| Goal 1: Lobby congress to pass bills establishing a moratorium on Chapter 5-13 discharges so that the issues can be studied sufficiently prior to adversely impacting any more military personnel that are PTSD casualties. Goal 2: Influence General Pollock, her superiors in the chain-of-command and our government to end the practice of mis-diagnosing PTSD cases and to provide adequate medical and rehabilitative treatment of PTSD casualties; to end the systemic practice of shoving casualties "out the door" and abandoning responsibility to provide medical and financial benefits to these patriots. What We Can Do Towards Achieving Goal 1
What We Can Do Towards Achieving Goal 2
Military & Government Officials Contact Information Major General Gale S. Pollock Acting Surgeon General HQDA 5109 Leesburg Pike Falls Church, VA 22041-3258 703.681.3234 703.681.3004 (Executive Officer) 703.681.6572/3136 (Assistant Executive Officer) 703.681.3008 (Executive Assistant To Surgeon General) 703.681.8046 (Command Sergeant Major) General George W. Casey, Jr. Army Chief of Staff 200 Army Pentagon Washington, DC 20310-0200 Pete Geren Secretary of the Army 101 Army Pentagon Washington, DC 20310-0101 Dr. Robert M. Gates Secretary of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20310-1000 George W. Bush President The Whitehouse 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 202.456.1111 (Comments) 303.456.1414 (Main switchboard) 202.456.2461 (Fax) comments@whitehouse.gov |
| FIGHT-PTSD.ORG |
| Photos: Luis Simco/Los Angeles Times |
An advocacy site on behalf of active duty military personnel & veterans who have been casualties of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. |
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| If enough of us can do this, we will make a difference. |
Our header photo array depicts three phases in the life of James Blake Miller, also known as the "Marlboro Marine". Miller is shown in the three pictures as a young, unscathed 20 year old Marine on initial deployment to Iraq in 2004, after being pinned down during an all night firefight in Fallouja, Iraq, on November 8, 2004, and then almost three years later, after being discharged from the Marines due to PTSD. This is the face of a young American patriot who will be a disabled casualty for the rest of his life, all because he served his country. Learn Miller's full story here. |
Copyright © 2007 FIGHT-PTSD.ORG |
Our 2008/2009 campaign at Fight-PTSD.org is in support of Military Spouses for Change (MSC) which is a grass roots advocacy group founded by military families to provide counsel and support to all military personnel, with a current focus on PTSD casualties. Please join us in providing monetary support and volunteering time and some effort to help MSC achieve their goals. Following is a recent call for help from Carissa Picard, founder of MSC:
for a list of our accomplishments and activities over the past twelve months.) MSC was incorporated in TX as a non-profit on Nov. 21, 2007 and obtained its federal tax exempt 501(c)3 status as a charity on July 20, 2008 (with retroactive application to Nov. 21, 2007). MSC wants to utilize the extensive military spouse network as a means for cohesively assisting our returning OIF and OEF soldiers, wounded warriors, and their families. MSC is currently focusing on case management; public policy; and education, outreach, and empowerment. Along with these three key focus areas, MSC has recently created the Soldiers Advocacy Group to serve as an intervention program for soldiers who struggling with PTSD, TBI, and other combat related issues. In June, I launched a website to start sharing information about the legislative process, presidential candidates and PTSD. I also began an MSC blogspot as well as a private on-line message board. By the end of the summer of 2007, we had a Military Spouses for Change MySpace page, which Tiffany Landis, one of our founding members, has been generous enough to maintain for us. Our myspace page has nearly 700 "friends." In March 2008, we launched an MSC Facebook page as well. In April 2008, we created a blogging site (thanks to the generosity and moderation of Tom Kole) for military spouses, Military Spouse Press. In May 2008, a professional webmaster (Erika Hoxie of Tenacious Designs) donated her services to reconstruct and to maintain our website. While we have managed to get members to join (which is free), the advocacy work on behalf of the soldiers in crisis (e.g., going against the leadership within the Army, sometimes taking it to Congress), the actual case management and intervention (for example, when some of you were discharged despite the involvement of other organizations), has been done by me personally. The financial costs associated with keeping MSC running and doing all of this has been paid out of pocket by my family and we can't afford to do continue. Our donations to date total approximately $1500, which includes a $500 grant from Veterans United for Truth. I am afraid that we can't keep doing this. In that