About the Author

Victor Montgomery III is an educator and an expert in Crisis Intervention and Suicide Rescue, Combat Trauma Counseling and Addiction Therapy. Vic believes  in the therapeutic value of dialectical behavioral therapy, visualization techniques, storytelling, spiritual renewal and above all ...'heart-to-heart resusitation'. He believes in "anything that works and especially the addition of 12-step recovery work and sponsorship for addicts and alcoholics.". Most veteran combat warriors experience a 'wounded soul'  and therefore have a unique set of mental and behavioral health concerns that need to be evaluated.

Vic enlisted for the Marine Corps bootcamp in San Diego, California at the age of 18 and went through the advanced Infantry Training Regiment (ITR) combat training at Camp Pendleton as a 0311 'grunt', expert rifleman. This gung-ho 'leatherneck' served in the USMC from 1963 to 1967. He traveled across the "pond" (Pacific Ocean) in 1964 on the troop transport ship called the USS Mann and served 13 months over seas, initially stationed with 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Iwakuni Japan as military police base security and later received TAD orders to secure and support MAG and VMA air units flying Skyhawks and Phantoms out of DaNang and ChuLai Vietnam.  

As a Marine Corps veteran, Vic has worked with countless veterans and their families through VA crisis hotlines and out-patient clinics from Caifornia to New York. He received his Masters degree in Higher Education from the University of Phoenix; Graduate Studies in Clinical Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Human Development from Vanguard University of Southern California in Costa Mesa, California,. Vic received specialized training for veteran suicide crisis rescues by VA clincians at the VA Medical Center and in 2008 served on the National Suicide Crisis Hotline in Canandaigua, New York as a hotline therapist.

The author has worked many years as a primary therapist, family counselor, educator, crisis interventionist and certified and registered addiction specialist . He has counseled men and women and families for over twenty years. Vic is a licensed and registered ordained minister and served in chaplain services in California county jails and state prisons for 8 years. Today, Vic and his wife reside in Western Upstate New York.

Opinion/Editorial: When the Battle Comes Home : A Hotline Counselor     

May 13, 2010 - The Florida Times Union  Jacksonville.com 

written by SSgt. Leslie Wohlfeld

Sacrifices made by the military in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan already are out of sight for many Americans.

When the military return home, they often retreat even deeper into an invisible void.

Yet, the trauma experienced by repeated tours of combat can have a huge impact on the mental health of many soldiers, sailors and Marines, and not just those who have been in combat, either.

One witness to that trauma is Victor Montgomery, a counselor who has staffed a suicide hotline and heard the pain and anguish of both returned military, their friends and family.

He has heard the "frantic, crisis-induced phone calls."

"Extremely disturbing experiences that cause severe emotional shock confront many competent, healthy, stalwart honorable veterans," Montgomery writes in his book, Healing Suicidal Veterans. He has marshaled emergency help to some of them in order to prevent a tragic loss of life. The experience was so startling that he decided he needed to write a book to share his experiences with a wider audience.

Saving lives after combat

A more important issue can hardly be found.

Saving human lives, for one.

Lives that already have sacrificed for the nation.

Burdened by the horrors they have experienced, these veterans have discovered that they are incapable of handling their mental issues alone.

So they may turn to alcohol, drugs or other unhealthy behaviors, risking their families and jobs and finally, their lives.

Admitting helplessness in a military culture is doubly difficult. Sometimes you can't just "suck it up."

In his book, Montgomery describes the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans. And this disorder didn't originate recently.

Delayed reactions

He notes that more than 30 percent of Americans who fought in Korea may still suffer from post-traumatic stress.

Similar percentages apply to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he writes.

These wars, characterized by urban guerilla combat, are almost recipes for stress reactions.

The trauma of military combat "produces a profound sense of alienation and alarm," and threatens the basic assumption that one's environment is safe.

Successful treatment involves what Montgomery calls "heart-to-to-heart resuscitation."

This means "a genuine, caring and spiritually loving attitude toward every veteran; encouraging, motivating and coaching traumatized combat veterans to visualize pleasant thoughts far, far away from the combat zones."

Montgomery is convinced that multiple tours increase the possibility of post-traumatic stress. He quotes a study that each tour increases the likelihood by 12 percent. Four tours - 48 percent chance of experiencing post-traumatic stress.

Support from society

Once home, it's important that veterans feel support from society as a whole.

Too often, that was not the experience for Vietnam veterans.

