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War-torn Troops Soothed
by Horses’ Spirit
(zootoo.com)
MIAMI -- The science of the
human-animal bond is proving very effective in a
new arena: on the home front of a new war.
Returning veterans are finding help, as well as
healing in therapy that involves a saddle and a
set of reins.
"It feels pretty good. I feel
tall," said U.S. Marine Gene Calonge, who
recently returned from his deployment. Learning
to ride again is strengthening the bodies and
minds of young vets here at the South Florida
Veterans Multi-Purpose Center in Davie, Fla.
The last time Calonge mounted
a horse, was his service with the Marine Corps.
This time around it's Sam, a 4-year-old Arabian,
giving him a much-needed boost.
"It's different bonding with
an animal, you feel like you're not going to be
judged so much about anything so ... you and him
just have a good time,” said Calonge.
Despite recent efforts to increase access to
appropriate mental health care for veterans
returning from conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan, many challenges remain. These broad
challenges must be addressed across the Veterans
Health Administration, the Department of
Defense, and community-based care providers.
The South Florida Veterans Multi-Purpose Center
is a nonprofit 501 (C)(3) community-based
organization incorporated in 1989 whose current
projects focus on the mental health needs of
veterans, military personnel and their families.
We offer a range of veteran services at our
Davie, FL location including Equine Assisted
Psychotherapy in order to address a variety of
needs for the individuals seeking services.
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy asks clients to
access different aspects of themselves versus
their rational/analytical mind. It asks clients
to become very aware of their emotions, and how
they experience emotions in their body which is
where trauma is held..
As most Vietnam-era
veterans know presumption for Agent Orange
related health conditions are based upon the
member having actually had “boots on the ground”
for at least one day. Those serving aboard ships
have been divided into two groups. In the Blue
Water groups are those individuals who were
considered not to have been in country and among
the Brown Water group are those who worked
primarily on the rivers and are already
considered to qualify.
A question by a
veteran’s organization representative...
The Department of
Defense announced the current number of
reservists on active duty as of 26 MAY 09. The
net collective result is 631 more reservists
mobilized than last reported in the Bulletin for
15 MAY 09. At any given time, services may
mobilize some units and individuals while
demobilizing others, making it possible for
these figures to either increase or decrease.
The total number currently on active duty in
support of the partial mobilization of the Army
National Guard and Army Reserve...
The Department of Veterans
Affairs has announced a three-year study of an
advanced artificial arm that easily allows those
with severe limb loss to pick up a key or hold a
pencil. "This arm is a high-tech example of how
VA researchers are continually modernizing the
materials, design and clinical use of artificial
limbs to meet veterans' lifestyle and medical
needs," said Dr. Joel Kupersmith, VA's physician
and chief research and development officer.
In
collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency, the study marks...
A block of marble quarried
from the same location as the Tomb of the
Unknowns sits in a parking lot in the Colorado
Mountains while the other continues to crack in
Arlington National Cemetery. Coloradans who had
hoped to provide the replacement marble for one
of the country's most powerful monuments say
they don't know when or if their gift will be
accepted by the government.
The Tomb of the
Unknowns currently on display is a replacement
for the original block that came from the Yule
Quarry in Marble, Colorado in the early 1920's.
Its marble suffers from significant cracks to
its foundation. "It sure would be nice...
Tammy Duckworth,
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) assistant
secretary for Public and Intergovernmental
Affairs, recently spoke at a U.S. Postal Service
ceremony announcing the reissue of the Purple
Heart stamp. This is the fifth issue of the
Purple Heart definitive postage stamp. The
Purple Heart stamp was first issued on May 20,
2003.
The reissued stamp features a photograph
by Ira Wexler of one of two Purple Hearts
awarded to James Loftus Fowler of Alexandria,
Va., who was battalion...
A dental insurance program for veterans, modeled
after retiree dental insurance provided under
Tricare, is an optional health program being
pushed by Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina,
ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans’
Affairs Committee.
For premiums of between $14
and $48 a month, depending on the location and
selected benefits, 7.9 million veterans could
have access to a network of dentists, Burr
said. VA presently provides dental care to
veterans with service-connected dental
disabilities, those who are 100% disabled for
any condition, and those who were prisoners of
war for 90 days or longer.
Additionally, veterans newly separated from
active duty can receive one-time dental...
MEMORIAL DAY REMEMBRANCE: Most people are aware
of the famous American military cemetery at
Omaha Beach, Normandy, site=20 of one of the
D-Day landings in 1944. But few know there are
twenty-one other American military cemeteries in
eight different countries memorializing those
who were not brought back to the United States
after World War I and World War II. Each of
these commemorative places is powerful and
unique, and has is own stories to tell.
POW DESIGNATION: Reps. Mike Coffman of Colorado
and Jim Marshall of Georgia have asked the
Department of Veterans Affairs to investigate
whether some veterans are falsely claiming to
have been prisoners of war. Coffman [R-CO] , a
Marine veteran of the first Gulf War who also
served in Iraq and Marshall (D-GA], who served
in Vietnam with the Army sent the request to VA
Secretary Eric Shinseki on 18 MAY.
According
to the lawmakers, the Department of Veterans
Affairs is paying disability benefits...
With five words, the executive director of Iraq
and Afghanistan Veterans of America opened a
rift among veterans groups that could derail
efforts to improve mental health care and other
benefits. The dispute — with older veterans
complaining that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans
are getting too much attention and too much
money while they wait in long lines for medical
appointments — was sparked by a statement issued
11 MAY by Paul Rieckhoff, founder and chief of
IAVA, about the fatal shooting of f ive service
members at a counseling center in Iraq,
allegedly by another U.S. service member...
The phrase “Unlike during the Vietnam War” is
being taken as a jab at the professionalism of
Vietnam veterans. Joe Morgan, a Vietnam veteran
and president of Veterans of Modern Warfare,
said Rieckhoff’s statement has “stirred a fierce
and justifiable outrage by all veterans, not
just the Vietnam veterans he maligned.”
The
head of the nation’s largest organization for
combat veterans, VFW commander Glen Gardner Jr.,
also criticized the statement, saying, Rieckhoff...
Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), the House Veterans’
Affairs Committee chairman, said the squabble
among veterans of different generations shows
two things: “New veterans don’t know much about
older veterans, and don’t feel any ties to them,
and everyone is worried that someone is going to
get more than they or something better than
them.”