past 12 months, I have found myself working seven days a week, even during my husband's leave before he left for his 15 month tour to Iraq. We have several hundred members and a network of spouse totaling more than one thousand, but that has not alleviated my work load, it has increased it. I know that we can apply for grants, but we really need a treasurer for our organization and a grant writer, but we have neither. Nor can we find anyone to volunteer for those positions. I am so busy with the legal, public policy, advocacy, and PR aspects of the organization; thus I lack both the skills and the time for other those duties (particularly as my husband is in Iraq and I also have two young children to care for). In short, we are in crisis. We need help with a treasurer and with grant writing if we are to continue. Otherwise, after I finish with the Fort Sill cases, I am going to have to consider dissolving MSC and our Soldier Advocacy Group. I will need to pursue securing a paid position somewhere. In the last twelve months, MSC has accomplished the following: 1. Intervention on Behalf of Soldiers in Crisis What we have done in the past. We have referred at least a dozen soldiers to other organizations that help can if they are faced with an administrative discharge (i.e. involuntary and often less than honorably or dishonorable discharge from the military) after serving honorably in one or more combat tours. (Dec. 2007 - Feb. 2008) Fort Hood. Two soldiers working with other organizations were administratively discharged despite their combat related PTSD (one for a personality disorder, another for a "pattern of misconduct"). MSC was able to intervene on behalf of these soldiers and have those discharge orders revoked and these soldiers placed in Warrior Transition Units. They ultimately received medical discharges for the combat injuries. MSC was also able to get another soldier who had been AWOL and was self- medicating with illegal drugs after a particularly traumatic combat tour placed in a Warrior Transition Unit for his own medical board in January 2008 (although his Commander was trying to give him a bad conduct discharge). (Apr. to Aug. 2008) Fort Hood. We prevented a soldier who was chronically and seriously ill and scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan soldier from being deployed and got him an MEB/PEB for a medical discharge. What we are doing now. Recently, we were honored to have SGT Chuck Luther join our case management team. He has gained notoriety for his wrongful discharge and lack of treatment for his own PTSD in recent months. After much discussion, we decided to formalize our case management component because it seemed as though most non-profits focused on helping service members and veterans AFTER the are discharged or once they have reached the point of being less than honorably separated from the service. MSC, on the other hand, would like to be more proactive, and has been trying to focus on preventing the less than honorable discharges. We want to see the Chain of Command held responsible early on in the process and we would like to see the service members in crisis receiving the medical help that they need and deserve sooner rather than later. Consequently, we decided to create the Soldiers Advocacy Group. (Aug. to Present) Currently trying to help four soldiers (all in the same unit) at Ft. Sill. Two of which are suicidal and have served multiple tours. All are facing misconduct discharges. I drove my two sons up to Ft. Sill on Friday, Oct. 17 and returned on Tues., the 23rd, to get documents, privacy releases, etc. I further met with the post-commander's chief of staff (the Commander was out of town), the hospital commander, and the head Judge Advocate (as well as the soldier's first Sargent, to discuss their cases. These cases are on-going; although I have just learned that the two soldiers who were denied to have had PTSD are being send to Fort Sam Houston for new mental health evaluations. Our greatest strengths as an organization lie in the fact that we have military spouses all over the world. In essence, we are embedded in the institutions with are harboring the beneficiaries of our services. We have an unprecedented level of access to military facilities and near first hand information of what is going on within units and on a variety of posts and facilities. That is an advantage that most organizations lack. Another strength we have comes from my active law license as well as my experience as a regulatory attorney and Chuck's lengthy time in service as a soldier (not to mention his own personal experience from having gone through a wrongful discharge himself). What we would like to do. We would like to encourage other attorneys near some of these installations to get more involved in the Article 15 phases of these post-deployed soldiers. We would also like to get more spouse and veterans advocates, as they have the insider's familiarity with the military process as well as access to most facilities. We believe that we can lead by example through our own successes. Finally, we would like to see some changes made to DOD regulations to provide greater consistency and fairness for our service members when post-deployment misconduct occurs. We already drafted the Returning Warriors Mental Health Protection Act (http://www.militaryspousesforchange.com/legislation- proposed.php). 