VA leaves Pasco Vietnam veterans group feeling abandoned

Marine Charlie Kelley, 64, says it is a slap in the face the way the VA treats Vietnam War vets like him needing care for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

VA leaves Pasco Vietnam veterans group feeling abandoned
Eleven Vietnam vets in group therapy feel abandoned when the VA breaks them up.
By William R. Levesque, Time Staff Writer
Published March 11, 2008
They returned from an unpopular war without band or bunting. Ugly jungle memories followed them home from Vietnam.

In New Port Richey, 11 Vietnam veterans met weekly for three years to help each other cope. They bonded, helping each other live with the war's aftereffects and struggles of everyday life. But in a scene that some veteran advocates say is being played out across the nation, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs counselor abruptly broke up the group in November, leaving the men stunned.

Members - called Group 11 by the VA - say they were told by the counselor that the VA was simply overwhelmed with the ever-increasing numbers of veterans needing care for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"I feel absolutely betrayed," said Charlie Kelley, a 64-year-old Tampa Bay-area resident, former combat Marine and group member. "When we came back from Vietnam, we were ostracized. We did our duty but instead of gaining respect, we lost it. The same thing is happening again. It's a slap in the face."

VA regional spokesman John Pickens denied the agency was overwhelmed. Instead, he said what happened to Group 11 eventually happens to all therapeutic groups.

"At some point, you move on to other types of therapy," Pickens said. "It's got nothing to do with resources. It's a clinical decision."

Pickens said the 11 veterans were offered options, including different therapy sessions. Some were offered one-on-one therapy, he said.

But Kelley said one of the two groups meets only twice a month, and the other starts at 8 a.m., a bad time for men suffering from sleep disorders. In both cases, he said, other members would have a hard time opening up to strangers, their group bond lost.

Group 11 now meets privately at a Pasco restaurant without a counselor. But some of the men say they feel lost and PTSD symptoms - sleeplessness, depression, anxiety, anger, coping skills, among others - are worse.

"What the VA did is immoral," said Kelley, who hopes publicity will lead a counselor to volunteer services for Group 11.
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The VA has to stop pitting veterans against veterans. While they try to find room for the new generation, they are pushing older ones out of the way. Why is this happening? When did one become of more value than the other? I'm not saying they shouldn't be moving heaven and earth to take care of the new veterans but they cannot do it at the cost to the older ones. They need to find room for all of them and the funding to do it.

This group of veterans found what worked for them because they are still alive and still supporting each other. It works for them. Why mess with what is working for them? The goal of treating veterans who are chronic is to keep them stabilized. They will never be cured of it. The Vietnam veterans are the example of why treatment as early as possible is a life and death matter. The sooner they are treated the sooner PTSD stops getting worse. For Vietnam Vets, too much time went by without them getting any help. If we can keep them stabilized, that is a miracle. The fact this group has come to depend on each other needs to be taken seriously.