The war next door | Can a vet with PTSD come home?

[unhappycamper]

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/12/war-next-door-can-vet-ptsd-come-home



The war next door | Can a vet with PTSD come home?
By Mike Hixenbaugh
The Virginian-Pilot
© December 16, 2013

VIRGINIA BEACH

The man in the grainy surveillance footage strides through the sleepy cul-de-sac with purpose, like someone in command of his own destiny.

Freeze the frame, zoom in close. His eyes tell a different story: wide, unblinking, confused.

He has lost all control.

The disabled veteran had been coming unhinged for months. Security cameras installed by his neighbors captured him that night as he hit bottom.

[randys1]

1. Thank god Obama changed rules for ptsd, made it easier to collect from the VA

but money is only one component of recovery

[Jefferson23]

2. Oh my God, how deeply poignant this OP is..so much can be learned from it. I appreciate

the way it was constructed because it goes much further than, well..there was a soldier who went
crazy, blah blah blah.

If we don't anticipate their struggle before they come home they'll continue to meet enormous
challenges they nor their families and friends will be able to assist them with. Out reach must be
more individualized and part of the treatment plan.

I can't help but remark how upsetting it is to continue to see the blow back these soldiers will live with
for a futile war that had no purpose...that fucking bastard Bush rides around on his bicycle
like nothing ever happened!


K&R for an important and well written OP. Thank you.

[Jefferson23]

3. Maybe think about cross posting this in GD, for exposure? Just a thought. n/t

[unhappycamper]

5. Done. n/t

[Jefferson23]

7. Excellent, thanks! n/t

[dawnie51]

4. I worked 26 yrs. acute psych at VA......

every word of this is true. I saw the remains of what Vietnam did for most of my career, and before I retired, I started seeing the young guys from Bush's wars come in. They are much sicker, and they are very young, with decades of horror ahead of them. It is a heavy burden on everyone who works with them, because there is so little we can do to alleviate their suffering. Pray to whomever or whatever you believe in for these guys.

[Jefferson23]

6. +1 n/t

[unhappycamper]

8. Allowing An Army To Die (Congress' Way Of Dealing With Veteran's Health Care)

We did it in Vietnam with Agent Orange.

We did again in GW 1 with 'mysterious' diseases. (At least 1/3 of GW1 veterans are already dead.)

We did it again in Iraq with PTSD and TBI.

Ditto Afghanistan.

We never learn.

Never.