Fort Bragg families need to prepare for return of thousands of delpoyed

Tens of thousands based in N.C. coming home

By Estes Thompson - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Dec 28, 2007 16:53:50 EST

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — For much of 2007, this normally bustling post — home of the U.S. Army’s airborne infantry — was quiet: all four combat brigades of the storied 82nd Airborne Division were deployed overseas. Ditto at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where the resident II Marine Expeditionary Force was fighting in Anbar, Iraq.

That changes in 2008, as more than 22,000 troops based in North Carolina are set to return home from their latest deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“As they come back, other infantry battalions are going to head out the door again,” said Lt. Col. Curtis Hill, a Marine Corps spokesman at Camp Lejeune.

About 10,500 Marines who are assigned to the 2nd MEF — including aircraft pilots, infantrymen, and support troops units — are expected to return to the Corps’ main East Coast base in 2008, Hill said.

Glenn Mayberry, deputy family readiness officer with the 2nd MEF, said those returning Marines will get more concentrated attention now than at any point in the 12 years he has worked in the Corps’ family programs.

Mayberry said conflicts during the transition from life on the battlefield to life at home don’t have to be dramatic to be troublesome. Even the mundane — such as deciding which spouse gets to go out by themselves to shop: the stay-at-home spouse who watched the family’s children for months or the Marine who was in a combat zone all that time — can cause tension.

To help, returning troops are given plenty of time off. The Marines also compare results of pre-deployment examinations with later reviews to look for problems, and family members are also are asked to report anything they notice among the returned.

“They’re seeing mental health (professionals), chaplains and the doctors,” Hill said. “We’re relying on the Marines to tell the truth. There’s the pride thing and sometimes they’re not going to do it. What we’re trying to stress is just because you have an issue and you tell us, that doesn’t mean your career is over.”
go here for the rest

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/ap_nccominghome_071228/

All family members need to learn the signs of PTSD to be ready for them to come home. If the family and friends don't know what to look for, they will not know what to do to help them.

Go to the right side of this blog and watch the videos on PTSD to know what to look for and understand what they just came home from.

PTSD and why war could shrink your brain

When I have time, (lately that hasn't happened much)I pop into different news sites and see what they have reported on in the past. Occasionally I come up with something that supports PTSD is not new and the studies on PTSD have been done before. It galls me no end that there are still "experts" acting as if the studies they do are brand new. Tonight is just one of those nights. I came across this report out of Scotland from 2003.

There has been a lot of talk from parts of this nation acting as if PTSD is new, that the numbers of veterans claiming PTSD are fakes or frauds, looking for a free ride, along with a whole host of character assignations. It's almost as if these people live in some kind of alter-reality where they are touched by nothing.

PTSD is not new. It's been documented since man first knew how to write. Veterans get PTSD just as ancient warriors did. It has nothing to do with what nation they live in or if they support their mission or not. It has nothing to do with courage either. Had it involved courage, they would fall apart before their first mission, not after the risk to their life is over and they are home and certainly not after their second, third or fourth tour.

I hope that Raj Persaud, the reporter on this forgives me for posting this in its entirety but as I was trying to pull out different sections, it was just too good to break up. kc

Why war could shrink your brain
Published Date: 25 March 2003
Source: The Scotsman
Location: Scotland

"‘PTSD could soon be an exclusionary factor for some types of military service’"
By Raj Persaud

Doctors have long known that stress can have crippling and tangible effects on the body, directly contributing to physical problems including stomach ulcers, heart disease and asthma. But new medical research suggests it could actually shrink our grey matter, causing physical brain damage.

The finding came about through the study of one of the most stressful experiences of all - war. In the mid-1990s military combat veterans in the US had their brains scanned with the latest imaging machines. The surprising finding was that those who had seen more action, who had been nearer and longer at the front line, tended to have a significantly smaller brain structure called the hippocampus. It looked as if being at war actually caused parts of the brain to shrink and wither away.

The hippocampus - the word derives from the ancient Greek sea horse because this small, paired structure near the centre of the brain resembles the shape of a tiny sea horse - now appears to be the part of the brain most vulnerable to sustaining structural damage secondary to mental stress.

Stress causes an increase in a variety of hormones released into our bloodstream, but of most interest is a group called glucocorticoids, which raise the heart rate, boost the immune system and suppress energy-intensive systems such as reproduction. Such changes are clearly useful for an animal trying to escape from a predator, but a side-effect of decades of chronic stress is that over-exposure to these particular stress hormones seems to shrink the hippocampus.

But do you have to go to war to damage your brain? Is less extreme stress still a danger? Sure enough, studies have now established that the longer people have experienced symptoms of mere depression, the smaller their hippocampus.

Yvette Sheline of Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis recently reported a brain imaging study which revealed that the hippocampi of depressed patients were on average 12 per cent to 15 per cent smaller than those of controls of the same age, height and level of education. Numerous other studies have found similar results. "It is absolutely clear that really prolonged major depression is associated with loss of hippocampal volume," concludes Robert Sapolsky of Stanford University - the first neuroscientist to discover how vulnerable the hippocampus was to stress from his work with primates.

Exactly why the hippocampus shrinks is still open to debate, but we also know that it is one of the few parts of the brain where new nerve cell growth occurs. This may be because it is a key part of the nervous system involved in memory. It now seems that when we lay down new memories it is because new nerve cells have grown in our hippocampus to code for these recollections.

The kind of memory supported by the hippocampus is spatial memory - when you are looking for your misplaced car keys it is your hippocampi that will be activated.

Taxi drivers recently given brain scans by scientists at University College London had a larger hippocampus compared with other people - it appears that their extensive geographical knowledge leads to remarkable growth in this part of the brain.

The hippocampus is significantly bigger in birds and animals for whom navigation is a vital part of their evolutionary strategy. For example, birds that use space around them to hide and locate food, and voles and deer mice that traverse large distances to find mates, all have larger hippocampal volumes than closely related species which do not.

If the hippocampus codes for spatial memory and shrinks when stressed, it is intriguing to note that stress can have important effects on our memory. Traumatic stress often leads us to avoid the place where we experienced the shock, or to become anxious as we get near that location again, particularly as a result of our vivid memories for the traumatic incident.

For example, those involved in automobile accidents often become more upset as they get closer to the precise road where the event occurred, suggesting that the hippocampus which codes for spatial memory is playing a key role in how stress effects us. A key symptom of post traumatic stress disorder is intrusive memories, nightmares that recall the original shock and flashbacks.

Princeton University neuroscientist Elizabeth Gould has found that exposing monkeys to chronic stress blocks the new nerve growth and perhaps it is cell destruction combined with a lack of new growth that produces the effects of stress on our hippocampi.

