Iraq And Afghanistan War Veterans Aren't Using VA Benefits

Yesterday when I wrote that the DOD message has been PTSD is your fault attacking the attitude they can "train their brains" to be tough enough to prevent PTSD. This is an example of how this message translates to the troops.

Iraq And Afghanistan War Veterans Aren't Using VA Benefits, Study Concludes

Though thousands of injured troops in need of medical care have recently come home, they're not taking advantage of the Department of Veterans Affairs services, a soon-to-be-published study reports.

Since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars began, only 51 percent of eligible veterans have sought care through the VA, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, that will be published in January, found. Researchers say that these servicemen and servicewomen are reluctant to call on the VA for help for a number of reasons. They may be unfamiliar with the system, live far from a center or doubt the quality of care available.

"To reach young veterans, we need to establish partnerships that cut across traditional institutional domains," Rachel Widome wrote in the CDC study.

When Scott Kimball returned from Iraq and was battling PTSD, he couldn’t bear admitting that he had a problem.


“I was scared to go to the VA,” Kimball, secretary for Iraq Veterans Against the War, told the Huffington Post in November. “I didn’t want to be a messed up veteran.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to an increased budget and improved communications to reach more veterans.

Next year's budget will hit $61.85 billion, a 10.6 percent increase from 2010. Of those funds, $6 billion will go to mental health care and $52.5 billion in advance money for the VA medical care program in 2013, according to NBC.
read more here

If the VA really wants to improve communications they need to understand what they are really up against. The DOD has done enough damage to them already. After being told to "train their brains" to prevent PTSD, ending up with PTSD because of this "program" makes them feel it is their fault. They feel there is something "wrong" with them or "weak" and that's why they have PTSD. We really need to wonder if the DOD has been informing the troops that all the repeated deployments they have been sent on increased their risk of being hit by PTSD by 50% for each one of them. I doubt it. The Army commission the study around the same time programs came out to "train their brains" oddly enough. The risk of redeployments didn't stop them from doing it but they expected a better outcome.


From December 26, 2011
Study Some veterans reluctant to use VA