Military commanders pressure clinicians to issue unwarranted psychiatric diagnoses to get rid of troops

Branding a Soldier With ‘Personality Disorder’
By JAMES DAO
Published: February 24, 2012

Capt. Susan Carlson was not a typical recruit when she volunteered for the Army in 2006 at the age of 50. But the Army desperately needed behavioral health professionals like her, so it signed her up.

Though she was, by her own account, “not a strong soldier,” she received excellent job reviews at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where she counseled prisoners. But last year, Captain Carlson, a social worker, was deployed to Afghanistan with the Colorado National Guard and everything fell apart.

After a soldier complained that she had made sexually suggestive remarks, she was suspended from her counseling duties and sent to an Army psychiatrist for evaluation. His findings were shattering: She had, he said in a report, a personality disorder, a diagnosis that the military has used to discharge thousands of troops. She was sent home.

She disputed the diagnosis, but it was not until months later that she found what seemed powerful ammunition buried in her medical file, portions of which she provided to The New York Times. “Her command specifically asks for a diagnosis of a personality disorder,” a document signed by the psychiatrist said.

Veterans’ advocates say Captain Carlson stumbled upon evidence of something they had long suspected but had struggled to prove: that military commanders pressure clinicians to issue unwarranted psychiatric diagnoses to get rid of troops.

“Her records suggest an attempt by her commander to influence medical professionals,” said Michael J. Wishnie, a professor at Yale Law School and director of its Veterans Legal Services Clinic.

Since 2001, the military has discharged at least 31,000 service members because of personality disorder, a family of disorders broadly characterized by inflexible “maladaptive” behavior that can impair performance and relationships.
read more here

Vietnam Veterans of America want wrongful discharges corrected

Saturday, September 29, 2007

10 discharges a day for "personality disorder"
Many soldiers get boot for 'pre-existing' mental illness
St. Louis Post-Dispatch September 29, 2007
By Philip Dine

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq - as many as 10 a day - are being discharged by the military for mental health reasons. But the Pentagon isn't blaming the war. It says the soldiers had "pre-existing" conditions that disqualify them for treatment by the government.

Many soldiers and Marines being discharged on this basis actually suffer from combat-related problems, experts say. But by classifying them as having a condition unrelated to the war, the Defense Department is able to quickly get rid of troops having trouble doing their work while also saving the expense of caring for them.

The result appears to be that many actually suffering from combat-related problems such as post traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries don't get the help they need.

Working behind the scenes, Sens. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., have written and inserted into the defense authorization bill a provision that would make it harder for the Pentagon to discharge thousands of troops. The Post-Dispatch has learned that the measure has been accepted into the Senate defense bill and will probably become part of the Senate-House bill to be voted on this week.

read more here

Monday, August 20, 2007

Department of Defense to Armed Forces:It's your fault
Treating the trauma of war – fairly
In relabeling cases of PTSD as 'personality disorder,' the US military avoids paying for treatment.
By Judith Schwartz
from the August 20, 2007 edition

Bennington, Vt. - The high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among soldiers returning from Iraq is one of the many "inconvenient truths" of this war. Inconvenient largely because it is costly: The most effective and humane means of treating PTSD are time-intensive and long-term.

The military, however, has changed the terms and given many thousands of enlisted men and women a new diagnosis: "personality disorder." While the government would be obliged to care for veterans suffering from combat-related trauma, a personality disorder – defined as an ingrained, maladaptive way of orienting oneself to the world – predates a soldier's tour of duty (read: preexisting condition). This absolves Uncle Sam of any responsibility for the person's mental suffering.
read more here

Thursday, December 27, 2007

DOD claims 85% of discharges for personality disorder were right?
Military Works to Improve Personality Disorder-Based Discharge Process
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 2007 – The military is working to improve the way it implements a policy of discharging troops based on pre-existing personality disorders, Defense Department health officials said today.

Several articles in summer 2007 claimed that some 22,500 troops had been discharged -- in some instances, wrongly discharged -- after being diagnosed as having personality disorders. In response, the Defense Department launched a “secondary review.”

In the ongoing investigation thus far, officials have reconfirmed that 85 percent of servicemembers initially determined to have personality disorders were correctly diagnosed. Roughly 1.5 percent, however, were misdiagnosed, officials said.

“We have looked at most of them, and some, on review, have been incorrect diagnoses,” Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, told reporters at the Pentagon today.
read more here

There are more of these reports on Wounded Times, but you get the idea. This has been going on for a long time and so far, not much has been done to correct any of this.

Vets Say Pentagon Misdiagnosed Thousands
By CHRIS COUGHLIN
Friday, December 30, 2011
NEW HAVEN (CN) - The Vietnam Veterans of America says the Pentagon has "systematically and wrongfully discharged" more than 22,000 veterans since 2001 "on the basis of so-called 'personality disorder'" - rather than post-traumatic stress disorder - to deny them medical care and save the Pentagon $12.5 billion in medical and disability payments.

"The military classifies PD [personality disorder] as a condition pre-existing military service," the four plaintiff chapters of the Vietnam Veterans of America say in their federal complaint against the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.

"Veterans discharged from the military on the basis of a PD diagnosis are not entitled to receive service-connected disability benefits or VA health care.

"By its own admission, DoD dismissed 22,656 service members on the basis of PD between fiscal years 2001 and 2007; 3,372 of these discharged service members had served in combat or imminent danger zones in support of OCO [overseas contingency operation - Pentagonspeak for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan]. Approximately 2,800 of the service members whom DoD had dismissed on the basis of PD had deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.

"By discharging over 22,000 service members on the basis of PD, DoD saved the military approximately $4.5 billion in medical care and $8 billion in disability compensation that these service members would have received had they been discharged on the basis of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder ('PTSD') or another service-connected disability."

The veterans say the Pentagon and Homeland Security have blown off their requests for "records relating to the use by branches of the United States armed forces and the National Guard of PD discharges and adjustment disorder or readjustment disorder discharges to discharge service members since October 1, 2001."

And: "Because DoD refuses to admit that it incorrectly discharged many service members on the basis of PD, an unknown number of veterans who served with integrity and valor in the armed forces continue to be denied service-connected disability benefits and VA health care."
read more here

Ex-Marine's tall tales overshadow good deeds

Ex-Marine's tall tales overshadow good deeds
By Andrew Knapp, Florida Today

When Derek Walls was arrested early this year, some of his acquaintances were confused, perhaps angry.

