Veterans Day Chain Email is Partly Truth, Partly Fiction

A Fallen Airman and a Fly-by-Night Ending 

Why you can't believe everything you read in a patriotic chain email and why it matters--especially today, Veteran's Day.

When it comes to war and heroism, truth is usually stronger than fiction. Most made-up stories of what people do in risking their own lives--or their reputation-- to save another, usually don’t hold a candle to the real deal. So, why, I'd like to know, do people keep spreading stories-- stories that are either patently untrue, or are only partially true, in order to advance their cause of Truth, Justice and the American Way?  Because ultimately, no matter how good or true the cause, nothing good ever comes from a lie that's used to "flavor" or enhance it.

The Venue:  Chain email sent to thousands--perhaps millions of people today on Veteran's Day--to (allegedly) stir up feelings of patriotism and favorable feelings about Christianity.

The Story:  Resident in Albuquerque, NM writes in to a local newspaper to complain--in a highly sarcastic letter-- about fly-by of jets from a local Air Force base (Luke Air Force Base)  that were headed for a fallen serviceman's (Captain Jeremy Fresques) memorial service.

Fallen serviceman responds to said resident with moving and patriotic tribute to both his fallen serviceman and to the armed forces in general, ending the letter--allegedly--with the closing sentence: "Only 2 defining forces have ever offered to die for you ... Jesus Christ and the American Soldier. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom."

The Problem: While most of the story is true, neither the real name of the Lt. Col. (Lt. Col. Scott Pleus) who wrote the response, or the evangelistic final closing sentences of the letter was. Somewhere along the line--I can only imagine it was the original sender of the chain version of the letter--added those sentences intended to make the Lt. Col a "God fearing man" when, in fact, he never indicated whether he was a man of faith or not. Also an important piece of information was conveniently left out:  the man who issued the complaint about the fly-by later issued a sincere letter of apology and, on top of that, was a veteran himself.

Service Dogs Trained to Combat PTSD in Veterans Getting Good Results

Pups with a Purpose : It Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog…But This Dog Can Help With Cryin' all the Time  

 (and other PTSD-related issues)

Fido Finds a Friend in the Pen

Service-dog programs like Puppies Behind Bars and and Canines for Combat Veterans are having "pawsative" effects on our wounded warriors—helping them to reintegrate into society with greater ease by supplying them with prisoner-trained pups that are wired to please.

Petco may be "where the pets go" but "real" dogs—those who cost a small fortune to train but perform a service above and beyond the call of wagging tails or licking faces—go behind bars.  "Bars" as in prisons, not drinking establishments.  Programs such as Dog Tags: Service Dogs for Those Who’ve Served Us—a part of  the larger Puppies Behind Bars (PBB) service dog training program —are providing much needed companion canines to PTSD-identified veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Dog Tags" employs a rather unique training model: they use prisoners to raise puppies which then become service dogs for qualifying veterans. Puppies Behind Bars' first Dog Tag pup, Pax, was paired in February 2008 with Sergeant Bill Campbell, an Iraq War veteran who suffers from common symptoms of PTSD—including panic attacks, severe depression, memory loss, nightmares and fear of public places. Today, there are 81 PBB "incarcerated" puppies being trained inside six New York area prisons. 

Veterans and Volunteerism: New Report claims Possible Cure for "Inner" Demons of PTSD might be the "Outer" Cure of Helping Others

"Recognize our usefulness.  We are not charity cases. We are an American asset." - A veteran from Iraq and Afghanistan 

America’s “Sea of Goodwill” in the form of volunteerism still exists … but it’s missing its most valuable asset: veterans. So claims the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, in the foreword of a recent report: All Volunteer Force: From Military to Civilian Service.

It makes sense. After all, veterans are not only armed to the teeth with survival and other practical, battle-honed skills. They’re also used to laying down their lives for others. In fact, you could call them “The Ultimate Volunteer.”

That desire to serve, to give sacrificially for their country doesn’t go away when they’ve traded the battlefront for the home front. Far from it. In fact, studies show that most veterans, if given the opportunity, will happily don the uniform of civic service. After all, these boots are made for walking … not resting.

PTSD: "Mental Illness or Physical Wound? The difference in diagnosis could mean PTSD stigma will one day be erased.

If they only had a brain...that could be measured, that is.

Latest news on the PTSD medical research front reveals that a specific region of the hippocamus portion of the brain known as the CA3/dentate gyrus is more than 11 percent smaller on average in those veterans with PTSD.

What does that mean, exactly?  You can read the full article (or the actual study if you're so inclined), but I'd be happy to do you a service and give you  the right-brain thinkers' version of it, a.k.a:  "Hippos, Dental Floss and Greek Gyru Sandwiches for the Medically Ignorant."

