College Students: Mental Health Care Field Needs You

From my Northern Star column today:

There is a need for health care professionals in our military. Don’t know what to do after college? Maybe you can answer the call.

Leo J. Shapiro & Associates is a premier Chicago-based market research firm. Every month, the 50-year-old company surveys Americans on how they feel about a variety of issues, such as spending and saving, consumer prices and the stock market, and income and job security.

In August, they reported that nearly 40 percent of us are worried about losing our income because of a job layoff or cut in work hours.

It was the fourth month in a row that Americans were so downbeat. Clearly, a lot of us are anxious about our future. And college students are no different. If anything, their anxieties are compounded: College students not only worry about their future job security, they also worry about choosing the right major.

Are PTSD Veterans Slated to Lose Their Right to Possess Firearms?

I haven't peered deeply enough into this issue, but I've been hearing bits and pieces of this story for the past couple of months. The following explanation of this hot button issue is from a Military.com column by VAWatchdog.org editor Larry Scott:

There is no such thing as the “Veterans Disarmament Act.” There is no pending legislation that would take firearms away from veterans. There is no pending legislation that would prevent a person with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), veteran or not, from purchasing a firearm or ammo.

But, there is a huge campaign of misinformation and scare tactics being forwarded by a small gun owners group who view themselves to be in competition with the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Let’s use some common sense instead of nonsense. If veterans were to lose the right to own firearms, you’d have a lot of unemployed cops. If those who have PTSD were to lose that right, there’d be even more unemployed cops and other first responders, as well. The arguments about a “Veterans Disarmament Act” are, quite simply, ridiculous and illogical.

The piece of legislation is question is H.R. 2640, the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007. H.R. 2640 was carefully-crafted by the NRA and Members of Congress to protect the rights of gun owners, especially those who may have mental health issues such as PTSD.

Alert: Tell your public officials how you feel about this legislation.

Returning Vets, Families Must Have Access to Critical PTSD Treatment

Caution and advice in a San Antonio Express-News opinion piece submitted by a former Army Medical Corps major and psychiatric physician at Brooke Army Medical Center:

Over the past few years I have talked with nearly 2,000 Vietnam-era and Iraqi veterans about their experiences in combat and the problems they face at home. Surveys confirm what I have seen and diagnosed. One in six veterans returns with combat- related stress problems, and yet less than one-third report their symptoms. Fewer still receive necessary treatment, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Many do not report their symptoms because they fear it may impact their employment or chance for promotion. They fear loss of high-level security clearances or the stigma of being thought of as crazy, imbalanced, weak or incompetent. And, sadly, they are probably right.

As a result, many veterans suffer in silence as they experience difficulties at home and work and in day-to-day activities. Many are confused about their conflicting emotions and turn to alcohol and/or drugs. They self-medicate, and self-medication can lead to even greater disaster. Family relationships suffer, friends are lost, and self-esteem plummets, sometimes leading to suicide. Indeed, according to a recently released Department of Defense report, suicide rates are 35 percent higher in veterans of Iraq than in the general population.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Continuing:

PTSD symptoms do not diminish over time. Even 40 years later, many Vietnam veterans suffer from worsened symptoms, which have become habitualized and much more difficult to treat.

Most received no diagnosis or treatment until recently. A more timely diagnosis and treatment of returning Iraqi vets should go a long way toward preventing many of the problems faced by Vietnam veterans.

What should we be doing?

We need more research to identify treatment techniques that work and are accepted by veterans, such as Operation BATTLEMIND, developed at Walter Reed, which converts a "combat mind-set" to more appropriate civilian thoughts and behaviors.

Most important, successful treatment involves offering accessible care, with adequate and properly trained staff, to veterans and their families. ...If the experience of Vietnam veterans taught us anything, it is that the brave men and women we send to fight our wars deserve and require our support and encouragement. ...

They and their families — and, ultimately, society — are adversely impacted if veterans miss out on critical PTSD treatment. Don't we owe them that, and more, for the sacrifices they make on behalf of our country?

Who Will Be the New VA Secretary?

Now that Veterans Administration Secretary Jim Nicholson has announced his resignation, replacement names are starting to be bandied about. Here are a few...

From Time magazine:

President Bush has a job opening for the head of a department with a crushing backlog of work, a sharp increase in demand for services and a battered public image.

And yet the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs will have an easy act to follow, according to those for whom the job-holder serves. Jim Nicholson resigned the post Tuesday amid widespread criticism by veterans groups of his 29-month tenure. They urged the President to replace him with a strong advocate who has knowledge of the vast VA bureaucracy, health care and the growing complexity of the military. "We hope for somebody who knows their primary allegiance is to the veteran and not to the Administration or anybody else," said Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. ...

The resignation gives Bush a chance to demonstrate his commitment to veterans, including the growing numbers of those who had fought in his wars. Their representatives want a secretary who "understands that this is a new military, a new war, and there are new issues ranging from traumatic brain injury to the fact that 15% of our forces are women," said Rieckhoff. He said the President could make a "powerful statement" by choosing someone who has fought in Iraq or Afghanistan, like Tammy Duckworth, an Army helicopter pilot who lost both legs in Iraq and is now director of veterans affairs in Illinois. Appointing Duckworth would send a message beyond the veterans community. She lost a congressional race last November, running as a Democrat.

As with Max Cleland, a Vietnam War amputee who was secretary under Jimmy Carter, choosing Duckworth would let vets know that "one of their own" was tasked to "help care for them," Rieckhoff said. "Max Cleland is an inspiration to generations of veterans regardless of your political affiliations. Tammy is cut from the same cloth."

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

From the Denver Post editorial board:

Jim Nicholson's resignation as Secretary of the Veterans Administration gives President Bush a golden opportunity to harness the growing bipartisan determination to improve the care given to America's veterans.

With less than 18 months to go before he leaves office, the president should resist the urge to appoint a place-holder to head the VA, which, with 235,000 employees, is the federal government's second-largest agency. Instead, Bush should replace Nicholson with someone like Jesse Brown, the disabled Vietnam veteran who revitalized the VA during the Clinton administration, spurring it to provide more veterans greater access to a broader range of health care services. ...

A presidential commission chaired by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Donna Shalala, who was Health and Human Services Secretary under Clinton, is now pressing for sweeping reforms in the VA's network. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed those efforts Wednesday while criticizing shortcomings at the agency, including a backlog of more than 400,000 veterans-benefit claims waiting to be processed by the VA.

The momentum is thus building for far-reaching reforms to aid American veterans. We urge President Bush to seize the moment and appoint a dynamic new leader at the VA.