Walls, 42, was a hero to many. As a Marine, he said he fought in Operation Desert Storm.

He was a father figure. Parents praised him for giving their children direction through the nonprofit he founded, the Florida Volunteer Search and Rescue Corps. He called himself "the colonel."

He was an entrepreneur. He owned Combat Zone, a paintball business on Florida's Merritt Island, and ran a nearby recreation park.

He was a community leader. He coordinated the local Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots drive. His name tag: "Col. Walls."

Supporters admired him and didn't believe the 16-year-old girl, a Toys for Tots volunteer, who accused Walls of raping her at his Port St. John home just after Christmas. The teen was labeled a liar. She tried to kill herself.

Prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the charges. They called it a typical case of "he said, she said."

In business, in charity and in the criminal investigation, Walls leaned on his military reputation: four years as an active-duty Marine and another two as a reservist.

But as part of the investigation, inconsistencies arose. Paperwork, which sheriff's investigators acquired from Marine Corps headquarters, show that he served only six months in 1988. He was discharged as a private first class. His tales were tall. He never lost friends in battle, as he claimed; he was never diagnosed with Gulf War syndrome; he never was a sergeant.

"Yes, I lied," he told FLORIDA TODAY, when confronted with the contradiction between his stories about his military record and what Defense Department records show. "There's really no reason for it. It's been a hard year."

read more here

Richard Blumenthal wants answers for 26,000 wrongfully discharged veterans

Blumenthal backs veterans' personality disorder discharge lawsuit

By MARK SPENCER, mspencer@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
7:05 p.m. EST, December 28, 2010



HARTFORD — —
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday endorsed the efforts of veterans groups to get information from the Department of Defense about troops wrongfully discharged on the basis of personality disorder.

Vietnam Veterans of America and its local chapter in Hartford filed a federal Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in federal court in New Haven Dec. 16. The suit seeks information from the defense department about why some 26,000 service members since 2001 have been classified as having personality disorders and discharged, making them ineligible for many benefits.

The veterans groups, represented by the veterans' clinic of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School, are concerned that many of those discharged may have post-traumatic stress disorder and are therefore eligible for benefits.
read more here
Blumenthal backs veterans' personality disorder discharge lawsuit

Pentagon has wrongfully discharged nearly 26,000 service members

Let's say that all of these servicemen and women did in fact have a "personality disorder" before they enlisted. If the military allowed them to enlist, then they accepted responsibility for them from that point on. Considering that a mental health condition like personality disorder would have put them in greater danger during combat and would have endangered the others they served with, the DOD would have known what they were doing, apparently fine with doing it. But that would also be assuming they just didn't care. There were mental health waivers given out but nowhere near the numbers of discharges. Even if they received a waiver, this should in no way take the burden of care off their shoulders. But it did.

But the DOD did not live up to their duty to take care of them.

"DoD's compliance with counseling requirement was as low as 40% between 2001 and 2007, as was compliance with diagnosis requirement. In 2008, the Government Accountability Office ('GAO') found that 'DoD does not have reasonable assurance that its key personality disorder separation requirements have been followed' after reviewing PD discharges occurring between 2001 and 2007."

They were willing to let them join. They trained them to go into combat. Then they sent them to fight the enemy. Then when their minds paid the price, they were kicked out with nothing to count on. No benefits. No help to heal. No justice after being willing to lay down their lives for this country. Was this honorable? Was this what Washington said was the way to treat them?

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, is directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated"
-- George Washington

They returned home changed just as many before them. They saw the others having to fight for the care they were promised with a honorable discharge in their hands. They saw them wait in long lines, wait for months, even years, to have their claim honored and they wondered what chance they would have of getting any help at all after what was done to them. They lost it all. They lost faith in this country they were willing to die for. They lost the sense of pride they had when they suddenly could no longer support their families and pay their bills. They lost the faith their families had in them when they were beaten down so far there was no reason to try any longer.

Service organizations wouldn't help them because they were discharged with less than honorable conditions. Senators and Representatives wouldn't talk to them or listen to their stories. There were very few reporters able to acknowledge this injustice leaving them with nowhere to turn. Some said these wrongfully discharged veterans should just go on welfare or collect social security since they were unable to work but no one thought about the fact many of these veterans entered into the military right out of high school. No one cared.

Then came the Vietnam Veterans of America remembering what it felt like to be kicked to the streets after risking their lives in another country because that was what the government said had to be done. They knew what it was like to have this same government deny them care but they also had some faith in the people of this country to do the right thing. Had they not believed in the rest of us, they wouldn't have found any reason to fight for what they accomplished. They made all the programs for PTSD possible and now they want to make sure these wrongfully discharged veterans get the help they were denied for far too long.

Pentagon Uses 'Personality Disorder' to Deny Veterans Health Care
By CHRIS COUGHLIN
ShareThis
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CN) - The Pentagon has wrongfully discharged nearly 26,000 service members since 2001 "on the basis of so-called 'personality disorder'" - rather than for post-traumatic stress or other service-connected disabilities - to save itself $12.5 billion in health-care costs, the Vietnam Veterans of America claims in a federal FOIA complaint. The Vietnam Veterans say discharges for faultily diagnosed "personality disorder" increased drastically after the Pentagon began calling up veterans after the 9/11 attacks.
"Over the past nine years, Defendant Department of Defense ('DoD') and its components and subcomponent services have systematically and wrongfully discharged nearly 26,000 service members who have service-related disabilities on the basis of so called 'personality disorder,'" the complaint states. "Veterans who responded courageously to the government's call to action after September 11, 2001 by serving in the Armed Forced have returned home only to find that DoD's personality disorder designation prevents them from accessing service-connected disability benefits and veterans health care. By carelessly disregarding the personality disorder regulations which were promulgated for the benefit of service members, DoD has broken the United States' longstanding promise to provide for its veterans."
"The military classifies PD as a condition pre-existing military service," the complaint states. "Veterans discharged from the military on the basis of a PD diagnosis are not entitled to service-connected disability benefits or VA care.
"By its own admission, DoD dismissed 25,656 service members on the basis of PD between fiscal years 2001 and 2007; 3,372 of these discharged service members had served in combat or imminent danger zones in support of OCO [Overseas Contingency Operation]. Approximately 2,800 of the service members whom DoD had dismissed on the basis of PD had deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.
"By discharging 22,656 service members on the basis of PD, the DoD has saved the military approximately $4.5 billion in medical care and $8 billion in disability compensation that these service members would have received had they been discharged on the basis of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder ('PTSD') or another service-connected disability."
The complaint adds: "DoD has admitted that its doctors failed to interview anyone but the service members before making most of the 22,656 PD diagnoses that led to discharge." This despite the fact that "Prior to 2008, DoD regulations in PD discharges required that service members get formal counseling regarding the reason for their impending discharge and receive a PD diagnosis from a psychiatrist or psychologist stating that the PD interfered with their ability to function in the military.
"DoD's compliance with counseling requirement was as low as 40% between 2001 and 2007, as was compliance with diagnosis requirement. In 2008, the Government Accountability Office ('GAO') found that 'DoD does not have reasonable assurance that its key personality disorder separation requirements have been followed' after reviewing PD discharges occurring between 2001 and 2007."
read more here
Personality Disorder to Deny Veterans Health Care

