Military Resistance: thomasfbarton@earthlink.net 1.28.11 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

Military Resistance 9A15

THIS IS HOW OBAMA BRINGS THEM HOME:

ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

The remains of Army Spc. Sean R. Cutsforth of Radford, Va., at Dover Air Force Base,
Del. on Dec. 18, 2010. Cutsforth, 22, of Radford, Va., died Dec. 15 at Ghazni Province,
Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire.
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

“The Soldiers All Smiled With

Evident Delight As They
Volunteered That Their
Democratic Revolution Might
Threaten Other Arab Leaders”
 “They Praised The Protesters For
Ridding The Country Of The
Corruption That Surrounded Mr.
Ben Ali”
“Police Officers Stationed Nearby
Tried To Disperse The Rowdy Crowd
With Water Cannons, But The
Tunisian Military Again Interceded To
Protect The Demonstrators And Hold
Back The Police”
“Demonstrators Picnicked Amid Army
Tanks And Coils Of Barbed Wire”
[Thanks to Alan Stolzer, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.]

January 24, 2011 By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, The New York Times Company
[Excerpts]

TUNIS — The general who may be both the most powerful and the most popular figure
in Tunisia spoke publicly Monday for the first time since the ouster of the former dictator,
Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, pledging to uphold “the revolution” and urging patience until the
interim government can hold new elections.

A crowd of soldiers who heard the speech, requesting anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak publicly, said the general had explicitly endorsed the need for free
elections.

Speaking fluent English, the soldiers said the general had told the crowd that both the
people and the military would ensure a democratic outcome.

They praised the protesters for ridding the country of the corruption that
surrounded Mr. Ben Ali, and pledged their own support for a constitutional
democracy.

Western diplomats and political scientists say the Tunisian military is unlike any other in
North Africa and the Middle East — much smaller, more professional and historically
apolitical. It has never fought wars and instead worked mostly on efforts like
peacekeeping missions or disaster relief.

The soldiers themselves expressed considerable pride at the difference between their
force and those in other countries in the region, like Egypt, where all three post-
revolutionary dictators have come from the military and, they said, the military’s first
loyalty is often to itself.

The soldiers all smiled with evident delight as they volunteered that their democratic
revolution might threaten other Arab leaders.

Challenges to the interim government’s legitimacy, meanwhile, mounted. Caravans of

hundreds of demonstrators had arrived in Tunis over the weekend from the
impoverished southern provinces where the revolt began.

Defying an 8 p.m. curfew, they set up camp in the old-city square amid the office of the
prime minister, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defense.

Witnesses said that in the early hours of Sunday morning police officers stationed
nearby tried to disperse the rowdy crowd with water cannons, but the Tunisian military
again interceded to protect the demonstrators and hold back the police — a job that one
army officer called “very difficult.”

By Monday morning, hundreds of local people had joined the newcomers, calling for the
resignation of Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, previously the right-hand man to
Mr. Ben Ali. “Ghannouchi, wait, wait, we will dig you a grave,” they chanted.

Residents of Tunis donated stacks of old mattresses and bags of food for the
demonstrators. Women dispensed sandwiches from the stone porch of the
Ministry of Finance, renamed by graffiti artists the “Ministry of Thieves,” and
demonstrators picnicked amid army tanks and coils of barbed wire.

The government appeared to be trying to wait out the protesters. A government official,
speaking without authorization and on condition of anonymity, argued that the protesters
would settle down after they had vented some of the pent-up anger left from decades of
silence enforced by the old government. [In your dreams. T]

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THE

MILITARY?
Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish and
we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or stuck on a base in
the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off
from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars, inside
the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or
write to: The Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y.
10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550
 IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Timing Devastates Family Of Soldier

Killed In Iraq:
“The Insurgency Is Still Active"
January 17, 2011 By Kristin Hanes, KTXL-TV

MOSUL, IRAQ — A Sacramento soldier who was killed in Iraq was scheduled to come
home that very day, but his deployment was postponed for one week.

It's a tough loss for family members, who say 43-year-old Specialist Martin Lamar was a
family man and all-around great guy.

"He had a newborn daughter he hasn't met yet," says Lamar's brother-in-law, Gilbert
Alvarado.

"He loved his family, his wife, his kids. He was a provider."

According to The Department of Defense, Lamar and one other soldier were killed by an
Iraqi soldier they were training. Alvarado says the Iraqi soldier wasn't supposed to be
using live ammunition, that it was an insurgent who infiltrated the military. "(The
insurgent) ambushed (Lamar) and another fellow soldier. It was definitely a planned
killing.

