Mental health of troops comes under scrutiny -- latimes.com »
Posted By cowboygrandpa 1 week, 2 days ago in Family
Sgt. Justin "Jon" Garza joined the Army eight years ago at 20. When he arrived at Ft. Hood in June, the communications specialist had deployed six times to Europe and the Middle East, including two bloody stints in Iraq, and was due to return in September. He had broken up with his girlfriend, developed a drinking problem and gone AWOL.
FTA:
"I asked him one time, 'Did you see a lot of bad stuff over there?' " said Gary Garza, 44, who lives near Ft. Hood and often spent time with his nephew. "He said, 'Uncle, we just drink a lot not to think about it.' "
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cowboygrandpa
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cowboygrandpa1 week, 2 days ago
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FTA:
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"I asked him one time, 'Did you see a lot of bad stuff over there?' " said Gary Garza, 44, who lives near Ft. Hood and often spent time with his nephew. "He said, 'Uncle, we just drink a lot not to think about it.' "
In February, Jon Garza told his uncle that one of his fellow soldiers had sent him a text message in the middle of the night saying, "If you want to come to my funeral, this is my mom's phone number." He told his uncle that by morning, his friend had committed suicide.
The following month, the Army sent Garza to Ft. Gordon in Augusta, Ga., for training. In May, he crashed his car in what friends and family now consider a failed suicide attempt. He went AWOL in June, buying a shotgun and heading back to Ft. Hood."
I placed this under family, because these are my bothers and sisters in arms.
They are part of the family of the United States of America, who resolved to do their duty.
The politicians have not done theirs.
It is time they do !!!!!!!! -
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cowboygrandpa1 week, 2 days ago
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I remember coming home and being out of sorts.
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I did not fit in, because I did not see things the way others did.
I got drunk, I fought, I hated the stinkin' ignornace of those who thought they knew.
They were sitting in a place of power that denied me and my brothers and sisters in arms the the help we required.
Not wanted, but required in order to return to a society that did not understand or even care about us.
Most of us did not even want to ask for help because it would seem unmanly to confess that we were weak. What we didn't know was, we were not the weak ones. It was our leaders who were weak, they asked us to do something and we did.
They received the profit, we received the bill, we had already paid enough !!!!!
I don't want to see another generation have to lose again !!!!!
Get it right !!!!!!! And get it Right NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!
These young men and women, have served they deserve to be served. Not the freaking ones who profit then reject the damage they have caused !!!!!
We are veterans, not waste to be thrown out, like trash you no longer need !!!!!!-
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epiphannyy1 week, 1 day ago
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It breaks my heart to hear things like this. My husband was a Vietnam vet and has said very much the same thing. The struggles of trying to "go back to normal" and the rage over the fact that once he was used up, he was basically thrown away by the government who destroyed him. He was able to overcome most things on his own, but he was never the same after he came home as he was before he left. He never had resentment like he always had when he came home. And try as I might, I was never able to fully connect with him again. The man I knew didn't really exist anymore. He moved on and functioned, but he needed help that I couldn't give him to actually most PAST it and thrive.
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You'd think we'd learn from our own mistakes and fix this mess once and for all. But then, if we actually learned from our mistakes, we wouldn't have gotten ourselves involved in another Vietnam so soon, would we?
Our veterans are our treasures and should be treated as such. I wonder when we, as a society and as a country, will finally stand up and do what's right by them?
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cowboygrandpa1 week, 2 days ago
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Do we just continue to pay lip service to the men, women, and the families who suffer.
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By allowing another bull crap group to be formed that will use the headlines for their popularity, or their names being associated with a group supposedly trying to help the vets ???
I mean I would really like to know how people stand on this ???
Does it matter ??
Or do we just say that is terrible and allow more vets to die while we say well, there is nothing we can do ????-
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fiftynine1 week, 2 days ago
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You know where i stand CBG...I stand with you and all of our brothers and sisters !!!
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You said it well about us coming home to a country that neither wanted us or was willing to help...But yet we still love our country because we know it was the politicians that failed us,not us failing them...We also know that it was our fellow vets that eventually made it possible for us to get the help that many of us needed..
When i came home the first thing i noticed was the lie's that were being told about casualtys,then i noticed that all any one seemed to care about was what kind of body count you racked up...next thing i noticed was the lies about preference for jobs (i was over qualified for almost all of the decent jobs i applied for)..they didn't want us in their work place because they had made us into killers and were afraid to have us around..The next thing that finally sunk in was the hate that many in this country held against us..hated us because we did our duty..hated us because we knew the real cost and couldn't be lied to about it..hated us because we were no longer like them..hated us because we didn't fight in the "big one"..Hated us because many of us just wouldn't shut up about it and go away..Hated us because we made our own organizations,became more political,and made people listen to the truth of the war we returned from...But they hated us mostly because despite everything they put on us we still LOVED OUR COUNTRY !!!! -
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fiftynine1 week, 2 days ago
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War is not a board game..These are our next door neighbors,our friends,our family's that are being killed and damaged..These are real human beings that we are sending back for one tour after another,after another,after another,and then want to say (like the previous admin. did) that ptsd isn't real and people shouldn't receive care because of that
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Every time a soldier dies in Iraq,in Afghanistan,every time a soldier comes home and commits suicide,or has other serious mental problems we should all feel it on a very personal level because they have died and suffered because of and for us...WE NEED TO HELP ALL OF THESE SOLDIERS no matter what the cost...!!!!!!! I have said it hundreds of times on here and i will say it again..Supporting our troops really begins when they return home !!!! Now do it !!
I love you CBG and all the other Vets that came before us and all those that have served after us and like you my greatest wish is that this insanity will end and we can all have peace BEFORE we die..
My sincerest wish for all you vets is to have a good day of remembrance and a sense of pride for what we have done.
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pacodecabra1 week, 2 days ago
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Happy Veterans' Day to all my brothers and sisters who have served or are serving now.
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CBG -
I completely agree with your sentiments. I was an Infantry Medic from 1990-94 (it was only by the grace of God that I did not deploy during the First Gulf War or Somalia) and when I got out I interviewed for a position at the Dallas VA hospital and was stunned at what I saw: patients sitting on floors in the hallways, overcrowding, buildings falling into disrepair, etc. And this was before the huge deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and subsequent spike in veterans needing care.
The sad fact is that our leaders (from both parties) and to a large degree the civilian public at large are good at putting yellow ribbon magnets on their cars and singing "God Bless the USA" on days like today, but then they immediately forget that soldiers and veterans exist. How is it we can bail out banks and auto companies, yet cannot find the funds to properly care for the very men and women that make these companies' existence possible? -
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2sidestoeverything1 week, 2 days ago
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Heartbreaking story, I watch my father drink his demons away after being in the Korean war. Luckily he was able to still function without hurting anyone but himself. Our duty as a country is to support our soldiers before, during and after a war.
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Newperson1 week, 2 days ago
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I have lost family and friends to war. Not just the ones that died over there. I have seen good men go down fast after serving and that is very sad.
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I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the soldiers for the sacrifices.
Bless each and everyone of you may there be peace soon. And thank you GBG also for serving and posting this story. -
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icono11 week, 2 days ago
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Thanks CBG for the invite.
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Drinking and drugging was my salvation and damnation until I realized I had to love myself and forgive myself then move on without the chemical help. And yep, the wolves(old memories) are always looking in through the back door every day and night.
Yet ironically, if called to serve again in the same capacity, I was a field medic with the Marines in Nam (No I do not talk about it; re, it was real enough the first time so why would I ever want to relive it or any derivation of it.), I would not hesitate to go in harms way for the people of the USA and all they represent, and especially the troops in the field.
Right now I am in several support groups for returning troops and 59 is right, ptsd is a bitch, and war, ie real combat, is not a board game. It is real and it is the type of hell that only the experienced would ever know about and understand.
Peace and God Bless to all. -
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splitrch1 week, 2 days ago
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My Dad suffered from ptsd after WWII. He never had a decent night's sleep after he came home. He died 9 years ago at the age of 78. The only things he always had with him every day of his life after his discharge were his dog tags. He didn't talk much about the war but I know how it affected the rest of his life. Back then people didn't talk about their demons and nightmares. Somehow that seemed unmanly to his generation. We know better now of course. What I can't tolerate, nor understand, is the lack of effective treatment for our soldiers.
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fiftynine1 week, 2 days ago
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Once you go to war it becomes part of you..You can't run away with alcohol and drugs (tried that) and you can't forget..The best you can do is take pride in the fact that you served and then accept..For every person the road is different and some just can't make it..It has been forty years for me and my Bros. and that war is still producing casualty's just as these wars will...WE have to be prepared to take care of these men and women and then do it.
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canadianrancher571 week, 2 days ago
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After reading the article and the comments and also remembering the way that I heard a grown man scream and cry during the night, I just sit hear feeling empty, I guess the reason for feeling empty has to do with the realization that this is not something new and yet nothing ever seems to change. We welcome home those who serve, and today we remember the sacrifice of those who died and those who served, and yet how many of us realize that what these people went thought while serving their countries was only the first part of the hell that they were going to live with. Another part of feeling empty likely comes from knowing that as a society we allow our governments unlimited finances to fight war and yet when it comes to money to help those who have served we really fall short.
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I know that I'm just a single person and not society but I feel that as a person who has known about ptsd for many years and having never done anything about it in any way I owe a lot of people an apology, although I know that doesn't really mean squat to those who have fought this by themselves, and in that battle there have been both winners and losers. Sort of p*sses me off how in some battles we refuse to recognize the casualties or heroes. -
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cowboygrandpa1 week, 2 days ago
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Thank all of you for your comments and participation.
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I had a long day at work.
Just got home.
Some nights I still wake my wife with my yelling, one night about three years ago I grabbed her neck in the crook of my arm and yanked it up. She told me I then drew my hand across her throat as if I had a knife in it.
We sleep with a pillow between us now at my request.
It is unbelievable the crap we do and live with.
I feel so hurt inside for these men and women, returning from a total mind f**k, and not being able to get the help they require.
I wonder if it is going to take one going off on a politician, or a General or two to get things really started.
It shouldn't !!! Both my grandpa's were hardened by the trench warfare of WWI, they looked at things differently, My dad, uncles and father in laws, were battle hardened from WWII, they were hardened and saw little compassion come their way, they looked at things differently.
I look at things differently than my brother who never went, he used to warn people, stay away from my brother he'll go off on you if you mess with him, or say the wrong things.
I didn't realize I was damaged goods for a long time. I thought I was normal and everyone else was messed up, because they couldn't understand what I knew to be true.
Their life was about what clothes they would wear, how much money they could make, how much fun they could have, flirting, playing the game, seeming to be on top of it all.
Yet not knowing that their little world as they knew it was fake.
It could end with the first declaration of war in this country, then they would know what I had seen and was trying to convey to them.
War is not an answer it is the failure of people to reason with all their senses. It is the loss of reason and a descent into the realm of insanity.
It forces those who wage it to kill, eviscerate, devastate, denigrate, and destroy another human being for the cause of the politicians who seek control.
So they may keep us focused on destroying one another instead of helping each other.
I can't see how we can even consider allowing that to continue for more generations.
We have got to end it !!!! -
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earthlingerer1 week, 2 days ago
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Mental health of troops under scrutiny? I can't understand why.
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They heard all of the lies laid out as untrue. They knew that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11, and that Afghanistan wasn't the problem, but that millionaire terrorists who move freely around the world were.
What kind of people blindly swallow propaganda crap so they can go and kill somewhere? No, not very good people, most often.
When the government couldn't get enough nuts to join, they started to allow criminals and stupid people in.
The best part of a draft is that you draft sane, productive, intelligent people some of the times.-
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pacodecabra1 week, 1 day ago
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Earth --
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One of the more difficult parts of my Army time was accepting the fact that defending my country meant defending the right of people like you to be complete idiots. As for the draft, if there still was one I'm quite sure you'd be a Canadian quite quickly.
So unless you plan to put on a uniform and do some good, when it comes to both vets and active duty personnel, just say thank you and be on your way. -
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cowboygrandpa1 week ago
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earth...:
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I enlisted to serve my country.
I didn't wait for the draft !!!
We serve our country, unfortunately that means we also serve those who don't appreciate or deserve to be served.
Yes, the poiticians have always mucked it up. Yet without those who served wwe wwouldn't even have America, even as much as she has slipped .
She is the greatest country in this world, as far as ones freedoms.
So the next time ya want to disparge a vet, blow it out your as*.
'Cause that is what your comment stank like !!!!!
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fsev411 week, 1 day ago
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http://www.cnjonline.com/opinion/veterans-35868-oc...
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Sadly, at least one of our fine senators is currently blocking a bill that would support VA benefits and widen their scope. "It costs too much." This MUST be remembered and the people of OK reminded when it comes time to re-elect Mr Coburn.
Secondly the rule allowing such a block should be immediately revoked. It is also being used to block Obama administration appointments but this use of the rule is absolutely heinous.
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