Massa, Baldwin, and Duck discuss the PTSD Epidemic

Cross posted at kos, where you can discuss the issue with Eric, Mishina and Andrew.

Eric Massa's Weekly Diary with Mishonda Baldwin (MD-03) and Andrew Duck (MD-05)

- The Iraq War PTSD Epidemic

Eric Massa, New York CD 29, Mishonda Baldwin, Maryland CD 3, Andrew Duck, Maryland CD 7, Iraq War, veterans, vet care, PTSD, mental health, Fighting Dems, Band of Brothers, Veterans for a Secure America

The Bush White House and the Rubber-Stamp GOP-controlled Congress have launched so many assaults against the American people that I have lost count. But perhaps the most offensive of these assaults are against the military, military families and veterans. President Bush saw fit to send our soldiers into an unnecessary war, using misleading intelligence. He then refused to properly protect the them in battle, provide the necessary medical care when they were redeployed homeward, and finally denied them and their families the financial security they have earned fighting for our nation.

I (Eric here) have put it this way:


General Wesley Clark and Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell are highlighting this issue through Boswell’s reelection campaign. Note the following AP report



Exactly what, then, is PTSD? First, let's look at the dictionary definition:



In World War I and shortly thereafter, soldiers were said to suffer "shell shock," and in World War II and Korea it was called "combat" or "battle fatigue." By whatever name you call it, there is reason to believe the psychological fallout from the Iraq War will worsen. Any term or definition does little to address the agonizing toll of the broken marriages, drug and alcoholic addiction, and distraught children caused by this syndrome.

Esther Schrader has called it, "Extensive, Deadly, Costly" in http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111504Y.shtml">These Unseen Wounds Cut Deep (Sunday 14 November 2004). As far back as 2004, Schrader noted that a "study by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research found that 15.6% of Marines and 17.1% of soldiers surveyed after they returned from Iraq suffered major depression, generalized anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder - a debilitating, sometimes lifelong change in the brain's chemistry that can include flashbacks, sleep disorders, panic attacks, violent outbursts, acute anxiety and emotional numbness." More recently the figures have reached at least one in six soldiers or Marines suffering from this disorder - and this figure may be far too low. Studies have not investigated the full extent of the problem, looking mainly at regular soldiers and Marines who have been willing to come forward with their problems. The studies have not looked at reservists, who tend to suffer a higher rate of psychological injury than career Marines and soldiers.

"The bad news is that the study underestimated the prevalence of what we are going to see down the road," said Dr. Matthew J. Friedman, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Dartmouth Medical School and executive director of the VA's National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "The complexion of the war has changed into a grueling counterinsurgency. And that may be very important in terms of the potential toxicity of this combat experience."

Given this difficult situation, one would think that the Veterans Administration would have geared up to address this epidemic. Not so.

A recent report from the GAO May 12, 2006 shows that the Bush Administration is doing very little to help these members of the military, let alone their family members. It shows they are NOT treating 78% of the members shown to be at risk for PTSD DOD is miserable failing these honorable men and women.

In an Op-Ed on Veterans for Commons Sense in October, 2005, http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm?page=article&id=5120">VA Seeks to Punish Iraq War Veterans, it was noted that the VA was reviewing one-third of the cases of cases of veterans who are receiving disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).



It also appeared from this study that the lack of prewar intelligence with no plan to deal with the post-combat situation, has contributed to the incidence of PTSD.



Truly the Bush administration and the Rumsfeld Pentagon are not interested in addressing the emotional ravages of the Iraq war on combat. It is just one more failure of the Bush administration based on its ideological-driven agenda with little interest in the human dimension of their goals.

In fact the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a right wing think tank has employed an ambush artist, Dr. Sally Satel, to drum up support to emphasis that veterans claiming PTSD are no more than lazy people searching for a free ride on the taxpayers (see here. Dr. Satel's work can be seen in many publications as editorials, the NY Times and others where she disputes the claims that these people are affected and asserts that many are committing fraud.

A particularly interesting strategy was suggested by the Pentagon in a statement by one of its medical doctors: Ignore it and it will go away!



An exchange between General Wesley Clark and Chairman Duncan Hunter at a Hearing in 2005 underscores how the Republicans in Congress want to treat the issue of casualties. Here Duncan Hunter tries to minimize the number of reported casualties, but Clark makes a damning response in precise terms:



We must address this problem now before we begin seeing homeless veterans on the streets, self-medicating with drugs, families starting to break up, and children left without parental guidance. Unless we take action now, the toll will be felt by families across America.

Before many more families experience the same emotional extremes as the Omvig Family of Iowa whose story about their son Joshua's torment and their work is here, relating that on 12 May 2006 General Wesley Clark met with them and that Clark then pushed for a stronger message that these military members need more help, now -- not later.

This situation is intolerable. Mishonda Baldwin has a Masters in Counseling Psychology and she notes that "This issue strikes a particular cord with me. A first step in quality treatment is a thorough and effective assessment. The recent GAO report causes alarm because if 78% of the service members who are at risk of developing PTSD do not get a referral for further evaluation then the current administration has failed the soldiers again."

Mishonda Baldwin's statement below can stand as our conclusion, and our battle cry:



And this must be our gospel as well.
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NOTE FROM THE WesPAC CCN Troops and Vets Team. Be sure to visit the new series on CCN (Clark's Blog). They are launching the "Troops and Vets" CCN Series with a real-life story of Mike Baily, a "test vet" in one of the horror stories of the Reagan-Bush Sr. administration when the CIA and Pentagon conducted chemical tests on troops. Read at your own risk here.