“The insurgency is still active."

The Iraqi soldier was killed as well. This was Lamar's second tour of duty in Iraq.
Alvarado says he's always been gung-ho about the military. "If there was any way he
wanted to go, this was the way he wanted to go, serving his country. That's a big honor
for us, the family, I'm sure for the country, too."

Lamar went to Oakmont High School in Roseville. Now, his family just wants him home.
"Hopefully in the next week or so we'll bring him home to Sacramento and give him the
right burial," says Alvarado.

Lamar died January 15th, along with 23-year-old Michael Bartley of Barnhill, Illinois.

Alvarado wants people to remember that there's still a lot of fighting in Iraq, that our
soldiers are still dying. "Hopefully this death won't be in vain, it will be for our freedom."

The two soldiers were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade
Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
 Resistance Action
Jan 24 (Reuters) & Jan 26 (Reuters) & 27 January 2011 Standard Publications

On Wednesday, a bomber crashed the ambulance he was driving through the gates of a
police headquarters in Baqouba, 60 kilometres northeast of the capital, killing 7 people
and wounding 67.

BAGHDAD - Armed men using silenced weapons opened fire on the car of an Iraqi
police colonel, killing him in the Amil district of southwestern Baghdad, an Interior
Ministry source said.

MOSUL - Four attackers wounded a provincial oil official, Taha Othman, on the
doorsteps of his home in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police
said.

BAGHDAD - Insurgents using weapons equipped with silencers killed Abdul Jabar
Mukhtar, an empolyee at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Baghdad’s northwestern district
of Kadhimiya, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - Armed men shot dead Jamal Satar, an employee at the Foreign Affairs
Ministry, in al-Nisour Square in central Baghdad, using silenced guns, an Interior
Ministry source said.

TARMIYA - Insurgents using weapons equipped with silencers killed a member of the
government-backed Sahwa militia in Tarmiya, 25 km (15 miles) north of Baghdad, an
Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed an employee at the National Security Ministry with silenced
guns in Baghdad’s central Alawi district late on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol, killing one policeman and
wounding three policemen, in Baghdad’s central Karrada district, an Interior Ministry
source said.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Number Of U.S. Casualties From

Roadside Bombs In Afghanistan
Skyrocketed From 2009 To 2010
January 25, 2011 By Craig Whitlock, Washington Post Staff Writer [Excerpts]
The number of U.S. troops killed by roadside bombs in Afghanistan soared by 60
percent last year, while the number of those wounded almost tripled, new U.S. military
statistics show.

All told, 268 U.S. troops were killed by the improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, in
2010, about as many as in the three previous years combined, according to the figures,
obtained by The Washington Post. More than 3,360 troops were injured, an increase of
178 percent over the year before.

Millbrook Native Killed In Afghanistan

Jan 21, 2011 By: Jennifer Oravet, WSFA

MILLBROOK, AL - A Millbrook family is dealt a devastating blow as they learn their son
was killed will serving in Afghanistan. Friends say Specialist Joshua Lancaster was a
22-year-old who had a full life waiting for him after his tour of duty.

He was expected to come home in just three weeks.

With heavy hearts and bowed heads, friends of Lancaster's struggle to accept a difficult
reality.

"It just feels like a dream right now. He's been my best friends since probably seventh or
eighth grade," says Josh Henderson, a long-time friend of Lancaster's.

The Army says Lancaster was killed from "indirect fire" Wednesday while working at the
Kandahar Airfield. Lancaster was serving with the 52nd Ordnance Group based out of
Fort Campbell.

Now a difficult truth is setting in for these young adults. They remember Lancaster as a
person who saw the glass half full.

His tour of duty in Afghanistan was almost over, and he was coming home to a new wife.
In their words - life couldn't be better.

"He's the whole package. He's everything a friend would need, and want. He's always
there for you whenever you needed him. He always had your back no matter what,"
Henderson said. "Just a good friend..."
As Lancaster's friends were planning his welcome home party on Wednesday, they got
the call.

"I'm just trying to accept the fact that he's not going to be around....that he's not coming
home," Henderson lamented.

Specialist Lancaster's family traveled to Delaware Thursday to take possession of his

remains.

Soldier From 2nd Battalion The

Parachute Regiment Killed In Nahr-e
Saraj
25 Jan 11 Ministry of Defence

It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that a soldier from
2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment was killed in Afghanistan today, Tuesday 25
January 2011.

