No Immediate Threat

Memorials are Nice, But...

2007-01-25T08:34:00.000-05:00

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Dennis Moore (KS-03) introduced bipartisan legislation on Tuesday authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of veterans who became disabled for life while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The revenue gained from the new coin would help fund a national memorial honoring those veterans.

“More and more of our brave men and women are returning home with injuries that will affect them for the rest of their lives,” Moore said. “We can never fully communicate our gratitude for the service and sacrifice that our servicemen and women have made for our country, but this memorial is an important step.”

Moore introduced the bill, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Commemorative Coin Act, along with Republican Congressman Mark Kirk (IL-10) and with the endorsement of the Disabled Veterans LIFE Memorial Foundation.

Sergeant Bryan Anderson, a triple amputee Iraq veteran and advocate for the memorial, joined Moore and Kirk in announcing the introduction of this legislation. Anderson, who was recently featured in Esquire Magazine, spoke about his recovery effort and his vision for a national memorial to honor other permanently disabled American veterans.

“While Sgt Bryan Anderson lost both legs and an arm in combat, his spirit is strong,” said Congressman Kirk. “He has become a living symbol of the need to finish a memorial for the 3 million Americans who are disabled veterans.”

Commanding an impressive two-acre site within full view of the U.S. Capitol, the Memorial will be located adjacent to the National Mall, and across Independence Avenue from the U.S. Botanic Garden, at Washington Avenue (Canal Street) and Second Street, SW. It will be the nation's first physical tribute specifically honoring America's three million living disabled veterans and the countless thousands who have since died. More information regarding the memorial can be found at www.avdlm.com.

Memorials are nice and I believe that Congressman Moore has the best interests of the veterans at heart. But I'm sure what disabled veterans would like most is more funding directed at healing their wounds (mental and physical), as well as vocational funding to help find these veterans careers.
I saw a story yesterday about a man who gave a veteran who had both of his legs blown off in a car bombing in Iraq, a fast food franchise. Before the donation, the veteran said he had no idea what he would do with his life.

The Ties That Bind

2007-01-22T08:10:00.000-05:00

Common Ties, a weblog dedicated to bringing personal stories to life, posted one of my essays on my brother, Steve, this morning.
View it at: http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/01/22/soldiers-of-unknown-wars/

They are posting war stories this week. Today (Monday) is dedicated to the Vietnam War.
To view more,
http://www.commonties.com/blog/2007/01/22/war-stories-on-common-ties/

Peace.

NPR Focuses on Post Traumatic Stress

2007-01-16T12:42:00.000-05:00

NPR recently did a report on PTSD:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6576505

Very interesting and very sad to read the things my brother experienced in the Vietnam era, as well as things I wrote about Jeff Lucey in my book are still happening.

Bad News

2007-01-09T08:46:00.000-05:00

The thing about losing someone as a result of war is that you never view any war the same ever again. It might have taken 30 years for my brother to die, but everyone who knew him knows what killed him. My husband is an action/adventure movie fan and it used to be the war movies he watched never bothered me. The thing is, I haven't been able to watch a movie about war since January 2001 when I found out Steve had died. Although my husband also loved my brother, I know he sometimes cannot understand my reaction to war or anything war related.
My head tells me there are certain wars that have to be fought, but Iraq was not one of them. As we were sitting down to dinner yesterday, a military recruitment ad came on the television. It was one of those ads where the kids is trying to convince his parent that the Army would be a good move for his future. "Log onto to *** and we'll give you the information you need."
I couldn't help but go into a tirade: "And we'll send them home to you in a body bag, if not immediately, then we'll make sure their lives are screwed up forever." I asked my husband, "What parent in their right mind would send their kid into the military right now?
He didn't have an answer for me. I know that like my parents, who thought they were doing the best thing for Steve, giving him an opportunity for training and possibly an education, there are no good answers.

The King of Las Vegas Orders Subjects to Quit Feeding Homeless

2006-12-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

The mayor of Las Vegas, who until now, I thought to be kind of quirky, but relatively harmless, is on a mission to rid his city of homeless people. Never mind the fact that sky rocketing real estate prices have moved many of the working poor right onto the streets. And also not to mention that the law he unsuccessfully tried to pass making feeding the homeless (as if they were pigeons) might have denied a veteran, someone who has truly served this country, a meal.
Read the full story here:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/16303164.htm

God forbid visitors see the human cost of poverty on the glitzy streets of Las Vegas.

