More Vietnam vets are getting assistance for PTSD

When the Vietnam Memorial Wall had been up for 25 years, I wrote the following.

THE WALL 25 YEARS LATER STILL THEY WEEP

This is in eyes of all who stand by the Wall. The reflection is not of today, but of all the yesterdays, of lives gone long ago and of the living with the ghosts of memories. The Wall makes no statement of politics or of right and wrong, but of the lives lost to war. The Wall cannot heal bodies, nor restore the dead to life, but it does heal the soul and arise the memories of who has gone from this earth. A granddaughter views the name of a grandparent she never met. A wife, long ago remarried touches the stone and wonders what could have been. Children see the name as a chill runs through them and some say the spirit of their parent is still found there in the Wall. Above all who walk the path from end to end are the veterans.

Some went willingly because they were asked. Some were forced to go. As the saying goes from Vietnam veterans "All gave some, some gave all" when it was there time to serve. It didn't matter if they wanted to be there or were forced to be there, they served side by side and what mattered the most was each other. They followed their orders equally, bravely and went through things they would have never thought they could have survived. Some still fight the battles to this very day. They say that if all the deaths connected to the Vietnam war were recorded, they would need two or three more walls to fit in all the names. There are names of those who perished from Agent Orange and from wounds of their bodies and minds. Some had their lives taken from them while others committed suicide. All gave some.

The Wall may not have all the names of all the fallen from Vietnam. We may never know all their stories but each one visiting the Wall holds someone in their heart. It may not be a name of someone they knew. It may not be a name recorded on the Wall at all, but it is written in their heart.

The Wall heals souls and in turn managed to begin the healing of this nation. Watch the video above and then plan on watching the documentary. See if we can find that same kind of compassion and passion behind the building of the Wall to do the same for this generation in harms way today. Then thank a Vietnam vet because had it not been for them coming back, fighting for all veterans, we would not have come as far as we are today to eliminating the stigma of PTSD. We have a lot further to go, but the Vietnam veterans paved the way. They are still reaching out their hands to each other and to all other veterans. To me, they will always be the greatest generation because they did not forget those who came after them.

When El Paso Times reported in 2007 148,000 Vietnam Veterans had sought help for the first time in 13 months, it was a mix of emotions. First and foremost, a relief that after years of trying to get Vietnam veterans to seek help, it was working. The downside was that as they were seeking help, the VA was putting off helping them. They were pushing OEF and OIF veterans to the head of the line.

An internal directive from a high-ranking Veterans Affairs official creates a two-tiered system of veterans health care, putting veterans of the global war on terror at the top and making every one else -- from World War I to the first Gulf War -- "second-class veterans," according to some veterans advocates.

"I think they're ever pushing us to the side," said former Marine Ron Holmes, an El Paso resident who founded Veterans Advocates. "We are still in need. We still have our problems, and our cases are being handled more slowly."

Vice Adm. Daniel L. Cooper, undersecretary for benefits in the Department of Veterans Affairs -- in a memo obtained by the El Paso Times -- instructs the department's employees to put Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans at the head of the line when processing claims for medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, employment and education benefits...

By then I had several videos on PTSD up on YouTube and Google.

When War Comes Home PTSD
2418
50

Veterans and PTSD version 1
All time views:14,283

Wounded Minds Veterans and PTSD version 2
1567
36

Wounded Minds PTSD and Veterans version 3
7777
176

PTSD After Trauma on Google
1709
85

End The Silence of PTSD on Youtube
Views: 2,919

Hero After War Combat Vets and PTSD on Google
3697
38
Views: 1,772 on Youtube
This is on Vimeo

Hero After War from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

Coming Out of The Dark of PTSD on Google
889
33

Coming Out Of The Dark-PTSD and Veterans on Youtube
Views: 4,304
This is on Vimeo

Coming Out of the Dark from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

Death Because They Served PTSD Suicides
1442
14

They had only been up for a year at that point. Eventually they had to be moved off of YouTube because their program of tracking music had blocked all the music. A couple of years ago, I earned the ability to use music again but I didn't see the point of moving these videos back again. You can watch most of these videos on De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide.

Yesterday I posted Vietnam Veterans are the majority of everything even though the press doesn't seem to care to remember this simple fact. Vietnam veterans have gone from being insulted and attacked for their service, to being admired for the battles they fought for all veterans, to being ignored as they were forced to suffer longer. It isn't a competition to them. They fought for all veterans to be treated properly and have their wounds taken care of. They can stand proud knowing that everything being done for this generation was due to their efforts.

Everything done on Combat PTSD was accomplished because they fought for it but they are the last to receive it. The average citizen has no clue what is going on or how long it has been going on because the national news stations are too busy playing political games or covering international events instead of what is happening right here.

Vietnam veterans are too important to ignore. The worst part is, when you look back on so much being done, if nothing was done right, then we will in fact repeat history. 30 years from now it will be OEF and OIF veterans fighting for a place in line because another war somewhere in the world will create more disabled veterans moving to the front of the line.

More Vietnam vets are getting assistance for PTSD
Akron Beacon Journal
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: March 30, 2014

Nearly 46 years after being wounded in Vietnam, Peter Halas applied for and received a post-traumatic stress disorder disability from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The former Akron resident is not alone.

Dr. Edgardo Padin-Rivera, chief of psychology and PTSD expert at the Louis Stokes VA Cleveland Medical Center, said many Vietnam vets are applying for disability as they remember more about their combat experiences.

In Halas’ case, he already had a disability from physical wounds he received in Vietnam. He was injured by a land mine in 1968.

But his PTSD disability was awarded only recently after specific memories came back while talking about the war with VA counselors.

Padin-Rivera said there are 326,530 Vietnam veterans with a PTSD disability — a figure that is climbing every year.

As veterans age, the ways they had to defend against memories of combat begin to fade and they become more troubled by their war experiences, he said.

“It is about emotions of vulnerability and helplessness,” he said. “And this brings up memories of those time periods when they felt vulnerable and helpless and those experiences have to do with war experiences.”
read more here