Jon Soltz is missing a link on PTSD,,,the experts living with it!

Group housing for vets raises concerns
Fear, misconceptions raise concerns about transitional housing for vets with PTSD
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Associated Press Writer AP
Mar 19, 2008
Merry Lane, a cul-de-sac shaded by redwoods in Sonoma County wine country, would seem a pleasant place to recover from the psychic wounds of war. Nadia McCaffrey's dream is to set up a group home there for veterans plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder.

But she is running into stiff resistance from the neighbors. They not only object to the brand-new structure itself, which looks like a four-story apartment house wedged amid their cabins, they are also worried that deranged veterans will move in.

At a community meeting in December, "one person was concerned that even firecrackers would set these people off," said Andrew Eckers, 54, who lives across the street.

McCaffrey, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, said she has tried to reassure the neighbors, but "they are afraid of it because they don't want to understand it."

Projects similar to McCaffrey's have cropped up in other communities across the country, with some also raising concerns from neighbors, in part because of the many news accounts of traumatized veterans committing suicide or murder.

"We're all, frankly, failing in properly educating society about what PTSD is and what its effects are," said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org, a veterans advocacy group.

go here for the rest
http://www.newsweek.com/id/124249

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say "we're not doing a good enough job educating" because I've been doing this for 25 years! I can tell these new people they are absolutely correct but it isn't from lack of trying. Soltz was maybe in high school when people like me were trying to save lives. That's the problem. None of them really rely on us, our experience and our expertise on PTSD. PTSD has not changed in thousands of years, just the name has. We just know more now that we did back in the days when soldiers were shot for being cowards because they were wounded by PTSD under whatever title it was given at the time.

I sent a DVD to Jon Soltz of Vote Vets and never heard a word back, not to mention how many emails I sent him when he first started. I sent one to Paul Rieckhoff of the IAVA and never heard a word. The only one who has had much to do with me at all is Paul Sullivan of Veterans For Common Sense.

Regular people on the other hand are reaching out. One of them was in fact Nadia. We spoke a couple of times about the work we do and how she is really trying to make a difference for all veterans, not just Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. She is trying to help a friend of mine and so is Paul Sullivan.

What is their problem? What will it take for them to say, "gee they have all this experience dealing with what we're just learning about,,,maybe we should ask them for some guidance" instead of ignoring us.