, getting all of our equipment safely back to our company patrol base, and I chose not go with my boss’ main effort. Well, these choices never end up good.

When I first showed up to Fort Campbell and found out which company I would be afforded the opportunity to command, I was given the green light to go and start poking around. The first person I met was SPC Leon. He was youthful looking but had an air of experience that just emanated from him. I was immediately drawn to Wesley. I can remember always looking for him at formations, during PT, and while out at training. As I got to know the Soldiers in the company, I quickly found out that Wesley was a consummate warrior. I knew I liked this kid and I knew that I could always count on him. He was in the patrol that went with the route clearance team, probably located in the order of march where my vehicle should have been, when his vehicle was hit with an IED. This event took both of his legs and cut me to the core. I was already not very good with empathy, and this event made me separate myself from my feelings more than ever which resulted in the desire to never get close to another Soldier. Terrible decision on my part. Even though Wesley hasn’t slowed down accomplishing more than most people, it doesn’t take away the deep feeling that it should have been my vehicle, an MRAP and not a HMMWV, that got hit.

Three pretty major events in my life that happened close to Christmas. No wonder I am a scrooge. This story is much more to me than a revelation of why I hate the Christmas season. I see it as a cathartic view into how people need, and should, reflect on everything that happens to them that they did not control. I wish that more people would partake in this venture and critically look at their actions and reactions to these types of events. I know now why I feel the way I do and this fact will allow me to accomplish my ultimate goal – being a great dad. There is no greater joy for me than to see my sons smile and see them do new things. It would be shame if my failure to change my attitude based on events I had no control over affected my children in a way that would have them dread the Christmas season as I do. I will let you know how I do next year.

Lockdown

This is nothing new, I would have been in the news many times. This is a standard procedure in the Army, that and "get on line" to walk through a training area to find something that should have been tied down in the first place.

Dozens of soldiers on lockdown over missing military equipment

From Maria P White, CNN

 

(CNN) -- Nearly 100 soldiers are confined to a Washington state base following a report of missing sensitive military equipment, including scopes and night lasers, a spokesman said Sunday.
Soldiers in the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division unit can have day visits but must sleep at the base at night, said Maj. Chris Ophardt, a spokesman at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Authorities conducted an inventory last month and are trying to determine how long the equipment has been missing, he said.
The unit has been home from Iraq since September 2010.
Authorities have offered a $10,000 reward. No more information was immediately available.

Response to "A deeply troubled base" Post

I recived some very intereting responses from a couple of my friends I served with at Fort Lewis and in Korea who are no longer in the service but non the less had some very intersting things to say. Andy was an Infantry Company Commander with a few combat tours under his belt I served with him in 1st BN, 503rd INF in Korea and John was an Infatry Soldier who served with me in Iraq with "Deuce Four" 1st BN, 24th INF SBCT.

John: "Embarrassing. 4th Styker brigade was pretty messed up when I left lewis in the beginning of 2008."

Me: "I agree it is a little embarrassing that a base this big can't "police" itself up. But the Army is changing and so are the Soldiers. They do what they see their leaders do and sometimes they are just as bad!!"

John: "Unfotunately this guys rambo actions reinforce stereotypes veterans battle everyday. Leadership failure for sure."

Andy:"Leadership starts at home. Even the best NCO can't undo 18 years of bad parenthood overnight."

Andy: "I got found it ironic that one of police officers interviewed about crime around JBLM tried to blame the military for causing most of the violence. Yeah, right. Lakewood, WA has plenty of its own problems, (http://www.komonews.com/news/local/78088192.html)." This link takes you too the unfortunate story of the four Lakewood Police Officers who were killed. 

Andy: " I hope the Soldiers and Airmen around JBLM take heed. Police officers read the news, too. You can be damn sure that this recent series of unfortunate events will bias them against the local military much the same way that a platoon will treat locals from a town differently after an IED strike against one of their own. Don't expect to get a break on that speeding ticket or be cut any slack for that DUI. The word is out on the street and in the national newspapers: JBLM is a hot bed for military misbehavior."

Me: "Totally agree Andy it's just poor business when that 10% pit the military community against the surrounding communities. There is already a pretty exclusivness by military families that live on post against the "civilians" but I believe this widens that rift."

Andy: "Gene - a former squad leader shared this article with me. It clearly articulates that the Rainier gunman wasn't a crazed military killer devoid of positive Army leadership. Instead, he was just a nutjob who had no place in the Army to begin with. It's too bad that the "Rambo with PTSD" storyline sells more newspapers than the truth."

Here is that article:

The Mt. Rainier Shooting and PTSD: How the Media Got It Wrong
January 6, 2012 by Alex Horton