"For the Vietnam vets, at homecoming, for the most part, they were not forgiven by society for killing," Montgomery writes.

Today's vets have more support, but those with mental illnesses still must deal with the stigma.

Military personnel are not trained to deal with these severe psychological burdens, though that may be changing, too.

Prevention

Resilience training is working its way into most phases of Army training, including families, too.

Most veterans learn how to deal with their trauma and don't experience post-traumatic stress.

For that, we can be grateful, but for those who need help, it makes no sense delaying treatment and risking suicide.

The nation deserves to take care of its volunteer warriors.

Mental illness is treatable, which makes the deaths a greater tragedy.

Montgomery tells veterans on the line, "It takes the courage of a warrior to ask for help.

"Don't let another day go by suffering alone.

"You do not have to allow your suicidal thoughts and depressed feelings of loneliness to go unexpressed or unattended.

"Remember that grief, stress, depression and suicidal thoughts are treatable mental health conditions."

Our veterans need to hear this over and over, so they summon the will to ask for help.

Meanwhile, the nation must be ready to provide it. 

Vic Presents: 'Lives in the Balance' Seminars/University Lectures/Conferences/ Community Workshops and in-service clinical staff training for treatment teams and practitioners.

It is a fact that the lack of proper suicide ideation training and education is the hidden 'enemy' combat warriors face when seeking psychological help back home! In fact, civilian and VA social workers, ER nurses and general practioners generally have not been educated and properly trained to identify symptoms of suicide and warning signs. They are trained while in graduate and medical school to refer to the DSM-IV diagnostic manual to identify axis codes to define mental disorders therefore, many combat veterans complaining of continuing nightmares, daily depression, hopelessess, confusion, anger and anxiety to the extent a diagnosis becomes muddled and coded only as a stress or mood disorder without assessing the real possibility of suicidal ideation. There are many examples of veterans being sent home from a doctors appointment without a thorough evaluation and assessment for suicidal possibilities and show up the next day in the local newspaper headlines reporting the veteran killing himself just hours after being seen and medicated by the VA practioner!What is the answer? Education,Training, Knowledge and Awareness equals early Intervention.

Seminar and Lecture Highlights:

• The Psycholoical Wounds of War- What happens in the war zone? 
• What is 'Battlemind Training', known today as Resilience Training?
• What exactly is Traumaic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as they result from combat trauma?
• What are delayed-onset symptoms of PTSD? What does that mean?
• Why do so many suffering veterans choose not to go to the VA for mental health treatment? Study: 75% do not go!
• Why is there such a 'stigma 'about mental health issues in the military? How does that relate to suicide?
• Discussion- learning to recognize suicide signs, symptoms and triggers - a look at several actual intervention case studies;
• Family Intervention- What can family and friends do to help a depressed and struggling vet?
• Are the psychological wounds of war a stress disorder or loss of identity? How do you identify which it is?
• Combat adrenaline rush- known as 'blood lust' - understanding the dynamics playing out at home;
• Why are combat warriors going to jail and prision?
• Women in the war zones - Military Sexual Tramua (MST) - Why are our women warriors not coming forward?
• Extreme Mental Hardship- multiple tours and combat drugs taking their toll - suicides on the rise;
• Identifying substance abuse and chemical dependency-self medication and addiction;
• Mental illness stigma in the military ... What does that mean? What is the impact back home?
• Our aging veterans-Vietnam & Korea - "don't forget about us..." Many delayed onsets!

What will you gain?

• A deep, inside look into the hearts, minds and real lives of  12 suicidal men and women combat veterans, disoriented, confused and disillusioned by the ravages of war trauma and the psychological wounds and mental health disabilities that dominate their very being when they returned home from the war zones, forever changed.
• The ability and confidence to look into the tear filled eyes, face-to-face, of a suicidal veteran, whether in the ER or clinic setting, reassurring him or her that: " Oh yes, there is a reason to live and I will tell you why."
• You will learn how to talk on the telephone with a suicidal vet... not being afraid of what to say to the caller but in fact knowing how to begin to build trust...while motivating and encouraging him or her to reach out for help; learning how, when and where to set-up a veteran rescue.
• How to identify signs and symptoms of suicide ideation and how to assess risk factors. Learn about the type of questions to ask and where and when to go for help.
• Learn how to support and offer resources to the family and friends of the veteran in distress and be equipped and ready to answer their pleas for help.

And much more...