Looking at $6 Billion spent on Combat stress leading to suicide as Sadr Cities faltering services & US military leadership a sign of the future, all will get much worse!
This morning I awake to earth day and wanted to focus on taking care or your little piece as the world prepares to destroy the planet for all of us. Once again I had to digress as something more important than the planets future came up. I must discuss the US soldiers abuse as they are increasingly being misused and abused while being asked to increasingly carry the load in Iraq and sadly it is rapidly ramping up to include the entire middle east and the world. Combat Stress May Cost U.S. Up to $6 Billion: About 300,000 U.S. military personnel who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression, a mental toll that will cost the nation as much as $6.2 billion over two years, according to a Rand Corp. report released yesterday.
In addition, nearly 20 percent of the 1.64 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, or about 320,000 personnel, reported a probable traumatic brain injury (TBI) during deployment, the report notes, although it says their treatment needs have not been determined. The economic cost of the PTSD and depression cases -- including medical care, forgone productivity and lost lives through suicide -- is estimated at $4 billion to $6 billion over two years. Meanwhile, the cost incurred by traumatic brain injury, based on all cases diagnosed through June 2007, is estimated at $600 million to $900 million. The 500-page report, titled "Invisible Wounds of War," says prolonged and repeated exposure to combat stress is causing a disproportionately high psychological toll compared with physical injuries. It warns of "long-term, cascading consequences" for the nation -- ranging from a greater likelihood of drug use and suicide to increased marital problems and unemployment -- if the mental health problems are left untreated.
Yet, based on a survey of 1,965 service members from 24 communities across the country, the study found serious gaps in mental health care. For example, it determined that only 53 percent of service members with PTSD or depression had sought help from a provider in the past year. Of those who sought care, about half received "minimally adequate" treatment. Thousands more certified mental health professionals are needed to provide high-quality care in both military and civilian sectors, while more training for treating trauma is required for tens of thousands of existing providers, the report says. Providing such care will require an effort that goes beyond the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to other parts of the U.S. health-care system, where veterans are also seeking care in part due to concerns of being stigmatized if they seek care from military facilities, it concludes. Combat stress and suicides increasing
It is mind boggling to me that as changes are made in this mis-administration and to the VA and Medical care for our Veterans not only after more than 5 years does the problem persist but it is getting worse as expected and will get much worse as our troops are increasingly being made to carry the load in Iraq and it will spread throughout the middle east and the entire world as we increasingly shovel shit against the tide!.
Once again I am going to have to avert to the use of links as the issues are too wide and long to be discussed adequately and this is only the tip of the iceberg facing us and growing daily as we speak! finally after all the abuse of our soldiers a class action LawSuit begins
Of course due to the abuse and the large extent of it this is right but of course The VA urges dismissal of health care lawsuit so they can continue to do nothing
Meanwhile in Iraq Even as American and Iraqi troops are fighting to establish control of the Sadr City section of this capital, the Iraqi government’s program to restore basic services like electricity, sewage and trash collection is lagging, jeopardizing the effort to win over the area’s wary residents. For weeks, there have been reports that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is preparing to move ahead with a multimillion-dollar program to rebuild the southern swath of Sadr City, which is currently occupied by Iraqi and American troops.But almost a month after American and Iraqi forces pushed into the area, there are no signs of reconstruction. Instead, the streets are filled with mounds of trash and bubbling pools of sewage. Many neighborhoods are still without electricity, and many residents are too afraid to brave the cross-fire to seek medical care. Iraqi public works officials, apparently fearful of the fighting, rarely seem to show up at work, and the Iraqi government insists the area is not safe enough for repairs to begin. In Sadr City, Basic Services Are Faltering
To top it off It is now clear that although the initial military planning was Iraqi, US and British forces are deeply involved. In the capital's neighborhood of Sadr City, US infantry troops are fighting alongside Iraqi soldiers, to try to secure areas that were once firmly under the hold of the Mehdi Army, which is loyal to the Shia cleric, Moqtada Sadr. Reports suggest that US combat units have also been deployed at short notice to Basra from elsewhere in Iraq and the Middle East. On Monday, a US convoy in the southern city was attacked. A spokesman for the US-led coalition confirmed the bombing, but would give no further details. A Western military source has also told the BBC that significant numbers of UK and US special forces are in Basra, acting both independently and in support of Iraqi army units. Sadr offensive proves Iraq can not be self sufficient
And Georgia has asked the U.N. Security Council to discuss Russia's "military aggression" after saying a Russian jet shot down one of its unmanned spy planes. "We call upon the United Nations to address this direct military aggression against Georgia and to fully exploit its own means and capabilities in order to keep the situation from further escalation," Georgia's U.N. Ambassador Irakli Alasania told reporters Monday. to bolster its case, the Georgian air force released a video that it says shows a twin-tailed Russian MiG-29 shooting down a Georgian unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, over the separatist region of Abkhazia on Sunday. The video -- shot by the drone, Georgia says -- shows a jet fighter firing a missile that streaks through the sky, trailed by a column of white smoke. The missile gets closer and closer and then suddenly the screen goes blank. Of course Russia denies everything
* To top it off the worlds water and food wars are just beginning and the pinch is even being felt in America as the chief idiot the cause of the worlds troubles insists we need more trade agreements and there is no recession only a slow down. Bush has driven the world purposely to the brink. As the worlds leader he could have brought the world to unity and prosperity instead he has brought us to the edge of destruction with division and threatened world destruction. It is up to us to save the situation if possible by getting Obama elected meanwhile I recommend you hunker down and learn how to make due and you will be alright. I have all the tools to survive and am here for advice if anyone needs it!
James Joiner
Gardner Ma
