Military service + remembrance: A runner's personal challenge

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Friday April 01, 2011 · 12:34 PM PDT

2011/04/01 · 12:34

Been a long time since I've posted a diary here.

The place is looking really, really good! For those of you who don't know or remember me, I was a pretty active member here from 2004-2008. With the energetic support of dKos' milfamilies, veterans and concerned civilian members, I embarked on what became a five year effort to raise awareness of and help returning troops coping with PTSD. [See pics.]

Busier than I'd ever been before in my life, I pumped all of my energies into what became a top-rated niche blog (recently retired) and a book called Moving a Nation to Care (reviewed here at Daily Kos by SusanG). I even testified in Washington, D.C., as a witness for the U.S. Congress' House Veterans Affairs Committee.

I kind of felt like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 2, but without her pink panache.

Today, I'd like to introduce members of the Military Community to Richard H., an Air Force veteran and runner-on-a-mission that I've had the pleasure to get to know over at dailymile (an online community much like dKos, but focused on exercise not politics).

ilona

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Sunday July 19, 2009 · 2:26 PM PDT

2009/07/19 · 14:26

Thanks for clicking on the latest NFTT installment, a dual-purpose diary!

What a great honor for me, to get a chance to do this. I want to thank all of you who've made NFTT into the positive force that it is. I had to miss last year's Netroots Nation, but will be there this year (look for me on the Organizing as a Healing Process: A Fresh Perspective on PTSD panel).

I'm looking forward to participating in NFTT physically this time.

But, since I couldn't be there in '08, it felt good to toss a few coins into the bucket.

Sure, it wasn't the same as having the chance to roll up my sleeves and get to work with everyone (I heard it was one of the more memorable goings-on at NN08, and I don't doubt it; kudos to everyone involved in fueling and propelling NFTT forward). Not everyone can make it in person.

But, being there in spirit and/or contribution is a nourishment for the soul -- and the goal, too.

So, please join in, in whatever way you can. Every little bit helps.

Now, follow me below the fold, for information on this year's NFTT efforts as well as a call to help make Stephen Colbert an honorary member of IAVA...if you dare! [wink]

ilona

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Wednesday February 11, 2009 · 8:44 AM PST

2009/02/11 · 08:44

In the Chicago area and looking for something unusual and free to do this Friday night?

If so, head on over to the gorgeously-restored Chicago Cultural Center at 7 p.m. and join us for a unique and, if I may say so, important event that I'm honored to be able to facilitate.

In the great tradition of past cultures, where warriors returned from battle embraced by their community as they shared their experiences and divided the pain of loss together, I'm asking caring community members to come out and support this small group of NIU veterans who have agreed to share their stories with us for one evening.

They are not professional speakers. They are not veterans who have returned and made their views and opinions known broadly by blogging or writing books or being interviewed on TV. But they are no less in need of our support as they come forward.

Details below the fold...

ilona

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 15, 2008 · 7:55 PM PDT

2008/09/15 · 19:55

Cross-posted from PTSD Combat.

Back in February, the Marines released their military branch's updated suicide statistics. They revealed the number of Afghanistan and Iraq combat troops and veterans who took their own lives in 2007 had doubled over the previous year.

Earlier this month, the Army reported its own current soldier suicide data, reflecting another year of record increases. And just last week, the VA chimed in with their latest OEF/OIF veterans suicide figures -- also another record-breaker -- for its Afghanistan and Iraq veteran clients.

What follows is a partial, quite incomplete look at where we're at today as far as Iraq and Afghanistan troop/veteran suicides are concerned. It's exasperating work; but, I'm in good company. Congress for years has struggled to get a straightforward and full data set out of the DoD and the VA, too.

ilona

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Friday September 12, 2008 · 6:59 PM PDT

2008/09/12 · 18:59

The always fabulous Cho of ePluribus Media reviews Iraq veteran Tyler Boudreau's upcoming book, Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine:

Packing Inferno is a thoughtful meditation on the warrior class, combat stress and where real hell lies, which as Boudreau will tell you, isn’t in the war theatre.

The battleground is merely the foyer.

The real hell is here and now, in the aftermath, daily, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, confronting the wounds -- physical and psychological -- that are the inevitable outcomes of war.

