What PTSD warriors are up against at home

TODAY'S LETTERS: Military Suicides, Bob Dylan, Scott McClellan and Bilal Hussein

By E and P Staff

Published: November 26, 2007 10:20 AM ET

NEW YORK Readers wrote in about military suicides, the Bob Dylan biopic and Scott McClellan and the AP's stance on Bilal Hussein.

Who Will Probe 'Noncombat' Deaths in Iraq?
Gimme a break. The guys who commit suicide would probably do the same in any type of tough situation, whether it be war or bad times at home.

This is a volunteer ARMY. If you're not willing or able to fight and serve overseas, don't join the army. People are just looking for any reason to blast America's military forces.

Army Mom

Click post title for link to this. I had to stop reading as soon as I read this first one from "Army Mom" because, as hard as it is to believe, this is what our soldiers are up against when they come home.

This attitude still exists! It is a wonder what this "Army Mom" would do if it was her son or her daughter returning home with a mind wounded by trauma. Either the woman has not read a single report on PTSD in over thirty years, or she will never understand this is a wound no different than a bullet wound, bomb wound or burn wound. It is a wound cutting down humans.

They come home and they look fine. At least they do until you take a good look at them. You notice it in their eyes. You then notice it in the way they act, what they say or don't say. The signs of PTSD are there if you care enough to look for them. Yet when military families, especially, pass it off, belittle the wound, attack the wounded, they are in fact causing the wound to fester.

Veterans will tell you that their families fell apart when they were needed the most. Some families, even knowing what this is, just don't have enough compassion to stay together. Some find it impossible to live together. I used to blame the families for turning their backs on the wounded but understanding first hand how hard it can be, some are just not able to fight for them. Then there are people like "Army Mom" who would rather pass all of it off, ignore it, not bother to research a single report, or even talk to someone who has it. If FOX did a report on it the way CNN, the Military Channel, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, The History Channel or PBS has done, they may wake up and believe it. Yet FOX would rather ignore it. Occasionally they talk about it but they do not do any real reports. These other stations dedicated hours of programming on it. Even that is not enough to stop attitudes such as what you just read.

Can you imagine coming home to a family you thought would stand by you, love you, missed you, only to find out they did not trust you, believe in you or even know you well enough to understand you have been wounded? They are still the same person inside, under the wound, but too many family members would rather suddenly blame the wounded than realize who sent into the horrors of war did not come back the same.

To "Army Mom" you need to get educated and stop being an enemy to the men and women who serve this nation. You need to stop being an enemy to the veterans of this country. You need to stop being an enemy to the wounded. It will not go away just because you say it is not real, but they will when they commit suicide!

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington