This is a very moving testimonial, from the speeches of the committee members, to the family members which will bring tears and rage into your being.
This is what Oversight and Congressional Investigations should look like, sound like, something this Congress and Country are finally doing, way Long Overdue and Too Late For Far Too Many!
This is what should have started in the previous Congress as the War Drums were being beat harder and harder and especially as soon as 'Shock and Awe' took place!
Walter Reed is way beyond disgusting, especially as it sits in the DC area and is one of the two main Health Facilities that Everyone knew would be receiving the Maimed of this War of Choice, certainly not of need nor our security!
The talking points about Reed being on the list to close down shows their arrogance and how those we hire think the rest of us are totally ignorant { though many should think they are after knowing they hit the buttons that did hire these fools }, being fed those talking points by those we don't hire but whose jobs seem to be bettering these propaganda points!
Our monies should have been flowing into not only Reed but All the Military Health Facilities and the Veterans Administration at a time of War, Right From The Beginning! The Previous Congresses should have made this the Priority as well as holding the Necessary Hearings Of Oversight of Everything Concerning Our Troops and This War Of Choice, They Didn't!
And the people of this Country, especially those who don't feel the need to contribute to ones society better start understanding that they Will Sacrifice Finally, because the Costs will be Overwhelming and We All Will Be Paying Those Costs, not only in the money!
Any talking points, as we go forward towards this next election, aren't needed. What is needed is the Truth, that Absolutely Nothing Was Done for the Four Years of Death and Destruction this Country has waged against an Innocent People and Their Country, with their Blood on all our hands!
UNITED STATES SENATE
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
Hearing on Mental Health Issues
April 25, 2007
Room 418, Russell Senate Office Building
Click Here to View Hearing
{ When you bring up the Real Player it will show some 3hrs. 7min., but you need to slide the bar way over to the 26min to 27min slot as the first 26min's. plus doesn't carry anything, unless they fix the feed. The hearing is about 21/2hrs. long }
Witness List
Committee Leadership
Senator Daniel K. Akaka, Chairman
Committee Leadership
Senator Larry Craig, Ranking Member
Committee Member
Senator Sherrod Brown
Panel I
TONY BAILEY, FATHER OF JUSTIN BAILEY, IRAQ WAR VETERAN
Patrick Campbell, Operation Iraqi Freedom Vet, Legislative Director, IAVA
RANDALL OMVIG, FATHER OF SPC JOSHUA L. OMVIG
Ralph Ibson, Vice President for Government Affairs, MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA
As you listen to this hearing, about the destruction of our own, keep in mind what those we have invaded and occupy are going through, especially the children. And what future we have instilled on them.
Next time this Country, and there now will be a sure next time now, is hit with a Criminal Terrorist action your First Thought should not be "Why do they hate us so?", you had better know and understand the "Why"!!
What you can Start Doing
{ A Re-Post. There are 5 days till shipping and shelf space in stores for Ilona's Book }
Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops
May 1st 2007 starts the selling of the book.
Hoping that her Dedication and Heartfelt feelings, having grown on the subject of PTSD and especially the present day returning troops, makes it a Best Seller and hits the Best Selling lists of many publications, something I would really like to see and not only myself but other Veterans of our many Theaters of Conflicts and the Innocents of same, I will Unabashedly Keep Pushing this fine reference work.
Her work, and that of her many Dedicated helpers over at ePluribus Media helped put together a Great Reference book, especially for those who grew up in the Denial Years after this countries Debacle of Vietnam and knew, or heard, little about PTSD.
It's a Great Starting Point of understanding with a whole host of other references that should be tapped into to get a much better understanding of what can and does happen to many, and could happen to you or someone close to you!
Visit Ilona's Site - PTSD Combat, often, for with all she's got going on she keeps everyone up to date on her findings and thoughts. Like this one A Personal Call to Keep Pushing for Our Veterans which is dated yesterday and found when going in to get her url, full of recent information and links.
Visit ePluribus Time lines for a host of reports that could very well be signs of the PTSD invading others from the returning troops to those who experienced, and lived through, Hurricane Katrina.
Get Involved in understanding better PTSD and other brain disorders that developed because of traumatic experiences that many go through that change the minds forever! As I said in the beginning, these can happen to little ones to us adults, many do not escape the memories that traumatic Events leave behind!
Injured Troops Struggle to Get Health Care
Tim Ngo suffered a serious head injury while serving in Iraq. The military recognizes him as only "10 percent" disabled, which makes him ineligible for continued military health care.
All Things Considered, April 20, 2007
When service members are forced to leave the military by war injuries or illness, they face a complex system for getting health and disability benefits. Sometimes, health care gets cut off when new veterans find they need it most. Some retired soldiers and their families say they are worried that the Pentagon won't spend enough money to give the injured the care they deserve.Listen to report - Windows Media and find rest of report at top link, with further links. can also listen to report in Real Media at top link.
Mental Health
Abandoned Iraq War Veteran Committed Suicide at Walter Reed in 2003
On July 4, 2003, Carol and Richard Coons had planned to welcome home their son Master Sgt. James Coons, a career soldier who had seen action in Iraq in 2003 and during the first Gulf War. Instead, they found out James was dead. He had committed suicide in his room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and was found hanging from a bed sheet just inside his room in an outpatient hotel. Walter Reed staff did not find him until at least two days after his death, and only then at the insistence of his family, who were desperate to locate their son.
Watch This ABC Report
Some Slow to Realize They Came Home Wounded
Fresh from Iraq, some U.S. troops find the mental health questionnaire they must fill out a hassle, a nuisance keeping them from the door - so they check they're fine, they have no problems.
Veterans Health
Pentagon May Be Shorting Troop Benefits
An injured soldier's disability should be determined by Veterans Affairs officials - and not the Pentagon - because the Army might be shortchanging troops, a presidential commission was told on Monday.
Editorial Column: Bush Administration's Hacks at VA and DoD Still Need to Go
Yes, the Walter Reed scandal is long overdue. But it's vital that government officials and media alike recognize that more of the administration's hacks still need to go, and that for many troops the issue is access to any kind of care at all.
DoD's Winkenwerder, Embrey and Kilpatrick Deeply Involved in Walter Reed Scandal
When the Walter Reed scandal exploded in the media in February, bringing wide attention to inadequate care for veterans at the Army's flagship hospital, Defense Department officials expressed shock and claimed ignorance. Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., the assistant defense secretary who oversees military medicine, declared at a press conference on Feb. 21: "This news caught me -- as it did many other people -- completely by surprise." But Salon has learned that the Defense Department had been conducting monthly focus group discussions with soldiers treated at Walter Reed since before the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had even begun, and that it continued to do so as wounded veterans of those conflicts arrived at the facility.
Department of Defense
Policy Shift in 1985 Cut Disability Retirements
Today's Disability Retirement Squeeze Began in 1985: Wary of rising disability retirement costs, the Department of Defense under then-secretary Caspar Weinberger quietly sought and received an internal legal opinion that, to this day, tamps down the number of wounded or ill service members awarded military disability retirement.
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