Long Island VFW doing what they all should be doing with PTSD

VFW Post Gets $150K For Repairs
By:Karen Forman
02/06/2008

The Centereach Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4927 was presented with a check for $150,000 by Congressman Tim Bishop (D-Coram) on January 24 to help them pay for much-needed repairs. Joining Bishop at the presentation were Centereach VFW Post Commander Dennis Sullivan, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Brian Foley, Suffolk County Legislator Brian Beedenbender (D-Centereach), and Brookhaven Third District Councilwoman Kathy Walsh, a Centereach resident who is a member of the post and whose son, Jason, is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

One soldier who recently returned from Afghanistan is Walsh's son, Jason. "He was in the Army and when he came home he was different," Walsh said. "As a parent, you teach your kids to be compassionate, sharing, kind and gentle, and then they join the military and they become different. It's been a very difficult two years for me - the year he was in Afghanistan and this first year home. My son is 24 years old and is suffering from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. He's in a VA [Veterans Affairs] facility now."

Sullivan is confident that Jason will get better. "It just takes some time. I was in Vietnam and I think that these veterans coming home now are in worse shape than when we came back from Vietnam," he said. "And a lot of these guys are just too proud to seek help. They'd rather be depressed and just stay home. That's where we come in." Sullivan noted that VFW members go to the veterans' hospital and bring them food, books and other items, and ultimately make the trip "just to talk to them. They need people to listen, to care. Kathy Walsh is starting a program at our post on PTSD."

Councilwoman Kathy Walsh is doing the best thing she can for veterans like her own son. She is getting actively involved in their healing. It is a wonder why all VFW posts around the country, along with the DAV and Legion posts are not doing the same.