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To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Father's Day post

Gen. Robert E. Lee was one day walking through the snow. His oldest of seven children, still a lad at the time, was mimicking every step his father took; he stepped in the same footprints as his dad. General Lee later recalled, "When I saw this, I said to myself, It behooves me to walk very straight when this fellow is already following in my tracks."

That story reminds me of a poem I read many years ago. I'm not sure who the author is. The poem goes like this:

A careful man I ought to be

A little boy follows me

I dare not ever go astray

For fear he’ll go the self same way.

I must remember as I go,

Through summers heat and winter’s snow

I’m building for the years to be

The little chap who follows me

I cannot once escape his eyes,

What ere he sees me do he tries.

Like me he says he’s going to be

This little chap who follows me.

We all can be good examples to those around us, whether we're fathers or not. May we each recognize that there is always someone looking to our example and looking to us to be leaders. Sometimes the title of "Father" isn't alone given to one who bears children, although that's one of the most significant and important roles in life. No, sometimes "Father" is reserved for leaders, like General and later President George Washington, the Father of our Nation, or James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, or all of America's Founding Fathers.

Finally, in a society that is increasingly fatherless and too often exhibits a disturbing trend of cultural emasculation towards men and boys, let us remember to rise up and be the kind of men and fathers whom our mothers would be proud to call sons.


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Wounded Warrior Project interview and Warrior SOS success story

In this video, Colin Bond references J.P., whose words and interview was found here on Warrior SOS. JP Villont and his wife Lisa, have done wonderful things for many wounded warriors. It takes a lot of courage to go public, especially about such a sensitive topic as PTSD. Kudos to you Colin, JP and Lisa.

JP and Lisa Villont's story can be read in the newly released e-book, Warrior SOS, available on Amazon. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Freedom is not free - A soldier's pledge

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

My Memorial Day Message

To all my brothers and sisters who've suffered from wars desolation, and for those who've lost family members and beloved friends in battle, or because of battle, may you all find and experience peace this special holiday and always.


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Requiem for a Soldier - Katherine Jenkins

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Taps

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Mansions of the Lord, lyrics

To fallen soldiers let us sing,
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing,
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord

No more weeping,
No more fight,
No friends bleeding through the night,
Just Divine embrace,
Eternal light,
In the Mansions of the Lord

Where no mothers cry
And no children weep,
We shall stand and guard
Though the angels sleep,
Oh, through the ages let us keep
The Mansions of the Lord





To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Fanfare for the Common Man, Aaron Copeland

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Broken Things to Mend - Jeffrey R. Holland

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Memorial Day message from Colin Powell

Memorial Day is also a time to personally say thank you to all living veterans. Across our nation there are Memorial Day parades that move down small town streets and big city boulevards.... We cheer these beloved sons and daughters of America. But after the marching bands salute, after the parade has turned the corner and the music fades away in the distance, you and I must never forget the enormous adjustment our men and women make when they return home from war. Some face monumental physical, mental, spiritual and emotional challenges as they seek to reestablish their lives as they cope with the changes within themselves and their families brought on by the ravages of war. 

It’s easy to celebrate the brave men and women of our Armed Forces and appreciate their sacrifice on Memorial Day and then return to our daily lives. Let us practice the lesson of the Good Samaritan, to not pass by on the other side of those in need, but to reach out a helping hand as true neighbors. We can all do something. Volunteer to welcome our vets and their families back into the community, encourage employers to hire veterans, get involved with your local veterans organizations, simply listen to their stories. These men and women are our heroes who stood tall for us in every dangerous part of the world. They have kept us safe, so keep them and their families in your hearts and minds and find tangible ways to help and honor them always. Thank you and God bless our veterans.

-- The Honorable Colin Powell, 2013 National Memorial Day Concert


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Memorial Day poem - Walt Whitman's "Dirge for Two Veterans"

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Dirge for Two Veterans

The last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finished Sabbath,
On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the east the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,
Immense and silent moon. 

I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-keyed bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they’re flooding,
As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding
And the small drums steady whirring,
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,
(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
Two veterans son and father dropped together,
And the double grave awaits them.)

Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o’er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumined,
(‘Tis some mother’s large transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.)

O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.


