There are many fine diaries about the WAPO article by Dana Priest and Anne Hull, and on top of the other work on exposing the mess at Walter Reed and the military's failure to fully care for the injured of this war.
PTSD is a war wound, just not one that is visible, there are no scars, except in the brain tissue, but they are not visible to the world as is an amputation, a six inch scar from shrapnel, or a bullet hole. It is an unseen wound therefore many people question if it's real or is it just a way for veterans to scam money out of the government. Let's deal with this below.
Here in the paper we are reading other people's stories and what they have to cope with, for me it's not a newspaper story, it's my life. I spent 10 years on active duty from the Vietnam Era thru 1982 and then joined the Georgia Army National Guard and was activated with the 48th Brigade I was assigned to the 878th Engineers, I volunteered to go to the Infantry Brigade when they asked for volunteers to fill the empty slots after the activation notice went out, given that I had been an Infantry Staff Sergeant where at times I was a Sqaud Leader or a Platoon Sergeant depending on the NCO's assigned to the companies at the time.
I am not going into all the details just some of the highlights what caused MY PTSD, an attempted murder by 7 fellow soldiers while in Alaska in Feb 1975, they beat me unconscious and left me in a snowbank at 20 below, when we returned to Fort Lewis, they were free pending general court martials, until one evening someone attempted to run me over while I was walking on a sidewalk near the PX, then the Colonel ordered the men into pretrial confinement. After 4 of the men were found guilty and sent to Leavenworth prison I was receiving death threats from their friends. I asked the Army for a transfer to Korea to get away from Fort Lewis.
It was approved and in less than 2 months I was in Korea, on the DMZ, I did a lot of combat patrols inside the zone, I was involved in several firefights, not a big deal in the scope of things. But I knew a Captain named Bonifas, he was in charge of a tree trimming detail in the zone, on an August afternoon an North Korean Officer attacked CPT Bonifas and his Korean work detail with an ax. The incident became known as Operation Paul Bunyan today the Joint Security Area in the DMZ is called Camp Bonifas, the Army has the habit of naming things after people who died doing something considered heroic. I also know of Furlong Pass at Fort Irwin, I knew Captain Furlong in 1981 and 1982, before he died.
Life went on I went to Germany, 3rd Infantry Division assigned to 2/30th Infantry, one of my friends there was killed by a driver when my friend who was drunk stepped into a roadway, it was not the drivers fault, it was my friends fault for being drunk, but none the less I watched my friend die, the vision will be with me until I die.
Then there were the numerous accidents during combat training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, many mens hand were messed up when Hoffman devices were set off accidentally while their hands were inserting the devices into their sleeves on the tanks, a few took shots into their sides, which tore up their innards, the worst incident I will never forget I see it most times when I close my eyes, on Super Bowl Sunday 1982 we had gone into the main post area for showers and to watch the game, many soldiers drank their dinner, immediately upon returning to the field the battalion Commander decided to move the tanks into formation for an attack early the next morning at 0300, one of the ground guides from Alpha Company 1/31st Infantry was caught between two of the M48 tanks mocked up to look like Russian vehicles, the sharp edges of the fiberglass caught him right below his chin and when he was pushed into the front tank it caused his head to separate from his body. I see it constantly.
The final affront to my brain was to learn in 2002 that the doctors and scientists at Edgewood Arsenal doing the chemical weapons and drug experiments were not the men we were told they were back in the Cold War the program lasted from 1955 thru 1975, it turns out they researchers were not all Americans, they neglected to inform us that 9 of the men doing the research in the labs with Sarin, Mustard agents, LSD, Peyote, PCP, Ecstasy etc 254 substances in all, but the nine men had been brought to the US after WW2 by the OSS/CIA, they were nazi war criminals who had worked with men like DR Mengele and other evil men at the death camps using the Jews, and the other people deemed offensive to the reich, the Gypsies, some Polish, some French etc, now do you want to talk about nightmares, find out some Nazi fiend used you in classified tests and you were never told about it. Bullshit, my Doctor says I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD, duh you think, any idea what my obsession is?
My Army, my nation, let Nazi azzholes use me in illegal human experiments which the Army lied to us to get us to volunteer, they lied about the Soldiers Medals and letters of commendation to help us get promoted down the road in the Army, and the worst insult is the VA states that me and the other men used there 7120 of us can't prove the experiments harmed us.
The last study shows that 2098 men could not be found using IRS, VA and SS records, men aged 45 to 65 in FY 2000, are either paying taxes or drawing government benefits, they just do not disappear, of the 4022 men they found 54% of them reported being disabled another 2200 men for a combined total of 74.43% death and disability and the VA and DOD say we can't prove the tests harmed us. What about reasonable doubt? Most reasonable people would assume something happened at Edgewood Arsenal that contributed to these extremely high death and disability rates.
I have been divorced 4 times, I know now that PTSD played a large part of it, I have 3 children that refuse to visit me, my youngest daughter told me when she was 12 that I wasn't a good father, and she was right. They refuse to let me see my grandchildren because of the way I treated them, and I can't blame them.
This government owes it to these men and women they are sending repeatedly into harms way in Iraq and Afghanistan, not some cheap paper fill outs, six month face to face reviews with doctors, with wives and parents allowed to attend so they can tell the docs what they notice are different about their loved ones, PTSD affects the entire family, not just the veteran, the soldiers right to privacy should be moot at this point, the family has a right to make sure their loved one gets all the care they deserve, well know that "macho men" will not admit to weakness like bad dreams, the urge to fight or flight, the explosive temper that comes with PTSD, the drinking and the drugging etc.
The worksheets they have the soldiers and veterans fill out on return are not enough. It took me until January 2003 before I asked my family practice doctor to send me to mental health, within a few months I was deemed permanently and totally disabled because of my PTSD alone, forget the multitude of other medical problems I suffer with.
America, for Fathers day I ask that you put as much passion into demanding from Congress help for PTSD veterans as you are into the Immigration debate, don't your soldiers and veterans deserve it?
Crossposted at Daily Kos
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