Rep. Walter Jones Speaks On The Floor About PTSD

Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) spoke truthfully about the problems of PTSD and TBI on the floor of the House. Due to the overwhelming problem the military faces because of these illinesses, he helped introduce a smart bill so that the government begins to take the problems of PTSD seriously and is able to treat our soldiers.

4000 Isn't Just A Number

Now that the death toll from Iraq for our soldiers is over 4,000 after five years, pundits and politicians take a day to discuss the number, what it means and what to do about it based on their view of the war and if it is effective or not. Often, the people on TV overlook the fact that it isn't just a number, it signifies loss of loved ones and tragically for the Velez family, the loss of two brothers. Though this isn't simply about two men dying on the battlefield, this story is far worse.

From Details Magazine:

Andrew Velez idolized his older brother, Freddy. So when Freddy joined the Army and went to fight in the Middle East, Andrew followed. Now both brothers are dead—but only one of them is being called a hero.

Three A.M., a few nights before Christmas, 2004. The war in Iraq is approaching its second anniversary, and the conflict in Afghanistan is into year four. A soldier sits in a small suburban house. He is a baby-faced 21-year-old but has a look of exhaustion that can’t be concealed. He should feel safe here. But the young man has lost his ability to reason. He closes his eyes as if to tune out the chatter from the other people in the room, and when he opens them, he snaps. “The hajjis are coming!” he screams. “The hajjis are coming!”

To those around him it’s clear that Army Specialist Andrew Velez has been sucked into some dark corner of his mind. “They’re coming!” he repeats. “They’re coming!” Andrew stands up and runs around the house, turning off all the lights. A young woman is standing nearby, and Andrew ushers her into a bedroom, hollering at her to duck for cover. He drops to the floor and slides across the room on his stomach. At some point he produces a rifle, albeit an imaginary one, and squeezes the invisible trigger. “I’m not gonna die!” he shouts. “I’m not gonna die!” Then Andrew runs for the back door. The woman chases him. When she steps outside, Andrew pulls her to the ground to protect her from enemy fire. “I’m not gonna die!” he screams. “I’m coming home to see my babies!”

That is just the beginning of this sad and disturbing article. Andrew's brother died in Iraq and was labeled a hero, but they turn a blind eye to Andrew and the effect of the war on him. This a must-read account of what war can do to people.

Truly horrific.

In Case You Need More Reasons To Believe War Is Bad

For me, any war movie is bad enough to convince me of the horrors of this legalized violence. Of course that's Hollywood....real life is much worse. Thousands of dead civilians, combatants who accept to lose their lives for some sort of "cause" and that doesn't even begin to describe the hellish reality of modern warfare, such as the use of white phosphorous gas and many other chemical agents. Many war hawks will tell me this is necessary to win the battle and blah blah blah.

Well, what about our soldiers when they come home. Should they just suck it up and live a normal life? Maybe some can, but many cannot. The NY Times story this weekend on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the propensity for violence after the battlefield has to stir something in even the hardest of souls.

From The NY Times:

Mr. Sepi did not like to venture outside too late. But, plagued by nightmares about an Iraqi civilian killed by his unit, he often needed alcohol to fall asleep. And so it was that night, when, seized by a gut feeling of lurking danger, he slid a trench coat over his slight frame — and tucked an assault rifle inside it.

“Matthew knew he shouldn’t be taking his AK-47 to the 7-Eleven,” Detective Laura Andersen said, “but he was scared to death in that neighborhood, he was military trained and, in his mind, he needed the weapon to protect himself.”

Head bowed, Mr. Sepi scurried down an alley, ignoring shouts about trespassing on gang turf. A battle-weary grenadier who was still legally under-age, he paid a stranger to buy him two tall cans of beer, his self-prescribed treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

As Mr. Sepi started home, two gang members, both large and both armed, stepped out of the darkness. Mr. Sepi said in an interview that he spied the butt of a gun, heard a boom, saw a flash and “just snapped.”

In the end, one gang member lay dead, bleeding onto the pavement. The other was wounded. And Mr. Sepi fled, “breaking contact” with the enemy, as he later described it. With his rifle raised, he crept home, loaded 180 rounds of ammunition into his car and drove until police lights flashed behind him.

“Who did I take fire from?” he asked urgently. Wearing his Army camouflage pants, the diminutive young man said he had been ambushed and then instinctively “engaged the targets.” He shook. He also cried.

How does a story like this not affect you, it certainly affects young Mr. Sepi in the most devastating way. And he's not an isolated case, the Times found at least 121 cases of veterans killing someone once they've returned home from battle. Many have been reported to be re-living combat experiences. Not surprisingly, the Pentagon and the Justice Department do not tally cases like this, and the VA has an ill-equipped system to deal with and treat these veterans. PTSD, while not curable is certainly treatable, unfortunately many slip through the cracks and end up in jail, not having the chance to learn how to re-integrate into society.

Thankfully for Mr. Sepi, the District Attorney cut him a deal where he got sober, rehabbed in Prescott, AZ (known for its treatment centers) and now lives a much more stable life. Any of these troubled soldiers could have a happy ending like this kid, but our government does not invest enough to make a difference. Supporting our troops is just a phrase on a bumper sticker to the Bush Administration. They are much better at creating another generation of PTSD victims than helping them to recover.

Future Idaho Cops Belittle Our Veterans

Supposedly the Idaho Police Officer Standards and Training Academy produces the state's finest in law enforcement for the next generation. They graduated 43 cops this year and their class president got the slogan "Don't suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it," to be their motto. That is just so wrong on so many levels.

From Yahoo News:

Each class at the Idaho Police Officer Standards and Training Academy is allowed to choose a slogan that is printed on its graduation programs, and the class of 43 graduates came up with "Don't suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it."

According to the Veterans Association, tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers suffer from PTSD, which causes nightmares, flashbacks and physical symptoms that make sufferers feel as if they are reliving trauma, even many years later. Crime, accidents and other trauma can cause it in civilians.

Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney, who attended the Dec. 14 graduation, pointed out the slogan to the academy's director, Jeff Black, minutes before the ceremony began, Raney said. A photograph of the program was e-mailed anonymously to news outlets throughout the state.

While the director dismissed the comment and said he does not condone it, he refused to release the name of the graduate that brought it up. So much for holding those that enforce the law to be accountable for their actions. So much for caring about the tens of thousands of soldiers being damaged by PTSD from their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan on an ongoing basis or the hundreds of thousands of veterans that have come before them.

So much for Idaho's police force 'protecting and serving,' it sounds more like they are ready to inflict terror on citizens instead of being trusted servants of the law. So much for respect. So much for dignity. So much for honor.

The Story Of Warren Joseph

As told by his sister Angela, Warren's story is that of an immigrant that became a decorated soldier. After his service he was not cared for by the military and fell into the dregs of society. Instead of rehab he found himself behind bars for three years.

VA Treats War Hero Like A Piece Of Garbage

A soldier that helped capture Saddam Hussein was lauded by the media and politicians alike when he came home from Iraq. He was everything that the warmongers wanted the public to see. Unfortunately those same people shaking his hand do not want to hear about the realities of war. When Jeans Cruz expressed the true horrors of conflict with a full-blown case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, he was abandoned by those politicians and the apparatus of the armed forces that was supposed to help him.

From The Washington Post:

In public, the former Army scout stood tall for the cameras and marched in the parades. In private, he slashed his forearms to provoke the pain and adrenaline of combat. He heard voices and smelled stale blood. Soon the offers of help evaporated and he found himself estranged and alone, struggling with financial collapse and a darkening depression.

At a low point, he went to the local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center for help. One VA psychologist diagnosed Cruz with post-traumatic stress disorder. His condition was labeled "severe and chronic." In a letter supporting his request for PTSD-related disability pay, the psychologist wrote that Cruz was "in need of major help" and that he had provided "more than enough evidence" to back up his PTSD claim. His combat experiences, the letter said, "have been well documented."

None of that seemed to matter when his case reached VA disability evaluators. They turned him down flat, ruling that he deserved no compensation because his psychological problems existed before he joined the Army. They also said that Cruz had not proved he was ever in combat. "The available evidence is insufficient to confirm that you actually engaged in combat," his rejection letter stated.

Cruz continues to suffer from the horrible things he saw in Iraq. He even gave up his fight with the VA because they reject his claims over and over again. As a local from the Bronx, he grew up in the tough life of a housing project with his family and still does now. His job fixing boilers barely provides anything beyond keeping his head above water. Meanwhile the job itself results in panic attacks.

Jeans Cruz is one example of how the VA and the Bush Administration fail our troops. The complications of bureaucracy are meant to reject troops' claims of being ill. Not having good government in our country ends up showing itself with the poor souls like Cruz. We need to properly fund the programs that help soldiers cope with their experiences and spend less on Defense contractors and new military toys.

Bush Is Anti-Family

Not only is he against gay families, heterosexual couples are under attack as well. You see, when you send troops off to war and force them to do two, three, four or more tours of duty it does irreperable harm to the homefront. Married life comes to an absolute stand still as the one who stays home is alone and the soldier is placed in a completely different world.

Due to the war, the bonds of marriage are easily shattered and the statistics prove it. Nearly 60,000 divorces have been attributed to the war with over a million people being sent to Iraq over the course of four years. Factors that contribute to this number include the effects of PTSD, adulterous relationships and the reality that the bond between two people is undone by being so far apart for so long.

From The Progressive:

Twenty-four hours after Lorin boarded the plane for Iraq, I hung a blue star service flag—denoting an immediate family member in combat—in the front window. Then I closed the blinds, hoping to keep the harbingers of death at bay. They still got in, through the phone, the Internet, the newspaper, and the TV.

(snip)

Two months into his deployment, I got a call from him, and he said, choking up, that there was an “accident.” Two Iraqi children were dead because he gave the order to fire a couple of mortar rounds. Several weeks later, he phoned again, his voice flat and emotionless, to tell me that the men he had dinner with the previous night had been killed by the same Iraqi soldiers that they were training six hours earlier.

Days went by without any communication—anxious hours, restless nights. I swerved between anger and fear.

Emotional isolation is one of the hallmarks of post-combat mental health problems. The National Guard didn’t conduct follow-up mental health screening or evaluations of the men in my husband’s company until they had been home for almost eight months. Nearly a year later, in August of 2006, my husband was informed of his results: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It was obvious that he was suffering, but when I brought it up, he parroted what the military told him: “Give it time.”
(snip)
It was hard to reconnect after more than a year apart, and the open wound of untreated PTSD made it virtually impossible. Lorin is still the best evidence I have of God’s grace in this world, but we just couldn’t find our way back together after the war came home.

I cut up the article as best I could to make the point of what PTSD can do to a couple, but you should definitely read the whole thing. The ravages of war are not bound by the borders of Iraq. I find it hard to believe that any man or woman does not carry what they hear, see and do in a combat zone out of Iraq and into their lives back at home. War is a terrible thing for any human being to endure. Of course war is sometimes necessary due to the crazy world we live in. Yet this war had no business being fought. Sure Saddam was a bad man and what he did to Iraqis was horrendous, but there are plenty of terrible situations going on throughout the globe and we had no business getting involved over there, we need to get out now before we cause any more damage. That goes for the Iraqis and our brave soldiers.