SGT. JEREMIAH WORKMAN: It was pretty bad. I mean, mentally, it was just killing me inside. My first day as a drill instructor, I had a kid trying to kill himself in the rest room. And I just had a hard time with it. I remember one day, driving to work, there's a causeway that goes out to the island, and I just remember thinking to myself, I could drive my truck off this. I could just end it now.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: At one point, the Marines sent Workman home to his wife and family in Ohio to rest.
SGT. JEREMIAH WORKMAN: Probably two weeks after being home, I was laying in bed with my wife, and I woke up, walked to the garage, and grabbed a gun, and put it in my mouth. Well, before I did that, I swallowed a whole bottle of pills and went into the garage and was putting a gun in my mouth, when her dad came in and stopped me.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: That and other episodes ended his quest to become a drill instructor. Workman was eventually declared medically unfit for military duty, and expects to be honorably discharged from the Marines soon. And although he's come a long way from that day he tried to take his life, Workman still struggles with PTSD.
That's from "For Some Veterans, the Battle Continues Against PTSD" on last night's NewsHour (PBS -- link has text, audio and video options). As noted in yesterday's snapshot, "and online currently, there's a NewsHour webextra of Staff Sgt Workman talking about his PTSD." Yesterday was Veterans Day in the US and, at Fort Hood, there was a candle light vigil. Shelton Green (KVUE -- link has text and video) reported on it.
Shelton Green: Well Tyler, they call themselves, Iraq Veterans Against the War. Tonight, they not only honored their fallen comrades, they also brought attention to the growing mental health needs of returning soldiers. There's another vigil Wednesday night to honor the slain and injured and last Thursday's shooting at Fort Hood. But the fire burning within these soldiers and their supporters has a less popular fuel source.
Michael Kern: I approached the army when I got back from Iraq and I was like hey I need to talk to someone, I need some help. And they said come back in two months.
Shelton Green: Michael Kern who is presently in the army met President Barack Obama Tuesday when he was at Fort Hood for a memorial service for the thirteen killed in Iraq last week. Kern slipped the president a list of changes he'd like to see made for troops returning home from battle.
Michael Kerns: He came over to me to shake my hand, put out his hand to shake my hand and very respectfully I pulled out the letter in my pocket, tried handing it to him and I was like, "Sir, IVAW has some issues they would like you to address." And at that point, he put his hand down and moved to the next soldier. Secret Service then took the letter from me and that was the last of it.
Shelton Green: Iraq Veterans Against the War want to see a withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. They also believe both countries should get reperations from the US. And they want to see better mental health care for returning soldiers.
Chance Mills: There should be a more compassionate attitude towards soldiers who are dealing with a lot of stress. And that's where it has to start. No program, no poster on the wall is going to fix that.
Shelton Green: Now Iraq Veterans Against the War claims its membership of 2,000 is growing. The group is also organizing a petition for better mental health services for returning troops. We're live at Fort Hood, Shelton Green, KVUE News.
This week two US soldiers died in Iraq when their helicopter crashed. The two fallen are Matthew Heffelfinger and Earl R. Scott. Nate Poppino (Twin Falls Times-News) reports, "His body arrived Tuesday in Dover, Del., but family members have not learned yet when he will arrive in the Magic Valley or even where he’ll be flown in, his father, Craig Heffelfinger, said Wednesday evening. The family is declining further comment out of respect for Mathew, who was a private, humble individual, his father said. An honor guard is being arranged to accompany the pilot, and local veterans also said Wednesday that they hope to honor Heffelfinger when his casket arrives." His funeral will be the Kimberly LDS Stake Center November 20th followed by a burial at Sunset Memorial Park.
Fredricka Paul (Jackson Citizen Patriot) reports that 26-year-old Josh Sayles deploys to Iraq this Firday along with 14 other members of the National Guard's 777th Military Police Detachment auxiliary who says, "I am looking forward to going over there and coming back safely. I am going over there so other people can come back home to their families who have been over there for the past year."
And, reminder, yesterday on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show, both hours were devoted to veterans issues. Guest host Susan Page (USA Today) spoke the first hour with Asst Sec of VA Tammy Duckworth (also an Iraq War veteran), the Washington Post's David Finkel and photographer Peter van Agtmal (2nd Tour Hope I Don't Die). For the second hour, Page was joined by Stars and Stripes' Leo Shane, Jericho Project's Tori Lyon, Survivor Corps' Scott Quilty, Yellow Ribbon America's Brad White and Sun Valley Adaptive Sports' Tom Iselin. If you missed it, remember The Diane Rehm Show archives its broadcasts and you can stream yesterday's show for free at the show's website.
