Dr Paul Allen

Image via Wikipedia The number of our military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder  (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury is larger than what the resources provided to the military medical departments or Veterans Affairs Treatment and Hospital Centers can accommodate. By 2008, the number of military personnel who served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in treatment for PTSD was 67,717. The number of those not seeking or not accepted for treatment in military or VA facilities is thought to be many times higher. Most of the troops serving in these wars are from the Reserves or National Guard . These personnel do not return to military bases but return to communities, like yours, in the civilian sector, where there are few with a knowledge of what they have experienced, nor are there enough facilities to treat them. The incidence of PTSD is compounded by a high suicide rate in the military, which is now about twice the ...

Image via Wikipedia The American military spent countless billions of dollars to do all kinds of stuff—much of it quite good—in an effort to win over the Afghan people , but in the end, there’s little positive to show for it.  While Kay Storr was in North Africa researching her book  Harvest of Hope , she visited an ancient Berber village to see their new modern well.  A representative of the European organization that headed up the project spoke of the many, many months it took to get the villagers onboard.  Workers visited each family —sitting with them, meeting everyone from the grandpa to the baby, talking about the crops and hopes for the children’s future.  The workers brought toothbrushes and toothpaste and taught the children to brush their teeth,  Something they could do with abandon once they had plenty of water . After she admired the new well, and each feature was demonstrated to her by the swarm of children who followed her everywhere, th...