Page 26 - Colonel Jack News Today

Officials who tell us there are three confirmed dead after the shooting at ft. hood texas, two victims and the shooter himself. ft. hood is no longer in lockdown. the gunman who killed himself at ft. hood was 34-year-old ivan lopez, two officials say the gunman was wearing a uniform. we are awaiting a hospital press conference which should happen in this hour. joining me now by phone is jack jacobs. colonel jacobs, the president just spoke moments ago, he talked about the sense of safety thats b...

Treated for depression. some anxiety. he was being evaluated for ptsd, but that had not been concluded at this time. colonel jack jacobs was on, and he says, the military community is so tight-knit, in his belief, before the end of the day or very soon we will hear from other soldiers who interacted with specialist lopez and who may have seen signs. but certainly not that he would take lives, but that there may have been a problem escalating? >> so ptsd, its a process of a diagnosis. so i think ...

Is how he acted amongst peers, in his unit. you know because your father was in the service his entire life, that a military community is a very, very close community. people live together. they work together. except during off-duty hours, which arent many, by the way, theyre never out of each others sight. its a bit like a family, and as a result, if somebody is going to be acting strangely, you know about it well before the fact. theres something wrong. you know theres something wrong. >> you ...

Occur by itself. the things that you consider in situations like this, number one, is depression. and when people experience the symptoms of depression, if its severe, they do experience feelings of worthlessness or helplessness, and these are the symptoms that lead to suicidal thoughts. in addition to depression, people in this situation typically have something called generalized anxiety, where they have difficulty controlling how much they worry about things, and get excessively anxious about...

Vietnam in early september, 1969. to note that some of these are vietnam vets. my dad, a vietnam vet. colonel, and we know the sensitivities that -- and rightfully so -- that many vietnam vets have in the way they feel theyve been treated. >> very unpopular war. we had a draft, so it was not universal service. if you could not escape, you wound up in the service. and its interesting that all those people, a large majority of people who wound up in the service, many against their will, performed ...

Jack jacobs from seattle, retired colonel bayer mccaffrey and david wood. colonel jack, i want to start with you as someone who has received the medal of honor. tell us what you can. we all just watched that ceremony. its ongoing. but incredibly emotional. the folks who are still alive and then the generations that have passed for many families. three in some cases, veterans who deserve the medal of honor in world war ii and are only now receiving it, what does the ceremony mean to you and what ...

Through the records painstakingly and correcting those wrongs that have been done to these men. >> yeah. colonel jack, in terms of the bureaucracy catching up to the camaraderie and the colorblindness if you will that is on the field, what was -- i mean, if you with remember in 2002 congress passed this as an act. what was the resist ance of the dod and acknowledging there had been discrimination and then correcting that discrimination? >> this isnt the first time there has been a directed revie...

Grief and sorrow that they lost a comrade, but guilt that they couldnt do more, that there was something they left undone. and they carried that. and were just beginning to learn to recognize this as a moral injury and to find new ways to treat it, which i think theres some interesting work being done that ive written about quite extensively. >> yes, you have. and david, thank you for the writing, of course. colonel jack, thank you for your service. and its an honor, always, to sit beside you fo...

Their pocket tomorrow. >> colonel jack, let me bring you in, chairman martin dempsey says this budget helps us remain the worlds finest military, modern, capable, and ready, even while transforming to a smaller, more affordable force over time. a former nato supreme ally commander in europe said, whether its smart or not is yet to be seen, but i think its necessary to do, given the constraints that we face fiscally within the united states. >> you start with the premise that you need to make the...

Spouse magazine says, quote, this is essentially the secretary of defenses own version of the sequester. lets just cut it off at the knees and screw whoever it hurts. thats not a very wholistic approach. joining me now is colonel jack jacobs, medal of honor recipient and msnbc analysis and debra blabbert with blue star families. blue star families is also speaking out against the cuts. thank you both for joining us. debra, let me first start with you, because i think you talked to many families ...