ipsnews.net — The US Veterans Administration has quietly dropped this bombshell during the holidays: 150,000 US troops returning from Iraq are receiving disability benefits. 70,000 have asked the VA for mental health care. 1,502 are 100% disabled (that's bad). At least 1,000 vets are homeless. Maybe Halliburton or Exxon should help those homeless vets.
Jan 4, 2007 View in Crawl 4
glmoryJan 5, 2007
Its a true statistic, but a hard one to interpret. I would need to see more specific data to make sense of this. How many are suffering minor mental illness? how many are missing limbs? It is hard to say from that. Even the 1500 that are totally disabled is hard to make sense of because no criterion for saying they are totally disabled is stated.
madogreJan 5, 2007
Embedded Shrinks: Some combat arms units are starting to embed head-shrinks. Reporters are bad enough... now they have to have civilian shrinks asking them how they feel about them. This is utter crap. Unfortunately this is also the best solution that anyone has actually tried. Solution to what? PTSD. A good Head Doc can help minimize or even prevent PTSD if the Troop has access to him when he needs it. PTSD is a complicated issue. There are no easy answers for it. The results of ignoring or neglecting PTSD? Well, here in Utah is a Marine locked up in the hole facing charges for Murder. I'm not going to go into his case, and I'm not going to allow his PTSD to be used as an excuse for it... but I do think PTSD was a solid contributing factor. Now back to the Civilians. This is one of the bigger issues I have with this thing... civilians. Combat troops can not exactly get along straight up with a Shrink that is most likely Liberal and have no real understanding of a Soldier's Mind. They can't relate. As a result, the Troop who knows this, isn't going to really open up and lay everything out on the table. The Troops are not stupid or gullible as John Kerrry would have you believe. Our Troops are the smartest, deadliest, yet most humane soldiers ever fielded by any nation in the history of the world. Out soldiers are the best America has to offer. They are our nation's very foundation. They deserve the best treatment the nation has to offer. The mechanism for dealing with PTSD is already in place. Military Chaplains. The chaplains only need training in dealing with PTSD issues. The chaplains are already there... but there are not enough of them. There should be a chaplain for every Company if not every Platoon. I like the Company level idea. The Chaplain is not just there for Religious reasons... they are also there to be a listening ear for the Troops. A shoulder for those that need it. A councilor. They should be more a part of the unit that just the guy some Troops go see on Sunday. They need to be put to better use than just that. The root problem with PTSD in a combat soldier is not a tear in their psychological fabric, but I think ultimately it is a problem with Self Worth. Most of the Vets I've talked with have had issues with their own self worth. Think about this... you have a guy that is a hero... he fought... bled... had the company of his peers who did the same things he did... then he goes home. After the grand welcome is over... he's alone. No one around him understands what he did... many even think what he did was useless. Or worse, he might not even be able to or allowed to tell anyone. This is where PTSD rears its ugly head. He goes from one extreme to the other and this giant let down leaves a vacuum that nothing is filling. This is where drugs or booze can come into play and the soldier is very susceptible to self destructive behavior and influences. At this point, it is often too late to help them. At this point, the soldier has to want to be helped. I've talked about Combat PTSD, or PTSD-C as I call it, before. I'm not going to go into it all again... but let me nutshell it for you. The soldier has got to feel like he is still apart of things, that he still has value, that he is still important. They are... all of them are! The problems with PTSD is that it makes you feel like you are not. It's got a lot of Depression factors of course, but all of them stem from the same thing. Now the other factors, that regular PTSD doesn't have stem from another thing. Forgiveness is something that the soldiers need. Forgiveness from God, and even more importantly Forgiveness from themselves. They have to forgive themselves first. This is where a good and smart Chaplain can come into play and head off the problem. Thou Shalt Not Kill is a hurtle. Of course I know the original phrase was “... not Murder” but most guys don't know the difference and this causes a huge problem. Most of the guys I've talked to about their PTSD didn't know that. This is some of the things that Civilian shrinks don't get. To them a Soldier's PTSD is the same as the little girl that got raped by her dreadful Turkish uncle. The Soldier's PTSD is completely different and the mental scars go deeper on levels that the girl's PTSD doesn't begin to touch. I'm not minimizing the Girl's trauma... just illustrating that the Soldier's trauma is different. The Girls was a victim. She had no choice. The Soldier was a participant who chose to act on something that haunts him afterworld. Civilian shrinks don't understand the difference well enough. They can't. They've not been there. This is where the Chaplains need to step up. One of the biggest problems with the program now is that the Troops need permission to go talk to the Shrinks or to the Mental Health persons... this can cause a stigma for the solider that he might want to avoid so he doesn't go talk those that could help him. Embedded Civy Shrinks tries to stem that issue, but like I said, it's not the best solution. No officer has a problem with letting a troop go talk to the Chaplain. There is no stigma there. The only problems with the Chaplains is that they are not always available or that they are not trained in dealing with PTSD. This is a suggestion to the .MIL... train the Chaplains and put one in every Company. Chaplains are not just priests. They can be put to better use. Use them. Train them. Deploy them. Send the civilians home. They have no place in a military unit of any type in any place.
siszamJan 5, 2007
Please take your meds.
