Tag: veterans

A dream-like psychedelic might help traumatized veterans reset their brains

A new study suggests that the intensity of spiritual or “mystical” moments felt during psychedelic treatment may predict how well veterans recover from trauma symptoms. Researchers found that soldiers who reported profound feelings of unity and sacredness while taking ibogaine experienced lasting relief from post-traumatic stress disorder. These findings were published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

For decades, medical professionals have sought better ways to assist military personnel returning from combat. Many veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as well as traumatic brain injuries caused by repeated exposure to blasts. These conditions often occur together and can be resistant to standard pharmaceutical treatments. The lack of effective options has led some researchers to investigate alternative therapies derived from natural sources.

One such substance is ibogaine. This psychoactive compound comes from the root bark of the Tabernanthe iboga shrub, which is native to Central Africa. Cultures in that region have used the plant for centuries in healing and spiritual ceremonies. In recent years, it has gained attention in the West for its potential to treat addiction and psychiatric distress. Unlike some other psychedelics, ibogaine often induces a dream-like state where users review their memories.

Despite anecdotal reports of success, the scientific community still has a limited understanding of how ibogaine works in the human brain. Most prior research focused on classic psychedelics like psilocybin or MDMA. The specific psychological mechanisms that might allow ibogaine to alleviate trauma symptoms remain largely unexplored.

Randi E. Brown, a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, led a team to investigate this question. They worked in collaboration with the late Nolan R. Williams and other specialists in psychiatry and behavioral sciences. The team sought to determine if the subjective quality of the drug experience mattered for recovery. They hypothesized that a “mystical experience” might be a key driver of therapeutic change.

The concept of a mystical experience in psychology is specific and measurable. It refers to a sensation of unity with the universe, a transcendence of time and space, and deeply felt peace or joy. It also includes a quality known as ineffability, meaning the experience is too profound to be described in words. The researchers wanted to know if veterans who felt these sensations more strongly would see better clinical results.

The study analyzed data from thirty male Special Operations Veterans. All participants had a history of traumatic brain injury and combat exposure. Because ibogaine is not approved for medical use in the United States, the veterans traveled to a clinic in Mexico for the treatment. This setup allowed the researchers to observe the effects of the drug in a clinical setting outside the U.S.

The treatment protocol involved a single administration of the drug. The medical staff combined ibogaine with magnesium sulfate. This addition is intended to protect the heart, as ibogaine can sometimes disrupt cardiac rhythms. The veterans received the medication orally after a period of fasting. They spent the session lying down with eyeshades, generally experiencing the effects internally rather than interacting with others.

To measure the psychological impact of the session, the researchers administered the Mystical Experiences Questionnaire. This survey asks participants to rate the intensity of various feelings, such as awe or a sense of sacredness. The researchers collected these scores immediately after the treatment concluded.

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Two veterans shaped the UFO phenomenon from a joke into real federal policy

For more than three quarters of a century, reports of strange objects in the sky have unsettled pilots, challenged scientists, and tested the credibility of governments.

What began in the late 1940s as scattered sightings of so-called flying saucers has evolved into a modern national security issue discussed openly in Congress under the term Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP. Two men, separated by generations but united by military service and a refusal to accept official dismissals, played defining roles in that transformation. Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe and Luis Elizondo each forced the United States to confront uncomfortable questions about what is operating in its airspace and how much the government should tell the public.

Their work reflects not only changing technologies but also changing attitudes toward secrecy, transparency, and the responsibilities of democratic institutions. Together, they form a continuous historical thread linking the earliest UFO debates of the Cold War to today’s formal federal reporting systems.

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The Balance Between Incentivizing Death and Saving the Lives of Veterans, as Hundreds of Millions Are Paid Out to Families for Their Loss

When veterans take their own lives, their families may receive financial support if the veteran was covered by Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI).

The real question isn’t whether families should receive these payments, but rather if more could be done to prevent such tragic losses without encouraging financial motives.

It’s a delicate balance to strike, and it’s an issue that deserves careful, thoughtful consideration.

A recent article from The Gateway Pundit highlighted a question posed by the Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI) program, which has raised concerns for Sonny Fleeman, a combat veteran and federal whistleblower. That is, “Is there a suicide exclusion?”

The response is, “No—claims related to suicide are not excluded.” For this reason, Fleeman contended that this might incentivize veterans to take their own lives in order to secure financial benefits for their families.