Follow me below the fold for much more...

ilona

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Thursday September 11, 2008 · 8:01 PM PDT

2008/09/11 · 20:01

From NPR:

New data from a public health registry that tracks the health effects of 9/11 suggest that as many as 70,000 people may have developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the terrorist attacks.

The estimate, released Wednesday by New York City's Department of Health, is based on an analysis of the health of 71,437 people who enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Registry. They agreed to be tracked for up to 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the study was based on answers they volunteered about their health two and three years after the attack.

Of the estimated 400,000 people believed to have been heavily exposed to pollution from the disaster, data suggests that 35,000 to 70,000 people developed PTSD and 3,800 to 12,600 may have developed asthma, city health officials said.

They include rescue and recovery workers, lower Manhattan residents, area workers, commuters and passers-by.

ilona

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Saturday August 23, 2008 · 11:28 AM PDT

2008/08/23 · 11:28

The Department of Veterans Affairs uses it in their Hepatitis C treatment program. Fort Bliss' Warrior Resilience program -- the same one Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey believes should be replicated throughout the military -- uses it as one tool to help soldiers strengthen and recover following combat.

Military OneSource's Health Library says it can increase wellness and "treat diseases of all types."

And it's the reason given by New Zealand's champ cyclist Hayden Roulston for bouncing back from a serious heart condition to claim both Olympic silver and bronze medals this past week in Beijing.

What is it? Reiki [pronounced "Ray-Key"] energy healing...

ilona

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday April 26, 2008 · 10:17 AM PDT

2008/04/26 · 10:17

Good afternoon, guys.

I'm conducting a survey on the intersection of citizen journalism and the changes taking place in traditional media. The data will be used in a research paper submitted as my final in my NIU Media Management class (J449). If you are or were a member of the MSM, the independent press, a J school educator, or consider yourself a citizen journalist would you consider helping by answering the questions below?

ilona

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Wednesday April 02, 2008 · 10:38 PM PDT

2008/04/02 · 22:38

A&E's Intervention program recently featured a segment on Brad, a young man coping with his PTSD by self-medicating with alcohol and marijuana after two Iraq tours with the 101st Airborne.

For those unfamiliar with the show, Intervention is a "series in which people confront their darkest demons and seek a route to redemption" by profiling "people whose dependence on drugs and alcohol or other compulsive behavior has brought them to a point of personal crisis and estranged them from their friends and loved ones." Brad's journey is a powerful and important episode.

Part 1

ilona

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Thursday February 14, 2008 · 4:33 PM PST

2008/02/14 · 16:33

[Being written from my home near Rockford, IL]

I just got home from NIU, where I'm a journalism student, about 45 minutes ago. I attend classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I was in the building (Reavis) immediately across from Cole, where the shooting incident took place just a little after 3:00 [Central] today.

I'd like to share my experience briefly, and then allow this space to be one where we can send our thoughts and prayers to everyone whose lives have dramatically changed today by another base act of the type we've become all too familiar with over the past few years.

ilona

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday December 13, 2007 · 12:43 PM PST

2007/12/13 · 12:43

[Thanks to 'KR' from CCN for putting this slideshow together for us.]

Moving Congress to Care - Ilona testifies on PTSD (12.12.07)

C-Span 2 is rebroadcasting the hearing in full at 8:00pm EST.

ilona

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday December 03, 2007 · 12:06 AM PST

2007/12/03 · 00:06

This is an important call to everyone in the community.

I need your help -- everyone's.

For those who've been around for the past 2+ years, you've been right there with me as I started advocating for our returning troops and military families coping with reintegration problems and PTSD. We've done an enormous amount of work, and now we're taking it to the next level.

I've been asked to testify on December 12, 2007, before Congress at a hearing on Stopping Suicide and Ending Homelessness: Mental Health Challenges Within the Department of Veterans Affairs by the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. My work on the ePluribus Media PTSD Timeline is partly the reason for the invite, a project that sprung from a September 2005 Daily Kos diary of mine.

Since being asked to write Moving a Nation to Care by my publisher, I've been sidetracked from adding new incidents I've continued to collect; this info is now needed more than ever as I'd like to add it to the Congressional Record with my testimony but don't have time to complete it alone.

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