So the Iraq war goes on in Mike’s head

So the Iraq war goes on in Mike’s head
Wounded Times
Kathie Cotos
April 13, 2014

How do veterans go from doing everything possible to stay alive during combat, to not wanting to live anymore back home?

That is the question that has to be answered but no matter how many programs, research projects, charities and news reports come out, no one seems to explain it.

Before Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf War, there were decades of research on walking wounded. Vietnam veterans came home and pushed to have everything available today. Most of the work began in the 70's. By 1978 there were Veterans Centers to address the fact that while veterans needed help to heal what war did inside of them, they were reluctant to go to the VA hospitals.

Suicides tied to combat are not new. They were happening all the time across the country but other than local newspapers covering the deaths in the obituary sections, most families kept the tragedy secret.

It was pretty easy to figure out what happened when we were read "died suddenly" at a young age and the words Vietnam Veteran. Chuck Dean, a Vietnam veteran and one of the founders of Point Man International Ministries wrote many years ago that at least 150,000 Vietnam veterans committed suicide. Even now they are the majority of the suicides, attempted suicides, VA claims and the backlog, but they have been forgotten.

Why aren't they healing? Why are they still ending their own lives? How many more years will the public give the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs to deliver on their end of the deal? Soldiers surrender everything to serve in the military. They risk their lives for the sake of the others they serve with. Their own lives come after everyone else's. What they want comes after what they need to do. The fact they are tired because they only had a few hours of sleep doesn't matter in combat. They have jobs to do that lives depend on even to the point where their own lives may end. But they do it all. Then they come home and it all falls apart for too many.

The war in Afghanistan is fast approaching the 13th year. Some reporters say that it is the longest war in America's history but that is only because of the official years of Vietnam.

U.S. military advisers, present in small numbers throughout the 1950s, were introduced on a large scale beginning in 1961, and active combat units were introduced in 1965. By 1969 more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union and China poured weapons, supplies, and advisers into the North, which in turn provided support, political direction, and regular combat troops for the campaign in the South. The costs and casualties of the growing war proved too much for the United States to bear, and U.S. combat units were withdrawn by 1973. In 1975 South Vietnam fell to a full-scale invasion by the North.

The Vietnam War is the longest, and arguably the most controversial, in U.S. history. Congress never officially declared war against North Vietnam, but the 88th Congress passed the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" which authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." The resolution passed on August 7, 1964.

The first American ground combat troops landed in South Vietnam (specifically, the U.S. Third Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division, deployed to Vietnam from Okinawa to defend the Da Nang airfield) during March 1965. During the height of U.S. military involvement, December 31, 1968, the breakdown of allied forces were as follows: 536,100 U.S. military personnel, with 30,610 U.S. military having been killed to date; 65,000 Free World Forces personnel; 820,000 South Vietnam Armed Forces (SVNAF) with 88,343 having been killed to date. At the war's end there were approximately 2,200 U.S. missing in action (MIA) or prisoner of war (POW).

(SOURCE: Harry G. Summers, Jr. Vietnam War Almanac, Facts on File Publishing, 1985.
On May 7, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford officially ended US involvement in Vietnam.

A Loyal Soldier Doesn’t Deserve This on the New York Times by Nicholas Krisof tells the story of an Iraq veteran Mike Yurchison. There are so many things to point out about an Iraq veteran with PTSD and TBI including the fact his brother is no longer here. I could point out how hard it is for these young veterans to have relationships, but since most of you already know what that is like, no shocker there. No matter what the war was titled, it is hard to stay together. More marriages have failed because as hard as it is for anyone to have a successful relationship, it is almost impossible when PTSD tries to take control. "Almost" but not impossible. My husband and are are going on 30 years.

A few years ago a local young couple wanted to get married. They didn't have much money so friends were stepping up to donate what they could. I was asked to film the wedding. The groom was a National Guardsman. Their marriage only lasted a few months. The bride discovered that he had PTSD and was no longer able to deny it or hide it. She had no clue what to do or what PTSD was and didn't even want to try to learn.

Some people don't heal what PTSD does because they are not getting what they need to help them over the really rough parts. Too many don't even understand that as they heal they believe they are getting worse because they cry and feel really sad. All those feelings, trapped behind the emotional wall from the time PTSD hit to getting help, come flooding out. With the right help they heal.

"So the Iraq war goes on in Mike’s head"

He tried to get help from the VA but ended up with a private doctor he has to pay for out of his own pocket. The VA does NNPO, also known as Fee Basis, when they cannot deliver the needed care for veterans.

Unavailability of VA Medical Facilities or Services: Non-VA Care is used when VA medical facilities are not “feasibly available.” The local VA medical facility has criteria to determine whether Non-VA Care may be used. If a Veteran is eligible for certain medical care, the VA hospital or clinic should provide it as the first option. If they can’t -- due to a lack of available specialists, long wait times, or extraordinary distances from the Veteran’s home -- the VA may consider Non-VA Care in the Veteran’s community. Non-VA Care is not an entitlement program or a permanent treatment option.

The VA has to approve of this first. If not, the veteran has to pay. Forget private insurance picking up the bill because if the VA doctor diagnosis the disability or illness linked to military service, the insurance companies say it is the responsibility of the government to pay for the care. (That happened to us in the 90's before my husband's claim was approved.)

"Mike agreed to share his story and be photographed, despite embarrassment and innate reluctance, in hopes that the attention might help other veterans in need of assistance."

Mike is like all the others willing to talk about what happened to them and what they were going through so they could let other veterans know they are not alone. After all when you fight something like this, it can feel as if no one else understands especially when the help given if far from what it needed.

"Iraq is but a fading memory for most Americans, and Afghanistan may soon recede as well. But for countless others like Mike and Leigh Anna, the war continues and will for decades to come."

As most want to forget we sent young men and women into combat, they also want to forget that after all these years, we have not begun to fight for them equal to the battles they were fighting for us. Pretty sickening outcome considering how much time the government has had to get this right.