[retiredguy123]

I rewrote this thread because I just wanted to get opinions about the mission change for the Tunnel to Towers charity, not to create a controversy. I have always considered this charity to be one of my favorites because of their focus on helping veterans with severe physical disabilities suffered in combat to get housing, and because of their exceptional cost efficiency. Now, Frank Siller is appearing in TV commercials asking for donations to help homeless veterans with PTSD. I don't deny that some veterans suffer from PTSD, but I just don't view veterans with PTSD in the same way as veterans who lost their legs in combat. I also believe that some disability claims for PTSD may be fraudulent and I don't trust the current screening process for PTSD claims. Please provide opinions.

[JRcorvette]

I would tend to agree with you on all accounts. What is our Government doing for these people???

[Blueblaze]

Yeah, that bothered me, too. My own Dad suffered from what they would call "PTSD" his whole life. He was an artillery forward observer in Korea, and watched helplessly from a nearby hill, while his entire howitzer unit was butchered when it was overrun by the Chinese. I never learned about it until he was in his 80's. He wouldn't talk about the war. But it was always obvious that something horrific had happened to him over there.

He was fortunate, in more ways than just being a lone survivor. In those days, we didn't coddle men with free houses and "emotional support" dogs for feeling sad. Back then, the Army and our entire culture told men to man-up, bury the bad memories deep, and get on with their lives -- which he did. If not for that bit of common sense, his life would have been wasted the same as if he'd died with his unit. But one of the last things he said to me, in his 90's was "why did I get to live to 90 when all those other guys never had a chance?" I told him it was so he could be my Dad.

[thelegges]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I rewrote this thread because I just wanted to get opinions about the mission change for the Tunnel to Towers charity, not to create a controversy. I have always considered this charity to be one of my favorites because of their focus on helping veterans with severe physical disabilities suffered in combat to get housing, and because of their exceptional cost efficiency. Now, Frank Siller is appearing in TV commercials asking for donations to help homeless veterans with PTSD. I don't deny that some veterans suffer from PTSD, but I just don't view veterans with PTSD in the same way as veterans who lost their legs in combat. I also believe that some disability claims for PTSD may be fraudulent and I don't trust the current screening process for PTSD claims. Please provide opinions.

Have you been to an appointment, with the VA for PTSD? If not, however you view the process is just a thought on your part, with zero hands on knowledge.

Have been in that appointment multiple time, many with physicians who barely spoke English,. How does one evaluate a veteran, that usually has difficulty dealing with or even speaking about their most inner thoughts to someone you can’t understand.

You speak of fraud, while one can watch many underlying PTSD veterans fall through the cracks.

Why do you think there is such a big push in the VA system to use the suicide hot line. reality that some veterans have either been dismissed, wrongly diagnosed, or thought they were just out to create fraud.

Maybe if you volunteered to chat rooms, or in person groups, that may or may not have PTSD, but has underlying issues, to help cope with everyday life. Volunteers are in short supply and are grateful for any time one can give. Our son volunteered for the years on thanksgiving, sometimes volunteering, gets to you, and becomes hard to continue

Or in my case, I deal with a person, whose nights, certain noise, weather, movies, articles, can cause reliving events. Then add what our children endured every day of their life, until they left for college. Yet they know when they visit, those memories return, because it’s still ongoing, after more than 50 years.

[Toymeister]

I was burned 22%. And like many with burns I have PTSD. I can assure you it is exceedingly easy to fake PTSD.

It's interesting watching the evolution of PTSD over the past 25 years. Once a rarity where people treated you as a potential time bomb, unpredictable and potentially dangerous, to an overused and common place term to explain having a bad day.

[Papa_lecki]

I am not going to debate T To T.

But, OP - rewrite your will; have your estate go to a Donor Advised Fund, and have a trusted child, niece, nephew, etc be in charge of giving money to charities.
Charities change over time, and you would need to re-write your will many times.

this is assuming you have someone you trust, who is mature enough to handle it.

[Remembergoldenrule]

Originally Posted by JRcorvette

I would tend to agree with you on all accounts. What is our Government doing for these people???

In some cities kicking them out of houses by to make room for people without medical or background checks who break laws coming to US for free things

[Remembergoldenrule]

Originally Posted by Toymeister

I was burned 22%. And like many with burns I have PTSD. I can assure you it is exceedingly easy to fake PTSD.

