Veterans bond with horses in therapy program

Veterans bond with horses in therapy program
DAVID TARRANT, The Dallas Morning News
Published 12:05 a.m., Sunday, February 5, 2012

KELLER, Texas (AP) — Just blocks from suburban sprawl sits an oasis of rolling green pastures and grazing horses, where seldom is heard a discouraging word.

Or so it must seem to the war veterans who arrive here for therapy.

Robert MacTamhais, a medic in Iraq from December 2008 to July 2009, started coming here shortly after a fire alarm at work sent him into a panic attack. The alarm sparked a flashback to the warning sirens that sounded when his base came under mortar attack in Iraq.

"I had to go home," MacTamhais said. "I couldn't concentrate on anything, much less work."

Rocky Top Therapy Center recently received a $290,000 state grant to serve military veterans and their families dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological issues, including those associated with combat deployments and adjustment to civilian life.

Over the last decade, about 2 million troops have deployed to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Studies show that about one in five has symptoms of PTSD, depression, traumatic brain injury, or some combination of the three.

In 2011, the number of suicides among active-duty soldiers hit an all-time high of 164, up from 159 in 2010, according to data recently released by the Army. Both the defense and veterans affairs departments have been putting more resources into behavioral health programs aimed at active-duty service members and recent war veterans.
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