2. Raising Public Awareness About the Impact of Coming Home Issues -- Both for the Returning Warrior But Also on His or Her Family (Oct. 16, 2007) Rick Maze, MilitaryTimes,"Spouse Group: Action needed for wounded vets." In this article, Rick discusses MSC's concerns and positions on Congressional action regarding our returning wounded warriors and their families. On the eve of a major Senate hearing to review the recommendations of two commissions aimed at helping wounded combat veterans, a politically active Army wife is looking for less talk and more action... (Nov. 19, 2007) News Channel 8 Austin's Chelsea Hover interviews MSC President, Carissa Picard, and MSC National Secretary, Inga Guenther, about MSC efforts to get the Presidential candidates to participate in a forum on Veterans, Military Families, and Wounded Warriors. http://www.news8austin. com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=195555&addvid=47599 (March 2008) National Spinal Cord Injury Association newsletter -- MSC president wrote a guest article entitled "Casualties of War" discussing spinal cord injuries and our current military conflicts. http://www. spinalcord.org/scilife/scilife21.pdf (page 3). (April 17, 2008) MSC President agrees to appear on the CBS Evening News with Kim Dozier to discuss our collective societal responsibility to care for our wounded warriors. The piece was inspired by one of our success cases, Jonathon Norrell, and was entitled, "The Military's Showdown with PTSD." http://www.cbsnews. com/stories/2008/04/17/eveningnews/main4025681.shtml (June 13 2008) MSC was profiled as part of Maria Hinojosa's piece for PBS NOW on soldiers getting personality disorder discharges and "pattern of misconduct" discharges instead of the medical discharges that many combat veterans rightfully deserve. Transcript: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/424/transcript.html Video: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/424/video.html (July 2008 to Aug. 2008) MSC President put together a coalition of 35 non-profit, non-partisan military and veteran service organizations (such as the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Disabled American Veterans, Military Officers Association of American, Reserve Officers Association, and others) to invite Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama to participate in a town hall debate on issues effecting veterans and military families before an audience composed solely of service members, military families, and veterans. Secured a venue, a commitment from John McCain, and CBS to air it live, nationally, during prime-time. MSC President interview with the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/us/politics/12obama.html. (July 12) MSC President interview with the Temple Daily Telegram http://www.temple-telegram. com/story/2008/07/13/50746# (July 13) Veterans Forum covered in the NY Observer: http://www.observer.com/2008/media/cbs-news-and-team- military-non-profits-invite-candidates-town-hall-forum-texas (July 15) MSC President interviewed via phone on FOX News (national): http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0, 3566,384741,00.html# (July 17, 2008) MSC President interviewed by Dallas Morning News: http://www.dallasnews. com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/080408dnmetmilspouse.45d1e81.html (Aug. 4) Forum covered by UPI: http://www.upi. com/Top_News/2008/08/04/Military_family_group_issues_Obama_invite/UPI-38001217871158/ (Aug. 4) http://www.kxxv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8824273 (Aug. 11) (Aug. 14, 2008) MSC President was interviewed live on the Dallas Good Day Morning Show to discuss the post-deployment concerns of military spouse community in a segment they entitled. http://www.myfoxdfw. com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=F362E78BA2BB7911794D71B11E80CC78? contentId=7206830&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1 (Aug. to Sept. 2008) Attended both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in order to meet with members of Congress in order to introduce them to our organization and give them a brief synopsis of our priority legislation, the Returning Warriors Mental Health Protection Act. (Aug. 26 and 27, 2008) MSC President and the wife of one of our successful case interventions interviewed for a Denver Post article, "The Battle Within" covering active duty Army suicides and soldiers cleared for deployment with PTSD. http://peaceandjustice.org/article.php/20080826091731664 and http://www. denverpost.com/thebattlewithin/ci_10310152. 