AP: Raising Traumatic Stress Malingering, VA Disability Claim Fraud Fears

Here we go again. Fears of PTSD malingering and VA claim fraud bobbed to the surface this weekend in a piece by Allen G. Breed, AP:

Moved by a huge tide of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress, Congress has pressured the Department of Veterans Affairs to settle their disability claims — quickly, humanely, and mostly in the vets' favor.

The problem: The system is dysfunctional, an open invitation to fraud. And the VA has proposed changes that could make deception even easier.

PTSD's real but invisible scars can mark clerks and cooks just as easily as they can infantrymen fighting a faceless enemy in these wars without front lines. The VA is seeking to ease the burden of proof to ensure that their claims are processed swiftly.

But at the same time, some undeserving vets have learned how to game the system, profitably working the levers of sympathy for the wounded and obligation to the troops, and exploiting the sheer difficulty of nailing a surefire diagnosis of a condition that is notoriously hard to define.

"The threshold has been lowered. The question is how many people will take advantage of that," said Dr. Dan G. Blazer, a Duke University psychiatrist who has worked with the military on PTSD issues. PTSD, he adds, is "among the easiest (psychiatric) conditions to feign."

Mark Rogers, a longtime claims specialist with the Veterans Benefits Administration, agrees. "I could get 100 percent disability compensation for PTSD for any (honorably discharged) veteran who's willing to lie," said Rogers, a Vietnam-era vet who is now retired. "I just tell him what to say and where to go."

The only problem with this, of course, are the reams of past years' studies showing quite the opposite. Two that come immediately to mind:

• In 2007, Navy Times reported: "In 2001, 10 percent of soldiers going through the medical retirement process received permanent disability benefits. In 2005, with two wars raging, that percentage dropped to 3 percent, according to the Government Accountability Office. Reservists dropped from 16 percent to 5 percent."
  
  
• Also in 2007, US News & World Report found the military to be downgrading disability ratings, reporting: "Since 2000, 92.7 percent of the disability ratings handed out by PEBs have been 20 percent or lower... Moreover, fewer veterans have received ratings of 30 percent or more since America went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq... As of 2006, for example, 87,000 disabled retirees were on the list of those exceeding the 30 percent threshold; in 2000, there were 102,000 recipients."

Then again, maybe PTSD diagnoses shouldn't be taken seriously.

Breed, in a companion AP piece getting a bit less buzz but championing the same cause, reports "the fact that, as a constellation of self-reported symptoms, PTSD is very subjective."

Apparently, biological changes in the brain aren't objective, either.

Everyone agrees that each case of malingering or fraud should be penalized and stopped, no matter if that claim is being filed with the VA or a civilian's private insurance company. Unfortunately, this AP piece appears to do more to spread distrust and blame the veteran than anything else. Not surprisingly, the push-back has begun.

The Singular Trails and Trials of Female Combat Veterans

Sharing a handful of recent news reports focusing on the unique military service and civilian reintegration experiences of our women veterans. A good intro for our purposes from Jayme Fraser, Montana Kaimin:

Military policies banning women from the frontline are disappearing as the number of female veterans in the United States nears 1.9 million.

“I think we’re growing up,” Army National Guard Capt. Dawn Gray said. “If you look at other countries, especially Israel, women are not excluded from any combat role if they can physically handle it.”

The role of women in war has expanded significantly since World War II, when women moved into the workplace void left by men going off to war.

“There are only a few places that women aren’t actively assigned and I expect that will change, too,” Gray said.

Female pilots fly combat missions for the Air Force and Navy. Though Army policy prohibits women from the frontline, temporary assignments and test programs, as well as changing dynamics of urban warfare in Iraq, have put more female soldiers into combat.

Combat Clips: A Selection of OEF/OIF Veteran Statistics, April 2010

Quick looks at the latest news containing statistics of interest to returning veterans, military families and their caregivers.

