Calling All Vets And Those That Support Them

Generations of Warriors
“Vets helping Vets”

MISSION STATEMENT

Members of the Generations of Warriors are bound together with a common bond of compassion for those grandparents, parents, brothers and
sisters who have experienced the price of sacrifice yet continue to suffer the anguish of readjustment into the society of civility, gentleness, peace
and freedom for which they fought.

Since the earliest of times there have been warriors returning to civilian life only to find that they have developed a behavior that is unacceptable in their old communities. After the Civil War in the US, the condition was called “soldier’s heart”; experiences in WWI produced “Shell Shock” and that was carried over into the WWII era; and warriors in the Pacific called it “going Asian”. It was after the Vietnam War that it came to be known as “PTSD”, post traumatic stress disorder.

To those that haven’t either been in the mental health field or to those that have been wounded in this way, it is a doubly perplexing condition to understand. Many think that it is only a result of continued bombardment or from extended close combat in the field. This is only partially true. Many more experiences contribute to the wounds. Furthermore, these wounds last for a lifetime…and don’t qualify for a purple heart. It is, for the most part, a matter of shame for those that have these wounds. There has been very little consideration of the fact that many of our heroes have these wounds and have nightmares, night sweats, isolation from others, unexpected outbursts of anger, a lack of concentration abilities, depression/anxiety, etc. that hinder their abilities to adjust to civil societies. They impede their education. Friends are few and far between. Marriages and relationships are many…and often fail.

You would be shocked to know how many returned veterans have “holed up” in their homes after their returns and have never come out except for the bare essentials and often those are retrieved late at night. There are many that live in the woods in bare shelters such as in the Olympic Peninsula of Western Washington State or in the hills of Southern Oregon. Most of you are only familiar with reports of the Veterans on the streets that are homeless of the crazies that are incarcerated for their anti-social behavior.

The costs because of this problem are great. Broken families and lost fathers or mothers make it to the top of the list. Generations of instability and lost opportunities result from these problems. Something should be done now that we have the means to treat these wounded.

Veterans often talk of their issues only with other trusted vets, if at all. Most never do, or if they do, it’s very cursory. Crazy. Weak. Soft. These are traits at odds with a warrior. Some hear, ‘Why don’t you just get over it?” from the uninformed. It’s a destructive but understandable remark when one considers the lack of information out there regarding the wounds.

Generations of Warriors is determined to put a dent in that field of the uninformed. Making a warrior’s return to civil society a more gentle experience is one of our main goals. If the families, employers and employees, the judges and police forces, friends and general public can know more about the nature of the wounds and the severity of the conditions that these veterans face, it will go a long way toward lessening the re-adjustment and coping problems.

Because families are the worse for wear in these matters, and returning warriors often find themselves alone, “Never Without Family” has become our motto. The families formed within therapy groups help to strengthen the families in society at large.

Spencer Oland
Benton City, WA

How You Can Help,..

First and for most we need to get everyone on the same page,.. there is so many Vet's, Service Members, Military Families, Organizations, and regular civilians out there that really wants to see our Vet's get what they need, however the problem is, that we're all scattered about everywhere. I do believe one person can make a difference, however pulled together we can make an Impact !!! Can you just imagine the impact we all can have gathering together in the thousand's. I know not all of us are able to gather in DC, but it goes much further than that. It is Americans standing up and asking what can they do as an individuals to help a Vet out. That's where i Really, Really need your help. I am contacting everyone that I humanly can and asking them to join in for this project/event, however there is thousands across America. This is where you come in,...

I am asking you to please take initiative and spread this around like wild fire !!! Contact those in your local communities via e-mail, phone, Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and word of mouth.

Spencer and many other Veteran's is planning to make 5 stops throughout Washington and 3 more stops on his way to his final destination of D.C. The locations is still being determined at this time. We have many calls to make to set up locations and what nots. We are asking for anyone who would like to assist in this project/event to contact us. There is much to be done in planning this momentous event and we need All the help we can get.

HUNTER ORANGE will be the color to let others know of your support. Caps will be available. We'll want a blanket of orange to cover the fields of the memorials, etc. Wear your own group colors but please wear the orange cap or bandanna.

America let's show our Vet's that they are important to us and that we care and they have Not been forgotten !!!! It is long Over-Due. They need our help,..They need our support,..PLEASE let's give it to them.

If you'd like to partake or have any questions you can contact me at

Army_Infantry_Mom@yahoo.com

Also I ask that you please visit http://generationsofwarriors.us/ and show your support by leaving him a comment. He has written many aricals that gives such insight and much can be learned.

Shout Out,...

