Post by dreamer on Dec 8, 2011 7:16:01 GMT -5
KY3
Veteran retreat fights Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Ozarks
Project Valhalla will be a very special working and recreational retreat for post-911 combat Soldiers and war zone civilian workers by the Spring of 2012.
by Jay Scherder jscherder@ky3.com
4:09 a.m. CST, December 8, 2011
YELLVILLE, Ar -- Help is coming for those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has expanded since 9/11. The Navy and Marine Corps spent nearly $90 million on psychological health just last year.
But one man believes it is not enough and he is doing something about it. In the past year alone the number of diagnosed cases of PTSD in the military jumped 50% and that's just diagnosed cases. That's why a retired Lieutenant Colonel is taking action. He created Prjoect Valhalla--helping those coming home from combat and giving them a place to find a little balance.
Retired Lt. Col. Gorgon CuCullu has quite a resume. "Did the airborne. Special forces training. I did about 15 months in Vietnam and was assigned to the Pentagon in the office of the Secretary of Defense."
Now he faces one of his biggest challenges yet. "What the elements and environment of combat are like are so different than what they see at home," Lt. Col. Cuculllu said.
It's called the Valhalla Project. "When you get back to the civilian world," he said, "things are moving at what seems to be an unacceptably slow pace for the veteran."
It's two hundred acres in the middle of No Where, Arkansas. It's completely dedicated to helping soldiers returning from combat readjust.
"These are people who have had a weapon by their side for more than a year."
It not just a weekend resort in the Ozarks. "The only price of admission we ask of the soldiers is four hours of work a day." It's a place to learn, to work, and decompress. "What we want to do in effect is give them a soft landing," he said.
Right now the project is in the very beginning. "It is a 100 year project and we mean that literally."
Big plans are on the horizon.
"What we want to do here is give them focus, productive indoor and outdoor work--where they can interact with intensive gardening, with off the grid construction, with a variety of livestock and poultry."
More than 1.2 million veterans are dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder--nearly a fourth of those are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. "They have a sense of defensiveness, they have a sense of heightened alert. One feeds the other."
Lt. Col. Cucullu believes not enough is being done to help those service members when they return. "This isn't something that has just been discovered. Certainly since Vietnam we've come up with new names for it."
He hopes Project Vahalla can become a safe haven for the people that sacrificed so much. "Tom browkaw was right. The WWII was the greatest generation," he said, "but we didn't stop there…increasingly we've had great generations."
One of the long-term objectives of Valhalla will be to establish training and educational programs in order to give Soldiers new skill sets and a sense of productivity that can be translated into a new career field.
The project is in the very beginning stages and they still need a lot of help. On their website www.valhalla-project.com/
they have a list of needs and you can always give monetary donations.
www.ky3.com/news/ky3-veteran-retreat-fights-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-the-ozarks-20111208,0,33783.story
Veteran retreat fights Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Ozarks
Project Valhalla will be a very special working and recreational retreat for post-911 combat Soldiers and war zone civilian workers by the Spring of 2012.
by Jay Scherder jscherder@ky3.com
4:09 a.m. CST, December 8, 2011
YELLVILLE, Ar -- Help is coming for those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has expanded since 9/11. The Navy and Marine Corps spent nearly $90 million on psychological health just last year.
But one man believes it is not enough and he is doing something about it. In the past year alone the number of diagnosed cases of PTSD in the military jumped 50% and that's just diagnosed cases. That's why a retired Lieutenant Colonel is taking action. He created Prjoect Valhalla--helping those coming home from combat and giving them a place to find a little balance.
Retired Lt. Col. Gorgon CuCullu has quite a resume. "Did the airborne. Special forces training. I did about 15 months in Vietnam and was assigned to the Pentagon in the office of the Secretary of Defense."
Now he faces one of his biggest challenges yet. "What the elements and environment of combat are like are so different than what they see at home," Lt. Col. Cuculllu said.
It's called the Valhalla Project. "When you get back to the civilian world," he said, "things are moving at what seems to be an unacceptably slow pace for the veteran."
It's two hundred acres in the middle of No Where, Arkansas. It's completely dedicated to helping soldiers returning from combat readjust.
"These are people who have had a weapon by their side for more than a year."
It not just a weekend resort in the Ozarks. "The only price of admission we ask of the soldiers is four hours of work a day." It's a place to learn, to work, and decompress. "What we want to do in effect is give them a soft landing," he said.
Right now the project is in the very beginning. "It is a 100 year project and we mean that literally."
Big plans are on the horizon.
"What we want to do here is give them focus, productive indoor and outdoor work--where they can interact with intensive gardening, with off the grid construction, with a variety of livestock and poultry."
More than 1.2 million veterans are dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder--nearly a fourth of those are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. "They have a sense of defensiveness, they have a sense of heightened alert. One feeds the other."
Lt. Col. Cucullu believes not enough is being done to help those service members when they return. "This isn't something that has just been discovered. Certainly since Vietnam we've come up with new names for it."
He hopes Project Vahalla can become a safe haven for the people that sacrificed so much. "Tom browkaw was right. The WWII was the greatest generation," he said, "but we didn't stop there…increasingly we've had great generations."
One of the long-term objectives of Valhalla will be to establish training and educational programs in order to give Soldiers new skill sets and a sense of productivity that can be translated into a new career field.
The project is in the very beginning stages and they still need a lot of help. On their website www.valhalla-project.com/
they have a list of needs and you can always give monetary donations.
www.ky3.com/news/ky3-veteran-retreat-fights-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-the-ozarks-20111208,0,33783.story