Stonewalling of Info for Families of Military Personnel Suicides

The recent article "Army silence and censors bring agony" by Mark Brunswick for the StarTribune (Twin Cities, Minnesota), reports:

The Army announced that its 32 suicides in July were the highest it has ever recorded since it began keeping track of monthly rates two years ago. The deaths, which included 22 active-duty soldiers and 10 from the reserves, put a damper on claims that the military was getting a handle on the problem.

Equally upsetting is this info from the article:

In an extensive report on suicide prevention last year, a Department of Defense task force found that there is no program for chaplains, first responders and casualty assistance officers on how best to work with next of kin.

The article (with accompany video) details the hurdles several families of military personnel suicides have been going through and gone through to try to find out what really happened.

Some of these stories are particularly disturbing, including about the mother who learned in the report of her son's suicide that "there was no gunpowder residue detected on his hands" and about another mother who discovered "the Army had wiped clean the hard drive of her son's laptop."

The article also mentions the military survivors group Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS, which works with family members dealing with a suicide.

I recommend you read the article (and perhaps some of the related articles) and then, if you have any clout to help with this shameful situation, you do so.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the eBook novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS. Phyllis is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic LLC, which works with clients to attract more business. Read her posts at the company's social media marketing blog.

Movie & TV Portrayal of U.S. Military Personnel Including Navy SEALs

(Reprinted from www.MollieSanders.com)


The August 26th Wall Street Journal article “Hollywood Tries a New Battle Plan” by John Jurgensen focuses on the upcoming fictional film “Act of Valor” from production company Bandito Brothers.

The film stars real Navy SEALs (their names will NOT be listed in the film credits) and includes real Navy SEAL exercise footage although the film is based on a fiction script by Kurt Johnstad.

Perhaps what is most interesting about the article is its explanation about the sea change in Hollywood’s attitude towards military films:

Ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks opened an ongoing chapter of U.S. military action, Hollywood's long history of depicting fighters at war is entering a new phase. The grinding wars in Afghanistan and Iraq spawned films that highlighted characters in uniform who were disillusioned with their missions and scarred in their homecomings. With the conflicted protagonists of movies such as "Green Zone" and "Stop-Loss," filmmakers tried to tap into the public's ambivalence about the conflicts, but their movies mostly sank at the box office. Now that deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq are tapering down, filmmakers are homing in on the more clear-cut job of battling terrorists. And they're finding heroes in the elite—and now famous—special-operations forces leading the hunt. Projects in the pipeline focus on the armed heroics, high-tech tactics and teamwork involved in getting the bad guys.

“Getting the bad guys” is what the novel “Lt. Commander Mollie Sanders” is all about.

In fact, the opening paragraph of the Journal story features a Zodiac boat, which Sanders and other submarine crew members use in the novel’s South China Sea reconnaissance mission.

And earlier in the novel in an effort to help the Coast Guard, Sanders climbs down a rope from a tightly circling helicopter onto a boat being intercepted in the port of Los Angeles.

This sounds like the description of a scene in “Act of Valor” as reported by the Journal:

[A] Bandito crew, armed with 16 cameras, shot a [Navy SEAL] squad in real time as it ran the simulated "maritime interdiction operation" in domestic waters. A boat-mounted machine gun opened fire and sailors plunged out of a helicopter on ropes to take control of a 150-foot yacht …

The Journal article also mentions that producer Jerry Bruckheimer has a deal with ABC for a pilot about Navy SEALs.

That ABC is interested in such a series does not surprise me as I have been watching the ABC fictional series “Combat Hospital” produced by Sienna Films. The show is an incredibly compelling story in Afghanistan in 2005 of the Canadian and American medical staff who struggle to save the lives of the good guys (and even the bad guys).

Along with the moral dilemma subjects dealt with, interest in the show is increased by the multicultural staff, including the U.S. Navy commander African-American male who is the head nurse!

All these fictional projects that help people understand the efforts and sacrifices of U.S. (and Canadian) military personnel are welcome, especially when such a small percentage of the American population has any direct connection with active duty military personnel or veterans.

