PBS on BS ways PTSD wounded are treated

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A report on U.S. soldiers who are discharged from service for various reasons.
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Jonathan Norrell

Video: Jonathan Norrell
Jonathan Norrell, who served as an Army medic in Iraq, describes how he transformed from a strong and proud soldier who "loved" being in the military to a man so scarred he could no longer do his job. His touching and terrifying stories of life and death in Iraq—as well as the crippling effects of the war—are also captured in a personal journal he kept during his treatment for PTSD after he returned from Iraq.


David Chavarria
Video: David Chavarria
On David Chavarria's last mission to Iraq, something unbearable happened: his friend died in his arms. In this web-extended interview, Chavarria describes the guilt, depression and fear that led him to attempt suicide. When he turned to the Army for help, their response left him cold. After ten years of serving his country, he was told he had a personality disorder and was given ten days to leave the military. Chavarria's wife spearheaded a movement to fight back.


HINOJOSA: Kors investigation also revealed that these discharges save the military a lot of money...remember, the army doesn't have to pay disability for personality disorder discharges. Kors wrote that across the entire armed forces, they could be saving upwards of $8 billion dollars.

Reporting from Kors and others triggered a bi-partisan effort led by Democratic senator Barack Obama and Republican Kit Bond—demanding that the Department of Defense to investigate these discharges. The report, released just this week, recommends new policies that include corroborating the personality disorder diagnosis and addressing PTSD before discharging soldiers.

At the same time, advocates point to another brewing scandal—the alarming number of soldiers suffering from PTSD but getting kicked out for misconduct.

Soldiers like 23 year old—Jonathan Norrell. As a combat medic, he experienced the human toll of war everyday.


HINOJOSA: After fighting for the army—soldiers like Jonathan Norrell and Chuck Luther are now fighting against it. They're waging a battle to overturn what they say are wrongful discharges... advocates say that the army, faced with an expensive and demanding war, is using these discharges as an easy way to get rid of broken soldiers.

PICARD: Mental health injuries are very much combat-related injury. And you're entitled to care and treatment for your combat-related injuries, as a matter of law. You're entitled to it.

HINOJOSA: It's an issue that hits close to home for Carissa Picard. She's married to an officer stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. Armed with a law degree from Georgetown University—she founded an organization to help soldiers called "Military Spouses for Change". Picard says, when soldiers are kicked out with these discharges, there are severe consequences...they're left with little or no benefits. On top of that, soldiers have to pay back thousands of dollars in enlistment bonuses. And this has her outraged.

PICARD: It's shocking to me! Not only will they serve a combat tour and go to Iraq, and then end up traumatized from that, and then get kicked out instead of getting treated is they're having to pay back their—their bonuses.

HINOJOSA: And I'm sure that there are some people who are gonna hear this and they'll say, "That's impossible. It can't be happening that the military is doing this to soldiers."

PICARD: Yeah. But, they are. They absolutely are...........



HINOJOSA: When you see Jonathan, 23 years old, what goes on for you?

PICARD: I don't know that people realize how young our soldiers are. Like I live on post, and there's thousands of Jonathan Norrells. But I don't see them. Nobody does. They're all in their uniforms. And when I saw Jonathan, I—I realized, my God. They're just so young.

HINOJOSA: Why does a soldier like Jonathan Norrell fall through the cracks? How does that happen?

PICARD: Well, I don't know that it's falling through the cracks. This is— a huge hole. It's a flaw in the system

HINOJOSA: Picard say—these wrongful discharges won't stop until the army regulations are changed. She says, if we don't care for our soldiers now, they will return to society more at risk for homelessness, criminal behavior, reliant on social services.

PICARD: And who pays for that? We all do. So, if—if you don't care on any kind of humanitarian level about these people who have sacrificed so much on your behalf, then care on a—purely practical level. Because you're going to be paying higher taxes.

HINOJOSA: Just last month, the army issued a new directive. It now requires soldiers who are getting administrative discharges, to be screened for both PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

As for Jonathan Norrell—he will now be medically discharged.

But because of the backlog ... he's still living on base surrounded by the memories of the war and the army he once proudly served.
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/424/transcript.html

Go to link to read the rest. I just wanted to point out the part about Carissa Picard. She's the president of Military Spouses For Change and someone else I adore.

A woman on a mission to make sure her extended military family stops acting like a dysfunctional one. (My two cents) When one part of the family is suffering, they all are. When one part of the family is being treated badly, they all are and it's time the military noticed this and lived up to never leaving anyone behind. They've been leaving the wounded behind for centuries when it comes to PTSD.