TaylorMade Golf provides clubs and instruction to benefit wounded veterans program

TaylorMade Golf provides clubs and instruction to benefit wounded veterans program
By Tod Leonard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

April 29, 2008


CRISSY PASCUAL / Union-Tribune
Jake Williams eyes the flight of his ball on the TaylorMade driving range.
CARLSBAD – A bright smile on his youthful, clean-cut face, Jake Williams looked down at the beautiful golf clubs arranged in a new black bag just for him, and he didn't quite know what to say or do. He could almost see his reflection in the shine, the irons' soles not yet stained by a single blade of grass.
“I'm afraid to touch 'em,” Williams said with a giggle, handling the irons as if they were made of crystal.

Marine from Oklahoma becomes first above-the-knee amputee fighting in Iraq

Marine from Oklahoma becomes first above-the-knee amputee fighting in Iraq

Posted: April 28, 2008 01:02 PM EDT

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY - A Marine from Oklahoma has become the first person with an above-the-knee amputation to return to combat in Iraq.

Master Sergeant William Gibson needed his left leg amputated above the knee after he was shot by a sniper while pulling an Iraqi soldier out of harm's way in Ramadi, Iraq, in May 2006.

VA hasn't met veterans' mental health needs

Critics: VA hasn't met veterans' mental health needs
BY MIKE FITZGERALD
News-Democrat

Veterans groups and members of Congress both have criticized the Department of Veterans Affairs for failing to keep up with war veterans' demands for mental health services.

Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health chief, responds that "The expansion of mental health programs has been, frankly, phenomenal."

But Paul Sullivan, a former VA analyst, predicts a looming mental health crisis for at least 700,000 current and future veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

From the start, the VA -- like the Department of Defense -- vastly underestimated the number of troops that would return home from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems, said Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, of Washington, D.C.
...

"I had to go back in and prove that I was still an amputee," she said. "If two federal agencies won't accept information from each other, you can imagine the challenges as a state trying to come into a federal partnership."

...

The need for such services among National Guard members nationwide remains huge, with 49 percent of Guard members who served in Iraq reporting psychological problems -- a rate 29 percent higher than for regular soldiers.

Iraq War veteran urges students to speak out

Iraq War veteran urges students to speak out
Josh Anusewicz

Staff Sgt. Eric Alva served in Iraq before coming out as openly gay and taking on an advocacy role against the Armed Forces' "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.


Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, a former U.S. Marine, used the inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when talking to Quinnipiac students about how their voices can change history, by standing up for what is right.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter," said Alva, who visited Quinnipiac on April 15 in conjunction with the National Day of Silence, held on Friday, April 25, which brings attention to anti-Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transsexual (GLBT) actions from throughout the country.

New Prosthetic Hand So Nimble an Amputee Can Type

New Prosthetic Hand So Nimble an Amputee Can Type

posted: 22 April 2008 ET


The i-LIMB has flexible hydraulic drives are located directly in the movable finger joints. Credit: Touch Bionics, Orthopedic University Hospital
Full Size 1 of 4

The i-LIMB has flexible hydraulic drives are located directly in the movable finger joints. Credit: Touch Bionics, Orthopedic University Hospital

The i-LIMB is nimble enough to create several common hand positions needed for gripping objects in different ways. Credit: Touch Bionics

The i-LIMB can type using the index finger, its creators say. Credit: Touch Bionics

U.S. Army Sgt. Juan Arredondo, outfitted with an i-LIMB after losing his hand in Iraq, says ht does things naturally. Credit: Touch Bionics A new prosthetic hand uses individually movable fingers to hold a credit card, use a keyboard and lift a heavy bag.

Iraq Amputee Becomes Paralympics Athlete

Iraq Amputee Becomes Paralympics Athlete
Melissa Stockwell Is the First Iraq Veteran to Qualify for the Paralympics in Beijing
April 18, 2008



When Melissa Stockwell heard she had broken an American record a few weeks ago in the 400-meter freestyle event, it didn't seem real.
Army Lt. Melissa Stockwell will represent the U.S. at the Olympics.

More Photos

"I looked up at the clock, and I couldn't believe it was my time," she told ABC's Bob Woodruff. "To hear my name and the American record in the same sentence was really cool."

Stockwell's achievement qualified her to compete on the U.S. team at the Paralympics in Beijing this summer and represents a personal milestone -- not only did she shave 17 seconds off her time to qualify, her feat signifies just how far she's come in the last four years.