Vietnam Veterans of America fight for justice for wrongfully discharged veterans

Vets sue Pentagon on discharges

By Joseph Picard | December 15, 2010 1:51 AM GMT
The Vietnam Veterans of America is going to sue the Department of Defense for, the group says, wrongfully discharging nearly 26,000 service members for "Personality Disorder."

The veterans organization will hold a press conference call Friday to discuss the legal action.

"The Department of Defense has violated the law by failing to release records showing that it has wrongfully discharged nearly 26,000 service members on the basis of so-called "Personality Disorder," the VVA said in a release. "This Personality Disorder designation has prevented disabled veterans from receiving the disability compensation and other benefits they have earned."
read more here
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/92138/20101215/military-veterans.htm

Stunning report on enlistments and mental health

It seems as if the military is still playing games with discharges by hiding behind "anxiety" disorders when PTSD is an anxiety disorder!

Stunning report on enlistments and mental health
December 11, 2010 posted by Chaplain Kathie
Waivers do not match the number of discharges so there is a clear problem still going on in the military. While “personality disorder” discharges dropped, it looks like they are still trying to get rid of “problems” instead of taking care of them. We would have to believe that the mental health tests are all flawed to have allowed men and women into the military when they had mental health problems already, training them to use weapons to kill and sending them into combat. This would also mean they didn’t care about the rest of the troops enough to prevent mentally ill recruits from entering into the service.

Troops booted for pre-existing mental issues
By Kelly Kennedy – Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 10, 2010 15:26:26 EST
From 2003 to 2008, more people were separated from the military within their first year of service for “pre-existing” psychiatric conditions than for any other reason, according to a military report.
Those discharges do not qualify a service member for medical benefits or medical retirement pay after leaving.
Twenty-two percent of soldiers who were given “existed prior to service,” or EPTS, discharges had psychiatric conditions, while 42 percent of Marine Corps EPTS discharges fell under that category. The figures for the Navy and Air Force were 24 percent and less than 1 percent, respectively.
Whether the Marine Corps is not screening its new recruits for mental health issues as well as the other services, or whether other factors are at work, is not clear.
“I guess that means the services have knowingly been enlisting and sending to war individuals who have significant mental health disorders,” said Andreas-Georg Pogany, a Colorado-based veterans advocate who has tried to help combat veterans fight military efforts to discharge them for pre-existing mental conditions.
According to the 2010 Accession Medical Standards Analysis & Research Activity Report, the Army approved 1,231 waivers for anxiety, dissociative and somatoform disorders from 2004 until 2009, and another 522 for depressive disorder.

read more here
Stunning report on enlistments and mental health

Maybe some hope for PTSD "personality disorder" discharged veterans

This is a great piece on getting some rumors out of the way for veterans needing healthcare. The biggest thing I noticed is one that very well may help out some of the over 22,000 servicemen and women discharged under "personality disorder" when they actually have PTSD instead.

Busting Myths About VA Health Care

November 19, 2010 • TERRY HOWELL



The following post was originally fea tured on the VA’s VAntage Point blog.
By Alex Horton



Myth Number Two — I can only receive care for service connected injuries.

Status: False -
You can receive VA hospital and out patient care for any ailment, service con­nected or not if you are enrolled in the VA health care system, but you may have to pay a copayment. For example, if a Veteran is service-connected for a bad knee, any VA hospital and out patient care and medication for the knee is free of charge. However, if the same Vet goes into surgery to remove an appendix and it’s not service con nected, he may be subject to a co-pay depending on the amount of his disability rating and other factors. Familiarize your self with co-pay guide lines and rates.

A small number of Veterans, such as those with bad conduct discharges that VA has determined were issued under conditions other than honorable and who are not subject to certain statutory bars to benefits, can only be treated for their service connected disabilities and nothing else. If one of those Vets is service connected for their left foot, they can only use VA health care for their left foot and nothing else.
read more here
Busting Myths About VA Health Care

The trick with this is to get the VA to do what the DOD did not and that is to decide if a veteran was suffering from PTSD instead of for the reason they were given a "personality disorder" discharge. This is a "myth" that I didn't know about. I was under the impression that if a veteran received a less than honorable discharge, they couldn't receive any services from the VA at all. To this day I don't know how many ended up being kicked out of the service instead of being treated because the last reports are a couple of years old. It would be nice if congress would do the right thing in these cases, but I doubt that is ever going to happen.

Personality Disorder and PTSD What’s In a Name?

Guest post,,,,,

What’s In a Name?-
Personality Disorder and PTSD Things are changing in the military. Over the past five years, soldiers returning from Middle Eastern battlegrounds are being saddled with a new label, personality disorder. While the military recognizes Post Traumatic Stress disorder as an illness that results from warfare ---i.e. a treatable illness---- personality disorders are grounds for immediate medical discharge.

Personality Disorder Diagnosis Statistics
Between 2005 and 2007, the Army alone discharged nearly 1,000 soldiers for having personality disorders. The symptoms of personality disorder are very similar to those experienced by someone in the throes of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

What is Personality Disorder?
Personality Disorder is defined as “a deeply engrained maladaptive pattern of behavior”. While PTSD is brought about by extreme environmental stresses, personality disorders are generally brought about by some combination of early childhood trauma and genetic predisposition. According to the military, a personality disorder constitutes a pre-existing condition. Therefore, those who are diagnosed with a personality disorder are not given psychiatric help after being discharged.

Policy Changes
When veterans’ advocacy groups confronted the military at-large for their increased reporting of personality disorders, they re-evaluated their strategy for diagnosis. Since this re-evaluation, the reported rates of PTSD have increased dramatically.

