"Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk"

Earlier today I was listening to the Diane Rehm's Show on NPR and they were talking about PTSD and suicides along with the disconnect between those who serve and the American public. I was glad to hear Vietnam veterans brought up during the discussion. I get so tired of everything happening today being treated as if it is some kind of new phenomenon. Maybe it is easier to believe no one knew about any of this before but to people like me, it is a constant reminder of what it was like when it was "new" and different while the shoe was on my foot.

Readers' Review: "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" By Ben Fountain
NPR
Diane Rehm Show
Wednesday, November 20, 2013

A deadly firefight with Iraqi insurgents caught on video by Fox News has transformed eight U.S. soldiers into media stars. Nineteen-year-old Billy Lynn is the lead character in a novel about the surviving men of the “Bravo Squad” and their brief return home. As the squad mourns the death of a fellow soldier, they are sent on a two-week nationwide “victory tour” to drum up support for the war. But their painful reality is obscured as they are honored during a Dallas cowboys Thanksgiving Day game. A Readers’ Review discussion of “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” by Ben Fountain.


Guests
Maureen Corrigan critic in residence and lecturer in the English department at Georgetown University.
Tom Tarantino chief policy officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and former Army Captain who served in Iraq. He was awarded a Combat Action Badge and Bronze Star.

Louis Bayard novelist and reviewer. His books include "Mr. Timothy," "The Pale Blue Eye," "The Black Tower" and "The School of Night." He teaches fiction writing at The George Washington University.

read more here

I thought it was new over 30 years ago. After all, my Dad, a Korean veteran and my WWII veteran uncles didn't have it, so it had to be new to Vietnam veterans like my husband. The truth is, it wasn't new to them either. It wasn't new to any generation.

They just called by different names in whispers and conversation abruptly stopped when someone else entered the room. They believed they had something to hid as if they should feel ashamed. Maybe it was because Vietnam veterans felt they had nothing else to lose considering how most people felt about them in the first place so they weren't afraid to not only talk about what came home with them, but fought for it to be treated better than they did for any other generation before them.

The result was funding for research started to explode in the 80's all across the country. We learned a lot since then. So why isn't' anyone asking about what worked back then but isn't being done now especially when you consider more money is spent producing more suicides, broken marriages and suicides?

Marine Comforts Bombing Survivors

From Battlefield To Boston: Marine Comforts Bombing Survivors
NPR
by TOM BOWMAN
May 03, 2013

Editor's note: In a story earlier this week, we met Celeste Corcoran, one of nearly two dozen people who lost limbs in the April 15 Boston bombing. Corcoran told NPR's Richard Knox that a hospital visit from two Marines who lost legs in Afghanistan had given her hope. "After I met them, it was like this little spark, this little light," she told Knox, "[that] it's really going to be OK."

One of those Marines was Cam West, a young captain whom NPR listeners first met in 2011 in a profile by Tom Bowman. This week Bowman checked in with West again for NPR's All Things Considered; he shares this update with Shots.

In a video taken just days after the Boston Marathon bombing, Cam West breezes into the hospital room like a coach, trying to inspire the team at halftime. Celeste Corcoran sits in a chair, the stubs of her legs wrapped in gauze. She's holding hands with her daughter, Sydney, who was also injured.

West leans over Celeste and grips the arms of her chair. She dabs away tears. She can barely speak.

He moves in close, and waves a hand above her stubs. "This doesn't matter," he tells Corcoran.

"It's just a change of scenery. It really is."
read more here

Combat veterans visit double amputee in Boston

Crying 4 year old resonates with over a million YouTube viewers

Crying Fort Collins Girl Isn’t Alone. How the Election is Emotional for Kids
By Grace Hood

A YouTube clip shot in Fort Collins has gone viral on the Internet. It features four-year-old Abbie Evans crying, saying she’s tired of election coverage. The video has struck a chord with adults who also can’t wait to see the election come to a close. But it got us pondering this question: What effect does the non-stop political marathon have on young children?

