A Current Crisis
The War Continues
The War Continues
The War Continues
Iraq and Syria
Since drone attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria began escalating in mid-October, the Pentagon has reported a total of 56 injuries, a spokeswoman announced. Three of those injuries, two of them traumatic brain injuries, came from a strike on Wednesday, Sabrina Singh told reporters on November 10, 2023.
2023 Hamas attack o
Iraq and Syria
Since drone attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria began escalating in mid-October, the Pentagon has reported a total of 56 injuries, a spokeswoman announced. Three of those injuries, two of them traumatic brain injuries, came from a strike on Wednesday, Sabrina Singh told reporters on November 10, 2023.
2023 Hamas attack on Israel
Military conflict A series of coordinated attacks, conducted by the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, from the Gaza Strip onto bordering areas in Israel, commenced on Saturday 7 October 2023, a Sabbath day and date of several Jewish holidays.
The Wars Rage on Around the World
(by Jake Epstein jepstein@insider.com 4/20/2023)
US troops are deploying to positions near Sudan amid a worsening situation there.
Forces are being deployed for possibly 'securing and potentially facilitating the departure of US Embassy personnel,' the Pentagon said. Intense fighting in Sudan has left hundreds dead and thousands more injured.
US forces are being deployed to positions near Sudan in case they are required to rapidly evacuate American diplomatic staff, a Pentagon official said on Thursday.
US troops are moving into position for a possible embassy evacuation mission amid intense fighting in Sudan.
Burnout Fears Grow (by Michael Lee | Fox News Published April 17, 2023)
Burnout fears grow as overseas Army deployments match highs not seen since War on Terror. There are currently about 120,000 Army personnel deployed abroad. Army personnel are facing an operational tempo similar or worse to what they faced during the height of the War on Terror, raising fears of burnout ..."We're as high or higher with the [operations tempo]," Sgt. Major of the Army Michael Grinston told Military.com of the current operational tempo compared to the War on Terror in a report Monday. Grinston’s comments come as the Army has about 120,000 soldiers deployed abroad, according to data compiled by Military.com, a number that is comparable to those seen during the peak of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
20 years after the Iraq war, this former Army medic is still reeling.
In a live interview on MSN.com, March 25, 2023, Scripps News reports that "...20 years after the Iraq war, this former Army medic is still reeling. The veteran interviewed said 'he kickstarted his dreams of working in medicine by being an Army medic, but what he experienced in Iraq changed his path forever.' "
New Iranian rocket attacks injure more US forces in Syria (story by Louis Casiano, Jennifer Griffin, 3/25/2023)
U.S. forces in Syria were injured Friday from Iranian rocket attacks targeted American outposts, Fox News has learned. The attacks came after an American contractor was killed by a suspected Iranian drone that hit and injured six servicemen in northeast Syria. U.S. intelligence has assessed that the drone that struck the base was Iranian. The injured U.S. service members were in "stable" condition and have been transported to a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News Friday.
Scott Mann of Fox News reports "an 81% spike in calls to the VA suicide line one year after the withdrawal" from Afghanistan. These war veterans know something Congress doesn't. Americans who served there know we might be done with Afghanistan, but it's not done with us.
Written For You
The War Continues
The War Continues
If you are…
- Active Military
- Veteran
- Family Member
- RN
- Graduate Student
- LPN
- Therapist
- Psychiatrist
- Educator
- Medical Doctor
- Combat Medic
- Battle Buddy
- Friend
- Counselor
- Addiction Therapist
- EMT
- Co-worker
- Psychologist
- Social Worker
- Fireman
- A veteran missing your buddies, with no one to have your back?
- A care giver who is sick and tired of being sick and tired when yo
If you are…
- Active Military
- Veteran
- Family Member
- RN
- Graduate Student
- LPN
- Therapist
- Psychiatrist
- Educator
- Medical Doctor
- Combat Medic
- Battle Buddy
- Friend
- Counselor
- Addiction Therapist
- EMT
- Co-worker
- Psychologist
- Social Worker
- Fireman
- A veteran missing your buddies, with no one to have your back?
- A care giver who is sick and tired of being sick and tired when your veteran just keeps relapsing?
- A family members feeling like giving up?
- A friend, coworker, or neighbor of a veteran that needs someone to reach out to them?
Welcome! This book was written for you.