From the East Valley Tribune [Phoenix, AZ]:

Former Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley, a disabled Vietnam War veteran, is being recommended by members of Arizona’s congressional delegation to become the new secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., has recommended to the White House that Romley be appointed to replace Jim Nicholson, who announced his resignation as secretary of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday, Kyl spokesman Ryan Patmintra said Thursday. Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., also sent a letter to President Bush recommending Romley for the job.

Romley, a Republican who had already taken a job to be a personal adviser to Nicholson, said Wednesday he has not been contacted by the White House. “If I was asked to assume that position, I would be honored,” Romley said. “There’s not a greater honor than to serve the veterans of this country.”

Will add to this as more names are tossed up.


 Related Posts

• Response to Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson's Resignation
  
• Traumatic Brain Injury: IAVA's Rieckhoff and VA's Nicholson Square Off

Buzzflash Review of 'Moving a Nation to Care'

Yeah! Buzzflash reviews Moving a Nation to Care:

Ilona Meagher is a product of the new citizen journalism. Coming upon the plight of GIs with PTSD returning from Iraq, she decided to start an online account of the plight of troops with PTSD. In turn, this drew the attention of other blogs and websites.

Eventually, she developed enough material for a compelling...wake-up call to the nation to help those who served our country. ...Beyond the compelling subject matter of "Moving a Nation to Care," Meagher's book is evidence that citizen journalists are creating a new media that is more relevant, in many ways, than the mainstream media.

Additional reviews. Click on 'Article Link' below tags for much more...

ePluribus Media spoke on this whole citizen journalism thing Buzzflash mentions. Last week, Cho wrote about her recent Wisconsin Associated Press Editors Annual Meeting keynote address, "Bridging the Gap Between Traditional Media and the Citizen Journalists."

A year ago, as a participant in the UMass MediaGiraffe project in Amherst, I was struck by how, even in a symposium dedicated to sticking our necks out and sharing ideas across boundaries, the attendees, myself included, seemed to cling to our own tribes. Print media over here; broadcasters over there; citizen journalists and bloggers in that corner, activists in yet another.

Much of this self-segregation may have been caused by the venue itself, an underground concrete space with dark large cavernous rooms. It wasn’t until the last day that real sharing began, and by that time, most of the representatives from the traditional media had gone home.

But much has changed in a year.

Cho continues (or rather begins):

Steve Outing in his June 2005 PoynterOnline article identifies 11 phases of citizen journalism, moving from the “one to many” to the “many to many” model of news. The 11 phases go from a simple dabble one’s toes in the water to a full scale, powered-by-the-people journalism effort. His article seeks to give advice to the traditional media trying to understand and harness the energy and dynamism of online citizen- produced news.

Two years later, a recent google on the search string citizen journalism produced over 1,280,000 hits. Clearly, it is a term with many connotations and flavors, but the common element is the so-called non professional contributing to the news (and some say the noise) in the public sphere. My talk identified the five types most commonly known. ... [they include hyperlocal, participatory, activist, blogger, and aggregator]

Activist Journalism advocates for an issue, but is not limited to politics, though the most commonly known are. Two such examples are the work of Ilona Meagher and Susie Dow who research, document and advocate for their issues: for Meagher (another Media Giraffe alum), [PTSD] in returning veterans resulting in her recent book Moving a Nation to Care and for Susie Dow, the missing details about civilian contractors in theaters of war.

The term Bloggers is sometimes used interchangeably with that of citizen journalists – but more and more “blogger” is becoming the pejorative to refer to the pajama clad, wild-eyed rantist who, working in solitude, cuts and pastes material from traditional media publications and keyboards a screed. Despite that perception, within the ranks of the solo blogger are many outstanding experts – several of whom are far more well-informed in their area of expertise than the Washington beltway pundits.

These bloggers provide an often untapped wealth of information about their subject matter. One well-known example is Juan Cole a University of Michigan professor, who through his blog Informed Comment – is now regarded as one of the leading experts on the Middle East.

Please read the rest as the Buzzflash review propels us out:

Meagher cares deeply about how this administration crafted a war that maximized the likelihood of increasing the occurrences of PTSD -- and then didn't provide adequate funding or support for its victims. Like wounded Iraqis, GIs with PTSD are just so much collateral damage to the White House.

What makes "Moving a Nation to Care" particularly significant is that it is grounded in personal accounts of how many GIs with PTSD arrived at where they are. This is a well-researched book that combines facts, details and personal accounts into a compelling call for assisting our own victims of a fraudulent war.

Ilona Meagher truly supports our troops and cares about their well-being as they return to a country. ... Meagher identified an injustice done to our troops and has sought to do something about it with the power of the pen.

That, our friends, is a true patriot.

Cheers and thanks to Mr. Karlin and everyone at Buzzflash.

And ePluribus Media without fail, too.

On Those Who Have Served in Afghanistan

Moving piece by an OEF vet in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Afghanistan is littered with literally millions of unexploded mines from decades of war, and many foreign nationals work there clearing these mines -- by hand. When two African nationals got careless one day, one was blown in half, and the other lay mortally wounded. One of our troops nearby charged into the minefield and carried the wounded man out. When I asked him later if he had been put in for a citation for bravery, he shyly replied: "I don't know, sir. I'm just kinda happy to be alive."

After an explosive ordnance team set a timer on a controlled detonation of captured munitions in Afghanistan's Farah province, members quickly exited the area. When their Hummer hit a land mine, the entire engine compartment was separated from the rest of the vehicle.

Without thinking, four of our troops -- part of a security team -- climbed into their vehicle and sped in to help, knowing that a huge explosion was imminent. When they reached the disabled vehicle, they realized that there was no room for the casualties in the Hummer. Thinking quickly, they stacked the wounded EOD soldiers on the hood and scrambled away from the danger. Only after the explosion did they consider that where there was one mine, there were surely more.

These are only a few snapshots of the soldiers I had the privilege and honor to serve alongside overseas. Having witnessed their courage and dedication firsthand, I have had to reassess my view of the "Greatest Generation."

The men and women who've fought for this country -- in any conflict -- deserve this distinction. And the soldiers with whom I served in Afghanistan are the greatest of the great.

I'd heartily agree.

After We Fix the VA, Let's Set Our Sights on Building Community

Posted by PR Director at Soldiers Angels Network:

I am watching the growing furor over the shortcomings in the Veterans administration system and the fallout from Walter Reed Army Hospital with growing alarm. I am concerned that we are going to fix the crisis and forget the problem.

