Twenty-two veterans Take Their Own Lives Every Day Because of Depression

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Military news…

Actor, director and Hollywood icon Denzel Washington is the “Honorary Sergeant Major of the Army” for 2021.

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Veterans made headlines this summer for working together to bring home stranded Afghan allies, but they are also doing the same for deported U.S. veterans.

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The Army’s new missile-hauling Stryker was fired for the first time ever in Europe by soldiers assigned to the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment.

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Every sandwich is a sub sandwich if it has classified submarine info in it. Case in point: Federal prosecutors accused Navy vet Jonathan Toebbe of trying to sell sensitive information about the nuclear reactors for Virginia-class submarines by hiding a SanDisk inside a peanut butter sandwich.

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin must resign over his handling of the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, writes retired Marine Col. Andrew Milburn. Having served in Afghanistan as a special operations officer and having seen Secretary Austin’s career up close, Andrew is particularly well-qualified to weigh in on the subject.

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One of the military’s top cybersecurity generals wants to get rid of the Common Access Card. Used to enter buildings, log onto computers and even enter the chow hall, CACs are one of the few things nearly all service members have had in common over the past 20 years.

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Here is another excerpt from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

Move Out of Your Home Called Depression

So many people(over 19 million,) are silently struggling with depression or related demons. The depression rate in the military is very high as well. People do not do anything about it. It leaves them eventually because the person dies.

How can we get off this train of despair? Why do we let depression overtake us? Shouldn’t we be happy with our family and friends, and our loved ones around us? Is there a way to climb out of this dreadful trench and have a productive life?

Now that I made you also feel depressed. Let me share some thoughts with you, and see if you can see any light at the end of the tunnel.

  1. People seem to think that they will be embarrassed if they let someone know they are depressed. That couldn’t be further from the truth! Don’t you think your close family and friends would jump in to help you faster that a cat on a ot tin roof, if they knew you were hurting? Of course they would! Stop closing the door on others and be wallowing in your own self pity. Let people, and other soldiers, become your support system to get you out of your despair.
  2. Why do we let depression overtakes us? Because we become very vulnerable to the dark side when something goes wrong. We can’t just keep going on as if nothing ever happened. We either deal with it, or we crash like I did.
  3. Depression has many names by the way. It hides under the names of self-doubt, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, and self-pity. They are all different names, but they are all systems of the Big Kahuna depression. All of these nasty critters push us to into the lake of muck and mire, and we can’t seem to stay afloat. Don’t let this villian ambush you! Keep you eyes on the bight side of life, and not the dark side.
  4. With today’s modern technology, you can connect with your family no matter where you are in the world. I have used Skype, facetime, (I-Phones) Zoom, and speaker phones ot get as many people as I can. We talk and feel accepted.
  5. I just did that recently when I had a birthday party for my granddaughter. My son, who is the uncle of my granddaughter, couldn’t make it. We did a video connect through I-Box of all things. My son was able to wish my granddaughter happy birthday, and talk to all of us.

Unlike the dark ages when we couldn’t connect with technology at all, you can see and talk to anyone you want to get the feeling you are right there with them.

The Bottom line…

Tell the bad guys to get out of Dodge. Let the good guys come in and help you ride off tinto the sunset of peace.

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There is more to this chapter, but I will tease you into to buying the book to find out more.

You can come back and see more excerpts. Better yet… go to the top of this page and click on“Subscribe.” When you do all future posts will come directly to you inbox.

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Bed check…

How are you doing? Does it seem overwhelming at times. Do you feel the darkside lurking around you?

FEAR NOT!

There are 13,250 fellow veterans here who have your back.

But! It is just too much for you right now. GET HELP!

Here is a toll free nmber to call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are Ok.

1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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Losing a Buddy in the Military is hard, at best, to Accept

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A day late again. Sorry about that. I am still struggling with pain after my surgery. I see the doctor tomorrow.

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I see some interesting things developing in our country. This weekend Donald Trump will be speaking at a huge gathering. This is his first public speech since he left office. Should be extremely insightive.

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Today I am going to share an excerpt of my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

I am leaping ahead here to my time deployed to South Korea. I have many stories about there in my book.

One of the pluses of joining the military was that I was able to sign up under the buddy plan. There were two other guys I enlisted with. We all went to high school together.