Intriguingly, several treatments for depression might have the opposite effect. Some anti-depressants, for example, increase the amount of serotonin in the gaps between brain cells, and serotonin is a well-known promoter of cell growth. Neuroscientist Ronald Duman of Yale University has found that rodents given antidepressant drugs or electroshock therapy all have significantly more newly grown cells in the hippocampus. This suggests, Duman argues, that increased nerve cell growth is a common effect of antidepressant treatment and could even be the main mechanism by which antidepressants work.

A recent study published in the Lancet confirms that patients on mood stabilising medication such as Lithium for just four weeks do seem to grow a small but measurable amount of grey matter as a result.

Doctors had assumed that depression results from changes on a more molecular scale - an imbalance in chemical messengers that communicate among brain cells. But perhaps the real issue is the way the actual physical structure of the brain is altered in depression or stress.

A more natural antidepressant - exercise - may also encourage brain cell growth. Exercise has been shown to increase the level of serotonin in the brain and can often help patients shake off mild depressive symptoms. Neuroscientist Fred Gage, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, reports that rats with access to a running wheel had more than twice as many newly growing brain cells as did mice with no running wheel. Since the rodents ran an average of nearly five kilometres per day for several months, it would seem that next time you pass an ardent jogger you should admire the size of their grey matter.

But one question continued to trouble scientists despite these exciting developments: how could they be sure that the smaller hippocampi the depressed and stressed seemed to have was a consequence of stress? Perhaps it was still remotely possible that it was having a smaller hippocampi in the first place which predisposes some to more mental problems? Which comes first: the small hippocampi or the large stress?

Now a study has been published which appears to take a big step to resolving this vital question. Mark Gilbertson, of Harvard Medical School, brain scanned 70 identical twins, one of each pair was a Vietnam combat veteran who was clearly exposed to the stress of war, while the other stayed at home and had no combat exposure. Sure enough, the men who went to war, and who ended up suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, also had smaller than average hippocampi.

But more astonishing yet was the finding that their identical non-combat twin also had smaller hippocampi, of roughly the same size as the twin who had served in war and then developed PTSD.

So one group went though combat trauma while their siblings were not in the war, yet both groups had small hippocampi. So instead of brain shrinkage happening as a consequence of stress, a small hippocampus must have preceded the war. The amazing finding suggests that having a smaller hippocampus predisposes a person to develop traumatic stress, and maybe even predicts that they will suffer from mental health problems if they are stressed.

It could well be, with more research to explore and confirm this finding, that a small hippocampus should be viewed as a risk factor for PTSD and thus, like a heart murmur, be an exclusionary factor for some types of military service. It could even be that brain scanning our hippocampi might help predict who is going to develop depression or other mental illnesses in the future.

Just because identical twins were involved in the study does not mean that having a smaller hippocampus is a purely genetic effect. Identical twins can have much more similar foetal environments than do non-identical twins. A "two hit" model is possible whereby early childhood stress causes the hippocampus to shrink a lot and it was this prior vulnerability combined with the second hit of stress from then fighting a war that later tipped those who finally got PTSD over the edge.

Some support for this "two hit" model comes from Gilbertson’s finding that those who developed PTSD had a shared higher chance of experiencing childhood abuse with their co-twin who had not gone to war.

Oddly, the "two hit" theory has dramatic implications for the population back home when an army is abroad fighting, which is that the first "hit" could be happening as mothers who are pregnant experience the stress and uncertainty of war. Recent research by psychiatrist Jim Van Os from Holland has found that the chances of a Dutch mother giving birth to a child who later grows up to develop schizophrenia went up by at least 28 per cent if she was pregnant during the very stressful time of May 1940, when the Germans invaded the Netherlands.

The maternal stress hormones or glucocorticoids, which can damage the hippocampus in adult life, might even be damaging the hippocampus of an unborn child.

It would seem that it is vital pregnant mothers try to stay as relaxed as possible during these troubled times and in particular ensure that they keep eating a healthy diet . Otherwise their stress and possible temporary loss of appetite could effect the brain development of their unborn children, leading the first part of the two hits needed to cause later problems such as depression or traumatic stress.

In other words, to echo the words of one psychiatrist Robert Sapolsky likes to quote, and who oversaw a ward full of PTSD sufferers in an American Veteran’s Administration hospital: "You have to understand that these boys had a lot of mileage under the hood before they ever set foot in Vietnam."


Dr Raj Persaud is consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley hospital and author of From The Edge Of The Couch - Bizarre Psychiatric Cases And What They Teach Us About Ourselves, Bantam, £12.99.

The full article contains 1748 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Last Updated: 24 March 2003 6:30 PM

Soldiers Mother raises funds for veterans center

Reporters are now on official notice. Next time they want to run a story and repeat figures they are given by administration officials more interested in covering their asses than they are fixing a problem, all they are managing to do is become part of the problem instead of the solution. I lost count on how many erroneous figures they have printed over the last four years. Notice this part of this report?

She became an advocate for veterans’ mental health after her son returned home from Iraq with post traumatic stress disorder. The Veterans Administration reported that 317,000 veterans were treated for PTSD at VA medical centers and clinics in 2005.


Now back to this incredible woman. It took a mother's love to do this and she is doing what the government should have been doing all along but they just didn't care enough.

Mother raises funds for veterans center

James Coburn
The Edmond Sun

EDMOND — The joy troops feel when returning home from war is too often replaced by depression, anxiety, family problems, even sometimes post traumatic stress disorder as days turn to months.

A new Pentagon study reveals that nearly one-third of 88,000 veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq confront mental health problems. The study is reported in the November issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The suicide rate in the Army has reached its highest level in 26 years, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The reintegration time that the Department of Defense provides for troops coming home is between 96 hours to five days, said Cindy Collins-Clark of Edmond, founder of Veterans’ Families United Foundation.

Clark founded the organization in 2006 to provide compassionate, holistic resources to encourage healing from combat trauma and a healthy transition from military service to civilian life.

The 2006 Oklahoma Mother of the Year and licensed mental health counselor long has contended that the readjustment period for military men and women returning from war needs to be longer.

Clark has proposed a Readjustment Facility and Family Annex for Veterans to help reduce the severity of mental illness. She said the project is considered by the Department of Defense as too expensive to be part of the overall military process. So she’s trying to raise $1.5 million of private funding for a center for veterans and their family members. So far, nobody has responded to her proposals.

“A readjustment period theoretically could reduce the severity of mental illness, of violence in homes, of incarcerated veterans — the total cost to our government,” Clark said.

Clark has three degrees to her credit, two of which are master’s degrees in education and counseling from the University of Central Oklahoma. She became a professional counselor in 2000.
go here for the rest
http://www.edmondsun.com/local/local_story_348121434.html

House Hearing on Veterans Mental Health on line from CSPAN

House Hearing on Veterans Mental Health Care (12/12/2007)

First I want to say that Ilona Meagher and Penny Coleman did a great job. That said, I had a lot of problems with this hearing because, although many seated at the hearing care about the troops and our veterans, they also showed they know very little.

