semper faux (i wish i came up with that, but it's not mine)

ptsd

and the treatment or LACK THEREOF for some of our veterans (that is a crime. an out and out crime)

these men and women are heroes and should be treated as such. no excuses. NONE

VA studies: PTSD care inconsistent

By Chris Adams McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs, which touts its special programs to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in returning soldiers, spends little on those programs in some parts of the country, and some of its efforts fail to meet some of the VA's own goals, according to internal reports obtained by McClatchy Newspapers.
In fiscal year 2006, the reports show, some of the VA's specialized PTSD units spent a fraction of what the average unit did. Five medical centers — in California, Iowa, Louisiana, Tennessee and Wisconsin — spent about $100,000 on their PTSD clinical teams, less than one-fifth the national average.
The documents also show that while the VA's treatment for PTSD is generally effective, nearly a third of the agency's inpatient and other intensive PTSD units failed to meet at least one of the quality goals monitored by a VA health-research organization. The VA medical center in Lexington, Ky., failed to meet four of six quality goals, according to the internal reports..........

our heroes are being treated like shite

do you see that man? he was injured in iraq. he lost the use of an eye. he lost half of his scull. he has tbi and of course suffers from ptsd. you would imagine all of that would be enough of a pile of problems. you'd be wrong. he (and his family) have ONE MORE problem.

walter reed:::::::::::::::::

Almost Home, but Facing More Delays at Walter Reed
Soldier Is Told Paperwork Errors Will Slow Retirement


By Dana Priest and Anne Hull Washington Post Staff Writers

After nearly three years as an outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon had begun the wrenching process of turning himself into a civilian.
He no longer wore the uniform he loved so much. He sported a short beard and traded his black beret for a baseball cap. Granted a 30-day leave to prepare for retirement as his disability case finally made it through the system, he moved his family to Suffolk, Va., and began to babysit his two kids, clean the house and grow vegetables. Given what had happened to him in Iraq -- the traumatic brain injury from an AK-47 round that shattered one eye and half his skull -- and the chronic post-traumatic stress disorder that followed, that was about all he could handle.
Last week, Shannon, 43, was back at Walter Reed, but not to say goodbye. The doctors' signatures on two time-sensitive forms in his disability file had expired. He would have to be reexamined by his doctors, he was told, and his medical summaries would have to be written all over again. Unfortunately, the sergeant in charge of his disability paperwork had not stayed on top of his case...........


if i was king george, i wouldn't even THINK of taking ONE DAY OFF, a vacation, i wouldn't even THINK of relaxing until i was CERTAIN every single veteran (not just from iraq and afghanistan either) was cared for. what i don't understand is, why are people still enlisting when travesties like this keep occurring?


"I don't even know what 'going on with my life' means," said Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon, after being told that paperwork glitches would delay his release from Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Photo Credit: Photos By Michel Du Cille -- The Washington Post Photo

an interview with ilona meagher

who researched and wrote about our vets and ptsd

Ilona Meagher Is Taking a Stand for Our Vets


..........BuzzFlash: You've written a book, Moving a Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in America's Returning Troops. In terms of the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are returning home, how big of a problem is this?
Ilona Meagher: We won't have a clear idea, just as we didn't with the Vietnam War, until many, many years after. But we can say that, of troops that have returned and separated from service, about one-third have already come in for some form of counseling. That's not necessarily PTSD. But about 75,000 troops who have returned from combat have been given a psycho-social disorder diagnosis from the VA. Of those, about 50,000 have the PTSD diagnosis.
The thing to keep in mind about these figures, though, is the stigma. We know that many troops don't seek help, because they are worried that having something on their record about some sort of emotional problems might not allow them to get a police officer job, or a different type of job that they might want. If they're in the Special Forces, they might not get the mission. So a lot of people don't get the help that they need.
One final figure I'm going to throw out that will really show you the extent of the problem is that even of those troops who filled out the post-deployment health assessment form - PDHA - and checked off that they needed some help, only 22% got follow-up care. ...............