First up, Kristin M. Hall for AP:

Brig. Gen. Stephen Townsend addressed the 101st Airborne Division with military brusqueness: Suicides at the post had spiked after soldiers started returning home from war, and this was unacceptable.

"It's bad for soldiers, it's bad for families, bad for your units, bad for this division and our Army and our country and it's got to stop now," he insisted. "Suicides on Fort Campbell have to stop now."

It sounded like a typical, military response to a complicated and tragic situation. Authorities believe that 21 soldiers from Fort Campbell killed themselves in 2009, the same year that the Army reported 160 potential suicides, the most since 1980, when it started recording those deaths.

But Townsend's martial response is not the only one. Behind the scenes, there has been a concerted effort at Fort Campbell over the past year to change the hard-charging military mindset to show no weakness, complete the mission.

VA Research: 'Improving Veterans Lives' Brochure Series on PTSD

The Veterans Health Administration as part of its VA Research: Improving Veterans Lives brochure series, has produced a six-pager on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder [pdf]. Written by the communicators at VA's Research & Development Department, the slant is on treatment modalities currently being developed and tested:

This brochure presents examples of VA’s recent accomplishments in PTSD research. These studies, it is hoped, will benefit veterans and many other Americans now and in the future and spare them from PTSD’s life-disrupting symptoms and complications.

One of nearly 10 other offerings to choose from (Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans [pdf], Mental Health [pdf], Rural Health [pdf], TBI [pdf] Women's Health [pdf] and more) -- all worth at least a glance.

Chicago Tribune Reports on VA Claims Process Quandary

Headline splashed across the front page of today's Chicago Tribune: The Cost of War.

Analyzing more than 3 million VA disability claims (this figure equals the number of vets receiving such compensation in 2009 -- a jump of 24 percent over the 2003 total), it is the latest in a long line of government and private studies on problems at the VA. The Trib found:

The bulk of the increases didn't come from veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but from those who served years or even decades before. Veterans from the Vietnam and Persian Gulf eras accounted for roughly 84 percent of the rise in spending, which hit $34.3 billion last year.

The surge from past eras comes even as more soldiers than expected are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan in need of care. With hundreds of thousands of troops still deployed, the VA already provides disability payments to nearly 200,000 veterans from the current conflicts, a number that is expected to balloon during the next 30 years.

The unanticipated crush of claims is exacerbated by the VA's antiquated compensation system, which hasn't been overhauled since 1945. Cumbersome and heavily bureaucratic, the system requires a mountain of paperwork, is based on diagnoses that lag far behind medical advances and runs on a computer system that is so outdated it can't accurately verify whether veterans were deployed.

Combat Clips: A Selection of OEF/OIF Veteran Statistics, December 2009

A look at some of this month's news on returning Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. First up, from Gregg Zoroya, USA Today:

About one in four soldiers admit abusing prescription drugs, most of them pain relievers, in a one-year period, according to a Pentagon health survey released Wednesday.

The study, which surveyed more than 28,500 U.S. troops last year, showed that about 20% of Marines had also abused prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, in that same period. ... The survey showed that pain relievers were the most abused drug in the military, used illicitly at a rate triple that of marijuana or amphetamines, the next most widely abused drugs.

About 15% of soldiers said they had abused prescription drugs in the 30 days before they were questioned for the survey. About 10% of Marines said the same thing. Prescription drug abuse is "an issue for American society as well, and we're looking at it from every possible angle," McGuire said.

Painkiller abuse among troops has soared since 2005, the last time a similar study was conducted. The 2005 survey showed that 4% of soldiers had abused painkillers in the previous 30 days, compared with 13% in 2008. Abuse within the previous year was 10% in 2005 compared with 22% in 2008.

Zoroya includes more stats in the full piece, and I've included more recent news clips for you in extended.

