94 percent of military families feel disconnected from the rest of us

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak
Vets, beyond Memorial Day
By JOE SESTAK

AS A 31-year Navy veteran, I'm grateful for the Daily News editorial on veterans and share your concern that few Americans are as aware of the true meaning of Memorial Day as they should be, and even fewer continue to recognize its purpose once it's passed.

A recent survey sponsored by Blue Star Mothers of America found that 94 percent of the military families polled felt they were disconnected from our society. The group represents the relatively few American families touched by our current conflicts. When we consider that less than one percent of our population is directly involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's all the more important that we never take those who are serving and waiting for granted.

As for the men and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, many go outside the wire every day for entire 15- month deployments, not knowing if the car beside them, or even a person walking down the street, will explode. A 2008 Army survey reported that more than one in eight soldiers in these conflicts take anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications or sleeping pills. Yet the number of behavioral health workers in the theater of combat decreased from one for every 387 troops in 2004 to one for every 734 in 2007.

The challenges of helping veterans of current conflicts are compounded by the fact that we have not, for three generations, appropriately dealt with the psychological impact of war on our warriors. Thomas Childers, author of the recently published "Soldiers from the War Returning," uncovered 1.3 million hospitalizations for neuropsychiatric symptoms during WW II. He found that divorce filings by vets were twice the civilian rate, and, in January 1946, only 6,000 of the 52,000 disabled veterans who applied for jobs found employment.

During my lifetime our nation broke faith with our Vietnam veterans. The severe recessions of 1969 and 1974 did much to complicate the return of that generation, and those men and women came home not only to a struggling economy, but also to a lesser GI Bill than their fathers and a VA unprepared to deal with the unique nature of that war and the changes to our society since the 1940s. Partly as a result of these past failures, as well as the stress of today's military operations, one in four homeless Americans are veterans and every day 18 vets commit suicide.

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Vets, beyond Memorial Day

Congressman Sestak closed it this way

As George Washington so eloquently put it:

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation." *

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak is a Democrat who represents the 7th District.

It is the same way I end my emails.

Is there really any need to wonder why military families feel isolated and alone? I've lived with veterans all my life, so I guess it's only natural that I care. Yet when I go out with friends, the conversation usually turns temporarily to what I do. The conversation doesn't last long and someone always seems to change the subject but that someone is never me. While PTSD is more easily discussed among veterans in social gatherings, again, they are never lengthy conversations unless the person happens to be living with PTSD.

Strangers will notice my Chaplain shirt and make some kind of comment like "I didn't know they made female chaplains" and I'll add fuel to the fire by saying " Yes, they even make female veterans chaplains." The conversation usually ends there. If I say very little without mentioning veterans, the conversation lasts longer. When you think we are a nation of over 300 million people and there are less than 30 million veterans, it's easy to understand the disconnect.

While TV shows like MASH were popular and some movies like Saving Private Ryan, the TV coverage of two live military campaigns has been virtually non-existent. During the Vietnam War there were daily reminders of the sacrifices being made by the warriors but it was not a movie and the American public had enough. The Gulf War was covered more but considering how fast it was over, it did not "get on people's nerves" as much as Vietnam did. With Shock and Awe, the bombing of Baghdad, again, it seemed to be over almost as fast as it began and soon the military was rolling in to the heart of the city. By then, Afghanistan was all but forgotten.

Afghanistan was invaded in 2001 and 12 US lives were lost. As of today the total is 695 with each year claiming higher and higher fatalities and casualties. The Coalition forces did not lose any lives until 2002 when 20 were killed. As of today that number is 473. Last year was the worse year with 155 US lives lost and 139 Coalition forces lost according to ICasualties.org.

Iraq has been going on for 2,265 days and has claimed the lives of 4,308 US lives, 179 from the UK and 139 from other nations. The US is pretty much alone in Iraq now. It's hard to believe both of these military campaigns have been going on that long.

What is even harder to believe is the American public are too consumed with their own problems to even notice. They don't see the hardship on the troops redeploying or on their families saying good-by yet again, or the strain of being a single parent. They don't see the hardship on the citizen soldiers or their families when they ship out as they try to make ends meet in between deployment and homecoming. They surely don't see the numbers of PTSD wounded either.

When we read reports in the newspapers about the growing numbers there is another disconnect between acknowledging the difference between what the VA has for reported numbers and what the Department of Defense has. These numbers are not combined. One more fact is that until a claim is approved by the VA, they are not counted either and there are over 900,000 claims in the backlog pile getting higher everyday. I was talking with someone in suicide prevention and I stated clearly given the numbers we had after Vietnam, the redeployments and increase risk of PTSD, we're looking at a million within the next two years. He said we were already at 600,000. Try telling that to the American public when the broadcast media has been missing in action on this. How many special reports have they done? How many investigative reports have they done?

Even with the killing at Camp Liberty in Iraq by Sgt. Russell, there was very little reporting done. How can we expect the American public to become involved if they know nothing? The bigger question is, how can we fill in the break between military families and the rest of society when this minority remains out of the spotlight?