Iraq and Afghanistan veterans live good life?

Sally Satel has never been a friend of the troops, veterans or the truth. The problem is, she's not the only one. While the following is true, and few paid attention to the reports coming out over the last 8 years, even fewer are thinking about the veterans it was done to. That's the problem with false claims being allowed to just be out there. They don't go away and people actually believe the lies. When it came to our veterans, it cost them their lives.

Army Gives Bad Discharges to Thousands of PTSD Vets
Gordon Duff Salem-News.com
Benefit denial scams raise suicide rates.


(CINNCINATTI, Ohio) - It all began as a Bush era program, promoted by Dr. Sally Satel, the famed "PTSD denialist" putting thousands of soldiers at risk and pushing hundreds to suicide.

Thousands of veterans lost all benefits, GI Bill, medical care and more through Army discharge scam, part of Neo-con "cost saving program"

How did it work? Simple. A very large percentage of combat vets with PTSD are problem drinkers, self medicating in the only way they can and, in the process, getting worse and worse. Redeployments of soldiers needing treatment only adds to the problem.

When vets with severe PTSD demonstrate severe symptoms, including alcohol abuse, they are put in short and unproven "quit" programs with an extremely high failure rate. This is all part of a game, one invented to trap soldiers and cut costs.

Step 2 in the game, the Army "orders" the soldier not to drink, knowing the order itself is absurd. Real treatment for PTSD is denied. When the soldier drinks, and they always do, the soldier is arrested, jailed and charged, now get this, with disobeying a direct order, Article 34 and disrespect to an officer or non-com.

Sometimes even more charges are piled on. In the end, the deal is the same. Leave the army with nothing but years of honorable service now labeled as "dishonorable" or "bad conduct" and face civilian life crushed and abandoned by the country you risked your life to serve.

The Army learned the game from the VA. The VA denied PTSD diagnoses to Vietnam veterans used alcohol, claiming they couldn't be diagnosed. Problem is, almost all PTSD vets use alcohol or drugs as self medication. End result, tens of thousands of Vietnam vets were denied diagnosis, treatment and compensation for decades with thousand dying as a result.

The basis of the Army policy is the Dr. Sally Satel "theory" that PTSD does not exist and all vets are fakers. Her beliefs, fringe "neo-con medicine" comes from a theory that soldiers and veterans are part of a non-productive social class that taxes a nations economic health as soon as they leave a combat zone. The end analysis supports the supposition that a disabled veteran and an illegal alien on welfare contribute exactly the same to the overall welfare of society.
read more hereBad Discharges to Thousands of PTSD Vets

But people like Satel were believed for far too long. This was also in the email pile this morning.

Seeking Stressed Soldiers
September 19, 2009: PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is becoming a big issue. The problem is, in most cases it's unclear who has it. But as the war goes on, more troops are coming back who might have it. For example, since September 11, 2001, nearly 5,000 troops have been evacuated (as medical cases) from Iraq and Afghanistan for mental disorders. Only 16 percent of those were confirmed PTSD cases, the rest were for more familiar things like severe depression. Moreover, most of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are not involved in combat. Yes, they are living in a combat zone, but aside from an occasional mortar shell or rocket (which usually causes no injuries), most troops tend to have air conditioned sleeping quarters, gyms, Internet access, video games, good food and excellent medical care. It's unclear how many troops actually have PTSD, although many who are in combat, definitely are stressed out and in need of help.

read more of this here

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20090919.aspx

Notice how this article said "rocket attack" and "mortar shell" but did not mention IED or roadside bomb or sniper? Mortar shells were used by military in Vietnam and so were rockets but hardly ever used in Iraq or Afghanistan. For those two campaigns, the hidden bombs, do a lot more damage to life and mind, including traumatic brain injury and PTSD. This article also seems to dismiss the suicide bombers blowing themselves up in crowds. Air conditioning? Are they serious with this? The problem is, articles like this are believed instead of slammed.

These are from ICasualties.org
Afghanistan

09/20/09 nydailynews: Soldiers'' brain injuries from blasts in Afghanistan take a toll
It''s estimated that 20% of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, or TBI, caused by the impact of improvised explosive devices.

09/19/09 AP: Suicide car bomb kills 7, wounds nearly 100 in Kabu
A suicide car bomber struck near the front gate of NATO headquarters today in Kabul, killing seven people and wounding nearly 100 in a brazen daylight attack less than a week before Afghanistan''s landmark presidential election.

09/19/09 : DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Pfc. Jeremiah J. Monroe, 31, of Niskayuna, N.Y., died Sept. 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

Operation Enduring Freedom

Iraq

09/20/09 MNF: Service member killed in downed aircraft incident, 12 wounded
One U.S. service member was killed and 12 others were injured when a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter went down inside of Joint Base Balad at approximately 8 p.m. Saturday. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.

But with most of the troops now pulled back, the bombs still blow up in cars, on roads and on bodies. The difference is, most people didn't pay attention when the lives of the 4,345 US troops were put into their coffins.

Considering how many lives were lost during Vietnam, it requires a fool to just assume Iraq and Afghanistan are nothing much. The difference is, the amount of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan vs Vietnam. We also don't seem to consider that there were not many contractors in Vietnam but in Iraq and Afghanistan, they actually outnumbered the troops. Keeping track of their lives and their wounds is not being done, so it is easy to hide the true cost of war.

The problem with articles like the above is that they get enough exposure to do a lot of harm, when they could have been doing some good all along. The agenda is not to help or honor the men and women serving this country. The agenda is to attack them because they just cost too much money. They dared to come home wounded instead of dying where they were sent. That is the real attitude here. This attitude comes from the minority but is dangerous because it is allowed to go unchallenged.

Ignoring these reports allows them to continue. It's how we ended up with the image of the "crazy Nam vet" instead of wounded combat veteran into our brains. We know a lot better now but some people just don't care.