These "Current Wars" Show Nothing Has Changed For PTSD Veterans

"I definitely think that PTSD from these current wars, because so many people were deployed, millions of people were deployed, is a public health crisis," said Dr. Peter Tuerk.

Is he new to PTSD and treating veterans? "These current wars" means he doesn't understand how every generation of veterans came home with it.

What about Gulf War veterans? Vietnam veterans pushing for all the research to study it and help them heal? What about Korean War veterans treated while deployed by clinicians so they could be sent back to duty? WWII veterans after there was a 300% increase of psychological medical evacuations from what they were during WWI?

The difference is the way we communicate now. Up until these "current wars" we didn't have the internet and ways to communicate with people from around the world. Nothing else has changed just because it is new "news" to some.

It is heartbreaking to know how long all of this has been happening. We are well aware of the simple, deplorable fact, that they have had decades to get this all right but they failed. They show absolutely no sign of changing therefor they will not change the outcome for millions of veterans.

VA doctor calls PTSD a public health crisis
WLTX 1
Clark Fouraker
November 11, 2014

As troops return home from America's longest war, a study by the VA estimates 22 veterans will take their own lives everyday. Many of those veterans have PTSD after serving multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. 11-11-14 WBIR

"I did around 4 years of continuous deployment. Just the anxiety of everyday and doing missions," Carrico said. "I'm trying to be as general as I can but it was really bad."

VA studies suggest 1 in 5 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan will have PTSD which could equal hundreds of thousands who fought in America's longest war needing mental healthcare at home.

Research from the Rand Corporation says paying for mental health services for these veterans could cost as much as $6.2 billion a year.

"I definitely think that PTSD from these current wars, because so many people were deployed, millions of people were deployed, is a public health crisis," said Dr. Peter Tuerk.

Tuerk treats PTSD patients at the Ralph H. Johnson VA in Charleston and remotely at 10 other VA centers throughout the southeast.

"When somebody is in treatment, we might work to de-militarize their life a little bit so they're not always thinking about war, thinking about the injuries, and death and loss," Tuerk said.

The VA treatment didn't have the desired effect for Air Force medic Gary Horn.

"Set up an ambush on us one evening and at initial contact they set off a couple RPG's and one of them, as I was driving, hit my driver door," Horn said. "That's how the blast led me to being where I am now."

Horn is among the more than 50% of veterans diagnosed with PTSD who will not seek treatment after returning from war.
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Here is one more reminder of what we knew back in 1978

That is from Readjustment Problems Among Vietnam Veterans

Gulf War Deployed Jan 30, 1991 US forces in the Gulf exceed 500,000.

Vietnam War Deployed
Year American
1959, 760
1960, 900
1961, 3,205
1962, 11,300
1963, 16,300
1964, 2,3300
1965, 184,300
1966, 385,300
1967, 485,600
1968, 536,100
1969, 475,200
1970, 334,600
1971, 156,800
1972, 24,200
1973, 50