We are told the war in Iraq is over, however, the war is only beginning for soldiers coming home. As GIs return from Iraq and the conflict in Afghanistan heats up, the challenges faced by veterans have only begun to emerge. The rates of suicide, substance abuse, homelessness, and imprisonment among veterans is already skyrocketing to epidemic proportions due to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other deployment-related issues. There is a stigma attached to seeking help in the military. Many service members are afraid that doing so will affect their reputations or military careers. An ongoing Department of Defense study has determined that reluctance to seek help through the military is a contributing factor in active-duty suicides. Coffee Strong provides a casual atmosphere that allows service members and veterans to access information and resources without having to worry about being judged, labeled, stigmatized, or punished.

Opened in 2008, Coffee Strong is a veteran-owned and veteran-operated coffee shop outside of Fort Lewis, Washington that provides a comfortable and safe atmosphere for veterans to share their experiences and find out about resources available to them. Coffee Strong provides free coffee, Internet, concerts, movie screenings and other events to active-duty military personnel, veterans, and their families, and acts as a meeting place for various organizations and support groups. It provides a place for service members and veterans to socialize and relax in a safe atmosphere that also allows them to feel comfortable in seeking help. Coffee Strong is also dedicated to helping soldiers stand together so that they can improve their conditions and hold the military and government responsible for their policies.

Because Coffee Strong is a non-profit organization and not a business, we rely on the support of the community to keep our doors open and continue providing free coffee and services to veterans and active duty personnel. As a sustaining donor, you can support the work of Coffee Strong with an automatic monthly donation.

In the past year, Coffee Strong has provided the following resources for the GI / veteran community:

* Free, confidential referrals to licensed therapists for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families
* G.I. rights counseling and advocacy for active-duty service members stationed at Fort Lewis
* Weekly veterans’ benefit assistance by experienced Veteran Service Officers
* Access to information and resources available to veterans within the local community
* The new website http://www.coffeestrong.org for updates and connections to assistance

We deeply appreciate the support we have received from the community and ask that you support our continuing efforts to help service members, veterans, and their families. Thank you for your support.

Click here to become a sustaining donor now.

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For Immediate Release

November 2, 2010 JOINT BASE LEWIS MCHORD, WASHINGTON – An anonymous group of soldiers in 4-9 Infantry Brigade have released a statement detailing how the Army drove one soldier to suicide. It details the humiliation that soldiers who seek help for mental problems face from their superiors. This comes on the heels of a rash of incidents involving soldiers from JBLM who had untreated mental issues, including one soldier who shot a police officer in Salt Lake City, UT. The letter reads:

“On March 17, 2010, Spc. Kirkland returned home from his second deployment to Iraq. Three days later he was dead—killed by the Army. Spc. Kirkland was sent home from Iraq because the burden of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder became too great—so much that he wanted to take his own life. Many of us also struggle with the effects of PTSD, which is a completely natural, human response to what we are exposed to overseas. It is not a sign of weakness or cowardice, but the inevitable result of serving in combat. It is a burden we all share, and we all deserve adequate treatment and understanding for the sacrifices we have made.

Upon returning home, Spc. Kirkland was not more than three steps into the barracks before the acting First Sergeant publicly ridiculed him, calling him a “coward” and a “pussy,” knowing full well that Kirkland was suffering from severe depression and anxiety. He was then carelessly assigned to a room by himself, and like every other soldier with PTSD, given substandard care by Army mental health doctors. Forty-eight hours after he was in the care of 4-9 Infantry, he was dead. Spc. Kirkland had a wife and young daughter. Before his blood had even dried off the floor, our respected leadership was already mocking his death.

Spc. Kirkland did not kill himself. He was killed by the Army. The Army inadequately treats PTSD, while it re-enforces a culture of humiliation for the soldiers who suffer from it. Spc. Kirkland was accused of faking his trauma. PTSD is a legitimate medical condition that is unavoidable in a combat zone. As soldiers who lay down our lives every day, we deserve adequate treatment for the wounds we receive in combat. We deserve to be treated for PTSD just like we would for a bullet wound or shrapnel. Spc. Kirkland received the opposite. But what happened to Spc. Kirkland is not an isolated incident. This is happening at such a high rate in the Army that it is becoming an epidemic. Now, more active duty soldiers commit suicide than are killed in combat. Every year, the number of suicides far surpasses the year before, and 2010 is already dwarfing last year’s numbers.

