Most every day there is a provocative news report suggesting that some “miracle drug” may help treat Veterans with PtSD and TBI. If it is not a new drug, cannabis or ecstacy are often cited as “new” drugs that can help Veterans cope with the debilitating symptoms of PTSD.
While many Veterans with brain injury and their caregivers hope that prescription medicine relief is on the way, the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) has a very poor track record in ...
Continue Reading →Thomas Brennan, a former sergeant in the Marine Corps, is the founder of The War Horse, a veterans’ news site, and a co-author of “Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War,” makes an impassioned plea to “make pot legal for Veterans with TBI.”
In an “Opinion” piece for ...
Continue Reading →As we reported earlier, Veteran Eric Bivins committed suicide after being unable to find the support and care he needed from the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”).
Found below are a moving – AND MOST SAD – series of videos by Kimi Bivins, Eric’s spouse which describes her experiences with the VA in attempting to find the proper care for her husband.
Kimi’s experiences with the VA are not dissimilar from my own and countless of others who have ...
Continue Reading →Military suicides, particularly among Veterans, show no signs of abating. Despite recent efforts by Secretary of Shulkin of the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”), the “silent wounds of war” follow our Veterans into civilian life.
In a most informative report published by CNN, Veteran suicides account for roughly 20% of all suicides in the United States.
SFTT has reported on this disturbing trend for several years, but little has been done to curb Veteran ...
Continue Reading →In yet another devastating report recently released by the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”), this government oversight agency calls into question the VA’s data records with the tragic conclusion that “63% of suicide cases were inaccurately processed.” As readers of SFTT’s Blog, you are probably not surprised by these latest findings but many in the public may be scratching their heads since they thought these problems were addressed in the wake of the 2014 Phoenix, AZ Veterans Hospital Scandal.
WAKEUP CALL ...
Continue Reading →Talking about the suicide of a loved one is not easy. There is always a sense of guilt that “I could have done more,” but this is generally not the case for military veterans suffering from PTSD or as SFTT prefers to call it: PTS (“Post Traumatic Stress”). Let’s remove the “disorder” stigma for what is now the signature wound of many warriors who have served our country so valiantly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
SFTT will continue to provide a ...
Continue Reading →To his credit, former Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli has always been at the forefront of focusing the public’s attention on the “unintended consequences of war” facing our brave men and women when they return home from repeated deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. His moving and pointed introduction to the 2010 report seeking to understand the increasing rates of suicides among military personnel demonstrates his resolve in supporting our men and women in uniform. The 350 page ...
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