Many wounded veterans won't have the cash to make this trip so those of you that are interested in helping them can consider sending prepaid gas cards to help:

Generations of Warriors Project
1551 NE 12th St
Benton City, WA
99320

http://hubpages.com/hub/Calling-All-Vets-And-Those-That-Support-Them

Military families cry for help

By Mary Brophy Marcus, USA TODAY

Kevin Kammerdiener's mother, Leslie, takes care of his every need, which would be fine if he were in preschool.

The thing is, "Kamm" is 21. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, shattered bones and burns on 25% of his body in Afghanistan in May 2008, which left him in a wheelchair, unable to speak and in chronic pain.

Leslie moved from Pennsylvania to her son's home in Riverview, Fla., to care for him after he spent months at a military hospital in San Antonio.

Now Leslie Kammerdiener, 44, spends her days making sure Kevin eats well, is clean and comfortable, and is not in pain. More recently, she has been helping him rebuild his vocabulary (he can say about 100 words), which he lost after a suicide bomber drove a vehicle full of explosives into his Humvee. By night, she soothes him when he is wakeful, which she says is pretty much all the time.

"I'm lucky if I get two to four hours of sleep at one time," Kammerdiener says.

Mostly, Leslie just wants her once-strapping son to be safe and happy — to teach him enough words so he can let people know what he needs, maybe even have a relationship one day, she says hopefully, mentioning the prom photo he sometimes cradles and sobs over.

Kammerdiener is among thousands of unpaid caregivers — parents, spouses, siblings and war buddies — helping veterans injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars get through each day, says Barbara Cohoon, deputy director of government relations for the non-profit National Military Family Association. She says the caregivers are a vulnerable group, often under-recognized, and in need of help to navigate the military's medical system. Cohoon says not all caregivers receive military benefits, even though many have quit jobs, moved out of their homes and drained their savings to care for their loved ones.

"Nobody's got a handle on numbers, but 7,500 is the number bandied about," says Cohoon, whose organization provides counseling and helps families negotiate the health system.

The range of injuries caregivers attend to spans from gashes and fractures that will heal, to comas, amputations, burns, paralysis, nerve damage and brain injuries so severe that cognitive function lingers at the toddler level or below.

The Defense Department's most recent tally of Afghan and Iraq war-related traumatic brain injuries is 161,025. A 2008 report from the non-profit research company RAND, however, put the figure at 320,000 out of the 1.64 million deployed by that time. Cohoon says it's estimated that about 350 to 400 such patients are so severely hurt they will need full-time care for the rest of their lives.

"Invisible" mental health wounds, including post-traumatic stress disorder, are also a major concern for returning veterans, even those who show no outward wounds, says Rene Bardorf, director of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps the families of injured veterans. It was launched by Bob and Lee Woodruff after the ABC News anchor almost died from a brain injury in Iraq in 2006. Bardorf says it's estimated that more than 300,000 service members have psychological wounds.

"We're seeing complex injuries — individuals who simply would not have survived previous conflicts, and this has placed an enormous load on families," says U.S. Army Brigadier Gen. Loree Sutton, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury in Arlington, Va.

Sutton, the Army's highest-ranking psychiatrist, points out that groups such as Cohoon's are trying to turn caregiver legislation — two bills are now being debated in the House and Senate — into a law that would give those like Leslie Kammerdiener financial support, including health insurance.

Kammerdiener, who has a degenerative nerve disease, no longer has health insurance, and she relies on donations.

Losses all around

Ed and Beth Edmundson's son Eric, 29, headed to Iraq healthy and strong in August 2005 and returned in October with a severe brain injury after a bomb exploded near him. He is unable to walk and is cognitively impaired.

Before the injury, both parents had good jobs and retirement savings, but they moved to New Bern, N.C., to live with Eric, his young wife, Stephanie, and their baby, Gracie. They've run through their savings and can't afford health insurance.

"Eric needs help with every aspect of survival," his father says. "It was a loss all around for everybody. A loss of income, retirement, time together."

Financial losses aren't all caregivers rack up. Social lives and relationships change or go away.

"My relationship with my wife today is different than it was four years ago," Ed says. "The weekend before Eric was injured, Beth and I were living in our own home, involved in sea turtle rescues, walking on the beach, and everything's hunky-dory. And the next weekend, your world is caved in."

Their health has been affected by the stress as well. Last fall, Ed couldn't afford to visit the doctor when a chest cold turned into pneumonia. The non-profit group Wounded Warrior Project stepped up with a donation that paid for antibiotics, breathing treatments and steroids.

Recently, an extra strain hit their finely tuned family routine when Beth, who does the bulk of the cooking, cleaning and hygiene for Eric, broke her ankle while playing with Eric's now-5-year-old daughter. Her medical bill topped $46,000.

"Beth and I aren't moving forward. We're a foot forward and a foot back," he says.

Sutton says the military has increased its support resources for families and has more on the way. "There has been a steady crescendo of efforts in recognition for the need to build family resilience," she says.