The combat veteran is not suggesting that the families of service members should be denied this financial benefit. What he previously expressed is that “the current design quietly weaponizes despair in a population already on the edge.”

His primary desire is for veterans to prioritize seeking help for their conditions rather than focusing on financial rewards for their families.

On October 28, 2025, Fleeman submitted a Freedom of Information Act request concerning VGLI death claims, suicides, and payout data. Once considered “not public interest,” the results are now in.

“Based on VA’s own totals from 1999 to 2023, 2,602 suicide-classified death claims out of 66,593 total claims—about 4%, or roughly one out of every 25—show that suicide is a meaningful and recurring share of VGLI payouts,” Fleeman told The Gateway Pundit.

“From 2004 to 2023,” he said, “those suicide-related claims accounted for more than $370 million, averaging tens of millions of dollars each year.”

The federal whistleblower emphasized that the dataset alone cannot determine whether VGLI’s experience is typical or uniquely elevated compared to private sector group life insurance.

“That requires apples-to-apples actuarial benchmarks—age and risk adjustments and comparable cause-of-death definitions—that aren’t publicly available to my knowledge,” he explained.

“Given that VGLI serves a known high-risk population and has no suicide exclusion,” Fleeman argued, “it’s reasonable to suspect the suicide share may be elevated, but confirming that is beyond me and requires independent benchmarking against private sector.”

Ultimately, he stated, it is “essential to find a solution” that prevents veterans from feeling as though the message conveyed by the policy is: “The only way to support your family is through your death.”

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Lawsuit Filed After Minnesota Officials Allegedly Weaponized Zoning Laws Against Free Camping Program for Disabled Veterans

A bombshell federal civil rights lawsuit filed in Minnesota accuses St. Louis County officials of waging a years-long, politically motivated campaign to shut down a nonprofit that provides free primitive camping and outdoor therapy to disabled veterans.

The 121-page complaint, filed in U.S. District Court, alleges systemic corruption, disability discrimination, abuse of power, and constitutional violations by county commissioners, planning officials, attorneys, and township leaders who, according to the lawsuit, colluded to block a veteran-focused nonprofit because they simply did not want those veterans on the land.

At the center of the case is Rough-N-It Inc., a nonprofit founded to provide free, non-commercial camping for disabled veterans, many of whom cannot afford resort fees and rely on outdoor therapy as part of their recovery.

According to the lawsuit, county staff repeatedly claimed the project offered “no public benefit,” even after being explicitly informed multiple times that the sole purpose of the land use was to serve disabled veterans.

The complaint alleges officials never conducted the legally required Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) analysis, instead relying on stereotypes and hostility toward veterans with disabilities.

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VA’s Veterans’ Group Life Insurance Pays Out on Suicide, Incentivizing Death Then Calling the Data ‘Not Public Interest’

A troubling discovery has surfaced for veterans, one that says their life insurance can read like a financial plan for their own death. As for the VA’s reaction, one veteran claims it has been nothing but “silence and stonewalling.”

The Gateway Pundit spoke to Fleeman, who explained that he is referring to Veterans’ Group Life Insurance (VGLI), the program the government sells as financial security for former service members. He spoke solely in his personal capacity, emphasizing that his views are his own and do not represent the views or official positions of the U.S. Government, the United States military, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or any other organization with which he is or has been affiliated.

Using the VA’s comparison worksheet for VGLI, Fleeman pointed out his specific concern. VGLI asks, “Is there a suicide exclusion?”  And according to what the insurance program offers, “No – suicide claims are not excluded.”

“Most Americans think suicide voids life insurance,” Fleeman noted. “But if you’re a veteran under VGLI, VA is telling you the opposite.” In fact, if a veteran dies by suicide while covered, the policy still pays. “Now imagine reading that when you’re behind on the mortgage and waking up every night in a cold sweat,” said Fleeman.

“This might look compassionate in a low-risk population, [but] veterans are not that population,” he pointed out. “These are people carrying blast injuries, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), moral injury, chronic pain, and shattered marriages.”

“VA publishes report after report acknowledging that veterans die by suicide at far higher rates than civilians. Everyone in the system knows this is one of the most vulnerable groups in the country.”

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Congress Abandons Effort To Let VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana On Veterans Day

Advocates are sharply criticizing congressional leaders for advancing a spending bill ahead of Veterans Day on Tuesday that omits bipartisan provisions allowing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to recommend medical cannabis to patients in states where it’s legal—even though the policy was approved by the full Senate and House of Representatives earlier this year.