Farr's Mission: Better Tools, Law Enforcement Response to Returning Veterans in Crisis

Every day, people all across the country do solid work to help veterans successfully transition from combat to civilian life. Every effort has meaning. Every person donates uniquely to the pool. Today, I'd like to introduce you to one of these individuals: Darin C. Farr of the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs.

Clearly gifted and passionate about his work, Farr assists veterans on a local level [for example, a StoryCorps interview conducted by Farr with a former soldier who served in the Iraq War was recently broadcast on KCPW] and he also extends his knowledge and talents far and wide via his timely and well-crafted media productions.

In a summer post, I mentioned The Walking Wounded Are Coming Home, Farr's first video. Made for law enforcement officers, it showed how their understanding and response to incidents involving returning veterans in crisis can greatly impact outcomes. Farr's next feature, Transmission on Transition, further explored combat PTSD and traumatic brain injury, or TBI, and is geared toward military families.

I've also learned that it's been nominated for a Peabody Award.

The strength of both programs is in their substance, of course; but, they excel both visually and dramatically as well. Currently being shown in training/educational programs conducted by the Utah VA, Farr has also uploaded each feature online. You'll find both programs and a brief review of each in extended. Good work, Utah VA!

NPR's 'Impact of War' Series Highlights Work of Soldiers Project Founder Judith Broder

A head's up: Give today's NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday a listen.

Last week, NPR introduced its month long look at the impact of war on military families -- the spouses and kids and parents doing time stateside while their loved one is deployed overseas.

Part of NPR's larger Impact on War project, its goals are to support member stations in collecting and sharing local stories, and "give a voice to the struggles and the triumphs of not just the military brass but the boots on the ground...and those affected by their absence during deployment and in death."

This morning on Weekend Edition Saturday, Gloria Hillard will introduce listeners to Dr. Judith Broder, founder of The Soldiers Project and recent Purpose Prize winner:

Broder saw a play in Los Angeles called The Sand Storm: Stories from the Front. Written by a Marine, it featured monologues of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The most horrifying aspect of it was the sense that I got that these were really just ordinary everyday guys, and they had seen things and done things that just shattered their whole sense of themselves," says Broder. "And that they would all need help."

That's when Broder, a clinical psychiatrist, put her retirement plans on hold and founded the Soldiers Project. It provides free counseling not only to service members returning from war — but to their families as well.

Today, the Soldiers Project has more than 200 licensed therapists nationwide — all volunteers who have received specialized training in everything from combat-related traumas to military culture.

Be sure to listen in this morning (full audio should be online by 12:00 p.m. EST at NPR).

Coverage of the First Joint DoD/VA National Mental Health Summit

A selection of press clipping on this past week's watershed conference, and, in extended, you can view Gates' and Shinseki's opening statements in full. First up, Thom Shanker, New York Times At War: Notes From the Front Lines:

In his most extensive comments on mental health challenges facing American forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that many military personnel fear a stigma if they seek help for psychological injuries.

And he criticized a government and military bureaucracy that is “frustrating, adversarial and unnecessarily complex” — even for those who actively seek assistance.

The critique was delivered by Mr. Gates as the keynote address during a “Mental Health Summit” convened by Eric K. Shinseki, the secretary of Veterans Affairs who previously served as Army chief of staff.

The two secretaries have pledged that the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs would improve how they share information so that the delivery of benefits could be streamlined, even as both acknowledged that the two current, long wars have brought attention to the types of invisible injuries often ignored in the past.

The fighting in Afghanistan now has surpassed the length of the Revolutionary War by about three weeks, Mr. Gates noted, making it the longest conflict in the nation’s history fought with an all-volunteer force.

"Moving a Nation to Care" Subject of Extensive Book Review Essay in VA's Premiere "Veterans Law Review" Journal

A book review any author would be bowled over by (this one being no exception) appears in the premiere issue of the VA's Veterans Law Review journal.

It's much more than a mere review, however.

