Reporting on Veterans inconsistent

Reporting on Veterans inconsistent
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 6, 2014

Media focus on ‘moral injury’ masks disregard of civilian war suffering, by Edward Rasserman in the Miami Herald is a very interesting read. Rasserman is right on what he wrote however it is based on a limited ability to discover what has actually been reported.

It is not the media as a whole to blame because reports have been out there for decades writing about the human price being paid by those we send to fight our battles. Sure, some skip over the details, minimize the report down to a certain predetermined word count their editor has space for. They only have a limited time to gather data, research, search and interview. Whatever the reporter is told by those they speak to, the end result comes from those constraints along with their own personal views. In other words, they take the easiest way out to deliver the story they want to.

"I was also impressed, once again, by how serious the news media’s coverage has been of today’s veterans. As early as 2007 conditions in the Army’s flagship Walter Reed Hospital prompted Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage by The Washington Post. The problems of brain injury, suicide rates, prosthetics, unemployment, psychological impairment, and the adequacy of the Veterans Administration’s response, continue to get sustained, compassionate news treatment unlike any that Vietnam-era veterans ever saw."

The reports have been out there all along however the best reporting does not come from the big boys in the press world. They come from cities and towns across the country covering local stories and trying to make a difference in their own communities.

Unlike the press, I don't have to worry about space or word count. I also don't have to worry that something I posted in 2007 will be gone. The link to the post on Wounded Times still works however the link to KCEN does not.

Rising suicide rate among U.S. soldiers hitting close to home
kcentv.com
Updated: Aug 22, 2007

The stress of combat is taking its toll on many soldiers.

In fact, according to the U.S. Army, last year there were 99 suicides; 30 of those happened in war zones.

It’s not a new trend, the same happened during wars like Vietnam.

According to the U.S. Army in 2005 there were 12.8 suicides per 100,000 soldiers.

That number increased last year with the army recording 17.3 suicides per 100,000 soldiers.

Staff Sgt. Derrick Degrate said he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress disorder after seeing too much in war.

"[I saw] people getting shot up, people getting blown up," Degrate said.

It took its toll, and while on a tour in Iraq he admits he tried to take his own life.

"So, I attempted suicide and, you know, and I was admitted to the hospital," Degrate added.

He said he was hospitalized for three days and then sent back to duty.

Stars and Stripes was reporting back in 2007 "VHA officials say 36 percent of the 1.5 million veterans enrolled in the VA health system have at least one mental health issue." Yet another article out of McClatchy reported "934,925 Veterans being treated by VA for PTSD" with a chart. Pretty shocking until you know that at the same time two wars were increasing the number of disabled veterans, the VA budget was no where near what it should have been. Staff was not added to take care of the increase and claims processors were not increased to take care of the claims.

There was trouble brewing back in 2006. The 2007 VA budget President Bush submitted sounded like a good thing until you knew what else was going on. "It takes a $13 million bite out of VA research. It also fails to provide sufficient funds for staffing and training in the Veterans Benefits Administration to address a claims backlog fast approaching one million." The budget also cut 1.2 million Priority 7 and 8 veterans along with increasing enrollment fees and payments for medications.

In 2006 the Hartford Courant was reporting on "mentally unfit being forced to fight" as soldiers were being redeployed with medications and no therapy. Later fantastic reporting covered more of this with Potent Mixture: Zoloft and A Rifle

As you can see, it isn't that the reporters are not doing their jobs.

The reports on Drone Pilots and PTSD have been out there and you can find more about drone pilots here. Reports on the suffering of servicemen and women suffering because of the civilian casualties have been out there along with suffering for their own brothers. There have been reports on healing as well but until the national news media actually exams their reluctance to pay attention to these reports, actually do research into how we ended up where we are, there will continue to be people unaware of what has been done all across the country.

As stated, links to news reports die as stories move them out of the way. The history however remains a factor in where we are and what we did not not know.

If you read something out of a known politically connected "news" source, then you will find the information they want to provide. It does not matter which side they are on. If you read major news reports you need to check out what else has been reported on the topic, no matter what that topic is, or you will be limited to what they want you to know as well. Consider the limitations the press has because it is important in all of this but then consider their lack of knowledge on the topics they are assigned. Most of the time they have little knowledge but are expected to get the story from interviewing people while lacking the ability to ask questions or challenge what they have just been told.

That is how we got here with reports making us believe that the backlog of claims are new, suicides are new along with everything else. Nothing is new but when news becomes history, it make it easier to think now is all that matters.