Feds need help diagnosing stress in combat veterans

POWERS: Who's malingering?
Feds need help diagnosing stress in combat veterans
By Neal Powers
The Washington Times


In 1944, when an uninjured private, Charles H. Kuhl, said he couldn't "take it anymore," Gen. George S. Patton called him a "yellow coward," slapped him and threw him out of the hospital tent. The U.S. military has always had difficulty discriminating between malingering and disability caused by mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Many in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would have us believe PTSD is unique to military personnel, but that is not true. Law enforcement officers, firefighters and even missionaries and relief workers in Haiti can suffer. So can many victims of rape, abuse or other violent crime. Anyone witnessing death or dismemberment is a potential candidate. The critical difference is whether they get the chance to talk about it and work through it. That's where the military culture becomes a barrier.

In the modern military mindset, only the lowest of the low would let his buddies down, fail to do the job or abandon the mission. As a result, it is often only after family lives are destroyed by night terrors, panic attacks, violent outbursts, emotional numbness and substance abuse that many combat veterans seek help. Today, the VA feels like an adversary to many veterans.
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Feds need help diagnosing stress in combat veterans