The problem is how to help warriors, and their families, successfully reintegrate back into our communities, and their homes, after combat. A portion of that problem is health care related. For a majority of combat vets, however, only a small part of their reintegration challenge has to do with health care for physical injuries. Behavioral and mental health are bigger issues. And for most, the biggest challenge is relational: rebuilding marriages, reconnecting with children, rejoining friends, rejoining the global economy, getting back to the communities of faith we left, etc.

The problem with focusing on the VA is we may well fix the VA only to convince ourselves that the reintegration of our combat veterans is a government program, not a community process. If we expect the government to take care of everything, we will have failed our combat veterans and their families as well as ourselves.

We have sent our precious men and women to war. The VA can't bring them home. Only we can. We have a moral obligation to insure that all of our combat veterans come all the way home to their families, their jobs, their schools and their communities.

A government program can't do that. A community can.

------------------
Major John Morris is a chaplain in the Minnesota Army National Guard. For more information about his and others' ground-breaking work on reintegrating returning soldiers, go to http://www.dma.state.mn.us/ and look for the "Beyond the
Yellow Ribbon" link.

Food for great thought.

Opinion: Proactive Community Needed to Help Troops Reconnect, Reintegrate

From the Spring Grove [MN] Herald:

I am watching the growing furor over the shortcomings in the Veterans Administration system and the fallout from Walter Reed Army Hospital with growing alarm. I am concerned that we are going to fix the crisis and forget the problem.

The problem is how to help warriors, and their families, successfully reintegrate back into our communities, and their homes, after combat. A portion of that problem is health care related. For a majority of combat vets, however, only a small part of their reintegration challenge has to do with health care for physical injuries. Behavioral and mental health are bigger issues. And for most, the biggest challenge is relational: rebuilding marriages, reconnecting with children, rejoining friends, rejoining the global economy, getting back to the communities of faith we left, etc.

The problem with focusing on the VA is we may well fix the VA only to convince ourselves that the reintegration of our combat veterans is a government program, not a community process. If we expect the government to take care of everything, we will have failed our combat veterans and their families as well as ourselves.

We have sent our precious men and women to war. The VA can't bring them home. Only we can. We have a moral obligation to ensure that all of our combat veterans come all the way home to their families, their jobs, their schools and their communities.

A government program can't do that. A community can.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for suggestions...

Opinion piece included in full in the interest of education.

each of us needs to roll up our sleeves and do more than castigate the VA. It means the following:

If you are a health care provider in Minnesota, do the right thing: Become a Tricare provider. Tricare is the insurance the government issues to mobilized reservists and guardsmen.

Two-thirds of Minnesota health care providers are not Tricare providers. The result: We do not have an in-patient chemical dependency treatment center in Minnesota that is a Tricare provider. We have a dire shortage of behavioral mental health providers who are Tricare providers. The VA can't fix this ... we can.

If you are an educator, sign up for an Operation Military Kids workshop and learn about the daunting challenges our 7,000 Minnesota military kids face when their parent marches off to war, and when they return. Help our children while we are at war. Parent educators, we need you to offer classes in every school district in Minnesota, for military families. We need your help in learning how to parent our children again.

If you are a member of the clergy, learn all you can about the toll combat takes on marriages, families, mothers and fathers of military personnel. You don't have to support the foreign policy to pray for us while we are in harm's way and to visit our parents, our spouses and our children while we are gone. When we come home, we need your help in putting our marriages, families and lives back together.

If you are an employer, please give my spouse some grace. She or he is juggling a job, a family, a home and a huge heartache. There are no laws to protect them while we are at war, as there are to protect my job when I come back. They struggle mightily and may need some special attention and some extra time off. Do the right thing - help them.

If you are a social service provider, learn all you can about combat operational stress, the challenges of reintegration for combat veterans and the impact of war on the family system. You are our "first call for help;" don't fail us because you choose not to invest in your professional development.

If you are a politician, don't politicize the shortfalls in the VA or the military medical system. We aren't pawns in an election cycle; we are your constituents, and we are counting on you to fix the problems. Energize the community on our behalf to do right by us. We're not asking for showy programs. We are asking for tangible signs of support in terms of services offered.

If you are our neighbors, and you are, don't "victimize" us. Most combat veterans come home without PTSD, mental disorders, physical wounds or destroyed lives. We generally readjust well and go on to live productive lives. Expect great contributions to society from us. We won't disappoint you. Challenge us to greatness; we know how to serve.

Watch over our families while we are gone. Extend a warm welcome home when we return. Walk with us through the months of readjustment, and make a place for us in the community. If we are among the tragic few who come home physically or mentally wounded, help us by connecting us to local, county, state and federal resources.

Certainly, address the problems with the VA, the military medical system and other systemic issues that face us. But, above all ... bring us all the way home.

A program can't do that. You can.

Major John Morris is a chaplain in the Minnesota Army National Guard. For more information about his and others' ground-breaking work on reintegrating returning soldiers, go to www.minnesotanationalguard.org and look for the "Beyond the Yellow Ribbon" link.

This is great advice for us all.


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Newspaper Editorials on Walter Reed Scandal

A sample of editorials from newspaper boards across the country in reaction to this week's Walter Reed hearings.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

From the Cincinnati Enquirer [Ohio]:

Playing the role of paralyzed Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic in "Born on the 4th of July," actor Tom Cruise exploded in an expletive-laden tirade against the New York VA hospital where Kovic was being treated - a place where the medical staff essentially ignored patients and rodents roamed freely about the halls.

Kovic's experience occurred more than 30 years ago.

Today, a similar environment has been found at one of the nation's highest-profile military hospitals, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington. An investigation by the Washington Post found some patients in rehabilitative care living among mold, rot, cockroaches and rats. The stories also described a bureaucracy that ignored complaints from patients and their families that is as intolerable as the rodents. ...

At a House subcommittee hearing Monday, as reported in the Washington Post, Army Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon said he was discharged from the hospital five days after suffering a brain injury and losing his left eye after being shot by an AK-47 in 2004, essentially to fend for himself. He's still waiting for plastic surgery on his eye and has had trouble working with the system, he said.

"The system can't be trusted," he was quoted as saying. "And soldiers get less than they deserve from a system seemingly designed and run to cut the costs associated with fighting this war. The truly sad thing is that surviving veterans from every war we've ever fought can tell the same basic story: a story about neglect, lack of advocacy and frustration with the military bureaucracy."

That is not right. We must do better. We can do better.

From the Lahontan Valley News [Nevada]:

Why did, as some patients' families have alleged, the hospital's administration and U.S. military ignore complaints about the conditions? Was it a funding issue, bureaucratic delays or simply an unwillingness to listen to criticism? We hope those questions are answered through the House panel's investigation of the scandal, and that changes are quickly enacted to prevent a similar situation from happening at Walter Reed and other veterans facilities.