Written by Holly Seesel, Mary Sorisio, and Paul Sorisio -- Associate Counsel with the Board of Veterans’ Appeals at the Department of Veterans Affairs -- the 24-page (!) 'book review essay' provides an in-depth look at my book (Moving a Nation to Care) and another by Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., and Daryl S. Paulson (Haunted by Combat). "Consequences of Combat" [pdf] begins:

Almost every week there is a different news report concerning the recovery and treatment of veterans returning from the Persian Gulf. Given this focus, we have examined two recently published books on the topic: Haunted by Combat: Understanding PTSD in War Veterans Including Women, Reservists, and Those Coming Back from Iraq as well as Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America’s Returning Troops. While the intended audiences and the themes of the two books are different, both offer insights into understanding the disorder, include suggestions for improving treatment, and identify areas where more research is required. We will examine two topics discussed in each book: the changing face of PTSD and treatment options for PTSD. We will then offer suggestions for treatment of PTSD and highlight areas where further research is most needed.

In extended, I've included VLR's welcome by Secretary James B. Peake, its table of contents and another clip from the review. A lot of good info -- and all available freely online from the VA.

Natural Paths to Coming Home: Returning Veterans and the Great Outdoors

A whole range of programs are springing up across the country, pairing returning troops and veterans with the great outdoors.

For some of these efforts, reintegration support and/or PTSD therapy are the main goal; providing jobs or forming social networks is the main catalyst for others. But, no matter what the driving factor or framework, these offerings provide military families a way to reconnect with the land they so truly have sacrificed so much for.

In extended, a brief look at a handful of such programs. Please share others you may know of in your area in comments.

Combat Clips: A Selection of OEF/OIF Veteran Statistics, July 2009

I'm always on the look-out for veteran-related stats, and I imagine that many of you are, too. In March 2007, I compiled a master list of data culled from news reports and studies; The War List: OEF/OIF Statistics quickly became (and remains) one of the most popular pages on this blog.

Unfortunately, I haven't had as much time as I'd like these past couple of years to return to it and overhaul it with fresh data. Until that can be done properly and fully, I'll begin occasionally saving and sharing some of the facts and figures I stumble upon during my research that I'd like to ferret away. Welcome to the first dose of random Combat Clips.

As 'cold' and sterile as a sea of numbers can be -- because, of course, the reality is that there is a warm body and full life attached to each of those figures -- taking a broad overview has its merits, too. So, let's get started, shall we?

Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Holds Hearing on VA Gaps in Female Client Care

While most in Washington have been busily paying attention to the Sotomayor hearings this week, the Senate Veterans Affairs' Committee met Tuesday morning to consider the quality of VA care provided to our nation's 1.8 million female veterans.

Some, but certainly not all, of their concerns regarding access to their health benefits reflect the same frustrations felt by their male counterparts. Carrie Wells, McClatchy News:

The Department of Veterans Affairs often fails to provide adequate medical care to female military veterans, five of them told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Tuesday.

A Veterans Affairs official agreed.

"At the root is a system that has not been responsive to the needs of women veterans," said Patricia Hayes, the department's national director of women's health care.

The five veterans said women sometimes aren't properly informed upon discharge that health benefits are still available. They described how dealing with government is frustrating and confusing, and that often their unique needs, such as child care and sexual assault counseling, aren't understood by government officials.

"I looked to the VA for help when I most needed it, but never succeeded in completing my enrollment, let alone actually receiving the care I needed," said Genevieve Chase, the founder and executive director of the American Women Veterans organization.

Hayes agreed. "Women don't really know about VA services," she said.

More coverage in extended.

The proceedings, Women Veterans: Bridging the Gap, lasted about two hours and can be viewed in full at the link.

