Adm. Mike Mullen: Treating PTSD needs sustained effort

I hope Rick Maze will indulge me for posting this whole article this time, since I usually post links to most of what he writes. This one was just too important to me to cut.
This is what is on every email I send out.

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

It's been my tag line for a long time, but it is also what I was raised to believe. I am only second generation American but grew up with a Korean War vet and WWII uncles and a Vietnam vet. I married into a military family, also second generation, with 4 WWII brothers and two Vietnam veterans.

The problem is, when the government does not do what they need to do to take care of our veterans, we need to step up and do it without finding excuses to not do it. We can raise our hands as if we are helpless to take on such a great challenge, but when you think about this is a nation of over 300 million people but have less than 30 million veterans, you get the idea. We are Americans! We are supposed to take care of the men and women who take care of us everyday. If we don't then what are we?

This isn't new. Look over on the side bar for a reminder of what we knew and when we knew it. 1978! We ran out of excuses a long time ago.

Mullen: Treating PTSD needs sustained effort

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Sep 16, 2009 10:06:48 EDT

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Wednesday that helping combat veterans with mental health issues will require a new kind of commitment from society.

Speaking at an Alexandria, Va., conference about unseen battlefield injuries, Adm. Michael Mullen said helping Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries requires more than traditional military and veterans health care.

Society also must commit to help, he said, because many of those suffering are 20-year-olds with long lives ahead of them.

Post-traumatic stress needs more attention and early treatment, he said.

“This is different from a car crash, different from a football injury and different from a boxer. These are America’s citizens. We owe them a response to this that is equal to their needs. It needs to be the first check we write.

“The young people I visit want their lives back,” Mullen said.

His remarks came at the start of a day-long conference sponsored by the Military Officers Association of America and the U.S. Naval Institute, seeking solutions to the problem.

“These challenges are just beginning to be understood,” Mullen said. “There are decades’ worth of work and commitment that must not just be started now but sustained over a long period of time.

“Sadly and tragically, we are going to continue to generate this requirement,” Mullen said, referring to the fact that the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is far from over.

Mullen said he is committed to avoiding a repeat of what happened after the Vietnam War, with its lost generation of homeless veterans.

“Shame on us if we don’t figure it out,” Mullen said.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/military_mullen_ptsd_091609w/