Treating PTSD: Are we there yet?

From Carissa Picard
In 2007, the DoD Mental Health Task Force recommended MEB/PEB for soldiers with PTSD/TBI versus disciplinary or other administrative action (when possible) in cases of misconduct as both injuries were known to cause what it identified as "disinhibitory" behavior. If senior leadership isn't going to honor those recommendations, how can we expect that of lower level leadership? And why hasn't Congress done anything about this yet?

Carissa is a good friend of mine and I'm very proud of what she's doing. I'll be joining here site soon to focus on PTSD. Right now I feel like Lisa Simpson on the Disney ride when she and Bart keep repeating "are we there yet" only to have Homer tell them "Yes, we've arrived at this exact spot at this very moment!"

We are not there yet but no one seems to be asking why we are not even close to being able to treat all the wounded with PTSD adequately enough that things like this do not happen any longer. What's it going to take? Three Generals not enough for them to wake up and understand what PTSD does? Think about that. Three Generals came out and said they had PTSD. Did the military try to end their careers too? When will the DOD stop treating them as if they are useless instead of wounded?

I posted yesterday about an Iraq veteran who had a limb amputated. He was treated, went through physical training, fitted with a prosthetic leg and he's right back with his troops. It's the same thing with PTSD. There are different levels of it and depending on the person, they can return to their units after they are treated properly. So why isn't this being done for them when the wound is PTSD? Why are they not given what they need without having to fight for it? Did they have to fight the DOD for a gun to train and deploy under orders? Who can expect them to get on with their lives after without the proper tools to do it with?

How many more years do they need to get any of this right and why aren't we there already?

PTSD victim booted for 'misconduct'
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jan 7, 2009 12:55:53 EST
After serving two tours in Iraq — tours filled with killing enemy combatants and watching close friends die — Sgt. Adam Boyle, 27, returned home expecting the Army to take care of him.

Instead, service member advocates and Boyle's mother say his chain of command in the 3rd Psychological Operations Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C., worked to end his military career at the first sign of weakness.

In October, a medical evaluation board physician at Bragg recommended that Boyle go through the military disability retirement process for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder — which is supposed to automatically earn him at least a 50 percent disability retirement rating — as well as for chronic headaches. The doctor also diagnosed Boyle with alcohol abuse and said he was probably missing formations due to the medications doctors put him on to treat his PTSD.

But in December, Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, signed an order forcing Boyle out on an administrative discharge for a "pattern of misconduct," and ordering that the soldier pay back his re-enlistment bonus.

Last year, after a number of troops diagnosed with PTSD were administratively forced out for "personality disorders" following combat deployments, the Defense Department changed its rules: The pertinent service surgeon general now must sign off on any personality-disorder discharge if a service member has been diagnosed with PTSD.

"Not even a year later, they're pushing them out administratively for 'pattern of misconduct,' " said Carissa Picard, an attorney and founder of Military Spouses for Change, a group created in response to the personality-disorder cases. "I'm so angry. We're seeing it all the time. And it's for petty stuff."

In Boyle's case, according to Picard and Boyle's mother, Laura Curtiss, the soldier had gotten in trouble for missing morning formations and for alcohol-related incidents such as fighting and public drunkenness.

"The whole thing is absurd to me," Picard said. "They acknowledge that PTSD causes misconduct, and then they boot them out for misconduct."

FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE, click link

Attention Military Spouses:Congress needs to hear from you!

Attention Military Spouses!

YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED IN CONGRESS IMMEDIATELY.

The House of Representatives recently passed the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act. This bill, if it passes the Senate, will apply the same rules of residency to military spouses that currently apply to their active duty service member (so you would no longer have to worry about changing your driver's license, vehicle registration, voter's registration, etc., every time you move). The idea that we should be penalized for these moves WHEN IT IS THE MILITARY that is choosing to move us is ridiculous. Military spouses, like service members, simply go where the military tells them to go. The hardships associated with these frequent moves should be ALLEVIATED by Congress, not perpetuated.

Shockingly, the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act is currently BEING CHALLENGED by the DoD as it is being considered by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. If this bill does not get approved by the VA Committee, it will never get voted on in the Senate and thus never become law.

This is your chance to make a difference and to be heard. You need to call the Senators that are sitting on the VA Committee. Ask to speak with their legislative aide about the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act. Tell them that "the committee needs to support the Carter Military Spouse language." For some reason, the DoD does not believe that military spouses should have the same residency protections that service members do. Obviously, Military Spouses for Change disagrees with the DoD on this.

It will not cost the federal government anything to make this bill a law. It will not cost the Department of Defense anything. All we are asking for is a reprieve from the practical and financial burdens of having to change our state of residence every time the military decides to move our family. Either that or the military should start giving our married service members the option of staying at one duty station for his or her entire career. Since the latter is unlikely to happen, then the federal government should at least move to provide us with the same legal protections it provides our service members since we are no more immune to the change of duty stations than he or she is (absent divorcing or separating).