"I Have Your Six"
The War Continues
"I Have Your Six"
The memoirs in this book give straightforward, down-to-earth advice about encouragement and hope. While revitalizing the therapeutic approach used to overcome the combat veterans’ immediate life-threatening darkness of depression and suicidal thoughts, I define my unique tried-and-true method of crisis intervention as a matter of “heart-t
The memoirs in this book give straightforward, down-to-earth advice about encouragement and hope. While revitalizing the therapeutic approach used to overcome the combat veterans’ immediate life-threatening darkness of depression and suicidal thoughts, I define my unique tried-and-true method of crisis intervention as a matter of “heart-to-heart resuscitation”, as I call it. The window of opportunity to make a difference for you or someone close to you can literally be a matter of seconds, whether over a telephone or face-to-face, you, your loved ones or your friend’s life may hang in the balance. The process of heart-to-heart communicating is one I suggest and utilize. I believe through encouraging, motivating and mentoring, suffering veterans can be helped to find the strength, self-determination, and support to get help and out of danger. My number one priority is to get veterans to safety.
I say to them and to you, “Oh yes, you do have a reason to live, and I will tell you why!”
Getting Help
How You Can Make A Difference
"I Have Your Six"
Veterans of Vietnam and the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are today living on city streets, in cars and in the nation’s homeless shelters. Some are so desperate they commit crimes and are going to prison. Many struggling vets or family and friends in the neighborhood finally end up calling hospital emergency rooms, psychiatric nurses, 911, 21
Veterans of Vietnam and the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are today living on city streets, in cars and in the nation’s homeless shelters. Some are so desperate they commit crimes and are going to prison. Many struggling vets or family and friends in the neighborhood finally end up calling hospital emergency rooms, psychiatric nurses, 911, 211 or the VA hotline for help and advice. Many are reluctant to contact anyone. Account after account report veterans locking themselves in their bedrooms, some barricading themselves in their rooms, not coming out for days at a time. When they do reach out for help to a hotline or emergency department, they explain, “Asking for help is like saying I’ve failed my mission." Most of us cannot bring ourselves to ask for help. If you or someone close to you is feeling depressed and has thoughts about harming yourself or others, it’s important that you recognize that feeling this way is a serious but treatable condition. Depression is a treatable disorder as well. Certain signs and symptoms, of which I’ll later get into, will tell you that you need to ask for help. Seeking help is not a sign of weakness or something to be ashamed of; it is your right to seek help “It takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help” states a popular VA poster slogan. Your military buddies will be proud of your showing the courage to face the obstacles in your life.
How You Can Make A Difference
How You Can Make A Difference
How You Can Make A Difference
Why should you care?
What are you going to do about it?
How can you make a difference?
When veterans call my clinic expressing symptoms of depressive illnesses that interfere with their everyday life functioning, they are made aware that professional medical treatment teams will be needed and should be sought. A call for help is highly recom
Why should you care?
What are you going to do about it?
How can you make a difference?
When veterans call my clinic expressing symptoms of depressive illnesses that interfere with their everyday life functioning, they are made aware that professional medical treatment teams will be needed and should be sought. A call for help is highly recommended if you or someone you care about has thoughts of or mentions a plan or intent to harm him or herself. Even if there is no suicide ideation, you or a vet close to you may be experiencing a “crisis” of a different nature: unrelenting psychological (mental) and physiological (body) pain, the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, substance abuse or other addictions, feeling out-of-control or in need of anger management. If you feel trapped and see no way to escape, these are very good reasons to call or come in for help. Mental health clinicians around the country are seeing significant substance abuse cases, particularly alcohol dependency, among veterans.
Escaping The Trap
How You Can Make A Difference
How You Can Make A Difference
Did you know? Some veterans exposed to trauma and negative experiences in the war zones are using alcohol and other drugs at a high rate to “self-medicate.” After coming home, they seldom report, at least at the beginning, any mental health problems. Often it is not until several months to several years after veterans settle into their li
Did you know? Some veterans exposed to trauma and negative experiences in the war zones are using alcohol and other drugs at a high rate to “self-medicate.” After coming home, they seldom report, at least at the beginning, any mental health problems. Often it is not until several months to several years after veterans settle into their lives at home and work that delayed symptoms of anxiety, panic, rage, anger, depression and trouble sleeping begin to appear or become recurrent and repetitive in their daily routines. Increasing alcohol intake and the taking of other illicit street drugs, such as marijuana, opiates, cocaine, methamphetamines, and pain killers often become daily scourges. Domestic violence, marital and family disputes are other ways veterans show their pain and depression. Marriages are in jeopardy, jobs are lost or never found, financial difficulties surface and children begin to fear for their safety in their own homes. An increasing number of veterans come home from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan already diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury (TBI).
