Friday, April 25, 2014


News Clips For The Day



Man in Wheelchair Says He Was Humiliated at Minneapolis McDonald's – NBC
By Daniel Arkin
First published April 24 2014


A disabled man in a wheelchair who uses a service dog says he was mocked and humiliated on two occasions when he tried to order food and eat inside a McDonald's restaurant in Minneapolis, according to a federal lawsuit.

Robert Mingo, 52, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and a chronic back ailment, alleges that he encountered hostility and poor treatment during two separate visits to the McDonald's in August 2012 and May 2013, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday.

He is suing the owner of the McDonald's franchise as well as the global corporation in federal court seeking unspecified damages and requirements that company employees be educated about the disabilities act.

The lawsuit concedes that Mingo was ultimately served on both visits, although on the second visit he was denied the right to eat in the designated dining area by a manager who said, "I am the law" — a remark that allegedly drew laughter from nearby customers.

Mingo's suit claims that in August 2012, he was told at the counter that his service dog, Max, prevented him from being served. He then wheeled up to the drive-through, where the same employee said: "We don't serve those things in the drive-through."
The man was eventually allowed to buy food but told that he was barred from returning, according to the suit.

Mingo alleges that in May 2013, he returned to the same McDonald's, where his order was taken "without any issues." But the manager then demanded documentation that Max is a service dog, and in response, Mingo said his wheelchair was sufficient documentation. He was again ordered to leave, the lawsuit said.

Representatives for the McDonald's franchise and the McDonald's corporation did not immediately return calls placed by NBC News.

The McDonald’s location’s owner, Tim Baylor, said in a statement to the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he takes “complaints like this seriously (and) we do our best to provide a great customer experience to every customer.”

Baylor would not address Mingo’s specific allegations, according to the Tribune.




People in wheelchairs should always be served with extra care, and the presence of a service dog is not so unusual that it wouldn't generally be understood. I have encountered service dogs a number of times and they are always well-behaved and gentle. Businesses like McDonald's aren't hiring the most educated employees sometimes, but they should be told not to be disrespectful and disruptive to any customer's experience there. For the manager to be rude is even worse. There are better hamburgers on the market than McDonald's and if they aren't careful Wendy's will take over their business.




Russia 'Wants To Start World War III': Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk – NBC
Reuters contributed to this report.
- Alexander Smith
First published April 25 2014

Russia "wants to start World War III" and Moscow's veiled threats of military action could start an armed conflict in Europe, Ukraine's prime minister said Friday,

Arseniy Yatsenyuk made the comments a day after Russia said it had been "forced" to start fresh military drills just over the border because of increased activity by NATO and the Ukrainian military.

"Attempts at military conflict in Ukraine will lead to a military conflict in Europe,'' Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting broadcast live and translated by Reuters.
"The world has not yet forgotten World War II, but Russia already wants to start World War III."

Russian Msta-S self-propelled howitzers fire during military exercises in the Volgograd region on April 2.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Ukrainian attempts to drive armed pro-Moscow separatists out of occupied buildings across the east of the country would be met with "consequences."

A day earlier, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the crisis to Russia's war with Georgia in 2008 and said Moscow may be forced to act in a similar way again.

Ukraine's operation against the separatists - whom the West says are backed by Russia - turned deadly Thursday amid reports that five pro-Russian militiamen had been killed in the city of Slaviansk.

Ukrainian officials denied reports Friday it had suspended its so-called anti-terror operation (ATO) in the face of the Russian drills.

"There has been no suspension of the ATO in connection to the threat of invasion by Russia's armed forces," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on his Facebook page, translated by Reuters. "The ATO goes on. The terrorists should be on their guard around the clock. Civilians have nothing to fear."