Tim Bowman's father brought up the point that the stigma is what prevents most from going for help. He should know because Tim committed suicide. What the members of Congress do not know is that if a soldier seeks help for a wound, any wound, not just PTSD, it gets documented. They have to because when active duty become veterans, the documentation has to be there in order to put through claims. The privacy most citizens have when dealing with medical issues are not enjoyed by the troops or the veterans. Although they are not supposed to talk about healthcare with other people, the only way to process a claim is to prove it. They need the verification the wound was service connected. In order to do this, verification goes through the unit.

If they do not screen everyone, the veterans or active duty forces, will be singled out. This point was raised by Mr. Bowman. Addressing the fact that PTSD is nothing to be ashamed of must be addressed first or there will be many more needing help but reaching for whatever means they can find instead to end their suffering.

This is a wound. In England they call it Post Combat Stress and have eliminated the word disorder. To provide an honest title to this we need to look at what it is. It is a wound caused by trauma of all kinds. Combat happens to be the number one cause. We need the word After and trauma because it is Greek for wound. After Trauma Syndrome seems to be the best term to use.
Main Entry: syn·drome

Function: nounPronunciation: 'sin-"drOm also -dr&mEtymology: New Latin, from Greek syndrome combination, syndrome, from syn- + dramein to run -- more at DROMEDARY 1 : a group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality 2 : a set of concurrent things (as emotions or actions) that usually form an identifiable pattern

I keep reminding people that combat is not normal. PTSD is a normal reaction to a very un-normal event. There is nothing in our day to day lives that is traumatic but traumatic events happen all the time around the world, by violence, natural disasters, but we also have to consider what we adapted to view as part of a job with firemen, police and other emergency responders. We tend to pass off their wounds as just part of their jobs. When it comes to the military, our blinders are thicker. We figure they know what they are getting into and train to kill. We forget that while they are trained to aim and shoot, they are not trained to pick up body parts or blood covered bodies. They are not prepared to deal with the aftermath of bombs blowing people apart.

For the hearing itself, it seems as if there have been too many hearings and speeches and very little done. Two days ago there was a report I posted on two clinics being shut down only months after they opened. To this day, there are still not enough clinicians, psychologist and psychiatrists or even claims processors.

There are two emergency needs that have to be filled. One is on the therapy end and the best way to do this is to have Veteran's centers open across the nation especially in areas where the VA hospitals are too far away to get to. Staffed 24 hour call in crisis lines is another way. These two aspects of treatment are non-confrontational. The last thing they need is to go to a VA hospital to have their wound challenged, have a claim denied and then be handed a bill for the treatment. The other issue is that claims have got to be processed or they have to come up with a way to provide the veteran with income so that they do not face unnecessary added stresses of bills that cannot be paid and rents that cannot be paid or mortgages sent to foreclosure. These are the two things that have to be done yesterday!

There are many things advocates have to do but for right now, whatever we do, we at least have to do these or what we do tomorrow will be too late.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"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

Reducing Stigma for American Soldiers

Registration Now Open for Training Teleconference:Reducing Stigma for American Soldiers
Register to Participate
The SAMHSA Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma Associated With Mental Illness invites you to participate in a free teleconference training titled, “Reducing Stigma for American Soldiers.”
Date: Thursday, December 20, 2007Time: 2:00PM – 3:30PM (Eastern)
To register for this training teleconference, please click here for our registration page. Please pass this invitation along to interested friends and colleagues. Please note: Registration for this teleconference will close at 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on Tuesday, December 18, 2007.
We will email the telephone number for the training teleconference to all registered participants on Wednesday, December 19, 2007.
Training Summary
Nearly 1.4 million men and women make up the existing ranks of active duty military personnel, serving in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, but research shows that America’s soldiers may not seek help when they are experiencing a mental health problem.
A 2004 study of 6,000 military personnel involved in ground combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan found that of those whose responses indicated a mental health problem, only 23 to 40 percent sought psychiatric help.1 Many who did not cited fear of being stigmatized as a reason.2 In June of this year, the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health acknowledged that “Stigma in the military remains pervasive and often prevents service members from seeking needed care” and made dispelling stigma one of their goals.3
This training will:
Explore research on soldiers, including veterans, and mental health stigma.
Offer first-hand accounts from people who have experienced mental health stigma in the military.
Provide an overview of strategies that may help to promote mental health recovery and reduce stigma among members of the military.
1-2 S.G. Boodman. (November 6, 2007.) The other wounded. The Washington Post, last accessed 11/16/07.
3 Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health. (2007). An achievable vision: Report of the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health. Falls Church, VA: Defense Health Board, last referenced 11/29/07.
Send in Your Questions
We invite you to send in your questions related to mental health stigma in the military in advance of the teleconference. Speakers will answer as many questions as possible during the teleconference. Please send your questions by e-mail to stopstigma@samhsa.hhs.gov.
Please note that sending a question does not guarantee its inclusion in the teleconference. We will provide the speakers' contact information so that you may pursue your answer after the call. If you provide your name and organization at the time you ask your question, we may use it during the call. Anonymous questions also can be submitted.
Presentations
Presentation materials for this event will be available in two file formats: PPT (MS PowerPoint) and PDF (Portable Document Format). Please check back on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 and download one of the files.
Event Speakers
We are in the process of confirming presenters for this event. Check back to see who will be speaking!
Steve Robinson, ONE Freedom, Inc.Steve is a retired non-commissioned officer who served twenty years in the Army. He has held every job from Private to Platoon Sergeant and has also been rated in an Officer slot during his career. Since retiring in October 2001, Steve has become an advocate for veterans. He has been called to testify numerous times before the House and Senate on matters pertaining to Force Health Protection and emerging mental health issues related to this generation of returning war veterans. In his work at ONE Freedom, Steve helps veterans and their families recognize and deal with the complex issues that arise from prolonged, multiple deployments. He helps to break down the stigma of seeking help and teaches individuals and families skills to mitigate the effects of wartime trauma.
Abel Moreno, Vets4VetsAbel Moreno is the Media Outreach and Marketing Coordinator for Vets4Vets, a veterans' peer support organization dedicated to helping Iraq and Afghanistan veterans feel good about themselves and heal from any negative aspects of service and war. Abel served 7 years in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division 307th Engineer Battalion as an L.E engineer. He served one deployment in Afghanistan and one deployment in Iraq. He supported the 3rd Brigade Combat team along with L.E support with Charlie Company 307th Engineer Battalion. Duties performed were fortification, engineer recon, convoy security and demolitions. Abel received the Combat Action Badge, three Army Commendation medals, and two Army Achievement medals.
Rob Timmins, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Rob Timmins is the Field and Outreach Director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), America’s first and largest Iraq and Afghanistan veterans group. He was an Infantryman with the 101st Airborne Division for the first year of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he served in Najaf, and then Mosul. Rob escorted fuel convoys, went on patrol, and raided buildings for weapons caches, and also provided security for UN officials and helped Civil Affairs with reconstruction projects. He is an authority on the war in Iraq and issues affecting troops, military families and veterans. Rob holds a B.A. in Sociology from the College of Staten Island and continues to serve his country as a legal specialist with the Army Reserves.
Training Sponsors
This teleconference is sponsored by the SAMHSA Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma (ADS Center), a project of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The session is free to all participants.

