The past couple of years have been good to veterans, who saw an almost 20 percent increase in the Veterans Administration (VA) budget over the past two years, the largest increase in VA funding in 30 years.  Veterans will see a big jump in funds to deal with the backlog of vets trying to get into the system; over $2b to build new facilities to make access to healthcare and benefits more accessible once in the system; expanded eligibility to cover a half-million previously ineligible vets; expanded mental healthcare services; expanded access to rural services; increased funds for tuition; and a huge push to eliminate homelessness among veterans within five years.

The current administration wants the VA to become a high-tech model of government efficiency. “The President’s vision for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is to transform it into a 21st Century organization that is Veteran-centric, results-driven, and forward-looking,” according to the FY 2011 Annual Budget. “This transformation is demanded by new times, new technologies, new demographic realities, and new commitments to today’s Veterans. VA’s 2011 budget provides the resources critical to achieving the President’s vision and will help ensure that Veterans—our clients—receive timely access to the highest quality benefits and services we can provide and which they earned through their sacrifice and service to our Nation.”

The administration’s $125 billion for FY2011, a ten percent increase in funding from the 2010 budget, increases the two-year budget for VA’s discretionary budget almost 20 percent since the administration took office. “Our budget proposal provides the resources necessary to continue our aggressive pursuit of President Obama’s two over-arching goals for Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “First, the budget will help transform VA into a 21st century organization. And second, it will ensure that we approach Veterans’ care as a lifetime initiative, from the day they take their oaths until the day they are laid to rest.”

House OKs calling more Reserve retirees vets

National Guard and Reserve retirees who never saw extended military service are halfway to being able to call themselves veterans.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved by voice vote a bill, HR 3787, that gives Guard and Reserve retirees the privilege of being called veterans — an honor currently denied them because the legal definition of “veteran” applies only to those who served on active duty.

VA Adds Coverage for ‘Presumptive’ Ailments

The Department of Veterans Affairs is once again giving the benefit of the doubt to veterans who served in America’s most recent conflicts by assuming that their illnesses are linked to their wartime assignments.

Gates Fears Wider Gap Between Country and Military

DURHAM, N.C. — The United States is at risk of developing a cadre of military leaders who are cut off politically, culturally and geographically from the population they are sworn to protect, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told an audience at Duke University on Wednesday night.

CYBERCOM won’t be fully operational by Friday deadline

ARLINGTON, Va. — U.S. Cyber Command will not be fully operational by Friday’s deadline, military officials revealed Wednesday.

Pakistan Cuts NATO Supply Line After Airstrike

PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Pakistan blocked a vital supply route for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Thursday in apparent retaliation for an alleged cross-border helicopter strike by the coalition that killed three Pakistani frontier troops.

Funeral Protest Case Reaches High Court

YORK, Pa. — One thing Al Snyder wants to make clear: His boy fought and died for freedom in Iraq, but not for the right of some “wackos” to spew hate at troops’ funerals under the protection of the Constitution.

Official: Germans, Brits behind Europe terror plot

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Eight Germans and two British brothers are at the heart of an al-Qaida-linked terror plot against European cities, but the plan is still in its early stages, with the suspects calling acquaintances in Europe to plan logistics, a Pakistani intelligence official said Thursday. One of the Britons died in a recent CIA missile strike, he said.

Mullen Restates Hope For DADT Repeal: We’re Asking Members To ‘Basically Lie’

The decade-long campaign to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell gained both real momentum and cultural symbolism last February when Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen announced that he favored ending the military’s policy banning openly gay service.

For parents of war dead, the combat doesn’t end

The week that Army Spc. Thomas K. Doerflinger was killed in Iraq at age 20, a friend in the neighborhood brought his parents a felt banner with a gold star. Tradition holds that a grieving mother hangs it in her window until the war is over. As it turned out, the war outlasted the banner.

Are you aware that hundreds of thousands of veterans are refused treatment for injuries and illnesses they suffered while in combat?

Statistics are showing that 120 soldiers are taking their lives each week. Suicide has become an epidemic, but the government does not want to talk about it.  

Advocates are demanding to see records so the proper help can be administered before it is too late. Veterans Affairs and Government Agencies are ignoring requests.  No one is showing records or numbers and the government is making believe that this problem does not exist.

Beyond the individual loss, it turns out little information exists about how widespread suicides are among those who have served in the military. There have been some studies, but no one has ever counted the numbers nationwide.  Why?  The reason is that they do not want the true numbers of casualties to really be known.  I do not know about you but this makes me furious as an American citizen.  Something needs to be done now before it is too late. 

The veteran’s rights groups are accusing The Department of Veteran Affairs of not doing enough to stem a looming mental health crisis among veterans. As part of the lawsuit, internal e-mails raise questions as to whether top officials deliberately deceived the American public about the number of veterans attempting and committing suicide.

Attorneys for veterans’ rights groups accused the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs of nothing less than a cover-up – deliberately concealing the real risk of suicide among veterans.

Advocates for veterans strongly believe that the system is in crisis and unfortunately, the VA is in denial.

Horrific cases of suicide are happening each day.  Here are a just a few cases told by the families of these brave soldiers.

Twenty-three-year-old Marine Reservist Jeff Lucey hanged himself with a garden hose in the cellar of this parents’ home – where his father, Kevin, found him.  “There’s a crisis going on and people are just turning the other way,” Kevin Lucey said.

