Day 2 of 22: Veteran Suicide Awareness Push-Up Campaign: TBI

So I'm a little stiff and sore today. Poor me.

I've gotten home from work, put the dishes in the dishwasher and fed the dog. As usual. Changed clothes... And here I am.

Today I am putting my feet back six inches further than yesterday, and I have handy Adobe Illustrator at work to draw myself. Okay, so it sucks for drawing, but it is better for scale than paint, so I went with it. I suppose I could have edited in paint after scaling the wall and floor... am I over thinking this? All this work to get out of a video, but I will persevere... [for the record, here is my PLAN to build to real push-ups]

On to the push-ups.

This was harder from the outset. Something psychological about the mantle coming at my eyeballs instead of my chin. And the arms are at a slightly off angle.

Harder in the middle like yesterday.

And then somehow I was psychologically ready to be done at 20... almost took the step, then remembered... 22... 22 veterans a day. Suicide. This pain and effort is nothing.


I thought for my add on that today I'd give you some info on Traumatic Brain Injury (or TBI). This is a signature wound for the oil wars of recent years.

*  In 2015 22,594 US service members were diagnosed worldwide (meaning both those at home and those still abroad—all US military).
*  The peak diagnosis was in 2011when nearly 33,000 people were diagnosed.
*  The Army is the branch most likely to have these injuries.
*  They are most often explosion related (in the civilian population, these are nearly always accident—vehicle or sporting.
*  The mild version includes headache, memory issues, and irritability.
*  Moderate includes loss of consciousness at the time of injury and can include several weeks of confusion. Mental and physical deficits can be permanent.
*  Severe typically denotes a closed head injury with permanent deficits in brain function.
*  I looked everywhere for a RATE but all that is available is a count. This is frustrating, but I suppose influenced by the fact different people serve different amounts of time and risk would be spread in a strange way for this. Still—I find rates easier to interpret.