War—Bad; Peace and Love—Good

Joseph Bobrow has a piece out reacting to a recent 60 Minutes segment about Clay Hunt, a Marine who came home and committed suicide.

Pretty common act among U.S. military veterans.

What is uncommon, or at least is a new occurrence, is that PTSD victims such as Hunt are no longer openly ridiculed while they are still alive by the neocons and their medical mouthpiece, Dr. Sally Satel; prosecuted for filing for disability benefits; or belittled by official U.S. military reports for engaging in "risky behavior."

We have finally reached a place where the mainstream culture in several fields more often than not recognizes PTSD as a condition in which veterans are victims, not perpetrators; and it follows: War is the enemy.

We are moving away (not fast enough though) from the mindset that trauma is a personal failing, results from a lack of faith in God; is a dodge or fraud to a health-centered approach.

As recently as 2010, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli came under heavy criticism from veterans' advocates for his part in treating suicide and trauma in the neocon way—blaming the troops and treating this trauma "as a lack of moral character, and a lack of intestinal fortitude, when it is really a medical issue," as Steve Robinson wrote in August 2010 in angry reaction.

That 2010 Army report has been effectually killed now; it was commissioned by the Bush-Cheney administration that targeted veterans who give war a bad name.

We take issue at this site on occasion for President Obama's not moving fast enough in renouncing the many imbecilic policies of the Bush-Cheney administration.

On the issue of PTSD and how it is treated, we recognize that there has been a sea change.

War being war, this is not nearly enough for U.S. military veterans, and certainly not enough for the victims of war who are not American, and whose humanity remains.

Obama VA, DoD Hit Stigma Surrounding PTSD and TBI

The symptoms are evident, and the consequences life-long for Veterans and their families

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) has moved away in the last few years from targeting and criticizing servicemembers and veterans suffering from trauma to treating victims of trauma.

Now, the stigma of trauma is diminishing as the DVA and military culture move away from the mindset that trauma is a personal failing, lack of faith in God, a dodge or fraud to a health-centered approach.

Just last year Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli came under heavy criticism from veterans' advocates for his part in treating suicide and trauma in such a manner as to blame the soldier, treating this trauma "as a lack of moral character, and a lack of intestinal fortitude, when it is really a medical issue," as Steve Robinson wrote in August 2010 in reaction to the Army's “Health Promotion, Risk-Reduction and Suicide Prevention Report.”

By Alex Horton

Many active duty folks and Veterans have an impressive sense of history. They can recall specific battles in World War II, name obsolete military equipment from past eras and fondly recall their relative’s own military experience. But we also have a strong sense of the pervasive stereotypes that have haunted Vietnam Vets. Stigmas wrongfully attached to them still carry weight today.

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli recently spoke on the importance of recognizing post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury as real injuries despite their invisible nature. The symptoms are evident, and the consequences life-long for Veterans and their families:

“The truth is, because we don’t see these injuries…they don’t receive the same level of attention as amputations, burns, shrapnel injuries,” Chiarelli said. “There is simply a bias – and I really mean that — there is a bias either conscious or subconscious toward invisible wounds and injuries…It exists everywhere including in the medical community.”

PTSD and TBI are marks of war, as real and permanent as those mentioned by Gen. Chiarelli. Read up on post-traumatic stress, as well as traumatic brain injury, to determine if you have symptoms associated with those ailments. I know some folks who have waited for years for a diagnosis when they could’ve been in a treatment program. Don’t wait to get help.