Dunkin' Donuts Helps Wounded Vets, Duckworth to Help VA Use New Media to Reach Vets, Coming Healthcare Crisis?, Veterans Corps Bill

• The Boston Globe | Dunkin' will help vets with Iced Coffee Day - "Dunkin' Donuts, the Canton-based chain of coffee-and-baked-goods shops, announced an Iced Coffee Day on April 21 that aims to benefit injured veterans. On Iced Coffee Day, the price for a small cup of iced coffee will be reduced to 50 cents at participating shops, the chain said; for every small iced coffee purchased on this day, Dunkin' Donuts said it will donate five cents to benefit Homes for Our Troops, a nonprofit organization that builds specially adapted homes for severely injured veterans." For more, visit their special website or their Facebook event page.
  
  
• Honolulu Advertiser | VA nominee Duckworth plans online outreach to veterans - Duckworth told senators yesterday that: "To become a 21st-century organization, the DVA (Department of Veterans Affairs) will have to change some past methods. It's no longer enough to hand out brochures at demobilization ceremonies. We must develop social networking strategies, use nontraditional outlets such as blogs, and employ the wide variety of new media available to get the message of available benefits to our veterans."
  
  
• GOOD | The Memory War - "We might be on our way out of Iraq but things are just starting to pick up in Afghanistan. With record-high number of veteran suicides and rising rates of PTSD and clinical depression in every branch of the armed forces, is the nation headed for a mental-healthcare crisis?"
  
  
• Navy Times | Senate OKs creation of Veterans’ Corps - "A program in which veterans would volunteer to help active-duty members make the transition to civilian life has moved a step closer to reality with the Senate’s March 26 vote to more than triple the number of national service jobs. The bill, HR 1388, authorizes a new Veterans’ Corps, whose success would be measured by the number of veterans who are helped to go to college or find jobs, the number of military families provided assistance, and the number of homeless veterans who find housing."
  

More PTSD Combat Diigo links.

VA Hiring Vets for Outreach, Army's 'Warrior Resilience and Thriving' Program, TRICARE West Offers Benefit Help, Female Veteran Testifies Re: PTSD

Recently in the news:

• The Associated Press | VA hires vets to go find comrades who need help - "Graner is one of 100 former service members hired nationally by the Department of Veterans Affairs as outreach specialists to help get Iraq and Afghanistan veterans into programs aimed at easing their transition back to civilian life. They frequent job fairs, welcome-home events and other places where troops back from the wars might congregate and look for those struggling to adjust. The goal is to persuade them to visit one of 230-plus vet centers nationwide...[for] free services from job hunting assistance to marriage and mental health counseling. Experts applaud the effort to actively search for veterans who may need help, even if some advocates say the program should be much bigger."
  
  
• USA Today | Military puts focus on epidemic of suicides - "In Maj. Thomas Jarrett's stress management class ... American troops are urged ... to strive for 'post-traumatic growth.' During a 90-minute presentation entitled "Warrior Resilience and Thriving," Jarrett, a former corporate coach, offers this and other unconventional tips on how troops can stay mentally healthy once they return home. He quotes Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Paradise Lost author John Milton and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche... Walking through the crowd of young GIs in the makeshift classroom, Jarrett urges them to fight their "internal insurgents."
  
  
• News-Leader | Videos explain health care benefits to military families - "Military families throughout TRICARE’s west region now have a new way to learn about their health care benefits through the movies. ... “TRICARE 2 You” video topics, which run an average of three minutes in a prime-time news format, include explanations of TRICARE plan options, how to access specialty care, behavioral health resources, pharmacy options and newborn enrollment, among others. “We wanted to do whatever it takes to help our beneficiaries maximize use of their TRICARE benefit and avoid out-of-pocket costs,” said David J. McIntyre, president and CEO of TriWest Healthcare Alliance. “This is especially useful for service members, particularly those in the National Guard and Reserve who live or work in rural areas without convenient access to military base resources,” he said. Produced by TriWest, in partnership with TRICARE Regional Office-West, the videos are housed in the company’s new TRICARE 2 You Online Library."
  