A handful of Army administrators have been relieved from their posts, but fixing the issue of poor health care for veterans will take more than new faces in the military brass. What's needed is a comprehensive investigation into the nation's veterans health facilities and a commitment to maintaining a high level of care.

We urge veterans who have endured similar conditions at military hospitals to contact their congressional representatives and share their stories. Broader input on the issue of veterans health care will paint a clearer picture of its state. For those who have given of their health for the protection of American freedom, nothing but the best medical care should be considered acceptable.

From the Waco Tribune-Herald [Texas]:

Congressional hearings over the deplorable conditions that confront wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center are welcomed. And it’s about time. While Congress members are properly holding the military accountable for ignoring the shameful way war-wounded soldiers are treated, they also must not forget that Congress also should be held accountable. Congress has both funding and oversight authority over military and veterans health care.

The executive branch also must be held accountable. The president, as commander in chief, is head of the military. He also nominates the secretaries of defense and Veterans Affairs. Fortunately, showing outrage over the woeful treatment of wounded and maimed soldiers has been completely bipartisan. The White House also is investigating the care given to wounded soldiers and veterans.

The distressing treatment of Americans wounded in war and the subsequent inquiries, hearings and firings began with a series of Washington Post articles that reported the shoddy conditions and treatment soldiers were receiving at Walter Reed, which is located only a few blocks from the White House.

To no one’s surprise, the Walter Reed brass became defensive, attempted to minimize the problems and passed off responsibility down the chain of command. To everyone’s surprise, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who recently replaced controversial Donald Rumsfeld in that job, fired Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey, thanked the press for bringing these conditions to light and condemned the military brass for becoming defensive when their flaws were exposed.

Evidently Gates still has more work to do. The newly appointed commander of Walter Reed, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, attempted to characterize the Washington Post’s reporting as “one-sided” and “yellow journalism.” Kiley was appointed to replace Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was fired by Harvey before Harvey was fired by Gates. Kiley, who also is Army surgeon general, was head of Walter Reed during a period when many of today’s problems were taking root.

At Monday’s hearing of a House subcommittee held at Walter Reed, Kiley and other Walter Reed military leaders promised to review all outpatient operations and fix any problems. Thanks to the press reports of the regrettable conditions at Walter Reed, the Army’s crown jewel medical center, it has become apparent that many of these same conditions exist at other military and VA facilities around the nation.

There often is a bewildering, and sometimes impenetrable, bureaucratic maze that military outpatients and veterans must navigate to receive the medical care that they believe they were promised when they swore to risk their lives in defense of their country.

They deserve better, much better.

From the Milford Daily News [Massachusetts]:

As Congress prepared to open this week's hearings on the shoddy treatment of Iraq war veterans, TV networks were allowed to shoot crews spreading new paint on the walls of the outpatient facilities at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The larger story of the outrageous treatment of injured service members won't so easily be covered up.

Part of that larger story goes beyond the military brass who failed to do their duty by those who had fallen in war, beyond the Congress members who failed to provide oversight, and far beyond Walter Reed. It has to do with a policy that has been a hallmark of the Bush administration, especially in its most egregious failures: privatizing government services.

Bush and his appointees have pushed privatization throughout the federal government, especially at the Pentagon. Privatization of support services at Walter Reed began in 2000, and accelerated in 2002 under Bush's "competitive outsourcing" initiative.

That initiative eventually resulted in a five-year, $120 million contract for management services at Walter Reed awarded to IAP Worldwide, a company led by two former executives of Kellogg, Brown & Root, the giant defense contractor owned by Halliburton. That contract is credited with sparking an exodus of experienced personnel from Walter Reed. More than 300 federal employees left the facility in the months before the IAP takeover, and the 60 remaining workers were replaced by 50 IAP employees the day the contract took effect.

As a letter from the House committee investigating Walter Reed stated, "it would be reprehensible if the deplorable conditions were caused or aggravated by an ideological commitment to privatize government services regardless of the costs to taxpayers and the consequences for wounded soldiers."

The thread of privatization and cronyism runs through this administration's disasters: from Abu Ghraib, where private contractors had a role in intelligence-gathering, to New Orleans, where a major city paid the price after political appointees replaced experienced emergency service professionals at FEMA.

It will take more than a fresh coat of paint or the resignations of a few Army officials to erase the damage done at Walter Reed. Congressional investigators must also go beyond the surface fixes to find answers.

From Florida Today [part of the USA Today family]:

Since the stories broke two weeks ago in The Washington Post, Walter Reed's commanding general has been relieved, the Secretary of the Army fired and President Bush has formed a bipartisan panel to study the entire military health care system. But making a few top officials fall guys and relying on hollow White House assurances the system will be fixed won't cut it.

And it begs this question:

Where have they all been the past four years as the Iraq war worsened, the causality lists mounted, and the military and Department of Veterans Affairs facilities designed to aid them were clearly becoming overwhelmed? And as injured veterans, members of their families and veterans organizations were loudly calling for more funding and help?

The pattern here is the same deplorable one seen in so many aspects of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war -- no planning from the start, no honest evaluation of what's going wrong and ignoring, or covering up, reality as matters worsened.

In hearings Monday on Capitol Hill, Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., called Walter Reed the "tip of the iceberg" as reports poured in from around the nation of military facilities not coming close to providing wounded veterans with proper care. The ranks of those wounded are reflected in our own community, with 152 Iraq-Afghanistan veterans treated at the VA Outpatient Clinic in Viera and nearly 2,000 from around Central Florida at the VA facility in Orlando.

Most are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, other psychological problems and a host of physical injuries in what Orlando VA spokesman Barry Stanley calls "steady increases" in those seeking help.

One key aspect the investigations must uncover is how the Bush administration's outsourcing of veterans care to private companies -- including one at Walter Reed apparently run by two former Halliburton executives -- may be contributing to this nightmare. Tragically, this is the beginning of the story, not the end, as the Iraq war futilely grinds on and more are wounded.

From the Lebanon Reporter [Indiana]:

What links the appalling conditions at Walter Reed Medical Hospital and the conviction of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, for obstruction of justice? Both are symptomatic of the deep contempt with which the Bush administration views most Americans.

The on-going scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is a symptom of the disease sickening the administration. Conditions at Reed, supposedly the pinnacle of U.S. military medicine, were physically repulsive; the bureaucratic mess facing wounded soldiers was nothing less than immoral.

President Bush, as commander in chief, is ultimately responsible for the conditions at Walter Reed. He’s “the decider.” He appointed the Veterans Administration secretary. He’s the boss. Can the administration’s contempt for the public really be so profound? Yes. And it means that Libby’s conviction should be the beginning, not the end, of an investigation into the administration’s conduct.