The soldier was deployed on an operation in the Nahr-e Saraj district to provide security
to the local population.

Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel David Eastman, said:

"The soldier was assisting in the clearance of an area to the south of Nahr-e Saraj in
order to provide a safe and secure environment for the local population when he was hit
by an explosion.

SOMALIA WAR REPORTS

Warlord Allied With U.S.-Backed

Government Refuses Order To
Disarm:
“The Minister Of Defense Came From
Abroad And He Does Not Have Even
 Two Soldiers In The Government
Forces”
“The Weak Somali Government Looks
Powerless Of Dealing With The Security
Of The Country”
January, 23 2011 By Abdi Mohamed, editor in-chief; SUNATIMES [Excerpts]

MOGADISHU (Sunatimes)- After Somali government has issued a decree ordering

disarmament of the militiamen of the warlords joined the government, one of Somalia’s
powerful warlords has described the move as inconsequential and war leads.

Speaking to local media, Yusuf Mohamed Siad rubbished the statement made by the
defence minister over that the government will not accept militias and commanders
which are not part of the government in areas it controls.

"I have heard that report. I think the minister is not aware of what is taking place in the
country. We are not a threat to the government and Somali people but we are defending
them” Siad said.

“We don't know whether the troops the minister is saying will disarm us exist. We are
fighting Al-Shabab. The minister should use the troops he is mentioning for the capture
of the country from Alshabaab which are causing suffering to the public," he noted.

Siad says his militias are not clan-based but mobilized as a group fighting Al-Shabab,
adding that areas controlled by his group are peaceful, where the public are not
harassed. He stressed that if the governemtn is preparing a war against his group they
are ready for it.

"The minister of defense came from abroad and he does not have even two soldiers in
the government forces. If he is claiming that he has soldiers, he should come alongside
us and fight against Al-Shabab like us. If the minister is ready to fight us, we are ready,"
he angrily said.

Mogadishu, world’s most dangerous city is teetering with illegal arms and militias, as the
weak Somali government looks powerless of dealing with the security of the country as
it’s fighting Alshabaab which foreign security agencies said have more foreigners in their
ranks.

U.S.-Backed Occupation Troops Shoot

More Unarmed Civilians
January 25, 2011 Mareeg

Mogadishu -The African Union peacekeeping [translation: occupation] forces in

Mogadishu backing Somali Transitional Federal Government opened fire to a crowd of
civilians near one of their military bases in capital injuring 3 people, eyewitness said.

These people were looking at how a young boy who fell from a bus into the ground was,
but AMISOM forces opened fires to the crowd of people deliberately injuring 3 people,
eyewitnesses told local F.M stations in the capital today.

This was an area close to Mogadishu international airport where the African unions
peacekeeping [translation: occupation] have military bases and this is the second time
AMISOM fires civilians around that zone only.

AMISOM killed 3 people and wounded number of others in the previous event.

No one is asked questions the massacring Somali civilians in the capital by the
African union peacekeeping [translation: occupation] forces.

MILITARY NEWS

“Dr. Grace Jackson, A Former

Navy Psychiatrist, Told Nextgov
She Resigned Her Commission
In 2002 ‘Out Of Conscience,
Because I Did Not Want To Be A
Pill Pusher’"
“She Believes Psychotropic Drugs
Have So Many Inherent Dangers
That ‘The CENTCOM CNS
 Formulary Is Destroying The
Force,’ She Said”
“Medications On The CENTCOM CNS
Formulary Can Cause Loss Of
Judgment And Self-Control And
Could Result In Increased Violence
And Suicidal Impulses, Breggin Said”
“One-Third Of All Active-Duty Military
Suicides Involved Prescription Drugs”
While talk therapy is widely viewed as one of the most effective treatments for
some mental health problems, including PTSD, White said Andrew had only a few
such sessions, primarily with a local veterans' peer therapy group.

It was not until the week Andrew died that a VA psychiatrist decided to begin
intensive sessions with him.

01/18/2011 BY NATIONAL JOURNAL GROUP, INC.

Army leaders are increasingly concerned about the growing use and abuse of
prescription drugs by soldiers, but a Nextgov investigation shows a U.S. Central
Command policy that allows troops a 90- or 180-day supply of highly addictive
psychotropic drugs before they deploy to combat contributes to the problem.

The CENTCOM Central Nervous System Drug formulary includes drugs like Valium and
Xanax, used to treat depression, as well as the antipsychotic Seroquel, originally
developed to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, mania and depression.