While there’s been significant focus on language in appropriations legislation that passed the Senate on Monday that would ban hemp products containing THC, another key setback for reform advocates is the lack of the medical marijuana provisions for veterans—different versions of which advanced through both chambers.

“The absence of this provision is incredibly disappointing, and makes no sense whatsoever,” Morgan Fox, political director of NORML, told Marijuana Moment. “It is uncontroversial, revenue-neutral, previously approved by both chambers, and long overdue in order to help veterans find relief.”

“The timing of the announcement—just days before a holiday to show our gratitude to service members—is quite insensitive,” he said, referring to the bill’s unveiling on Sunday, just two days before Veterans Day.

Here’s the text of the House-passed version: 

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Veterans Affairs in this Act may be used to enforce Veterans Health Directive 1315 as it relates to—

(1) the policy stating that ‘VHA providers are prohibited from completing forms or registering Veterans for participation in a State-approved marijuana program’;

(2) the directive for the ‘Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management’ to ensure that ‘medical facility Directors are aware that it is VHA policy for providers to assess Veteran use of marijuana but providers are prohibited from recommending, making referrals to or completing paperwork for Veteran participation in State marijuana programs’; and

(3) the directive for the ‘VA Medical Facility Director’ to ensure that ‘VA facility staff are aware of the following’ ‘[t]he prohibition recommending, making referrals to or completing forms and registering Veterans for participation in State-approved marijuana programs’.”

The Senate-passed language reads:

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Veterans Affairs in this Act may be used in a manner that would—

(1) interfere with the ability of a veteran to participate in a medicinal marijuana program approved by a State;

(2) deny any services from the Department to a veteran who is participating in such a program; or

(3) limit or interfere with the ability of a health care provider of the Department to make appropriate recommendations, fill out forms, or take steps to comply with such a program.”

The negotiated bill contains no language on the issue at all.

“Denying our veterans access to a medicine that so many use to ease physical pain, or the trauma of PTSD, is straight cruelty,” Adam Smith, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment.

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Nothing says ‘Veterans Day’ than military families in a food line

According to reports at Military.com, which as a staple covers the daily lives and military families living on and off bases across the United States, thousands of military families are seeking food assistance due to the government shutdown, which is the longest in American history.

The shutdown reached a breakthrough on Monday night, as the Senate voted on a compromise bill to reopen the government. The measure must go now to the Republican controlled House and faces an uncertain future there.

In the meantime, it’s Veterans Day, which is typically marked by parades and school-based tributes throughout the country, but on military bases, apparently, it is passing amid consternation and stress, as servicemembers and their families face a month without pay.

The impact of the longest government shutdown in history, which as of Monday surpassed 40 days but potentially could reopen this week due to Senate Democrats reaching across the aisle, is hitting military families in every branch, state and pay grade.

Families that live paycheck to paycheck are asking for food, gas and diapers. National Guard and Reserve troops are struggling because canceled drills mean no pay. Nonprofits are shipping emergency groceries to keep cupboards from going empty. A previous Military.com report warned that troops may soon miss paychecks if the shutdown is not resolved.

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An Inconvenient and Problematic Holiday

Smedley Butler was just referenced, and the Veterans For Peace chapter — the Smedley Butler chapter up here — that was the very first Veterans For Peace outfit that I ever came into contact with. At that point in 2009, as I was speaking out against the Afghan war, I’d spent 10 years in the Marine Corps, time in the State Department. I was a young man [I’ll add arrogant] and this idea of Veterans For Peace was kind of like, who are these loons? Who are these guys that I’ve got to now spend some time with?

And I was just absolutely enthralled with them, endeared with them—not just for their passion or for their experience, but because of their knowledge and because they put into practice, because they put into action what they had gone through. The mission of Veterans For Peace is to educate about the true costs of war. And that’s what Veterans For Peace does. That’s what chapters in Veterans For Peace, like the Smedley Butler chapter in Massachusetts, helped me do.

Because as I was starting to speak out against the war and going through this psychological, psychiatric, spiritual struggle with who I had once been, it was finding resonance, finding familiarity, finding fellowship and comradeship with members of Veterans For Peace that really helped me survive that process.

Easily the Most Profitable, Surely the Most Vicious

I want to go back to Smedley Butler for a bit. I know we have a youth group here, and they may not be familiar with Smedley Butler. He is the most decorated Marine in Marine Corps history. If the rules had been different, he’d be the most decorated service member across the entire US military’s history. Smedley Butler served for 33 years in the Marine Corps. He received two Medals of Honor. If the rules had been different, he would have received a third.