From the Charleston Daily Mail [South Carolina]:

Complaints about VA hospitals are nothing new, nor are scandals such as the one at Walter Reed. Perhaps the time has come for the government to consider getting out of the hospital business. Veterans may well be better off with government-issued health cards that would enable them to be treated and cared for at regular hospitals.

It is not as if the U.S. government skimps on care for those who have served in the military. The Bush administration proposes spending $36.6 billion next year on VA health programs. The government does not run Medicare hospitals for the elderly or Medicaid hospitals for the indigent. Those programs use regular doctors, hospitals and other medical professionals to provide health care.

The Bush administration should consider doing the same for veterans. The government is very good at amassing mountains of paperwork, but is not so good at handling people.

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• Walter Reed Hearings Get Underway Today
  
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• More WaPo Fallout: Senators, WH, Veterans and Pundits Chime In
  
• WaPo Reporter Dana Priest on Don Imus Show
• WaPo Investigation Fallout: Walter Reed Jumps Into Action
  
• WaPo Investigation, Part II: Walter Reed's Mologne House
  
• WaPo: Walter Reed Patients 'Neglected, Frustrated'
  
• Malingering as Vet Brain Injury Cases Soar

Join IAVA's Paul Rieckhoff on TPM Cafe Today

Paul Rieckhoff is tireless and a straight-shooter.

He's posted another great response to the Walter Reed scandal brought to light this week (if you missed his response to the near media blackout of the Iraq War in favor of nonstop coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith, that's worthy of a read, too).

Here's a quick taste from today's commentary:

Severely wounded Iraq veterans struggling to find their rooms, get appointments, or get their paperwork to the right offices. Families unable to communicate with doctors or find housing near the hospital. Mold, rodents and cockroaches in patients’ rooms.

At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the premier Army hospital in the country, wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are facing inexcusable conditions. The Army and the Department of Defense saw no need to fix these problems until they were embarrassed by a series of reports in the Washington Post. (Learn more about the issue, and hear IAVA’s response to the Walter Reed scandal on NBC Nightly News or Hardball.)

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Continuing:

Luckily, some members of Congress are taking the lead on this issue. Senators McCaskill and Obama have proposed legislation to improve the ratio of caseworkers to recovering veterans and establish timelines for repairing substandard facilities. We hope we can count on all other lawmakers to support this bill.

But problems at Walter Reed are just the tip of the iceberg. When these same veterans leave Walter Reed and return to their local clinics and hospitals, they will be entering the chronically underfunded and understaffed Veterans Affairs system -- where these very same veterans will again face the long wait times, aging facilities, and inadequate staffing.

Join Rieckhoff over at TPM Cafe today; he's replying to comments.


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Tennessean Readers Comment on Underfunded VA

Some very, very interesting comments found in the Tennessean regarding the state of our underfunded VA. One example:

I am a disabled combat Marine. I have seen the veterans hospitals at their worst (Nixon, Johnson) and at their best (Clinton, Bush Sr.). Currently, the VA labors under the burden of constantly being underfunded. There is an army engaged in combat, and yet the current administration has repeatedly underfunded the VA. I find that to be criminal — sending young men and women into harm's way yet, when they come home wounded in both mind and body, they must wait weeks, sometimes months to see a doctor.

The care I have received in the past 12 years has been excellent — when I can get an appointment. I recently received care for post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. I know that thousands of combat troops coming home will need care for this silent killer. The VA is not prepared for the numbers that will seek treatment.

Currently in Nashville, a PTSD in-patient program is available but only to a very small number at a time, eight to 10 patients. The program is excellent, but needs to be expanded. I know for a fact that hundreds of active-duty soldiers at Fort Campbell are NOT being treated properly for PTSD. In many cases, the men and women are kicked out of the Army with other than honorable discharges because they are suffering from prolonged combat fatigue. This nation should demand of Congress that the warriors of present and past wars be taken care of in a timely manner. It is the least we owe our veterans. Remember, freedom is not FREE!!!!

Highly recommend reading the rest.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for related posts...


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Military Resources Strain a Disservice to Current and Former Vets?

Donna Teresa in today's Monterey Herald:

Joshua Amaya, son of Raul Thomas Amaya, a Navy Vietnam veteran, who served in the reserves in 1967-1968 and active duty in 1969-1970, who recently died, experienced some of the consequences of this war. Josh and his family were having trouble getting confirmation that a color guard and American flag would be available to honor his father at this funeral. He was told that during wartime, this service cannot be promised due to unavailability of personnel due to deployment in war and extremely full schedules covering other military funerals.

Amaya said the reasons were not acceptable. "(A)t first I understood, and then I thought about it," he said. "Why was my dad's service or anyone else's service less deserving of a military memorial service and a flag? This president asks for billions of dollars to continue this war, but... I couldn't get my dad an American flag for his funeral. He enlisted to defend our country just as those serving now are doing.

"My dad was there for his country, was it too much to ask that they be there for him? Will the support of our uniformed men and women stop when the war ends? These are the last acts of thanks to our veterans of all wars. Our country claims to care, but actions sometimes speaks louder than words." The local American Legion came to Josh's rescue and his dad received the military funeral he deserved.

Heartbreaking and maddening.

Surge -- And Strain

An op-ed in today's Boston Globe:

General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says it would take two years just to recruit, train, and equip 10,000 new troops. Thus to accomplish a surge, the armed forces must look to existing units. Virtually all the nation's active-duty ground-force units, and many from the Guard and Reserve, have already spent a year or more in Iraq or Afghanistan. There are only two ways to get more brigades into Iraq: Extend the deployment of units that are already there, or accelerate the return of units that have been there recently. Temporarily increasing the force in Iraq by 20,000 is likely to require a combination of both. The Bush administration's surge could stress the Army and Marines to the breaking point.

For the individuals affected, extended tours and repeated deployments raise troubling mental-health concerns. Nearly 20 percent of Iraq veterans are already returning home with serious mental-health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injuries that may go undiagnosed.

An Army survey released last month suggests that such problems will increase as more soldiers are required to serve in Iraq longer than planned. Soldiers cited the length of deployment and family separation as the top non-combat sources of stress in their lives. Repeated deployments made things much worse; 18 percent of soldiers with at least one earlier deployment said they were under acute stress, compared with 12 percent of those who are on their first tour in Iraq.

The author of the piece is Cindy Williams, principal research scientist in the Security Studies Program at MIT and a co-editor of Service to Country: Personnel Policy and the Transformation of Western Militaries.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for related posts...