Although CENTCOM policy does not permit the use of Seroquel to treat deploying troops
with these conditions, it does allow its use as a sleep aid, and allows deployed troops to
be provided with a 180-day supply, even though the drug has been implicated in the
deaths of two Marines who died in their sleep after taking large doses of the drug.

The Army endorsed Seroquel as a sleep aid in the May 2010 report of its Pain
Management Task Force, which, among other things, called for a reduction in the
number of prescription drugs given to troops. An appendix to that report recommended
taking Seroquel in either 25- or 50-milligram doses for sleep disorders.

A June 2010 internal report from the Defense Department's Pharmacoeconomic

Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio showed that 213,972, or 20 percent of
the 1.1 million active-duty troops surveyed, were taking some form of
psychotropic drug: antidepressants, antipsychotics, sedative hypnotics, or other
controlled substances.

Dr. Grace Jackson, a former Navy psychiatrist, told Nextgov she resigned her
commission in 2002 "out of conscience, because I did not want to be a pill pusher."

She believes psychotropic drugs have so many inherent dangers that "the CENTCOM
CNS formulary is destroying the force," she said.

Dr. Peter Breggin, an Ithaca, N.Y., psychiatrist who testified before a House
Veterans Affairs Committee last September on the relationship between
medication and veterans' suicides, said flatly, "You should not send troops into
combat on psychotropic drugs."

Medications on the CENTCOM CNS formulary can cause loss of judgment and
self-control and could result in increased violence and suicidal impulses, Breggin
said.

The Army implicated prescription drugs as contributing to suicides in a July 2010

report, which said one-third of all active-duty military suicides involved
prescription drugs.

When the suicide report was released, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff,
said the service needed to develop better controls for prescription drugs.

"Let's make sure when we prescribe that we put an end date on that prescription,
so it doesn't remain an open-ended opportunity for somebody to be abusing
drugs," Chiarelli said.

But when it comes to the CENTCOM CNS formulary -- which for some drugs
allows a 180-day supply when troops deploy, followed by a 180-day refill in
theater, according to an October 2010 update to the psychotropic drug policy --
neither the Army nor CENTCOM sees a need for change.

The Army's suicide report drew a link between a significant increase in

prescription drug use among troops and the service's rising suicide rate.

It also raised serious concerns about troops trafficking in prescription drugs.

Jackson, the former Navy psychiatrist, now has a civilian practice in Greensboro, N.C.
She said at least one drug on the CENTCOM formulary -- Depakote, an anticonvulsant,
which military doctors prescribe for mood control -- carries serious physical risks for
troops. Depakote is toxic to certain cells, including hair cells in the ears, and can lead to
hearing loss. Troops in a howitzer battery who already run the risk of hearing loss
should not take Depakote, she said.

The medication also can cause what she calls "cognitive toxicity," also known as
Depakote dementia, impairing a person's ability to think and make decisions.
Jackson said that while Depakote has been investigated as an adjunct therapy for
cancer, its use has been limited due to the drug's effects on cognition.

The antidepressant Wellbutrin, also on the CENTCOM formulary, likely poses a long-
term risk of Parkinson's disease, especially for older troops, said Jackson, author of
Drug-Induced Dementia: A Perfect Crime (AuthorHouse, 2009).

Jackson and Breggin both expressed deep concerns about Xanax, perhaps the
most addictive of all benzodiazepines, a class of depressant medications used to
treat anxiety, on the CENTCOM formulary.

Breggin, author of Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of

Violence, Suicide and Crime (St. Martin's Griffin, 2009), called Xanax "solid
alcohol" and said all the benzodiazepines on the CENTCOM formulary "amount to
a prescription for abuse."

He also said there is no rationale for prescribing multiple psychotropic drugs to

troops.

Smith said he was "flabbergasted" that military doctors prescribed Seroquel as a

sleep aid, as the Food and Drug Administration has not approved such a use and
other drugs are more effective.

Breggin agreed, calling Seroquel "very dangerous, expensive and not proven to
be more beneficial than other drugs."

Jackson noted Seroquel has the addictive potential of opioids, such heroin.

CENTCOM's allowance of Seroquel as a sleep aid also seems to fly in the face of a
high-level Defense policy set in November 2006.

In a memo titled "Policy Guidance for Deployment Limiting Psychiatric Conditions and
Medications," William Winkenwerder, then assistant secretary of Defense for health
affairs, said psychotropic medications that would prohibit troops from deployment
included those used to treat chronic insomnia.