If you find yourself or someone close to you increasingly depressed and despondent after months and even years of experiencing tours of nighttime firefights, picking up enemy bodies, finding baby toys and articles of children’s clothing on the floors of suspected terrorists’ houses, you are not alone. The number of combat veterans taking antidepressants daily to control and ease the effects of lengthy and repeated tours is rapidly increasing. Heart to Heart Resuscitation has important information for you or someone you care about to identify recognizable signs and symptoms that may increase risk, veteran-specific risk factors.
Reading The Signs
What People Are Saying
What People Are Saying
What are the answers? In this book I will try to answer difficult questions for you about what is happening to you or someone close to you, our veterans, and why so many are dying by their own hands. I will introduce you to the psychological wounds of war, use some terms that may be unfamiliar, high-risk signs for suicide, and put in plai
What are the answers? In this book I will try to answer difficult questions for you about what is happening to you or someone close to you, our veterans, and why so many are dying by their own hands. I will introduce you to the psychological wounds of war, use some terms that may be unfamiliar, high-risk signs for suicide, and put in plain words with careful description how to recognize what defines a veteran’s need for counseling, what signs to look for and what to do when you discover them.
In the following chapters you also will find real stories of raw emotion, expressed by men and women veterans, family members and friends and callers pleading for help before it is too late. I will move you through the poignant, uncensored personal stories shared to me by desperate veterans coming into Group Room #2 at the clinic, representing many war and conflict experiences from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Some have already hurt themselves and need immediate emergency rescue while others are confused and cannot find their way in life. And some just want someone to listen.
Most importantly, I will try to point out the steps and strategies in each veteran's story, that will help you recover and heal. Then I will do my utmost, drawing on my long experience with other veterans, to guide you on a path that will lead you and your loved ones from the darkness and anguish of pain and suffering to growth and resuscitation. I know our journey together calls for strength and courage, but I also know you have both. You or your loved one is a genuine American hero.
What People Are Saying
What People Are Saying
What People Are Saying
Book Reviews for Healing Suicidal Veterans by Victor Montgomery
George M: "Not a therapist, I am the father of a combat veteran. One who remained totally a-symptomatic for 7 years post combat only to take his own life for reasons well described within these pages. I highly recommend this book for everyone who is close to a combat vet from
Book Reviews for Healing Suicidal Veterans by Victor Montgomery
George M: "Not a therapist, I am the father of a combat veteran. One who remained totally a-symptomatic for 7 years post combat only to take his own life for reasons well described within these pages. I highly recommend this book for everyone who is close to a combat vet from any era. That includes most everyone! The insight, resources, signs to look for and comprehensive treatment model are thoroughly discussed within the pages of this book. If you’re looking at this, you need to buy it."
Samantha H: "I have just qualified as a PTSD Therapist in the UK. I counsel Falklands War and Gulf War military personnel; this book is essential reading for those in our line of work. It is well written and gives great advice for those who wish to help our brothers and sisters in arms. "
Kathy P: "Dear Victor, I came across your book recently at our local library, thanks for writing it. I have been a nurse at our local VAMC for the past 3 years. Your book should be required reading for all nurses coming into the VA. We so often take care of veterans with PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, borderline personality, chemical dependency, etc. Your book offered much insight into the reasons for these disabilities... Thanks Again."
The Midwest Book Review
“Healing Suicidal Veterans should be on the shelf of any and every psychologist who treats veterans.”
ForeWord Magazine
“Montgomery lets American veterans know that they are not alone and offers hope and practical strategies to help veterans and those who love them.”
Conferences & Seminars with Victor Montgomery
Tessa H (Program Manager): "Dear Victor Montgomery, I want to take this opportunity to appreciate you for all the eminent work you have done with addiction studies."
Helena D (Director): "Dear Victor,
Vic, thank you so much for participating in the panel presentation that was part of MHANYS’ Annual Conference on October 30th… The vast majority of participants rated all aspects of the presentation as excellent. One participant remarked that she appreciated how you spoke from the heart. Your perspective is unique and one that participants really needed to hear.”
Radio Interview
POW/MIA Radio – the American Freedom Network – KHNC-AM – Johnstown, CO
“Healing Suicidal Veterans” is a very informative book. Victor Montgomery makes sure veterans will never again have to feel they are alone. All soldiers coming home from war need to read this book.” Suzie Wiley, “Valley Happenings” – WYAM TV 51 – Decatur, AL
Magazine Article
55 Plus (Sept/October 2014) Feature Article - "Community of Veterans: Ex-Marine and Honeoye resident helps start program that will help veterans across the country."
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