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Resolution: No More Troops Sent Back w/PTSD

An LTE from a friend in yesterday's Southtown Economist:

In this veteran's opinion this is about time: U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd is asking newly appointed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to ensure that soldiers debilitated by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental illnesses are not sent back into combat.

Think about this: VA doctors have diagnosed military personnel unfit to serve. And the VA has granted some of these men and women 70 percent disabilities for PTSD and other mental problems. But yet these men and women are being called back up to go to Iraq. I do not care if it is a Republican or a Democrat who brings an end to this practice just as long as it stops.

To me it seems unacceptable and perhaps very reckless to ask these heroes to go back into combat when they have been deemed mentally unfit by medical professionals. Plus it put our troops at risk.

Dale Peters
Darien

I couldn't agree more with Dale's sentiments.

Keeping returning veterans who have been diagnosed with PTSD from having to return to the combat zone should be one of our New Year's Resolutions.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more on Dodd's actions...

Lisa Chedekel in the Hartford Courant:

U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd is asking newly appointed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to ensure that soldiers debilitated by post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses are not sent back into combat.

"If experienced VA doctors diagnose military personnel with incapacitating disabilities, such as severe PTSD, it would seem counter to our national security interests for the military services to somehow disregard these evaluations for less thorough assessments performed by military officials," Dodd wrote in a letter Tuesday to Gates. "It seems unacceptable and perhaps even reckless to ask our servicemen and women to entrust their lives to soldiers deemed mentally unfit by medical professionals."

Much like NPR's Fort Carson investigation moved Sens. Boxer, Bond, and Obama to push for hearings on reported intimidation of troops who dared come forward with mental health issues, this movement by Sen. Dodd can also be directly linked to tenacious reporting, this time by the Hartford Courant. (The Courant has done a remarkable job of reporting on combat PTSD in 2006.)

Continuing:

One of the soldiers, Damian Fernandez, 24, of Waterbury, was diagnosed with severe PTSD and rated 70 percent disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs after returning from Iraq in 2005. When he received a letter from the Army last month ordering him to report for duty Jan. 14, he became suicidal and was admitted to a lockdown unit at the Northampton VA Medical Center in Massachusetts, where he remains. The Army is now reviewing his medical records.

Dodd asked Gates to exempt Fernandez from being recalled.

Fernandez's mother, Mary Jane Fernandez, had appealed to a number of state elected officials in recent weeks to intervene on her son's behalf. She has said she is stunned that the Army would want to redeploy her son, who suffers from paranoia and depression and has threatened to hurt himself and others.

While military families are stressed and struggling to keep their loved ones with combat PTSD alive and well, whose problem should it be when the military attempts to redploy such a soldier who has received a PTSD diagnosis from the VA?

[A]n Army spokesman told The Courant that mental and physical disabilities, including PTSD, are not an "automatic exemption" from serving. The spokesman, Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, said the Army does not have a system for checking veterans' disabilities before sending out the call-up orders, and the onus is on the soldiers to provide documentation that their medical conditions preclude deployment.

How's that for supporting the troops?


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IAVA's Paul Rieckhoff on NPR's Fort Carson Investigation

Reaction streaming in to Monday's NPR investigation into charges that troops seeking help for PTSD were stigmatized and even abused by their peers and commanders. Former Iraq War vet and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff, shares his at Huffington Post:

The last thing Iraq veterans need is to face a new battle with the military here at home. Ordering troops with severe PTSD to continue their duties is like making a person with a broken leg run a marathon. And punishing them for their disease is a total outrage.

It's time for the military to step up. Just last week, they finally released new guidelines for troops suffering from mental health problems in theatre. It's a good start, but just issuing another memo isn't going to make difference.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Continuing:

As usual, the change needs to happen on the ground. A mandatory counseling session for all service members coming home from a combat tour would go a long way towards reducing the stigma of mental health treatment. And would help soldiers like Tyler Jennings get help before it's too late.

Be sure to vote the article up on Yahoo, and read another disturbing Fort Carson account at IAVA's website. Send Paul some kudos for his continued hard work for the troops and/or check out his must-read book, Chasing Ghosts. Go, Paul, go!


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Commentary: VA Counselor and Funding Shortfalls a Problem for Returning Troops

A commentary from Monday's Kansas City Star by columnist Kathleen Parker, "Veterans deserve better mental health care":

The biggest problem is simply not enough qualified counselors and not enough government funding to meet current needs. Those needs have grown exponentially, as the number of vets seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues doubled from 4,467 to 9,103 between October 2005 and June 2006, according to a report last month by a House subcommittee. That’s just the beginning of the wave building now.

Even without additional funding, the Department of Defense could help by increasing access to mental health care for military personnel and their families. Individuals on TRICARE, the military’s health insurance program, can seek counseling from licensed practitioners only after referral from a primary physician.

A veteran’s wife testified before a VA committee last year that her husband, Capt. Michael Jon Pelkey, was treated for everything from back pain to erectile dysfunction rather than PTSD. Pelkey finally was diagnosed properly by a civilian therapist — one week before he killed himself. There can be no more shameful legacy of any war than ignoring veterans’ needs. As Republicans and Democrats vow bipartisan cooperation, they have no greater priority than to simplify veterans’ access to mental health services.

More >>

Doctor of OEF/OIF War Wounded: "They Are So Brave"

The New York Daily News presents an op-ed piece written by Dr. Gene Bolles, "chief of neurosurgery from November 2001 to February 2004 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, America's tertiary hospital serving our troops." As we arrive at 20,000+ wounded and 2,600 killed in action, the physician remembers those he's crossed paths with these past three years.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

With the third anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom upon us, I am reminded of war's horrors, but also of the unparalleled sacrifice and loyalty of the men and women who serve this nation. During my time at Landstuhl, I evaluated hundreds of men and women. As a civilian not in their chain of command, the servicemen and women often confided to me that they were living in constant fear as witnesses to the agony of war — the smell and sounds of death; seeing their buddies mutilated, along with Iraqi men, women and children.

Most of those who are killed or wounded are under the age of 22. Those who are seriously injured (some with only one extremity remaining, some blinded and severely disfigured) frequently express a strong desire to go back to their units to complete their tour of duty and protect their buddies.

He tells the story of a 19-year old woman who came to him with severe back injuries; and he remembers the 21-year old man who'd lost two limbs, yet was still more worried about his buddies.

They are, every one of them, true heroes. And it is these heroes who pay the many human costs of war.

In addition to post-traumatic stress disorder (it is estimated that 35% are afflicted), there is traumatic brain injury (often disabling, unrecognized and untreated), chronic pain and spinal damage, blindness and the questionable effects of undepleted uranium. Instances of amputation in the Iraq War are reportedly double previous rates, and while the military medical care is the best in the world, there are still long-term problems with disability and chronic pain often requiring multiple surgeries.