Listen to what Abbie's mom, Elizabeth, has to say about the viral YouTube video Abbie’s, mom, Elizabeth says she was listening to NPR on the way to the store when Abbie broke down. Elizabeth’s taken her daughter to political rallies and watched presidential debates with her daughter, all with the hope of creating a well-informed citizen.

read more here

Vets Tackle Transition Home

New Battlefield: Vets Tackle Transition Home
by Jeff St. Clair


August 23, 2010 from WKSU
In the military, 12 weeks of basic training can make someone a soldier. But it may take years, even decades, for many veterans to readjust to home life.

While much of the responsibility for guiding the transition falls to the Department of Veterans Affairs, community-based groups are playing a key role in helping veterans transition to civilian life. One such group, based in Ohio, is being held up as a national model.

A Warrior's Journey Home

Dustin Szarell was one of those veterans who needed help after coming home from Iraq. He tells of seeing comrades killed, and of killing in blind rage. He suffered a traumatic brain injury in an explosion, relearned how to walk and talk, and was returned to duty. When he came home to Ohio, Szarell faced a different set of challenges.

"I had such a frustrating time. You know, I finished my time in the military — six years ... and I was like, 'What am I going to do?' " he says.

Szarell married and soon divorced. He drank and struggled to find work.

Eventually the VA found him a room in a homeless veterans' shelter, where Szarell's transition began in earnest.
go here for more
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129325820

NPR finds military screens were missing tens of thousands TBI veterans

Senators Press Military To Improve Brain-Wound Care
Categories: Military

05:11 pm

June 23, 2010

by T. Christian Miller, ProPublica, and Daniel Zwerdling, NPR


Senators pressed senior military leaders Tuesday to improve their efforts to address traumatic brain injuries, suicide and other wounds suffered by soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Responding to what he called "disconcerting" reports by NPR and ProPublica, Sen. Carl Levin, (D-Mich.) said at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the military needed to better address the wide range of medical and behavioral problems affecting troops.

Earlier this month, we reported that the military was failing to diagnose and adequately treat troops with brain injuries. Since 2002, official military figures show more than 115,000 soldiers have suffered mild traumatic brain injuries, also called concussions, which leave no visible scars but can cause lasting problems with memory, concentration and other cognitive functions.

But the unpublished studies that we obtained and the experts that we talked to said that military screens were missing tens of thousands of additional cases. We also talked to soldiers at one of the military's largest bases who complained of trouble getting treatment.
read more here
Senators Press Military To Improve Brain-Wound Care

Homeless Marine gave millions away

Richard Walters, a homeless man who lived in Phoenix, died two years ago. And he left behind a surprise: a $4 million estate. Courtesy Rita Belle

He just gave up all of the material things that we think we have to have. You know, I don't know how we gauge happiness. What's happy for you might not be happy for me. I never heard him complain.

- Rita Belle


Homeless Man Leaves Behind Surprise: $4 Million
July 27, 2009
Every day on NPR, listeners hear funding credits — or, in other words, very short, simple commercials.

A few weeks ago, a new one made it to air: "Support for NPR comes from the estate of Richard Leroy Walters, whose life was enriched by NPR, and whose bequest seeks to encourage others to discover public radio."

NPR's Robert Siegel wondered who Walters was. So Siegel Googled him.

An article in the online newsletter of a Catholic mission in Phoenix revealed that Walters died two years ago at the age of 76. He left an estate worth about $4 million. Along with the money he left for NPR, Walters also left money for the mission.

But something distinguished Walters from any number of solvent, well-to-do Americans with seven-figure estates: He was homeless.

Walters was a retired engineer from AlliedSignal Corp.; an honors graduate of Purdue with a master's degree; and a Marine. Walters never married, didn't have children and was estranged from his brother. But he wasn't friendless.
read more here
Homeless Man Leaves Behind Surprise
linked from AOL News

VA to return equipment seized from reporter

VA to return equipment seized from reporter

By Hope Yen - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Apr 11, 2009 16:54:34 EDT

WASHINGTON — Amid protest from a reporters group, the Veterans Affairs Department agreed late Friday to return a radio journalist’s recording equipment that it had seized four days earlier as he attempted to interview an injured veteran about VA health care.