How has the Army responded? Scandal after scandal has broken out about Army officers ordering doctors not to diagnose PTSD; to instead deny veterans the care they deserve, pump them full of pills, and return them to combat. It has become Army policy to do everything possible to avoid diagnosing PTSD. And when it is diagnosed, the care is inadequate.

Throughout the Army, soldiers have to fight for simple medical care. The Army doesn’t care at all about us, our lives, or our families—and hundreds of us are dying because of it. We are denied care because the Army needs bodies to throw into two quagmires, and because the VA doesn’t want to pay us the benefits we deserve. Maj. Keith Markham, Executive Director of 4-9 Infantry, put it very clearly in a private memo to his platoon leaders: “We have an unlimited supply of expendable labor.” That’s what we soldiers are to the Army and the Officer Corps: expendable labor. Spc. Kirkland was expendable, and we witness that fact every day. But soldiers all over the Army are standing up. At Ft. Hood, the base with the highest number of suicides, protests have been held both outside the base and in the hospitals, consisting of active duty soldiers demanding better treatment. All over the country soldiers are organizing in their units to fight for adequate care. The Army will never give us the care we deserve unless we force it to do so. As soldiers, we have rights. Mental health care is a right for the job we were made to do. We have the right to be adequately treated and compensated for PTSD—but the Army is not doing that, so we have the right to collectively organize and demand proper treatment.

Actual defense spending in the U.S. is over 1 trillion dollars a year. Most of that money goes into the pockets of defense contractors, while only a tiny fraction is allocated for mental health care. There are hundreds of billions of dollars for new fighter jets, or to open Burger Kings and KBR facilities overseas, but when extra resources are needed to combat a suicide epidemic, we only get scraps from the table.”

The Army has taken no disciplinary actions against the leadership involved with SPC Kirkland’s death. Nor has the Army released any statements regarding the circumstances behind the incident.

GI Voice, DBA COFFEE STRONG, is a veteran owned and operated coffee house for soldiers, veterans, and military families to speak out about their experiences in a comfortable and safe environment. We provide free GI rights counseling, veterans benefit advocacy, and PTSD counseling for soldiers and veterans. Coffee Strong is located 300 meters from the Madigan Gate of Fort Lewis at 15109 Union Ave. SW Ste B.

For more information please contact:

Seth Manzel
Executive Director
GI Voice, DBA COFFEE STRONG
253-228-8912

http://www.coffeestrong.org

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Base Investigates Claims Father Warned Them About Attacks on Afghan Civilians

From the Q 13 Fox

Published: September 30, 2010

JOINT BASE LEWIS MCCHORD —
The father of one of the Stryker soldiers accused of murdering Afghan civilians says the Army could have saved lives if it had listened to his warnings.

Christopher Winfield says he made several calls to let military leaders know members of his son’s unit were killing civilians for fun and in some cases taking pictures of it. He feels his warnings were ignored.

Winfield said he told military leaders that his son told him his sergeant was killing civilians and planned on killing more. Winfield was upset by a conversation he had with a staff sergeant at Lewis-McChord “he said, ‘well, you know, the only thing i can tell you is, just, tell him to stay away from Gibbs.” Winfield said the officer also suggested his son should keep his head down and report the problem when he returned in four months. “My jaw hit the floor when i heard that, it was just, you got to be kidding me,” Winfield said.

Phone records show Winfield, the father of specialist Adam Winfield, did speak to someone at the base for about 8 minutes. Winfield says he eventually stopped calling because he feared his son could face retaliation. Now, he regrets that decision “two more murders happened after that. and, there would have been two more people walking on this earth right now.”

Major Kathleen Turner from Joint Base Lewis-McChord released a short statement Wednesday afternoon which said, in part “the reports that phone calls were made by Mr. Winfield to alert the army to allegations of crimes committed by soldiers in Afghanistan are matters the army takes very seriously.” The army said an inquiry is underway and they wont discuss the situation until the investigation is complete.

This latest revelation doesn’t surprise some veterans and those familiar with the military tracking the case. “Nobody wants to believe that we could allow this to happen it’s a shame,” K.T. Cox said.

Veteran Andrew Wright left Iraq seven years ago and now helps run “Coffee Strong” – a cafe and resource center near Lewis-McChord where soldiers and veterans gather. He hopes the truth comes out, whatever it may be, but says the system discourages soldiers from speaking up. “The culture that you’re in just doesn’t encourage it it’s very much a put your head down and keep moving forward and at some point everyone reaches a breaking point,” he explained.

Now, Spec. Adam Winfield is being held at Joint Base Lewis McChord. He has a military hearing next month that will determine if he faces court martial.

 

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