It's interesting watching the evolution of PTSD over the past 25 years. Once a rarity where people treated you as a potential time bomb, unpredictable and potentially dangerous, to an overused and common place term to explain having a bad day.

I have been living with spouse with PSTD for 8 years who won’t ask for help because he insists he has no visible wounds. Yet he tries to beat me up in his sleep every few weeks, is Jeckle and Hyde when awake, and is eating himself to death. VA screwed up his appointment when first got out and he won’t try to make another one. The stress is now affecting my health. There are a lot of fakers who have gamed the system but there are a lot not getting help. I feel like living in Catch 22 book. Summary not all wounds have scars on outside like yourself.

[Sabella]

Originally Posted by Remembergoldenrule

In some cities kicking them out of houses by to make room for people without medical or background checks who break laws coming to US for free things

The USA is broke -in case people don’t realize it is because we’re spending trillions of dollars on every other country and every other person except the United States citizens and although it is unbelievable, no one in our country is doing anything about the situation.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by Remembergoldenrule

I have been living with spouse with PSTD for 8 years who won’t ask for help because he insists he has no visible wounds. Yet he tries to beat me up in his sleep every few weeks, is Jeckle and Hyde when awake, and is eating himself to death. VA screwed up his appointment when first got out and he won’t try to make another one. The stress is now affecting my health. There are a lot of fakers who have gamed the system but there are a lot not getting help. I feel like living in Catch 22 book. Summary not all wounds have scars on outside like yourself.

I have no words or comfort thoughts, as your life is similar to mine. Our children grew up with watching their dad in the dead of night get up and perform surgery, in the kitchen. I had to remove all things sharp from the first month we were married. Events are still apart of our lives today. Nothing changes at least it’s the same repetitive 8 scenarios

Our kids remember being scooped up from a dead sleep, hidden in the closet because the sniper was firing in to the mash unit while they were doing surgery.

Our oldest are doctors, middle nurse, youngest behavior psychologist. Their life gave them insight on how mash units operated, they had to cope from infants through adulthood, never having friends over, because they didn’t know what their night would be like. I truly believe the reason why they all went into medical was because of their life experiences.

This is one of the silent generations, that have no idea, what happens and what they do while asleep. There’s are more than you realize in TV, and almost all never speak of their days or nights

I hope some nights calm your mind, and will be at ease at some point in your life, I will think of you often.

[oneclickplus]

Originally Posted by Sabella

The USA is broke -in case people don’t realize it is because we’re spending trillions of dollars on every other country and every other person except the United States citizens and although it is unbelievable, no one in our country is doing anything about the situation.

We're past the point of no return. No one can do anything about our debt at this time. It is a mathematical impossibility. They talk about reducing the deficit (the amount we borrow each year), but unless the deficit goes to zero, the debt ($33 Trillion) will continue to grow. Annual interest alone has now exceeded $1Trillion. Mathematically, that's over $9000 per year per taxpayer just for interest. Debt per taxpayer is over $300,000. It's clear this debt will never be paid.

Like a person who lived off of his/her credit cards for too long, bankruptcy is the only option. But, unlike typical bankruptcy, this will be several orders of magnitude worse. Why? Because the dollar itself will be destroyed. With most of the world (BRICS, EEU, etc) working to topple the dollar as the world's reserve currency, time is not on our side. When the dollar no longer buys what you need (food, energy, water, etc) it won't matter how much you have. Our government's monetary sanctions using the dollar as a weapon is going to bite us in the ass.

When people can't buy essentials and their currency is worthless (think Venezuela because that's where we are headed), what will society look like? When things are still quite stable, you see crime and violence increasing like crazy. What happens then these crazed criminals targeting retailers and Amazon delivery trucks actually can't buy food?

Do you think it will be a kinder and gentler society? Me neither.

[G.R.I.T.S.]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I rewrote this thread because I just wanted to get opinions about the mission change for the Tunnel to Towers charity, not to create a controversy. I have always considered this charity to be one of my favorites because of their focus on helping veterans with severe physical disabilities suffered in combat to get housing, and because of their exceptional cost efficiency. Now, Frank Siller is appearing in TV commercials asking for donations to help homeless veterans with PTSD. I don't deny that some veterans suffer from PTSD, but I just don't view veterans with PTSD in the same way as veterans who lost their legs in combat. I also believe that some disability claims for PTSD may be fraudulent and I don't trust the current screening process for PTSD claims. Please provide opinions.

