As most of you know that read my diaries, I am a disabled veteran. Last night I watched the ABC Special " To Iraq and Back" hosted by Bob Woodruff the ABC anchorman injured in Iraq last year, and this is one of the questions, that she asked one of his doctors. She is one strong lady and she has earned my utmost respect.
I now have more of an insight in how my own wife handles my disabilities, and the fact she hasn't walked out the door like my 4 ex's did, I know I am a handful, and she works with my doctors to control my symptoms, my doctors ask me a few questions then turn to her and ask "what's really going on?" and she lays it out, the stuff I forget or would rather not talk about. The show helped me really understand more of what our families have to pay for our desire to serve our country, they really do have it worse than the soldiers.
I can not state how effective the special was, it is educational about the treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury, the so called signature wound of the Iraq War, it is estimated that 10% of all service personnel in Iraq will suffer this wound, many will not be injured where it can be seen, the concussion from the IED's will shake the brain so hard the damage is done without cracking the skull, or opening the head, and it will go unseen, many soldiers will still function, just they will start having memory problems, emotional changes, etc.
It is all available at ABC News online and the hour to watch is well worth the time.
He puts the Veterans Administration Secretary James Nicholson on the spot when he asked about the discrepancy in the amount of wounded claimed by DOD of 23,000 and the fact that the VA is treating 205,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He was reading the numbers off, 73,000 for mental conditions, 67,000 ill defined medical problems, 87,000 for muskoskeletal problems, etc, Sec Nicholson gulps and tells him that many of them are just coming in for dental work, excuse me he just read him what the medical problems are, 37,000 alone for PTSD, and there are many more that were diagnosed with Personality Disorders and being Bi-Polar rather than the PTSD diagnosis they should have received.
On top of the Walter Reed story in the Washington Post, the Newsweek article about the treatment of veterans, the many Salon articles by Mark Benjamin about the abuse of the veterans of this nation, this special should have congress both houses Congress and the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee to be demanding answers. Imus on MSNBC has been all over this since the Dana Priest and Anne Hull stories came out in the Washington Post.
How can you help, write your Congressman, or call their office, either locally or in Washington DC and demand that they fix this, we all assume that our nations wounded are getting everything they deserve, not the least we can give them, people harmed in service were promised medical care and or compensation if they deserved it, no one said it would take another battle with their own government to get what they and their families deserve. Please help make a difference demand accountability.