In a written statement to The Associated Press, VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said the department “regrets this incident occurred” and as a result would hand back the flash drive that it took from WAMU reporter David Schultz at the VA Medical Center in Washington. WAMU is a National Public Radio affiliate in the capital.

“After reviewing all the facts surrounding the incident of April 7th and actions since, VA has arranged the return of the flash drive to WAMU,” Roberts said. “We make every effort to protect the privacy of our patients and to ensure that they are able to make informed decisions about what information they release or discuss with the public while in a VA facility.”

“The Department of Veterans Affairs regrets this incident occurred as we appreciate the interest of the press in covering veterans’ issues,” she added.
go here for more
VA to return equipment seized from reporter

"America Supports You" leaves eveyone wondering who the "you" is

"America Supports You" leaves eveyone wondering who the "you" is
by
Chaplain Kathie
What was sold to the American people and the military families, was that this was a wonderful way to show support for the troops. After all, isn't that what we kept saying? We support the troops. The problem is, they really were not too clear on who the "you" was in any of this. As you can see from the investigation, a lot of money didn't go to the troops or really have anything to do with what they need. The bottom line is, when it comes to supporting the troops, it isn't the government even though that's what they want the public to think.

We see this when they come home wounded and are forced to wait without money to have their wounds taken care of when they cannot work. We see this when they come home sick because of burn pits and depleted uranium along with contaminated water. We see it when reports came out saying they knew about the tactic the Iraqi insurgents would use as the weapon of choice, IED and that the up-armored vehicles would have saved lives. We see it when they come home and PTSD is still trying to kill them. The list goes on, so please keep that in mind when you read the following and see if you are as infuriated as I am.

Report: Problems with America Supports You

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 12, 2008 17:39:04 EST

About $9.2 million in appropriated funds were inappropriately funneled to the independent newspaper Stars and Stripes to finance a Pentagon program aimed at telling troops how well they are supported by the general public, the Defense Department Inspector General has concluded.

And a senior Pentagon official conducted that program, America Supports You, in a “questionable and unregulated manner,” producing “results that were not consistent with the program’s objective,” the IG report said, adding that the official had “too much authority and control over the ASY program.”

Stars and Stripes officials also “lost visibility” of $4.1 million in appropriated funds — those authorized by Congress for specific programs. The IG’s Dec. 12 report also concluded that about $1.9 million from Stars and Stripes’ nonappropriated fund account was spent to subsidize expenses of the ASY program.

Stars and Stripes, which falls under Pentagon public affairs management but is editorially independent, is supported primarily with nonappropriated funds. Pentagon policy bans the use of nonappropriated funds, raised through the on-base sale of goods and services, from being used for or to support public affairs activities.

The audit also found that the Pentagon public affairs directorate provided “inadequate oversight” for an $8.8 million contract with an outside public relations firm. The audit questions the “nature of work, cost and competitive process” of the contract, said Bob Hastings, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs.
click link above for more

We also have a ton of info just from this one page;

Fundraising activities under investigation
On May 11, 2007, officials said that the Pentagon is "looking into complaints that Defense Department officials charged with building public support for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan might have been engaged in improper fundraising," David S. Cloud reported in the New York Times.

Officials said the inspector general is "examining whether officials who run 'America Supports You,' a three-year-old Pentagon program lauded by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, helped arrange a fund-raiser for a private foundation"—the America Supports You Fund—set up in December 2006 "by former Bush administration appointees," Cloud reported. In a January 2007 memo explaining the ASY Fund, Allison Barber wrote: "What we have learned is that the American people are beginning to fatigue, even in their support for the troops. ... I don't think we have a minute to lose when it comes to maximizing support for our military, especially in the new political environment."

Stars and Stripes involvement
In October 2007, the U.S. Defense Department Inspector General's review of "America Supports You" widened to include the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes. "Both America Supports You and American Forces Information Service -- the parent organization for Stripes -- are headed by Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary for public affairs," Stars and Stripes reported on October 20.