paladin144Jan 5, 2007
@DogHumpsMonkeyf**k you for calling me a hypocrite when I never said or implied that any sort of distortion was okay. You're damn right distortions and lies got us into Iraq, and I conceded that these numbers sound inflated, but where is ABSOLUTE PROOF that these numbers are false? You and the other Bush apologists (easily identifiable because they start out, "I'm not a big fan of Bush..." and then proceed to attack anyone who disagrees with him) are obviously trying to discredit these numbers, but you haven't succeeded yet. If you have proof, I would love to see it.I love how you attack me for daring to mention Cindy Sheehan's name. As if it isn't f**king relevant, you piece of s**t. Go on, defend the war and the president, but don't hide behind the idea of accuracy in reporting. If you're a goddamn neocon, just say so. I know you and seanrbaker are not just concerned citizens, hoping to heal the world and promote constructive discourse. Your first sentence was "Are you off your f**king meds?" and then proceeded to call me a hypocrite with NO proof. No, you're serving a hidden agenda. That much is obvious. I've hung around these forums a lot, and whenever a story that is incredibly damaging to the Bush administration and the web of lies that keeps us in Iraq, I see a bunch of people like you pop out of the wordwork. First you say how concerned you are for the troops, then you say something like, "We need to put aside the Bush bashing and focus on the real heroes. The troops." Well, WHO THE f**k IS PUTTING THE TROOPS IN DANGER?!! To claim that blaming Bush is not relevant to the discussion is, first of all, insane, and secondly, extremely f**king disingenuous. I can't think of anything MORE relevant than Bush's lies and failures. And, if you're truly concerned about the troops, you'll do everything necessary to get them out of Iraq. We should have never sent them there. And the people responsible need to meet the same fate as Saddam.
rationalistJan 6, 2007
mclumber1, I am an American, and was commenting on the people in my country, including most of the war's defenders here, who call themselves "Christians" and talk a lot about "Christian values" as the foundation of America, and then hypocritically show how little they follow the principles of Jesus. It is odd for you to suggest that, when talking about American policy regarding the war in Iraq, that you would expect me to launch a tirade against Muslim hypocrisy. There is plenty of that, and I have commented extensively about it when appropriate, using Saudi Arabia's brutal regime as an example of a religious state governed by religious law, and its medieval punishments - ironically, a government the US supports and whose behavior it condones.You are just another knee-jerk apologists for all things Christian and hater of all things Muslim, and rather than deal with the actual issue we are talking about, you just lurk around so that whenever anyone says a critical word about Christianity, you can try to change the subject to Islam.Your type is all over the Ellison submissions, telling everyone how, in Muslim countries, a Christian would not be able to swear in on a Bible - seemingly suggesting that we adopt the same authoritarian, discriminatory policies here.I don't understand the logic of those who put the "support the troops" magnets (made in China, BTW) on their gas-guzzling SUVs, and then complain about our civil liberties and talk about how liberals would be round up and shot in a Muslim fundamentalist nation. It almost sounds like you wish we had that kind of government here, only a Christian flavor.We are talking here about American soldiers, American policy, and American social attitudes. Whining about "why don't you diss the Ayrabs" just makes you sound like a racist.
obkenobiJan 6, 2007Submitter
Dugg down for poorly-disguised Evangelical propaganda.Filling soldiers' heads full of s**t isn't going to help them. Why is it European militaries don't have these religious problems?
obkenobiJan 6, 2007Submitter
mclumber1, what does it take to get 100% disability?According to official Pentagon numbers, at least 6,000 have required medical evacuation due to wounds received in combat. There has been an unusual amount of wounded compared to casualties in Iraq because of the nature of the war. Many of the attacks are by IEDs, which have more often wounded soldiers rather than kill them. You get a lot of wounded, it looks good on paper because they're not counted as casualties, but they're still out of action.In any case, I have no doubt that we will be hearing more about this and that the Pentagon, as usual, is not reporting all the facts.
sinaiJan 19, 2007
Why, I believe I would be the kind of friend who does not report his friends to the government based on hearsay and belief. The kind that takes into account that his friend may merely be bragging about suckering to government to hide his very real trauma and shame.The kind that realizes there is a difference between what is likely, and what is truth. You know, the kind of person who is a *friend*.
mattd39Jan 16, 2008
first off, good day to you. i was in iraq 03 and 04, with a special ops army unit. im know 100% disabled and unfortunately retired at 39!!. youd be suprised how much "stuff" we found over there, including mustard gas and sarin tipped arti rounds. although admittedly there wasnt "that much", it certainly qualifies as WMD to me, especially from where i was standing. as far as "going to war with iraq", we didnt!. we went in with the intention of liberating the people from a very nasty man, destroying the resistance, and securing peace which beleive it or not could take some time. the TV screen is always clearer when one is out of theater and you dont have to deal with those nasty ak rounds, IEDS, rockets, mortars, suicide bombs, and snipers!!. have a good one. ooh, i almost forgot, it sucks to have your buddys brains on you, even worse than breaking your xbox 360.........
mattd39Jan 16, 2008
+0 diggs by mattd39 33 minutes agofirst off, good day to you. i was in iraq 03 and 04, with a special ops army unit. im know 100% disabled and unfortunately retired at 39!!. youd be suprised how much "stuff" we found over there, including mustard gas and sarin tipped arti rounds. although admittedly there wasnt "that much", it certainly qualifies as WMD to me, especially from where i was standing. as far as "going to war with iraq", we didnt!. we went in with the intention of liberating the people from a very nasty man, destroying the resistance, and securing peace which beleive it or not could take some time. the TV screen is always clearer when one is out of theater and you dont have to deal with those nasty ak rounds, IEDS, rockets, mortars, suicide bombs, and snipers!!. have a good one. ooh, i almost forgot, it sucks to have your buddys brains on you, even worse than breaking your xbox 360.........Reply to this comment
mattd39Jan 16, 2008
you need some real world experience!!.
mattd39Jan 16, 2008
apples and oranges , smart one
mattd39Jan 16, 2008
you desperately need some real world experience!!