A Different Christmas Poem

2006-12-22T10:46:00.000-05:00

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night." "It's my duty to stand at
the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."
PLEASE, Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people
s you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
U.S.service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe.
Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed
themselves for us.
LCDR Jeff Giles, SC,
USN 30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

Brother, There's Too Many of You Dying. Mother, There's Too Many of You Crying

2006-12-21T11:53:00.000-05:00

Editor and Publisher is reporting that U.S. deaths could top those of 9-11 on Christmas

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003524348

A Bereaved Parents Holiday Wish list

2006-12-21T09:19:00.000-05:00

Karen Meredith submitted this list and I'm posting it here in honor of my mother's 82nd birthday. I know as she thinks about her life, she will also be thinking about the beginning of all of her children's lives - my brother Steve's included. Thanks to this list, I plan on acknowledging that.

1. I wish my child hadn't died. I wish I had him back.
2. I wish you wouldn't be afraid to speak my child's name. My child lived and was very important to me. I need to hear that he was important to you also.
3. If I cry and get emotional when you talk about my child I wish you knew that it isn't because you have hurt me. My child's death is the cause of my tears. You have talked about my child, and you have allowed me to share my grief. I thank you for both.
4. I wish you wouldn't "kill" my child again by removing his pictures, artwork, or other remembrances from your home.
5. Being a bereaved parent is not contagious, so I wish you wouldn't shy away from me. I need you now more than ever.
6. I need diversions, so I do want to hear about you; but, I also want you to hear about me. I might be sad and I might cry, but I wish you would let me talk about my child, my favorite topic of the day.
7. I know that you think of and pray for me often. I also know that my child's death pains you, too. I wish you would let me know those things through a phone call, a card or note, or a real big hug.
8 I wish you wouldn't expect my grief to be over in six months. These first months are traumatic for me, but I wish you could understand that my grief will never be over. I will suffer the death of my child until the day I die.
9. I am working very hard in my recovery, but I wish you could understand that I will never fully recover. I will always miss my child, and I will always grieve that he is dead.
10. I wish you wouldn't expect me "not to think about it" or to "be happy." Neither will happen for a very long time, so don't frustrate yourself.
11. I don't want to have a "pity party," but I do wish you would let me grieve. I must hurt before I can heal.
12. I wish you understood how my life has shattered. I know it is miserable for you to be around me when I'm feeling miserable. Please be as patient with me as I am with you.
13. When I say "I'm doing okay," I wish you could understand that I don't "feel" okay and that I struggle daily.
14. I wish you knew that all of the grief reactions I'm having are very normal. Depression, anger, hopelessness and overwhelming sadness are all to be expected. So please excuse me when I'm quiet and withdrawn or irritable and cranky.
15. Your advice to "take one day at a time" is excellent advice. However, a day is too much and too fast for me right now. I wish you could understand that I'm doing good to handle an hour at a time.
16. Please excuse me if I seem rude, certainly not my intent. Sometimes the world around me goes too fast and I need to get off. When I walk away, I wish you would let me find a quiet place to spend time alone.
17. I wish you understood that grief changes people. When my child died, a big part of me died with him. I am not the same person I was before my child died, and I will never be that person again.
18. I wish very much that you could understand; understand my loss and my grief, my silence and my tears, my void and my pain BUT I pray daily that you will never understand.

Thanks to the Pediatric Oncology Resource Center for this information.
-- Karen Meredith, Proud Mom of Lt Ken Ballard- KIA 5.30.04
Please visit these websites: http://gsmso.blogspot.com/
http://www.ltkenballard.com/

A Worthy Cause/A Good CD

2006-12-19T08:42:00.000-05:00

If anyone is interested in donating to various organizations for our soldiers, this is one site available to do just that. This non-profit organization uses music to give back to our soldiers by providing CD's dedicated to our soldiers at $10.00. The CD is titled "Soldier's Tribute" and includes 10 original songs dedicated to our American Soldiers. The organizations donated to are as follows: Army Community Service Food Voucher Program
(Ft. Leavenworth Kansas) Armed Services YMCA (Altus Oklahoma) Wounded Warrior's Fund (Ft. Campbell Kentucky) Support our Troops & Vets (Platte City Missouri) Laura and her band perform all over the US for donations only. The organization began when Laura's husband was to deploy to Iraq. Although he never deployed, the songs Laura wrote gave birth to the Soldier's Tribute CD at the encouragement of a friend.
Her husband's unit is scheduled for deployment 07July to Kosovo.
www.lauramoyers.com