I have the highest regard for the medical care offered by the Veterans Administration and our military. But there are many problems associated with the bureaucracy, which often stymies the efficiency of the delivery of care, which is paramount. After soldiers are discharged, they are dependent on our Veterans Administration, an overloaded and underfunded system. This system designates only 30 minutes per month for treatment of post-traumatic stress, and can take from six months to a year to provide treatment in various specialty clinics.

Unfortunately, our global war on terror is only going to add to the number of veterans suffering from war-related injuries.

Our esteemed athletes in the NBA, NFL and NCAA receive medical care and appropriate testing almost immediately upon being injured. Our soldiers and their families deserve no less. If we can spend $7 billion to $10 billion dollars a month on a war, we must also afford to help rebuild lives impacted by this war.

Food for thought, indeed.


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Rep. Meehan: Working to Reduce Stigma, Provide Services for Veteran PTSD

Congressman Marty Meehan (D-MA), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, writes an important guest column in the Framingham, MA MetroWest Daily News today. He explains how the current post-deployment mental health screening and counseling programs are flawed -- and how legislation he is helping to craft aims to remedy many of the serious problems which result. Click on 'Article Link' below tags to read more...

In the interest of PSTD education, I am quoting the column in its entirety, adding links to provide access to related information at your fingertips:

On the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, it is important to reflect on the lessons learned and where to go from here. Many mistakes have been made, from poor prewar planning to a failed postwar reconstruction policy. Often overlooked, and just as alarming, are the inadequate resources available to help service members cope with their emotional and psychological scars when they return home. Post-war planning does not stop at Iraq’s border. We must provide the support our service members need to re-enter civilian life when they return stateside.

The current system is fundamentally flawed: it neither pays adequate attention to veterans suffering from mental health disorders nor dedicates sufficient resources to diagnosing and assisting them. A July 2004 New England Journal of Medicine study found that one in five of our troops involved in ground combat in Iraq suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), symptoms of which include major depression and generalized anxiety.

Even more troubling is that service members at a significant risk of mental health problems have often resisted seeking help because of the stigma associated with treatment. Among returning service members, only between 23 percent and 40 percent of those who tested positive for a mental health disorder sought professional help. This alarming statistic illustrates the need to educate our soldiers on this issue, and to end the stigma surrounding a legitimate illness.

The war in Iraq is the bloodiest in a generation, with urban and close quarter combat that is bound to leave lasting emotional scars. The reality is, the longer we fight the war in Iraq, the more troops will return suffering from PTSD. Working to address PTSD continues to be one of my top priorities in Congress.

In the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, I worked with my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee to include a Mental Health Task Force that will study how the Defense Department and the Armed Services can better identify, treat, and support mental health needs for service members and their families. While this is a good first step, we must dramatically increase the amount of funding for PTSD screening and treatment to adequately assess and care for the emotional wounds of our returning service members. It’s unconscionable to send our brave young men and women into Iraq and then not try to make them whole -- mentally as well as physically - when they come home.

Last spring I introduced the Help Extend Respect Owed to Every Soldier (H.E.R.O.E.S.) Act, which would create a peer support program to educate military personnel about PTSD. It would also create a Defense Department mass media campaign to raise awareness about mental health and substance disorders among service members and their families. This program, which was endorsed by Dr. William Winkenwerder, Jr., assistant secretary of defense for Health Affairs at the Department of Defense, will help remove the stigma and encourage people to seek treatment.

The H.E.R.O.E.S. Act also requires that service members undergo a thorough mental and physical examination before being sent home. The current mental health screening is just a form to be filled out, not a real exam. If an examination reveals the need for treatment, it would be provided when the service member is back with his or her family, so returning troops don’t need to be concerned that revealing symptoms during an examination would delay their reunions with their loved ones. By reducing the stigma of PTSD, screening soldiers for the illness, and providing treatment for those affected by the illness, the H.E.R.O.E.S. Act will help thousands of returning soldiers win their final battle in this war.

President Theodore Roosevelt once said that anyone "good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards." We have a responsibility to the brave men and women returning from Iraq to provide them with the care and services they rightly deserve.

If you support this work, contact Rep. Meehan and let him know you have his back, and contact your own representatives to ask them to support the above legislation. And if you wish to thank the MetroWest Daily News for running this important public service column, I think they'd appreciate hearing from you.


Finally, take a look at which other legislators are working tirelessly on behalf of our returning combat veterans.

PTSD Breakdown: We're Failing the American Military Family

Things are not all right at home.

Grandmothers enlisting, fathers speaking out. Mothers arrested while a Vietnam veteran (a minister, no less) chooses death over the pain of another war.

We are failing our military families. And we are failing each other.

The following is a heartrending entreaty meant to alert those Americans not directly touched by war. It is entirely brutal and not advised reading for those who are having a hard time with PTSD. I post it here only for those wishing to see the full war burden borne by our military service members and their families.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

PLEASE NOTE:The aim of this research is to shine a sliver of light on yet another burden placed on society by war. It is not to lay blame or demonize our veterans. In my eyes, they are victims, too.

I'm not interested in singling out our soldiers as if they are the only ones in society who commit crime. They're not. Violence exists in the general population -- not only amongst those suffering from combat-related PTSD. Additionally, not everyone with PTSD suffers to the same degree. Most return, folding back into society and family without harming themselves or others.

In an attempt to show respect for the veterans, I choose not to include names here or in the PTSD Timeline. This isn't about individual acts. Rather, it's meant to bring about a fuller understanding of what happens to the fabric of society when a nation sends another generation to war. And it's meant to give pause and reflect on the obligation we have to make sure those we've sent to war are well taken care of upon their return -- for their own good and ours, too.

This is the face of misunderstood, maligned, and under treated combat-related PTSD:

Fathers killed, children abused and dying -- too many dying. Wives murdered, wives strangled, wives drowned, wives stabbed. And strangled and choked again. Ex-wives and their boyfriends shot. Friends slain. War buddies murdered. Cousins shooting cousins over and over, sons overeating, and banks robbed all to keep from having to return to Iraq. Others going AWOL after returning home. Desertion.

Murder-suicides of husband and wife over and over and over and over again. Wives beaten, spared death, but forced to watch a husband kill himself. And himself. Girlfriends also the victims of murder-suicides. Children left behind. Mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and spouses all affected. Forever.

Police officers killed, suicide-by-cop. Unintentional murder, and intentional. A suicide one day after a lonely Father's day spent in a foreign land at war. War buddies murdering war buddies 72 hours after coming home from Iraq. Stateside rape and foreign, too.

Our soldiers are returning home, and don't have to go through any mandatory counseling. The VA doesn't have money for that. And so, stores are held up while the manager is left to die. Neighbors beaten, employers killed. More girlfriends are killed, more assaulted, former girlfriends kidnapped, robbed, and raped. Double homicide. Aggressively overreacting to a group of Sisters from the Sacred Heart of the Monastery peacefully protesting. Shooting at unarmed police officers. A 3-hour armed police standoff. Injuring strangers, some shot dead, some stabbed to death -- all out of the fear and nightmares they brought home with them.

A suicide attempted by a blind, severely wounded Iraq veteran. Suicides faked and suicides accomplished. Too many accomplished. Some a mere day after getting home. Or 6. Or 30. Or 365. Suicided even while on Walter Reed Army Medical Center's suicide watch with a bed sheet or a bathrobe sash. Poison drunk in a lonely motel room to break away from the pain. An overdose. A bridge hanging. A soldier awaiting deployment checks out when he hears the news of his brother's KIA in Iraq. Another suicide as a 6-times decorated Army Reserve soldier who's returned from Afghanistan finds out he's lost his promised promotion at work.

All gone. Privates. Captains. Colonels. Brigadier Generals. Lance Corporals.

A Marine who'd personally been reenlisted by the Secretary of the Navy, Gordon R. England, at the peak of Mount Suribachi above Iwo Jima the year before. Another who only 11 days earlier was personally decorated with the Army's Combat Action Badge by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker himself following 15 months of combat duty in which he received a purple heart and bronze star.

18 years old. 22. 23. 24. 33. 37. 40.

500 homeless already. 40,000 returned troops showing signs of mental disorder.

::

All this, and we have an administration which refuses to even utter the term 'posttraumatic stress' -- and which also refuses to fully fund the VA. And just what type of treatment can our returning veterans expect from an administration whose key appointee to the National Advisory Council (NAC) for the US Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) says the following:

Over the next few months, 130,000 American troops will return home from Iraq. Their arrival will bring joy to their families and gratitude from the nation. It will also renew a debate over post-traumatic stress disorder. The House Veterans' Affairs Committee, for instance, has scheduled hearings on the disorder next week, with a focus on soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Likewise, just as the press has spent a year comparing the invasion of Iraq to Vietnam, it has begun drawing parallels between today's troops and Vietnam veterans, who are believed to suffer from a high rate of war-related psychiatric disorders.

But as we try to help the soldiers of Operation Iraqi Freedom meld back into society, it would be a mistake to rely too heavily on the conventional wisdom about Vietnam. What is generally put forth as an established truth--that roughly one-third of returnees from Vietnam suffered psychological problems--is at best highly debatable. ...

[T]here is an economic incentive to claim suffering. A veteran deemed to be fully disabled by post-traumatic stress disorder can collect $2,000 to $3,000 a month, tax free. More important, perhaps, the syndrome provides a medicalized explanation for many unhappy, but not necessarily traumatized, veterans trying to make sense of their experience.

Psychological studies have shown that people tend to reconstruct the past in terms of the present--they often exaggerate the degree of earlier misfortune if they are feeling bad, or minimize old troubles if they are feeling good. Thus it is vital that researchers corroborate the battlefield events that veterans cite as causes of their post-traumatic stress. Unfortunately, researchers on the 1990 readjustment study did not do the archival legwork to verify the trauma that the veterans reported. Until a better study is done, the "facts" on post-Vietnam stress are simply speculation.

Some soldiers will return from Iraq and Afghanistan with severe psychological problems, and we must do everything in our power to help them. The vast majority, however, will be able to adjust on their own--and imposing on them the questionable legacy of Vietnam won't do them any service. As the British psychiatrist Simon Wessely has put it: "Generals are justly criticized for fighting the last war, not the present one. Psychiatrists should be aware of the same mistake."

That was written in 2004. After all that we've seen befall our military families since 2004, you'd think Sally Satel, MD would revise her comments. Hardly. Instead, she's sharpened the anti-PTSD crusade in another maligning NYT Op-Ed just this month -- one which received much deserved scathing feedback.

Read more about this issue in Blaming the Veteran: The Politics of PTSD.

::

An Introduction

What is the PTSD Timeline?

It's a collection of online news reports listing incidents related to returning combat veterans coping with PTSD. These are the most tragic of all incidents, of course, as mild cases of PTSD are hardly given a mention in our media. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for smaller media organizations and local outlets, we'd probably never even hear about these violent cases, either.

• Can you remember the last time you heard of a soldier who'd recently returned from combat committing suicide? In the traditional press?
  
• Can you remember the last time you heard of a marine committing armed robbery just so he didn't have to return to Iraq?
  
• Can you remember the last time you found out that a recently returned soldier killed himself and his wife in a fit of uncontrollable rage?
  
• Can you remember the last time you heard about a soldier going AWOL rather than return to the combat zone?
  
• Can you remember the last time you ever even heard or saw a public service message on this mushrooming crisis?

If our national media fails to report on this issue, does that mean it's not important? Or do the people in pain and in harm's way of a soldier or marine spiraling downward still exist? Is their pain relevant? Do we as a nation have a responsibility to ensure that the VA is properly funded to help meet the needs of our military families hurting the most?

Pro war or against, a helpless child or spouse abused due to the the undiagnosed or untreated pain of a veteran returned home from battle should resonate with us all. And it should compel us to act in their defense.

The purpose of the PTSD Timeline is to:

• Aid in our understanding of the magnitude of this all-encompassing problem
  
• Record the incidents for future study and evaluation
  
• Allow reporters and researchers to find OEF and OIF PTSD incident data quickly and easily

::

The Silence is Deafening

No traditional news organizations are tracking returning veteran PTSD-related incidents. The Pentagon isn't doing it. And neither is the cash-strapped Veterans Administration (VA).

Fortunately, most soldiers, sailors, aviators, and Marines return to civilian life without any major hardships -- at least the type that can be seen from the outside. They fold back into their home lives, into their communities. And the fickle public happily moves on and forgets about them. They're no longer warriors met with parades; they are simply citizens.

Then again, that's what they really were all along, anyway. Merely citizens of our country. Our brothers and sisters. Husbands and wives. Mothers, fathers, children, or cousins. How well they cope with PTSD affects not only their own future, but that of the loved ones who surround them. Their ability to function fully and well after their return home from combat also has an immediate and real bearing on the fabric of their local community. Their health also affects our larger society as a whole.

We leave them alone to deal with their wounds (either visible or invisible) at our own national peril.


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