  
• IAVA | Iraq Veteran Testifies On Capitol Hill - "Veteran Carolyn Schapper testified at a hearing before the House Veterans Subcommittee on Disability & Memorial Affairs about the disparities in PTSD diagnosis for male and female soldiers in combat. During her deployment to Iraq from October 2005 to September 2006, Carolyn participated in over 200 combat patrols as a member of a Military Intelligence unit with the Georgia National Guard."

More PTSD Combat Diigo links.

Stop-Loss to be Stopped, Military Families to Get Pentagon Dover Travel Assist, Obama Nixes Private Insurance Provision of 2010 VA Budget

• CNN | Pentagon to phase out unpopular 'stop-loss' program - "The military will phase out its "stop-loss" program, the contentious practice of holding troops beyond the end of their enlistments, for all but extraordinary situations, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday. Instead, the military will use incentives programs to encourage personnel to extend their service. Starting this month, the department will provide 'special compensation of $500 per month' to troops whose tour has been extended, Gates said. 'This special compensation will be applied retroactively to October 1, 2008, the date when Congress first made it available.'"
  
  
• NTM Lede Blog | Pentagon Will Help Families Travel to Dover - "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today that the Pentagon would pay for families to travel to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware if they want to be present when the body or remains of a loved one is returned from war. Mr. Gates announced last month that the Pentagon was reversing its longstanding policy of barring media coverage during the repatriation of fallen soldiers at Dover. He said then, and reiterated today at a news conference, which the Pentagon's Web site streamed live, that the decision about media coverage would be up to each family."


• Washington Post | Obama's Turnabout On Vets Highlights Budgeting Nuances - "The relatively small proposal -- third-party billing would have saved about $540 million, less than 1 percent of the overall VA budget -- was not even part of Obama's official [2010 VA] budget but quickly threatened to undermine Obama's credibility with veterans. Ultimately, however, Obama listened to the veterans ... 'When you do public policy behind closed doors, you throw a lot of things on a wall, and some things stick and some things don't stick,' said Bob Wallace, executive director of Veterans of Foreign Wars. 'I think the administration and the president handled this with class, bringing the veterans in to talk with them, listening to their positions and two days later the chief of staff saying, 'It's over.''"

Gates announcement on stop-losses and Dover travel assistance:



More PTSD Combat Diigo links.

Op-Ed on Military's PTSD Dilemma, Ranch Reintegration for OEF/OIF Vets, Carrots and Sticks for Obama's 2010 VA Budget Proposal

• The Boston Globe | The military's post-traumatic stress dilemma - Iraq vet Tyler Boudreau begins: "WITH ARMY and Marine Corps suicide rates climbing dramatically, surpassing even those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan last month, the nation is increasingly disturbed and demanding treatment for veterans. But these suicide reports highlight an important distinction: A significant portion of those returning from war are not yet veterans; they are still active or reserve service members, which means, above all, that they probably will be going back to one of our theaters of operations. And that means that any treatment for post-traumatic stress will be positioned in direct conflict with the mission itself. As a former Marine captain and rifle company commander, I witnessed this conflict firsthand."
  
  

• Chicago Tribune | Restoring spirits of men haunted by war - 15 OEF/OIF vets recently took part in a novel reintegration program: "The veterans came from throughout the United States to spend four days at the stylish Wildcatter Ranch, invited by the Wounded Warrior Project and the owners of the ranch to help restore their spirits. Some of the men have physical injuries, but each of them is struggling to deal with combat stress and their return to civilian society. The men went canoeing and rode horses. They got massages and shot skeet. They stayed in luxurious rooms and they visited an elementary school, where the children gave them Graham Steers ball caps. 'I have never seen anything like this before,' said Harvey Stubbs Jr., 32, a Chicago-area native who was medically retired from the Army because of his injuries. 'The outpouring of love ... has been amazing. A lot of people give lip service to supporting the troops, but these people have opened their hearts to us in ways I can't believe.'"
  