To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Warrior SOS e-book on Kindle

Warrior SOS, the book, will be available through Amazon ebooks on May 24th.   Read about the amazing stories of veterans, as well as advocates and family members. Thanks to all those who've participated.

Update: Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

    America’s servicemen and women are our utmost national treasure, and Warrior SOS allows a glimpse into their lives.  Each story gives compelling insight to what warriors can face in battle and what they can experience after coming home.  The words found in this book show that freedom comes at a cost . . . an ultimate cost of human sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears.

-- US Congressman Adam Kinzinger

1 in 5 veterans of Afghanistan and/or Iraq have PTSD

The following information was found on a government fact sheet list for employers (emphasis added).

http://www.americasheroesatwork.gov/forEmployers/factsheets/dispellMyth/

...data compiled by the Rand Corporation suggest that approximately one in five service members who return from deployment operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have symptoms of PTSD or depression.

While many suffering from PTSD and other psychological conditions may benefit from treatment and support, only about half seek it. For many, a common barrier to seeking care is the stigma associated with their psychological symptoms or condition-that is, the bias, embarrassment, shame or fear of negative reaction from others.

Employers are in a powerful position to help debunk such misperceptions. After arming themselves with the facts, they can use their knowledge to educate others and to support the social inclusion and acceptance of people with PTSD...

Learn more at the link above regarding some of the myths of Post Traumatic Stress.

Check out Warrior SOS, the book on Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Random thoughts on PTSD, media, and American media culture's fixation on violence

Combat veterans with PTSD have various reactions. Some symptoms can be more severe in some people or at some times than others. 

Police officers can also suffer from these various traumatic experiences.  I was fortunate enough to give two presentations on Reintegrating the Returning Warrior to law enforcement professionals and warrior advocates at this year's ILEETA conference. Everything from emotional numbing to aggression and from sleeping problems to apathy shows the sign of PTSD at work, whether the officer has been deployed in a military combat situation or not. 

Whether you're a family member of a warrior or a warrior yourself, these two truths are paramount. Knowledge is power, and when it comes to post traumatic stress, ignorance isn't bliss. 

Learn about it. Talk about it. Get help for it. Too many marriages are troubled and too many lives are in jeopardy because of the stigma surrounding combat PTSD. Too many people just don't understand and have blaring misconceptions about combat PTSD. Sadly, even a few mental health professionals misconstrue the facts regarding what a soldier will or will not do after returning from war. 

If we honor our soldiers and pray for our troops today, while they're in uniform, why do we attempt to throw them to the proverbial wolves once they return home and receive an honorable discharge? If we give our young men weapons of destruction, teach them to destroy lives, send them off to war and then fail to reintegrate them into society of non-warriors, does the fault lie with them? I think not. 

We owe it to our warrior class to let them know we appreciate every horrible and terrible thing they've encountered. We may not want to know what they've done, what they think, what they're capable of or what they've witnessed. We may not want them to think or behave a certain way, but just as any of us, our experiences shape who we are, how we think and how we act. We need to let warriors know what they experience is part of what every warrior throughout the ages experiences, in one way or another. It's the bane of war, combat and up-close confrontations. As a society and a people, we should never glory in war, killing or brutality. Yet we do.

The irony of our society is that millions of American citizens possess an anxious zeal for watching TV shows and Hollywood movies about gun-wielding cops and rugged military personnel, and millions more love to play violent video games, all glorifying and revering the warrior archetype, but the perception is severely skewed. This alarming misconception of what a warrior is and what a warrior does and how he/she feels has a grave impact to our culture. 

First, it puts into the minds of those who view or play such violent actions that violence is good. This could not be further from the truth. This also has a tendency to create in the minds of those who view such sordid scenes or play these first-person style violent games the idea that killing is pleasing to the senses. This can truly warp the senses. While most of us can differentiate between what is right, honorable and good, and what is evil, twisted and wrong, constant repetition from negative images and impressions, nevertheless, neutralizes us morally; it turns off the perception valve of humanity. A leak in the moral code of human dangerousness can open up flood gates to both the civil-minded as well as the mentally deranged or those who already possess a propensity for great criminal violence. In short, these are moral poisons that are slowly given in doses, eventually injuring our spiritually sensitive natures. The latter is especially true considering the growing tide of media that spawns amoral behavior as totally acceptable and justifiable. Examples could be given, but I will refrain and let you consider that for yourselves.

