The battle of a veteran’s family begins when PTSD comes home

The battle of a veteran’s family
By JEN MATSICK (jmatsick@reviewonline.com) POSTED: August 4, 2008
WELLSVILLE - Sgt. Kevin Ferro was on active duty in Iraq twice over a span of three years. During that time, he was only able to visit his family for six months.

Veterans returning from the war in Iraq receive a warm welcome at first. Ferro and members of his U.S. Army National Guard brigade received cheers when they stepped off the plane from Iraq in their uniforms. Soon after, Ferro discovered how quickly America seemed to forget the sacrifices its troops - and their families - make.

Ferro was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his time in Iraq. The simplest definition of PTSD is a state of mind in which the person cannot stop remembering the trauma he or she suffered. For example, Ferro refuses to wear a seatbelt because some men he knew were hit by a roadside bomb while in a tank just like the one he drove, and burned to death while they tried to undo their seatbelts.

Ferro's wife Bunnie, daughter Kodie, 17, and son Mike, 14, suffered the repercussions of his time away and were forced to deal with other problems when he returned.

"The battle doesn't end when the soldier comes home," Bunnie said.

Ferro returned from Iraq a little more than two years ago, but, Kodie and Mike say, he left a part of himself there and brought a part of Iraq home.

Since Ferro's return, five members of his brigade have committed suicide.

"You just go and do your job and do the best you can," Ferro said. However, he says, "there's no way you can go over there and do what you have to do, and be the same when you come back."

According to Ferro, every soldier receives two years of medical care when he returns to the U.S. after active duty. After those two years, based on that soldier's disability, the medical care continues or ends. Ferro, who was not wounded in Iraq, waited a year to see the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA) before he was given medical coverage. That year, he says, still counted as one of the two years of medical care he was entitled to receive. Because of the delay, Ferro only had one year of medical care under the VA.

click post title for more