Stan White, a retired high school teacher who lives in the small town of Cross
Lanes, W.Va., has observed the effects Seroquel can have.

When his son Andrew returned from a tour in Iraq with the Marine Reserve 4th
Combat Engineer Battalion in 2007, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress
disorder and was prescribed three psychotropic drugs, including Seroquel, by the
Huntington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, White said.

VA started Andrew on 25 milligrams of Seroquel a day and upped the dose to

1,600 milligrams a day (the CENTCOM-approved dose is 25 milligrams a day).

Andrew White died in his sleep Feb. 12, 2008, six months after seeking help.

White said Andrew was so befuddled by his drug cocktail, which included Klonopin, a
benzodiazepine, and hydrocodone, an opiate, that his wife, Shirley, had to dole them out
for Andrew. White said Seroquel did not diminish Andrew's nightmares at even such a
high dosage.

While talk therapy is widely viewed as one of the most effective treatments for
some mental health problems, including PTSD, White said Andrew had only a few
such sessions, primarily with a local veterans' peer therapy group.

It was not until the week Andrew died that a VA psychiatrist decided to begin
intensive sessions with him.

Stan White says his mission in life today is to expose the dangers of Seroquel.

The drug, he said, "turns people unto zombies. I cannot imagine going into battle on
Seroquel."

Some of the drugs on the CENTCOM Formulary of CNS Medication Restrictions

require patients to follow restricted diets, a tall order for deployed troops
operating in remote areas and eating a steady round of Meals Ready to Eat field
rations, according to Breggin.

At least three of the antidepressant drugs on the CENTCOM formulary are monoamine
oxidase inhibitors, which also exist in the intestine and help break down a substance in
food know as tyramine.

MAOIs on the formulary include Marplan, Nardil and Parnate, and patients taking
these drugs should avoid foods that contain significant amounts of tyramine,
which interferes with the action of natural tyramine in the intestines.

If not, too much of the MAOI could enter the bloodstream, which could cause a
hypertensive crisis due to elevation of blood pressure.

Foods in MREs that contain tyramine include pepperoni and cheese and, among
the favorite snacks, raisins and peanuts.

MAOIs also increase the amount of norepinephrine, a hormone, neurotransmitter and

blood vessel constrictor, and patients taking these medications should not be prescribed
other drugs that could also increase norepinephrine levels.

These include amphetamines, dextroamphetamine and Ritalin, which are also on the
CENTCOM formulary.

MORE: From GI SPECIAL 6G17: 7.29.08:

Confirmed!
“Only One Treatment Method —
Exposure Therapy — Has Been
 Proven To Help PTSD In Studies
By Objective Researchers”
Previous Research Finding
Confirmed By Atlanta V.A. Test
Program;
“81% Showing ‘Clinically Significant
Improvement,’ Which Was Still At 81 %
Six Months Later”
July 28, 2008 By Kelly Kennedy, Army Times

Three new studies looking at combat stress have found group exposure therapy seems
to work, that troops with traumatic brain injuries are more likely to have post-traumatic
stress disorder, and that stress debriefings held after traumatic events don’t appear to
prevent PTSD.

The research comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs works to find the best
treatment methods for combat veterans.

It follows a report by Rand Corp. that showed only one treatment method —
exposure therapy — has been proven to help PTSD in studies by objective
researchers.

The first study looked at a program that had been in place for four years at the Atlanta
VA Medical Center. The center’s Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team began
researching group-based exposure treatment.

Past studies have shown group therapy to be ineffective on veterans with PTSD,
but authors of this study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Traumatic
Stress, said the amount of exposure therapy — 60 hours — in this group may be
the key to why it works.

First, nine to 11 people get to know each other and talk about their experiences before
they joined the military. Then, they spend several weeks talking about their wartime
experiences.

A total of 93 Vietnam veterans, four Gulf War veterans, one Korean War veteran
and two Iraq war veterans took part in the study, with 81 percent showing
“clinically significant improvement,” which was still at 81 percent six months
later.
And the study found something else: VA clinicians indicated to researchers that they do
not use exposure therapy out of concern for possible increases in suicide ideation,
hospitalizations and dropout rates, but “we found the opposite to be true,” the study’s
authors said.

Many patients said hearing others’ traumatic experiences evoked painful recall of
what had happened to them, but “none reported any negative lasting effects, and
many indicated that this process helped them put their own experience into better
perspective,” the study said.

For example, one-third of the group members said they had frozen under fire.
“Learning how common this was helped reduce the shame and guilt that many
patients had felt for decades,” researchers said.

