VoteVets and CREW taking on DOD over PTSD

VoteVets.org and CREW Urge PTSD Investigation
by: Brandon Friedman
Tue May 05, 2009 at 11:57:42 AM EDT
VoteVets.org has again teamed up with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government (CREW) in an effort to urge the House Armed Services Committee to begin an investigation into whether or not the Army is pressuring doctors to misdiagnose PTSD. Our full press release is below. . . .
Brandon Friedman :: VoteVets.org and CREW Urge PTSD Investigation
CREW AND VOTEVETS.ORG ASK HOUSE ARMED SERVICES TO INVESTIGATE ARMY MISDIAGNOSES OF SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS WITH PTSD
5 May 2009 // Washington, D.C. -- In light of news reports that the Army has instituted the cost-cutting practice of ordering doctors to misdiagnose soldiers returning from battle with anxiety disorder rather than post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and VoteVets.org today asked the chair of the House Armed Services Committee to investigate the extent of this outrageous practice.

Last month, Salon.com reported on a series of conversations at Fort Carson last summer between a sergeant and his psychologist, Dr. Douglas McNinch, during which the doctor admitted he was under pressure from the Army to avoid diagnosing soldiers with PTSD. The sergeant, who taped his conversations because he suffers from memory problems due to brain injuries, met with Dr. McNinch to learn why the doctor had told the medical evaluation board responsible for the Army's disability payment system that the sergeant suffered from anxiety disorder rather than PTSD. Dr. McNinch explained, on tape, "I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public. Not only myself, but all clinicians up here are being pressured not to diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS instead." Dr. McNinch continued, "yours has not been the only case . . . I and other [doctors] are under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD. It's not fair. I think it's a horrible way to treat soldiers . . ." Dr. McNinch has explained he was pressured to misdiagnose PTSD cases by a colonel, who was then head of Fort Carson's Department of Behavioral Health.

With a diagnosis of anxiety disorder, the sergeant would receive substantially lower benefits upon a discharge for a disability.

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Wounded Warrior Project focused on investigation by Salon.com

Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) Concerned by Stigma of PTSD and Mental Illness in Military

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 9 /PRNewswire/ --
In response to recently released information, Wounded Warrior Project again cited their grave concerns with the manner in which mental health and PTSD are perceived and dealt with within the military. One specific article on Salon.com highlighted concerns that military doctors are being pressured to not diagnose PTSD in returning military personnel and specifically brought to light such a situation in Fort Carson, Colorado.

"Unfortunately there is a major cultural stigma within the military against PTSD or seeking mental health care treatment," said Steve Nardizzi, WWP CEO. "These types of situations and reports reinforce the institutional barriers to seeking mental health care and serve as a deterrent to the warrior from seeking vitally needed care."

According to recently released military data, U.S. Army suicides outnumbered all combat deaths in January of this year. 2008 was also the fourth year in a row in which suicides among soldiers rose.

"Post traumatic stress disorder is very serious," said Nardizzi. "We call on the military to prioritize the reduction of this stigma against seeking care and to foster unfettered access to mental health services, regardless of cost."

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can result following a traumatic event and is quite prevalent among combat veterans. PTSD can manifest itself in numerous ways, including upsetting memories of the event, flashbacks, nightmares and intense physical reactions to reminders of the traumatic events. Warriors may experience a pounding heart, rapid breathing, nausea, muscle tension and sweating. WWP urges any warrior in an emergency to get help immediately by calling 911. For those not facing an emergency situation, WWP offers services to help work through other readjustment issues.

Wounded Warrior Project's Project Odyssey brings together veterans with combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder and gets them involved in outdoor activities that offer healthy support in the healing process. The ultimate goal is for each participant to return home with a range of coping skills to help them move forward in their recovery process. Private and group sessions with trained therapists are an integral part of the Project Odyssey experience.
About Wounded Warrior Project

Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors. WWP serves to raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, to help severely injured service members aid and assist each other and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. For more information, please call 877 TEAM WWP (832-6997) or visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org.

