As a nation, how did we let ourselves get to the point where we let the families of our troops bear the financial and emotional burdens of war?  http://on.msnbc.com/nzyk0X

“The new lives take a searing toll. Many of the caregivers report feeling anxious, depressed or exhausted. They gain weight and experience health problems. On their now frequent trips to the pharmacy, they increasingly have to pick up prescriptions for themselves as well.”

This is a great article. The military’s latest belief that the answer can be found in “resiliency training” is challenged in this article and offers a different perspective.  http://huff.to/o9j2N6

Excellent resource article / http://bit.ly/pDRzEa

The Veterans Administration reports that nationally, 18 veterans commit suicide EVERY DAY, while another 40 every day will survive a suicide attempt. Georgia is the ONLY state with a record of NO suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2007, due much in part to programs like the Georgia Regional Triage Model which couples community pastors and counselors with recently returned soldiers in need.

Large epidemiological study and its results yields interesting findings /Results From Wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions: http://bit.ly/na0inu

Worth the read: http://bit.ly/qL8cmy

Surviving war today carries increased hazards of a different sort for tens of thousands of American men and women. Wounds that were fatal in past wars today are producing a generation of disabled soldiers, sailors and Marines. America is also confronted by skyrocketing rates of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), combat and operational stress reactions, traumatic brain injury, loss of limbs and other injuries. As a nation we are woefully unprepared for disability as the true legacy of contemporary war.

Excellent article / But even more than with a physical prosthetic, the cost of treating PTSD needs to be offset against the economic costs of not treating it, from lost productivity to outright unemployability to suicide. http://bit.ly/mSThMF

Research shows women are four-times more likely than men to have long-lasting PTSD. In one study it took women five years to recover compared to two years for men. http://bit.ly/pNjPFr

Be aware and get involved / September has been designated as Military Suicide Awareness Month. The Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars is using a blue teardrop to represent, acknowledge and support the dissemination of information about this sad but important issue. http://bit.ly/nHbbdo

The sleight of hand continues w/veterans.  Jingoism and slogans of Madison Avenue proportions on the front end while a whole stealth process is in place on the back end reducing and denying benefits/ http://bit.ly/oPRjbx

Well written article-Makes you think about the latest slogan that is in fashion: Hire a Hero-Ask any of them if they consider themselves heroes and they’ll tell you straight up that the heroes are the ones that never came Home. What they want is a damn job that doesn’t require tax credits to employers to have it offered to them/ See below-This is the cold hard truth stacked up against jingoism-I’m sick of these slogans and the onslaught of to little to late masking all of it. Stop w/ the slogans already and provide to them what a grateful Nation should-good jobs, medical and behavioral health care w/o regard to the ability to pay and a simple thank you for your service-tie the first two together and the last one will actually have meaning to them.

“And the cold, hard facts remain that, in the reckoning of the financial system, he is just another social security number bearing baggage. He is not a special case, not someone to be given lenience by dint of his experience, but rather a young man with tattered credit and no certain income potential”. http://huff.to/pCjqKA