Print out the numbers below and take the time to call each office and tell them that military spouses deserve the same legal protections that their service members get when it comes to state residency laws. They say that the military recruits a service member but retains the family, well this is a step the federal government can take toward doing that.

Please forward this email to other military spouses you know and/or post on message boards and blogs!


Akaka, Daniel K.- (D - HI) (202) 224-6361
Aide: Lisa F.

Brown, Sherrod- (D - OH) (202) 224-2315
Aide: Diane Wilkinson

Burr, Richard- (R - NC) (202) 224-3154
Aide: Kevin Tuess(??)

Craig, Larry E.- (R - ID) (202) 224-2752
Aide: Patrick (Nielman??)

Graham, Lindsey- (R - SC) (202) 224-5972
Aide: Adam Brake

Hutchison, Kay Bailey- (R - TX) 224-5922

Isakson, Johnny- (R - GA) (202) 224-3643
Aide: Lauren Walter (along with Houston Ernst)

Murray, Patty- (D - WA) (202) 224-2621
Aide: Joshua Jacobs

Obama, Barack- (D - IL) (202) 224-2854
Aide: Ruchi Bhowmik

Rockefeller, John D., IV- (D - WV) (202) 224-6472
Aide: Clete Johnson or Barbara Pryor

Sanders, Bernard- (I - VT) (202) 224-5141
Aide: Janko Mitric

Specter, Arlen- (R - PA) (202) 224-4254
Aide: Will Wagner

Tester, Jon- (D - MT) (202) 224-2644
Aide: James Wise

Webb, Jim- (D - VA) (202) 224-4024
Aide: William Edwards

Wicker, Roger F.- (R - MS) (202) 224-6253


Your ally in progress,

Carissa Picard


--
Carissa Picard, Esq.
President
Military Spouses for Change
P.O. Box 216
Copperas Cove, TX 76522

Military Spouses Working to Improve Lives of Soldiers

Military Spouses Working to Improve Lives of Soldiers

Last Edited: Thursday, 14 Aug 2008, 9:20 AM CDT
Created: Thursday, 14 Aug 2008, 9:20 AM CDT


Military Spouses Fight for Change
"Military Spouses for Change" is working to improve the lives of soldiers and their families. They want to convince government to improve health care, treatment for PTSD and other issues that soldiers face when they return home.


click post title to watch the interview with Carissa Picard, President of Military Spouses for Change.

Obama and McCain let the troops down at Fort Hood

Carissa Picard sent this email. In case you don't know who she is, she is the President of Military Spouses for Change. She's been very active helping the troops at Fort Hood. Living with the families and the troops, she's well aware of what's going on today and how the troops need to be heard. She tried to put together a Town Hall meeting with the troops and the two candidates running for President and Commander-in Chief. This was such a big deal CBS was going to cover it. Obama had better things to do, as well as he also had better things to do than attend the DAV convention and sent a tape to be played at the convention. McCain, well he was willing to do this but would only commit if Obama did. The whole thing fell apart. What is very troubling is that we have two occupations going on right now, troops suffering and families suffering as they are expected to do their duties. The two people who think they have the right "leadership" to command these men and women do an awful lot of talking about how important the troops are to them but they never really do much to prove it. So is this all just more talk from politicians trying to use the love the American people have for the troops and not really doing anything for them or what? Read what Carissa wrote and then you decide.

DIARY on MILITARY SPOUSE PRESS - POLITICS AS USUAL: The Injustice of Not Having the Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall

Some of you know me and know that what I do comes from the heart (see: http://www.milspousepress.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=573). Caynan, my husband, is a medevac pilot covering the Baghdad area. Yes, progress has been made. But it isn't pretty. (Magilla the Gorilla, the large stuffed animal I sent him that is now a part of the crew for my husband's team, needs a harness because he gets tossed around during the missions and is getting bloodied up.) You will not like what you are about to read but I hope you will remember that I tried to invite the candidates to Fort Hood back in November of 2007 (http://blip.tv/file/500866), that you met me when I was stumping for Biden in Iowa because I believe so strongly in being a voice for our active duty service members and families.

What I wrote below, I wrote in response to a personal email, I wrote in my OWN voice, not as the President of MSC, and not as the organizer of the FOrt Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium. I have been a Democrat all my life. My husband has taken heat from his chain of command because of my advocacy for our soldiers here at Fort Hood (See also why we should take care of our wounded: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,157747,00.html). But I am heartbroken and disappointed and angry. I approached the campaigns asking for ANY dates that worked for them. I will be more than happy to give you the invitation and press release if you want it, just email me. You know what, I understand that town halls are risky. But every time my husband gets in that Blackhawk he is risking his life, and he does it anyway. We honor those who have the courage to take risks. The stakes are high, you may be thinking. Yes, they are. They are very high. No one knows that more than we do.

