Fighting PTSD: Charleston mom talks about soldier’s return from combat

CHARLESTON,  S.C. (WCIV) – Sharon Brown often finds herself looking back at childhood photos of her youngest son, Jonathan who’s now 24 years old. 

“We really thought this was going to be a career for him,” said Brown.

In 2009, Brown agreed to let her son leave his full academic scholarship at the College of Charleston to enlist in the United States Army. Shortly after boot camp, Jonathan was sent to Iraq in his first deployment.

“Jonathan did a really good job of telling me things that he wanted, as a mom, wanted me to hear. Things like, ‘Oh no, I’m very safe here. I never go outside of the area,’ which later on I found was not exactly true,” said Brown. 

Brown says when her son returned from Iraq there were subtle changes in his behavior.

Read more: http://www.abcnews4.com/story/23843740/fighting-ptsd-charleston-mom-talks-about-soldiers-return-from-combat

Veterans’ Committee Hearing Focuses on Health Care

Currently, veterans above certain income levels and without serious service-connected disabilities are unable to receive care.  Sanders’ Veterans Health Care Eligibility Expansion and Enhancement Act of 2013 would reaffirm the nation’s commitment to those veterans with the most severe service-connected disabilities and lowest incomes and expand access to veterans currently unable to enroll in three important ways.

Read more: http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-national/military-casualties/47507-veterans-committee-hearing-focuses-on-health-care.html

Man suspected in murder-attempted suicide was Camp Smith soldier

The military today released information on the soldier suspected of killing his 33 year-old wife from Singapore before turning the gun on himself in the couple’s Waikiki apartment in an apparent murder-attempted suicide.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office officially confirmed the identity of Monday’s apparent murder victim as Tara Insin.

Police have indicated that there is only one suspect after classifying the case as a murder and attempted suicide — the husband, Leonardo Chavez, of the Dominican Republic.

Chavez is still hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his right cheek. No charges have been filed.

Read more here.

U.S. Institute of Peace: ‘Masculinity’ to Blame for Violence, Terrorism

Speakers at a symposium hosted by a taxpayer-funded institute this week said some aspects of masculinity contribute to mass violence and criticized the United States for spending more on counterterrorism operations than sexual assault prevention efforts.

The “Men, Peace, and Security Symposium: Agents of Change,” held at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on Monday and Tuesday, “aim[ed] to better understand how the ascribed norms of men and masculine identities contribute to, and may even help mitigate, violent conflict and post-conflict,” according to USIP’s website.

USIP was “established by Congress in 1984 as an independent, federally-funded national security institution,” according to its website.

While most of the event featured panels on the behaviors and actions of men in violence-ridden states such as Lebanon, Sri Lanka, and Sudan, participants also discussed the state of sexual violence in America and the U.S. military.

Read more: http://freebeacon.com/symposium-discusses-how-masculinity-contributes-to-mass-violence-sexual-assault/

Top JAG’s letter sparks IG complaint

Read more: http://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20131031/NEWS/310310028/Top-JAG-s-letter-sparks-IG-complaint

Federal judge denies midshipman’s motion to recuse superintendent in sexual assault case

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — A federal judge has denied a request by a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman accused of sexual assault to recuse the academy’s superintendent from the case.

Defendant Josh Tate’s attorney, Jason Ehrenberg, said Wednesday he still hopes to prove undue command influence prompted the case to move forward to a court-martial because of a heightened focus on sexual assault in the military.

Read more: http://www.tribtown.com/view/story/51d2e79e753d4637adf677b7e5dc1cc8/MD–Naval-Academy-Sexual-Assault

PTSD Review Patients Struggle to Amend Records

Aaron Ostrum and his wife thought they got a blessing early last year when the Army reconsidered the former soldier’s mental health records and changed his diagnosis to post-traumatic stress disorder.

The couple believed the adjusted diagnosis more accurately reflected the psychological toll of his experiences inspecting mass graves in Bosnia and serving on security details in Baghdad. They expected the PTSD diagnosis would get him better care and more money in monthly disability benefits to support his family.

A year and a half later, they have the PTSD diagnosis in hand, but they’re still struggling to get the Army to follow through with changes to his service records and retirement benefits. “What else do they want? I don’t understand,” the former Washington National Guard specialist said in an interview at his Pierce County house.

Ostrum, 35, was one of more than 400 military service members and veterans called back to Madigan Army Medical Center in early 2012 amid concerns that doctors there had improperly diagnosed PTSD in such a way that soldiers received fewer benefits than they deserved. Patients met with doctors from other hospitals in what the Army called a fusion cell at Madigan.

Of that group, 158 left the process with new diagnoses for service-connected PTSD. The Army says 13 of them still have unresolved cases in terms of diagnoses or final adjustments to their retirement benefits.

Read more: http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/09/09/ptsd-review-patients-struggle-to-amend-records.html?comp=700001075741&rank=4