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Parking Lot Suicides


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In a tragic and disturbing trend, veterans are resorting to suicide on the grounds of VA facilities, VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin said last week.

"As some of you may know, veterans tend to come to a VA -- either drive a car or come to the VA -- and actually suicide on our property," Shulkin said last Tuesday, stressing the need for the Department of Veterans Affairs to do more to curb veteran suicides, estimated at 20 daily nationwide.

 

"There are a number of reasons, not all of which I completely understand," for veterans to choose to end their lives at the VA, he said, "but one of them being they don't want their families to have to discover them."

 

They know that if they're discovered at a VA, that we will handle it in an appropriate way and take care of them," Shulkin said in his opening remarks at the VA's annual "Innovation Day" at Georgetown University.

 

Shulkin, who has made curbing veteran suicides his top clinical priority, did not state how many suicides are occurring at VA facilities, "but every day I am notified of more and more of these that happen. So we just have to do more, we have to do better, we have to innovate" in seeking out and assisting at-risk veterans.

 

VA officials also did not put a number on what is known in the veterans community as "parking lot suicides."

 

Shulkin "was referring to a number of tragic incidents that have been in the news," a VA spokesman said in an e-mail. "His point was that VA has more work to do when it comes to its suicide prevention efforts."

Dying at the VA

In an August 2016 incident reported by the Suffolk County police in New York, a 76-year-old Navy veteran died by suicide in the parking lot of the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Long Island, where he had been a patient.

 

Peter A. Kaisen, of Islip, Long Island, who also was a former police officer, was pronounced dead after he shot himself outside Building 92, the nursing home at the medical center, police said.

 

The reason for the suicide was not immediately known, but The New York Times reported that two people connected to the hospital who spoke on grounds of anonymity said the veteran had been frustrated he was unable to see an emergency-room physician for reasons related to his mental health.

 

The Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center later said Kaisen had not been denied treatment.

 

In November 2016, the body of John Toombs, a former Army sergeant and Afghanistan veteran, was found hanged in a vacant building on the grounds of the Alvin C. York VA Medical Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

 

Toombs left behind a video in which he said, "Earlier today, I was discharged for trivial reasons. They knew the extent of my problems. When I asked for help, they opened up a Pandora's box inside of me and kicked me out the door."

 

In February this year, the body of 63-year-old Navy veteran Paul Shuping was found in the parking garage of the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center in North Carolina six days after he took his own life. Police said Shuping used a .22-caliber rifle to kill himself inside a parked car in the garage.

 

Of particular concern to the VA was the death in March this year of Hank Brandon Lee, 35, a former Marine lance corporal who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

He fatally overdosed on fentanyl while under lockdown at the Department of Veterans Affairs psychiatric facility in Brockton, Massachusetts. His family has demanded to know how he obtained the drugs.

Risk of Opioid Abuse

Last week, the office of the VA's Inspector General released a report stating that veterans using the VA's Choice program allowing private-sector health care face a "significant risk" of opioid abuse in the treatment of chronic pain.

 

Policies in place at the VA to reduce the number of opioid prescriptions do not necessarily apply to private-sector doctors, the IG said.

In a report titled "Opioid Prescribing to High-Risk Veterans Receiving VA Purchased Care," the IG said there is an overall lack of communication between the VA and private-sector doctors on what drugs should be prescribed.

 

"Veterans receiving opioid prescriptions from VA-referred clinical settings may be at greater risk for overdose and other harm because medication information is not being consistently shared," said VA Inspector General Michael Missal in a statement.

 

"That has to change," he said. "Health-care providers serving veterans should be following consistent guidelines for prescribing opioids and sharing information that ensures quality care for high-risk veterans."

 

The report highlighted the main problem: "Under Choice, prescriptions for veterans who are authorized care through Choice are required to be filled at a VA pharmacy," but "a veteran can choose to fill the prescription outside the VA and pay for the prescriptions with his or her own funds."

 

The report said, "With the expansion of community partnerships, a significant risk exists for patients who are prescribed opioid prescriptions outside of VA."

 

However, Shulkin said last week at the Innovation forum that "the fundamental way to fix the system is to give veterans more choice."

Extending Choice

On Saturday, Shulkin joined President Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club for the signing of a $2.1 billion bill extending the Veterans Choice Program for another six months while Congress and the VA work on reforms.

 

Shulkin said last week that the veteran suicide rate is "absolutely unacceptable" and briefly outlined the VA's commitment to bringing the rate down.

