No end in sight.

An overdose of a California Iraq vet who'd gone to the VA for help:

Iraq war veteran Justin Bailey checked himself in to the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center just after Thanksgiving.

Among the first wave of Marines sent into battle, the young rifleman had been diagnosed since his return with posttraumatic stress disorder and a groin injury. Now, Bailey acknowledged to his family and a friend, he needed immediate treatment for his addiction to prescription and street drugs. "We were so happy," said his stepmother, Mary Kaye Bailey, 41. "We were putting all of our faith into those doctors."

On Jan. 25, Justin Bailey got prescriptions filled for five medications, including a two-week supply of the potent painkiller methadone, according to his medical records. A day later, he was found dead of an apparent overdose in his room at a VA rehabilitation center on the hospital grounds. He was 27.

Another to add to the PTSD Timeline. There are others...

Passing along this info to those who follow troop news.

It was revealed today in a hard-hitting Courier-Journal editorial that a current Iraq veteran and former page sponsored by Rep. Ron Lewis [R-KY] has been dragged into the Foley congressional scandal:

Two of our local members, Ron Lewis and Mike Sodrel, suddenly found it inconvenient to walk around arm in arm with Speaker Dennis Hastert at a campaign fund-raiser or a Rotary Club appearance. At least they recognize that pedophilia and its enablers don't go over well anywhere, much less in respectable parts of Middle America like Elizabethtown and Jeffersonville.

Apologies I'm sharing this post from yesterday with you so late. Hope everyone had a good day in the company of loved ones.

About September 11th, I can't add anything more that hasn't already been said. Some of you know I was a flight attendant for American Airlines on September 11, 2001. I'd been based in Chicago for most of my career, with side adventures flying international out of Miami and JFK in the mid-90's. I turned in my wings after 15 years in November 2001. I took the leap not out of fear, but out of a need to grow in new directions. Fortunately, I found that new direction last year: advocating for and writing about our returning veterans. (Steve Robinson of Veterans for America has asked me to share an LTE with you guys on this issue, and that follows below).

I got a call yesterday from Reese Butler, founder of the 1-800-SUICIDE Hopeline.

(Thank you to Taylor Marsh, author of Suicide Hotline Shutdown, for asking him to contact me). Some of you may remember (as many of you helped) the story of the impending take-over of 1-800-SUICIDE. Also called Hopeline, it came into being 8 years ago and was supported by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone.

Today, AP:

Depleted uranium is the garbage left from producing enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and energy plants. It is 60 percent as radioactive as natural uranium.

The U.S. has an estimated 1.5 billion pounds of it, sitting in hazardous waste storage sites across the country. Meaning it is plentiful and cheap as well as highly effective.

[Herbert] Reed says he unknowingly breathed DU dust while living with his unit in Samawah, Iraq. He was med-evaced out in July 2003, nearly unable to walk because of lightning-strike pains from herniated discs in his spine. Then began a strange series of symptoms he'd never experienced in his previously healthy life.

Update [2006-8-12 1:8:40 by ilona]:
Damn, we're good!! And yes, this is the first diary and title that I'm going to use tons of exclamation points in! If this isn't the best update I'll ever write, I don't know when that day will come! What the hell, have 2 more!! No, 3!!! I'm giddy!

This just in, caught by sardonyx at Daily Kos:

1-800-SUICIDE Gets 2 Week Extension - Thank You For Your Support!

TO ALL THOSE WHO SUPPORTED US A BIG THANK YOU!

The outpouring of support and donations was the largest we have ever received in our history in a single day. We received over 100 donations and the day is not done. We made our target of 10k to keep the line live for two more weeks. We received calls of support from people who credit the Hopeline with helping them through their most difficult times and now they wanted to help us in ours. We also received the most media coverage in our 8 year history. So many more people will learn of our service as a result of this campaign.

There is much work to be done to get our organization into a secure sustainable position but our all volunteer Board is dedicated to helping us to get there, and with the support of people like you this grassroots network of community based crisis centers can be even better and stronger than before. From all of us at the Kristin Brooks Hope Center and the members of the National Hopeline Network, we thank you for your continued support, faith in us to be stewards of the nation's suicide hotline network and belief in our mission to offer help and hope from unconditional and confidential crisis centers.

Best always,

Reese Butler, President and Founder
KBHC Board of Directors

Woo Hoo, this one is a clear victory, guys. THANK YOU ALL!
Work's not done, and they still need our help. Please do what you can (actions at the bottom)...

The personal is political.

A call going out to anyone in the Cincinnati, OH area to please consider passing along the following information on this missing Iraq vet:

Mother, Police Search For Missing Iraq Veteran
Man Last Seen Saturday Morning, July 29

HAMILTON -- Hamilton police are asking for the public's help in finding a missing Iraq War veteran.

Police said Sgt. Garry Jones, 24, was last seen Saturday morning [a week ago] leaving American Self Storage on Eden Park Drive in a late 1980s maroon Chevy Cavalier.