Coming home: The conclusion

Salon reporters Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna did a fantastic job on this series. When you read about the troops we've failed, consider that along with failing them, we also failed their families. We failed their friends. We failed their communities. We faced a problem that existed since the beginning of time but we shut our eyes, stuck our fingers in our ears and refused to speak. PTSD is not new nor is it a sudden conditioned faced only by Iraq and Afghanistan forces. We knew what would come but the government was allowed to ignore the warnings from history. Had we taken care of them as soon as symptoms of PTSD began, it would have saved lives, marriages and perhaps billions of dollars. Had they been treated in the beginning when PTSD was mild, it would have been stopped from getting worse. Much like an infection, PTSD stops getting worse as soon as it is treated. Could you imagine what was possible with the data we had on PTSD if they took any of this seriously in the beginning?

Coming home: The conclusion
Salon - USA

In the final article in Salon's series, we ask what President Obama will do about the rise of suicide and murder among U.S. soldiers returning from combat.
Editor's note: This is the conclusion to Salon's weeklong "Coming Home" series on preventable deaths at Fort Carson. You can read the introduction to the series here.

By Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna


Feb. 14, 2009 | Two days after the election, the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, released a list of the 13 issues requiring "urgent attention and continuing oversight" from the new administration and Congress. Listen to any politician. Surf the Web. Open a newspaper. You can probably draw up a list yourself pretty quickly, given the recession, two wars and killer peanut butter.

After scanning the headlines, you probably would not jot down the first agenda item on the GAO list of issues "needing the attention of President-elect Obama and the 111th Congress." The first issue on their list: "Caring for Service Members."

Four years ago, Salon exposed inadequate mental healthcare at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, unraveling the first threads in what eventually became part of a national scandal. Today, the grind of multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan translates into scores of damaged soldiers coming home. The trend far outstrips the raft of good-sounding military programs -- seemingly invisible at some Army posts -- the Pentagon set up to help these desperate troops. Forget about moldy barracks or mouse droppings in the hallways. People are dying unnecessarily.

Over the past week, Salon has published a dozen stories and sidebars about the healthcare problems at just one Army post among the many Army installations worldwide, Fort Carson, Colo. Salon dug up 25 cases of suicide, prescription drug overdoses or murder involving Fort Carson-based soldiers since 2004. In-depth study of 10 of those cases exposed a string of preventable deaths. In most cases, deaths seemed avoidable if the Army better identified and then appropriately treated soldiers' combat stress or brain injuries from explosions. In others, the Army, under pressure to deploy more troops in Iraq, brought into the ranks mentally damaged soldiers and then sent them to war. After combat had exacerbated their preexisting problems, the Army set them loose on the streets with deadly consequences.

Untreated, combat stress can cause bad behavior -- insubordination, substance abuse, violent outbursts. The Army was quick to crack down on soldiers for misbehavior but showed little interest in figuring out the underlying cause. Our reporting suggests that saying there is a "stigma" in the Army associated with seeking mental healthcare is an understatement. Harassment or punishment of those soldiers who show signs of mental strain or "weakness" seems like a more accurate description. One mock official Army document at Fort Carson asked soldiers seeking mental health help to pick one of the following explanations for their "Hurt Feelings": "I am a pussy," "I am a queer," "I want my mommy." In that environment, some troops opted to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, making their problems worse.
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"That young man never should have come into the Army"

Salon"That young man never should have come into the Army"
Salon - USA
Kenneth Eastridge had PTSD before he ever donned a uniform or did two tours of duty in Iraq. Now he's in prison for his part in the murder of a fellow soldier.

Editor's note: This is the fourth installment in a weeklong investigative series called "Coming Home." You can look at Kenneth Eastridge's MySpace page here, and read the story of Robert Marko here. Marko was sent to Iraq despite psychological problems and is now awaiting trial for murder in Colorado. You can also read the introduction to the series, and the first, second and third installments, which appeared Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

By Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna

Feb. 13, 2009 FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Late on the night of March 11, 2006, Kenneth Eastridge got in a fight with his girlfriend. It ended with his arrest for a felony.

The Kentucky native, an Army soldier stationed at Fort Carson, between deployments in Iraq, had fallen asleep after drinking when his girlfriend began to pound on his apartment door. She wanted inside, and she wanted to talk.

Eastridge responded with a string of obscenities and then flung the door open. He pointed a loaded pistol at his girlfriend. She looked at him like he was crazy, then turned and ran. Eastridge didn't fire. He stood motionless, stunned by his own reaction.