So, here—after much stretching of my own pea-sized "dentate gyrus"—is my take on the results of this massively funded study (courtesy of your tax dollars):

1. CA3/dentate gyrus is the region in the hippocamus region of the brain. Hippocamus, for those of you who weren't paying attention in Biology class, is the finger-joint size structure found in both hemispheres of the brain. It is essential for laying down memories, as well as for retrieving them. In other words, you can survive a hip replacement, but if you lose, hurt, or damage your hippocamus (on campus or otherwise) you'll become an instant walking amnesiac.

Homefront Heroes: Wings for Women Founder Talks about the Stresses of Military Life

Guest Blogger Alane Pearce talks about the trials and tribulations of military life––except she does more than talk. As the founder of the military spouse support group, Wings for Women, she offers real solutions for military spouses and their families who have a critical need of  networking and support when facing the battle of isolation, loneliness and stress on the home front.


When Mama Ain’t Happy...
By Alane Pearce Military Spouse and Founder of Wings for Women Military Spouse Conferences

Military life can be hard. Our military personnel make great sacrifices to protect our country and others around the world. They work long hours and spend extended periods of time away from their families to fight for the freedoms that allow us to enjoy an American lifestyle. What many don’t realize is the stress and strain that this puts on the military spouse.

Military spouses are strong, but they can’t bear the burden of military life alone. The pressures of deployment, single parenting while married, tight budgets, lack of continuity and other stresses bear down on this strong woman’s soul.

This is why I founded Wings for Women Military Spouse Conferences--to help military spouses deal with the stresses of military life. The Wings for Women Conferences--two-day events that will run in military cities across the nation (as soon as we have funding for them) feature general sessions, dynamic speakers and military lifestyle breakout workshops designed to inspire and encourage military spouses towards emotional healing.

Ready for Battle? California-based Human Software Engineering Company Promises to "Vaporize" Combat PTSD. (Part 1 of 3)

"The task [of man's transformation] is not to transform human flesh into data that can be improved through technological manipulation or engineering. Instead, it is through the incarnation––the Word made flesh––that humans are transformed by their participation in the life of God who has taken on their lives as finite and temporal creatures." Dr. Brent Waters, D. Phil., Director Stead Center for Ethics and Values.

Now You Can Be Trained to Bio-Engineer the Fear out of Soldiers Suffering from PTSD.  
And Make Money Doing It!

Unemployed? Depressed? Anxious About Your Future? Want to Help Others?

Become a Certified Trauma Resolution Specialist!

• Gain the ability to identify and help resolve debilitating trauma related symptoms
• Be inspired to resolve your own nagging symptoms of stress and anxiety
• Be exposed to the latest break-through approaches to trauma resolution
• Connect with like-minded people and become part of a community helping to change lives for the better
• Become more happy, successful and fulfilled than ever before and have the ability to help others do the same

Talk about new job creation. It just keeps getting more Orwellian. According to the above recruitment ad that I adapted from the Great Life Technologies web site, a California-based human engineering software firm, anyone, with a little bit of training, can help bio-engineer the fear out of soldiers suffering from  PTSD.  And apparently, you can make money doing it. As an added bonus, you can even cast the fear and anxiety out of yourself, just by fixing a few “bugs” inherent in your DNA.

Gee, sounds perfect, where do I sign?

So, what does “bio-engineer the fear” mean exactly? Ask Great Life Technologies. They promise a near-utopian and blissful existence, i.e. a “great life,” for veterans suffering from PTSD and its related symptoms.

"The truth? You Can't Handle the Truth": Why Soldiers Won't Talk About What They've Seen

"The truth? You Can't Handle the Truth." - from A Few Good Men

"A Marine asking for help is pretty rare. Being willing to get help...that's almost admitting that you're failing, that you can't do it by yourself–that you need somebody else to help you." - Cpl. Dan Gay, U.S. Marine Corps

    Wounded warriors.  There are a lot of them–certainly more than the V.A. can handle.  Yet even if all the resources in the world were available to help soldiers suffering from PTSD, chances are good that many–if not most–of them would still go untreated.  The question is, why?

       Simply put, it's because most returning soldiers make very few deliberate attempts at seeking help–even from, or more accurately, especially from–those they love. If they reach out at all, it's through unconscious ways––like suicide victim Jeff Lucey did with this mother when he asked her to listen to the lyrics of a song that he believed expressed the acute pain he felt, but could never seem to share. Once again, the question I had was, why? (Read Jeff's story.)

6 Reasons Why a Soldier Doesn't Talk

I've listened to a lot of the experts, and this is what they tell us–indeed the soldiers themselves will tell you if you press them (I've talked to a few)–about why they won't talk to family, friends or mental health professionals: