DoD Rethinks 'Personality Disorder' Separations, but only half way

I've been covering this since they first started to do this and still waiting to know what anyone is doing to make up for all the veterans they have already done this to. What is being done for them? To stop the bleeding is great but this does not correct any of the damage done to the veterans who were pushed thru the cracks and abandoned.

They were left with no money, no jobs, families that fell apart, some ended up homeless, some ended up committing suicide and Lord knows what else they suffered after they were wounded in service to this nation then slapped in the face by the commanders they trusted with their very lives. That is what this all comes down to. The men and women serving this nation were willing to lay down their lives for this nation and they put their faith and trust in their commanders to give the right orders, have the right plans and equipment needed and the get as many of them home as possible as soon as possible. What they did not allow to enter into their minds was that these very same commanders would be so blind to the wound of PTSD that has been suffered by warriors since man first went to war with man, that they would betray them. Where is their justice? Has anyone bothered to study what happened to any of them? Any clue what happened to over 22,000 of them or their families? Does anyone care? Changing the rules and procedures is great but you cannot forget about the ones it's already been done to. Let's get this right!

DoD Rethinks 'Personality Disorder' Separations
Tom Philpott November 13, 2008
Crackdown Begins On 'Personality Disorder' Separations

Under pressure from Congress and following the Army's lead, the Department of Defense has imposed a more rigorous screening process on the services for separating troubled members due to "personality disorder."

The intent is to ensure that, in the future, no members who suffer from wartime stress get tagged with having a pre-existing personality disorder which leaves them ineligible for service disability compensation.

Since the attacks of 9/11, more than 22,600 servicemembers have been discharged for personality disorder. Nearly 3400 of them, or 15 percent, had served in combat or imminent danger zones.

Advocates for these veterans contend that at least some of them were suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury but it was easier and less costly to separate them for personality disorder. By definition, personality disorders existed before a member entered service so they do not deemed a service-related disability rating. A disability rating of 30 percent or higher, which most PTSD sufferers receive, can mean lifelong access to military health care and on-base shopping.

Over the last 18 months, lawmakers and advocates for veterans have criticized Defense and service officials for relying too often on personality disorder separations to release member who deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or other another areas of tension in the Global War on Terrorism.

A revised DoD instruction (No. 1332.14), which took effect without public announcement August 28, responds to that criticism. It only allows separation for personality disorder for members currently or formerly deployed to an imminent danger areas if:
1) the diagnosis by a psychiatrist or a PhD-level psychologist is corroborated by a peer or higher-level mental health professional,
2) if the diagnosis is endorsed by the surgeon general of the service, and
3) if the diagnosis too into account a possible tie or "co-morbidity" with symptoms of PTSD or war-related mental injury or illness.
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