Support the troops

[Truthmatters]

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37732

this means now and for ever, this means taking care of them and giving them the BEST possible medical care we have.

 

[Truthmatters]

HEALTH-US:
Suicidal and Facing a Third Tour in Iraq
Aaron Glantz

SAN FRANCISCO, May 15 (IPS) - At the beginning of May, Corporal Cloy Richards tried to kill himself.

"He punched out all his windows and cut major arteries," his mother Tina Richards told IPS. "He had to go to the hospital because he almost bled to death."

Cloy Richards, who lives in rural Salem, Missouri, has served two deployments in the Marine Corps in Iraq. The military lists him as 80-percent combat disabled.

His mother says he has knee and arm injuries, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, and currently has a claim pending with the Army for a traumatic brain injury.

"It's something that affects us every single day," Tina said, "when he's 23 years old and he can't even climb the stairs. He has bad nightmares where he thinks he's back in Iraq."

Richards said her son sustained most of his injuries after his first tour in Iraq, adding that the family protested his second deployment to no avail. After four years on active duty, Cloy Richards is now in the individual ready reserve and faces the possibility of a third deployment to Iraq.

New guidelines released by the Pentagon in December allow commanders to redeploy soldiers suffering from traumatic stress disorders.

According to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, service-members with "a psychiatric disorder in remission, or whose residual symptoms do not impair duty performance" may be considered for duty downrange. It lists post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a "treatable" problem.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to an event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. A person having a flashback may lose touch with reality and believe that the traumatic incident is happening all over again.

"It's just terrifying," said Dr. Karen Seal, a clinician at San Francisco's Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centre who treats soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological illnesses.

Seal told IPS that patients under her care have been deployed despite serious mental health conditions.

"I feel like writing them a medical excuse," she said, "but that's not my responsibility as a VA clinician. Because I'm a VA provider, I don't have the authority to do that."

According to a study co-authored by Seal and her colleagues at the Centre, about one- third of the more than 100,000 returning veterans seen at VA facilities between Sep. 30, 2001 and Sep. 30, 2005 were diagnosed with mental illness or a psycho-social disorder such as homelessness and marital problems, including domestic violence. Over half suffered from more than one disorder.

Other researchers suggest those statistics may only represent the tip of the iceberg. Many veterans, they note, don't come forward to seek care. The stigma associated with post- traumatic stress disorder may account for part of this gap, they say.

In addition, according to recent report by Linda Bilmes of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, waiting lists for returning veterans are "so long as to effectively deny treatment to a number of veterans."

In the May 2006 edition of Psychiatric News, Bilmes notes that VA Undersecretary of Health Policy Coordination Frances Murphy wrote that when services are available, "waiting lists render that care virtually inaccessible."

There is also the issue of geography.

"One of the disconnects and failures in planning for this war is that the Veterans Administration is essentially configured in an urban way," Bilmes told IPS. "That makes a lot of sense for recruiting specialists and staffing the facilities. However, recruiting for the military in this war tends to come primarily from small, rural America. So, what we don't have is enough mental health care for veterans in these rural communities when they come home."

Last Thursday, the VA's Inspector General issued a report estimating that 1,000 veterans under its care commit suicide every year.

The report also found that vets are at increased risk of suicide because many VA clinics don't have 24-hour care or adequate mental health screening, and lack properly trained personnel.

The report, which was requested last year by Rep. Michael Michaud, a Democrat of Maine, said clinics should work harder so veterans can seek treatment without feeling stigmatised, and recommended additional screening for patients with traumatic brain injury, a type of brain damage caused by projectiles like roadside bombs which many are calling the "signature injury" of the Iraq war.

"The problem is that traumatic brain injury, which is an anatomic, physiologic problem, sort of intermingles with post-traumatic stress disorder," Dr. William Schecter, the chief of surgery at San Francisco General Hospital, explained to IPS. "This is going to be a lifelong challenge for the individuals who have suffered these injuries." (END/2007)

 

[Care4all]

This is very sad....

And I don't think they should be able to send those back that have been mentally disabled or injured....!

But I don't think they should send any of them back for a second term... or third or fourth, it is too hard on their spouse and kids imho.

 

[Truthmatters]

They have abused our people so badly.

Who in the hell is going to want to join say the national guard now?

Why would you join?

Everything they told you would be doing was a lie.

Bush has done severe harm to all our forces in such a way it will be very hard to recover for a very long time.