Remembering Veterans Day

2006-11-11T16:12:00.000-05:00

I read a column today that said that while Americans will fill the streets to honor sports teams who've just won a victory, veteran day parades are usually met with empty sidewalks. It is sad, but parades aren't the only way we're ignoring those who've served their country. In the Kansas City Star yesterday, a hospice nurse wrote of all the veterans who languish in hospitals and nursing homes. Sometimes they feel their service to their country meant little. Here's a link to the letter to the editor: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/15974075.htm

Remember to never forget our veterans. If you run into one, thank them. Find them in hospitals and nursing homes and tell them they aren't forgotten.

Demand Veterans Healthcare by Signing Petition

2006-11-06T07:55:00.000-05:00

From an online petition site and submitted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). The goal is to have 7,000 signatures by 11-11. An easy way to help our veterans at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/174270456?ltl=1162816907

"The men and women who fight for our freedom and safety should NOT have to fight to get the healthcare they deserve. More than 20,000 brave soldiers have been injured while serving in the current "war on terror." Despite these sacrifices, Congress recently tried to slash the budget for the VA's traumatic brain injury care and research centers that so many of our wounded troops are depending on. Congress needs to know that anything short of fully funded healthcare and benefits for our veterans is unacceptable. Our veterans have earned the right to high quality healthcare. Sign the Healthcare for Our Heroes Petition to demand that Congress hold up its end of the bargain and provide full funding for veterans' healthcare and benefits. "

When the Flag Waving is Done

2006-11-04T09:48:00.000-05:00

They’re good at chest beating and flag waving. They’re good at pointing fingers at people, calling them unpatriotic and yellow-belly-cut-and-runners.
You know who I’m talking about – the Grand Old Party, the ones among us who are patriotic to the bone. I’m wondering, then, why many Republican Congressmen and Senators have voted time and time again for not increasing military and veteran’s benefits. Why, if they are so patriotic, the nation’s top veteran’s organizations are giving them failing grades on supporting our troops and our veterans when it comes to their votes?
I read in my local paper ever Friday how my Congressmen and Senators voted on the issues the past week. It came to me as no surprise, then, when I heard about the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) Fund, a non-partisan organization dedicated to supporting our troops and veterans in the current conflict, and their ratings of how each of our elected representatives have voted.
Now, I’m not a one-issue voter, but I don’t think one person in this country discounts the seriousness of the current conflicts we are involved with; nor do I think many people think it not important to give our troops and veterans what they need.
But there is something seriously wrong here, folks, with the message that’s getting to the public and what is actually happening in Washington.
I live near Missouri, a state considered very important in the election because it could be one of the states where it is decided what party will have control of the senate. In Missouri, where it shows Republican Jim Talent neck and neck with Democratic Challenger Claire McCaskill, Talent is rated by IAVA as having a D+ record when it comes to voting for benefits to support our troops and veterans. The Disabled Veterans of America also gives him a “D,” saying he only voted in support 60% of the time.
I looked up states in which I have family and the scenario was always the same. Here’s a list of what I came up with:

IAVA DAV
Dennis Moore –Cong. (D-KS) A- 100%
Moran, Tiahrt, Ryan (R-KS) D 66%
FL Republican Reps, all no more than 66%
FL Democrat Reps, all 100%
Pat Roberts, Sen. (R-KS) D 60%
Sam Brownback, Sen. (R-KS) D 40%
Kit Bond, Sen. (R-MO) D 40%
Jim Talent, Sen. (R-MO) D+ 60%
Fill Nelson, Sen. (D-FL) A- 100%
Mel Martinez, Sen. (R-FL) D 60%
John Thune, Sen. (R-SD) D+ 60%
Tim Johnson, Sen (D-SD) B+ 100%

It can’t be that Republicans are playing politics with our troops and veterans, can it? No, a party led by a former Texas National Guardsman who couldn’t be found for the end of his service and a man who had “more important things to do than serve in Vietnam” wouldn’t do that.
Hopefully, on Tuesday night, many of these elected official’s challengers will be able to stand up and say “Mission Accomplished,” but their work will have only just begun.