2008 Georgia–Russia crisis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Georgia–Russia crisis is an international crisis between Georgia and Russia that escalated in 2008, when both countries accused each other of military buildup near the separatist regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia. On March 6, 2008 Russia announced that it would no longer participate in the Commonwealth of Independent States economic sanctions imposed on Abkhazia in 1996.[1]

Increasing tensions led to the outbreak of the Russo-Georgian war in 2008. After the war, a number of incidents have occurred in both conflict zones, and tensions between the belligerents remain high. The crisis has been linked to the push for Georgia to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan and, indirectly, the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.[2]

War[edit]
Main article: Russo-Georgian war
This crisis gave rise on August 7, 2008, to a war involving Georgia and Russia along with Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. During the night of 7 to 8 August 2008, Georgia launched a large-scale military offensive against South Ossetia, in an attempt to reclaim the territory.[109]
Post-war events in 2008[edit]

On August 26, 2008, Russia officially recognized both South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.[110] In response to Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Georgian government announced that the country had cut all diplomatic relations with Russia.[111] Russia had already closed its embassy right after the beginning of the war in South Ossetia in August 2008 before diplomatic relations between the two countries ended.[citation needed




“Ukrainian attempts to drive armed pro-Moscow separatists out of occupied buildings across the east of the country would be met with "consequences," said Putin yesterday. Lavrov threatened that Russia may be “forced to act in the same way” as it did in Georgia in 2008. This military attempt by Georgia against South Ossetia began on August 7, 2008, and ended less than a month later with Russia recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, while Georgia cut all diplomatic ties with Russia. Russia had already closed its embassy there. Note that the conflict in Georgia was partly over their desire to join NATO, and Russia has made the same complaint against Ukraine recently.

On reports that Ukraine had pulled back in its efforts in the east, is the following: “There has been no suspension of the ATO in connection to the threat of invasion by Russia's armed forces," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on his Facebook page, translated by Reuters. "The ATO goes on. The terrorists should be on their guard around the clock. Civilians have nothing to fear." The crisis goes on.




Amish Seek Measles Shots After Ohio Outbreak Sickens 15 – NBC
By JoNel Aleccia
First published April 25 2014

Members of an Ohio Amish community normally reluctant to vaccinate their children flocked to a makeshift clinic for measles shots this week after an outbreak that may have sickened at least 15 people.

More than 135 people crowded into a local woodworking business Thursday where nurses used up every available dose of vaccine — and then ordered 300 doses more, said Pam Palm, a spokeswoman for the Knox County, Ohio, Health Department.

“Not getting immunizations has been the way the Amish have felt in the past, but they certainly have responded in this situation,” Palm said.

The outbreak was detected this week when four unvaccinated Amish community members showed evidence of measles infection following a March trip to the Philippines to offer humanitarian aid to typhoon victims. More than 20,000 people have caught measles in the Philippines and at least 50 have died in a severe ongoing outbreak.
"They certainly have responded in this situation.”

Those four travelers likely infected at least 11 others aged 2 to 48, Palm said, adding that tests are still pending. Amish religious doctrine doesn’t prohibit vaccination, but many families object to immunization and rates are far lower than in the general population, according to a 2011 study.

They were part of groups convened by Christian Aid Ministries, an Amish-Mennonite organization based in Berlin, Ohio. David Leid, a project coordinator, said that the group had planned to send at least two dozen more groups to the Philippines in coming months, but that the measles outbreak may have changed that.

Volunteers are encouraged, but not required, to be vaccinated, Leid said.
“We can’t stop people from going to another country."

Health officials have asked unvaccinated people who traveled to the Philippines to isolate themselves for 21 days, a self-quarantine to prevent any measles cases that may develop from spreading. That request would apply to any future groups who travel to and from the country while the outbreak continues, Palm said.

She acknowledged that local, state and federal health officials have no authority to prevent unvaccinated people from traveling to disease-prone areas. “We can’t stop people from going to another country,” she said.

Palm said the sight of so many community members with high fevers and rashes may have influenced the decision to seek measles shots. Measles is highly contagious and can cause serious illness and in rare cases, death.