3. Promoting Social Awareness and Political Involvement by Military Spouses (Feb. 2008) MSC in the Armed Forces Journal. AFJ writer, Christopher Griffin, found the blogspot that MSC maintains as part of our outreach efforts. In his February article on military blogs written by and/or about military spouses entitled, "They Also Serve," he discusses MSC and our first successful case advocating on behalf of one of our soldiers here on Fort Hood (who was facing a personality disorder discharge). (Feb. 29, 2008) MSC on NPR. Listen to National Public Radio's Alex Cohen interview MSC's President, Carissa Picard, and MSC member, Cynthia Thomas, as part of her story about the Texas Presidential primaries and Fort Hood. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87802418. (Mar. 3, 2008) MSC Participates in Senator Obama's Veterans Forum in San Antonio. MSC members Sarah Bradley and Cynthia Thomas. When the candidates came to campaign in Texas, MSC contacted the campaigns of Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama to offer to arrange for a meeting with interested military spouses. The Obama campaign was the only campaign to respond to our offer. They invited our members to participate in this Veterans' Forum in San Antonio. MSC President, Carissa Picard was able to ask Senator Obama whether he would support GI bill benefits for military spouses. He agreed that "it makes sense to have transferability" but that he wants to increase GI Bill educational benefits overall first (he supports Senator Webb's 21st Century GI Bill). (May 16, 2008) Interviewed by NPR's Daniel Zwerling for his piece entitled Military Wives Fighting the Army to Help their Husbands. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90378222why (April 2008) Promoting the sharing of ideas, insights, information, and ideas among the Military Spouse Community through the creation and maintenance of a blogging website, Military Spouse Press (www. milspousepress.com). 4. Raising Awareness About the Impact of the Global War on Terror Specifically and our Foreign Policy Decisions More Generally on our Military Families (April 10, 2008) MSC President participated in a national live radio discussion with a group of guests on NPR's Warren Onley Show To the Point "The President, the War in Iraq and American Soldiers." http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/tp/tp080410the_president_the_wa 5. Educating Visitors to the MSC Website about PTSD and TBI a. Fairly detailed information to help our visitors understand what PTSD and TBI is while also offering links and resources for more information and places to go for evaluation and treatment. http://www.militaryspousesforchange.com/info-ptsd-help.php 6. Encouraging Civic Participation and a Greater Understanding of the Political Process a. Pointing out legislation of interest to our veteran and military communities, making announcements regarding some of the latest legislation being considered in Congress (as our time permits). http://www. militaryspousesforchange.com/legislation-of-interest.php b. Created a comparison of the Presidential candidates positions on the war in Iraq (as taken directly from their campaign website with links back to the site from where the information came from) as well as providing links to their pages on their websites on their Veterans' positions. However, as a non-partisan organization (pursuant to our 501(c)3 status, we did not endorse one position over any other. http://www. militaryspousesforchange.com/info-compare-the-candidates.php If you know anyone who would be interested in helping us try to submit grant applications and/or someone else who would be interested in acting as a treasurer, PLEASE contact me as soon as possible. Your ally in change, Carissa P.S. I have tried to write as much as possible to raise awareness on the issues that are affecting our service members, veterans, and families. What Are We Remembering on Memorial Day: http://www.bloggernews.net/115848 At War with Themselves: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,157747,00.html Mission. Soldier. Family. Team.: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,158187,00.html This War on Terror Doesn't Feel Very "Global" http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,158989,00.html Butter Versus Bullets: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,164867,00.html Is the GI Bill a Benefit or a Bribe? http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,165877,00.html When Army Strong Snaps: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,175197,00.html Casualties of War (for the National Spinal Cord Injury Association): http://www.spinalcord.org/scilife/scilife21. pdf (page 3) The Faces of War: http://www.milspousepress.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=573 -- Carissa Picard, Esq. President Military Spouses for Change P.O. Box 216 Copperas Cove, TX 76522 254.554.1513 www.militaryspousesforchange.com "Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, 'the greatest,' but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is." Sydney J. Harris |
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