Navy sees challenges to screen for combat stress

Navy Medicine Still Facing Challenges
Military.com By Bryant Jordan December 07, 2007
While the Navy is facing challenges in recruiting and retaining doctors and other medical personnel, it has no problem meeting medical demands in the Central Command theater, where it treats the wounded, injured and sick coming out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, says the Navy's top doctor.

Instead, Vice Adm. Adam Robinson Jr., chief of the Navy Medical Corps, said in a telephone interview Dec. 6, the challenge in theater is to identify service members who may be dealing with combat stress.

"I don't have any gaps in which I can't treat service men and women coming back from theater, for whatever [wounds or injuries] they may have," he said during a Bloggers Roundtable via telecon. "Some of the challenges is to make sure that we screen these men and women appropriately [for combat stress]."

This, he said, would provide the Navy with a basic health information on service members, including those who may suffer mental problems after leaving the AOR, he said.
go here for the rest
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,157690,00.html

Volunteer Therapists Aid War-Stressed Families and Partners of Soldiers

The Other Wounded
Volunteer Therapists Aid War-Stressed Families and Partners of Soldiers

By Sandra G. Boodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 6, 2007; Page HE01

They are the other casualties of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: spouses -- mostly wives -- of military personnel as well as their children, parents and even siblings struggling with the fear that accompanies combat separations or the wrenching readjustment that often marks the return home. Some are troops themselves, home for good or for a while between deployments, trying to cope with depression, anxiety, alcoholism or reentry.

Pincered by financial concerns and worries that seeking psychological counseling, especially through official channels, could jeopardize a loved one's military career, many relatives are reluctant to seek help. Others don't know where to find it.

Now a new nonprofit group called Give an Hour, launched by Washington area clinical psychologist Barbara V. Romberg, is providing free counseling for soldiers and their families, as well as their unmarried partners. More than 720 licensed psychologists, social workers and other counselors from 40 states and the District have volunteered to donate an hour a week of therapy time for a minimum of one year to those affected by the twin conflicts.

So far about 50 clients, including one soldier on active duty in Iraq, have contacted the program to find a therapist -- a trickle Romberg hopes will turn into a steady stream as word of the program spreads.
click post title for the rest

UK Military Covenant damaged beyond repair says think tank

Troops may soon be 'not fit for purpose'
SHÂN ROSS
(sross@scotsman.com)
THE massive expenditure incurred fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan could sound the death knell for the British armed forces leaving troops "not fit for purpose", a report warns today.

Senior armed services commanders "obsessed" with both conflicts stand accused of losing touch with ordinary servicemen and women putting their lives at risk in war zones.

In a hard-hitting report, the UK think-tank Demos says stretched military budgets remain tied up in "big ticket" high-profile hardware, while the "software" - the men and women making up the armed forces - are being overlooked in terms of training, conditions, pay and welfare.

The report also claims the Military Covenant - the contract between the nation and service personnel and their families - has been "damaged almost beyond repair".
go here for the rest
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1757942007

PTSD and the enemy to defeat

Too Few Clinicians Complicate Care in VA, Military Systems

The stigma of mental illness remains a strong deterrent to treatment in the military.
New efforts are under way, however, to eliminate this barrier.
by Rich Daly
A continuing critical shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists in the armed forces and access to quality mental health care for veterans in rural areas are issues that must be addressed now, mental health leaders told members of Congress and their staffs last month.
Military and veterans officials and others identified key concerns in the treatment of mental illness during the 2007 Mental Illness Awareness Week Congressional Symposium, jointly sponsored by APA and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The Capitol Hill briefing described the progress made in identifying and treating mental illness among active-duty and veterans groups, as well as thesignificant work that remains (see also VA Told to Establish Multiple Prevention Programs).

"We have to be realistic that when we send men and women to war zones, we are placing them at great risk for developing psychiatric disorders," said Daniel Blazer, M.D., Ph.D., a psychiatrist and member of the Department of Defense Mental Health Task Force, which recently concluded its work with the release of a report on the need to improve mental health services for members of the military and their families (Psychiatric News, August 3). "If we don't pay attention to their mental health, then we are closing our eyes to the real-life cost of sending them to war." (continued...)

When Vietnam veterans came home, they did not end their battles. They faced them everyday. They battled the ghosts of Vietnam. Then they battled the government to have the wounds they carried taken care of. They are still in need today, still seeking help and are still waiting.

There was a report a month or so ago, about 148,000 Vietnam veterans seeking help in 18 months. Vietnam combat ended for these veterans over 30 years ago yet today they are still seeking help and the VA was not planning for any of them. What will it be like 30 years from now for these veterans, or Gulf War veterans, or Iraq and Afghanistan veterans? 20 years or 10 years from now? The VA can't take care of them now.

Until the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan end, they will be producing more combat wounded. As bad as it is now it is not even close to what it will end up being years from now. Between the stigma attached to PTSD, the lack of public awareness, many of the wounded today will not seek treatment early. Some will repeat the same mistakes the Vietnam veterans made when they thought they'd "just get over it" as the years tick away.

This nation can mobilize men and women swiftly to send them into combat. This nation can suddenly find emergency funds to toss at crisis after crisis around the world. The elected can come up with hundreds of billions of dollars over and over again to keep campaigns ongoing. What it has been unable to do is use the same urgent attitude to mobilize against an enemy that will not go away, will not be defeated and will continue to kill without mercy. It will kill more than the attacks of 9-11. It will claim more lives than the published death counts. It kills more after peace has been declared and weapons have been put away than it does during the carnage. It claims more lives than bullets or bombs. PTSD is the terrorist we need to fear the most.

This does not just attack the soldier. It returns to claim the futures of the families they return to. Unless there is intervention, families fall apart, spouses blame themselves as divorce papers are filed and children wonder what they did wrong.