Read how your Congressmen and Senators are really supporting our troops at:
www.iavaaction.org

Ghosts of Our Past

2006-05-15T09:04:00.000-04:00

Last week, The Kansas City Star reported that a study by the Government Accountability office says only 22 percent of veterans who fought in Iraq have been referred for counseling for Post Traumatic Stress. This has veterans groups worried. “Untreated PTSD and bad follow-up by DOD can have this country repeating many of the same mistakes the government made during the Vietnam War. PTSD can lead to homelessness, suicide and crime,” said Paul Rieckhoff executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in the May 11 edition of The Kansas City Star.

While this may be news to many Americans, it’s not news to my family or that of Jeff Lucey or any one of the other millions of soldiers who have come home from war traumatized at what they saw or were suppose to do.

When I wrote No Immediate Threat, I was hoping that our government would not repeat the mistakes of the past. But it was too much to hope for; the brevity of our government’s collective memory is matched only by that of the American people.

I ask once again, where are all of these people who slapped yellow magnetic ribbons on their vehicles that read: “Support our Troops?” Do our soldiers only deserve support when they are away in a foreign land in the direct line of fire? Only the people can stand up to our government and demand treatment for our soldiers and our veterans.

The fact is, that the majority of Americans have not been asked to sacrifice anything for the current war, headlines of which are a postscript to their daily lives or relegated to the back of the newspaper section entitled “War on Terror.” And “Support our Troops” is just a fad; a catchy piece of pop culture people pick up as an impulse purchase when waiting in the checkout line to buy gas for their SUV’s.

As long as “American Idol” overshadows news of greater importance to the future of our country and the veterans who were once the troops we were suppose to support, I’m afraid America will continue to repeat the mistakes of the past – all at the expense of the people who are making the sacrifice –the soldier/veterans and their families.

The Class That Got It

2006-05-02T09:55:00.000-04:00

My book, “No Immediate Threat: The story of an American Veteran,” the story of my brother’s life after the Vietnam War, has been officially on the market now since November. In one sense, time has really flown, in another, it seems time has stood still when nothing was seemingly happening. Little did I know that a whole class had been studying my book for weeks when the teacher asked me to come and speak.
It was a creative writing class at the University of St. Mary in Leavenworth, KS. The teacher is a friend of the pastor who officiated at Steve’s memorial service. St. Mary is also the college from which I graduated. “No Immediate Threat” had been one of the books the class had studied this semester. The students seemed to enjoy the book in the sense that they knew many of the landmarks – the VA Hospital, the college, Turner, where we grew up. I was impressed the class had together charted Steve’s story on the wall. The teacher, Patti Carnahan, said some of the students had expressed concern because they had to document their impressions of Steve in one of the exercises.
They need not have been. I noted the impressions, most of which were the ones I was trying to get across in my book. He was confused and burdened. He was an alcoholic, but at times he was also caring and loving. The class seemed to get that although he was troubled, he was always my brother.
Patti told me after a class early on that one of the students came in one morning after reading a few chapters the night before. “He skipped her wedding. How could a brother not go to his sister’s wedding?” the student asked.
These are the types of passages that were the pivotal points in the book. How could I expect readers to understand my brother skipping my wedding when I didn’t at the time, have a grasp on the reason myself?
By the time I spoke with the class they all (in theory) had finished the book. I was not getting questions such as the ones they posed to their teacher while reading. Instead, I was getting questions such as, “When did we first think he had PTSD?” and “Was there anything in his childhood that could have predicted his reaction to the war?”
Some of the questions they asked focused on my thoughts and feelings during certain times, things I don’t think now I communicated very well in my book. As a journalist, I’m trained to separate my feelings from the story, to try my best to be impartial and non-judgmental. When writing a memoir, it is sometimes very hard to remember that it is the emotion the reader is usually seeking. And when a story is so emotional, it is sometimes hard to allow those feelings to surface. Although my thoughts and feelings were important, it is part of the book, my experience with this class made me less neurotic about this being one of the things I felt I did wrong in my first book.
The main point was suppose to be Steve’s story, his telling of it through his actions, records, letters and recollections. My reaction and my family’s reaction to his story were only secondary.
By the time I spoke with them, the class seemed to at least come to expect him to not show at weddings, to disappear when things seemed to be going good for him. It was all part of the “new norm” I described in my story that not only Steve experienced, but many veterans have faced, especially from Vietnam. The class understood that it wasn’t Steve who skipped my wedding, but it was the person who returned from the war; the man with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who used alcohol to medicate his sleep and finally, to medicate his wakening hours. The man, by that point, that had overtaken the person we once knew. That was the point, not only to tell Steve’s story, but the story of millions of other veterans – and this class got it.
What more could a writer ask for.