Veterans Victimized by Congressional Ambivalence

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 27, 2014

Why do we keep asking why instead of "why not" when things go wrong. We have a huge problem with settling for the obviously easy answers.

The headline over at the Houston Chronicle "White House intruder seen as victim of Iraq war" is a great example of that. The story of Omar Gonzalez captured national attention because he was filmed hoping over the fence at the White House, outrunning Secret Service and dogs. What most people missed was that he has PTSD, is an amputee and happens to be a homeless veteran.

Sig Christenson wrote "Those close to Gonzalez, veterans and experts familiar with the effect on troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan say Gonzalez likely is a casualty of war. Thousands of veterans suffer post-traumatic stress, and experts have said not enough is being done to help them." What Christenson didn't seem able to explain was why he put "victim" in the title.

Gonzalez is not a "victim of war" but is a survivor of it.

No veteran is a "victim" of anything other than when they are victimized by Congressional ambivalence.

Ambivalence: simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings (as attraction and repulsion) toward an object, person, or action

They have sunk to a new low when they decided to leave Washington when we are yet again on the brink of war in Iraq and Syria hanging like the Sword of Damocles. They did a lot of talking over the years as everything got worse. They also did a lot of spending on stupid stuff that really didn't work. They just kept writing the checks to fund FUBAR like Comprehensive Soldier Fitness and "Resilience Training" no one seemed able to show one single shred of proof it worked before they bought it. It was a research project to give school aged kids a better self image of themselves.
RAND Corp told Congress they had better pay attention to PTSD Afghanistan and Iraq veterans in 2008.

RAND researchers extrapolated from a survey they conducted of 1,965 vets to conclude that nearly 300,000 service members and vets of Iraq and Afghanistan were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder — PTSD — or major depression. Filner told the pair of researchers, who summarized their findings for his committee, that their work probably understated the problem.

In 2013 RAND issued the most damaging report of all. The "programs" didn't work.

List of Resilience Programs Reviewed by RAND
Christenson wrote that "A little more than 1.8 million troops have served in one or both theaters of war, and 60 percent of the war veterans have received VA health care since 2002. They were screened upon returning from the war zone, having face-to-face interviews with health-care providers, but troops still must disclose their concerns." but here is the truth on that.

Since the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, about 2.5 million members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and related Reserve and National Guard units have been deployed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, according to Department of Defense data. Of those, more than a third were deployed more than once.

That report from March of 2013 also stated

"As of last September, more than 1.6 million military members who’d been deployed in what’s classified as the global war on terror – in Iraq and Afghanistan, primarily – had transitioned to veteran status, VA records show. Of those, about 1 million were from active-duty service and about 675,000 from Reserve or guard deployments.

And of those, about 670,000 veterans have been awarded disability status connected to their military service. Another 100,000 have their initial claims pending, according to a November VA analysis.

As for screenings, the don't really do that either. The Senate Armed Services Committee held hearing after hearing with the Joint Vice Chiefs of Staff and were told that they were doing pre-deployment screenings.

The GAO Report Mental Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Screening Efforts Implemented, but Consistent Pre-Deployment Medical Record Review Policies Needed" but the Generals admitted that while they were doing pre-deployment screenings, they were not doing post-deployment screenings. The excuse was they did not have enough time or mental health workers. They also stated they were getting too many "false-positive" results.

This is what they were talking about in 2010, four years ago.

The military leaders have attempted time and time again to point the finger at the troops instead of what they were doing to them. Nice trick if people settled for their response however the truth has been out there for years. Too many people made the choice to ignore the obvious.

People keep wondering why there are so many suicides but the question asked by those among us paying attention is, "Why aren't there more of them?"

Actually there are many more.

The DOD no longer has to count the ones we call veterans. Once they are out of the military, they are not an issue for the DOD, not that it mattered when they were. They fall under the Department of Veterans Affairs.

When the "22 veteran suicides a day" is quoted the edited portion is, 21 states were part of the study leaving out California, Texas and Florida and is only an average of the participating states. The numbers came from certificates of death and not from the VA. Within the VA database among the 4 million veterans they treat, there are an additional 1,000 a month attempting suicide. While most seem to only want to see this happening among Afghanistan and Iraq veterans the bitter truth is that 78% of the suicides are 50 and older.

The numbers are only a fraction of what we will never know for sure. The only people with the right numbers are the families. Most of them still feel as if they have something to be ashamed of, so they don't talk publicly about what happened.

That's all the bad parts. There is still another "why not" question we keep missing. Why have so many not committed suicide and found what they needed to heal?

Most veterans with PTSD do not commit suicide. They were finally able to see within themselves the healing property of truth. They had no evil intention when they decided to join and risk their lives. They didn't risk their lives for any other reason than a deep devotion to those they served with.

Sure we can settle for "their country needed them" but the truth is, we needed all of them to retain the freedom obtained by those who risked all in the 1700's and long before as members of the National Guards called the Minute Men

They paid a price because they cared so deeply feeling the events more extremely. They used that same strength of emotions within them to heal then managed to yet again push past their own pain to help other veterans.

Some get to witness this all the time when attending veterans events or spending time with groups. While far too many veterans seem to seek nothing more than "fitting" back in with people who will never understand them, more seek to return to the brotherhood of those bonded to battle. There is no judgement or shame among them. They are understood by other veterans. They are support by those who share the experience of what others simply write about. The least we can do for these men and women is taking the time to get it right.