Disgraceful spin on war fighters after war

Disgraceful spin on war fighters after war
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 26, 2013

Reading reports from around the country provides us with a better idea of how far billions a year spent on military mental health have gotten us. While the DOD has to report on suicides tied to the Army including Army National Guards and Army Reservists, somehow the DOD doesn't have to report the other branches. Not that the press would notice since they didn't even notice the National Guards and Reservists in the total of suicides for last year. It didn't matter that the Pentagon spent over $4 billion on "mental health" since 2007.

The Congressional Research Service just put a price tag on the mental health costs of the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: about $4.5 billion between 2007 and 2012. The Defense Department spent $958 million on mental health treatment in 2012, roughly double the $468 million it spent in 2007.

Eighty-nine percent of spending on mental disorder treatment between 2007 and 2012 -- approximately $4 billion -- went for active duty service members. Over the same time frame, the military health system spent about $461 million on mental health care treatment for activated Guard and Reserve members.

Of the nearly $1 billion the military medical system spent in fiscal 2012 on mental disorder treatments for active duty and activated National Guard and reserve members, CRS said more than half of the costs, about $567 million, were for outpatient active duty mental health care.

Overall, approximately 63 percent of mental disorder treatment costs were for outpatient treatment, 31 percent for for inpatient treatment, and 7 percent for pharmacy costs, CRS said.

We saw the results within the number of suicides they reported.

The DOD reported that 19 Soldiers took their own lives in July bringing the total for the year to 94. Last year the total of Army suicides was 185. What they don't remind you of is the fact there are less Soldiers deployed into Afghanistan and they have been pulled back from taking the lead on security handing over control to the Afghan Army.

Then there are the citizen soldiers. There were 6 Army National Guardsmen and 2 Army Reservist suicides in July. Their yearly totals are 58 Army National Guards and 32 Army Reserves. For last year the most recent report claims there were 93 Army National Guards and 47 Reservists suicides in 2012.

We also saw the results from what families saw back home when the DOD no longer had to count them. Blue Star Families released a survey of 5,125 family members. 60% knew someone who either successful committed suicide or had seriously thought about it.

Nationwide from 2002 through 2012 more than 256,000 veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have been treated for PTSD. And the numbers, Johnson says, continue to climb as time away from the war zone passes.

The numbers went up when Vietnam veterans came home and they have gone up since the troops have come home from these two wars. The most disgraceful fact is, when Vietnam veterans came home, nothing was spent on trying to prevent PTSD or save their lives. They pushed for all the funding and research in PTSD. Now that all the money has been spent producing even great suffering no one is held accountable for any of it and that is beyond disgraceful.

PTSD on the rise among our veterans
FOX 11 Wisconsin
By Mark Leland
August 26, 2013

GREEN BAY - The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking a mental toll on our veterans. More and more of those returning from war are being treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, more so than any other wars.

The stresses of war that linger in a veterans mind can be troublesome and debilitating.

Many relive traumatic events. Others avoid situations that might be a reminder of war. For others war has changed their outlook on life toward the negative, while the lingering stress has some unable to sleep or concentrate.

"I had insomnia, bad dreams, I was short fused with people, I would get in fights all the time," said Laurent Taillefer II, an Iraq War veteran with PTSD.

"I spent a year in a war zone, and people were trying to kill me, and I had to be prepared to kill other people, and I wasn't designed to do that, and it's okay. I'm not okay with that," said Sherie Warner, an Iraq War veteran suffering from PTSD.

Taillefer and Warner are part of the Veterans Administration's public push to help identify and treat service men and women who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. It is a condition that has been diagnosed in up to 30 percent of veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, according to the Veterans Administration. It is treated with counseling and medication.
read more here