Important News for Treating Traumatic Brain Injury

The April 21st Wall Street Journal article "Feeding May Help Brain Injuries" by Shirley S. Wang begins:

Military personnel who suffer traumatic brain injury need to be fed adequately and immediately to reduce the severity of trauma and improve their chance of survival, according to a report by the Institute of Medicine, a finding that also has implications for people sustaining head injuries in other situations, such as sports and traffic accidents.

The report, commissioned by the U.S. Defense Department and released Wednesday, recommends that in the first 24 hours after head trauma, patients need to receive at least 50% of their typical calorie intake, including a higher-than-normal amount of protein, in order to reduce inflammation and swelling of the brain and provide enough energy to help the brain repair itself.

The intensive nutrition regimen should be continued for at least two weeks, the report says.

Read the rest of the article now and then help spread the word to people who could be helped by this information.

Also read the Mrs. Lieutenant post "Acupuncture Used in Afghanistan to Treat Brain Injuries."
__

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and her social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing works with clients to use social media to attract more business. Read her social media marketing blog.

Coping With Combat Stress: Book Review and WSJ Article

Theodore Knell’s book “From the Corners of a Wounded Mind” is a moving and powerful memoir of a soldier’s life.

The power of Knell’s story comes from what he writes about as well as by including his own poetry as part of his reflections. You can read one of his poems in the guest post he did – “Ex-British Special Forces Soldier Talks About His Experiences and His New Nonfiction Book”

This one poem doesn’t do justice to the amazing ability Knell has to capture the essence of his years as a soldier, including the effect of combat on soldiers.

His book concludes:

I hope that the next time you see a serviceman or woman, or the old man sitting on the homeless shelter steps, proudly brandishing a chest full of medals, you will pause for a moment and try to look beyond that confident, sometimes brash, some would even say arrogant exterior, to the person that lies within. A person who has worked hard, seen things that none of us should ever see, and in some cases suffered horrific injuries without complaint, someone who will continue to suffer in some way, either physically or mentally, but mostly in silence for the rest of their lives.

Only a few hours after reading the ending of Knell’s book, I read the Wall Street Journal April 2nd front-page article “Rx for Combat Stress: Comradeship” by Michael M. Phillips:

GARMSIR, Afghanistan—The morning after Chad Wade died, nobody wanted to walk point.

The Marines in Cpl. Wade's squad no longer had to imagine what would happen if they stepped on a buried bomb. Now they had seen it, and the fresh memory of their friend's shattered legs froze them in place.

When their squad leader, Sgt. Albert Tippett, lined them up for their next patrol, no one would pick up the metal detector used by the point man to clear a path through the mines.

The article goes on to explain “the new approach to combat stress that the Marine Corps wants to institutionalize.”

This new approach appears to be an antidote to what Knell describes so powerfully in his book – the reluctance of soldiers to talk about their horrifying experiences.

Read the entire Wall Street Journal article now. Then read Knell’s paperback book on Amazon or the Kindle version.

And for information on PTSD and its symptoms, see www.insupportofourtroops.com/ptsd-info/

March 22nd tweet on Twitter from @VeteranJournal: Suicide hotline available for deployed soldiers: http://ht.ly/4jJve

To Be or Not to Be: Ernst Lubitsch’s 1942 Film

As some of you may know, I’m working on MRS. LIEUTENANT IN EUROPE, the sequel to MRS. LIEUTENANT. The sequel takes place in Munich, Germany, starting in September 1970 when Sharon and Robert Gold first arrive. A major theme of this second novel is what it’s like as Jews to be part of an occupation force in Germany only 25 years after the end of World War II.

Thus I read with particular interest David Propson’s October 25th Wall Street Journal article “A Bubbly Mix of Zaniness and Doom” about Ernst Lubitsch’s classic 1942 film “To Be or Not to Be.”

Propson’s article apparently was motivated by the less-than-stellar reviews for the current Broadway play based on the film. Propson says:

It would be tragic, however, if audiences mistook this misbegotten production as any reflection of Lubitsch’s sublime comedy. Recreating Lubitsch’s bubbly cocktail of zaniness and doom is a tall order: Even Mel Brooks missed the mark with his 1982 film remake. But the Broadway version travesties Lubitsch’s original, altering characters and even changing the famous ending.

The original movie is a favorite of my husband and mine. (We refused to see the remake.) I don’t want to give too much away except to say that the plot concerns a troupe of Polish Shakespearean actors in Nazi-occupied Germany who impersonate high-ranking Nazis in order to save the Polish underground. Jack Benny is the lead actor of this troupe and he is beyond hilarious.

When my husband and I first saw the film in 1971 or 1972, we and the two other American servicemen with us were the only people laughing in the theater. Where did we see this film? At a Hollywood film festival at the Munich city museum. Why the museum thought that Germans would understand the farcical humor of this film was beyond us. But the four of us couldn’t stop laughing.

If you have the opportunity to see the original film, do so. While it’s very funny, there are serious underpinnings (Lubitsch himself was a Berlin Jew who got out in time). And sometimes the most farcical films can give us food for thought.