Profile: Marine "Spanky" Gibson an inspiration to others

Profile: Marine "Spanky" Gibson an inspiration to others
581 words
13 April 2008
NBC News: Nightly News
English
(c) Copyright 2008, NBC Universal Inc. All Rights Reserved.

LESTER HOLT, anchor:

This has been the deadliest week of the year for US forces in Iraq. The Marine you're about to meet knows all too well what can happen in the war zone. But as NBC's Ned Colt reports, Gunnery Sergeant William Gibson, known to his fellow Marines as Spanky, has become an inspiration to others as he returns for another tour of duty.

NED COLT reporting:

Two months shy of his 37th birthday and Marine Gunnery Sergeant "Spanky" Gibson still has a spring in his step.

So what's it like to be back?

Gunnery Sergeant WILLIAM "SPANKY" GIBSON: It's outstanding. It's awesome to be back here amongst my Marines, combat zone. It's a circle of recovery.

COLT: Two years ago no one, including Spanky, ever dreamed he'd be back. Then he was on the front line near Ramadi leading a squad, calling in air support to root out insurgents.

Vietnam Vet Helps Other Soldiers With Prosthetics

Vietnam Vet Helps Other Soldiers With Prosthetics
Reporting
Tom Mustin DENVER (CBS4) ― A 75-year-old Vietnam War veteran who lost his leg during heavy fighting in 1968 isn't letting his wounds slow him down. The amputee now works at the Denver VA Medical Center, helping design custom artificial limbs for fellow service members.

Sgt. Stanley Agena was in the Army during Vietnam. Now he serves in the VA Hospital's prosthetics wing.

"When I got hit, my leg was blown off, but it was barely hanging there," Agena said. "So I just ... crawling around helping the others."

Unemployment Figures for Disabled Vets

"To help these returning men and women, the government has created specific career counseling services and initiatives, but the nonprofit sector has also stepped up and introduced programs designed to help these former members of the military discover new careers in the civilian workforce.

A 2007 report by the Veterans Affairs Department found that 18% of veterans--not just those with disabilities--who had looked for jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed; 25% of veterans who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year." -from this article

Amputations in US military personnel in the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq

Amputations in US military personnel in the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq

Author(s): Stansbury LG (Stansbury, Lynn G.), Lalliss SJ (Lalliss, Steven J.), Branstetter JG (Branstetter, Joanna G.), Bagg MR (Bagg, Mark R.), Holcomb JB (Holcomb, John B.)
Source: JOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC TRAUMA Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Pages: 43-46 Published: JAN 2008
Times Cited: 0 References: 15
Abstract: Objectives: To determine rates of major limb amputation in U.S. military casualties in the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, to correlate these with mechanism of injury, and compare the rate with that seen in U.S. casualties from the Vietnam War.
Design: Retrospective study of all US. casualties recorded for the current conflicts from the start in October 1, 2001 to June 1, 2006.

Setting: Records from U.S. military forward surgical teams (Level IIb) and combat support hospitals (Level III) in theater, evacuation (Level IV, Germany), and major military medical centers (Level V, United States).

Patients/Participants: All recorded U.S. military casualties from the Afghanistan and Iraq theaters with injuries requiring evacuation out of theater or prohibiting the individual from returning to duty for more than 72 hours.

Intervention: None.

Main Outcome Measurements: Major limb injury, level of amputation, principal mechanism of injury.

Results: Over the past 56 months, of the 8058 military casualties meeting the listed criteria, 5684 (70.5%) were recorded as having major limb injuries. Of these, 423 (5.2% of all serious injuries; 7.4% of major limb injuries) under-went major limb amputation or amputation at or proximal to the wrist or ankle joint. The mechanism of injury for 87.9% was some form of explosive device. The major amputation rate during Vietnam was 8.3% of major limb injuries.

Conclusions: overall, major limb amputation rates for the current U.S. engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq are similar to those of previous conflicts.

Document Type: Article
Language: English
Author Keywords: trauma epidemiology; amputation rate
KeyWords Plus: CASUALTIES; INJURIES; CARE
Addresses: Branstetter, JG (reprint author), Brooke Army Med Ctr, Dept Orthopaed, 3851 Roger Brooke Dr, Ft Sam Houston, TX 78234 USA
Brooke Army Med Ctr, Dept Orthopaed, Ft Sam Houston, TX 78234 USA
USA, Inst Surg Res, Extrem Trauma Softtissue Branch, Ft Sam Houston, TX 78234 USA
E-mail Addresses: Joanna.Branstetter@amedd.army.mil
Publisher: LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS, 530 WALNUT ST, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106-3621 USA
Subject Category: Orthopedics; Sport Sciences
IDS Number: 250HY
ISSN: 0890-5339

Amputee soldier takes on the slopes

Amputee soldier takes on the slopes
PIONEERING: Sergeant Mick Brennan is taking part in a ski-ing course.