Yet this terrorist can be stopped with intervention provided the seriousness of the threat is not taken lightly. Lip service opens the door to more suffering. It is vital to our national security and our future as a nation to defeat this enemy. We cannot prevent it from attacking any more than we can stop the tornado from striking in the dark of night. We cannot prevent PTSD from happening from traumatic events, but we can stop if from claiming lives, families and futures.

The sooner treatment begins this enemy stops infecting every aspect of life. It can only be defeated by intervention. End the silence of PTSD and begin the healing from it. Declare a state of emergency on this killer now when it can make the most difference to the lives spared by grace. Mobilize the experts. Get the generals to lay out plans of attack. Get the elected to fund this war effort waged for the warriors. We can do it but it has to be taken as seriously as sending the men and women into combat.



"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


Kathie Costos

Namguardianangel@aol.com

http://www.namguardianangel.org/

http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/

http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/

PTSD when the shell breaks and healing begins

Anthony S. Bush / The Capital-Journal
Timothy Sanders, left, talks with Scott Ferguson, assistant service officer for Kansas Veterans of Foreign Wars, during Saturday's information fair at the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center.


Vet tells story of recovery
VA information fair in Topeka shines light on available services
By Julie K. Buzbee
Special To The Capital-Journal
Published Sunday, November 04, 2007
Timothy Sanders grew up in the aftermath of the Vietnam era, playing GI Joe in his Chicago neighborhood.

But nine years in the Army, including tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, shattered his childhood illusions and much of his adult life to date. Sanders, 32, said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and endures nightmares, flashbacks and anxiety attacks.

He was one of about 25 veterans who attended a welcome home information fair Saturday for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom troops, veterans and their families at the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka.

When Sanders got out of the military in 2005, he didn't seek help with problems adjusting to civilian life in Missouri, where he was living. He tried to cope on his own.

"I really wasn't too well informed when I left the military about what to do," he said.

Richard Selig understands the dilemma that Sanders and other veterans go through upon their return from war. Selig is the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom program manager for the Eastern Kansas Health Care System, which sponsored the information fair.

"You're hyper-aroused, you're hyper-vigilant," Selig says of troops. "Even if you wanted to pay attention, you really couldn't. When they come back from a combat zone, a lot of them are going to want to isolate."

Sanders, who was part of the ground force invasion in Iraq, said he isolated until his PTSD became so unmanageable that he ended up as a patient in Colmery-O'Neil's stress disorder treatment program.

"One thing about PTSD is you isolate," Sanders said. "In this program, I broke out of my shell."
go here for the rest
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/110407/loc_214817980.shtml

Veterans' suicide study, not as spun before

Veterans' suicide study yields key findings
Medical Studies/Trials
Published: Tuesday, 30-Oct-2007


The largest and most up-to-date study of suicides among depressed veterans provides important new data that may help guide screening and treatment for all veterans.

Published online (Oct. 30), the study finds that the predictors of suicide among veterans in depression treatment differ from those seen in the general American population, with younger, white, non-Hispanic men having the highest risk among the veterans.

Veterans with substance abuse issues, and those who had been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons in the year before their depression diagnosis, also had a higher suicide risk. Surprisingly, older veterans who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in addition to depression had a lower overall rate of suicide than those without a PTSD diagnosis, perhaps because they were more likely to receive care through Veterans Affairs PTSD programs.

Though the study did not directly compare populations of veterans and non-veterans receiving treatment for depression, the study does confirm that suicide rates were very high among depressed VA patients during the study period of 1999 to 2004, reinforcing the need for the VA's recent initiatives to prevent suicide.

The study, conducted by researchers from the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and the University of Michigan Health System and U-M Depression Center, will appear in the December American Journal of Public Health issue focused on veterans' issues.
go here for the rest
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=31927

When I read this, I thought I lost my mind. I went back to the earlier post to see if maybe I got the other report wrong. I have to admit here and now, as I often do, that I'm personally interested in what gets reported. For me to have taken the original out of context would be very possible. Looks like I didn't. I re-read it and then read this report. This one seems to be the way it was originally reported and not what the New York Times printed it. The question is, why would the Times reported it differently?

Marines in Iraq look to pastor for answers to tough questions

"They don't think their dead comrade should be awarded the honor of a marine killed in action. But asked if the unit should refuse any memorial at all, their heads snap up. "He deserves something," the tall one says adamantly. His mate nods in agreement."

PART 1: US Navy Chaplain Michael Baker ( Read the full series )
Military chaplain: Marines in Iraq look to pastor for answers to tough questions
From a buddy's suicide to a religious ritual, young troops count on Lt. Michael Baker.
By Lee Lawrence Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the October 30, 2007 edition

Habbaniyah, Iraq - Under a sun-blanched desert sky, Navy Chaplain Michael Baker and Marine Sgt. Bill Hudson Gross bounce in the back of a truck as it rumbles across Camp Habbaniyah. Clad in helmets and body armor in the 110-degree F. June heat, they're on a mission: to baptize Sergeant Gross.

"I am going to try to talk him out of it," confesses Chaplain Baker, a tall, lanky Methodist minister whose formal Mississippi-tinged speech and posture mask an often goofy sense of humor.

It's not the baptism itself; it's just the part where Gross wants Baker to immerse him in the Euphrates, one of four rivers that the Bible describes as flowing from the Garden of Eden. For Gross, an infantry platoon leader who just weeks before saw two of his men wounded by shrapnel, the river has a personal connection. Two years ago he deployed to a small base on the river, where he turned his back on religion after learning of his father's death back home. Now that he has rediscovered his faith, he feels it fitting to be baptized in a river where, he says, "a lot of people gave up hope."

Baker enumerates the problems with Gross's plan: "There is the issue of water pollution and the issue of security," he says. By stepping into the Euphrates, they would technically be leaving the confines of the camp, home to the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. Safer to wear their 25-pound body armor and risk drowning, he wonders? Or better to stand in the river without it and risk being shot? His laugh at the predicament is loud and staccato.

For military chaplains in war zones, even very routine requests can prove challenging – as Baker has discovered, it is not always easy to satisfy basic emotional and spiritual needs of individual troops within the hard-edged, mission-oriented goals and guidelines of the command.

go here for the rest
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1030/p20s01-usmi.html?page=1

What's it going to take for Marines and the rest of the units with people in combat zones to understand this came from a combat wound? What makes them think it is any less worthy, noble or heroic than being cut down by a bullet from the enemy or a bomb? They all need to understand that although there were other options, this is in fact a war wound that claimed a life. The bullet may have come from the Marine's own finger pulling the trigger, but the wound was caused from combat.


PTSD is an insidious killer.

