Group items tagged

"* In July 2009, Army Sgt. Ryan Schlack of Oshkosh, Wis., died after being shot while trying to break up a fight at Fort Hood. Spc. Armando Ray Baca has been charged with first-degree murder. * In September 2008, Spc. Jody Michael Wirawan of Eagle River, Ala., who was scheduled to soon be discharged, fatally shot 1st Lt. Robert Bartlett Fletcher of Jensen Beach, Fla. When Killeen police arrived, Wirawan killed himself, Fort Hood officials said at the time. * In July 2007, the wife of a Fort Hood soldier was killed as part of a murder-for-hire plot. Hidi Gower was shot to death outside a Veterans of Foreign Wars pool hall in Kempner, 18 miles from Killeen. Army Sgt. 1st Class Donald Dean Gower was sentenced to life in prison without parole in August 2008. * In March 2005, Fort Hood Army Sgt. Jason Cline flew from Texas to California and plotted with Sharonmarie Ball to kill her husband, Navy Petty Officer John Ball, who was stabbed in the chin and right hand but survived, according to news reports on KWTX-TV in Waco. Cline was sentenced to 12 years in prison in February 2006, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. * In April 2005, former Army medic John D. Mayer Jr. of Fort Hood pleaded guilty in federal court in Waco to charges in the death of his 2-year-old stepdaughter. Mayer had been watching the child while the girl's mother was deployed to Iraq, according to news reports on KWTX. * In July 2004, Fort Hood officials identified the bodies of Fort Hood soldiers Sgt. Erin Elizabeth Edwards and her estranged husband, Sgt. William McKinley Edwards. Police investigated the shooting deaths as a murder-suicide, the Texas A&M University student newspaper, The Battalion, reported in 2004. "

Edward Colley

Joseph Sanders

Orrin Gorman McClellan

"This series uses the experiences of several troops suffering from PTSD to delve into the biology of the disorder; substance abuse among victims; the stress that the disorder places on spouses and children; treatment options and availability; the specter of suicide among PTSD sufferers; what current research may mean for the future, and many other issues."

"James F. Gallagher"

Cited in "Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act of 2007"

Pfc. Jordan May, a 26-year-old gunner, fell into a deep sleep that night and never woke up. In the six years since the war in Iraq began, it's been standard practice to honor troops who die overseas as patriots. But for the families of May and other Fort Hood soldiers who died on post or close to home, there typically are no news reports and no flags lowered to half-staff. The hidden demons that follow troops home - mental stress, depression and traumatic brain injury, to name a few - don't always go away. When left unresolved, they can lead to divorce, drug or alcohol abuse and suicide. And as the March 19 anniversary of the start of the war draws near, there are more questions than answers in the stateside deaths of May and 13 other Fort Hood troops in the past eight months. The Army typically releases general details of how a soldier has died in Iraq, usually from small-arms fire, an explosive, an accident or an unspecified noncombat incident. But when a soldier dies at Fort Hood, friends and relatives often can only speculate about any role the war might have played.

War-related trauma doesn't just plague our veterans - it also haunts our military children, too. Is there a technique for weakening traumatic memories? The fact is, our troops are also dying at home. Add Nevada to the list of states considering special courts for our veterans suffering PTSD - as war has injured them, not that criminality has overcome them. Add Texas to the list of states looking to boost the mental health of military families. Because the most pervasive combat injury is invisible.

A lot of soldiers say war is hell, and then, they won't say anything else. That wasn't good enough for one west suburban playwright. She's created a new collaboration called the Vet Art Project. It brings veterans and artists together to make art out of war. The group's vision is a big one: it aims to be a national model for how veterans can tell their stories and get the public to listen.

The lethal ambush of a convoy carrying female U.S. troops in Fallujah underscored the difficulties of keeping women away from the front lines in a war where such boundaries are far from clear-cut. The suicide car bomb and ensuing small-arms fire killed at least two Marines, and four others were missing and presumed dead. At least one woman was killed and 11 of 13 wounded were female.

Miles Bingham

"The VA's position on PTSD-combat links is untenable, though. Critics such as independent journalist Ilona Meagher, who edits the online journal PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within, argue that the government willfully ignores PTSD issues, which leads to troubling results such as increased troop suicides. "

"Sgt. Gilberto Mota who killed himself and his wife or Staff Sgt. Justin Lee Garza who committed suicide"

"Excerpt: Every month, Ilona Meagher, author of Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops, posts a collection of "combat clips"-essentially a stack of statistics reported in the mainstream media but buried by the daily barrage of news and chatter. The stats, collected at her blog, PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within, cover a lot of ground, from suicides to face transplants, but I wanted to pull out some numbers relating to women in the military... Full story: http://www.utne.com/War-and-Peace/Women-in-the-US-Military-6216.aspx -- Tanya L. Roth PhD Candidate, Department of History Washington University in St. Louis "

"Brandon Shepherd"

"Every month, Ilona Meagher, author of Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops, posts a collection of "combat clips"-essentially a stack of statistics reported in the mainstream media but buried by the daily barrage of news and chatter. The stats, collected at her blog, PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within, cover a lot of ground, from suicides to face transplants, but I wanted to pull out some numbers relating to women in the military:"

"Kenneth Ellis"

"Kenneth Ellis III"