Kim and Mike Bowman’s son Tim was an Army reservist who patrolled one of the most dangerous places in Baghdad, known as Airport Road.
“His eyes when he came back were just dead. The light wasn’t there anymore,” Kim Bowman said. Eight months later, on Thanksgiving Day, Tim shot himself. He was 23.

Diana Henderson’s son, Derek, served three tours of duty in Iraq. He died jumping off a bridge at 27.

Video: 18 Veterans A Day Are Committing Suicide

http://bubble-cast.com

The Warning Signs

Here is a list of resources for how to find help and recognize the warning signs of mental health issues that could also be warning signs for suicide.

Talking about wanting to hurt themselves

Talking about wanting to kill themselves

Trying to get guns

Trying to find ways to harm themselves

Talking or writing about death, dying, or suicide

Hopelessness

Rage, uncontrolled anger

Acting in a reckless or risky way

Feeling trapped, like there’s no way out

Saying or feeling there’s no reason for living

Calling old friends, particularly military friends, to say goodbye

Cleaning a weapon that they may have as a souvenir

Obsessed with news coverage of the war, the military channel

Wearing their uniform or part of their uniform, boots, etc

Sleeping more (sometimes the decision to commit suicide brings a sense of peace of mind, and they sleep more to withdraw)

Becoming overprotective of children

Standing guard of the house, perhaps while everyone is asleep staying up to “watch over” the house, obsessively locking doors, windows

If they are on medication, stopping medication and/or hording medication

Hording alcohol — not necessarily hard alcohol

Spending spree, buying gifts for family members and friends “to remember by”

Defensive attitude like “you wouldn’t understand.”

When they stop making eye contact or speaking with others

What to Do You If You Think Someone Is Having Suicidal Thoughts

Ask questions:

“Are you thinking about killing yourself?”

“Have you ever tried to hurt yourself before?”

“Do you think you might try to hurt yourself today?”

“Have you thought of ways that you might hurt yourself?”

“Do you have pills/weapons in the house?”

This will not increase the person’s suicidal thoughts. It will give you information that indicates how strongly the person has thought about killing him- or herself.

If you think the person might harm him- or herself, do not leave the person alone.

Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-TALK. You will be connected to the nearest available crisis center

Or go to SAMHSA’s Mental Health Services Locator http://mentalhealth.com/samhsa.gov/databases/

Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator http://dasis3.samhsa.gov

Organizations That Can Help

VA’s suicide hotline at (800) 273-TALK (8255)

www.mentalhealth

http://dasis3.samhsa.gov

To find the closest Dept of Veterans Affairs facility to you that have mental health professionals, go to http://www2.va.gov/directory/guide/home.asp?isFlash=1 and type in your zip code to find veteran clinics near you.

What we do as individuals?

Create Petitions and send them to your local council and/our government

Write letters to the media

Write to your local newspapers

Create blogs

Call your local TV stations

Create an advocacy group

They survived the war, but they are not surviving civilian life.  Soldiers are suffering from emotional problems due to the horrific events they have witnessed in war and something needs to be done now for these American heroes. The horrors of what they experienced from the war are destroying their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

The veterans fought to protect us, now we need to fight for them and make sure they get the help they need before it is too late.

“The price of freedom is very high, we as a nation often time forget but to the family and friends of the men and women who pay the price they never forget.” – Quoted by Fred Rendon

Visit this advocate site:  http://www.veteranshelp.com/

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki has announced plans to implement 26 new ideas for the Veterans Health Administration. Also today we look at the lost WWII battlefield found in New Guinea.

VA to Implement 26 New Innovations Ideas

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the selection of 26 winning ideas in the Veterans Health Administration / Office of Information and Technology (VHA/OIT) Innovation Competition. An employee competition launched in February 2010, the VHA/OIT Innovation Competition solicited health care IT solutions. The 26 VHA/OIT Innovation Competition winners represent 23 different VA medical centers, program offices, or regional health care entities from 17 states. The chosen innovations will receive funding and support for prototype development and implementation. A listing of the 26 winning ideas is available on the VA website.

Army: 5 GIs Implicated in Afghan Killings

FORT LEWIS, Washington — Five U.S. Soldiers from the same unit have now been implicated in the killing of three Afghan civilians, an Army spokeswoman said Monday.

Lost WWII battlefield found -– war dead included

An Australian trekker said he has discovered the site of a significant World War II battle in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, complete with the remains of Japanese soldiers right where they fell almost 70 years ago.

MOH Recipients Push PTSD Counseling

It’s among the most sensitive subjects for troops stressed out from war while trying to get on with their lives, their families and their careers: whether to tell anyone what’s going on inside.

Yemen Won’t Extradite Radical US Cleric

Yemen would not hand over a U.S.-born, al-Qaida-linked cleric to the United States because the country’s law bans extradition of its citizens, a Yemeni official said Tuesday.

Peace through Dung Balls?

DT amigo Michael Yon is currently in Thailand, but he just gave us a heads up about a post he did that relates to Afghanistan. In his latest dispatch, Michael makes a comparison between the ‘Stan and Nepal, and he wonders why the Afghans haven’t unleashed the power of “Gobar Gas” (dung balls) to solve their energy needs (like the Nepalese have).

North Korea leadership changes strong on family ties

Dramatic changes in North Korean leadership this week appear to be paving the way for an eventual transfer of power from leader Kim Jong Il to his youngest son, analysts say.