VETS-ARE-PSYCHO-KILLERS DEPT.

An outfit called the Bay Citizen contacted me:



Hello Sean,

I'm with The Bay Citizen, an online news service based in San Francisco. We've just published an analysis of official death certificates on file at the Department of Public Health that reveals that more than 1,000 California veterans under 35 died between 2005 and 2008. That figure is three times higher than the number of California service members who were killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts over the same period.

The analysis represents the first attempt to measure casualties for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans after they return home. The figures, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs, legislators and experts in post-traumatic stress, underscore how veterans in Bay Area communities and across the state engage in destructive, risky and sometimes lethal behaviors.

The data shows that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were two and a half times as likely to commit suicide as Californians of the same age with no military service. They were twice as likely to die in a vehicle accident and five and a half times as likely to die in a motorcycle accident.

After reviewing your blog I thought your readers would be interested in this report. Thank you for the valuable information. I hope you find the article useful.

Aaron Rosenthal



My reply:


Hello Aaron,

If you've read any of my personal posts on STORMBRINGER, you may or may not know that you and I already have something in common; although I'm Australian by birth, I lived in San Francisco for several years before I joined the US Army - my entire time on active duty (over 25 years) I was a California state resident, although nowadays I live out on the mid-Atlantic coast.

Bottom Line Up Front: I am VERY suspect of any awareness campaigns that suggest veterans are susceptible to some kind of mysterious malady that makes them go crazy, dangerous to themselves and the people around them.

This theme began in the anti-war days of the 1970s and peaked with the Rambo movies. Basically, combat veterans are ticking time bombs.

We are not this.

This is an unproven hypothesis.

How about some statistics that show that veterans are more likely to succeed in life, at any venture they embark upon? That veterans give back more to their communities and to the nation than people who did not serve? The statistics are out there, and they tend to show that incredibly enough somehow, the combat experience leads to a more productive, enriching life.

Example: how do you explain for the World War II generation's incredible success? Those guys saw TEN THOUSAND TIMES MORE horrific combat than did veterans of Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq or Afghanistan COMBINED, and yet they returned home, got to work, re-tooled American factories for peacetime goods and services, completed the Interstate Highway System amongst other things.

Regarding your analysis - I am always wary when statistics are thrown out there, and I don't like the word "expert". What makes a person a PTSD "expert"? I was taught that there is no such thing as an expert, only serious students.

Underscore how veterans in Bay Area communities and across the state engage in destructive, risky and sometimes lethal behaviors.

• Yes it is true veterans engage in risky, destructive behavior - but these kind of behaviors are not exclusive to veterans.

The data shows that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were two and a half times as likely to commit suicide as Californians of the same age with no military service.

• Although suicide IS a symptom of PTSD, again, this is not exclusive of veterans. One of the examples in your article could probably be more realistically described as "death by misadventure" - causes of death can sometimes be creative on death certificates. Drug overdoses are sometimes logged as suicides, although this is not always legit.

They were twice as likely to die in a vehicle accident and five and a half times as likely to die in a motorcycle accident.

• This might be so if veterans in that age group are twice as likely to own cars, and/or five and a half times likely to own motorcycles. What are the statistics on automobile and motorcycle ownership?

My point is that raw statistical data is not enough to tell the complete story. While PTSD is real and yes, IT IS LETHAL, way too much is unknown at this time to draw any kind of definitive conclusions.

For example, my community outside Fort Bragg is infested with paratroopers, Green Berets, and other Special Operations soldiers. We are career soldiers, professionals. The five houses that touch my property and across the street include a Green Beret sergeant major, a retired Marine who also did a stint in the French Foreign Legion, a squadron commander from SFOD-D, an Air Force reservist with multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, a North Carolina State Trooper, and a civilian who drives a cement truck. Between us we have over a hundred years of service time, and about twenty-five years of combat time. We all own heroic gun collections, and are all active shooters, hunters, outdoorsmen. Nobody beats their wife; no DUIs, no drama, nothing. The only guy we worry about is the civilian, and all he does is fish.

I can say the same of my many, many brothers in the Special Forces community around the Fort Bragg area, and around the country.

On the other hand, I DO know two guys who committed suicide and yes, I attribute this to PTSD. Two out of several hundred known friends, colleagues and professional acquaintances. I won't bore you with war stories, but yes it is common knowledge amongst professional soldiers that we have some sort of PTSD and it manifests itself in strange ways.