Following his service, he decried war. He broke from the silence that often accompanies [service members], particularly general officers, when they retire. He broke from that and he spoke out against not just war, but America’s imperialism.

I want to take a moment to read a couple of his more poignant or forceful quotes. Smedley Butler’s definition or commentary on war was that:

War is a racket. It has always been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

He spoke about his own career, his own service, what he actually did. And I’m going to read the longer quote here because I think it’s very important as we are on the verge of war in Venezuela, and I think a broader war possibly throughout Central and South America to achieve the Trump administration’s grand strategy of consolidation of control of the hemisphere.

Of his own career, Major General Butler said:

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service. And during that period, I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of a half dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902 to 1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interest in 1916. I helped make Honduras ripe for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927, I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do is operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

You recognize his storyline, what he’s sharing there about what he actually was doing as a gangster for capitalism, as he described his military service. Juxtapose that with not just this administration, but going back decades, American administrations and their role, their intervention, their interference in Latin America. And you can see why — and I say this to the youth group that’s here — you can see why people like me, people like Dean, your teachers, we bang on about learning about history. As Mark Twain said, history may not repeat itself, but it certainly does rhyme.

Smedley Butler’s Medals of Honor—he received one for his action in Mexico, one for his action in Haiti. And again, if the rules had been different, he would have received a third one for his actions in China. And I wonder how many Americans know that 100 years ago or 110 years ago, we had men winning medals of honor for military action in Mexico or in China, let alone the rest of the [world].

I wanted to take that time to share about Smedley Butler because he is so instructive, not just his words that accurately describe American imperialism and American military service, but because it’s not distant, it’s not removed. This is congruent. This is a continuous line of history.

When I was [a kid] in the 80s, when I was the age of you guys in the youth group here, we [the US] were in Central America. Constantly there was this idea, this story about American troops may be going to [Central] America. American troops may be going to help in El Salvador or to maybe go to war in Nicaragua. And all the storylines were the same. Well, if we don’t do something to stop the communists in Nicaragua, then they’re going to take Guatemala next and they’re going to take Mexico after that. And next thing you know—I mean, it’s all the same storyline that gets repeated over and over again.

And so here we are now with this administration, of course, what looks like on the verge of carrying out military operations to overthrow the Venezuelan government while murdering people in speedboats, extrajudicially, unconstitutionally, and of course, threatening the rest of Latin America. We saw the news last week. The American government is making plans for military action in Mexico. So, 111 years after Smedley Butler receives his medal of honor in Mexico, we have troops lining up to [once again] do the same.

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Approaching Veterans Day: Military Moral Injury, Violence, and the Parable of the Guinea Worm

Veterans? Who are they? And how in the world did they get a “day”? After all, here’s a curious fact: since World War II ended in victory, the United States, often seen as the greatest power on planet Earth, has indeed fought a seemingly endless series of wars from Korea and Vietnam in the last century to Afghanistan and Iraq in this one (and all sorts of more minor conflicts as well) without ever — yes, ever! — winning any of them. In May, it was clear enough that, at some deep level, Donald Trump had grasped that reality because he seemed eager to take November 11th away from America’s veterans and rename it “Victory Day for World War I” (with May 8th to be declared “Victory Day for World War II”). Admittedly, he backed down on that fast, but it still tells you something about this world of ours that, 80 years after World War II ended, when it comes to the country now heading for a trillion-dollar “defense” budget, there hasn’t been a victory in sight for decades.

And that hasn’t stopped Donald Trump and crew, whether in Somalia (yes, Somalia!), where his administration has launched a record 89 airstrikes so far this year, or in the Caribbean Sea, where it’s been ramping up American forces (including sending in an aircraft carrier task force) and making a habit out of blowing the boats of supposed drug smugglers out of the water there and in the Pacific Ocean, too, at least 18 of them as I was writing this (killing at least 70 people), and possibly preparing for an invasion not just of Venezuela, but also conceivably of various cities in this country.

And yes, you know that you’re in a new world when, with the government shutdown still ongoing, the president pays part of the salaries of the U.S. military with a $130 million donation from one of his billionaire supporters.

Welcome to his version of Veterans Day 2025. Now, let TomDispatch regular Kelly Denton-Borhaug give you some sense of how endless disastrous conflicts have affected America’s own troops.

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