In 2013, the VA released a study on suicides from 1999 to 2010, which showed that roughly 22 veterans were dying by suicide per day, or one every 65 minutes. The report relied on data from 20 states.

 

In August 2016, the VA released what was billed as the "most comprehensive analysis of veteran suicide rates" ever conducted, which examined more than 55 million veterans' records from 1979 to 2014 from all 50 states.

 

"The current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 veterans a day died from suicide" -- or one every 72 minutes, the report said.

The data also showed that only six of the 20 veterans who die in the U.S. each day are enrolled in the VA and only three are in active treatment, indicating a need for more outreach by the VA.

 

The VA's report said that about 65 percent of all veterans who died from suicide in 2014 were 50 years of age or older, and veterans accounted for 18 percent of all deaths from suicide among U.S. adults, a decrease from 22 percent in 2010.

Increasing Suicide Rates

Since 2001, U.S. adult civilian suicides increased 23 percent, while veteran suicides increased 32 percent in the same time period. "After controlling for age and gender, this makes the risk of suicide 21 percent greater for veterans," the 2016 report said.

 

Since 2001, the rate of suicide among veterans who use VA services increased by 8.8 percent, while the rate of suicide among veterans who do not use VA services increased by 38.6 percent, the report said.

 

The report went on to list a number of new measures on suicide prevention that the VA had in place or planned to implement before the end of 2016.

The steps included a toll-free Veterans Crisis Line (1-800-273-8255, press 1); the placement of Suicide Prevention Coordinators at all VA Medical Centers and large outpatient facilities; and improvements in case management and tracking.

 

The VA was also working to ensure same-day access for veterans with urgent mental health needs at more than 1,000 VA facilities by the end of 2016, the report said. In fiscal 2015, more than 1.6 million veterans received mental health treatment from the VA.

 

In addition, the VA was hiring more than 60 new crisis intervention responders for the Veterans Crisis Line. Each responder was to receive "intensive training on a wide variety of topics in crisis intervention, substance use disorders, screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment," the report said.

 

Richard.Sisk@Military.com

 

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/08/14/parking-lot-suicides-roil-va-hospitals.html?ESRC=dod_170818.nl

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Thanks George. I do keep up with some of this from a friend who is a retired Vet

and has done some wonderful work with his fellows and also with just taking time to be

with those who are struggling with living. he has also done great research on the

various diseases that often afflict our soldiers and what the origin of many of the

diseases are. Mind blowing and the VA and others are not ignorant of the many things

that afflict these folks.

 

Absolutely heart breaking, and the stories he has told me are so sad. The condition of

too many who returned from deployment(s), usually far too many deployments for their own

good, are simply broken people. Some good days but mostly bad, and these guys are

not wimps, far from it. Some are disillusioned comparing what they saw, what they were told

and what the actual situation on the ground was. Some are angry, and few listen to why.

 

Some are so drugged up, they no longer are able to feel, just exist. In my opinion, this happens

when men and women of uniform are pushed to their limits. When they return, many are deeply

affected by their experiences, yet were able to do their job well, until they had enough time

to let it all sink in. Many no longer trust the government who deployed them, some are just

tired of being tired and having returned home to be treated like cattle, long lines at the VA,

etc., and the trauma only gets worse. PTSD is a symptom of being pushed too far and many

are weary of being told either they are "fine" or they are set aside as if they were just another

damaged piece of merchandise. Some that I have talked with do not even want to discuss

their experiences, they feel ashamed or "weak" because of their scars, especially the mental

scars.

 

20 a day deciding to end it is 20 too many in my book. Although I do understand why, and would never

judge them, the pain that I have heard from some of them is beyond what a human should ever

experience. Sometimes they just can no longer make sense out of their situations, challenges and

situations they find themselves in after coming home. I hope one day this improves...it must.

 

Have a good day George, and thanks again for bringing this up.  :)

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It is a damn shame that our Wounded Warriors, Returning Vets and those of previous actions aren't treated with Honor the way they served and the sacrifices They and Their Families made for this country.

 

I seriously believe a lot of this has to do with the last 8 years, the previous administration and the lack of caring for anything American, be it the Military, Private Business or the Joe Blow  American over all. 

 

No one was every fired even after the Scandals blew wide open  with the VA, IRS, NSA and the rest........Story was it is almost Impossible to Fire a Government Employee....So they continued to do nothing to correct the issues, people kept the high paying jobs sitting around watching porn and the obama administration was fine with that.

 

Fast forward and Trump fires 500 Plus VA Employees and put another 2-300 on notice.