For what it's worth my brother has called me a "trained killer" and he's scared to death of me - and yet I've held a security clearance AND have carried a loaded gun on and off duty for over 27 years, there's nothing on my record worse than a speeding ticket, can't remember the last time I was in a fight of any kind, and the security job I hold is in a field so sensitive that a psych eval and regular urinalysis is required and any kind of reported aberrant behavior is basically a career killer.

Of course, my brother and his wife both think I'm the true-life inspiration for the Rambo movies - AND he's a journalist, so he'd probably be all over your analysis.

If you like, you can use the above for your paper - it would be a great honor for me to be published in my adopted home town of San Francisco.

Sincerely,
Sean Linnane


Needless to say I have not heard back from them . . .


SEAN LINNANE SENDS



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R.I.P. JULES CRITTENDEN

This one caught me by surprise:




End Of Combative Operations

The putative end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq is as good an excuse as any to wind down this blog that was a small byproduct of that war.

For a variety of reasons . . . I’m declaring victory and calling an end to combative operations . . .


I know the guy who helped Jules get that embed gig, I helped them get in touch as a matter of fact. That was before the blogging phenomena really took off - for me at least. Now Jules goes the way of other friends of Blog STORMBRINGER. The funny thing is I never really associated Jule's blog singularly with the war and I never thought in a million years he'd align himself with the regime's purely political announcement end of combat operations.

My take on it is Jules is suffering from Post-Blogmatic-Stress-Disorder - a syndrome I just invented-I-mean-identified and will be preparing a paper for presentation at the next Symposium. We're sad to see Jules leave the Blogosphere, and we wish him well in all his future endeavors.


Like The Duke said in that movie, a million lifetimes ago: "Fall back, fall back!"



STORMBRINGER SENDS

One in 10 Inmates in Britain’s Jails Is an Ex-Soldier

British troops in Helmand Province in 2009. Shocking figures show nearly one in 10 prisoners in England are veterans

It is not clear how many – if any – of the ex-soldiers behind bars are non-combat veterans:

The Government was under fire for failing to support British troops returning from war today after figures revealed nearly one in 10 prisoners is an Armed Forces veteran.

Shocking research by the probation officers’ union Napo shows some 8,500 former soldiers are currently in prison in England and Wales.

Another 12,000 have criminal convictions and are on the books of the Probation Service.

This means there are more than twice as many veterans in jail, on probation or on parole in the UK than the number of troops currently serving in Afghanistan.

Veterans in Scotland and Northern Ireland are not included, meaning the true figure is likely to be much higher. . . .

Domestic violence was by far the most likely conviction for a veteran, accounting for one in three cases. Other violent crimes accounted for around one in five convictions.

One in four said they had post-traumatic stress disorder, but many went undiagnosed. Others cited depression and behavioural problems.

The group who took part included veterans from the conflicts in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.


Read more here.


This story is already a year old; it just came across my radar screen. I wonder what the statistics are for other Commonwealth countires, and for American veterans? - Sean Linnane



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VETERANS HAVING THEIR GUNS CONFISCATED

If this story about the VA and Homeland Security denying veterans concealed handgun permits is true, it is very disturbing:

From a Vietnam Vet and retired Police Officer:

I had a Doctor’s appointment at the local VA clinic yesterday and found out something very interesting that I would like to pass along. While going through triage before seeing the doctor, I was asked at the end of the exam, three questions:

1. Did I feel stressed?
2. Did I feel threatened?
3. Did I feel like doing harm to someone?

The nurse then informed me, that if I had answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions, I would have lost my concealed carry permit as it would have gone into my medical records and the VA would have reported it to Homeland Security.


Another vet reports: "Last month, at my VA med visit, they asked me exactly the same questions and I asked them why they never asked them before and their answer was that it is a new policy that they must ask all vets!"


So far this could be dismissed as the rumor mill; but it gets more real than that:


Sgt. Wayne Irelan re-enlisted in the Army National Guard after September 11th.

He was severely injured in Iraq and awarded the Purple Heart. But now his second amendment rights have been taken away.

“I really feel betrayed,” Sgt. Irelan told 5NEWS.

A year ago the Irelan’s began receiving a small stipend from Veterans Affairs because Lana had to take over the family’s finances.

“How many husbands do you know in America that pay the bills? There’s not very many,” Lana Irelan told 5NEWS.

The V.A. declared Wayne Irelan incompetent and now his right to own a gun is gone.

“It’s wrong. Laws need to be changed. They need to look at individuals and not stereotype them as some sort of mad man,” Sgt. Irelan said.

Irelan has post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the Iraq war, but his wife says he has never been violent. Lana Irelan told 5NEWS his diagnosis is not a legitimate reason for his gun rights to be taken away.

