VFW VA District 8

Old Vets Scorched by the Strain of New Wars

Posted at 11:36 AM on Sunday, November 15, 2009 by District 8

Old Vets Scorched By Strain of New Wars Tom Philpott | November 12, 2009 Even Old Vets Scorched By Strain of Current Wars A small group of U.S. war veterans, the age difference among them as wide as 70 years, gathered last Saturday at American Legion Post 177 in Fairfax, Va., for a special event at the annual Veterans' Day Community Fair. They had agreed to participate in a "living history," co-hosted by VFW Post 8469, and organized by its commander, Floyd Houston, a man committed to ensuring local war heroes, old and young, don't fade away. For two hours they told war stories and stood by to answer questions that never came from local Boy Scouts seeking to earn merit badges for their time there. The public too was welcomed but didn't show. What they missed was more than the usual compelling personal accounts of war. They missed how deeply some veterans of past wars are disturbed by burdens being carried by the current generation of volunteers. Avon Blevins, a retired Navy chief, began his talk by pulling a few mementoes from a paper bag. He was a teenage radioman aboard USS O'Brien when that destroyer escorted 50 landing craft, with 200 infantrymen apiece, toward Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. "We took them in on the first wave. We got them there on target and on time.Patrolled up and down the beach all day and fired when they asked us to fire," Blevins said. O'Brien's guns took out enemy pillboxes and a machine gun nest. It was relieved that evening by its sister ship, USS Meredith. When O'Brien returned at dawn, its crew could see the Meredith on fire and sinking from an explosion later confirmed to have been caused by a German mine. Three weeks later, an eight-inch German shell from a shore battery would rip into O'Brien below its bridge, causing 32 casualties, Blevins said. After repairs, the ship sailed to the Pacific. Blevins was still aboard when Japanese Kamikaze aircraft struck, twice. In the second attack, a plane with 500-pound bomb penetrated to the ship's ammunition magazine. "Almost blew the ship in two. We had a lot of casualties," Blevins said. "We had part of the pilot too. I never will forget he had three or four uniforms on. I had one of his shoes until an officer took it away from me." John Swart was 19, part of 8th Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, which landed at Utah Beach in the second wave ashore at Normandy. "Some troops got out in water over their heads, carrying 30 pounds packs. Where I landed was probably knee high," he said. The first town they liberated was Sainte Marie du Mont. At dusk that evening, Swart recalled, he and other troops watched in horror as Army gliders tried to land in fields the German had planted with telephone poles. "A lot of those boys were butchered up," Swart remembered. Swart's own mortar platoon suffered 60 percent casualties within weeks. He was wounded twice that year, in July and November. For the second set of wounds he spent 10 months in various hospitals before discharge. He let the scouts passed around one of his Purple Heart medals. Lehman Young, a former Navy test pilot, recalled delivering an F4U Corsair fighter to a base in California early in WWII. He had arrived with extra fuel and so, before landing, decided "to do some sightseeing." He was set on flying under the Golden Gate Bridge until he was close to it. Instead he flew up the coastline. Suddenly he saw puffs of black smoke in the air ahead of him, exploding shells from anti-aircraft batteries. "I wasn't supposed to be there," Young said, holding his cane and smiling. "I did a real quick 180, got back over the bay, got down real close to the ground, went up in the mountains and hid for a couple of hours." Young said he had five forced landings while flying naval aircraft, but "that was as close as I came to getting shot down." By the time retired Army Col. George Juskalian, 95, arrived at Legion Post 177 in his wheel chair, the Boy Scouts had moved on. But sharing his experiences through three wars, including capture by the Germans in Tunisia, wasn't his priority this afternoon. Where should we start, I asked him. "It starts with my anger at our present military policies. We have military personnel redeploying to theaters of war five and six times and we're not doing anything about it," said the colonel, his voice rising. "We expand the Army by about 20,000, which is a drop in the bucket. But nobody is mentioning the draft. Nobody! Most of the country doesn't even know we're in a war! After eight, nine years of fighting, when in the hell are we going to level with them? How are we going to continue this all-volunteer business, especially for the Army and Marines taking the losses?" Yes, he said, because of a poor economy the military is meeting recruit requirements. But before civilian jobs grew scarce, the services were lowering standards, Juskalian said. "Who's kidding who?" "I don't hear anybody at the White House, anybody in the Pentagon, any of these generals we have, anyone in the Congress using the word 'draft.' It's become a dirty word! We can't rely on volunteer effort forever!" He said he reads letters in newspapers from military spouses worried that loved ones are going off to war, again and again, perhaps this time never to come back, while they raise their young children alone. "Well it bothers me. Jesus Christ, I could cry," he said, voice growing soft and eyes moist. Eventually he recounts some of his own experiences in WWII and wars in Korea and Vietnam, not mentioning until prompted by Houston his two Silver Stars. Soon Juskalian returned to why he was there. "If it's a war worth fighting for," he said, "the whole country has got to fight for it." Houston, with a son returning to Afghanistan the next day, agreed. To comment, e-mail milupdate@aol.com, write to P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111 or visit: www.militaryupdate.com.

Suicide Epidemic Among Vets of All Ages

Posted at 01:29 PM on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 by District 8

Suicide Epidemic Among Vets of All Ages

Dennis Guthrie

Surgeon General

Veterans of Foreign Wars

SUICIDE

We must talk about SUICIDE like we do breast cancer so that those who are having problems and who might be thinking about it can have alternative ways to deal with those thoughts and will not act on them.