She points to a family assistance program and a 24-hour hotline. She says the Defense Department plans this spring to release a "caregiver's curriculum," a guide for caregivers and medical staff treating wounded veterans and their families.

Gap in understanding

Kammerdiener has been disappointed by the military support and says the programs have done nothing for her physical and mental health needs.

Cohoon says many caregivers don't know about federal recovery coordinators, who can help caregivers make sense of the military's medical resources. "They're not letting them even know they exist," Cohoon says.

Getting the physical and emotional health support they need may be easier for those still on active duty, such as Doug McCarron, who returned from Iraq after a blast injury led to a toe amputation and shrapnel wounds in one leg caused nerve damage. McCarron works on a base near his home in Whittier, Calif., but is still healing.

"I have phantom pains, nerve pain, walking challenges. I strain to hear," says McCarron, 39, who also wrestles with post-traumatic stress. His wife of one year, Cherish, 32, soothes him when he has nightmares, but he worries about causing her distress.

Even if they want to, family members may not be prepared to help injured veterans, says Paul Larson, professor of psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, which works with veterans and their relatives as part of The Yellow Ribbon Project, developed last year with the Illinois Army National Guard. "They come at it as best they can with common-sense wisdom, but there's this gap between recognizing a behavior, like aggression and irritability, and actually handling it," Larson says.

Some families, such as the Edmundsons, have turned to non-profit groups. The National Military Family Association offers healing adventure camps for families where they can share experiences and are given resources.

The Woodruff Foundation funnels donations to community-based projects that support injured veterans and their families in their hometowns.

Larson says caregivers can relieve burnout by creating times of emotional distance between themselves and the patient.

Sutton says it's important to keep hope alive, too. "Troops wage war. Healers wage hope."

The Edmundsons are doing just that. "We made it a goal to protect the nucleus of our family," Ed says. But as their medical bills and house and car repairs pile up, he says, a little extra help would be embraced: "We're holding out and hoping for the caregivers legislation."

Army's suicide 'crisis' leads to action

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Alarmed by the suicides of eight soldiers in the year's first eight days, the Army's No. 2 general told commanders to have face-to-face contact with GIs to remind them "each one is valued by our Army," according to the Jan. 8 memorandum provided to USA TODAY.

Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, reinforced that message last week, telling leaders in a videoconference they must pay extra attention to soldiers who are moving from one installation to another and may need more help, says Col. Chris Philbrick, head of the Army's suicide task force.

Although Army officials say the suicide rate has dropped since then, Chiarelli's message illustrates the continuing challenge the service faces despite an anti-suicide campaign that started last year.

The military faces a suicide "crisis," said Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a conference in Washington this month.

The 160 confirmed and suspected Army suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2009 was a record. Winter months were the worst, records show. Twenty-nine soldiers in all parts of the Army killed themselves in January 2009, nearly twice the 15 killed in combat that month.. In February, 27 more committed suicide. The Marine Corps suffered a record 52 suicides last year.

Army officers and supervisors must "troop the line, walk through the motor pool, stop by the barracks, eat a meal in the dining facility and visit the guard post at midnight. … It is important for all soldiers to know and understand their self-worth," Chiarelli wrote.

The rate of suicides has declined since the memo, Philbrick says, and "we are well lower (than January 2009)." He did not provide specific numbers.

The Army's suicide rate has nearly doubled since 2005 to 23 per 100,000, according to data released this month. That's higher than the civilian rate of about 20 per 100,000.

Suicides may be linked to lengthy separations caused by the current wars and the fractured relationships that can occur as a result, said Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general, in an interview last week. The broken relationship may even be in terms of how a soldier sees his or her connection with the Army, he says.

"We've seen soldiers who have received sometimes minor punishment … go out and kill themselves," Schoomaker says.

Chiarelli appointed a task force last March to learn why more soldiers were killing themselves, and the Army increased suicide-prevention programs. The Marine Corps last year ordered that all sergeants and corporals learn how to talk to their Marines about personal problems.

Area firefighters join "Red Shirt Fridays" campaign

GREEN BAY (WFRV) - The Green Bay Fire Department joins the nationwide movement "Red Shirt Fridays" in an effort to show solidarity in support of U.S. soldiers.

Every Friday members of the GBFD have the option to wear a traditional GBFD t-shirt in red. The shirts will be worn every Friday indefinitely until all our troops are home.

Starting today, the shirts are being sold to the public for $10 at fire stations #2 (University Ave), #5 (Finger Road) and #6 (W. Mason St.) daily between 1-6pm. Proceeds from the shirts go to Wounded Warriors http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/, and Homes for our Troops http://www.homesforourtroops.org/site/PageServer.

For more details, visit http://www.ci.green-bay.wi.us/Fire/index.html.