Entries tagged with “veterans” from Reality Window

There is nothing like the power of writing by someone who experienced war first-hand. There's a female Iraq war vet who lives in MN and is dealing with a horrendous case of PTSD, hallucinations, the whole bit, as well as physical injuries. Ginmar's writing is powerful, from-the-gut truth that breaks away a bit of the shell of the ordinary that surrounds our daily lives and puts her readers in a different place.

I first read her writing in the diary: But aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

It introduces a bit of her story as a female vet with severe PTSD and how the VA, at least her particular VA center, hasn't yet figured out how to deal with the concept that there are no front-lines / behind-the-lines roles in modern warfare. That any deployed soldier, whether part of a supply unit or a combat unit, is in combat and female soldiers should not be lumped in with soldiers' wives for group therapy sessions.

Yesterday ginmar posted a diary about how people use the phrase, Thank you for your service. Makes you rethink what and how you respond to soldiers whose service you want to acknowledge.

In a comment in that one, she mentioned that she was going to post about how the hallucinations were becoming so severe that she was having difficulty writing and she did so today. It's called Riding the Nightmare and it's extraordinary.

There's an excerpt in the middle written by her CO in response to some comments by some supposed vets and conservative military types about her unit and what they did in Iraq. Per the CO, they did routes in Iraq that the Marines wouldn't do with 3-4 unarmored vehicles and no armored escort.

I'm not excerpting because it wouldn't do her writing justice. Start with any of the posts though the last one may make more sense if you read them in chronological order.

Go learn about what our female soldiers did and still do and how we, as a country, and the VA, specifically, fail to acknowledge what they did and to support them fully from someone who's in the midst of dealing with it.

Tara McKelvey delves into why the Veterans Administration under George W. Bush had so much trouble getting help to returning soldiers who were suffering from PTSD. Turns the men in charge didn't think it was a real diagnosis but just something made up by psychologists and psychiatrists when what was really needed was deeper faith in God. So instead of making additional mental health resources available to our soldiers, they were referred to chaplains for a spiritual assessment and given a copy of The Purpose-Driven Life.

Oh yeah, that's going to help someone suffering from nightmares of blood and battle and explosions. The level of incompetency that was installed in all branches of our government by the Bush administration is criminal.

For awhile, I collected the news reports and background stories of soldiers who committed suicide after being unable to get mental health care of any sort from the VA. The devastation to them and to their families was and is horrifying. Now to read that Bush appointees thought that it was just a liberal scheme to make them look bad for getting the country into war is to no longer wonder, but know for certain fact, that the conservative wing of the Republican party has lost its capacity for reason and compassion.

Get ready, George Bush. I don't think God's going to be too lenient.

[via Sully]

It's not too often that I find myself wiping away tears as I read but that happened this morning when I read a post from ginmar, an American female vet. I'm not going to excerpt it. It's powerfully written and I'm willing to bet that it makes you pause in your day.

Go read But aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Then think about what you can do to help the female vets in our midst, the ones who are being ignored. Ilona Meagher has some ideas for you.

As for the management of the VA, helloooooo. This is a MAJOR fail in your mission to take care of our soldiers.

I've written about this before on other blogs. Ilona Meagher's PTSD Combat blog and her subsequent book, 'Moving a Nation to Care', were among the notable earlier bloggers to take on PTSD and the suicide rate in our military.

NPR's two significant investigative report series by Daniel Zwerdling and Tom Bowen (1, 2) aired over the last few years, focused on PTSD, suicide and how it was being addressed or not being addressed in the military. Scroll to the bottom of each of the NPR links for links to all the related stories in each of the series and followup reporting.

All that just illustrates that this report by MSNBC on the latest stats in which the number of suicides exceeded the number of casualties due to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, should not be a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention.

This is a complete version of the MSNBC interview with General Peter Chiarelli, Army Vice Chief of Staff.

Ilona pointed out a blogpost by a vet named Scott Lee who explains what he struggled with in transitioning back to civilian life. It's powerful. Go read.

Then think about the news stories concerning Fort Drum and how the Army pressured the people there to delay or reject returning soldiers' paperwork for disability benefits. And of course, the stories from the Washington Post series on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the complete fiasco there.

I expect a lot from the new administration but it's just as important that the current military command hierarchy steps up to the plate. This is not about proving how tough you are. It's about taking care of our soldiers and vets who fight with their minds and hearts as well as with their bodies in a war zone that has no front, a zone in which they are always on alert.

News arrived over the weekend that President-Elect Obama had selected Gen. Shinseki as the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The official announcement is to be made on Monday, December 7th, the 63rd anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Obama referenced it in his talk with Tom Brokaw on Meet The Press Sunday.

"He was right."

That was his clipped response to Brokaw's query on Shinseki and his dismissal by Rumsfeld. It was brief and powerful. James Fallows has a piece on the karmic justice of it all and a follow-up commenting on the elegance of the timing.

Fallows' recitation of Shinseki's history and approach to his position and responsibilities is corroborated by this first person narrative from kossak Homer J which offers another angle from which to see how Gen. Shinseki respected and cared for the veterans and soldiers under his command.

UPDATE:

Spencer Ackerman and Hilzoy have posted about Obama's selection of Shinseki. Spencer unequivocally approves. Hilzoy looks thoughtfully at some of the implications and possible outcomes of his appointment.