Main Entry: in·sid·i·ousFunction: adjectivePronunciation: in-'si-de-&sEtymology: Latin insidiosus, from insidiae ambush, from insidere to sit in, sit on, from in- + sedere to sit -- more at SIT 1 a : awaiting a chance to entrap : TREACHEROUS b : harmful but enticing : SEDUCTIVE 2 a : having a gradual and cumulative effect : SUBTLE b of a disease : developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent

It is far more dangerous than a bullet fired at random or a bomb just waiting to claim another life. This one kills slowly with more far reaching victims. It takes buddies. It takes families. It takes friends. With normal combat deaths, the grief is answered with the knowledge of what happened and when. With PTSD and suicides, there are no clear answers. Everyone is left to wonder what they could have done to save the life. Everyone is left to wonder when it got so bad that there was no hope left to want to live. Everyone is left to wonder when it all started.

When they have PTSD, which is a wound from trauma, there is a golden window of opportunity to treat the wound before it infects the casualty. Left alone it eats away more of the character until there is nothing left. This is not something that should ever be treated as less worthy of honoring the life. It should always be more worthy of saving a life than it is. Until we all get it into our brain that this is a wound as surely as a bullet cuts into the skin, we will lose more by their own finger on the trigger, their own hand on a noose, their own hand on a bottle of pills.

These Marines in this article spoke of the code. The code also says never leave anyone behind. If they do not take action helping those wounded by trauma, they are in fact leaving them behind to be taken by the enemy. The enemy they can no longer see, but the one suffering from the ghosts does. kc

No stigma in getting post-combat stress help

Caregivers emphasize: No stigma in getting post-combat stress help
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, October 30, 2007

CAMP CASEY, South Korea — A perception that seeking help for post-combat stress could harm a servicemember’s career is preventing many from dealing with problems that could balloon into greater ones.

But care providers throughout the Pacific say that seeking treatment alone will not jeopardize a security clearance — and therefore military jobs.

Most say they can keep treatment confidential and out of service records, with exceptions possible when serious harm to self or others is involved.

Capt. Christopher Perry, Area I support psychiatrist at Camp Casey, South Korea, has managed medications and conducted psychotherapy for several hundred returning vets.

Senior NCOs and junior officers do perceive a stigma with getting treatment, he said. But that stigma doesn’t exist, Perry said: “You don’t lose your clearance because of seeking help [for combat-related stress].”
go here for the rest
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49875

For a psychotherapist specializing in PTSD, that’s a good thing

Professionals working to destigmatize PTSD
By MARTIN J. KIDSTON - Independent Record - 10/27/07
When Carroll Jenkins looks back over the past six years, he can’t help but credit the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for creating a broader understanding of post traumatic stress disorder.

For a psychotherapist specializing in PTSD, that’s a good thing.

“It seems like our society has to get hit right upside the head, pretty hard, to get it,” Jenkins said Friday. “I think we’ve got it this time. I’ve been battling this sucker for years. To see people sit around talking about PTSD the way they are now — we’re destigmatizing it.”

Jenkins was recently contracted by the Montana National Guard to help train therapists across the state in recognizing and dealing with PTSD.

Now, nearly a month later, he’ll help the Montana Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in a related conference to be held in Helena next month.

John Wilkinson, executive director of NASW-MT, said the organization will host what’s believed to be the largest conference ever held in the state dedicated entirely to post-combat stress and veteran care.
click post title for the rest

Neglected by DIA and VA PTSD claims another life

Neglected by DIA and VA, defense employee suffered alone after stints in Iraq
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, October 28, 2007

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first in a three-day series about post-traumatic stress disorder. Today’s story looks at one man’s descent into a living hell with PTSD that his family says began as a civilian deployed to Iraq and ended in an Arizona cemetery. Monday’s story visits a group of South Korea-based troops who meet to deal with their issues. On Tuesday, Stripes explores the different types of care available to those suffering from the disorder across the Pacific.



In 2004, William Blair e-mailed his wife Noriko a picture of himself in an Iraqi jail cell.

Noriko knew he wasn’t a prisoner, but she knew little else about his job with the Defense Intelligence Agency.

When he returned from Iraq a year later after a second deployment, Noriko Blair realized that William wasn’t the same witty, calm, peaceful man she had married. But she did not know how badly he had been wounded.

After 38 years of serving his country as a retired active-duty soldier and a Defense Department civilian, Blair died in July 2006.

Death didn’t come from a bullet or a mortar round. It came from the anguish brought on by post-traumatic stress disorder and the heart attack that struck after alcohol abuse broke his body, his family said.

Blair’s death could have been prevented, said his son, his wife and a former colleague who served with him in some of the world’s toughest places.

click post title for the rest

War can be hard on relationships of military couples

Her findings about deployment run counter to a 2003 military study taken to assess the mental health of soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan. “That study found soldiers were reporting very low stress related to their deployment,” she said.

War can be hard on relationships of military couples
Posted by admin as Psychology / Psychiatry
October 22, 2007

Serving in combat can affect the relationship satisfaction of military couples, according to preliminary results of a study by a Kansas State University professor.

Briana Nelson Goff, associate professor of marriage and family therapy in K-State’s School of Family Studies and Human Services, has conducted surveys and interviews during the last year with 47 military couples from Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth. The majority of the participating couples are married, while the others have been dating for at least a year. In each case, the male member of the couple has served in the war in Iraq or in Afghanistan.

Nelson Goff said her research is the first comprehensive study to compare the similarities between couples who are dealing with the aftereffects of war and those who deal with other similar types of traumatic experiences. Her survey was designed to find and gauge the level of individual trauma symptoms related to the war experience and if they are affecting the couples’ relationship.

click post title for the rest

Report: PTSD treatments need more research

Report: PTSD treatments need more research

The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Oct 18, 2007 12:04:16 EDT

WASHINGTON — There isn’t enough evidence to tell whether most treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder work, according a scientific review that highlights the urgency of finding answers as thousands of suffering veterans return from Iraq.

The one proven treatment: “exposure therapies,” where PTSD patients are gradually exposed to sights and sounds that essentially simulate their trauma to help them learn to cope, advisers to the government reported Thursday.

The lack of evidence for other therapies doesn’t mean patients should give them up — they still should get whatever care their personal doctors deem most promising, stressed Thursday’s report from the Institute of Medicine.

“The take-home message for patients should be that they seek care,” said Dr. David Matchar of Duke University, who co-authored the report.

“That is the way medicine is practiced — we do the best we can with what we’ve got,” he added. But, “we need better.”

While PTSD was first recognized in Vietnam veterans, war is far from its only trigger. Crime, accidents and other trauma can cause it in civilians, too. Sufferers experience flashbacks and physical symptoms that make them feel as though they are reliving the trauma even many years later.

click post title for the rest

You would think that after thirty years of having to deal with PTSD, they would have found what works by now, but no one really invested the time or money into finding it until now. The difference is because of the net and the fact we have global communication. This is no longer a secret.