Blighted Records
While the changes in policy have potentially helped newly returning soldiers, they do little to help veterans who have a record blighted by a personality disorder diagnosis. Unlike their counterparts who are diagnosed with PTSD, a diagnosis of personality disorder carries a much less desirable prognosis. Further, a discharge due to a pre-existing medical condition carries with it implication that the soldier knowingly lied on the medical profile they filled out when joining the military.

Righting Wrongs
The same veteran’s groups that brought the increase in potentially false diagnoses to the attention of military review committees are now seeking out former soldiers to connect them with the psychiatric assistance for PTSD. By doing this, groups like Give an Hour, among others, hope to determine the extent of the false diagnosis and to help veterans’ who otherwise would have little recourse for care.

Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is a passionate blogger on the topic of education and free college scholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Hundreds of PTSD soldiers likely misdiagnosed

The numbers went up for several reasons.
Publicity when people started to talk about it, what they were going through, overcoming the sense of shame because they understood it was not their fault. Families talking about it especially when a life was ended because of suicide. Families and the troops being paid attention to by the media.

Knowledge gained by mental health workers so they could understand that this was the result of multiple exposures to traumatic events.

The time span when multiple deployments caught up to them. The time span between the contributing event and the symptoms showed up. The stressor that broke the dam of emotions sending mild PTSD into full blown disorder.

Above all of this was when the military stopped trying to find a way out of approving claims that could be directly tied to combat. Hearing the military was honoring the claims of others gave them hope of being helped to heal. If they saw someone like them being helped instead of being belittled or kicked out, they were more likely to seek help as well.

Most of this work will be undone if they are still practicing cover-ups instead of honoring the service of the individuals paying the price for service.

After that, the annual number of personality disorder cases dropped by 75 percent. Only 260 soldiers were discharged on those grounds in 2009.

At the same time, the number of post-traumatic stress disorder cases has soared. By 2008, more than 14,000 soldiers had been diagnosed with PTSD — twice as many as two years before.

Hundreds of PTSD soldiers likely misdiagnosed
By ANNE FLAHERTY (AP) – 42 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — At the height of the Iraq war, the Army routinely fired hundreds of soldiers for having a personality disorder when they were more likely suffering from the traumatic stresses of war, discharge data suggests.

Under pressure from Congress and the public, the Army later acknowledged the problem and drastically cut the number of soldiers given the designation. But advocates for veterans say an unknown number of troops still unfairly bear the stigma of a personality disorder, making them ineligible for military health care and other benefits.

"We really have an obligation to go back and make sure troops weren't misdiagnosed," said Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, a clinical psychologist whose nonprofit "Give an Hour" connects troops with volunteer mental health professionals.

The Army denies that any soldier was misdiagnosed before 2008, when it drastically cut the number of discharges due to personality disorders and diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorders skyrocketed.

Unlike PTSD, which the Army regards as a treatable mental disability caused by the acute stresses of war, the military designation of a personality disorder can have devastating consequences for soldiers.

Defined as a "deeply ingrained maladaptive pattern of behavior," a personality disorder is considered a "pre-existing condition" that relieves the military of its duty to pay for the person's health care or combat-related disability pay.

According to figures provided by the Army, the service discharged about a 1,000 soldiers a year between 2005 and 2007 for having a personality disorder.
go here for more
Hundreds of PTSD soldiers likely misdiagnosed

A lot to be ashamed of on Memorial Day

A lot to be ashamed of on Memorial Day

by
Chaplain Kathie

When we think about Memorial Day it's easy to honor the fallen because they ask no more of us. We think if we visit a cemetery, go to a parade and wave a flag, we've done our part to honor the men and women who gave their lives for the rest of us. The truth is, I bet most of them in heaven are disgusted with us and wonder what their sacrifice really meant to us when we fail to care for the survivors of combat. After all when it comes to serving in a war, they fight for each other and are willing to die so that someone else can make it back home.

Then we read stories about what is happening to men and women around the country when they come home and the rest of us live in fantasy land believing all is well and they are taken care of. This is so far from the truth it's pitiful. Just read the following and know one thing when you close out the page. There are countless other stories just like it so when you make plans for Memorial Day, ask yourself a question. Just how do we really honor any of them when this happens?

Disposable Soldiers

Joshua Kors: Injured veterans continue their battles at home while fighting for the healthcare treatment they deserve.

The mortar shell that wrecked Chuck Luther’s life exploded at the base of the guard tower. Luther heard the brief whistling, followed by a flash of fire, a plume of smoke and a deafening bang that shook the tower and threw him to the floor. The Army sergeant’s head slammed against the concrete, and he lay there in the Iraqi heat, his nose leaking clear fluid.

“I remember laying there in a daze, looking around, trying to figure out where I was at,” he says. “I was nauseous. My teeth hurt. My shoulder hurt. And my right ear was killing me.” Luther picked himself up and finished his shift, then took some ibuprofen to dull the pain. The sergeant was seven months into his deployment at Camp Taji, in the volatile Sunni Triangle, twenty miles north of Baghdad. He was determined, he says, to complete his mission. But the short, muscular frame that had guided him to twenty-two honors–including three Army Achievement Medals and a Combat Action Badge–was basically broken. The shoulder pain persisted, and the hearing in his right ear, which evaporated on impact, never returned, replaced by the maddening hum of tinnitus.

In July 2007 the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs called a hearing to investigate PD discharges. Barack Obama, then a senator, put forward a bill to halt all PD discharges. And before leaving office, President Bush signed a law requiring the defense secretary to conduct his own investigation of the PD discharge system. But Obama’s bill did not pass, and the Defense Department concluded that no soldiers had been wrongly discharged. The PD dismissals have continued. Since 2001 more than 22,600 soldiers have been discharged with personality disorder. That number includes soldiers who have served two and three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This should have been resolved during the Bush administration. And it should have been stopped now by the Obama administration,” says Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense. “The fact that it hasn’t is a national disgrace.”

go here for more

http://colonel6.com/2010/05/25/disposable-soldiers/

Message to PTSD soldiers: Go away boy, you're bothering me.

It often seems as if we're really living in two different countries at times. Thousands of people are getting ready to honor the fallen for Memorial Day. Tributes to the men and women laying in their graves after giving all they had for this country are forming in every tiny town as well as huge city. Arlington Virginia is getting ready to be invaded by Rolling Thunder, the Nam Knights, Patriot Guard Riders, the list goes on. One more reminder of how good we are at honoring the dead but have a hard time taking care of the living.