The U.S. is experiencing a surge of measles this year fueled in large part by unvaccinated travelers, mostly to the Philippines, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. At least 129 cases have been confirmed in 13 states, the highest number reported during this period since 1996.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/06/anti-vaccine-movement-is-giving-diseases-a-2nd-life/7007955/
Anti-vaccine movement is giving diseases a 2nd life

Some American families who fear vaccines may cause autism, and others who don't trust the federal government are choosing not to vaccinate. In some places diseases once thought to be conquered are making a comeback.

Kathryn Riffenburg decided on a closed casket for her baby's funeral.

She didn't want her family to see what whooping cough, her son's first illness, had done to 9-week-old Brady Alcaide. The nearly forgotten disease, which has in recent years afflicted thousands of Americans, left Brady's tiny body swollen and unrecognizable.

So his mother dressed him in a white baptismal suit and hat and tucked him into a tiny white casket. Brady's burial came just four weeks after his first laugh — inspired by her version of I'm a Little Teapot — and two weeks after his family learned that he had contracted a vaccine-preventable illness.

"It just seemed like it was impossible," says Riffenburg, 31, of Chicopee, Mass. "It felt like we were dropped in The Wizard of Oz. We went from sitting in the hospital day by day, waiting for him to get better for almost two weeks, to doctors telling us we had a 50/50 chance he was going to make it."

The mother, who was inoculated years before giving birth to Brady, later learned that she could have gotten a booster shot during her pregnancy that likely would have saved Brady's life. Although Riffenburg didn't know to get revaccinated, people actively choosing not to are helping diseases once largely relegated to the pages of history books — including measles — make a comeback in cities across the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Recent measles outbreaks in New York, California and Texas are examples of what could happen on a larger scale if vaccination rates dropped, says Anne Schuchat, the CDC's director of immunizations and respiratory diseases. Officials declared measles, which causes itchy rashes and fevers, eradicated in the United States in 2000. Yet this year, the disease is on track to infect three times as many people as in 2009. That's because in most cases people who have not been vaccinated are getting infected by others traveling into the United States. Then, Schuchat says, the infected spread it in their communities.

The 189 cases of measles in the U.S. last year is small compared with the 530,000 cases the country used to see on average each year in the 20th century. But, the disease — which started to wane when a vaccine was introduced in 1967 — is one of the most contagious in the world and could quickly go from sporadic nuisance to widespread killer.

Measles kills about once in every 1,000 cases. As cases mount, so does the risk. "We really don't want a child to die from measles, but it's almost inevitable," says Schuchat. "Major resurgences of diseases can sneak up on us."

Vaccination rates against most diseases are about 90%. Fewer than 1% of Americans forgo all vaccinations, Schuchat says. Even so, in some states the anti-vaccine movement, aided by religious and philosophical state exemptions, is growing, says Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He points to states like Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon and Vermont — where more than 4.5% of kindergartners last year were unvaccinated for non-medical reasons — as examples of potential hot spots. Such states' rates are four times the national average and illustrate a trend among select groups.

"People assume this will never happen to them until it happens to them," Offit says. "It's a shame that's the way we have to learn the lesson. There's a human price for that lesson."

The most vulnerable are infants who may be too young to be vaccinated, children with compromised immune systems and others who may be unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons, scientists say.

In communities across the nation, Americans of all stripes are making dangerous decisions to reschedule or forgo immunization, says Alan Hinman, a scientist who sits on the scientific advisory board of Voices for Vaccines, which supports and advocates for on-time vaccinations.

The anti-vaccination movement has picked up steam in the past decade with support from celebrities such as actress Jenny McCarthy, actor Aidan Quinn and reality TV star Kristin Cavallari, who last month said not vaccinating was "the best decision" for her children. Many continue to believe the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism, while others don't trust the federal government or the pharmaceutical companies responsible for these vaccines.

DISEASE CAN STRIKE ANYWHERE
Riffenburg hopes her family's experience will serve as a wake-up call. At first, Brady seemed to have a simple cold. As his symptoms worsened, Riffenburg and her fiancé, Jonathan Alcaide, took him to the hospital, where doctors suspected he had whooping cough.

