Why Montana National Guard is taking PTSD head on

Post traumatic stress disorder claims soldiers life
Staff

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer tells the Joint Economic Committee the story of Iraqi War veteran Chris Dana who through post traumatic stress disorder shot and killed himself.

Schweitzer was on hand to testify before the committee on the high costs states like Montana are facing due to the Iraq War. (1:45)
go here to listen
http://talkradionews.com/2008/06/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-claims-soldiers-life/


And the man behind the work being done,

On Mosley's watch, Montana Guard sets the pace
May 15, 2008
Maj. Gen. Randy Mosley, Montana's adjutant general, has been on hand when nearly every Montana Guard unit leaves for or returns from Iraq or Afghanistan or stateside duties. He usually declines press interviews, saying he's there to thank the troops, not for personal publicity.

More sadly, Mosley has attended 27 funerals for Montana military members.

Those actions are appropriate, and Mosley did whatever it took to clear his schedule to attend.
He commanded the Montana Guard during its largest mobilization since World War II. Units sometimes left or returned in different cities the same day, often in wee hours of the morning.

Four-fifths of Montana Guard members have deployed for several months to a year during the nation's five years of fighting terrorism, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are civilian folks who previously pulled Guard drills one weekend a month.

Mosley, who is retiring in September, has done much for the state military.

He put Montana in the vanguard of states helping soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.
He created a Post Deployment Health Reassessment Task Force to look at what was wrong with the system and implemented the solutions it recommended.

Mosley created crisis response teams to meet regularly with troubled soldiers, including those who abruptly stop going to drills.

He got a Pentagon grant to do mental health evaluations every six months for two years after deployments. That's vital, he said, because problems can rise slowly.

Mosley also decided not to break up combat units that had gone overseas together, realizing that keeping on-going ties among buddies helps. He pledged not to discharge any soldier without personally investigating.

"We want to make sure we're doing everything we can to help our people and their families pick up the pieces for problems that may have begun during their deployment," he said.
Mosley said his effort stems from a Montana soldier who didn't get help and killed himself.

Army Guard Spc. Chris Dana of Helena skipped weekend drills after returning from combat in Iraq. He was given an "other than honorable" discharge and then shot himself on March 4, 2007.

go here for more
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/OPINION01/805150306

See, Chris Dana died from his wound, no matter if you could see it or not. Chris Dana touched the lives of people who knew him and because of him, many lives will be saved because his life meant something and they wanted to make sure his death taught them what they needed to do to make sure others did not die of the same wound no one else could see with their own eyes. PTSD is a wound but it is a wound you have to look at with your heart.