Filner advocates 'de-boot camp' for returning GIs

I've sent Congressman Filner and Senator Akaka letters about the suffering the veterans are going thru as well as their families. All of them have been ignored. After all, since I'm not an important person, a well connected person, they probably feel as if they just don't have the time to listen to someone like me or even respond. I have a feeling their aids never even showed them the letters. Why should they?

I'm just a wife of a veteran out of millions of others. I'm glad someone managed to get thru to Congressman Filner so that he came up with this idea. It's long overdue. I've been trying to do what I can to open their eyes to know that most of the suffering going on does not have to happen. Filner bought up how the troops get a boring information program and most of them are either not paying attention or fall asleep. They are in a hurry to get out there. After looking at what the government had to offer, I came up with the videos I make but powerful people don't want to bother with them. The difference between people like me and the "professionals" is this is all we focus on. This is also what we live with everyday of the year. It's all personal to us and we know these veterans very well. Research is not done just by reading books and having a few interviews or spending an hour a day with a veteran. It's living lives with them, learning from them, listening to them, watching for the signs, studying what works and doing it right by their side instead of above them.

Maybe the powerful people in Washington could have saved a lot of time if they bothered to listen to people like me when Vietnam veterans came home. We've had all these years to know what works and what doesn't.

Filner advocates 'de-boot camp' for returning GIs
Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA

EXCLUSIVE: Filner advocates 'de-boot camp' for returning GIs
Urges wide trauma screening
Audrey Hudson (Contact)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
EXCLUSIVE:

A key House leader is proposing to establish a "de-boot camp," where returning service members would undergo mandatory diagnosis for brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in order to reduce instances of domestic violence and suicide.


JOSEPH SILVERMAN/THE WASHINGTON TIMES HELPING VETS: Rep. Bob Filner, California Democrat, says new veterans need public support.

Rep. Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said Wednesday he will lobby the Obama administration for the de-boot camp and other new initiatives for service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as veterans from the Vietnam era.

"There were more suicides [postwar] by Vietnam veterans than those who died in the war. We cannot make the same mistakes again. Mental illness is an injury that has to be dealt with," Mr. Filner said during an editorial board at The Washington Times. "We all have to understand what they are facing. We all have to understand PTSD."

The California Democrat said he wants the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reduce a backlog of claims by granting all claims made by Vietnam veterans who say they suffer illnesses from exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.

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