"A Cold-Blooded Decision on Purple Hearts "

[ensho]

http://counterpunch.com/hallinan02032009.html


A Cold-Blooded Decision on Purple Hearts
When Mind Wounds Don't Count


Behind the recent decision by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to deny Purple Heart medals to soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a cold-blooded calculation: it saves money.

The official rationale for refusing to honor what is widely considered the “signature wound” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that PTSD, according to Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez, is “an anxiety disorder caused by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event,” not “a wound intentionally caused by the enemy.”

But a recent study by the Rand Corporation found that up to 320,000 vets returning from the two conflicts suffer from Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI), a condition whose symptoms are almost indistinguishable from PTSD. Virtually all MTBI injuries are the result of roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices (IED).

Because the two wars have seriously stretched the U.S. military, it is not uncommon for soldiers to do multiple tours. Out of the 1.6 million troops who have served in both theaters, 525,000 have done more than two combat tours, 70,000 have served three, and 20,000 have done five or more. During their deployments they are constantly exposed to IEDs.

“The multiple nature of it is unprecedented,” says Maj. Connie Johnmyer of the 332ed Medical group, a unit that deals with psychological problems. “People just get blasted, and blasted, and blasted.”

According to a study by the U.S. Department of Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, 31 percent of Veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq to Walter Reed Hospital have TBI.
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they 'just get blasted, and blasted, and blasted.'


and the families of the 'blasted' get blasted too.

[maxsolomon]

1. any time you read

"A recent study by the Rand Corporation", turn on your BS detector.

[enlightenment]

2. I agree that they should differentiate between PTSD and TBI

but I don't think they should give medals for PTSD that has no physical basis. The point, in that case, is valid - it is not a wound intentionally caused by the army. People develop PTSD for any number of reasons, from witnessing an accident to being the victim of a robbery, rape, etc - and probably every other reason in-between. It's not just a 'war wound'.

If a soldier is suffering from TBI, that's different. That injury is the result of being in theatre - most civilians in the US are not being 'blasted and blasted, and blasted'.

Giving every soldier who is traumatized by their experiences - and I accept that simply being there is traumatizing to many - turns the Purple Heart into the equivalent of the gold stars that teachers give out to third-graders. Everyone gets one, because they're all 'stars'. It becomes meaningless - and once it's meaningless, why bother with it at all?

[ensho]

3. kicking for those blasted and blasted and blasted

what ever you want to call the condition