I understand the current skepticism regarding "PTSD," but I have a little different perspective. Many members of my family view my dad's "shell shock" as having contributed to subsequent violent behavior after surviving a Japanese air attack on his boat in the Pacific. (We were made aware of it through a family friend.) He was a Seabee on his way to New Caledonia when a serviceman just above him on a ladder was killed. I don't think he ever got over it and also didn't talk about it. He was a vicious domestic abuser who was subsequently shot and killed by a family member as my dad was trying to kill his family (my mother, brother, two of my sisters, granddaddy, grandmother and myself) that had taken refuge with my grandparents. Sounds traumatic, but I consider myself so fortunate to have lived in a time where one could protect oneself and will be forever grateful to my granddaddy for doing so, even though his life was never the same. I've always wondered how my dad's life could have been so much different had he been able to have the help available to veterans now, but that experience also made me the resilient and self-reliant person I am today. Yes, I would support T to T new mission change.

[Nevinator]

I think that T to T is probably one of the more worthwhile charities out there. More than 95% of that which is donated go directly to the charities overall purpose. That being said, I do not think that expanding the benefits of the charity to veterans who have been diagnosed with PTSD is a problem. There will always be scammers and fraudsters in any system and for any benefit that may be provided to others, whether that is food stamps, Medicaid, welfare or various others. I simply have to trust that the VA is doing its best to screen our Veterans and rate them accordingly.

On a more personal note, I sometimes think that the VA in some cases may be a little overzealous in evaluating and rating some cases. The case in point involves my son-in-law, who did two tours of duty in Iraq. On his second tour as a Cav Scout, his Bradley fighting vehicle was destroyed by an IED. The explosion killed several of his comrades and he spent almost a year in the hospital. Fast forward 17 years, he still demonstrates many of the characteristics of PTSD. It took him several trips to Veterans Administration C&P examinations before they finally rated him at 50% for PTSD. Personally, although I am not a clinical psychologist and do not have any medical training, just witnessing his behaviors over time, I would have thought his rating would have been higher. He is subject to periodic reevaluations to determine whether the condition has either worsened or improved as well. Again, not saying that there aren’t those who have somehow scammed the system, but like any other charity, that could be similarly abused, I’d like to believe that this would be a small minority.

Having spent 20 years in the military myself, I have been exposed to many friends and coworkers over the years who also have PTSD. I would argue that it is not an easy thing to fake because you have a continued observation of the person and the behavioral traits are always there. It is not something that you simply turn on or off. As someone else mentioned, there are small triggers in every day life that caused the PTSD to flare up.

As for T to T, I am a supporter and will continue to do so.

[Mrmean58]

I would consider a veteran who has PTSD, who has basically lost their minds the same as a veteran who has lost a limb. Just because you can't see their loss doesn't make it any less tragic.

[Marmaduke]

Originally Posted by asianthree

I have no words or comfort thoughts, as your life is similar to mine. Our children grew up with watching their dad in the dead of night get up and perform surgery, in the kitchen. I had to remove all things sharp from the first month we were married. Events are still apart of our lives today. Nothing changes at least it’s the same repetitive 8 scenarios

Our kids remember being scooped up from a dead sleep, hidden in the closet because the sniper was firing in to the mash unit while they were doing surgery.

Our oldest are doctors, middle nurse, youngest behavior psychologist. Their life gave them insight on how mash units operated, they had to cope from infants through adulthood, never having friends over, because they didn’t know what their night would be like. I truly believe the reason why they all went into medical was because of their life experiences.

This is one of the silent generations, that have no idea, what happens and what they do while asleep. There’s are more than you realize in TV, and almost all never speak of their days or nights

I hope some nights calm your mind, and will be at ease at some point in your life, I will think of you often.

I can empathize with spouses and families who live with Veterans who suffer from PTSD.
I spent a good portion of my career working with Veterans with mental health issues, rendering them broke, divorced and homeless, in many cases.

Through the years, I met many of the wives who stayed the course. You are the champions who keep your spouses as grounded as possible after the horrors of war.
There was one common thread that PTSD Vets cited as the only variable keeping them functioning in daily life. Their wives.
God Bless You.
You know who you are and you are NEVER thanked for your service to our country on Veterans Day or Any Day.

I'm thanking you right now. I kniw what "hit the deck" means.