The following community sites updated last night:
- Not so Frank Barney9 hours ago
- THIS JUST IN! HE THINKS WE'RE STUPID!9 hours ago
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- Serious and fun10 hours ago
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- When I was one of the sheeple10 hours ago
And Ruth's "How weak are we?," Marcia's "The 'B' stands for 'bitchy'," Trina's "The one functioning member of the administration," Elaine's "The attack on the freedom of the press," Ann's "Carly on Latenight with Jimmy Fallon tonight" and Kat "Senate Banking Committee."
And we'll close this noting some important book titles.
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| Please find below some information on the most recent titles from Zed Books. You can download a Complete Stocklist of all the paperbacks we currently have available here. If you have any questions please do get in touch. Our most recent new title catalogue which features books published Winter 2009-10 is available here. | ||||||||
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 | The Trouble With Capitalism An Enquiry into the Causes of Global Economic Failure Harry Shutt ''Offers no easy answers, but suggests the West is going to have to face the fact that profit-maximising capitalism has run its course.' - Tribune 'Shutt [has] a message for every saver and investor: a crash of 1929 proportions is almost inevitable' - Dan Atkinson in The Guardian (commenting on the First Edition) ISBN: 9781848134225 £16.99 www.zedbooks.co.uk/the_trouble_with_capitalism | |||||||
 | Climate Change in Africa Camilla Toulmin 'Camilla Toulmin combines a deep and nuanced knowledge of African society with a profound grasp of the impact of climate change on that continent. Covering both threats and opportunities, she shows how, for good or ill, climate change will be a new and critical driver in the next phase of African development. In the run up to the Copenhagen climate summit, this book should be required reading for anyone wishing to get to grips with the multiple interconnections between climate change and development in the world's poorest continent.' - Duncan Green, Head of Research, Oxfam ISBN: 9781848130159 £12.99 www.zedbooks.co.uk/climate_change_in_africa | |||||||
 | Science and Technology for Development James Smith 'This is one of the rare books I have read which brings out the complex web of relationships among science, technology and development with great clarity and originality.' - Prof M S Swaminathan, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Chairman, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation ISBN: 9781848132016 £14.99 www.zedbooks.co.uk/science_and_technology_for_development | |||||||
 | The Social Economy International Perspectives on Economic Solidarity Edited by Ash Amin 'At a time of deep global economic crisis, there is a pressing need to explore alternatives to the mainstream capitalist economy in the search for sustainable futures, This is therefore a timely and important book. The contributors, a mix of leading academic researchers and activists, explore the achievements and potential of the social economy in a diverse range of places. They demonstrate that the social economy can provide socially useful work and goods and services of a quality that compares favourably with that of the state and private sector and discuss the policy challenges posed by seeking to develop the social economy.' - Professor Ray Hudson, Durham University ISBN: 9781848132825 £19.99 www.zedbooks.co.uk/the_social_economy | |||||||
 | The Priest of Paraguay Fernando Lugo and the Making of a Nation Hugh O'Shaughnessy and Edgar Venerando Ruiz Díaz 'Paraguay has been a disgrace even by the ugly standards of US domination of Latin America. The election of Fernando Lugo offers a promising opportunity for it to break the chains ... There could be no one better placed to bring these events to the general public than Hugh O'Shaughnessy. His work on Latin America has been outstanding in its historical depth, subtle insight and sympathetic understanding of the travails of the population, and the intricacies of the domestic structures and international environment.' - Noam Chomsky ISBN: 9781848133136 £16.99 www.zedbooks.co.uk/the_priest_of_paraguay | |||||||
 | The Audacity of Races and Genders A personal and global story of the Obama election Zillah Eisenstein 'Zillah Eisenstein is no armchair analyst. She is a street activist with a globality of vision that sculpts a third dimension in our understanding of things. She writes with Jane Austen's pen, Angela Davis' heart, and Hannah Arendt's mind. From streets of Philadelphia to the campaign headquarters of Florida, from South Africa to Sweden, Zillah Eisenstein's sisterhood to noble causes is the bone marrow of her convictions and insights. Her Audacity of Races and Genders is the thick description, a people's history, of a presidential election that will mark our generation for generations to come.' - Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University in New York www.zedbooks.co.uk/the_audacity_of_races_and_genders | |||||||
 | Egypt The Moment of Change Edited by Rabab El-Mahdi and Philip Marfleet 'Combines passion, scholarship and vision - a focused snapshot of this troubled moment in Egypt's history with a competent resumé of how we got here. Its passion, clarity of thought and its vision should be an important contribution to the change we Egyptians know we have to make happen.' - Ahdaf Soueif ISBN: 9781842779354 £16.99 www.zedbooks.co.uk/egypt | |||||||
 | Women and War in the Middle East ISBN 9781848131866 £17.99 www.zedbooks.co.uk/women_and_war_in_the_middle_east | |||||||
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The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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