A SOLDIER who lost both legs in an explosion in Iraq has taken part in a pioneering course to learn to ski.
Sergeant Mick Brennan, 28, a former pupil of North Border Comprehensive School in Harworth, lost both of his legs when a car bomb exploded when he was working as part of a bomb disposal squad in Baghdad in 2004

Iraq's monumental cost

Iraq's monumental cost
By Bill SteigerwaldTRIBUNE-REVIEWSaturday, April 12, 2008

What's the true cost of the war in Iraq? The total, long-term cost of everything from tanks and jet fuel and the interest on the money Washington is borrowing to the cost of caring for a double amputee for 40 years? It's probably a lot higher than you think, but try about $3 trillion. That's the round, stunning figure economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard public finance professor Linda Bilmes came up with after several years of digging up and crunching the official government numbers, which were buried or scattered in the Pentagon's impossibly sloppy accounting books. The gruesome details can be found in their new book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War." I talked to Professor Bilmes on Wednesday, April 9, by phone from Boston:
Q: What is your 60-second synopsis of your book and why did you write it?
A: We basically wrote the book for two reasons. First was to explain the full costs of the war, including the costs that are yet to come. Secondly, we wrote the book to show how the veterans have been shortchanged and to offer recommendations that would fix that. We really go through in the book the major cost categories and show how the war is affecting the economy. This is a book about the budgetary and economic costs of the war. But we also have three chapters about veterans' issues, which I have been deeply involved in. We are donating 10 percent of the proceeds to veterans' organizations. One of the purposes of the book was to really call attention to the veterans' issues. The veterans' issues in particular are fixable. When you think about the problems of Iraq, and some of them seem somewhat intractable and out of our control, that is a source of frustration for many Americans. But when you look at some of the situations of the returning veterans, that is something that is entirely within our ability to fix. So we were trying to call attention to those issues and how we could fix them.

Return to War

MSNBC Video Amputee Returns to War

Trail Ride Will Raise Money For Veterans

Trail Ride Will Raise Money For Veterans

BULLARD - "Ride for Heroes," a trail ride and campout to raise money for recent veterans with disabilities, is set for Friday through April 20 at Tarrant Ranch in Bullard, said Steve Herber, one of the organizers.
Activities will include a cowboy supper with poetry and music, trail rides and chuck wagon meals, he said.
The effort will help support Frank Fields of New Chapel Hill whose legs were amputated after being wounded in Iraq, he said.

For information, see the Web site rideforheroes.com

BEYOND THE IRAQ WAR HEARINGS

BEYOND THE IRAQ WAR HEARINGS
Sunday, April 13, 2008
David Reinhard
I 've never been a big basher of members of Congress as a class. Capitol Hill lawmakers do important work in a democratic republic, and many of them put in long days of high purpose. Also, as tempting as it is to roast Congress, it's always helpful to recall that Congress in our Great Republic represents . . . us.
Last week, however, I may have finally reached a break point. I say finally because my anger, disgust, frustration -- call it what you will -- has been building for some time now -- perhaps since late 2007.

Determination to Serve

Determination to Serve

By Candice NelsonWSLS10 ReporterPublished: April 13, 2008

The runners at the Angels Race in Lynchburg were cheered on as they reached the finish line. Many of these participants were running to honor their lost loved ones. But one man seemed to stand out from all the rest. Major David Rozelle got even louder cheers as he made his way to the end of the race, running with a prosthetic right leg. But running this triathlon isn’t his biggest accomplishment. In fact, it was his determination to serve our country that helped him make American history.

“As the first amputee to return to active command in Iraq since the Civil War, so a great honor, to the same battlefield, you know. A great honor and went back last month on another mission,” said Major Rozelle.

Iraq Verteren's Blog

This blog is about my return to Walter Reed to get a new leg. I am an above-the-knee amputee. I lost my leg in April 2007 in Iraq while riding in a Humvee that was struck by an "explosively formed projectile" -- a molten metal jet stream released from a homemade roadside bomb. My left knee was shattered and later amputated at Walter Reed. I rushed through rehab to get back to Alaska quickly. But my leg continued to change, and now my prosthetic doesn't fit, and I need to begin again. I'll keep you posted on my progress and experience. This time, it will work.

