PTSD Purple Heart Debate begins again

There is talk about changing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to Post Traumatic Stress Injury. Would this mean changing the name would bring the Purple Heart as well? Would it really matter to the combat veterans in the long run? Some skeptics, including me, think that there is something more sinister going on with the name change debate as if regarding it as an injury would let the government off the hook for compensation and treatment. I doubt it would help anyone as much as plain, simple truths, on PTSD most veterans have yet to hear. Now the Purple Heart for PTSD is being debated again but as history has shown, veterans cannot agree on this either.

Purple Hearts for PTSD debated
Some vets argue that invisible wound is worthy of a medal.
By Barrie Barber, Staff Writer
Dayton Daily News
6:00 PM Sunday, June 17, 2012

With more than 2 million service members returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury have become the signature wounds of both conflicts.

But while the Pentagon has decided TBI, or mild concussions received as a result of enemy action, qualify for the status of a Purple Heart, the military hasn’t yielded on PTSD.

Thomas Bush Jr., 54, an Air Force combat veteran who has PTSD, thinks his comrades-in-arms’ invisible wounds qualify them for the medal.

“That’s a very open discussion with a lot of vets,” said Bush, of Riverside. To receive the Purple Heart, a service member must have suffered an injury in combat.

The language specifically disqualifies PTSD by name.

“PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event; it is not a wound intentionally caused by the enemy from an ‘outside force or agent,’ but is a secondary effect caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event,” Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said in an email to the Dayton Daily News.
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