 

I truly believe it will take years to undo all the wrong done to America and Americans during the last 8 long years but Trump is making a stab at it and little by little he is making some headway....Hard to do when all of the Establishment in D.C. are against everything he tries to get done. 

 

Karsten

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Thank you Karsten and Jim.

 

Twenty a day is simply staggering and obscene.

 

It is obscene when one considers the vitriol and violence that has been taking place over statues, 911 flags and the names of military bases...

 

Some of those of those who are passionate about making things right with history revisionism are sadly missing the human component of their fellow citizens who served.

 

They should lay their disgust at the steps of the VA and then maybe some absolute good would come out of their protests.

 

Unfortunately, it appears those ideologues have lost their heart and soul for those who really have lost their heart and soul...

 

GH  

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1 hour ago, George Hayduke said:

Thank you Karsten and Jim.

 

Twenty a day is simply staggering and obscene.

 

It is obscene when one considers the vitriol and violence that has been taking place over statues, 911 flags and the names of military bases...

 

Some of those of those who are passionate about making things right with history revisionism are sadly missing the human component of their fellow citizens who served.

 

They should lay their disgust at the steps of the VA and then maybe some absolute good would come out of their protests.

 

Unfortunately, it appears those ideologues have lost their heart and soul for those who really have lost their heart and soul...

 

GH  

George, I think the last count was 22 a day and that is more than we lost fighting the damn wars in the Middle East. Those battles could have been over and done much like the 1st Bush Battle in what 25 days if not for BS ROE....Be sure you are shot 4 times before returning fire.

 

I didn't get a chance to have that all expense paid trip to Viet Nam as I didn't want to come back....The Marine guy didn't like my answers and in 1974 they wanted out....The Hot Head I was that didn't care just didn't work back them.

 

Today, I look back and know there was a reason I didn't get to go and i do everything I can to support any and all Vet's and LEO's

 

Now this Antifa and BLM crap is starting to get way out of hand....paid for Violence and looks like planned events. Now the Right is getting a group.....This will be a very short battle and I pray it doesn't happen

 

Karsten

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This is a tragic state of affairs for the best people America has to offer, those who were willing to sacrifice all for the greater good.  Yet, when they should be treated, nurtured, hoisted upon our shoulders..... They find themselves as political talking points, by politicians and vitriolic commoners, who fail to see the big picture... that being the health and well-being of our greatest heroes.  My heart weeps for my fellow veterans struggling to survive.  

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2 hours ago, bostonangler said:

It might not be this bad if any of our last four presidents had been actually veterans...

 

George Dubya is a veteran.

 

George W. Bush joined the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group of the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968, during the Vietnam War. He committed to serve until May 26, 1974, with two years on active duty while training to fly and four years on part-time duty.

 

Following his six weeks of basic training, Bush began 54 weeks of flight training at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. In December 1969, Bush began 21 weeks of fighter interceptor training on the F-102 in Houston at the 147th's Combat Crew Training School, soloing in March 1970 and graduating in June 1970. When he graduated, he had fulfilled his two-year active-duty commitment.

 

On October 1, 1973, Bush was honorably discharged from the Texas Air National Guard and transferred to the inactive reserves in Denver, Colorado. He was discharged from the Air Force Reserve on November 21, 1974, ending his military service.

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Yes with a silver spoon of disgrace... You or I would have been in jail if we tried the scam he pulled off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The Original Story (Published 10/10/00)

The Real Military Record of George W. Bush: Not Heroic, but Not AWOL, Either
By Peter Keating and Karthik Thyagarajan

 

 

 

AUTHORS RESPONSE
This piece has generated intense reaction from readers, including many postings to the Georgemag.com forum. The authors have responded with a detailed explanation of the evidence for the original story.

Read the response now

NEW: Peter Keating offers further response

For more than a year, controversy about George W. Bush's Air National Guard record has bubbled through the press. Interest in the topic has spiked in recent days, as at least two websites have launched stories essentially calling Bush AWOL in 1972 and 1973. For example, in "Finally, the Truth about Bush's Military Record" on TomPaine.com, Marty Heldt writes, "Bush's long absence from the records comes to an end one week after he failed to comply with an order to attend 'Annual Active Duty Training' starting at the end of May 1973... Nothing indicates in the records that he ever made up the time he missed." And in Bush's Military Record Reveals Grounding and Absence for Two Full Years" on Democrats.com, Robert A. Rogers states: "Bush never actually reported in person for the last two years of his service - in direct violation of two separate written orders."

Neither is correct.