It's as if they said to them: "We can't use you anymore so go away and stop bothering us."

First, trying to wash their hands after they were doing using these soldiers up, this also insults every American with any kind of mental health condition. Did they think of this when they started to try to claim "pre-existing" personality disorders instead of accepting responsibility for this wound as old as mankind? Nope! Glad to say this practice is not still going on, or at least, it was supposed to have ended a couple of years ago, but then again, we've all read claims made before that turn out to not be true.

This practice was not in all units but the issue is it was still allowed to happen. Now the VA is trying to make things right. The question the rest of us should be asking is what happened to these men and women at the military got it wrong? How many ended up homeless because they had PTSD but ended up with a discharge like this? How many committed crimes because they had no hope of justice? How many families fell apart? Will we ever know the true price the veterans paid for serving this country?

“Freedom for the few”
May 16, 2010 posted by Bob Higgins

“They told me I wasn’t a real soldier, that I was a piece of crap. All I wanted was to be treated for my injuries, now suddenly I’m not a soldier. I’m a prisoner, by my own people.” Chuck Luther, after he was discharged from the Army for having Pre-Existing Personality Disorder.

By Marcelle Rico
In order to be in the Army Luther had to pass the various medical and psychological examinations, so his condition couldn’t possibly be pre-existing. He was kept in an isolation chamber for one month, where he was treated worse than a prisoner, until he agreed to sign a pre-existing PD discharge. The Army’s officials found a way to get away with misdiagnosing him and he was denied treatment for his disabilities. The Army’s Chapter 5-13 says that any soldier with pre-existing PD should be discharged from the army with no medical benefits. This excuse is used to avoid paying medical treatment to soldiers who get wounded in battle. This is how the Army makes money out of their war heroes. The Army is using a technicality to deny benefits to service men that desperately need and deserve them. This must stop.

In addition to being discharged with no benefits, soldiers have to pay the Army a slice of their re-enlistment bonus. The Army has left thousands of veterans struggling to pay back the bonus, with no medical treatment, and fighting against Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 2008 the Nation magazine reported that 22,000 soldiers had been discharged from the Army with PD. Dozens of those soldiers have been found to be wrongly diagnosed. This raises the question: how many more soldiers have been erroneously diagnosed for the Army’s convenience? Our country doesn’t realize how hard it is for veterans to go back to the lives they had, now that they have PTSD.

“I see the ugly,” Luther said in an interview with Truthout news website, “I see soldiers beating their wives and trying to kill themselves all the time, and most folks don’t want to look at this, including the military.” Soldiers diagnosed with Personality Disorder are ineligible to be treated by The Department of Veterans Affairs. Most of them have severe injuries and need immediate care, but they are not being treated because they did not receive a disability rating from the Army. The VA is aware of this problem and is doing its best to find veterans who are being misdiagnosed.

Due to the lack of public knowledge of this issue, proper measures have not been taken to end it. We need more transparency on this issue. The more it is talked about and the more people find out about it, the easier it will be for Barack Obama to make it a priority to end the chapter 5-13 discharges. The first step is to set regulations in the Department of Defense. The files should be reviewed by a trustworthy member of the government and any misdiagnosed soldiers should be found and given the proper medical care. The second step would be to create a bill that says the government can view the lists of medical examinations and that officials from an outside organization should be appointed in each military base to avoid any more misdiagnoses.

read more here

Freedom for the few

Finally justice may come:Senators seek review of military's personality-disorder discharges

One of my rants (among many)has been about this. It has broken the spirits of too many when they were kicked out instead of helped up to heal.

Senators seek review of military's personality-disorder discharges

David Goldstein, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Tue Oct 20, 5:22 pm ET
WASHINGTON -- In the Senate , Barack Obama fought for better mental-health care for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan .

Now that he's president, some of his former colleagues want him to pick up the gauntlet once more and make sure troops are getting the benefits they deserve.

"In 2007, we were partners in the fight against the military's misuse of personality disorder discharges," four senators -- Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Republicans Charles Grassley of Iowa , Kit Bond of Missouri and Sam Brownback of Kansas -- wrote in a letter this week asking Obama for a report to Congress on the current use of the discharges. "Today we urge you to renew your commitment to address this critical issue facing thousands of returning service members."

Because the military views personality disorders as a pre-existing condition, many service members returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems have been unable to receive health benefits. There have been questions, however, about how scrupulous the military has been in making sure that the personality disorder discharges were proper.
read more here
Senators seek review of military's personality-disorder discharges

New Administration brings Grassley out on old problem

Update,,,here's the rest of the story
Senators seek review of military's personality-disorder discharges

By DAVID GOLDSTEIN
McClatchy Newspapers
More News
In the Senate, Barack Obama fought for better mental-health care for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now that he's president, some of his former colleagues want him to pick up the gauntlet once more and make sure troops are getting the benefits they deserve.

"In 2007, we were partners in the fight against the military's misuse of personality disorder discharges," four senators - Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Republicans Charles Grassley of Iowa, Kit Bond of Missouri and Sam Brownback of Kansas - wrote in a letter this week asking Obama for a report to Congress on the current use of the discharges. "Today we urge you to renew your commitment to address this critical issue facing thousands of returning service members."

Because the military views personality disorders as a pre-existing condition, many service members returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems have been unable to receive health benefits. There have been questions, however, about how scrupulous the military has been in making sure that the personality disorder discharges were proper.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said the department would have no immediate comment.

Obama was the junior Democratic senator from Illinois two years ago when he and other lawmakers asked the military to examine how it treated troops who came home with mental disorders.

Failing to get a response from the Pentagon, several senators, including Bond, Obama and Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri, asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate.

They were concerned about the rising number of troops who were returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions. Many were diagnosed with personality disorders.

"In many instances, service members discharged with 'personality disorders' are forced to repay thousands of dollars to the federal government in re-enlistment bonuses they deserved while serving in hazardous combat conditions," the senators said in their letter this week to the president.
read more of this here

http://www.kansascity.com/444/story/1519533.html

Where has he been all these years on this when his friends were voting against fixing any of this?

Grassley questions military over dismissal of soldiers with PTSD
by Matt Kelley on October 20, 2009

in Military

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is calling on the nation’s military leaders to document how they’re working to solve the problem of combat soldiers being unfairly discharged due to undiagnosed cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Grassley says some soldiers may’ve been kicked out, then forced to repay bonuses they got for re-enlisting, even though it was the wartime experiences that were the root cause of their mental health issues. Grassley says a recent study found flaws in the U.S. military’s procedures when troops return home from battle zones.