Fund set up to assist double-amputee soldier

Fund set up to assist double-amputee soldier
Updated: 03/22/08 6:40 AM
A fund has been established to assist Army Sgt. James T. Hackemer, a Town of Collins resident who lost both his legs in a roadside bomb explosion last week in Iraq.

Vets hit the slopes as Wounded Warriors

Vets hit the slopes as Wounded Warriors

NECN: Lincoln, NH) – The servicemen and women injured in Iraq and Afghanistan often come home to long recoveries and uncertain futures. But there is a program that strives to get injured vets active again – more than a dozen are on the slopes of New Hampshire this week

Stats

"Jones will be one of just a dozen or so U.S. troops who have returned to the battlefield after becoming amputees during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Roughly 31,400 service members have been wounded in action, including at least 750 who lost one or more limbs, according to the Pentagon. " -from this article

Stats

"With the number of servicemen wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq reaching more than 31,000..." -from this article

Triple Amputee Iraq Vet Stars On CSI: New York

Triple Amputee Iraq Vet Stars On CSI: New York


Regine Schlesinger Reporting
CHICAGO (WBBM) - A wounded war veteran from Rolling Meadows says he\'s finding a career in Hollywood. You can see him on tonight\'s broadcast of CSI: New York on CBS.
WBBM\'s Regine Schlesinger reports Bryan Anderson lost both legs and an arm in Iraq, but not his spirit or dreams.
Bryan Anderson says the star of CSI: New York, Chicago native Gary Sinise who won an Oscar as a wheelchair-bound Vietnam vet in the movie Forrest Gump, has told him, "You\'re the real Lt. Dan," referring to Sinise\'s Forrest Gump character.

First Year for Iraq or Afghanistan Vets in Olympics

No Iraq or Afghanistan veterans were among U.S. disabled athletes in Athens in 2004 or Turin in 2006.

Amputee says leg loss a small sacrifice

Amputee says leg loss a small sacrifice

By Mike CroninTRIBUNE-REVIEWTuesday, April 8, 2008
pittsburgh_tribu:http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_561184.html

Long before he arrived in Iraq, Luke Cassidy gave his heart and soul to his country as a Marine and police officer.
Surrendering part of his left leg later didn't seem like much of a sacrifice, the Plum man said.
Nine days after arriving in Al Ramadi in 2004, an improvised explosive device detonated beneath the vehicle Cassidy was driving. The explosion broke his legs, shattered his heels and tore off the big toe of his right foot. An insurgent also shot him in the right calf, he said.

Amputee dives in the sea

Amputee dives in the sea

In this photo released by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Jeremy Stengel, a 22-year-old Marine who lost his left leg as a result of a combat injury in Iraq 14 months ago, goes scuba diving for the first time Monday, April 7, 2008, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo, Fla. Stengel used a special prosthesis that features an artificial foot that can be extended so a dive fin can be used as normal.

First Iraq Amputee Vet Included In Beijing Paralympics

First Iraq Amputee Vet Included In Beijing Paralympics
April 7, 2008 10:47 p.m. EST



Isabelle Duerme - AHN News Writer
San Diego, Calif. (AHN) - A female war veteran finds herself in the record book as the first war veteran to qualify for the upcoming Beijing Paralymics

Mary Stockwell, an amputee who lost her left leg from a roadside bomb in Baghdad, is part of a team of 18 women forming the U.S. Swim Team which will compete in Beijing.

Also in USA Today

For veteran, a new home, life, and wife

For veteran, a new home, life, and wife

Even when Brian Fountaine was lying face down in the Iraqi dirt, his lower legs mangled and bleeding from a roadside bomb explosion two years ago, he knew he was going to survive. The young tank commander also knew he was about to become a double amputee.
more stories like this

Wounded Iraq veteran from Menifee says his sacrifice was worth it

Wounded Iraq veteran from Menifee says his sacrifice was worth it

09:25 PM PDT on Friday, April 4, 2008
By JOE VARGOThe Press-Enterprise
Video: Jesus De La Cruz talks about rehabilitation following injuries sustained in Iraq
SAN DIEGO - His left leg is shattered, amputated below the knee from a rocket-propelled grenade that slammed into him while on patrol in Iraq three weeks ago.
Tiny pieces of shrapnel, the size of a match-head, work their way through his skin to the surface, where he pulls them out and collects them for keepsakes.

Body of War: New Doc Tells the Story of a Paralyzed Iraq War Veteran Coming to Terms with Disability and Speaking Out Against War

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