From
USA Today:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thirty percent of U.S. troops surveyed have developed stress-related mental health problems three to four months after coming home from the Iraq war, the Army's surgeon general said Thursday.
The survey of 1,000 troops found problems including anxiety, depression, nightmares, anger and an inability to concentrate, said Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley and other military medical officials. A smaller number of troops, often with more severe symptoms, were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a serious mental illness.
The 30% figure is in contrast to the 3% to 5% diagnosed with a significant mental health issues immediately after they leave the war theater, according to Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a military psychiatrist on Kiley's staff. A study of troops who were still in the combat zone in 2004 found 13% experienced significant mental health problems.
But unfortunately, the soldiers needing help will most likely have a hard time getting the care they need, if the military decides to treat them at all according to families of the
returning soldiers:
MEDILL NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- Despite military assurances that soldiers receive the help they need, some families allege that soldiers' mental health is sacrificed to get troops back to Iraq.
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The military is redeploying soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Kathleen Christ, a St. Louis resident and mother of a Marine who served in Iraq.
Ms. Christ, who is a member of Veterans for Peace, claimed that soldiers' mental and physical health is deteriorating as a result of numerous immunizations and exposure to toxins while in Iraq. She said psychotherapy will have a minimal impact for someone suffering from exposure to toxins, like depleted uranium and plutonium.
A major problem is that mental health officials in the military place a priority on getting troops back into battle at the expense of soldiers' mental health, Ms. Lessin said.
Added Charley Richardson, her husband and co-founder of Military Families Speak Out:"You can't rely on a military medical system whose job is to get troops back into battle to care for troops."
In addition, many soldiers have to wait weeks or months to get appointments for mental health services, Ms. Lessin said.
So, the soldiers are suffering from stress related mental conditions at alarming rates and are trying to seek treatment for those illnesses. Will the treatment be there for them?
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 24, 2005
WASHINGTON - Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson notified congressional leaders yesterday of a shortfall in excess of $1 billion in the budget for veterans' health care this year.
The news came as an unpleasant surprise to Republicans, especially Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who pledged to hold a hearing next week to determine how the shortfall occurred.
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Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., sponsored an emergency funding bill yesterday that would add $1.98 billion for veterans' health care needs.
"Before Congress goes home to march in Fourth of July parades, we ought to march into the House and the Senate and pass this supplemental appropriations for our veterans," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said.
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The shortfall comes despite assurances from the Bush administration in April that the department would not need additional funds. Murray had urged the Senate to give the VA $2 billion in additional funds then as part of an emergency funding bill for the war and homeland security, but her proposal was defeated.
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Craig said he isn't supporting Murray's measure at this time, but said he planned to get more specific information from VA officials at a hearing next week.
The VA is now covering veterans' health care needs by shifting about $600 million originally earmarked for capital infrastructure projects and $400 million that was to carry over into next year's budget.
I sure hope that the funds that they are proposing at this time aren't in the stalled $491 billion defense spending bill (thanks to Sen. Frist!)
Maybe Frist and his cronies aren't worrying, but the VA is:
"I think we're going to see a significant amount of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and mental health problems," said Anthony Principi, secretary of Veterans Affairs. "I think mental health is going to be an issue in this type of warfare where you don't know if you're going to be a victim of a car bomb or roadside bomb or a (rocket-propelled grenade.)"
"I think we're going to see an increase. You have to be ready for it. This type of warfare dictates that you're going to have serious problems," he said at a meeting with reporters Tuesday.
As of Sept. 29, 2004:
More than 168,000 troops who served in Iraq have left active duty, making them combat veterans and eligible to use VA health services. A portion of that number are reservists who have been inactivated but remain in the reserves.
Of those, 28,000 have sought VA healthcare. Around 5,400 of them have been diagnosed with combat-related mental health problems, including 1,600 suffering from PTSD.
In Afghanistan, 44,000 have been discharged from active duty, with 1,200 of them seeking help for combat-related mental illness. About 145 of them are diagnosed with PTSD.
The mental disorders range from depression to extreme psychosis, according to VA spokesman Phil Budahn. PTSD is a discreet set of symptoms. It generally sets in at least two years after the trauma is suffered, in this case combat. But 30 percent of the cases don't manifest themselves until 10 years after the traumatic event, according to medical literature.
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The New England Journal of Medicine released a study in July of Iraq combat veterans that showed at least one in eight -- between 15 and 17 percent -- seemed to suffer from major depression, generalized anxiety or PTSD.
About 15 percent of male Vietnam war veterans experience PTSD. Between 2 and 10 percent of Gulf War vets have it. About 3 to 4 percent of the general adult U.S. population suffers from PTSD, a result of crime or some other trauma.
And these were the estimates when they only expected 1 in 8 soldiers to be affected. Now that number is closer to 1 in 3!!!!
What will this mean to these returning soldiers and their families?
What will it mean to us a a society as a whole?
While the veteran's issues from soldiers that had been emotionally damaged during the Vietnam war affected society in the 70's and 80's quite significantly through homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, as well as the numerous marital and family issues (my parent's own divorce was a direct result of the trauma my father suffered in Vietnam), the rate of emotional illness from the Iraq war will be much worse, simply because there will be a higher percentage of soldiers affected, and the illnesses in these soldiers have are supposed to be much more severe than their predecessors.
I will weep every night for these men and women until they are safely returned home where they belong. This is not what you do to the future of your country; to rob them of their opportunity to be the best and the brightest. They're practically children! Five years ago a good portion of them were in middle school. This can't be a good way to advance the health and welfare of our own country, much less one on the other side of the world.
BRING THEM HOME NOW