It's time to set the record straight. The following analysis, which relies on National Guard documents, extensive interviews with military officials and previously unpublished evidence of Bush's whereabouts in the summer and fall of 1972, is the first full chronology of Bush's military record. Its basic conclusions: Bush may have received favorable treatment to get into the Guard, served irregularly after the spring of 1972 and got an expedited discharge, but he did accumulate the days of service required of him for his ultimate honorable discharge.

 


At the Republican convention in Philadelphia, George W. Bush declared: "Our military is low on parts, pay and morale. If called on by the commander-in-chief today, two entire divisions of the Army would have to report, 'Not ready for duty, sir.'" Bush says he is the candidate who can "rebuild our military and prepare our armed forces for the future." On what direct military experience does he make such claims?

George W. Bush applied to join the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968, less than two weeks before he graduated from Yale University. The country was at war in Vietnam, and at that time, just months after the bloody Tet Offensive, an estimated 100,000 Americans were on waiting lists to join Guard units across the country. Bush was sworn in on the day he applied.

Ben Barnes, former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, stated in September 1999 that in late 1967 or early 1968, he asked a senior official in the Texas Air National Guard to help Bush get into the Guard as a pilot. Barnes said he did so at the behest of Sidney Adger, a Houston businessman and friend of former President George H. W. Bush, then a Texas congressman. Despite Barnes's admission, former President Bush has denied pulling strings for his son, and retired Colonel Walter Staudt, George W. Bush's first commander, insists: "There was no special treatment."

The younger Bush fulfilled two years of active duty and completed pilot training in June 1970. During that time and in the two years that followed, Bush flew the F-102, an interceptor jet equipped with heat-seeking missiles that could shoot down enemy planes. His commanding officers and peers regarded Bush as a competent pilot and enthusiastic Guard member. In March 1970, the Texas Air National Guard issued a press release trumpeting his performance: "Lt. Bush recently became the first Houston pilot to be trained by the 147th [Fighter Group] and to solo in the F-102... Lt. Bush said his father was just as excited and enthusiastic about his solo flight as he was." In Bush's evaluation for the period May 1, 1971 through April 30, 1972, then-Colonel Bobby Hodges, his commanding officer, stated, "I have personally observed his participation, and without exception, his performance has been noteworthy."

In the spring of 1972, however, National Guard records show a sudden dropoff in Bush's military activity. Though trained as a pilot at considerable government expense, Bush stopped flying in April 1972 and never flew for the Guard again.

Around that time, Bush decided to go to work for Winton "Red" Blount, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate, in Alabama. Documents from Ellington Air Force Base in Houston state that Bush "cleared this base on 15 May." Shortly afterward, he applied for assignment to the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron in Montgomery, Ala., a unit that required minimal duty and offered no pay. Although that unit's commander was willing to welcome him, on May 31 higher-ups at the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver rejected Bush's request to serve at the 9921st, because it did not offer duty equivalent to his service in Texas. "[A]n obligated Reservist [in this case, Bush] can be assigned to a specific Ready Reserve position only," noted the disapproval memo, a copy of which was sent to Bush. "Therefore, he is ineligible for assignment to an Air Reserve Squadron."

Despite the military's decision, Bush moved to Alabama. Records obtained by Georegemag.com show that the Blount Senate campaign paid Bush about $900 a month from mid-May through mid-November to do advance work and organize events. Neither Bush's annual evaluation nor the Air National Guard's overall chronological listing of his service contain any evidence that he performed Guard duties during that summer.

On or around his 27th birthday, July 6, 1972, Bush did not take his required annual medical exam at his Texas unit. As a consequence, he was suspended from flying military jets. Bush spokesperson Dan Bartlett told Georgemag.com: "You take that exam because you are flying, and he was not flying. The paperwork uses the phrase 'suspended from flying,' but he had no intention of flying at that time."

Some media reports have speculated that Bush took and failed his physical, or that he was grounded as a result of substance abuse. Bush's vagueness on the subject of his past drug use has only abetted such rumors. Bush's commanding officer in Texas, however, denies the charges. "His flying status was suspended because he didn't take the exam,not because he couldn't pass," says Hodges. Asked whether Bush was ever disciplined for using alcohol or illicit drugs, Hodges replied: "No."

On September 5, Bush wrote to then-Colonel Jerry Killian at his original unit in Texas, requesting permission to serve with the 187th Tactical Reconnaisance Group, another Alabama-based unit. "This duty would be for the months of September, October, and November," wrote Bush.