Get an eBook of the novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS now for only $2.99 in formats for the Kindle, the Nook, Sony’s Reader, the Kobo, your computer, etc. at http://budurl.com/MollieSandersebooks

And learn more about the novel in the post: LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS Novel Released on ePub Platforms Same Day as South China Sea in the News

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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the eBook novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS. Phyllis is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic LLC, which works with clients to attract more business. Read her posts at the company's social media marketing blog.

Remote Control Toy Truck Saves Soldiers From IED Explosion in Afghanistan

The MSNBC post by Today.com contributor Scott Stump "He saved six soldiers’ lives — with a child’s toy" is an amazing story of a man using a "souped up" toy to help bring his deployed brother home safely.

Ernie Fessenden and hobby store owner Kevin Guy created the remote control IED-scouting toy truck from a Traxxis Stampede for Ernie's brother, Staff Sgt. Chris Fessenden.

Stump explains:

Chris had lent the model truck to a group of fellow soldiers who were going out on a patrol. They used the toy, which can go up to 30 miles per hour, to scout the area ahead of them for potential IEDs.

When the toy truck zipped out in front of the soldiers’ armored Humvee, it became enmeshed in a trip wire on the road that triggered what was estimated to be 500 pounds of explosives. The bomb exploded, but none of the soldiers was hurt.

Had they not sent the remote-control truck scooting up ahead of them, the soldiers might have approached the IED on foot — or driven the Humvee into the trip wire.

Before you read the amazing story of how Ernie and Kevin came up with the idea, donate to the new project http://truckstotroops.com/ to send more remote control IED-scouting toy trucks to deployed troops. I just donated.

(I'm additionally interested in this innovative idea because, in my new eBook novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS, Mollie goes to Afghanistan for an up-close-and-personal look at the problem of detecting IEDs.)

Now read the incredible story of what two men did with a toy truck, ingenuity and determination.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the eBook novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS. Phyllis is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic LLC, which works with clients to attract more business. Read her posts at the company's social media marketing blog.

New Issue of USO’s Magazine “On Patrol” Focuses on “Invisible Wounds of War”

The Summer/Fall 2011 issue of USO’s magazine “On Patrol” features articles about the “invisible wounds of war.”

You can read the articles in the digital version of this issue. To find the contents of the issue, click on the third icon from the left on the top of your screen and then click on any of the article titles.

Once you’ve clicked on the article title, you’ll have the first page of the article on your screen. To advance the article, click on the single > to the right of the page number at the top of your screen.

I found the article “Through the Lens of Stacy Pearsall” by Elaine Sanders particularly moving because it is one woman’s story of unrecognized PTSD.

Here’s the intro blurb of the article from the magazine:

As an Air Force photographer, Stacy Pearsall served two deployments in Iraq where she recorded a visual history of what was happening around her. She went on patrols, covered school openings, and was injured twice. It took a friend to recognize her post traumatic stress and encourage her to seek help. [boldface mine]

Read Stacy Pearsall’s story now and then reach out to people you know who may be unknowingly suffering from PTSD and encourage them to get help.

If you want to know more about PTSD, read this PTSD information now.

And if you want to better understand the stresses that can cause PTSD in military personnel (PTSD can result from any trauma), read Theodore Knell’s compelling memoir “From the Corners of a Wounded Mind.”

His book is a mix of narrative and poetry, and his poetry is incredible – capturing the pain of a soldier’s experiences without hitting you over the head.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the eBook novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS. Phyllis is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company Miller Mosaic LLC, which works with clients to attract more business. Read her posts at the company's social media marketing blog.

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show Thanks Our Troops

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jon Thanks the Troops
www.thedailyshow.com

The above 6 1/2 minute-video is a tribute to our troops by Jon Stewart of The Daily Show after a visit to Afghanistan.

Here's a message Jon Stewart read from a young specialist from the 655th TC:

"We cooperate and we fight as hard as we can because there will perhaps be disappointment but there will be no shame."

Do share this video with others because, while humorous, this tribute is incredibly heartfelt.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the eBook novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS.