We knew in 2006 what was coming,,,,
Monday, August 20, 2007
Ignoring increased risk of PTSD in redeployed at our peril
Repeat Iraq Tours Raise Risk of PTSD, Army Finds
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006; Page A19
U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health........
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Warnings ignored PTSD rates in older veterans would rise
And as we tried to get Vietnam veterans to seek help, no one was ready for the newer veterans.
Monday, October 8, 2007
148,000 Vietnam Vets sought help in last 18 months
Warned again here
Expect 800,000 PTSD Veterans
Last year, it was about 400,000 we were worried about. The beginning of this year, it was 700,000 we were worried about. Now add in at least 100,000 more. Why? Are you shocked? You shouldn't be and the government shouldn't be either. After all it was already predicted in 1978 when the DAV commissioned a study showing Vietnam produced 500,000 diagnosed cases, as well as acknowledging the numbers would rise as more information came out and the symptoms of PTSD grew stronger. Even back then they knew PTSD did not always show up right away. So why is it no one was ready for what was to come now? They didn't care.
It needs to be pointed out as much as possible that when the Army did their own study finding the redeployments increased the risk of developing PTSD by 50%, this should have sounded a shrieking warning bell across the country and emergency measures should have been driven in overdrive, but no one did anything about it. As a matter of fact, the Bush administration cut back funding, along with Nicholson, in 2005, with two occupations producing more wounded minds daily. To have their lives still at risk after their tours have ended is sickening, is wrong, and there is absolutely no excuse for any of this appalling lack of preparedness. You would think that a nation able to fund hundreds of billions of dollars over and over again on emergency basis, would be able to place the same sense of urgency when it comes to saving their lives, their futures and their families, but they do not. You would think that knowing what the experts have been saying all along would hold more weight than rhetoric and slogans when it comes to the seriousness of this, but it didn't. The problem is they didn't think and they didn't care enough to think about any of our troops or what would happen to them when they became veterans or wounded veterans needing care.
Well and here is the warning where I knew what was coming but the "experts" people listen to did not!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
PTSD and a million reasons to act nowWounds of War
April 18, 2008
A report released yesterday by the Rand Corporation titled "Invisible Wounds of War" says that 1 in 5 soldiers, almost 300,000, who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan have major depression or post traumatic stress disorder.
The economic cost-- including medical care, lost productivity and lost lives through suicide -- is estimated at $4 billion to $6 billion over two years, according to the Washington Post .
The 500-page report, titled "Invisible Wounds of War," says prolonged and repeated exposure to combat stress is causing a disproportionately high psychological toll compared with physical injuries. It warns of "long-term, cascading consequences" for the nation -- ranging from a greater likelihood of drug use and suicide to increased marital problems and unemployment -- if the mental health problems are left untreated.
The survey of 1,965 service members (currently serving and veterans) from across the country also reveals that only about half of those experiencing mental illnesses have sought treatment. Even fewer who have suffered head trauma have seen a doctor.
The report is the first one done outside of the government, and according to Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker in a New York Times article, it was welcome.
The report is not much different from numbers from studies inside of the government, but officials say it could help distinguish the stigma of mental illness in military culture and encourage change that is much needed.
Additional Resources
Report summary and other resources
Read the full report (499 pages)
Veterans Resource Center
Call me "Chicken Little" for warning the sky is falling all you want. Tell me that I'm bucking the trend the "experts" are talking about right now because you have only heard from the ones getting the attention on PTSD. Dismiss my warning all you want but as in the past, I've been vindicated over and over again.
After dealing with, studying and reading nearly every report that has come out on PTSD for the last 25 years at a time when most people being interviewed were not even born yet, I know they are wrong. They think we are looking at just the 300,000 with PTSD and "mental illness" but they are repeating complicated studies boiled down to sound bites. The recent report also stated there are 320,000 with TBI. These are two separate wounds but most with TBI also have PTSD. TBI comes from a traumatic event. A bomb blast is traumatic in case some people didn't notice. I scoffed at how some were trying to say that TBI caused PTSD. I still do. It's not TBI causing PTSD in some, but the event itself. PTSD is caused by a traumatic event and anytime you read something leading you to believe that is not the cause, move onto another article. Keep in mind that in your own life you may have been to a doctor, educated with degrees hanging all over their office, but turned out to be a hack making you turn to get a second opinion. It happens all the time. This is all I've focused on for all this time and there are experts I trust and researchers I believe. The clues are all in what they write, the data they provide and their track record.
The beginning of this year, I was leaning toward looking at 800,000 with PTSD. Now I know I was wrong. To factor in the redeployments is very hard. Given the recent reports, we are no longer looking at 800,000, but at least one million with PTSD from both occupations. I'm pissed off more than you can believe right now. Yes, even more than I have been. Had they listened when people like me were screaming when these occupations were in the planning stages, the hospitals would have been built already, the mental health workers would have already been in place and the funding would already be working instead of making its way through the system. The stigma of PTSD would be gone. There would not have been any dishonorable discharges for "personality disorders" and there would have been very few suicides. The hearings in Washington would not be asking the same questions over and over again that have been asked since Vietnam. Researchers would not be looking at what they already knew. Instead they would be looking at new research for new techniques. There would have been advancement in medication. The most important aspect of all of this is no one would still be wondering what PTSD is.
If you think the numbers were are looking at right now are high stop and think about one glaring fact. If the numbers were real, then why on earth would the DOD and the VA not be able to deal with any of this? They are not telling us everything they know, everything they see and what they are already dealing with. The longer this goes on, the more I will increase the numbers I'm warning about but the problem is, no one is listening. There will be far too many than anyone could have imagined in society, but exactly what the experts should have been predicting all along.
Mental health disorders increased by 67 percent during that time from 657,144 cases to 1.1 million, those numbers show.
Army sees sharp rise in unfit soldiers
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Mar 3, 2010 9:00:20 EST
WASHINGTON — The percentage of soldiers who are unavailable for combat has risen sharply during the past two years from 11 percent of each brigade in 2007 to 16 percent last year, Army records show.
Repeated deployments and health problems have driven much of the increase in soldiers listed as nondeployable, said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff.
A brigade has about 3,500 soldiers.
“These are folks who had a knee problem after the first [combat] rotation,” he said, “and then, finally, after the third one of humping a rucksack in Afghanistan at 10,000 feet, the doc says, ‘I don’t care if you’re going to deploy again, the fact of the matter is you’re going to [stay back until you] get your knee fixed.’ ”
read more here
Army sees sharp rise in unfit soldiers
But something like this made the news last week even though, it was already news back here
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
PTSD and why war could shrink your brain
