Mikal Vega is a former Navy SEAL & Chief Petty Officer— a 22 year military veteran who survived numerous dangerous combat operations and deployments only to be nearly killed by the cocktail of psychiatric drugs prescribed him by military doctors.
Now retired from the military, Mikal works to help Veterans overcome problems suffered in battle without the use of mind-altering psychiatric drugs or psychiatric labels. Currently Mikal is an actor who can be seen in such films as Transformers 3&4 and the web series Black – he uses his acting to help fund and promote his non-profit organization, Vital Warrior.
He was one of four individuals who received a human rights award from the mental health watchdog CCHR International, in Los Angeles recently, presented by CCHR Commissioners, Danny Masterson & Jason Dohring. Previous award winners include members of Congress, state legislators, attorneys, medical doctors, whistleblowers, and civil and human rights activists.
Former Navy Seal & Army Colonel Awarded for Fight Against Mass Drugging of Our Armed Forces
By Kelly Patricia O’Meara
Citizens Commission on Human Rights International
Excerpts:
In the wake of an epidemic of suicides among military personnel, retired Chief Petty Officer, Navy SEAL, Mikal Vega and retired Army Colonel and psychologist, Bart Billings don’t believe that “taking care of their own” ends on the battlefield and are courageously speaking out about the harm caused by the mass drugging of service men and women.
Coinciding with the mental health watchdog, Citizens Commission on Human Rights’ (CCHR) release of their documentary, The Hidden Enemy, which reveals in great detail psychiatry’s infiltration and abuse of military forces, CCHR honored Vega and Billings during its 45th Anniversary and Human Rights Awards Banquet on February 1st, in Los Angeles.
Vega and Billings were being honored for their advocacy on behalf of their brothers-in-arms who have experienced psychiatric abuses in the military. Each, in his own way, has gone above and beyond the call of duty, carrying the battlefield mantra of “no man is left behind” to the home front.
One in six American service members is on at least one psychiatric drug and between 2005-2011, the U.S. Department of Defense increased their prescription of psychiatric drugs by nearly seven times. That’s more than thirty times faster than the civilian rate. Last year, more service members died by suicide than in combat and 22 veterans are killing themselves every day.
Both of the award recipients are intimately familiar with the devastating rate of drugging going on in the military under the guise of “treatment.”
Retired Army Colonel and psychologist, Bart Billings, is no less passionate about the harm being inflicted upon the nation’s military. As one of the first professionals to disclose the link between psychotropic drug use and military suicides, Billings founded an annual International Military and Civilian Combat Stress Conference to promote effective, integrative, alternative and individual treatment approaches without the use of harmful psychiatric drugs.
Today’s military is being drugged at epidemic rates for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which according to Billings is not a disorder at all. “PTSD isn’t a disorder,” said Billings. “Ninety-nine percent of anybody that goes into combat is experiencing Post Traumatic Stress. It’s a normal reaction to being in an abnormal environment.”
“You shouldn’t really be medicating them,” Billings stated, “because they have a normal brain and once you medicate these people, what happens is it’s much, much harder to work with them because now you’re working with somebody whose brain functioning is chemically, physiologically changed by the medications.”
Billings believes that the best mental health is found in a strong sense of involvement and caring, which leads to trust. Billings said, “In my 47 years of treating people, although I had access to using psychiatric medication, I never recommended a single psychiatric drug. In all these years, I can state unequivocally, I therefore never had a person commit suicide or a homicide while in my care.”
The problem is, explained Billings, “As long as psychiatry’s in-charge of mental health in the military, you’re not going to see much change. Because they feel obligated to medicate people.”
Together Billings and Vega have shown that there is a better, more humane, way to treat our returning warriors and veterans.
Read the Full Story here.
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