Freedom Walks
On September 11 in 2005, 2006 and 2007, America Supports You held a "Freedom Walk" in Washington DC, "to commemorate the attack on the Pentagon and honor all lives lost on September 11." ASY describes the walk as a "new national tradition," and encourages local cities to organize their own Freedom Walks. An America Supports You "teaching supplement" in the Weekly Reader, a periodical for grade-school students, encouraged the students to organize Freedom Walks, among other activities

Other activities

In July 2006, National Public Radio reported that "one recent effort is a campaign to get people at major league baseball games to 'text-message' their support to the troops on their cell phones... even though those messages aren't actually sent to the troops." According to former ASY webmaster Chris Moore, the messages were simply archived on an ASY computer database.

On December 2, 2004, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presented an "America Supports You" dog tag to Bill O'Reilly on his Fox News show, calling O'Reilly "a terrific supporter of our troops." President George W. Bush also plugged the "America Supports You" campaign during an address to Marines and their families at Camp Pendleton, California

PR firm
In December 2004, O'Dwyers PR Daily reported that the PR firm Susan Davis International (SDI) "is handling the Pentagon's 'America Supports You' campaign to drum up support for the nearly 150,000 U.S. forces that may be occupying Iraq during the next four years". "America Supports You," a Defense Department campaign, was originally planned to run through May 2005 but as of August 2007 is ongoing. SDI was paid "at least $2.7 million" for the first year of America Supports You alone, reported National Public Radio.

Operation Tribute to Freedom
ASY's predecessor of sorts appears to be "Operation Tribute to Freedom," which was launched by the Defense Department in May 2003. A Department press release explained it as "a sustained and widespread program of activities in appreciation for our men and women in uniform and the families that support them." The program's now-defunct website says it "encourages and facilitates public participation at every level -- from corporations and organizations to families and individuals. It reinforces the bond between citizen and soldier."

Infuriated? If not, then you haven't been paying attention. What if you were one of them?

But this one is the one that gets my blood boiling

Converting U.S. troops and Iraqis
The "evangelical entertainment troupe" Operation Straight Up, which "actively proselytizes among active-duty members of the US military," is an official arm of America Supports You, reported Max Blumenthal on The Nation blog in August 2007. Among OSU's future plans are mailing "copies of the controversial apocalyptic video game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces to soldiers serving in Iraq." The game is based on the Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins books, and players must "kill or convert ... non-believers left behind after the rapture."

go here for more

Fundraising activities under investigation

Now think of that. Not only are you told they can keep you as long as they want to under stop loss, tell you that if you have problems you need to go talk to someone and then they send you to be "saved" in a way you didn't expect. I really doubt it would matter to them if you had been saved by Christ as a Catholic or any other denomination of Christianity, or were of another faith or even no faith at all. They blurred the line between taking care of your spiritual needs by taking advantage of you in a weak moment of despair to convert you. Wouldn't that bother you? Would you feel totally betrayed? Taken advantage of? Made to feel as if you've just been targeted by a cult?

For Heaven's sake! I wonder how many men and women were pushed away from Christ because these people couldn't get a grip on reality and actually do the work of Chaplains taking care of the spiritual needs of anyone in need? More to the point, how many were pushed away from the psychological and spiritual help they needed in a moment of crisis? Shame on them for betraying the very people they were selling themselves off as helping and "supporting" when the "you" turned out to be someone else.

Military Wives Fight Army to Help Husbands

Military Wives Fight Army to Help Husbands
by Daniel Zwerdling
Listen Now

All Things Considered, May 16, 2008 · There's a formidable group of warriors out there — and they're fighting America's military. Spouses of troops who have come back from the war with serious mental health problems have made it their mission to force the military to give the troops the help they need.

In the process, they've transformed themselves from "the silent ranks," as the military traditionally calls wives, into vocal and effective activists.