Two weeks later, Brady stopped breathing. His brain was without oxygen for some time, and he was put on life support, where Riffenburg said the horrific effects of the disease made her child become unrecognizable. A day later, she made the excruciating decision to take him off machines. The child died while cradled in her arms.
"I hope Brady has saved babies and protected them because we have spread his story," RIffenburg says.

Since then, Riffenburg has made sure that her fiancé and her two daughters, now 7 and 10, get all of their booster shots. She was also inoculated while pregnant with her now 1-year-old son, Jaxon. And she insisted everyone — including doctors, family members and even the hospital photographer — got booster shots before they came near Jaxon.

It is not clear where Brady contracted whooping cough. Schuchat says that is precisely why communities must maintain high vaccination rates. Many might not know they are carrying a disease but can still be contagious and pass it on before symptoms arrive.

"It doesn't have to be on an airplane or at an airport. It could be at a grocery store or the concert you went to," Schuchat says.
During a 2008 measles outbreak in San Diego, CDC officials were shocked to find school districts where one in five children were not vaccinated against the disease, she says.

Last year, California had the largest number of unprotected kindergartners not vaccinated for their parents' philosophical reasons: 14,921. This year, 49 cases of measles had been reported by March. The state had four cases by that time last year.

'WE CRIED FOR A LONG TIME'
As cases of these diseases flare and create headlines, parents whose children have suffered are pushing back.

Jeremiah Mitchell, 10, plays Xbox with no hands, writes with a pencil strapped to what remains of his arms and prefers eating pizza because it's one of the few foods he can hold.

Four years ago, doctors working to rid his body of meningitis amputated both his arms and legs as well as parts of his eyelids, jaw and ears. At the time, Jeremiah, then 6, was a kindergartner in Oologah-Talala Public Schools in Oklahoma. An outbreak of meningitis in the school system killed two children and infected five others, including Jeremiah.

In 12 hours, Jeremiah went from being a child who loved climbing trees and riding his bicycle in the mud to being in a coma, says his mother, Michaela Mitchell, 42, of Tulsa. He spent 14 days unconscious in the hospital as parts of his body became blackened and burned-looking from t​he disease.

"He came out with all his limbs cut off and wrapped up like a mummy — I fainted," Mitchell says. "We cried for a long time."

Jeremiah wasn't vaccinated against meningitis because at his age his school didn't require it, Mitchell says. CDC suggests all 11- or 12-year-olds get the vaccine and receive a booster shot at 16. And though his family did everything according to medical recommendations, Jeremiah was exposed because someone brought the disease into their community.

Now Mitchell, who takes care of her son full time, and Jeremiah, who faces more reconstructive surgeries, work with Meningitis Angels, a non-profit that supports families affected by bacterial meningitis and advocates for vaccinations.
Other organizations including the National Meningitis Association, Every Child By Two, and PKIDs combine personal stories and scientific evidence to encourage vaccinations.

From the medical side of the equation, some physicians have resorted to their own defenses to protect their patients from those who won't vaccinate.

Doctors at Olde Towne Pediatrics in Manassas, Va., won't take new patients if the parents don't plan to vaccinate their children. It's not clear how many other physicians do the same, as experts say no comprehensive studies of the practice have been done.

"We don't want to put our patients at risk because people for their own personal reasons don't want to vaccinate," said Anastasia Williams, a managing partner of the practice who has been a pediatrician for 15 years. "We are doing our due diligence to protect our children who wait in our waiting room."

Several states have also worked to make getting an exemption tougher.
In Colorado, where 4% of kindergartners last year didn't have their shots for non-medical reasons, a proposed bill sponsored by State Rep. Dan Pabon, a Democrat from Denver, would require parents to get a doctor's note or watch a video about risks before opting out of vaccines.

VACCINE SKEPTICS
Such measures offend Sarah Pope, a Tampa mother of three, and Shane Ellison, a father of three in Los Angeles. They both decided against vaccinating their kids because they fear the potential side effects.