“The Pentagon failed to meet key personality disorder separation requirements,” Grassley says. “This means some members of the military may’ve been discharged for pre-existing personality disorders when it’s possible the disorders could have been due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
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Grassley questions military over dismissal of soldiers with PTSD

Veterans suffer when claims are tied up or denied

Every time I read reports like this, it takes me back to the days when it seemed everyone knew my husband had PTSD, including the people working at the VA hospital but the only people out of the loop were the very people our lives depended on. Claims processors!

Don't get me wrong here, they have rules they have to go by even though most of the rules are pretty stupid. An MOS can trap a veteran out if it's the wrong type. Go figure. An MOS that is not combat related, but more support related, was never considered to have been able to become wounded by PTSD. Even though, much like today, no one is exempt from traumatic events. Not in Vietnam and not in Iraq or Afghanistan. Yet if a claims processor was allowed to finish reading the claim, they would find things like "shrapnel" or bullet wound, or even in some cases, missing limbs. We faced this catastrophe for six years between the time I finally managed to get my husband to even go to the VA and the time they finally honored his claim. It is the worst thing to go thru while dealing with a life threatening actual combat related disability and having the people in charge of your life denying all of it.

In this article you'll read about a disabled veteran, finally having his claim approved, after he lost his home. Again, a reminder here, these are men and women trusted enough to be fully armed and trained to hold the future of this nation in their hands. They were trusted enough to go where they were sent but they are not trusted enough to process their claims before it's too late to save their homes, their financial standing, their families and in too many cases, save their lives.

Are there some capable of fraud? Absolutely but they are a tiny fraction of the honorable claims being presented and with each number of waiting claim, comes a veteran and a family. This is wrong.

On this blog you've read countless stories of how Vietnam veterans are finally being honored for their service in cities and towns across the nation with celebrations, parades and parties. Yet look at how many years it took us to do this for them. How many years are you willing to wait to really honor them and the newer veterans seeking treatment and compensation for the wounds they came home with?

Backlog of VA claims and appeals is nearing 1 million
Over 80,000 cases are added monthly
By Lou Michel
NEWS STAFF REPORTER


The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs is closing in on a milestone, and it’s not a happy one.

It’s approaching the 1 million mark in the number of outstanding claims by veterans.

The VA’s Web site shows more than 722,000 current claims, along with more than 172,000 appeals, for a total of about 900,000. That is up from about 800,000 total claims in January, according to the site.

Even though the VA says the average wait for a claim is 120.9 days, Welch, a Vietnam veteran, says he works with veterans who are “waiting anywhere from six to 14 months.”

It’s a disaster for them financially, he added.

“Part of the issue that’s happening with traumatic brain-injured veterans is they are unable to work and what happens is some lose their homes,” Welch said.

One of the vets who lost his home was Kreiger, he noted.

Kreiger, an Iraq veteran who eventually was classified 100 percent disabled, said he has been approached by dozens of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans denied benefits for post traumatic stress claims.

“Easily 50 veterans have come to me because the VA proved their PTSD was something they had before going to war, which makes them now ineligible for the benefit. The VA doesn’t even call it PTSD anymore. They refer to it as a personality disorder,” he said in citing bureaucratic struggles faced by returning veterans.

go here for more

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/708119.html

DoD Rethinks 'Personality Disorder' Separations, but only half way

I've been covering this since they first started to do this and still waiting to know what anyone is doing to make up for all the veterans they have already done this to. What is being done for them? To stop the bleeding is great but this does not correct any of the damage done to the veterans who were pushed thru the cracks and abandoned.

They were left with no money, no jobs, families that fell apart, some ended up homeless, some ended up committing suicide and Lord knows what else they suffered after they were wounded in service to this nation then slapped in the face by the commanders they trusted with their very lives. That is what this all comes down to. The men and women serving this nation were willing to lay down their lives for this nation and they put their faith and trust in their commanders to give the right orders, have the right plans and equipment needed and the get as many of them home as possible as soon as possible. What they did not allow to enter into their minds was that these very same commanders would be so blind to the wound of PTSD that has been suffered by warriors since man first went to war with man, that they would betray them. Where is their justice? Has anyone bothered to study what happened to any of them? Any clue what happened to over 22,000 of them or their families? Does anyone care? Changing the rules and procedures is great but you cannot forget about the ones it's already been done to. Let's get this right!

DoD Rethinks 'Personality Disorder' Separations
Tom Philpott November 13, 2008
Crackdown Begins On 'Personality Disorder' Separations

Under pressure from Congress and following the Army's lead, the Department of Defense has imposed a more rigorous screening process on the services for separating troubled members due to "personality disorder."

The intent is to ensure that, in the future, no members who suffer from wartime stress get tagged with having a pre-existing personality disorder which leaves them ineligible for service disability compensation.

Since the attacks of 9/11, more than 22,600 servicemembers have been discharged for personality disorder. Nearly 3400 of them, or 15 percent, had served in combat or imminent danger zones.

Advocates for these veterans contend that at least some of them were suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury but it was easier and less costly to separate them for personality disorder. By definition, personality disorders existed before a member entered service so they do not deemed a service-related disability rating. A disability rating of 30 percent or higher, which most PTSD sufferers receive, can mean lifelong access to military health care and on-base shopping.

Over the last 18 months, lawmakers and advocates for veterans have criticized Defense and service officials for relying too often on personality disorder separations to release member who deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or other another areas of tension in the Global War on Terrorism.

A revised DoD instruction (No. 1332.14), which took effect without public announcement August 28, responds to that criticism. It only allows separation for personality disorder for members currently or formerly deployed to an imminent danger areas if:
1) the diagnosis by a psychiatrist or a PhD-level psychologist is corroborated by a peer or higher-level mental health professional,
2) if the diagnosis is endorsed by the surgeon general of the service, and
3) if the diagnosis too into account a possible tie or "co-morbidity" with symptoms of PTSD or war-related mental injury or illness.
go here for more
http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,179143,00.html

DoD NOT COMPLYING WITH REQUIREMENTS FOR PERSONALITY DISORDER DISCHARGES

GAO REPORT: DoD NOT COMPLYING WITH REQUIREMENTS FOR PERSONALITY DISORDER DISCHARGES
(11-01-08)Military officials responsible for reviewing servicemembers' records could not explain why many PD separations were approved.
GAO's review of enlisted servicemembers' records found that the selected military installations GAO visited varied in their documented compliance with DOD's requirements for personality disorder separations. DOD has requirements for separations because of a personality disorder, which is defined as an enduring pattern of behavior that deviates markedly from expected behavior and has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood. The three key requirements established by DOD are that enlisted servicemembers

(1) must be notified of their impending separation because of a personality disorder,
(2) must be diagnosed with a personality disorder by a psychiatrist or psychologist who determines that servicemembers' personality disorder interferes with their ability to function in the military, and
(3) must receive formal counseling about their problem with functioning in the military.

go here for more

http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfnov08/nf110108-4.htm

Young Marine "I'm no Vietnam vet, but a vet of Operation Iraqi Freedom"

From Healing Combat Trauma

PTSD: (That's Some) Pretty Terrible Sh*t (to Have to) Deal (With), Don't You Think?

