"Used Warriors" : Too Many Troubled Soldiers and Marines Cut Off From Care By Veterans Administration

It seems during and after each war, the good folks at the Veterans Administration again and again make the  same mistakes that have been made in past wars---treating too many returning soldiers and marines as "used" and, if they are not physically wounded, trying to dismiss them as  malingering or having "bad conduct" when all  too often they are as wounded as those who have sustained physical wounds. 

 This is true especially with those soldiers and marines--an estimated one in five of those deploted--who suffer from post traumatic  stress disorders. The results are even more acute in the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where soldiers have been deployed over and over again and less than one percent of the population of the United States who could be at war are involved in these distant and now unpopular conflicts.    

"A 1990 survey of more than 90,000 Marines found those who served in combat zones and received a PTSD diagnosis were more than 11 times more likely to receive a misconduct discharge than those who did not deploy and did not have PTSD.

"There's the Catch-22: Service members who suffer combat-related PTSD are entitled to medical treatment — unless they misbehave and get kicked out of the service because they suffer from PTSD."

Read more here: http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120822/OPINION/208220312

 

The Shame of a Nation: Iraqi and Afghan War Veterans and Suicide

"In fact, the number of U.S. soldiers who have died by their own hand is now estimated to be greater than the number (6,460) who have died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Eleven years of war in two operating theaters have taken a severe toll on America’s military. An estimated 2.3 million Americans have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, and 800,000 of those service members have been deployed multiple times."-Anthony Swofford, Newsweek http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/20/anthony-swofford-on-the-epidemic-of-military-suicides.html



(photo: A Wounded Warrior Barracks for US Marines at Camp Pendelton in San Diego/ photo, May 2012, from The Daily Beast/Newsweek.)

Shocking report from last year on the tragedy of suicide among American Vets after they return home from Irag and Afghanistan. It s estimated that 18 veterans a day are committing suicide from PTSD and other combat-related diseases. The Veterans Administration and the courts and the public at large--many who do not have a relative or a spouse in this war, unlike previous wars like Vietnam, are not paying enough attention to this tragedy.