Soldiers Turned Songwriters to Perform at SAFE's Nashville Breakfast

SAFE, Soldiers and Families Embrace, is continuing to help active military men and women and veterans seek healing from the traumas of war. In September, SAFE paired Nashville songwriters with soldiers to share their stories through songs. On November 8 2013, a benefit concert was held for love ones and the public to hear the music that blood, sacrifice, and tears help produced.

On Friday, November 15, 2013, some of the songs will be performed again at SAFE's Nashville Breakfast. The SAFE Nashville's Breakfast will be held at Ben Folds’ Studio, 30 Music Sq. W. Ste. 310, Nashville, TN 37203 8:30 am.

One of the songs that will be performed at breakfast was co-written by Vietnam Veteran Bill Fritschler (sic), Jason Jones, and Keni Thomas, entitled "Unspoken."  The song expresses the pain of veterans and members of the military not being able to talk to their families about their war experiences. The song tells us about Bill's father's Silver Star, an award for valor in combat that Bill did not know his father had received in WWII until after Bill's father died. He and his mother never knew why or what had happened.  The three will share and sing the song.  Veteran David Bradley will also be there to share and sing his song, "Get a Hero Home." 

More About the Performers

In the summer of 1993, Sergeant Keni Thomas was deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia with the 3rd Ranger Battalion as part of an elite special operations package called Task Force Ranger. Their mission was to find a capture a criminal warlord named Mohammed Farrah Aideed. On the 3rd of October, Keni and his fellow rangers distinguished themselves in an eighteen hour fire-fight that would later be recounted in the highly successful book and movie “Blackhawk Down”. Nineteen Americans gave their lives and 78 were wounded in the worst urban combat seen by US troops since WWII.

Jason Jones is the son of a Vietnam Veteran and has shared that he has been able to talk to his dad more since the retreat than ever before about his war experiences. 

David Bradley is a veteran of Britain's Royal Air Force who donates a great deal of his time to veterans and their families and who personally recruited about a third of the songwriters who participated in the retreat and now the concert on Nov. 8. 

More About SAFE

SAFE is a resource for the region to ease the readjustment and reintegration of military members returning from our current wars and their families, as well as veterans from previous eras. The counselors and staff of Soldiers And Families Embraced are made up of veterans, family members of veterans or active duty military, or have extensive experience working with them. All services are confidential and provided free of charge.

http://thesafenetwork.org

For media interviews, contact: Jodi McCullah

jodi@thesafenetwork.org

For more photos from last week's concert, click here.

Fireworks: A PTSD Trigger?

As we are preparing for the upcoming Warrior-Centric Healthcare Training session on July 9th, 2013 at the Nashville Public Library, Dr. Evelyn Lewis, Chief Medical Officer for the Steptoe Group, offers the following insights:

 PTSD, sometimes undiagnosed, can carry an array of chronic, otherwise-invisible symptoms that flare momentarily or take root for a time: nervousness, hyper-emotionality, an inability to sleep, and an overreaction to seemingly humdrum, daily moments. These feelings are unleashed from deep in the memory, hardwired back to real, horrible events that occurred just once or many times during battle such as IED detonations, mortar bursts and gunfire. Visual or auditory reminders – or both – commonly set off such symptoms for veterans.  Typically, those with PTSD are bothered more by:   

*The fireworks that veer off slightly

* Fireworks that are shot off in the middle of the night,  

* Those that are randomly set off days before or after the actual holiday

That conditioned response can set a PTSD sufferer on edge for hours, or trigger memories that lead to depression that will last well past the Independence Day  and other holidays accompanied by fireworks.

Recommendations:

1.   On Memorial Day or 4^th of July it may be best for many of our servicemen, women, and veterans wrestling with PTSD to head to quiet places.

2.    In situations where environmental stimuli are beyond the control of the PTSD suffer, don headphones and listen to soothing music.

3.    Encourage your family and friends to consider quieter, calmer ways to celebrate our country’s independence.

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Keep in mind, an estimated 11to 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and nearly a third of Vietnam veterans suffer symptoms of PTSD — a figure that means if you light off string of Black Cats at random intervals or shoot off bottle rockets in the middle of the night it can trigger in veterans the hyper-alertness and adrenaline rush of combat.

As we continue to honor veterans for their bravery and sacrifice, let us also show our appreciation by considering their needs as they transition from combat to home-life.

Warrior Centric Art work by David Walker, Photos: UMKC Contributors to this post Dr. Evelyn Lewis(Navy), Niketa Williams UPitt School of Medicine, Genma Holmes