Editor's Note: We commemorate the otherwise momentous, historic signing of the GI bill into law today with this little snippet of what life was like for someone who served recently. For everyone who doesn't "get" what sacrifice is, and that those who've served have earned their accolades and rewards, here's a grunt's-eye view of the experience of combat trauma, and how that relates to PTSD and various other topics in the news. It's doubtful that any one of us would like to have changed places with him, at such a young age. Herewith, his story, emphasis mine:


I'm no Vietnam vet, but a vet of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I turned 18 while in boot camp because I graduated high school at 17. I was discharged early for having "personality disorder" after I went to Iraq.



I was in the Marines, and my MOS was a ground communications electronics technician. A couple months after graduating my training for the job and going to my first unit, I was "volunteered" to join and train with another unit that was leaving soon. The new task I was given was "Mortuary Affairs".

This group was put together with a couple dozen other Marines from other sections. Our job was to go to locations where troops had been killed and not able to be retrieved by the group they were out with due to the fact they were under too much danger or whatever the case. I had no clue the effects this would have on me. It was a horrible experience.



It was not like going and picking up a corpse and that's it. For one, you were in a hot zone, where people were just killed, not just by gunfire.
go here for more
http://www.healingcombattrauma.com/2008/06/ptsd-pretty-terrible-sht-to-discover.html

PBS on BS ways PTSD wounded are treated

Now on PBS
Friday, June 13, 8:30pm
CHANNEL 24 (WMFE-TV)
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A report on U.S. soldiers who are discharged from service for various reasons.
CC, Stereo Educational Taping Rights: In Perpetuity

Jonathan Norrell

Video: Jonathan Norrell
Jonathan Norrell, who served as an Army medic in Iraq, describes how he transformed from a strong and proud soldier who "loved" being in the military to a man so scarred he could no longer do his job. His touching and terrifying stories of life and death in Iraq—as well as the crippling effects of the war—are also captured in a personal journal he kept during his treatment for PTSD after he returned from Iraq.


David Chavarria
Video: David Chavarria
On David Chavarria's last mission to Iraq, something unbearable happened: his friend died in his arms. In this web-extended interview, Chavarria describes the guilt, depression and fear that led him to attempt suicide. When he turned to the Army for help, their response left him cold. After ten years of serving his country, he was told he had a personality disorder and was given ten days to leave the military. Chavarria's wife spearheaded a movement to fight back.


HINOJOSA: Kors investigation also revealed that these discharges save the military a lot of money...remember, the army doesn't have to pay disability for personality disorder discharges. Kors wrote that across the entire armed forces, they could be saving upwards of $8 billion dollars.

Reporting from Kors and others triggered a bi-partisan effort led by Democratic senator Barack Obama and Republican Kit Bond—demanding that the Department of Defense to investigate these discharges. The report, released just this week, recommends new policies that include corroborating the personality disorder diagnosis and addressing PTSD before discharging soldiers.

At the same time, advocates point to another brewing scandal—the alarming number of soldiers suffering from PTSD but getting kicked out for misconduct.

Soldiers like 23 year old—Jonathan Norrell. As a combat medic, he experienced the human toll of war everyday.


HINOJOSA: After fighting for the army—soldiers like Jonathan Norrell and Chuck Luther are now fighting against it. They're waging a battle to overturn what they say are wrongful discharges... advocates say that the army, faced with an expensive and demanding war, is using these discharges as an easy way to get rid of broken soldiers.

PICARD: Mental health injuries are very much combat-related injury. And you're entitled to care and treatment for your combat-related injuries, as a matter of law. You're entitled to it.

HINOJOSA: It's an issue that hits close to home for Carissa Picard. She's married to an officer stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. Armed with a law degree from Georgetown University—she founded an organization to help soldiers called "Military Spouses for Change". Picard says, when soldiers are kicked out with these discharges, there are severe consequences...they're left with little or no benefits. On top of that, soldiers have to pay back thousands of dollars in enlistment bonuses. And this has her outraged.

PICARD: It's shocking to me! Not only will they serve a combat tour and go to Iraq, and then end up traumatized from that, and then get kicked out instead of getting treated is they're having to pay back their—their bonuses.

HINOJOSA: And I'm sure that there are some people who are gonna hear this and they'll say, "That's impossible. It can't be happening that the military is doing this to soldiers."

PICARD: Yeah. But, they are. They absolutely are...........



HINOJOSA: When you see Jonathan, 23 years old, what goes on for you?

PICARD: I don't know that people realize how young our soldiers are. Like I live on post, and there's thousands of Jonathan Norrells. But I don't see them. Nobody does. They're all in their uniforms. And when I saw Jonathan, I—I realized, my God. They're just so young.

HINOJOSA: Why does a soldier like Jonathan Norrell fall through the cracks? How does that happen?

PICARD: Well, I don't know that it's falling through the cracks. This is— a huge hole. It's a flaw in the system

HINOJOSA: Picard say—these wrongful discharges won't stop until the army regulations are changed. She says, if we don't care for our soldiers now, they will return to society more at risk for homelessness, criminal behavior, reliant on social services.

PICARD: And who pays for that? We all do. So, if—if you don't care on any kind of humanitarian level about these people who have sacrificed so much on your behalf, then care on a—purely practical level. Because you're going to be paying higher taxes.

HINOJOSA: Just last month, the army issued a new directive. It now requires soldiers who are getting administrative discharges, to be screened for both PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

As for Jonathan Norrell—he will now be medically discharged.

But because of the backlog ... he's still living on base surrounded by the memories of the war and the army he once proudly served.
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/424/transcript.html

Go to link to read the rest. I just wanted to point out the part about Carissa Picard. She's the president of Military Spouses For Change and someone else I adore.