“I was there when they gave him his purple heart for fighting for that right to bear arms, and they are stripping it away,” Lana said, her eyes tearing up.

The couple didn’t know Wayne’s gun rights had been terminated until they went to get a gun out of pawn. Days later Wayne got a letter from the Arkansas State Police saying his concealed carry permit had been revoked. The ATF has told the Irelans that they could go to jail if a firearm is found in their home. . . .


One more horror story of how the Government will take care of you . . . I've got a couple Government Medicine horror stories of my own . . . let me tell you about it sometime . . . SEAN LINNANE SENDS
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"If you expect the Government to take care of you, you're gonna get what the American Indian got." - Sergeant Major Loclomancil, US Army Special Forces and full-blooded Payute.


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THE DRY LAND

Hey STORMBRINGERS -

The Outreach Team for THE DRY LAND - a film written and directed by Ryan Piers Williams - has contacted me:

The Dry Land follows a returned U.S. soldier as he struggles to reconcile his experiences overseas with the life and family he left in Texas. The film stars Ryan O'Nan, America Ferrera, Wilmer Valderrama, Jason Ritter and Melissa Leo.

I looked at the trailer and am of two minds; yes PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is real and it is LETHAL - but is this more of the usual left-wing, anti-American propaganda along the lines of that Woody Harrelson piece of crap - The Messenger -? While the film seems legit and well done, I am suspect of it's venue:

The Dry Land premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and recently won the Best International Feature Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival; the film opens in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas on July 30th, with additional cities on August 13th.






You can look at it and see for yourself - the situations seem legit, the only criticism I have at this time is the guy's haircut; G.I.'s come home with high-and-tights. This may be a good instrument to alert families about the mindset of our returning heroes, and mixing loaded weapons and alcohol is NEVER a plan.

I am interested in your comments below . . .

. . . and NO I am not going to publicize their page on FaceBook.


- STORMBRINGER SENDS


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PTSD is REAL . . .

We're talking about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder . . . and it can be DEADLY.

Fortunately, Army Reserve Staff Sergeant George Nickel survived his obvious episode of PTSD.



On February 8th, 2007, Staff Sergeant Nickel was the lone survivor from the explosion of one of the largest IEDs ever placed, outside of Karma, Iraq. The blast penetrated the armored hull and the 12 ton bomb-resistant vehicle was blown more than 10 feet in the air. Nearly every bone on the right side of his body was broken, and shrapnel from the blast tore his flesh; it was a miracle Nickel lived at all. Less than a foot away from him, the turret gunner was blown out of his hatch, dead before he hit the ground. The vehicle commander was even closer to George, and he was also killed right away. The driver lived long enough to be medevac'ed by chopper to the field hospital in Fallujah, but he died of his wounds en route.

The war doesn't end for a vet when he comes home; it's worse if you come back in pieces. Nickel was sent from Iraq to the Army Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. His destination in the States was Walter Reed - a grim place on a good day; George Nickel was lucky enough to arrive at the height of the neglect scandal.

Due to his condition, and the situation back home, George couldn't be sent home for rehabilitation therapy. Back in Idaho he was an hour from the nearest VA rehab facility, and his house in the woods was not handicap accessible. So the Army warehoused him in an old hotel near Walter Reed. The conditions in these places are deplorable. George Nickle finally arrived home to Boise on July 4th, 2008.

What happened this week: George Nickel lost his dog. For whatever reason he took along a handgun, his AR-15 rifle and was wearing a tactical vest with as many as 90 rounds of ammunition when he went to look for it. Police say Nickel shot his way into two apartments before they arrived, clearing rooms CQB-style as he searched for his pup.

He developed situational awareness fast, apparently; Nickel surrendered to police without returning a shot as four officers fired some 12 rounds in a confrontation in the stairwell of Nickel's apartment. No one was struck by any of the gunfire, thank God.

Charges:
George Nickel Jr., 38, is being held in the Ada County Jail on a $500,000 bond for four felony charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, unlawful discharge of a gun into an inhabited building, and felony use of a gun in the commission of a felony.

I'm not a lawyer or a politician, and I don't know what can be done or said on SSG Nickel's behalf, but I've seen amazing results from the Internet's ability to blast out info in all directions. Maybe somebody out there is in a better position than I am to do or say something on SSG Nickel's behalf: a preliminary hearing on the charges is scheduled for August 13th in front of 4th District Magistrate Kevin Swain.

Here's more on what happened, and the hell that SGT Nickel went through downrange.