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CONTENTS
6 Editor’s Message
By COL (RET) Kathy Platoni, PsyD, DAAPM, FAIS
10 Coming to Terms with the Past of War
By LTC (RET) John E. Norvell
Combat changes a person not only when you are in it, but forever. It is a challenge to deal with its effects. Learning to realize your issues and how they affect you is half the battle in dealing with PTSD..
14 Unexpected Consequences: A Spouse’s Story
By Janet L. Rail
We all have certain expectations of what it will be like to serve in a war zone, and what it will be like when we bcome home. Unfortunately, there are times when the true enemy is hidden amongst the everyday life on the FOB (forward operating base).
18 Psychological Trauma of Local Iraqi Population in Mahmudiyah Area:
Operation Iraqi Freedom – 2007 – 2008
By MAJ (RET) C. Alan Hopewell, PhD, MP, ABPP, BSM, LTC (P) Christopher Atkins, CPT Robert Klein, PhD and LTC (RET) Michael Adams, PhD
The 785th Medical Company is a Combat and Operational Stress (COS) Reserve unit stationed at Ft. Snelling, Minnesota. The 785th operated several clinics throughout Iraq during the Surge of Operation Iraqi Freedom, providing Rest and Restoration services, maneuver teams which visited combat units, and providing numerous consultation and in-service teaching programs throughout Iraq. Some of the most satisfying work done by the 785th, however, was not just in combat operations, but also in helping local Iraqi communities to heal after suffering the unimaginable traumata of war as well as violent civil conflict. One of these missions of the 785th medical civic action programs (MEDCAP) is
described in this article by Officers Hopewell, Atkins, Klein and Adams.
34 The Good Stress of EMS: A Volunteer’s Dual Life
By Tom Kranz, Writer and Former EMT
Tom Kranz writes from the unique perspective of a professional TV news
manager who also served as a volunteer EMT. His experience as a first responder included 911 calls resulting in traumatic injuries and death, yet he found that riding the ambulance was a hugely rewarding pursuit that offered its own brand of stress relief. Now retired, Kranz’s new novel, Wreck and Return: An EMTs Journey Into and Out of Darkness, follows a fictitious EMT whose 20 years of good deeds are almost wiped out by an alcohol-induced disaster.
40 The Most Unforgettable of Good Fridays: A Short Story
By COL (RET) D.J. Reyes, MA, JD
In this moment in time, D.J. Reyes provides us a snapshot perspective of living the contrast of War and Peace, and Faith that binds, as he brings us all down to “the combat foxhole level” during a poignant Good Friday service in Afghanistan.
42 A Very Different War with Very Similar Emotions
By Officer Tom McMurtry
As an amateur historian and a combat Veteran, I reflect on how although human conflicts can be vastly different in size and duration, the emotional impact on the people most directly involved can feel very familiar. The tactics and technologies of war evolve very quickly, while human nature seems to evolve very slowly, if at all.
46 Targeting PTSD’s Inflammatory Biomarkers: Resolving Inflammation with
Nutrition-Based Nitric Oxide Supplementation
By Stanford A. Graham, JD and Judy Mikovits, PhD
PTSD has plagued Veterans for decades. This article reveals the specific inflammatory biomarkers associated with PTSD symptom severity, and a key cause of their creation and proliferation. It also reveals a nutrition-based
solution scientifically proven to reduce those inflammatory actors and help resolve PTSD symptoms. Scientific research shows that L-arginine deficiency is directly linked to PTSD neurological issues, and how wisely supplementing with an amino acid and antioxidant nutraceutical can downregulate the cytokines that drive PTSD symptom severity.
56 Overlooked Trauma Victims: Infants, Toddlers, and Children
By Jeff Jernigan, PhD, LPC, BCPPC, FAIS
The often-overlooked trauma victims of mass violence and disaster are infants, toddlers, and children. The trauma and attachment injuries suffered by these innocent victims may not appear until years later since an infant’s emotional
memory begins in the womb. This article explores the trajectory of trauma and attachment injuries to children and offers some constructive ways of
providing healing and help.