This made me cry. But they're right, so right.

A legacy of war that is really frightening

Veterans and Brain Disease

In people with C.T.E. [chronic traumatic encephalopathy], an abnormal form of a protein accumulates and eventually destroys cells throughout the brain, including the frontal and temporal lobes. Those are areas that regulate impulse control, judgment, multitasking, memory and emotions.

That Marine was the first Iraq veteran found to have C.T.E., but experts have since autopsied a dozen or more other veterans’ brains and have repeatedly found C.T.E. The findings raise a critical question: Could blasts from bombs or grenades have a catastrophic impact similar to those of repeated concussions in sports, and could the rash of suicides among young veterans be a result?

“P.T.S.D. in a high-risk cohort like war veterans could actually be a physical disease from permanent brain damage, not a psychological disease,” said Bennet Omalu, the neuropathologist who examined the veteran. Dr. Omalu published an article about the 27-year-old veteran as a sentinel case in Neurosurgical Focus, a peer-reviewed medical journal.

The discovery of C.T.E. in veterans could be stunningly important. Sadly, it could also suggest that the worst is yet to come, for C.T.E. typically develops in midlife, decades after exposure. If we are seeing C.T.E. now in war veterans, we may see much more in the coming years.

Given the number of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the multiple tours of duty, this could mean serious complications in coming years. Already it is being linked to the rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and suicide. The nature of the wars fought in these arenas is that repeated blasts mean repeated concussions at a unprecedented rate. The military is trying to be proactive about this, but there's just so much you can do to protect the head from a blast. But it's good they're recognising this. I hope we can find better ways to treat those who have suffered this before they, too, are lost to the war.

Comforting volunteers

Special lady for each Arlington soldier: Volunteers honor troops and make sure none is buried alone

Joyce Johnson remembers the drums beating slowly as she walked with her girls from the Old Post Chapel, behind the horse-drawn caisson carrying the flag-draped casket of her husband.

She remembers struggling to maintain her composure as she stared at his freshly dug grave, trying not to dwell on the terrible sight in the distance — the gaping hole in the Pentagon where he had so proudly worked.

The three-volley salute. Taps. The chaplain handing her a perfectly folded flag. The blur of tributes.

And then a lady stepped forward, a stranger, dressed not in uniform but in a simple dark suit. She whispered a few words and pressed two cards into Johnson's hands.

"If there is anything you need ..."

What a wonderful thing to do for the grieving, and for those who otherwise would otherwise be buried alone, without anyone to attend their last rite of service.

But first

an example of how medical studies get mangled by journalists, courtesy of the Daily Mail...

Cancer danger of that night-time trip to the toilet

Thanks to Graham Murkett (somegreybloke on YouTube) for the link via Facebook.

On another note, please consider signing a petition to make it a crime to protest at military funerals (as the Westboro Baptist Church has been doing for years, blaming homosexuals for deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan). I was signer #886. Granted, they're a little out there (if the Supreme Court rules in a current case for the Church, the folks who have organised the petition want to try to amend the Constitution, which frankly isn't going to happen in this case), but...their hearts are in the right place. It's horrible to think that in your greatest time of grief some yokel gay-hater is going to show up at the funeral with pickets, shouting obscenities. It's obscene itself, and Congress should do something about it.

Okay, this is what I get for checking my Facebook page. I'm going to bed now, really. Good night (again).

A son died for our country; now his mother is in limbo

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He was 25 years old when he died in Baghdad, in process of sponsoring his mother, who is from Peru, in becoming a permanent resident of this country. As far as I am concerned, she should be granted such status, and encouraged to be a citizen. Her son is buried here, having paid an awful price. Deporting her would be an insult to his memory. Most likely she will be granted permanent residency under a humanitarian provision. Still, the fact that she is now in limbo is a terrible thing. Our immigration system should allow immigrants whose immediate relatives have sacrificed themselves for our freedom to become legal residents.

On a related note, I checked on a story I'd blogged about before, of a Japanese woman who became pregnant by her Marine boyfriend right before he was deployed to Iraq, married him by proxy (a practice the military recognises as valid), only to lose him within a month as he was conducting a house-to-house search. Her son is an American citizen. She wants to raise him with her husband's family, to surround him with things related to his father. The family has been fighting to allow her to stay in Tennessee. A 1950s immigration law has been impeding their efforts. It does not recognise proxy marriages, and requires all marriages to be consummated. The immigration service is not considering it consummated despite their having a child together because they were not together after the actual marriage date. Now, although I think they continue to try to get her legal status here, she as of the beginning of this year she was returning to Okinawa. It's a very sad state when an American citizen must be sent to another country to be raised because his mother--who married his father in a ceremony recognised by both the US military and Japan--cannot stay. Our immigration system really needs to be reworked. Lots of illegal immigrants circumvent the system every day, but those who try to follow the rules come across roadblocks that are unnecessary and in some cases cruel.

