Presidential Candidates: Stop telling us what to value when you don't value us.

Presidential Candidates: Stop telling us what to value when you don't value us.


In 2006 did you value the soldiers or their families when this came out?

Repeat Iraq Tours Raise Risk of PTSD, Army Finds

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006; Page A19

U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health.

More than 650,000 soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 -- including more than 170,000 now in the Army who have served multiple tours -- so the survey's finding of increased risk from repeated exposure to combat has potentially widespread implications for the all-volunteer force. Earlier Army studies have shown that up to 30 percent of troops deployed to Iraq suffer from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with the latter accounting for about 10 percent.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2006/12/19/AR2006121901659.html

Did you value the troops who had already developed PTSD and were forced to go back into combat when these came out?

NAMI honors
Investigative Reporting:

The Hartford Courant, Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman


Four-part series on soldiers being sent to front-lines taking psychiatric medication without counseling or monitoring and troops diagnosed with PTSD being sent back into combat. Finalist for 2007 Pulitzer Prize.

“Jeffrey Was Really Messed Up” (May 14, 2006)
“Mentally Unfit, Forced to Fight” (May 14, 2006)
“Slipping Through the System” (May 15, 2006)
“Still Suffering, But Redeployed” (May 17, 2006)

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?
Section=Top_Story&Template=/ContentManagement/
ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=47626

When the claims began to get so out of control they reached over 600,000 deep, did you value the men and women putting in those claims for wounds they suffered? For every claim filed there is a human who was willing to lay down their lives for this nation but by the grace of God they returned home to what they thought would be a grateful nation. Grateful enough to take care of them because they were wounded. Grateful enough that they would make sure they didn't have to suffer for the rest of their lives financially because they were wounded.

When PTSD soldiers were being discharged under "personality disorders" which would mean they had a condition before they entered into the military but the tests never showed any signs when they enlisted and their families never saw any problems, did you value them then?

When they were committing suicide because of PTSD or stress back home, did you value their lives enough to make sure you did everything possible to save the lives of the rest of them? No, it took the heartbreaking stories of families left behind to do that. It also took the outrage of the American people before anything was done.

When National Guardsmen and Reservists returned to find their jobs gone and their business closed, did you value them and their families enough to take action and stop redeploying them so that they could make a living to survive?

I hear a lot of talk from some of the candidates on how we should make sure we raise our kids to know before they have a baby they should be married. I hear a lot about how abortion is so evil that it should take a congressional act to stop it. Yet how many hearings and speeches were given on the fact so many women were suffering after being raped by other soldiers or gang raped?


I hear a lot of talk about how it should be a value issue regarding the rights gay people are seeking. Yet no one was talking about them being kicked out of the military because they were gay even though they were needed to translate and even though they were great at their jobs.

Congress spent years on hearings about steroid abuse by sports players but spent no time on how veterans were seeking relief for their flashbacks and nightmares with self-medicating using drugs and alcohol. There were no hearings on homeless veterans or on their suicides. That is up until the last two years.

When the VA was under-funded and Nicholson was returning funds unused, did you take emergency action to fix the problem and hold him accountable? When you were told about the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed, did you take it seriously enough to notice that while you were visiting there, having your picture taken with the wounded soldiers, there was an entire building in worse condition than a prison?

When the VA was so overloaded with the newer veterans seeking medical care and the older veterans were pushed back and told they had to wait longer to be seen, did you put in for emergency funding so this could be made right? No, you let them be cast aside as if they should be lucky to still be alive. PTSD veterans were pushed from having monthly appointments to waiting three months to be seen again.

When the reports came in how the veterans centers were vital for veterans with PTSD, did you make sure they were opened across the country, especially in rural areas so the veterans could get the help they needed while trapped in a mountain of claims and appeals filed for denials that should have been honored?

When families started to ask for support groups for them so they could support the veterans and understand what they were dealing with, did you make sure you refunded the programs that worked when Vietnam veterans came home?

These are the men and women and their families, the rest of the nation is told to support when it comes to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is clear the only support required is to keep our mouths shut and support the orders given, the mission they are sent on, no matter how long it takes, no matter how many mistakes were made, no matter how much of a hardship this places on any of them. When it came to really supporting the troops and the veterans, there were excuses.

This does not even begin to address the problems the rest of the citizens of this nation face on a daily basis some of you are still totally ignoring.



Candidates, you can say whatever you want but you prove you do not value what is important. You only value what you think will get you votes you don't deserve because you don't value us.





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