Technorati Tags:
Mrs. Lieutenant, David Propson, Wall Street Journal, WSJ, Ernst Lubitsch, To Be or Not to Be, Nazi Germany

U.S. Army Has New Program to Combat Sexual Violence

The article “Rate of Sexual Assault in Army Prompts an Effort at Prevention” by Yochi J. Dreazen in the October 3rd Wall Street Journal would have been good news if it wasn’t actually bad news.

The good news is that the Army is launching a new war against sexual violence within the military.

The bad news is that this is a response to new Pentagon data indicating these figures for last year:

Army: 2.6 soldiers per 1,000 reported a sexual assault

Marine Crops and Navy: 1.1 per 1,000 reported a sexual assault

Air Force: 1.6 per 1,000 reported a sexual assault

What’s more bad news is that the Army only began tracking this statistic in 2006! So the Army doesn’t know whether the situation is getting worse.

According to the Journal article:

The service has long focused on dealing with the aftermath of an assault. Now it will try to prevent the crime from occurring in the first place.

As a feminist from way back, I do believe that training is needed to de-sensitize men from looking upon women as sexual objects. Yet to make such training stick, I also believe there have to be consequences for inappropriate language as well as behavior. And the leaders have to model correct language and behavior.

We’ll have to wait until the next time the Army’s assault statistics are reported to learn whether this new program has made any difference.

Technorati Tags:
Mrs. Lieutenant, sexual violence, army prevention program, Wall Street Journal, WSJ, Yochi J. Dreazen

The U.S. Selective Service System Has Draft Boards Ready in Case a Draft Is Reinstated

The September 16th Wall Street Journal article by Michael M. Phillips entitled “Keeping Their Powder Dry: Draft Boards Hang On, Just in Case” surprised me because I probably had unconsciously assumed that there were no more draft boards as there isn’t a draft.

Apparently, though, draft boards have to be ready to go if needed. So citizens are recruited to serve on the boards, and they practice deciding the fate of fictional draftees.

The article also provides an interesting look at the history of the draft – who knew that an 1863 law allowed Civil War draftees to buy their way out of the army?

Of course the article discusses the lottery system introduced in 1969 during the Vietnam War. My husband’s number was 16 based on his birth date – he had already been commissioned an army officer thanks to ROTC at Michigan State University.

According to the WSJ article: “By the time the last man inducted during the Vietnam era got his draft notice on June 30, 1973, 1.9 million had been conscripted. Another 170,000 had been granted conscientious-objector status.”

Read the whole article at
http://snipurl.com/wsjdraftboards.

Technorati Tags:
Wall Street Journal, WSJ, Michael M. Phillips, ROTC, Michigan State University, Vietnam War, draft, lottery, Mrs. Lieutenant

First Female Four-Star General Nominated by President Bush

The June 24th Wall Street Journal carried this blurb in the front-page What’s News column: A woman has been chosen for promotion to the rank of four-star general for the first time in American history.

For someone whose novel features the wives of four new army officers in the spring of 1970 and who was there at the beginning of the women’s movement, this was a rather exciting headline.

The Journal article itself described that President Bush had nominated Lt. General Ann E. Dunwoody to head the Army Materiel Command, of which she is currently deputy commander. I have to admit that, as a feminist, I was somewhat disappointed in General Dunwoody’s area of operation -- which equips, outfits and arms the soldiers of the U.S. Army.

Then this article paragraph really rankled: Women haven’t reached four-star rank because by law they are excluded from serving in combat roles, which historically have been the path to the highest-ranking positions. That exclusion still applies, but with Gen. Dunwood, the Army has chosen to cast aside its customary limitations on promotion.

Yes, army promotions based on combat roles have always been important. In MRS. LIEUTENANT in the spring of 1970 Sharon Gold learns this when she has just arrived at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, with her husband. Sharon’s next-door neighbor Anne takes Sharon to meet Elizabeth, another young officer’s wife in the same offbase apartment complex:

A large wall-hung wedding portrait in a gilt frame overpowers the small living room. Elizabeth in a Scarlett O'Hara gown and her husband in his army uniform stand together under crossed swords.

Elizabeth follows Sharon's eyes. "Mama said I had to bring it. Wouldn't be a proper home without it. I also brought my silver. An officer's lady has to be ready to assume her duties."

Anne laughs. "Can you tell she's a Southerner? Even if she didn’t have an accent. These Southerners are in love with the 'noble duty' of the army – that's why so many officers are Southern – even if it means going to Vietnam."

There, someone has said the word -- Vietnam.

Elizabeth smiles. "How can a man get ahead in the army if he hasn't had at least one combat command? If my husband decides to go regular army – make the army a career, he has to get ahead."

Sharon mentally runs through any number of responses to this statement. No words leave her mouth. She has promised Robert.

Today, in my opinion, it might be better for both men and women not to need combat roles in order to be considered for promotion to the highest-ranking positions. This then might allow the Army to give out assignments not based on who needs combat experience but instead give out assignments based on the best person for the position.

Technorati Tags:
Ann E. Dunwoody, four-star general, Mrs. Lieutenant, President Bush, U.S. Army, Vietnam, Wall Street Journal, WSJ