In 2006, all three of Pope's children — now 9, 11 and 15 — contracted whooping cough, the same disease that killed Brady. Seven years earlier, Pope had decided against vaccinating any of her children. After seven weeks of coughing, and with treatment by a holistic doctor and natural supplements, all three recovered without complications, she says.

"I wasn't scared by it," says Pope, 49, who runs The Healthy Home Economist, a healthy living website and blogs about vaccines. "People only see the bad with infectious diseases. But infectious diseases do help children strengthen their bodies."

Pope and Ellison say it is unfair to pressure parents into using vaccines that aren't 100% effective. However, doctors note that all drugs — even aspirin — have risks, and none is 100% effective.

High vaccination rates can protect even unvaccinated people by lowering the level of infectious disease in the community, a phenomenon known as herd immunity, says Hinman, a senior public health scientist at the Task Force for Global Health. The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely anyone in that community will be infected.

Though vaccines are considered safe, Schuchat points out that they can cause reactions in some children, which in rare cases can be serious. But one of the most publicized fears of the anti-vaccine movement — that they cause autism — has been debunked by dozens of studies that have found no link.

Even so, parents like Ellison, 39, don't buy it, and he points out that he comes to the issue with some expertise: He has a master's degree in organic chemistry and used to work in the pharmaceutical industry designing medicines. His children — 6 months old, 8 and 12 — were all born at home. Aside from one visit to an emergency room for a bruised finger, none of them has ever been to a doctor, and they're all healthy, he says, except for the occasional sore throat or common cold.

"The doctors all have the same script for vaccines," says Ellison, who runs The People's Chemist, a website about health.

He is working to build and support his children's natural immune system using three healthy meals a day, exercise and sunshine. He says if his kids get sick he would rather rely on emergency care than vaccines.

"It's much more soothing to trust emergency medicine than a vaccine, which for me is like playing Russian roulette," he says.

Yet as Samantha Purkiss learned, bringing infected people to the emergency department is simply another way to spread disease.

Purkiss' 7-month-old daughter, Olivia, got measles while in a San Diego hospital emergency room last month. Olivia had visited the ER while her dad was having an ingrown toenail removed. Two weeks later, Olivia was back in the emergency room with measles. Doctors spent 12 hours testing and observing her. She later recovered.
"We are blessed because she didn't end up with any complications," says Purkiss, 20, who is 16 weeks' pregnant and takes care of Olivia full time. "If the wrong person is in the wrong place, that happens."




“Some American families who fear vaccines may cause autism, and others who don't trust the federal government are choosing not to vaccinate.” When unfounded rumors, a group identity, religion or simply a philosophy that is espoused by some prevent people from getting up-to-date medical treatments, I am worried for our society. Too many people in this country don't keep up with scientific progress and “fear” science. Freedom of religion and thought prevents the government from requiring a set of beliefs. If I remember correctly, however, during the polio epidemic and also while smallpox had not been irradicated, children were required to get their shots or they couldn't come to school, so apparently some actions can be mandated.

“Vaccination rates against most diseases are about 90%. Fewer than 1% of Americans forgo all vaccinations, Schuchat says. Even so, in some states the anti-vaccine movement, aided by religious and philosophical state exemptions, is growing, says Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.” According to this there is a religious and philosophical exemption in some states. “Last year, California had the largest number of unprotected kindergartners not vaccinated for their parents' philosophical reasons: 14,921.” Some physicians have begun refusing people as patients who don't vaccinate their children. Some states are making the exemptions more difficult to acquire. That's good to see.

One of the main problems with this philosophy of not vaccinating people is that it endangers the whole population. Many people can spread disease before they develop symptoms, and young babies and other unvaccinated people can then catch it. If something like smallpox ever comes back the death tolls will be much higher than with measles. In fact, polio has recently reemerged. Sometimes it seems that we have made no real progress in this society. As for diseases, they may have been eradicated in the US, but there are other parts of the world that still have them, so we all should still be getting our vaccinations.




Missouri looks to revive journalism drones
CBS/AP April 25, 2014

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri journalism school has modified its classroom use of aerial drones as a legal challenge to the FAA ban on commercial use of the flying robots unfolds.

The School of Journalism grounded its outdoor use of news- gathering drones after receiving a cease and desist letter from the Federal Aviation Administration last summer.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that a judge in early March ruled that the federal agency lacks the authority to enforce such a ban. The FAA has appealed that ruling to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Mizzou students in the one-credit drone journalism class fly the devices indoors while the ban on outdoor use remains. The FAA has said it expects to issue revised rules on commercial drone use by next year.

The head of the FAA predicts at least 7,500 drones will be maneuvering through the skies in the next five years, CBS News' Bigad Shaban reported.

We may see these unmanned aircraft performing search and rescue operations, delivering emergency supplies, and even dropping off packages. They'll bring us birds-eye views of our favorite sporting events. Classified versions are already used in military strikes.

"The potential growth is pretty much infinite," Mike Richards, the president and CEO of Drone America, told CBS News earlier this year. "People need to think of these machines as a tool." Richards is an engineer turned entrepreneur. His company is already designing the next generation of drones.




Concerning the ban on the drone journalism class using drones, “...a judge in early March ruled that the federal agency lacks the authority to enforce such a ban. The FAA has appealed that ruling to the National Transportation Safety Board....The FAA has said it expects to issue revised rules on commercial drone use by next year.”

Mike Richards, the president and CEO of Drone America refers to the drones as “tools.” In an Aljezeera article the FAA's concerns are given as safety and privacy. We are apparently soon going to have unmanned machines, hopefully avoiding each other and things on the ground, flying around fairly commonly if this article is accurate. 7,500 drones is a lot. I don't think I want my package delivered by a drone, leaving it at the wrong address or breaking the item I ordered. I don't want unmanned cars on the road either. Things like this are too prone to error.





Military suicides dropped last year amid changing "cultural mindset"
CBS/AP April 25, 2014

WASHINGTON -- Suicides across the military dropped by more than 15 percent last year, but new detailed data reveals an increase in the number of Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers who took their own lives.

The overall totals provided by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps give some hope that prevention programs and increased efforts to identify troops at risk may be taking hold after several years of escalating suicides. But the increase among Army National Guard and Reserve members raises questions about whether those programs are getting to the citizen soldiers who may not have the same access to support networks and help that their active duty comrades receive.

Not only did the Army National Guard and Reserve suicides increase from 140 in 2012 to 152 last year, but the 2013 total exceeded the number of active duty soldiers who took their own lives, according to the Army. There were 151 active duty soldier suicides last year, compared with 185 in 2012, Army officials said.

The Pentagon plans to release a report Friday on military suicides. But those numbers differ a bit from the totals provided by the services because of complicated accounting changes in how the department counts suicides by reservists. Some of the Pentagon numbers were finalized a year ago, while the services have more recently updated totals that reflect the results of some death investigations.

According to the four military services, there were 289 suicides among active duty troops in 2013, down from 343 in 2012. The vast majority were in the Army, the nation's largest military service. The Navy saw a 25 percent decline, from 59 in 2012 to 44 in 2013. The Marines went from 48 to 45, while the Air Force went from 51 to 49.
Due to the accounting changes and other updates, the Pentagon numbers are generally a bit lower and reflect a larger decline in overall active duty suicides of about 18 percent from 2012 to 2013. In some cases, the services are counting Guard and Reserve members who have been called to active duty as part of the active duty total, while the Pentagon did not.

Both sets of numbers, however, show the same trends: fewer active duty suicides across all four services and slightly more deaths among the Army National Guard and Reserve.

Military leaders say it's too soon to declare success in the battle against suicides, but they say that some programs appear to be working.

"I think we've changed the cultural mindset - that it's OK for a sailor or a soldier or an airman or Marine to come forward and ask for help," said Rear Adm. Sean Buck, the Navy's officer in charge of suicide prevention and resilience programs. "We're trying to reduce the stigma that used to exist."

Buck said the Navy has focused on doing more programs designed to reduce stress, including teaching sailors coping mechanisms and stress management tools.
As an example, he said Navy leaders noticed a spike in suicides by medical specialists, including doctors and nurses, reaching a total of 22 for 2011 and 2012 combined. The Navy surgeon general started a program that found that there seemed to be a lot of transitions during that time involving the sailors' jobs or base locations.

Buck said that due to the frequent moves, sailors could sometimes find themselves unconnected to their family or unit or higher command. "In many instances, if you find yourself in time of need and you're not in a permanent command, you may not know who to turn to," he said.

In response, Navy leaders were told to reach out and communicate with their medical specialists on a daily basis, checking with them to see how they were doing and if there were any problems.

Last year, Buck said, there was a sharp decline in suicides among the medical community, with six in 2013.

Lack of consistent contact with leaders or units could also be a factor for reservists.

Scattered across the United States, often in small or remote rural communities, many members of the Army National Guard and Reserve report for training about one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer. And they often don't have quick access to military medical or mental health services that may be on bases far from their homes. That means the outreach effort by the armed services to address the increase in suicides may not always get to reservists in need - particularly those who don't actively seek help.

According to the Army data, more than half of the reservists who committed suicide in 2012 and 2013 had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Officials, however, have not been able to establish a strong link between military service on the warfront and suicide.

Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Sunset Belinsky said the Army set up several programs to deal with the problem, including a 24-hour suicide prevention phone line. The Army Reserve set up six Army Strong Community Centers in New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Connecticut and Michigan.

Mental health in the Army has been a concern amid rising rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide. But, recent research suggests more than 75 percent of soldiers diagnosed with mental health disorders said their conditions started before they enlisted.

About 25 percent of soldiers had a mental health disorder before enlisting compared to 11.6 percent of the general population, Harvard researchers reported in the March 4 issue of JAMA Psychiatry. Eleven percent of Army soldiers likely met criteria for two mental health disorders prior to enlistment.




"I think we've changed the cultural mindset - that it's OK for a sailor or a soldier or an airman or Marine to come forward and ask for help," said Rear Adm. Sean Buck, the Navy's officer in charge of suicide prevention and resilience programs. "We're trying to reduce the stigma that used to exist." According to Buck, the Navy's efforts to teach stress management methods is helping. A program initiated by the Navy Surgeon General found that frequent changes in job and locations may have left sailors “not knowing where to turn to” when they were having problems. Similarly, reservists who are isolated from bases and units much of the time may have been deprived of mental health care.

“But, recent research suggests more than 75 percent of soldiers diagnosed with mental health disorders said their conditions started before they enlisted.” According to JAMA Psychiatry, about 25% of soldiers who enlisted had a mental health problem, as opposed to 11.6% of the general population. I think some people are drawn to the military because it offers a great deal of physical and financial security. Unfortunately some of them, at the time that they are moved to enlist, can't get a job and realize that the army will feed and care for them during their service, plus giving them college scholarship money and house loans when they get out. I think those benefits are good, of course, because the soldiers run a grave risk of being killed or wounded and deserve the extra help.

Going to a war zone and having to commit acts which involve killing is very difficult for some sensitive men or women to do. There is also the fact that just because you don't want to do that or you are profoundly lonely for home, you will have no choice in the matter as far as changing your situation goes. If you refuse an order, even if you think it is an illegal order, you will have to defend your action and will probably be jailed. Being in the army has similarities to being in prison. It is not surprising to me, even without any other “mental illness,” that a soldier may become seriously depressed and suicidal. The military isn't for everybody. Just the constant restrictions would very seriously turn me off. I would rather shift for myself than get my “security” at the expense of my freedom. Still, according to this article the military is doing better in it's outreach programs to those who need help, and the suicide rates are down. That's good to see.




­
Does Russia Have The Military To Take Ukraine? – NPR
by Corey Flintoff
April 25, 2014

Russia says it is once again staging military drills near the border of eastern Ukraine.

Russia's defense minister says the exercises are a reaction to NATO maneuvers in Eastern Europe and what he calls "Ukraine's military machine."

The Russian military carried out similar maneuvers while well-armed, well-trained Russian troops seized key objectives in Crimea. One question now is whether Russia's military is ready to take on a much larger challenge by invading eastern Ukraine.
After Russia completed its annexation of Crimea, this video appeared on YouTube titled: "On the accomplishment of the objective of detachment 0990 from February 22 until March 22 on the territory of Crimea."

For a little more than 7 minutes, it shows a Russian military unit taking key objectives: the Crimean parliament, administration and security buildings, and bases. At first the music seems incongruous, but you quickly realize that it reflects the precision and discipline with which these troops are carrying out their mission. You see masked gunmen entering buildings, securing them, emptying armories and collecting weapons.

Colby Howard, a former U.S. Marine who has been serving as a research fellow at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) in Moscow, says he was impressed at the smoothness of the operation from what he saw in the video.

"The tactical coordination within the team, on the ground seemed well-coordinated, to the extent that it wasn't their first time," he says.

Howard says the team members, good as they look, still have a ways to go to match the best special operations forces from the U.S. and other countries, but they were more than adequate for the operation in Crimea.

That success looks even better when you compare it with what Russia's army looked like the last time it was in action, during the war with Georgia in 2008.

Its victory was marred by embarrassing technical and mechanical failures, poor coordination and indiscipline on the part of badly trained troops. Ruslan Pukhov, the director of CAST, says Russia's military had to modernize and understand it no longer had enough military-age people to field a giant army.

"We don't have enough people; that's why we [are] supposed to fight in another way," he says. "Now we understand, we [are] also supposed to care about the soldier, because there are not enough of them."

Pukhov says that means hiring and training professional soldiers rather than relying on draftees, and providing those soldiers with better pay and living conditions.
Still, he says, modernization has a long way to go.

"Obviously, such a big machine could not be reformed in such a short period of time, but some important things were done," he says.

Russia put a big share of its oil wealth into defense spending, but at least one analyst says the country still doesn't have enough well-trained professional soldiers to carry out an invasion of Ukraine.

Russian conscripts serve only one year, meaning they spend much of their time in training, and are only combat-ready for about half of their stint in the military.
"That's why it's so important that we either move now, and order the conscripts to stay in units because of a war situation, or we don't move at all," says Pavel Felgenhauer, a defense analyst and columnist for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
Felgenhauer says half of the draftees are ready to be discharged, so unless Russia acts by the middle of May, the army won't be fully combat-ready again until sometime in August.

And that, he says, could give Ukraine the time it needs to bring its own outdated and demoralized military up to fighting strength, which would make it a much more dangerous opponent for Russia.


“Colby Howard, a former U.S. Marine who has been serving as a research fellow at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) in Moscow says he was impressed at the smoothness of the operation from what he saw in the video. Howard says the team members, good as they look, still have a ways to go to match the best special operations forces from the U.S. and other countries,” but that they have improved since 2008 in Georgia. They have too few military-age men at the present time, so their forces are smaller than they may need, according to “one analyst,” in order to invade Ukraine.”

Pavel Felgenhauer of Novaya Gazeta has said that “half of the draftees” at present are ready to be released from the military, so if the invasion does not come before the middle of May – holding them in longer due to “a war situation” -- it cannot succeed. If that happens, Russia could not recover its fighting strength before August. He continues, that “could give Ukraine the time it needs” to bring its forces up to standard, thus making it “a much more dangerous opponent” for Russia.

This may explain why Putin vacillates between being pugnacious and asking for diplomatic solutions. One thing is clear, though, he doesn't want NATO membership for Ukraine or presumably any of the nations which used to be included in the Soviet Union. He seems to fear having Western-leaning neighbors along his borders, plus the possible desire to recreate the old Soviet Union. Whichever, it doesn't seem clear to me that he really wants a war. He wants to intimidate Ukraine and the US for the most part, I think.