 

[Truthmatters]

Can I get a promise from the conservitives on here that we will spare NO expense in taking care of our Heros when they come home?

Will I be fighting you till the day I die to see the funds ready to give these Brave young men and women EVERYTHING they need for the rest of their lives?

BURN TREAMENT!

THE BEST PROTHISIS!

MENTAL HEALTH CARE!

FAMILY SUPPORT!

the list will go on and on and I will never ever stop fighting for these people YOU have sent into this hell hole.

Can we at least agree on the idea that they should NEVER be short shifted?

 

[Truthmatters]

Not one of you will promise to keep our commitment to the returning troops?

 

[Truthmatters]

redstates?

shattered?

there is not one of you who will SUPPORT OUR TROOPS?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

They have abused our people so badly.

Who in the hell is going to want to join say the national guard now?

Why would you join?

Everything they told you would be doing was a lie.

Bush has done severe harm to all our forces in such a way it will be very hard to recover for a very long time.

Your claim is ludicrous, we have an ALL VOLUNTEER force and guess what? It is meeting its recruitment goals almost all the time. Including the Guard.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Can I get a promise from the conservitives on here that we will spare NO expense in taking care of our Heros when they come home?

Will I be fighting you till the day I die to see the funds ready to give these Brave young men and women EVERYTHING they need for the rest of their lives?

BURN TREAMENT!

THE BEST PROTHISIS!

MENTAL HEALTH CARE!

FAMILY SUPPORT!

the list will go on and on and I will never ever stop fighting for these people YOU have sent into this hell hole.

Can we at least agree on the idea that they should NEVER be short shifted?

Talk to the Democrats, they have historical opposed military, including medical, money. And they continue to do so.

 

[Shattered]

redstates?

shattered?

there is not one of you who will SUPPORT OUR TROOPS?

I've already answered this ridiculous claim in another thread - so, in this one, I'll ask you:

Other than sitting on your ass shouting "abuse", what exactly are YOU doing to support them?

 

[Truthmatters]

links, verifiable facts any thing to back what you say?

You see unlike you I will accept verifiable facts

 

[RetiredGySgt]

links, verifiable facts any thing to back what you say?

You see unlike you I will accept verifiable facts

You wouldn't know the truth if it ripped your head off and crapped down your blood spurting throat.

 

[Truthmatters]

So its bad for me to call for supporting our Heros?

Its bad for me to ask for facts from you?

Just how little do you people care about this issue?

 

[Shattered]

So its bad for me to call for supporting our Heros?

Its bad for me to ask for facts from you?

Just how little do you people care about this issue?

Need I repeat? Yes, obviously.

What are you doing to support them, other than sitting on this forum mouthing off to some of the very people that have actually been there in some form or another?

That's one thing I don't understand.. You haven't stepped your ass behind enemy lines for anything, yet you have the nerve to insult those who HAVE???

 

[maineman]

Your claim is ludicrous, we have an ALL VOLUNTEER force and guess what? It is meeting its recruitment goals almost all the time. Including the Guard.

they had to lower their admission standards in order to make goals....now we are letting felons into the armed forces. nice touch

 

[Truthmatters]

Where am I am I insulting anyone who fought in any war?

I am calling for a consensus in supporting the troops who deserve being supported for their service.

How do you know what I have done in my life?

Please just one time provide a fact , a verifiable fact to back ANYTHING you say.

 

[Truthmatters]

Stop loss

multiple tours

extending tours

sending injured troops back into a war zone

Lack of armour

lack of armored vehicles

VA hospitals with rats ,peeling paint and holes in the wall

Waiting months for treatment

people these are real issues and you bat them away like flies and call names

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Stop loss

multiple tours

extending tours

sending injured troops back into a war zone

Lack of armour

lack of armored vehicles

VA hospitals with rats ,peeling paint and holes in the wall

Waiting months for treatment

people these are real issues and you bat them away like flies and call names

Great misinformation. Usual tactics of the uninformed or serial liar.

 

[maineman]

Great misinformation. Usual tactics of the uninformed or serial liar.

what about that list is false?

 

[Shattered]

Hmm.. I think I'll make a special trip to my local VA hospital just for you, and take pictures. The grounds are immaculate.. The building is immaculate.. Seems we do take care of our own afterall..

Perhaps if your VA hospitals are in such a state of disrepair, it might do you a world of good to get off here, and head over there with a few sheets of drywall, some spackling compound, and a gallon of paint?

Don't forget donuts and coffee for the vets, and smile at them - they like that sort of thing..