A woman on a mission to make sure her extended military family stops acting like a dysfunctional one. (My two cents) When one part of the family is suffering, they all are. When one part of the family is being treated badly, they all are and it's time the military noticed this and lived up to never leaving anyone behind. They've been leaving the wounded behind for centuries when it comes to PTSD.

What happened to over 22,000 dishonorable discharges for Personality Disorder?

I know I must be beating my head against the wall on this one, but I'm used to it and my head has gotten a lot harder over the years. I really would like to know what is being done to correct the P.D. discharges, give them back the money that they were forced to repay and honor their claims? Is it too much to ask? Is anyone even looking into reviewing these case? I'm not talking about the ones that did receive attention in the media. I'm talking about the ones who we will never hear about but they are suffering and need justice. What is being done for them?

'Personality disorder' assessment allows for quick honorable discharge but tags veterans with a label that is hard to remove.

By ANNE USHER
WASHINGTON BUREAU
Sunday, December 24, 2006

WASHINGTON — Soldiers suffering from the stress of combat in Iraq are being misdiagnosed by military doctors as having a personality disorder, lawyers and psychologists say, which allows them to be quickly and honorably discharged but stigmatizes them with a label that is hard to dislodge and can hurt them financially.

Though accurate for some, experts say, the personality disorder label has been used as a catch-all diagnosis to discharge personnel who may no longer meet military standards, are engaging in problematic behavior or suffer from more serious mental disorders. For returning veterans, the diagnosis can make it harder to obtain adequate mental health treatment if they must first show they have another problem, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

"It's an absolute disgrace to military medicine," said Bridgette Wilson, a former Army medic who is now an attorney in San Diego serving mainly military clients. "I see it over and over again, the dramatic misuse of personality disorder diagnosis. It's a fairly slick and efficient way to move some bodies through."

Military records show that since 2003, 4,092 Army soldiers and another 11,296 men and women in other branches of the armed services have been discharged after being diagnosed with the disorder.

A government worker at Fort Carson in Colorado who has access to personnel records and who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job said Army psychologists there have diagnosed some soldiers with a personality disorder after a single evaluation lasting 10 minutes to 20 minutes.

Several soldiers at Fort Carson interviewed by Cox Newspapers said they have been given or offered the diagnosis in a handful of meetings lasting less than an hour.

The personality disorder diagnosis can result in a soldier getting an honorable discharge within days, which can be appealing for many returning from Iraq.

The timing of many of the discharges, in some cases within months after soldiers have returned, appears to violate the military's rules, which say a personality disorder diagnosis should not be made if a soldier is experiencing "combat exhaustion or other acute situational maladjustment’s."

Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said he is unaware of any related discharges within three months of a deployment and has "full confidence in our medical personnel in their decision-making."

Nonetheless, he asked Army surgeon general Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley two weeks ago to review complaints of inadequate mental health care at Fort Carson. He said it was begun before Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Barack Obama of Illinois and Republican Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri wrote a letter asking him to investigate such concerns after they were raised in a broadcast on National Public Radio.

"I'm concerned with any allegations that suggest we may have not taken the steps that we need to take to ensure that people are properly cared for," he said, adding that soldiers are receiving the best mental military health care in history.

Proper evaluation

A personality order is defined as a deeply ingrained, abnormal behavior pattern that appears during childhood or adolescence.

Critics say that many soldiers returning from Iraq who are tagged with that label actually have post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from their combat experiences. A review of four soldiers' medical records at Fort Carson and records from a soldier at another post show that they were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder before or after their discharge.

Recommending a discharge on the basis of a personality disorder is a faster process than discharging someone for mental health problems of another nature. It requires only one military psychologist's finding, and the paperwork usually takes only a couple of days.

A diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, on the other hand, must be handled by a medical review board, which must confirm that the condition stems from combat, a process that usually takes several months.

Dr. Joseph Bobrow, a former chief psychologist at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco, said a personality disorder is one of the most difficult diagnoses to confirm, particularly when there is cumulative trauma.

"I think it's ludicrous to make a diagnosis of personality disorder in a 20- to 40-minute interview," he said. "Even if you do a complete battery of psychological testing and intensive and informed clinical interviews over a week, some of those results can be and are contested in a court of law."

Some of the soldiers at Fort Carson say they had been told by Army psychologists that the Department of Veterans Affairs would take care of them if their troubles persisted. A personality disorder, however, is considered a pre-existing condition, not one related to a soldier's service, and Veterans Affairs can treat but not give disability benefits in these cases.

Many soldiers who sought mental health counseling after returning from Iraq, like former Spc. Donald Schmidt of Chillicothe, Ill., say they learned only after their discharge that they must repay part of their re-enlistment bonus based on the portion of time they did not serve — more than $10,000 in Schmidt's case.

He and many other soldiers interviewed by Cox Newspapers, lawyers and veterans groups also say they were not cautioned that a personality disorder diagnosis could damage their job prospects because prospective civilian employers may request access to their discharge papers. Those records usually describe anti-social traits and behaviors they are said to probably possess.
go here for more
http://ivaw.org/membersspeak/please-read-if-youre-planning-seeking-mental-health-care

William Wooldridge, who was an Army specialist in Iraq, says he was dismissed from the service for having a personality disorder.
During his second enlistment, Wooldridge says he underwent a stressful deployment to Iraq and had a breakdown. When he returned to the U.S., he was evaluated by an Army psychiatrist and received a discharge for having a personality disorder.
Wooldridge fought the diagnosis and eventually got it changed to PTSD.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15323415

In October 2004, Jonathan Town, a young Army soldier, was delivering mail at his base in Ramadi when it came under fire.
While he was running for shelter, he says, a rocket exploded "3 feet above my head, leaving me unconscious on the ground, with a severe concussion, shrapnel in my neck and blood pouring from my ears."
Town was rushed to the medical unit, treated for his wounds and given a day to rest. He returned to duty the next day.
"Two months later, I was awarded a Purple Heart for my injuries I suffered on that traumatic day in October," he says. "This is where everything started to go downhill for me. Throughout the next 9 months, while continuing to serve my country, I battled nonstop headaches, bleeding from my ears and insomnia."
Despite the fact that Town hadn't had those symptoms before — and had passed psychological screenings when he enlisted and re-enlisted in the Army — Town was diagnosed with what Army doctors called a pre-existing personality disorder. So when Town was discharged, he got no access to medical care and no disability benefits.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12234129