Tammie LeCompte is among them. When her husband, Army Spc. Ryan LeCompte, came back to Fort Carson, Colo., after two tours in Iraq, he was a different man — angry, withdrawn and isolated. In 2007, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and he eventually became so depressed and unable to function that doctors feared he might die.

So when Tammie LeCompte saw that the Army was not giving her husband intensive treatment — and, worse, his commanders were punishing him for not doing his job — she launched a campaign against the Army that eventually caught the ear of Congress. Today, doctors say that Tammie LeCompte's battle may have saved her husband's life.

Carissa Picard, founder of a national group called Military Spouses for Change, has never met Tammie LeCompte, but she recently launched a Web site specifically to teach spouses how to pressure the military to give proper care to returning troops with health problems. Picard says Tammie's own battle reflects how wives across the country have transformed themselves into advocates in order to save their own husbands.

"When I feel like the well-being of my husband or my family is at stake, that taps into a very fundamental place for women," says Picard, who is married to an Army helicopter pilot. "That's like a Mama Bear place. We're fighting to protect the people that we love."
go here for more
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90378222&ft=1&f=1010

There are many groups I am associated with because of the work I do on PTSD. Military Spouses for Change is one of them. I am proud to be affiliated with them and feel privileged to know Carissa Picard as well as call her friend. She has worked tirelessly for the sake of other military spouses and those they love. Changes will happen because of people like her and all the others in Military Spouses for Change, because they care enough to do far more than just get angry at what is happening. They are trying to find solutions.

As I listened to the story of the LeCompte's, my mind traveled back to when I had to fight for my own husband. You can read our story from this blog. For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle, can be opened directly from this blog on the right side bar. It proves times have not changed much for those we send to risk their lives. There are however two big differences between then and now. Groups like Military Spouses for Change did not exist and the net was in its infancy. This allowed reporters to ignore the problems they faced.

In the 80's and 90's, finding the information on PTSD was like trying to pluck eyebrows without a mirror, messy and painful. The reports were buried in library files on microfilm. Local newspapers, like the Daily Item, Salem Evening News and Boston papers like the Herald and the Globe, would do an occasional piece on the suffering of Vietnam veterans, but most of the time the reports surfaced in the obituary and crime sections.

When I called the reporters of these papers, they were not interested. One reporter told me our story sounded like sour grapes. He couldn't believe any of what we were going through was real. He couldn't believe they were making this Vietnam Veteran pay for his medical care and taking our tax refund to pay for it when we could not. The veterans themselves were suffering in silence as their marriages fell apart, they lost jobs as PTSD ate away at them, became homeless abandoned by family and friends and their suicide numbers climbed ever higher. Over they years, I've seen and heard it all.

As bad as PTSD seems right now, I must warn all the readers, this is just the beginning of what is coming. No one was listening back then but they are listening now. In this, find hope that the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will not meet the same fate the Vietnam Veterans did.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
International Fellowship of Chaplains

Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

VA Chaplain Grapples with the Toll of War

VA Chaplain Grapples with the Toll of War
by Thomas Phillips
Listen Now [2 min 34 sec] add to playlist
Morning Edition, March 25, 2008 · It is being reported that the Iraq war has claimed at least 4,000 American lives. Commentator Thomas Phillips knows firsthand about this number.
Phillips is a Veterans Affairs chaplain who receives computer notification whenever a member of the American armed forces is killed. He wishes for the day when notifications naming the dead will stop appearing on his computer screen.
Iraq
Iraq War Enters Sixth Year with Wave of Violence
Listen Now [4 min 33 sec] add to playlist


Chart military and civilian deaths in Iraq.



In Depth
Read, hear correspondent Anne Garrels' personal observations from five years of covering the Iraq war.