This time his request was approved: 10 days later, the Alabama Guard ordered Bush to report to then-Lieutenant Colonel William Turnipseed at Dannelly Air Force Base in Montgomery on October 7th and 8th. The memo noted that "Lieutenant Bush will not be able to satisfy his flight requirements with our group," since the 187th did not fly F-102s.

The question of whether Bush ever actually served in Alabama has become an issue in the 2000 campaign-the Air Force Times recently reported that "the GOP is trying to locate people who served with Bush in late 1972 ... to see if they can confirm that Bush briefly served with the Alabama Air National Guard." Bush's records contain no evidence that he reported to Dannelly in October. And in telephone interviews with Georgemag.com, neither Turnipseed, Bush's commanding officer, nor Kenneth Lott, then chief personnel officer of the 187th, remembered Bush serving with their unit. "I don't think he showed up," Turnipseed said.

Bush maintains he did serve in Alabama. "Governor Bush specifically remembers pulling duty in Montgomery and respectfully disagrees with the Colonel," says Bartlett. "There's no question it wasn't memorable, because he wasn't flying." In July, the Decatur Daily reported that two former Blount campaign workers recall Bush serving in the Alabama Air National Guard in the fall of 1972. "I remember he actually came back to Alabama for about a week to 10 days several weeks after the campaign was over to complete his Guard duty in the state," stated Emily Martin, a former Alabama resident who said she dated Bush during the time he spent in that state.

After the 1972 election, which Blount lost, Bush moved back to Houston and subsequently began working at P.U.L.L., a community service center for disadvantaged youths. This period of time has also become a matter of controversy, because even though Bush's original unit had been placed on alert duty in October 1972, his superiors in Texas lost track of his whereabouts. On May 2, 1973, Bush's squadron leader in the 147th, Lieutenant Colonel William Harris, Jr. wrote: "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit" for the past year. Harris incorrectly assumed that Bush had been reporting for duty in Alabama all along. He wrote that Bush "has been performing equivalent training in a non-flying status with the 187 Tac Recon Gp, Dannelly ANG Base, Alabama." Base commander Hodges says of Bush's return to Texas: "All I remember is someone saying he came back and made up his days."

Two documents obtained by Georgemag.com indicate that Bush did make up the time he missed during the summer and autumn of 1972. One is an April 23, 1973 order for Bush to report to annual active duty training the following month; the other is an Air National Guard statement of days served by Bush that is torn and undated but contains entries that correspond to the first. Taken together, they appear to establish that Bush reported for duty on nine occasions between November 29, 1972-when he could have been in Alabama-and May 24, 1973. Bush still wasn't flying, but over this span, he did earn nine points of National Guard service from days of active duty and 32 from inactive duty. When added to the 15 so-called "gratuitous" points that every member of the Guard got per year, Bush accumulated 56 points, more than the 50 that he needed by the end of May 1973 to maintain his standing as a Guardsman.

On May 1, Bush was ordered to report for further active duty training, and documents show that he proceeded to cram in another 10 sessions over the next two months. Ultimately, he racked up 19 active duty points of service and 16 inactive duty points by July 30-which, added to his 15 gratuitous points, achieved the requisite total of 50 for the year ending in May 1974.

On October 1, 1973, First Lieutenant George W. Bush received an early honorable discharge so that he could attend Harvard Business School. He was credited with five years, four months and five days of service toward his six-year service obligation.

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32 minutes ago, bostonangler said:

Bush may have received favorable treatment to get into the Guard, served irregularly after the spring of 1972 and got an expedited discharge, but he did accumulate the days of service required of him for his ultimate honorable discharge.

 #1. Dubya is a veteran.

#2. Dubya received an Honorable Discharge.

#3. You can now change your statement/mindset that veterans have not received the care they need because President Bush was not a veteran.

 

You obviously (bias aside) do not understand military service retirement and training point and service categories; Active duty, Guard duty, Reserve duty, Inactive Reserve duty, and Individual Ready Reserve duty. There may be other classifications at the present that I'm not aware of since its been awhile since I was in the Army Reserve. However, after my initial enlistment was up, I was placed in 'Inactive Reserve Duty Service'.  I never attended a single drill during that time.  Later, I chose to 'activate' and remained an 'Active Reservist' for eight years until I was offered position overseas that prohibited my duty with the military.  I was then discharged Honorably and credited with ten years Reserve duty status even though two of those years were inactive.  No scam there...

 

...and no scam with Bush either. 

  • On October 1, 1973, First Lieutenant George W. Bush received an early honorable discharge so that he could attend Harvard Business School. He was credited with five years, four months and five days of service toward his six-year service obligation.

GH

 

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