  
• CNN | Obama pledges more help for veterans - President Obama, appearing alongside VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, spoke of the $25 billion funding infusion the Department of Veterans Affairs can look forward to receiving over the next five years under his new budget. "'With this budget, we don't just fully fund our Veterans Affairs health care program, we expand it to serve an additional 500,000 veterans by 2013,' [Obama] said. He promised that the VA would "dramatically improve services" related to mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, and he said homeless veterans would be targeted for support."
  
  
• Kansas City Star | Veterans assail proposal to have private insurance plans pay for their service ailments - President Obama's 2010 VA budget provision to bill private insurance for service-connected health care is under fire with veterans and their supporters. While no one will see the full budget proposal until April, this idea being floated about is "dead on arrival" according to Sen. Patty Murray [D-WA], who has an influential seat on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

IAVA's Paul Reickhoff on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show:



More PTSD Combat Diigo links.

Congressman Hall's COMBAT PTSD Act Deserves Our Support

Last Monday, Rep. John Hall [D-NY], the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance and memorial affairs, introduced important legislation that would give vets coping with PTSD easier access to their disability benefits and the treatment they need. Press release:

After visiting with veterans at the U.S. Veterans Hospitals at both Montrose and Castle Point, Congressman Hall announced legislation he has written called the COMBAT PTSD Act: Compensation Owed for Mental Health Based on Activities in Theater. The legislation will remove the onus from any veteran diagnosed with PTSD to have to prove that a specific incident during combat caused his or her PTSD. Hall's COMBAT PTSD Act will make it so that any veteran diagnosed with PTSD who served in combat will automatically have the ability to get treatment and benefits for the service injury of PTSD. ...

The VA's current policy forces veterans to "prove" that a specific stressor during a war triggered their PTSD, even if they have already been diagnosed and been receiving treatment for the condition. Veterans must track down incident reports, buddy statements, present medals, and leap other hurdles to validate to the VA that their PTSD was a result from their war service.

"The current policy violates common sense," stated Hall. "A soldier who does not have PTSD before entering a war, who returns home from war with PTSD, should not have to prove that his PTSD is a result of a specific experience during war. Simply serving in combat can induce PTSD. The wars America is fighting right now have no front or rear lines. Danger can strike in any place, anywhere. It is clear that the current regulations are in need of change."

People are beginning to chime in on the issue.

Army Learns Secrecy is Deadly When it Comes to Suicide

I'm still hunkered down doing research for my Honors Capstone paper -- the results of which have been accepted for presentation at a Purdue University conference in April). Thanks for your patience with me these dormant weeks and months...

Now on to Dina Greenberg at the Houston Chronicle:

The Department of the Army has finally gone public and acknowledged the alarming rate of suicide among its ranks. While Army leadership is to be commended for breaking the barrier of silence regarding mental illness in the military, the underlying culture of secrecy that has contributed to the current trend is in dire need of reform. ...

According to figures obtained by the Associated Press, there has been a steady increase in suicides since 2003, totaling 450 active duty soldiers, with the highest numbers occurring in the past year. Military suicides vary considerably between branches of the service, with the Army and Marine Corps frequently reaching the highest annual rates. Longer and more frequent deployments and the primacy of ground combat operations are factors often blamed for the Army’s higher rates of physical injury, mental illness and suicide.

In October 2008, the Army announced a five-year, $50 million collaborative study with the National Institute of Mental Health to address suicide. In a rare public admission of the urgency of the problem, Dr. S. Ward Cassells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, stated in the New York Times, “We’ve reached a point where we do need some outside help.” Such efforts are encouraging but will yield little immediate assistance to active duty soldiers, returning veterans and their families.

New VA Report Stirs Up Long-Simmering Veterans Disability Claims Processing Controversy

Just when you think that our beleaguered veterans can relax, that health care improvements are on the way or already there, the latest VA report (yes, another one) confirms we're merely treading water.

While things are all a boil, again, this week, the veterans claims processing backlog (and everything that flows from it) has been a long-simmering problem.