I am officially an independent now. I think that this was town hall was a political game too for the campaigns--AND I AM ANGRY. I am speaking out as the spouse of a soldier serving 15 months in Iraq. Fort Hood is home to approximately 56,000 soldiers and 24,000 spouses. Our "in house" records, as of Feb. 2007, had our death toll at 650 deaths to this "Global War on Terror" but the DoD numbers, of course, for Fort Hood, have us at that RIGHT NOW. (Guess it all depends on how you define dead). (I'm sorry, casualty of war.) Six weeks ago, a 19 yr old stationed from Hood shot himself to death via webcam in front of his 19 year old wife (he is listed by the army as a "non-combat related casualty; small arms fire"). He was stationed at Camp Taji.

On July 22, my husband calls me from Taji to inform me he can't shower because another soldier has been electrocuted to death in the shower. A few months ago, 4th ID announced it was raising funds to expand its soldier memorial on post for the THIRD time as its Division losses have been so great. 4th ID is, of course, on its 4th tour in Iraq. 1st Cav Division will be going back for the fourth or fifth time in six months (they just back in this past December when their tours were extended to 15 months).

A soldier with TUMORS in his lungs that I am helping here at Ft. Hood was CLEARED as fit for duty for AFGHANISTAN even though he can't run or do push ups without passing out. (General Schoomaker has been informed of the situation and is now having this soldier re-evaluated.) MEANWHILE, when I approached Obama's people about the event (whom I thought would jump on this opportunity), I get stonewalled by their vet coordinator. I get told by McCain's people he won't come if Obama won't come (nice).

I get NO dates from Obama's people and one date from McCain's people. I go with that date to the network and the venue and Obama. Obama's deputy director of scheduling tells me, "oh, the Senator is spending time with his family on that day, Ms. Picard. Surely you can appreciate that the Senator's time with his family is sacred." I felt like my head was going to explode when she said that to me. The Senator's time with his family is SACRED? Yes, it is but what about OUR TIME with OUR FAMILIES? Between 2002 and 2006, the divorce rate for Army officers TRIPLED and for Army enlisted soldiers doubled. Incidents of child abuse and neglect increased with the length of the soldier being deployed. PTSD is a HUGE risk factor for domestic violence. Repeat tours increase the likelihood of returning with PTSD. 2 in 5 service members are returning with either a traumatic brain injury or PTSD (or both).

WHAT ABOUT OUR FAMILIES? Last time I checked, the Senator gets to see his family. They CAN travel with him. He does not rely on 15 minutes DSN phone calls with bad connections that he has to wait in line to make or internet that may or may not be working. And after NOvember, he WILL be with his families. I told Ms. Koehkne, with all due respect, no one knows more than an Army wife, how sacred time with one's family is. And I certainly don't appreciate the fact that the man whose orders will send my husband away from my family for yet ANOTHER 12 or 15 months cannot commit to talking to our troops because time with his family is more important than time with us, especially when the war in Iraq is such a large part of his election platform.

It is utterly outrageous that these two men have not come to US together and worked out a time for BOTH of them to talk to our service members and spouses. We should know how they plan to maintain our all volunteer force after six years of war and in the face of the escalating "global war on terror," strengthen our domestic security and replenish national guard/reserve forces and equipment (particularly in the event of a natural disaster and/or, god forbid, an internal attack), and fortify our military and veteran institutions while doing this.

I am not bashing Obama, I am angry at McCain as well for not trying to make this happen either. Our soldiers are MORE THAN A PHOTO OP. OUR FAMILIES AND OUR SERVICE MEMBERS ARE LIVING AND DYING for this country and for this war on terror. We wanted the country to remember that the next president is going to determine exactly how much longer we are going to keep living this way and where exactly our service members will be living and dying and being wounded when NOT WITH US, their families. WIll it be Iraq? WIll it be Afghanistan? Will it be Iran?? Pakistan??? AND WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THE SERVICE MEMBER, when he or she returns wounded, battered, bruised, broken, what is this country going to do to help this service member and this family put itself back together?

Since Fort Hood has lost the most soldiers in the war on terror and its soldiers have spent the most fighting in this war, I think this is clearly the most compelling audience for these questions. Every soldier knows that orders to Hood equals orders to combat. THe National Veterans Organization wants to help create a presidential town hall before November for our soldiers and spouses and veterans. Ralph Nader wants to be involved. I say we challenge ALL candidates to attend. I say we tell them to put up or shut up because I am, quite frankly, sick of it. And God help them if my husband goes down in his helicopter in Iraq, because it won't be pretty. They think that this military spouse is on fire now, as a gold star spouse I will make Cindy Sheehan look like a pussy cat. (I should mention that I am Irish.)

