One important point made during this presentation is:
"Next, students must be supported to attend and succeed in college through expanded state and community-based higher education outreach networks. Our research has shown that far too many students, especially first-generation students, low-income students, and students of color, simply do not have the information they need to prepare for success in college. They don't know what courses to take, they don't know how much college costs or where they are going to get the money, and they don't know how to find a program that is right for them and their needs. Their parents don't know any of this either, and don't know where to find out. The tragedy is that we also know from research that the vast majority of these young people not only want to go to college, they plan to go—at least they do when they are in the 8th grade. By the time they are 18, though, far too many of them have either dropped out of school or learned too late that they are not ready for success in college. This isn't just tragic—it's preventable."
Read more...
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Disabling Injuries
In fiscal year 2009, the budget for military recruiting and retainment was nearly 9 billion dollars. That kind of money can buy the best and brightest Madison Ave. talent, people who know who how to market and sell military enlistment in clever and sophisticated ways.
However, the harsh realities of military service during war are not addressed, they are swept under the rug. Repeated deployments to combat zones, death, serious incapacitating injuries, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder do not surface anywhere in the recruiting process.
To provide a more balanced picture of today’s military life occurring during sustained conflicts, we are beginning a series that will explore aspects of the military experience that military recruiting advertising understandably ignores. This first installment shows photos of veterans who have physically disabling injuries.
Click here.
However, the harsh realities of military service during war are not addressed, they are swept under the rug. Repeated deployments to combat zones, death, serious incapacitating injuries, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder do not surface anywhere in the recruiting process.
To provide a more balanced picture of today’s military life occurring during sustained conflicts, we are beginning a series that will explore aspects of the military experience that military recruiting advertising understandably ignores. This first installment shows photos of veterans who have physically disabling injuries.
Click here.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Drug-Free Lifestyle?
"In the Atlanta area, Young Marines is a youth education and service program for boys and girls, ages 8 through completion of high school. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members. The program focuses on character building, leadership, and promotes a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The Young Marines is the focal point for the U.S. Marine Corps' youth Drug Demand Reduction efforts. We do this while having fun."
Now this sounds admirable, doesn’t it? Drug-free lifestyle, well yeah, what’s not to like about that?
However, as often is the case with the military, if you look a little deeper, if you part the curtains and look behind, the picture changes drastically. The following excerpts are from an article of which there is a link to at the end of this if you wish to read more.
“The reporters’ analysis mirrors results from a survey taken of some 28,000 active duty soldiers and Marines and published in December 2009. In that Pentagon assessment, one in four troops admitted to abusing prescription medication — mostly painkillers — in a one-year period; as many as 20 percent of Marines said they too, had abused pills. Two percent of those surveyed said they had thoughts of suicide, and 60 percent of Marines said they had engaged in binge drinking over the course of the year.”
“Marquez started destroying himself with the pills that were supposed to help him.For his injuries, he said, doctors at Evans prescribed him 90 morphine pills, 90 Percocets, and five fentanyl patches every three weeks.“They were for pain,” he said. “And I still had pain. But, mostly, I was using them to get high.”He could not get Iraq out of his head. Doctors prescribed antidepressants and sleeping pills, but he said they didn’t help. He was saving up Percocet, then downing a handful on an empty stomach. He said he started trading his morphine with other soldiers for an anti-psychotic called quetiapine and an anti-anxiety drug called clonazepam. Improper use of either can cause psychotic reactions, anxiety, panic attacks, aggressiveness and suicidal behavior, but, Marquez said, injured soldiers traded them like children in a lunchroom swapping desserts. “It was real common among the guys who were hurt,” Marquez said. At one point, Marquez said, he ate his three-week supply of meds in half the time, then went back to Evans claiming he had lost his pills. He said a doctor told him security measures prevented him from giving Marquez more narcotics, but he could write the soldier a paper prescription he could fill in Colorado Springs. Marquez agreed.”
“The Military Times report indicates more than a few sordid things — that the military is knowingly rotating sick soldiers into combat under the influence of powerful painkillers, anti-depressants and other psychotropic drugs, some of which have been negligently prescribed and/or are being used as part of a mind-blowing cocktail of other drugs. Second, the pharmaceutical companies are really cleaning up, just like they do in the civilian world. Thirdly, if all goes as planned, we will have some 100,000 troops in Afghanistan and at least (if draw-downs go as planned), another 50,000 in Iraq by the end of the summer. So the military wins another round at faking out the “Army is broken” meme. But one wonders how many of these soldiers and Marines are on their second, third, fourth tours, or how many pills it takes them to get through the day. Seems as though they are the real losers in this equation. But how long can it all last?”
Drug-free life style? Where?
Read more...
Now this sounds admirable, doesn’t it? Drug-free lifestyle, well yeah, what’s not to like about that?
However, as often is the case with the military, if you look a little deeper, if you part the curtains and look behind, the picture changes drastically. The following excerpts are from an article of which there is a link to at the end of this if you wish to read more.
“The reporters’ analysis mirrors results from a survey taken of some 28,000 active duty soldiers and Marines and published in December 2009. In that Pentagon assessment, one in four troops admitted to abusing prescription medication — mostly painkillers — in a one-year period; as many as 20 percent of Marines said they too, had abused pills. Two percent of those surveyed said they had thoughts of suicide, and 60 percent of Marines said they had engaged in binge drinking over the course of the year.”
“Marquez started destroying himself with the pills that were supposed to help him.For his injuries, he said, doctors at Evans prescribed him 90 morphine pills, 90 Percocets, and five fentanyl patches every three weeks.“They were for pain,” he said. “And I still had pain. But, mostly, I was using them to get high.”He could not get Iraq out of his head. Doctors prescribed antidepressants and sleeping pills, but he said they didn’t help. He was saving up Percocet, then downing a handful on an empty stomach. He said he started trading his morphine with other soldiers for an anti-psychotic called quetiapine and an anti-anxiety drug called clonazepam. Improper use of either can cause psychotic reactions, anxiety, panic attacks, aggressiveness and suicidal behavior, but, Marquez said, injured soldiers traded them like children in a lunchroom swapping desserts. “It was real common among the guys who were hurt,” Marquez said. At one point, Marquez said, he ate his three-week supply of meds in half the time, then went back to Evans claiming he had lost his pills. He said a doctor told him security measures prevented him from giving Marquez more narcotics, but he could write the soldier a paper prescription he could fill in Colorado Springs. Marquez agreed.”
“The Military Times report indicates more than a few sordid things — that the military is knowingly rotating sick soldiers into combat under the influence of powerful painkillers, anti-depressants and other psychotropic drugs, some of which have been negligently prescribed and/or are being used as part of a mind-blowing cocktail of other drugs. Second, the pharmaceutical companies are really cleaning up, just like they do in the civilian world. Thirdly, if all goes as planned, we will have some 100,000 troops in Afghanistan and at least (if draw-downs go as planned), another 50,000 in Iraq by the end of the summer. So the military wins another round at faking out the “Army is broken” meme. But one wonders how many of these soldiers and Marines are on their second, third, fourth tours, or how many pills it takes them to get through the day. Seems as though they are the real losers in this equation. But how long can it all last?”
Drug-free life style? Where?
Read more...
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