Veterans tell of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Wound

Veterans tell of post-traumatic stress disorder
Adam Wright The Chronicle-Telegram
LORAIN — Patrick Hall just doesn’t want to take that phone call anymore.
He dreads knowing that on the other end of the phone could be a friend, a former military man like himself, hoping Hall has some convincing reasons about why the friend shouldn’t just end his life right then and there.

The frequency with which veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder commit suicide is a problem and Hall wants the government to acknowledge and fix it. But the more that phone rings, the more he realizes that the government just isn’t listening.

“I’d like to see someone like myself go before Congress and the Senate,” the Air Force veteran said. “Someone who gets a call in the middle of the night from his buddy, who has a bottle of Jack and a .45 and I have to talk him down.”

Someone was listening Monday.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, heard from Hall and a dozen other veterans from Lorain and Cuyahoga counties at St. Joseph Community Center in Lorain.

Brown, a member of the Senate Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, told the veterans he wanted to hear what their issues were so he could do his best to help.

He said he’s currently working on ways to make it easier for veterans to receive their benefits. Right now, there is a backlog of about 14,000 claims from veterans in Ohio and more than half of them were more than 180 days old, he said.