Suicides are surging among America’s troops, averaging nearly one a day this year – the fastest pace in the nation’s decade of war. The 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the first 155 days of the year far outdistance the U.S. forces killed in action in Afghanistan – about 50 …
This is a playlist containing the three part lecture from Gary Null at the premiere of his documentary, American Veterans: Discarded and Forgotten
HERE’S a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands. An American soldier dies every day and a half, on average, in Iraq or Afghanistan. Veterans kill themselves at a rate of …
Like any good presidential candidate, Rick Santorum heaps praise on America’s soldiers and veterans. He’s pledged [1] to “make veterans a high priority” if elected president, adding, “This is not a Republican issue, this is not a Democratic issue, it is an American issue.” But as a US senator, Santorum engineered a controversial …
On today’s Gary Null Show, we spoke with Shaheed Buttar, the executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the People’s Campaign for the Constitution which aims to defend civil liberties, constitutional rights and the rules of law threatened by the war on terror. You can hear the full …
by: Eric Newhouse, Truthout | Report
http://www.truth-out.org/half-vets-returning-iraq-and-afghanistan-need-medical-attention/1321369149
More than half of America’s former warriors are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with medical and mental problems that need treatment, according to new statistics from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
“These are unprecedented numbers,” said Dr. Sonja Batten, assistant deputy chief of patient services care for the VA Mental Health Division.
But they’re surprising numbers, in some ways.
While they bear out the controversial 2008 Rand Report that one soldier in three will return home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression and/or traumatic brain injury (TBI), the TBI component is dramatically less than predicted.
This Thanksgiving, remember our vets who have returned to a country that so easily forgets them. In a follow-up to the heart-wrenching series, “Who Is Killing Our American Veterans?”, Dr. Gary Null exposes the continued epidemic of homelessness affecting our American Veterans today. Thousands of Veterans are mired in poverty, …
Washington, DC — All too often, when there is criticism of U.S. military actions it is the service members who receive the force of the backlash. They are called criminals, they are accused of being brainwashed, and it is they that are punished when something goes wrong. However, many sometimes feel that when they do speak out against U.S. military action, they do so without support and with the threat of being accused of being traitors hanging over their heads. Veterans, on the other hand, are better positioned to be the voice of military personnel.
By giving first hand accounts of atrocities they’ve witness and the perceived senselessness of those atrocities, they leverage the fact that they have followed orders and have fought to defend freedom of speech and the right to protest. Nevertheless, yesterday, activist where shocked and outraged to learn that not even veterans are safe from police aggression when employing their Constitutional rights, the very rights they had once laid their lives on the line to protect.
Approximately 50 members of Veterans For Peace (VFP) participated in a march this afternoon from Freedom Plaza to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. The museum was featuring an exhibit on unmanned drone bombers that a group of about 250 people from the October2011.org encampment at Freedom Plaza intended to protest.
‘We had marched from the Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square occupations, taking over the streets of DC. The museum knew we were coming. Some of our group got in and dropped a banner. Hundreds of us did not. Instead, we were greeted at the door with cans of pepper spray.’ We intended to hold signs and sing inside the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, protesting its promotion of unmanned drones, missiles, and bombs, including its sponsorship by and promotion of weapons corporations. We don’t have any museums promoting health coverage or education or retirement security.’ This was the statement given by David Swanson is the author of ‘War Is A Lie.’
VFP Acting Director Mike Ferner said, ‘I was at the first entranceway, holding the door open for people to enter. I saw a police or security officer in a white shirt hold his hands up, telling people to stop. The marchers continued and the officer began pepper-spraying everyone. From everything I saw until that moment, there was no reason for the pepper-spraying. The door of the museum clearly said ‘free admission.’ It did not say ‘Free admission if you are quiet’ or ‘Free admission unless you have opinions contrary to government policy.’
McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: October 04, 2011 05:36:17 PM
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/10/04/126142/study-a-fifth-of-war-veterans.html
WASHINGTON — Nearly 20 percent of the more than 2 million troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from mental health conditions, according to a new report.
They amount to more than half of the 712,000 veterans from both wars who have sought medical treatment since leaving military service. Nearly a third of those veterans may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, one of the signature injuries of the conflicts.
Veterans for Common Sense, a nonprofit, nonpartisan activist group for veterans’ interests, and health care issues in particular, compiled the statistics from a raft of government reports.
In whittling them down to just the bare data, the group created a grim shorthand for the toll the wars have taken on a generation of young men and women.
“A large number of people serving overseas have mental health impacts, and more and more are coming home,” said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. “I am deeply concerned that we are not ready.”
While U.S. military psychiatrists are prescribing increasing amounts of chill pills, America