The massacre at Ft. Hood two years ago stunned the nation in its cold-blooded calculation. The high body count was just as shocking as the fact soldiers were killed not in combat, but on the grounds of a military installation. Before the slain soldiers were buried, many in the media speculated on a link between combat stress and the shooting, the correlation being that war trauma had driven a soldier to commit those crimes.
When news reports finally explained that Nidal Hasan hadn’t deployed during his Army career, the narrative shifted to secondary PTSD. The thought was that his work as a psychiatrist could have caused it. The reality, however, was that Hasan’s personal beliefs about the United States and the military were among the chief motivations behind the killings. Taken together, the prevailing narrative from those early reports—intentional or not—was this: Post-traumatic stress is a strong factor in violent crimes, and anyone who has deployed to a combat zone is capable of the same.
That narrative—fairly common since John Rambo hit movie screens in 1982—bubbled to the surface once again with the killing of Park Ranger Margaret Anderson on January 1st by Benjamin Colton Barnes, a 24 year-old Iraq Veteran. Within hours of the Rainier shooting, journalists and writers clamored to mention Barnes’ war record, combat stress, and even his duty station in a dizzying effort to find a connection:
The problem? It wasn’t true.
As more information became available on Barnes, it grew clear that his troubles had little to do with his service in Iraq or his assignment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. According to The Seattle Times, Barnes was apparently disturbed before he entered the Army—having been expelled from school as a teenager. Additionally, military records show Barnes served in a headquarters communications job in Iraq. A spokesman at Lewis-McChord told the Times there was no record of Barnes having received a Combat Action Badge, indicating he probably never came under fire in Iraq.
While violence is undoubtedly a potential consequence of war-related trauma, highly publicized crimes by active duty members and Veterans cast the overwhelming majority of law abiding Vets in a horrifying—and typically unfair—light. As one Army officer pointed out recently, sensational stories devoid of context (like those about Barnes) inhibit the ability for people to assess likelihood and frequency in a given population. He cites the availability heuristic, which says people “predict the frequency of an event, or a proportion within a population, based on how easily an example can be brought to mind.”
When I asked her today, VA clinical psychologist Dr. Sonja Batten said that “despite this image in pop culture of the dangerous, unstable Veteran, there is no direct, causal link between combat-related PTSD and the type of violence shown at Mt. Rainier. Although PTSD is associated with increased anger and irritability in some individuals—whether civilians or Veterans—this sort of negative portrayal of Veterans is unfair and does a disservice to those individuals who have served our country. We work every day in VA to dispel these negative and inaccurate stereotypes.”
In other words, the misguided and incorrect correlation between military service and violent crimes like murder can lead to damaging stereotypes that can inhibit the success of Vets once they leave the military. The Texas Veterans Commission says some employers have reservations about hiring Veterans because they may show signs of post-traumatic signs in the workplace. Hiring managers may think they’re getting a Travis Bickle instead of a “Sully” Sullenberger.
In an MSNBC article about the Mt. Rainier shooting, reporter Alex Johnson connected Barnes to the “deeply troubled base” of Joint Base Lewis-McChord. While he later walked the piece back, his original reporting joined the media-constructed narrative that JBLM is in crisis without offering a valid explanation why. There were no mentions of inadequate mental health services or of a distinct culture of the base that would indicate a trend of violence—only some data showing that violent incidents happen there and in the surrounding communities.
But Johnson made no mention that those who murder are overwhelmingly men between 15-30 years old, and that men make up 92 percent of the U.S. Veteran population. If you accept that folks in the military represent a cross section of society, it will always attract the best and the worst our nation has to offer, from Sal Giunta to Benjamin Barnes.
That simple reality didn’t jive with Johnson, whose angle wasn’t helped by the fact that, despite problems with violence around the base, Veterans in general are incarcerated at half the rate. of non-Vets.
I’m a former infantryman who saw combat in Iraq. I was based at JBLM my entire Army enlistment. And I know dozens of those just like me—representing a larger sample than that from which Johnson and his cohorts seemed to draw. All of us are men and most of us are between 25 and 35 years old, like Barnes. And many of us dealt with the residual effects of combat trauma, like hyper-vigilance, an inconveniently short temper, and substance abuse. As far as I know, none are guilty of murder or any violent crimes. Unless evil spirits inhabit the base, I see no connection between that facility and the murderous tendency of one of its former dwellers.
To his credit, Johnson published an update with a warning from Brandon Friedman, my boss and fellow combat Veteran. Friedman cautioned against linking post-traumatic stress to Barnes’ behavior before facts were established, adding that “having PTSD doesn’t signify a propensity to murder Americans.”
We must confront the serious issues of mental health that affect those who served. Post-traumatic stress is one of the most common subjects on this blog—and one of the most vital aspects of VA’s presence online has been connecting Veterans in crisis with support services. At the same time, Veterans, the public, and the media must do two things.
First, we must step out of the feedback loop that both feeds and informs the stereotype of the broken, mentally unstable Vet. The damaging caricature proved to be difficult for Vietnam Vets to overcome. And with a new generation coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, history will repeat itself until we take a moment and realize that faulty assumptions are dangerous and that anecdotal, sensationalist conclusions are designed to help sell newspapers and generate hits rather than responsibly inform.
Second, we must overcome the availability heuristic by keeping perspective on the prevalence of post-traumatic stress and, more importantly, violence committed by those who experience it. A 2008 RAND study estimated that 18.5 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans have symptoms of post-traumatic stress or major depression. But the vast majority of folks with post-traumatic stress recover successfully with support from family, friends, community, and effective treatment. PTSD and other mental health issues don’t just lead to challenges, but also to post-traumatic growth for many people. And that’s a story that needs to be told more often.
The rush to connect Barnes’ wartime service to his horrific crime makes for good drama but bad journalism. There are serious mental health consequences that stem from serving in the line of fire, but we do a disservice to those who suffer from those problems—as well as those who do not. Our communities need the experience and skills Veterans bring now more than ever before. But before that happens, we must chase away the lurid cloud of stereotypes and conjecture that hang over Veterans as they try to find their way after war.
If you feel you might be struggling with post-traumatic stress, visit our PTSD resource directory for information on symptoms, treatments, issues specific to female Veterans, and more. For immediate help, call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255. It’s open day and night, along with our online chat. If you prefer text messaging, send a message to 838255.
What do think? Thank you Andy for providing this link. I want to say more but I will take the time put it all in order before I post it.