Suicide is as complex as the person who is having those thoughts. It can be and generally is for veterans the results of dealing with PTSD, which a subject for another time.

The attitudes such as "play when your hurt" and "cowgirls don’t cry" and "get back on that horse if you get bucked off" and fear showing weakness for possible retribution from NCO or officers are some of the problems that combat soldiers have admitting they are having problems. It is expected of them to continue on with the mission. The new mission that should be given each soldier when getting home should be "get well", and "take care of yourself". They need to know that having night mares, night sweats, and spousal abuse, is not normal and they need to seek help.

NOW IS THE TIME WHEN I GIVE YOU THE FACTS TO BACK UP WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING.

A letter I received from the National VFW June of ‘09 had some of those numbers and facts. At that time there had been more deaths from suicide since 9/11 among our active duty troops, National Guard, and Reserve units then all the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Since 9/11 there have been 1,900 men and women complete suicide while on active duty. Fact: Suicide accounts for 15% of all casualties in OEF/OIF active forces. The Marines reported suicides in 2006 of 25, in 2007 – 33, and in 2008 – 41 according to DOD by September of 2008. American casualties were 4,700 + and there had been 821 confirmed suicides while in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We can help those who have come home. They are our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grandsons, and granddaughters. They are the most recent Veterans to put it all on the line.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that 18 veterans from all wars complete suicide each day which is 6,570 a year.

In Oregon as a veteran you are twice as likely to complete suicide as a non veteran. Every two days somewhere in Oregon a Veteran performs suicide and I believe if you were to check your own state it would be about the same.

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WHAT CAN WE DO?

As in all functions at the State and Post level, someone will have to step up and want to make a difference. We need to get the word out through State News Papers, Post News Letters, and word of mouth. We need to be talking about what to do for those who are having these problems. We need to give them alternative places to go to and talk about what is bothering them, such as "Vet Centers", VA Clinics with PTSD trained staff for one-on-one or group sessions, Churches, perhaps our VFW Posts where Vets can gather to talk out what is bothering them with other Vets, that may have similar experiences . Remember that the holidays are the worst time for suicides. The sooner we get the word out the better the chances of saving a life.

I’ve been working with the Director of our Veterans Affairs in Oregon who is quite aware of the stats on suicide and has been a very great help getting the word out through all the Veterans Organizations. We are working with local Law enforcement, EMS, and local Veterans who can be the first on the scene when a veteran or family members calls for help. We can make a difference. We are the VFW, we made a difference when we served, many of us had no one to reach out to when we came home, and it is time for us to make a difference in the lives of those Vets of all ages that need our help now.

Some State Departments of Veterans Affairs have set up SUICIDE HOT LINES, and there are Two "HOT LINES" Nationally. They are:

VA SUICIDE HOT LINE 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

NATIONAL SUICIDE HOT LINE 1-800-SUICIDE (784-2433)

FOLLOW UP

FOLLOW UP!

These phone numbers are no help if we do not get them out to those who could need them. I have made copies of these numbers with some of the signs and symptoms to look for on 8.5"X11" and have handed them out at the Post and at the National Guard Armory. I also have put these numbers on business card size and handed them out so Vets can have them in their Wallets to hand out or use.

We as Veterans need to bring the silent epidemic out of the DARK so we can deal with it as it is. If we only save one Veteran per Department that would 54 fewer dead Veterans and who knows how many family members who will not have to live with the suicide for the rest of their lives.

SOME OF THE WARNING SIGNS:

 

Talking about suicide or making plans, obsessing about death, giving away treasured belongings, taking unnecessary risks, increase in drug or alcohol use, withdrawing from friends and family activities. These are only a few possible signs that may help, but some Veterans are very good about masking their feelings.

I am asking each Department Adj. or Adj/QM. to get this article to the Department Newspaper Editor to publish it and then publish the hotline numbers and the warning signs so that each Veteran receiving your Department paper may cut or tear it out, make copies, and distribute them. I also ask that each Post Cmdr. make sure that this article is published in the Post News Letter or Newspaper and discussed and copies of the Hot Line numbers and Warning Signs are available at Post meetings and at Post homes. I am also asking each Cmdr to ask the Ladies Auxiliary President to discuss this article and also have handouts available. This is how we get the word out and this is how we save lives!

Yours in Comradeship,

Dennis Guthrie

Your National Surgeon General

Veterans of Foreign Wars

4495 NE 25^{th St.}

Redmond, OR 97756

541-548-6990 (Home)

541-280-5161 (Cell)

Information was taken from the internet, VA, DOD, and my personal experience.

It is very important to have the person who was "talked down" to see a professional within 24 hrs. There have been many cases where the vet who is "talked down" turns around the next day and completes the suicide., A word no one wants to use or a subject no one wants to talk about. We are in the midst of a silent epidemic. Thirty years ago breast cancer was not talked about openly. We knew it was there, but very few people knew enough about it to talk about it. It took those who survived the ordeal to come out and make it a topic which most people can talk about comfortably today. First Lady Betty Ford was one of those who talked about it in 1974.

Home Depot offering Post Improvement Grants

Posted at 09:32 AM on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by District 8

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