MORE: From GI SPECIAL 6E15: 5.24.08:

This Information Could Save

Your Sanity, Or Your Life:
If Somebody Tries To Drug You Or A
Buddy Or Family Member, The Fact
The Information Below Appeared In
Army Times Can Be A Powerful
Weapon Of Self-Defense
Comment: T

Because of the extreme importance of this information to every member of the

armed forces, for or against the war, it is being reprinted again from a previous GI
Special.

This news report below makes clear that there is now new evidence based
research about what works and what doesn’t work for troops experiencing PTSD.

The credibility and importance of this research -- initiated by the Department of

Veterans Affairs – is underlined by publication of the findings in Army Times,
rather than appearing on some obscure web site or other as somebody or other’s
opinion.

The V.A. has long practiced drugging troops with all kinds of very dangerous pills
as a “treatment” for PTSD. As this article documents, that’s useless. And
dangerous: overdoses can kill. Benzodiazepines [Valium & Librium are well
known examples] are viscously addictive and potentially deadly drugs handed out
to troops like bags of popcorn.

As the article below reports, the only effective treatment for PTSD so far is
“exposure therapy; reliving a traumatic experience by writing or talking about it.”

A lot of quacks, including at V.A. facilities as well as privately, are hustling other
bullshit phony treatments, ranging from moving your eyeballs around to eating
herbs and weeds.

Excuse a personal note, but I’ve been working professionally with traumatic
stress survivors for over 30 years, both military and civilian, both at VA and
private facilities, and can testify that the research finding reported in this article is
100% right: the only effective treatment for PTSD so far is “reliving a traumatic
experience by writing or talking about it.”

But you don’t have to believe that.

Here’s the report, from Army Times.

Assuming you give a shit about whether troops live or die, send it around, word
for word, and be sure to mention it comes from Army Times in case some idiot
thinks you sucked it out of your thumb.

Most important, if somebody in command or at the V.A. tries to drug you or a

buddy or family member, the fact this information appeared in Army Times can be
a powerful weapon of self-defense:

MORE:

“Research Has Not Shown Serotonin

Re-Uptake Inhibitors, Such As
Prozac, Zoloft Or Celexa, To Be
Effective In Treating PTSD”
“Exposure Therapy -- Reliving A
Traumatic Experience By Writing Or
Talking About It -- Is The Only Therapy
Proved Effective By Independent
Research”
April 14, 2008 By Kelly Kennedy, Army Times [Excerpts]
“Problems related to getting troops adequate mental health treatment cannot be
resolved unless two issues — stigma and access — are addressed,” Todd Bowers,
director of government affairs for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the
House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on health on April 1.

Almost 59,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with
PTSD by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Army post-deployment health
assessments have found that 20 percent of active-duty and 40 percent of reserve-
component troops had symptoms of PTSD, and some experts say the real numbers
could be much higher.

But because PTSD hasn’t been addressed until fairly recently — the first scientific paper
about the disorder in veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War didn’t come out until five
years after that war ended — VA and Pentagon officials say much needs to be done to
determine good screening techniques and therapies.

“This is the first war where DoD and VA recognized the psychological impact going in,”
said Army Col. Charles Hoge, chief of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Walter Reed
Institute of Research.

Combat vets are not sleeping, experience startle reactions and are hyper-alert. “All of
these things that we label as symptoms are things they need in combat,” Hoge said. “No
sooner are they transitioned back home than they’re right back in rotation.”

At the House hearing, Hoge said an Army assessment last summer showed that the
numbers of soldiers with PTSD is going up with each deployment. “There’s a direct
connection between mental health and multiple deployments,” he said, adding that
troops also need more time between deployments.

David Matcher, of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Treatment of

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, said a recent study found that research has not
shown serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, such as Prozac, Zoloft or Celexa, to be
effective in treating PTSD.

Exposure therapy — reliving a traumatic experience by writing or talking about it

— is the only therapy proved effective by independent research, he said.

Other treatments exist, but they have been tested mainly by the same people who
developed them.

That’s an important point because the Defense Department and VA use several
such methods, including group and drug therapy, to treat combat veterans.

“Considering All The Uniforms I’ve Seen

And Worn Through My Military Career,
The ACU Has Been The Worst”
Letters To The Editor
January 24, 2011
Army Times

I been in the Army for over 20 years and have seen fatigues, jungle uniforms, Desert
Camouflage Uniforms, all the Battle Dress Uniforms and now Army Combat Uniforms.