We had basic training together. We had Signal Corp training, and we were sent to Korea together. When we got there we were scattered to three different locations. Our training was needed at several spots.

Did I face the loss of a friend while deployed? Yes I did. One of the other friends never made it back to the states alive. He contracted some ugly virus, and died in Korea.

I took it very hard, but not to the point of PTSD. Back then they never heard of PTSD. They labeled mental stress as “Shell Shock.”

I did lose another buddy while in Korea. He got extremely drunk one night. As he came back to Camp Red Cloud from the village, he was wavering and struggling to stay on his feet. He accidently feel into a “Honey Bucket,” and suffocated. (A honey bucket in Korea is the name of a waste ditch that human waste is dropped into to fertilize their crops.)

It was a horrible death. I that was also very hard on me.

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I will be sharing excerpts from, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life, from time to time, to let you get the feel of the book.

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Checking in on you now my friend. Did you lose a buddy in the military? Was it extremely hard to accept it. Did it cause you to have PTSD?

You are not alone!! There are over 11,570 fellow veterans here on this site, that have you back.

Many have been where you have been.

If there is no way you are able to handle things right now, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

DO NOT take in this not so friendly world alone.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all….never, ever, give up!

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So Many Unsung Heroes in the MIlitary That we Need to Honor

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I wasn’t able to post on Friday. I had surgery on that day. It was to replace a battery in my defibrillator. Still slowly recovering today.

I can see you weren’t too excited about my post last Wednesday. It was a report about sexual harassment and rape. Sorry if it offended you, but we have to face it and follow through in helping those afflicted.

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Times are not exactly fun right now. Our country is in turmoil. Lots of verbal fighting. Seems there a division right down the middle of our country as to beliefs.

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There are many reports of heroic feats by the military. That tells me that people in the military are special people. Here is a story about another hero:

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Marine awarded for saving drowning couple from rough waters in California.

When Cpl. Jordan Perez heard a couple calling for help, he ripped off his boots and sprang into action. The Marine saw two civilian kayakers, their vessel capsized in the waters of 21 Area Boat Basin, a training section for amphibious vehicles at Camp Pendleton, California that opens up onto the Pacific Ocean.

It was around 1 p.m. on Feb. 15, and large, sharp boulders in the basin had caused strong waves that flipped the kayak, leaving the kayakers struggling in the water.

“That’s when I took action,” said Perez in a recent press release. A combat engineer with 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, Perez was working at a nearby construction project when another Marine noticed the drowning couple. “I took my boots off and just started swimming.”

The Marine swam 250 meters through the choppy waves to reach the kayakers. He grabbed the woman’s hand, pulled her back on the kayak and started pushing the boat back to the rocks. The woman’s husband could swim, but he started panicking halfway to the shore. Perez swam back to the man, put a life jacket on him, and continued pushing the woman to safety.

Perez was in the right spot at the right time: while other Marines also noticed the drowning couple, he happened to be training with a retired reconnaissance Marine to prepare for assessment and selection with the Marine Raiders. Part of that training includes swimming two hours every day.

“That [training] takes away any hesitation that comes with putting your own life at risk,” Perez said. “Since I had been training, I was confident that I could get myself out there and get those people back.”

Perez was awarded a challenge coin from Brig. Gen. Dan Conley, the commanding general of Marine Corps Installations West, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, on Feb. 19th. Though Perez technically does not fall under Conley’s command, the general wanted to personally thank him for what he did. A challenge coin is presented to Marines who go above and beyond, and any further awards will be processed by his chain of command, the press release explained.

“I’d like to believe a lot of people would do what you did, but I know they wouldn’t,” Conley told him. “So, to hear it actually happen is just amazing. That was really gutsy of you.”

But it’s just par for the Corps, as far as Perez is concerned.

“It’s what Marines are expected to do,” he said.

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His instinct saved lives, and left yet another reminder how special our military is.

Do you have a story about a hero? Share it in the comments below. I would love to post it.

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Time to talk about you. How are you doing? Is everything going in the right direction, or has your path been altered?

You are not alone. There are over 11,550 fellow veterans here who have your back.

Of course if your struggling is too hard for you right now, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to cal 24/7 There are highly qualified counselors to to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never take on this crazy world alone!

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know about it.