Secondly, watching or participating in such violence in the media distorts reality by showing that the hero will never get severely injured as one would in reality.  These media mediums further show, erroneously of course, that the pains caused by violence, war and loss of friends, including any physical, emotional or spiritual soul wound, can all be over when the show ends or when the video game is turned off. Of course, in reality it isn't that easy. 

Moreover, by watching these extremely myopic views of such tragedies, it gives viewers a perception that to cry or to be humane somehow isn't heroic. In other words, these films and other inventions show a false image of what a real man is. These instruments of deception jeopardize the very nature of human emotional stability by falsely depicting what a hero or heroine should or should not do, or how a man or a woman should or should not behave. In turn, this establishes an identity crisis within the real warrior -- the one who experiences the real pains and sorrows of war. 

Years of idealizing and idolizing the warrior archetype, even if unconsciously, by constant views of what someone should be, could tear a man or a woman to pieces emotionally when experiencing the real thing. Young men may have fixed in their minds what war is to be, but the expectation of what war is, who he really is, and how he reacts to combat can be damaging to the core. 

Perhaps he may, even tacitly, hope to behave like Hollywood's war heroes and not be affected for more than the length of a feature film. After a few months in the war zone, he realizes that's not possible. Perhaps he may impress societies' expectations upon him. After all, a combat soldier is revered by all of society and only the purely vocal pacifists oppose the honor of the military uniform, but those are few and they are largely shunned and ostracized. No, society has a fixed idea of calling our military men heroes, honoring them with parades and ribbons. Interestingly, the war veteran may very well not feel like a hero at all, instead there can be feelings of great guilt, remorse and sorrow. Plaudits of praise might only aggravate any feelings of shame or meaninglessness after the war experience. These praises, of course, are not meant to be offensive; and the citizen who has never served may not know what else to say or do. Recognition for war veterans can, however, be deeply rewarding when done in certain ways, the which will not be defined at this point.

Of course, these war pains of identity wounds have been a part of societies far before any media inventions like the TV, so this no specific diagnosis to this complex issue of identity wounds, but media certainly plays an incremental role in the shaping of our identities. This phenomenon may be best compared to the youthful boy who is told that boy's shouldn't cry; that he must wipe away his tears, dust off his boots and drive on. When that boy becomes a man, now he may feel that real men shouldn't cry and if he cries because of deep, troubling emotional pain, that he's somehow not measuring up. Tears can be therapeutic though, and real men do cry. Real men cry tears that no Hollywood actor could ever reproduce. No show could ever capture the real pain of real soldiers. 

Alas, it's been said that only warriors can help warriors. One reason is because they "get it". Those who've experienced traumas can offer help unlike those who just don't understand. Traumas that are not combat related are terrible, and there are those who can lend a listening ear, but they still may never truly understand. On the flip side, there are some warriors who experience things that other warriors will never know or comprehend. Nevertheless, their trauma is at least still in the same genre, so to speak. 

I believe that all members of the warrior class have experienced troubles for which emotional assistance is warranted. This applies to law enforcement personnel, who've been on the job for a few years, veterans of war, as well as some in the private security profession. Not everyone has problems, but more often than not, these warriors do face personal demons. They either try to avoid or ignore their problems (typically with alcohol), or they think everyone else has a problem but them. Symptoms of PTSD is the nature of the beast -- it's the bane that comes in the wake of warring experiences. And, unfortunately, society at large will simply never understand. On one hand, that's a really good thing; on the other hand, it's too bad the only thing they think they know about war and warriors is from what they see on TV or in the movies. 

To read the real stories of real warriors, check out the forthcoming book named after this blog: Warrior SOS -- Interviews, Insights & Inspiration, due out in ebook, available through Amazon, real soon. Watch for it.

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Tell My Sons - Lt. Col. Mark Weber

During Lt. Col. Mark Weber’s medical screening to deploy to Afghanistan, the 38-year-old father of three was told he had stage IV intestinal cancer. He wrote a blog, outlining his struggles, www.TellMySons.com, and eventually wrote a book along those same lines. I was recently able to read excerpts from that book, Tell My Sons, the same name of the blog. Wow. These are the words that tug on the heartstrings. 

One story he mentioned was of his son who tried out for and was granted an opportunity to sing a solo during a high school concern. The song was a ballad about an American Civil War soldier, telling an unknown messenger to tell his father he had become a man and that he should not cry for him. The son, “Tell My Father,” goes in part like this:

“Tell my father that his son didn’t run...or surrender. That I bore his name with pride ... as I tried ... to remember ... you are judged by what you do, while passing through. 

“Tell him we will meet again ... where the angels learn to fly. Tell him we will meet as men, for with honor ... did I die.” 

Reading Mark Weber’s remarkable love for his sons and his emotional maturity and goodness really made my day. 

It also reminded me of my own late brother-in-law, John Cloninger, a military officer and combat veteran who also was diagnosed with stage IV cancer, which eventually took his life. He was the reason I started Warrior SOS. I think of his very young six fatherless kids, my little sister who’s now a widow, and the legacy of love he left for his children. In a similar way, perhaps, of Mark Weber’s story, I have also created this blog (Warrior SOS) and have a book that will be published very soon with the same title: Warrior SOS -- Interviews, Insights and Inspiration. The book is currently being edited and will be out soon. I hope hundreds, if not thousands of people will read it. 

The great thing about Warrior SOS, the book, is all of the amazing warriors and people who were interviewed for the book. They told their stories and opened up in ways that aren’t easy to do. The book also includes the words of John Cloninger and is dedicated to his memory. Additionally, I included the faith, advice, counsel and love of his young widow. It’s simply amazing and I’m excited to get it published soon. 

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

NRA Life of Duty - Forward March: Two Brothers Journey of Hope and Restoration

Tom and Scot Spooner have devoted their lives to helping other warriors. I'm grateful that Tom first opened up about his PTSD and TBI here on Warrior SOS. http://www.warriorsos.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-tom-spooner-invictus.html

Tom's interview and many more can be read in the forthcoming book titled, Warrior SOS, due out real soon.

Speaking with both Tom and Scot has been incredibly helpful to me. Their examples and courage of speaking up about their own experiences with PTSD have helped countless others.

 This NRA Life of Duty video made about their post deployment, post military lives is exceptional and well worth watching. This embedded YouTube link is a one minute advertisement of the film. The link here shows the full feature documentary: http://soldiersystems.net/2012/11/02/nra-life-of-duty-patriot-profiles-the-spooner-brothers

or

http://www.nralifeofduty.tv/#/patriotprofiles/video/753

Again, to watch the full length video, click on one of the links above. (Note: The Soldier Systems link shows a brief background about the Spooner brothers.)

 

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Breaking the Stigma -- Special Forces Operators talk about PTSD

If you or someone you love is experiencing the symptoms of post traumatic stress from combat experiences but have not gotten help, this video is a must-watch. Even if you or someone you know has gotten help, this video is well worth watching.

Tom and Scot Spooner and many other operators are seen in this video made by US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) Public Affairs Office (PAO).

Thanks to Ron Relf, a former Navy SEAL, who forwarded this video to me. Both Ron and Tom were interviewed here on the Warrior SOS blog. Their interviews and many others will be featured in my forthcoming book named after this blog: Warrior SOS -- Interviews, Insights and Inspiration. Watch for it.





To read amazing interviews with warriors, please check out Warrior SOS, the book on Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

For the Fallen...They Shall Grow Not Old

Of late, I find poetry, especially war poetry, quite soothing to read. Here is "For the Fallen," one of the long enduring classics of war poetry, written by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) of England.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK

Amputations, Wounds and a Prisoner of War

Yesterday I spoke to a man about his experiences while in Korea. He was there the same time I was. While walking along the DMZ, he said, his buddy stepped on a land mine. He said something hit him in the back; it felt like a sledge hammer. It was his buddies’ leg. 

I recently had lunch with another man who tried, unsuccessfully to kick a grenade out of the area which an enemy soldier had thrown during Operation Just Cause in Panama. 

I received an email from another man who was a Marine guard at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon when it was hit with a truck bomb. His buddies died, and he eventually fainted from the loss of blood himself. 

And, last night after spending time with my family, I stayed up late reading the account of a POW from WWII sent by the editor of my forthcoming book, Warrior SOS. 

Update: Here's the book…

To read amazing interviews with warriors, check out Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration, the book on Amazon.com. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3WO7VK