Considering all the uniforms I’ve seen and worn through my military career, the ACU has
been the worst.

Using Velcro is a big mistake. The Velcro lasts only several washes — if you are lucky,
30 to 40 days.

The ACU pattern does not conceal anyone, and at the same time, it gets dirty quickly
and does not look good with the beret while in garrison.

I think that the best uniform I’ve seen is the Marine pattern. I think that all U.S. forces
should wear the same combat uniform as the Marines.

Sgt. 1st Class Mark DeJesus

Fort Stewart, Ga.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they
oppose.”
“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had
I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of
biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852

Hope for change doesn't cut it when you're still losing buddies.
-- J.D. Englehart, Iraq Veterans Against The War

I say that when troops cannot be counted on to follow orders because they see
the futility and immorality of them THAT is the real key to ending a war.
-- Al Jaccoma, Veterans For Peace

“The Nixon administration claimed and received great credit for withdrawing the
Army from Vietnam, but it was the rebellion of low-ranking GIs that forced the
government to abandon a hopeless suicidal policy”
-- David Cortright; Soldiers In Revolt

It is a two class world and the wrong class is running it.

-- Larry Christensen, Soldiers Of Solidarity & United Auto Workers

A revolution is always distinguished by impoliteness, probably because the ruling

classes did not take the trouble in good season to teach the people fine manners.
-- Leon Trotsky, History Of The Russian Revolution

January 25th, 1991:

Honorable Anniversary:
Veterans Organize To Support
Resistance Among U.S. Troops In
Germany
 [Stars and Stripes Newspaper, January 25, 1991]
[Thanks to Dave Blalock, GI Café Kaiserslautern, Jan 15, 2011]
 January 26, 1784:
Prophetic Anniversary:
Ben Franklin Says The Imperial Eagle Is
A Thieving Piece Of Shit

Carl Bunin Peace History January 21-27

Benjamin Franklin, noting the bald eagle was “a bird of bad moral character” who
lived “by sharping and robbing,” expressed regret it had been selected to be the
U.S. national symbol. In fact, Franklin was critical of the bald eagle for its habit of
scavenging for food and stealing from other birds.

“You may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for
himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has
at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and
young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him,” Franklin said.

January 27, 1969:

A Strike For Liberation
Carl Bunin Peace History January 21-27

In Detroit, African-American auto workers, known as the Eldon Avenue Axle Plant
Revolutionary Union Movement, led a wildcat strike against racism and poor working
conditions at Chrysler.

Since the 1967 Detroit riots, African American workers had organized groups in several
Detroit auto plants criticizing both the auto companies and the UAW leadership. These
groups combined Black-Power nationalism and workplace militancy, and temporarily
shut down more than a dozen inner-city plants.
The most well-known of these groups was the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement, or
DRUM. They criticized both the seniority system and grievance procedures as racist.
Veterans of this movement went on to lead many of the same local unions.

January 27, 1847:

Citizens Defeat Slavehunters

Carl Bunin Peace History January 21-27

Since 1832, Michigan had had an active antislavery society.

Quakers in Cass County, Laura Haviland in Adrian and former slave Sojourner Truth in
Battle Creek were only a few of the many Michiganians who worked on the Underground
Railroad—an informal network that assisted escaping slaves.

Southern concern over the Underground Railroad will lead Congress to pass a more
stringent Fugitive Slave Law in 1850. In 1854 opposition to the extension of slavery
prompted Michiganians to meet in nearby Jackson to organize the Republican Party.

Several hundred citizens of Marshall, Michigan, helped former slaves escape to

Canada rather than be returned to their “owner” by bounty hunters. Adam
Crosswhite and his family, escaped Kentucky slaves, were tracked to the
abolitionist town of Marshall by Francis Troutman and others.

Both black and white residents detained the bounty hunters and threatened them
with tar and feathers.
While Troutman was being charged with assault and fined $100, the Crosswhites fled to
Canada. Back in Kentucky, the slavemaster stirred up intense excitement about
“abolitionist mobs” in Michigan.

Happy Anniversary:
January 28, 1989
To The Committee Of Soldiers’
Mothers Of Russia:
“Hundreds Of Mothers Organised By
CSMR Went To Chechnya To Take
Their Sons Away From The War”

Carl Bunin Peace History

“...for their courage in upholding the common humanity of Russians and Chechens and
opposing the militarism and violence in Chechnya”

CSMR was founded in 1989 and officially registered the same year by 300 mothers
of soldiers, whose initial aim was to campaign for their sons to return home early
from military service in order to resume their studies.