Eastridge recounts the episode from a gray plastic table inside Kit Carson Correctional Center, an island of concrete and razor wire in eastern Colorado's flat ocean of wheat. Now 25, he admits that by the time of his arrest in 2006 for felony menacing, he was already a "runaway train." But the train would keep going for another year, through a second deployment to Iraq, a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, and then the death of a fellow soldier. Eastridge is among 13 current or former Fort Carson soldiers to return from the Iraq war and then be accused or convicted of involvement in murder since 2005.
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"Kill yourself. Save us the paperwork"

It feels as if I've spent most of my life reading stories like this. It could be because I've spent over half my life reading these stories and knowing that any one of them could have been my husband. That's the biggest problem in all of this. They are someone's husband, someone's son, someone's friend, but too few pay attention to any of this.

"Kill yourself. Save us the paperwork"
Pfc. Ryan Alderman, now deceased, sought medical help from the Army. He got a fistful of powerful drugs instead.

Editor's note: This is part of the second installment in a weeklong series called "Coming Home." Read Ryan Alderman's sworn statement, written a week before his death, here, and a description of three other suicides of Fort Carson-based soldiers here. See the introduction to the series here.

By Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna

Feb. 10, 2009 FORT CARSON, Colo. -- It was unseasonably warm for November in Colorado as Heidi Lieberman approached the door of the Soldiers' Memorial Chapel at Fort Carson. She walked past a few of the large evergreens that dot the chapel grounds and then entered the blockish, modern beige and brown chapel topped with a sharp, rocketlike steeple.

Inside, the chapel was hushed. Camouflage-clad, crew-cut young men packed the pews. Up in front, an empty Army helmet hung on the butt of an upright M16. A pair of brown combat boots sat below, as if they had been tucked under a bunk. A soldier handed Heidi a program for a memorial service. On the front was the image of a soldier, kneeling in prayer below an American flag and illuminated by a beacon of light from above. The inscription just below the kneeling soldier read, "Lord, grant me the strength ..."


It had been five days since Heidi's son Adam, 21, a soldier at Fort Carson, swallowed handfuls of prescription sleeping pills and psychotropic drugs in the barracks, trying to die. With a can of black paint, Adam brushed a suicide note on the wall of his room. The Army, Adam wrote, "took my life." (Read Adam Lieberman's story here.)

Adam had lived. Pfc. Timothy Ryan Alderman wasn't so lucky. Alderman had been found dead of a similar drug overdose in his room in the barracks at Fort Carson in the early-morning hours of Oct. 20, 10 days before Adam Lieberman made his suicide attempt.

Heidi, who was at Fort Carson to deal with the aftermath of her own son's suicide attempt, had decided to attend Alderman's funeral although neither she nor her son had known him. She sank into a pew and tried to reconcile two warring thoughts.
click link for more of Part Two.....Part three follows


"You're a pussy and a scared little kid"
John Needham returned from Iraq, suffering from combat stress. If he had received proper care, would he be standing trial for murder?

Editor's note: This is the third installment in a weeklong investigative series called "Coming Home." Read a note written by John Needham here. You can also read the introduction to the series, and the first and second installments, which appeared Monday and Tuesday.

By Michael de Yoanna and Mark Benjamin
Feb. 12, 2009 FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Fellow soldiers in Iraq called John Wiley Needham "Needhammer" for his toughness. They also saw him as somehow charmed, because the tall blond Army private from Southern California always seemed to be just far enough away from danger. People died next to Needham; Needham survived.

But "Needhammer" was not indestructible after all. He struggled with the aftereffects of the explosions he'd dodged. He survived a suicide attempt while in Iraq, and, after being shipped out of the country in 2007, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury. He took so many prescription meds he could barely hold his head up. According to Needham's father, Mike, the Army's response to the soldier's problems was punishment rather than treatment.

Last year, just weeks after his discharge, he allegedly beat 19-year-old aspiring model Jacqwelyn Villagomez to death in his California condo.


A Salon investigation has identified several trends involving Fort Carson soldiers who became homicidal. There are failures by healthcare workers and commanders to provide proper care to soldiers struggling with hidden wounds such as PTSD and brain injuries. There is a tendency to overmedicate soldiers struggling with stress or other injuries. Behind it all is an Army culture that punishes problematic soldiers instead of aiding them.
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