PTSD war wounds in all wars

WWI

During the 1930's, many veterans sought medical care, especially during a tuberculosis epidemic. The number of VA hospitals increased from 64 to 91, and significant contribution to medicine when it broke ground in the treatment of tuberculosis, which plagued the population of VA patients; by the mid-1930's, the disease affected 13 percent of that population. Neuropsychiatric patients then accounted for more than half of VA's patient population.

WWII

Advances in armaments, the conditions in prisoner of war (POW) camps, and experimentation with atomic radiation gave World War II veterans' health challenges not experienced by previous generations. In particular, psychiatric casualties increased by 300 percent from World War I to World War II and accounted for 23 percent of all evacuees. The traumatic aftereffects of combat were widely rejected as the cause for psychiatric casualties.

The American Legion drafted the GI bill of rights, a plan that included hospitalization, employment, home and business loans, mustering-out pay and education. Within 6 months, Congress passed the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, more commonly known as the GI Bill. Five years after the end of World War II, four out of every five veterans received benefits under one or more of the three major GI Bill programs for education and training, home loans, and unemployment compensation. By 1955, veterans who used their GI Bill had higher income levels than nonveterans of similar age, were more likely to be in professional skilled occupation, and were better educated. Three out of five married veterans owned their own home. The GI Bill paved the way for World War II veterans to become known a the "Greatest Generation," given their considerable contributions to the American economy and social structure.

Korea

In a departure from previous wars, the military took a more realistic approach to psychiatric casualties of the Korean War. The recognition that service members suffering from combat stress needed immediate treatment in the field decreased the evacuation rate for psychiatric reasons from 23 percent in World War II to 6 percent.

*****Again, this supports early intervention and attention to avoid PTSD from becoming chronic.

Vietnam

Emotional problems plagued and estimated 800,000 Vietnam veterans by 1985. Although those veterans had not manifested the same rate of neuropsychiatric disorders during active duty as had World War II or Korean veterans, Vietnam veterans were more likely to suffer psychiatric symptoms years after returning home.

http://www.vetscommission.org/pdf/Pastpresentfuture5.pdf

Commission report for todays occupations

3. Aggressively Prevent and Treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury Recommendation: VA should provide care for any veteran of theAfghanistan and Iraq conflicts who has post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD). DoD and VA must rapidly improve prevention, diagnosis, andtreatment of both PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI). At the same time,both Departments must work aggressively to reduce the stigma of PTSD. Goals: Improve care of two common conditions of the current conflictsand reduce the stigma of PTSD; mentally and physically fit service memberswill strengthen our military into the future. DoD and VA have stepped up screening for these conditions with almostthree-quarters of survey respondents reporting being screened for PTSD andTBI, and over 40% of them reporting symptoms of PTSD or other mental healthproblemshttp://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-25-2007/0004632548&EDATE

You can go here to read more. There are a lot of sections to get through but this is what I've found so far.
Commission report
http://www.vetscommission.org/reports.asp

There is a lot here. Many of the recommendations are great. Aside from increasing the disability rate for the disability and individual unemployable rate to reach 100%, they are suggesting they should just put it at 100% at the same time taking another look at Social Security Disability to remove the barrier of the "quarters" requirement. This would be great for veterans because if they have families, it will also allow them to receive help with medical coverage. CHAMPVA covers a lot, but it does not cover everything. It will also increase the income for disabled veterans who have paid into the system and will not be able to work. Virtually they have retired early and should be able to collect social security benefits.


This is in fact a quality of life issue. Let's put it this way. My husband's claim was approved a long time ago. Instead of just saying thank you and going off on my "merry" way, I kept fighting for the other veterans out there because if the way my husband was treated wasn't right, it wasn't right for a lot of other veterans either. Little did I know back then I would end up trying to reach another generation beside the Vietnam veterans. It is worse all the way around now.

While Vietnam veterans are still coming to terms with what they came home with, there are thousands of others who have been in treatment. There is not enough room for the older veterans along with trying to fit in the new ones. Older veterans are being pushed back, appointments are being cut back on. Most say they don't mind because the newer ones need help now. These are amazing people. In all of this we also have Vietnam veterans trying to fit in. They are not newly wounded, but newly discovered the problems they have been carrying are a direct result of their service to this country. If you think it is unique to the USA, think again. The UK, Canada, Australia as well as many other nations are finding it difficult to treat all their combat wounded as well.

One thing consistently missed when you hear the deniers of PTSD speak, is they claim that it is just this generation coming out seeking a "free ride" or being, for lack of a better word to replace their's, "pussies" who can't hack it. They avoid the obvious. The net was not available to global communication when they came home from Vietnam, Korea and WWII, WWI or any of the other military actions with documented evidence dating back to ancient times. This was just picking up in the 90's when the Gulf War veterans were seeking answers for their own unique illness along with the usual ones, like PTSD. My husband's uncle was on a ship hit by a kamikaze pilot during WWII and ended up in a nursing home because he was "shell shocked" along with a lot of other veterans.

As you can see from the first section of this blog, there is enough evidence to wipe out the claim today's veterans are anything other than what all other veterans were. Aside from brave and risking their lives, they were also normal humans dealing with very abnormal events. If you think combat is a normal part of life, you must have one really bad life. Combat is not normal to humans!

The next time you come up against someone even trying to suggest that these veterans we have are anything else but wounded, point back to the history of how they were all wounded the same way by the same things. Then point to this because they wouldn't even suggest it if it was not a real wound.

And all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans would be allowed to receive care for post-traumatic stress disorder without having to demonstrate its connection to their service.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101602036.html

Kathie Costos

Namguardianangel@aol.com

http://www.namguardianangel.org/

http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/

http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/

"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
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When war comes home, battle begins for spouse

When The War Comes Home
Michelle and Troy Turner live in rural West Virginia, 80 miles from the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital where Troy receives his care. Troy finished his tour in Iraq in 2003, but Michelle must deal with the fallout. Troy's one-year

WALTER REED AND BEYOND
A Wife's Battle
When Her Soldier Returned From Baghdad, Michelle Turner Picked Up the Burden of War
By Anne Hull and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, October 14, 2007; Page A01
ROMNEY, W.Va.
Michelle Turner's husband sits in the recliner with the shades drawn. He washes down
his Zoloft with Mountain Dew. On the phone in the other room, Michelle is pleading with the utility company to keep their power on.

"Can't you tell them I'm a veteran?" asks her husband, Troy, who served as an Army scout in Baghdad and came back with post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Troy, they don't care," Michelle says, her patience stretched.

