VA hospitals swamped as more than 200,000 have been treated

Local veteran waited nearly two years for PTSD treatment
VA hospitals swamped as more than 200,000 have been treated
Jeff Van Sant
Q13 FOX News reporter
5:25 p.m. PST, November 30, 2011

SEATTLE—
New figures show VA hospitals are becoming overwhelmed by cases of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

More than 211,000 U.S. veterans of the 1.3 million who have served in the Iraq and Afghan wars have been treated for PTSD. One of them is Joshua Simpson, an Iraq war veteran.

While on a mission in Iraq, he saw an Iraqi get killed and he had to search the body for intelligence.

“I could see like blood starting to pool out from under him and … I was thinking to myself, like this doesn`t bother me anymore. And that's kind of when I realized that like I was suffering from something,” Simpson said.

It’s a memory he can’t shake. Simpson is now an antiwar activist and also helps other veterans cope with PTSD.
read more here