I expect both campaigns will be angry at me for this email but they don't have to work with me to do this event. They just have to come together to make this happen for our troops and their families. If not Fort Hood, then at least some other Army installation. It's the Army and National Guards that are deployed the longest at 15 months and they should be heard.

"Carissa Picard totally rocks" says veteran

More About Soldier Jonathan Norrell, PTSD Sufferer
By Justin Gardner
Related entries in Afghanistan, Health Care, Iraq, Mental Health, Military, War
I saw this in the comments from my post today,
Nearly 1 In 5 Soldiers Have PTSD:
I’m the Vet who contacted Carissa Piccard and Liz Dozier at CBS. Jonathan & I talked for over an hour today. He agrees that both Carissa & Liz totally rock. So do I - in spades. Jonathan is still waiting for a medical discharge, wants to get productive again and realizes he has some new limitations with which to deal.

Time constraints for Liz’s piece left out a couple of details. Jonathan Norrell is one hell of a kid. A goof-off in High School, he got a GED to get into the service. He did so well that he got to be a medic. This day & age - that’s unheard of in the Army.

In Iraq you heard about the IED’s he encountered, but not all the firefights. Traumatic Brain Injury is strongly suspected & hasn’t been checked out by the DOD yet.

You didn’t hear that he endured demeaning treatment from his Commanding Officer for “faking it”. There’s more, but Jonathan’s prime concern is that he is only the most vocal one at Ft. Hood. His unit will return to Iraq. He tells me only a fraction are mentally up to the challenge.

My thoughts are with Norrell and all those who have fought for us and suffer from this awful condition. Let’s hope we bring them all home soon.

I couldn't agree more.

Help change the way veterans are treated with PTSD

MSC has received a request to pass along the information below from our friends at VUFT. Please read their message and pass along to other's who you feel may be in need of help with VA claims involving PTSD. All of us together may someday see some great changes within the VA system if we work together to make those changes.

www.militaryspousesforchange.com
Involve. Inform. Inspire.
URGENT REQUEST
I am writing to update you about our class action lawsuit, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. We are challenging the VA's failure to provide prompt mental health care to veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and VA's failure to promptly and accurately process disability compensation claims for PTSD. The week of March 3, the judge held a hearing about the quality and timeliness of mental health care given to suicidal veterans. After four days of testimony, the judge ordered a full trial on all of our issues to start on April 21, 2008. This is a very quick timeline, and we hope this means that we will receive a final decision from the judge in the next few months.

In order to put on our strongest case, VUFT and our attorneys need your help in the next few days. The attorneys for VA AND THE Department of Justice have challenged our right as a group to sue VA. It will make it very much easier for them if they can drive us out of this class action suit. We need to prove to them that VUFT belongs in this suit as there is a fairly large number of our members who have had serious problems with the VA on mental health issues.

If you are a VUFT member who has been diagnosed with PTSD and have experienced problems getting timely mental health care for their PTSD or for potential suicide, please send us an email. We are also looking for VUFT members who are having problems getting their PTSD disability compensation claim approved. If you are a veteran with these specific types of problems, then please send VUFT a new email in the next several days, even if you already sent one in the past.
Please send your email to
contact@www.vuft.org, with a "CC" copy to kcorbit@dralegal.org.
EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALREADY SENT US AN EMAIL AND/OR HAVE ALREADY TALKED TO THE LAWYERS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT, PLEASE DO IT AGAIN.

If you are willing to talk to our attorneys about your problems with the VA, then I strongly encourage you to contact our attorneys directly. Our attorneys need to show the judge that the problems we are complaining about are system-wide problems and not just isolated to a few veterans. You can reach them at (510) 665-8644.

Your participation could make a huge difference in the lives of the hundreds of thousands of veterans fighting with the VA. For information about our lawsuit, please go to this web site: www.veteransPTSDclassaction.org

So, if you want to in help our fellow veterans by winning this landmark case, then please e-mail and/or call our attorneys in the next few days. Our attorneys have been working on this case for more than a year. I have met them all, and they are friendly and understanding when it comes to speaking with veterans and families about confidential issues:

The specific group working at this time to compile the information on the VUFT portion of this case are:
Danny Brome, dbrome@dralegal.org
Kasey Corbit, kcorbit@dralegal.org
Disability Rights AdvocatesPhone: (510) 665-8644Fax: (510) 665-8511TTY: (510) 665-8716www.dralegal.org
Thank you for your continued support of our critically important lawsuit.
Sanford (Sandy) CookVice Chair, VUFT, Inc.

-- Carissa Picard
PresidentMilitary Spouses for Change
406.498.2134 (c)www.militaryspousesforchange.com
Involve. Inform. Inspire."Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, 'the greatest,' but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is." Sydney J. Harris