Photo by AP
In this photograph provided by Maj. Gen. David Blackledge, Blackledge, right, stands next to then U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad in Iraq in this undated photograph. From Boston Herald
PTSD News: After Two Iraq War Deployments, Army Major General Steps Forward, Breaks Culture of Silence on Mental Health
Pauline Jelinek
Associated Press
Nov 08, 2008
November 8, 2008, Washington, DC (AP) — It takes a brave soldier to do what Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge did in Iraq.
It takes as much bravery to do what he did when he got home.
Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now he is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.
"It's part of our profession ... nobody wants to admit that they've got a weakness in this area," Blackledge said of mental health problems among troops returning from America's two wars.
"I have dealt with it. I'm dealing with it now," said Blackledge, who came home with post-traumatic stress. "We need to be able to talk about it."
As the nation marks another Veterans Day, thousands of troops are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.
Up to 20 percent of the more than 1.7 million who've served in the wars are estimated to have symptoms. In a sign of how tough it may be to change attitudes, roughly half of those who need help aren't seeking it, studies have found.
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11596
If you want to know why we haven't won a war in nine years ask the general. You want to talk about war & PTSD? What about the class war? This gentleman is a general for a reason & he stems from a class of individuals that has a segregated treatment.
ReplyDelete577886815.
Considering PTSD is what this blog is about, that is what I "talk" about. As for class war, that is a huge accusation for an anonymous person to make and I do not take it seriously. The "nine" years of war was known way ahead of time for anyone paying attention to history. Suggest you check what history had proven when Russian invaded Afghanistan and the US helped out the Afghans. If you don't like to read try watching Charlie Wilson's War. None of this was unknown as the Bush Administration claimed. It was also known what would happen in Iraq because there was a history there as well. Remember the Gulf War? What ended up happening in Iraq with the sectarian violent response was the reason taking Iraq was not done back then. Do some read and learn from history.
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