The government's sweeping list of promises to make wounded Iraq war veterans whole, at least financially, has not reached this small house in the hills of rural West Virginia, where one vehicle has already been repossessed and the answering machine screens for bill collectors. The Turners have not been making it on an $860-a-month disability check from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

After revelations about the poor treatment of outpatient soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center earlier this year, President Bush appointed a commission to study the care of the nation's war-wounded. The panel returned with bold recommendations, including the creation of a national cadre of caseworkers and a complete overhaul of the military's disability system that compensates wounded soldiers.

But so far, little has been done to sort out the mess of bureaucracy or put more money in the hands of newly disabled soldiers who are fending off evictions and foreclosures.
read more here

When they come home from combat with the horrors imbedded in them, it is often up to the wives or husbands to begin the fighting. We have to fight for them to get help at the same time we fight them to understand they need help. Denial is the first battle. The mood swings and detachment plant the idea it's our fault in the backs of our own minds as we try to understand what's happening. Short term memory loss and poor judgement skills turn us into parents having to watch every move they make. This is what happens when they come home with wounded minds. Can there be any wonder why so many of these marriages fall apart? Most of them crumble like burnt toast when the facts about PTSD are unknown to them. A lot of marriages with Vietnam veterans ended because of this and because so little was known when they came home.

As much as I love my own husband, as much as I learned about PTSD over the last 25 years, our marriage nearly fell apart more times than I can even remember. The frustration of it all becomes too much too often even now. Our marriage license is in half English and half Greek. I tell my husband the adoption orders are on the Greek side of it when I feel as if I am no longer a married woman but a parent to a child 8 years older than me. I was a single parent in all the years of taking control, making sure the government took care of their responsibility to my husband. This is our job.

We become caretakers, nursing their wounds, holding their shaking bodies, comforting their broken image of themselves and trying with all our might to reassure them they are still loved and needed. We adjust to daily prayers of healing as Jesus instantaneously healed the mad man; for patience; for restoration of compassion when self-needs get too strong; for the right words to use when logic is not enough to combat illogic; and above all for the ability to be reassured the person we love is still in there beneath the stranger we see with our eyes.

As spouses take control, we also face financial disasters while claims are "being processed" only to be turned down and appeals have to be filed within the deadlines we have to live with but the VA does not. Employment for these veterans is sporadic at best, but bills are constant. Then there is the astronomical cost of the self-medication they turn to with alcohol and drugs. We loose time at work when they were up all night with nightmares or to take them to the VA for appointments because they cannot bring themselves in the beginning. We loose time at work when we have to take them for hearings and to see the service organizations helping with the claims because they cannot manage to get themselves there without us.

All of this at the same time we have to try to keep hope alive in them, reassure them that truth will win and their claim will be approved so that we can at least keep our homes and pay our bills. We also loose income when their jobs are lost. The income they get from the VA, if and when their claims are finally honored, is a lot less than they would make, along with our own loss of income. We had to have several mortgage "forbearance" arrangements to keep our house, borrowed from family, at the same time I had to work more to keep the roof over our heads. This was a lot of fun when I had to worry about our daughter and my husband needing constant supervision. A tiny crisis left him unable to think often. One time a toilet was overflowing. He called me at work in a panic, not knowing what to do, instead of just shutting off the water flow to the tank and using a plunger, which he had done often before. It was just one of those days for him to face.

We are a huge Army of love, fighting for those who risked their lives but forgotten behind the battle lines. Each day is a new experience. I tell my husband there is never a dull moment in our marriage because I never know what to expect. Sometimes he even surprises himself. Most of the worst days are far behind us. We have adjusted to our own sense of what "normal" is and most days, they are good days. We still have times when my frustration reaches its limit and we have a huge argument, but over the years, they happen a lot less. I learned to deal with the fact he has to recheck the door I just locked and the repeated questions I've already answered twelve times before.

We had our 23 anniversary last month. Marriages do not have to end if the tools are available. That's why I've been working so hard all these years. I'm positive that if I didn't know what PTSD was, there is no way I would be able to cope with any of this. Life does not have to be about existing day to day, but living lives with tiny blessings. It can be about holding hands wherever we go because we held onto our hearts. Yes, we still hold hands!

(Honesty time; I get a little mean every now and then. His short term memory loss opens the door for a little mind game I play every now and then. I will remind him of a conversation we really did have and then toss in something we never talked about. We've gone out to eat a lot because I convince him he promised to take me out. While we're eating, I admit what I did. He laughs and then hands me the bill.)

If you are dealing with a combat veteran with PTSD, learn all you can about it and welcome to this Army of love. The war we fight for them now, will never end, but battles can be won and peace can be declared within our own homes.



Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"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

Expect 800,000 PTSD veterans out of Iraq and Afghanistan

Iraq veterans deserve more than post-combat negligence
By Stacy Bannerman

Special to The Times


WHEN the appalling conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center were made public, accompanied by grim photos of moldy walls, crumbling ceilings and dirty, bug-infested rooms, it sparked a national outcry and immediate action. Unfortunately, it has been comparatively quiet about the nearly 300 Iraq war veterans who have committed suicide, and thousands more who have attempted it.

America cannot afford the price of failing to care for veterans with combat-related mental-health problems. The systemic breakdown in mental-health care is so profound that military families and veterans groups have filed lawsuits against the Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth have filed a class-action suit on behalf of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The suit claims there are as many as "800,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans said to suffer or risk developing PTSD." The groups charge the VA with collaborating with the Pentagon to avoid paying PTSD benefits.
click post title for the rest

Last year, it was about 400,000 we were worried about. The beginning of this year, it was 700,000 we were worried about. Now add in at least 100,000 more. Why? Are you shocked? You shouldn't be and the government shouldn't be either. After all it was already predicted in 1978 when the DAV commissioned a study showing Vietnam produced 500,000 diagnosed cases, as well as acknowledging the numbers would rise as more information came out and the symptoms of PTSD grew stronger. Even back then they knew PTSD did not always show up right away. So why is it no one was ready for what was to come now? They didn't care.

It needs to be pointed out as much as possible that when the Army did their own study finding the redeployments increased the risk of developing PTSD by 50%, this should have sounded a shrieking warning bell across the country and emergency measures should have been driven in overdrive, but no one did anything about it. As a matter of fact, the Bush administration cut back funding, along with Nicholson, in 2005, with two occupations producing more wounded minds daily. To have their lives still at risk after their tours have ended is sickening, is wrong, and there is absolutely no excuse for any of this appalling lack of preparedness. You would think that a nation able to fund hundreds of billions of dollars over and over again on emergency basis, would be able to place the same sense of urgency when it comes to saving their lives, their futures and their families, but they do not. You would think that knowing what the experts have been saying all along would hold more weight than rhetoric and slogans when it comes to the seriousness of this, but it didn't. The problem is they didn't think and they didn't care enough to think about any of our troops or what would happen to them when they became veterans or wounded veterans needing care.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com