They succeeded in bringing home nearly 180,000 young men for this purpose.

The mothers had been horrified by what they saw and learned about conditions in the
armed forces: the regular beatings, abuse and humiliations, the lack of food or other
necessities, the effective slavery imposed in the ‘construction’ battalions which
comprised about 30 per cent of military manpower.
Their demands were for thorough reform of military structures, reform of the armed
forces on a democratic basis, an end to forced labour in the construction battalions,
demilitarisation on the justice system, the establishment of effective civil control over the
military and legislation to provide for an alternative civil service.

In 1990 some of these demands, including partial demobilisation of the construction

battalions, were conceded by President Gorbachev, but in general the situation did not
improve.

CSMR set up a Rehabilitation Centre for soldiers who left the army for health reasons.
Its activities expanded and diversified to include the organisation of human rights
education for conscripts and their parents, dealing with individual complaints concerning
human rights violations, regular inspections of military units, the working out of legislative
proposals and the organisation of non-violent public protests.

In November 1994 the war in Chechnya broke out and, as CSMR put it, “the
peaceful time for the Committee was over”.

They opposed the war from the start, both in itself and for the threat it posed to the new
Russian democracy.

Their new activities included dealing with individual complaints from soldiers and their
mothers, running a weekly ‘School for Conscripts’, supervising the special military unit
for the rehabilitation of so-called ‘deserters’, which is under the aegis of the CSMR, as
well as participating in working groups of the State Duma (parliament).

In the first six months of the war, the Committee received letters from up to 200 people a
day and in the same period nearly 10,000 people brought their complaints in person.

Hundreds of mothers organised by CSMR went to Chechnya to take their sons

away from the war. They negotiated with the Chechen army and obtained the
release of ‘prisoners of war’.

CSMR organised a remarkable ‘March of Mothers’ Compassion’, bombarded the

Russian government with statements and petitions, and campaigned for the
young men who refused to serve in Chechnya, declaring themselves
conscientious objectors.

Most controversially, they started a campaign encouraging mothers to support the

right of their sons to refuse military service - and they travelled abroad to support
the idea of an International Tribunal on Chechnya.

The founders of CSMR were five women - two engineers, a journalist, a teacher and an
economist. An all-volunteer organisation with no regular budget, CSMR now acts as the
umbrella group for 50 regional organisations of soldiers’ mothers and liaises with others.

In 1995, CSMR received the Sean MacBride Award from the International Peace Bureau
and an award from the Norwegian Committee on Human Rights.

“The mothers’ love, the mothers’ aspirations to defend their children, turned very
soon into conscious human rights activity... The soldiers’ mothers understood
that to defend their children they have to change the State and society. Their call
for human rights in all the military power structures meant a call for democracy.”
- Ida Kuklina

Contact Details:
Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia
4 Luchnikov Lane, Door 3, Room 32, 103982 Moscow
Russia

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TO

HALT THE BLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP

THE WARS
 Troops Invited:
Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men
and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box
126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email to
contact@militaryproject.org: Name, I.D., withheld unless you
request publication. Same address to unsubscribe.

RECEIVED:

“A Breakdown Of The Tunisian Forces Of

Repression”
From: June VI [Greece]
To: Military Resistance
Subject: RE: Tunisia?
Date: Jan 24, 2011

We really need a breakdown of the Tunisian forces of repression: The police, the
security forces, and the Army.

The first are time-servers and tear-gassed the protesters today. Did not work, as they
are still blocking off the Parliament. The interim gov't is trying to mollify the people, and
keeps citing all the former gov't people who have left it, but will not dissolve itself--so
there is continued protesting.

The security forces were the ones in the photo I sent yesterday. They have a list of
grievances too (pay).

The Army (acc. to Aljazeera correspondent sur place) was for protesters definitely ever
since it refused a direct order to fire on them. The head of the Army made a speech to
the protesters today, trying to bridge the gap between them and interim gov't.

Apparently that has always been its general position, not to go down in the street, but try
to encourage cooperation between Tunisians. So now you know as much as I.

NEED SOME TRUTH?

CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER
Traveling Soldier is the publication of the Military Resistance Organization.

Telling the truth - about the occupations or the criminals running the government
in Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more
than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance to Imperial wars inside the
armed forces.

Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class
people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a
weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces.

If you like what you've read, we hope that you'll join with us in building a network
of active duty organizers. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/

And join with Iraq Veterans Against the War to end the occupations and bring all
troops home now! (www.ivaw.org/)

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