Marine's wife, son will return to Japan despite legal efforts to stay

My best wishes to these two women, who have lost their loved ones, in their aim to reside in the US.

Remembering those who won't be sitting down with their families at the table today

Military families united by tragedies: Mom of suicidal Marine befriends wife of veteran charged with murder

It is essential that we provide care to our veterans, including the hidden menace of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other psychological ills. It is the least we can do for their sacrifice, and we should also do it because it is the right thing to do. That's how to support our troops.

One section of the story I found chilling:

Months before his arrest, Windy recalled, a VA counselor told her to get used to having a broken husband.

"She told me, 'Your husband died in Iraq. You're either going to have to deal with that or move on,'" Windy said.

There must be more we can do to prepare these men and women for the horrors of war and to help them deal with the aftermath.

It always seems more real when you put names to faces and to stories

Fort Hood victims: Sons, a daughter, mother-to-be

Several people were apparently getting or helping with physicals and vaccinations for deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. One woman was three-months pregnant and had been transferred to Ft Hood just last week because of it. They each represent ordinary Americans who felt a duty to serve their country. Some made a career out of it, some had and remained in the Reserve; others were trying to get money for school. Each had a dream; several had children. Each potential future was shattered by a gunman, one of their own, and that is the most devastating rub of all. Soldiers are prepared to give their lives when fighting an enemy. They know they may even be part of 'collateral damage' in friendly fire. But when an officer and army physician/psychiatrist turns his guns on his comrades, that's another thing entirely.

Having grown up in the military, I understand the shock this must leave. My thoughts are with the dead, with the wounded, their families and friends, and for a community that has undergone a terrible blow.

I am somewhat defined by this term

Military brat (or in my case, Air Force brat)

Nice to see that Wikipedia has an article on the pros and cons of having been raised in a military sub-culture. So much of my life was shaped by my experiences on base and moving around so much. I attended two kindergartens, two elementary schools, three junior highs, and two high schools. Little wonder that even though I was in college for a total of 16 years, I stayed in only one.

A little scary

A couple of articles from recent editions of the Medscape paediatrics newsletter. You may need to register for free access to them.

Parasitic Infections More Common in US Than Had Been Thought (based on a paper called Neglected Diseases and Poverty in “The Other America”: The Greatest Health Disparity in the United States?) (Of course, parasites are found particularly in poor, inner city children and adults. But millions are affected, and the percentages are a little startling in such an 'advanced' country.)

Increased Rates of Child Maltreatment in Military Families During Deployments?

(As a former military brat, I thought this deserved a look. Interestingly, they found that there is an increase in child maltreatment by mothers while fathers are deployed. There is, however, not an increase when fathers are the caregivers and the mothers are deployed.) Also, the increase affecte white families, but did not have a similar correlation in Blacks and Hispanics. Sexual abuse did not increase during deployements.)

A feel-good story

Family Adopts Slain Marine's Dog Partner

Lex, a German Shepherd, was injured in the same mortar attack that took the life of his handler, Dustin Lee. Now Lee's family has been granted a first-time waiver to allow them to adopt the 8-year-old dog, releasing him from service two years ahead of schedule.

It can't bring their son and brother back, but I think it helps them deal with their grief to know his companion is with them.

I hope, with enough lawsuits, they bankrupt them

Got problems with gays and want to be outspoken? Sure, that's your right under our Constitution. But picketing a dead soldier's funeral (especially a non-gay dead soldier's funeral) just because you're sure America needs to hear that its troops are falling in war because God is punishing it for the sins of homosexuals and the support of the homosexual agenda? That's ludicrous, wrong, illogical, tacky, disrespectful, unpatriotic, and it should be illegal in all jurisdictions. I don't think funerals are truly public in the sense of letting anyone with a placard and a lungful of hate speech in. Funerals are for the respect for the dead. Military funerals are for the respect of those who have fallen protecting our country--straight or gay. So, I was happy to see:

Fred Phelps' church ordered to pay $10.9 million for funeral protest

It's been my experience that those who hate gays the most tend to be those who secretly realise that they have homosexual urges. I'm not saying Fred Phelps is one of these people, of course. But I do wonder why such vehemence against gays? Why is he threatened by their existence? What have they really done for him? It's such a strange whacko turn for someone who started out of all things as a civil rights attorney for blacks. Now he hates gays, pickets military funerals, and runs websites saying God hates (insert country here--there's already Ireland, Sweden, and Canada). And with his church, most of whom are related to him by blood or marriage, he has others to carry on the hate speech when he dies. I guess he'll find out then if he really is part of the elect or not. I'm not Christian, of course, but I have actually read the Bible from cover to cover--something many Christians fail to do, including those who like to quote it--and it seems to me Jesus was primarily about loving others. It's not a particularly gay-friendly text, true, but at the same time, you have to wonder where someone full of that much hate really belongs in God's design, don't you?

End of an era and the beginning of a new one--hopefully of peace on both sides

British troops leave after 38 years