All Things Considered, March 24, 2008 · The war's sixth year begins in Baghdad with rockets falling into the U.S.-protected Green Zone over the weekend, while the overall U.S. military death toll tops 4,000 after a roadside bombing claims more American lives.
Army Maj. Gen. Bob Scales (Ret.) tells Robert Siegel that the enemy in Iraq has evolved, even as U.S. forces have improved their defenses against irregular attackers operating anonymously in small units and employing suicide and roadside bombs.
He says they have built larger bombs, and found more clever ways of hiding explosives and detonating the devices.
As well, Iraqi insurgents often are launching their attacks from densely populated regions, "so even though the point of launch can be determined with great precision, the ability to shoot back is limited," Scales says.
"You simply can't load up artillery guns and throw rounds into a crowded neighborhood. So the enemy has time — while the U.S. forces are clearing the area, putting together a patrol, launching helicopters — to simply fade away into buildings and hide away in alleys."
But Scales says this does not mean that the Iraqis who live in these neighborhoods support or are intimidated into cooperating by the insurgents. He says the hit-and-run attackers usually drive in from miles away and are gone before the populous even knows they are there.
Ultimately, Scales says it is very difficult to respond to suicide bombers, in particular.
"There is so little you can do when you're facing an enemy who is enthusiastic about death. … They want to create an impression among the Iraqis and Arabs in the region that U.S. efforts to build this period of tranquility [are] interrupted by these periodic spikes. And so the more dramatic they can make it, the more deaths that they can cause, that really plays to their ends," Scales says.

Related NPR Stories
March 24, 2008Living in a Wartorn Land, an Iraqi's Perspective
March 24, 2008U.S. War Dead in Iraq Honored
March 24, 20084,000 American Lives Lost in Iraq, AP Reports



Related NPR Stories
Jan. 6, 2008Chaplain Struggles with PTSD from Time in Iraq
Nov. 21, 2007Chaplains Struggle to Protect Monastery in Iraq
Nov. 14, 2007From Chicago to Anbar: A Chaplain's View of War
May 26, 2006Spiritual Soldier: A Chaplain's Life in War

Congress wants answers on Fort Drum order to stop helping with claims

Lawmakers want answers on VA claims news report

Clinton demands explanation from Army on NPR allegation

Posted : Saturday Feb 9, 2008 7:54:26 EST

FORT DRUM, N.Y. — New York congressional leaders have asked Army Secretary Pete Geren to investigate a report that the Army is blocking Department of Veterans Affairs officials from helping injured Fort Drum soldiers prepare their disability claims, potentially leading to reduced benefits.

Meanwhile, a national soldiers’ advocacy group said it planned to seek a military Court of Inquiry probe into Fort Drum situation.

In a letter to Geren, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., expressed concern and said the allegations “should be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly.”

“If these allegations are true they run counter to our nation’s pledge made to our men and women in uniform,” Clinton wrote Geren. “It is our duty to eliminate obstacles standing in the way of our disabled service members and veterans.”

On Feb. 8, National Public Radio reported that the Army surgeon general said he was mistaken when he denied the Army had told VA not to help injured soldiers at Fort Drum to challenge their disability ratings. Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker said it was a “misunderstanding,” NPR reported, and VA may help soldiers.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/army_drum_disabilityclaims_080208w/

NPR:documents show VA did give orders to stop helping wounded

Morning Edition, February 7, 2008 · A document from the Department of Veterans Affairs contradicts an assertion made by the Army surgeon general that his office did not tell VA officials to stop helping injured soldiers with their military disability paperwork at a New York Army post.

The paperwork can help determine health care and disability benefits for wounded soldiers.

Last week, NPR first described a meeting last March between an Army team from Washington and VA officials at Fort Drum Army base in upstate New York. NPR reported that Army representatives told the VA not to review the narrative summaries of soldiers' injuries, and that the VA complied with the Army's request.

The day the NPR story aired, Army Surgeon General Eric B. Schoomaker denied parts of the report. Rep. John McHugh (R-NY), who represents the Fort Drum area, told North Country Public Radio, that "The Surgeon General of the Army told me very flatly that it was not the Army that told the VA to stop this help."

Now, NPR has obtained a four-page VA document that contradicts the surgeon general's statement to McHugh. It was written by one of the VA officials at Fort Drum on March 31, the day after the meeting. The document says Col. Becky Baker of the Army Surgeon General's office told the VA to discontinue counseling soldiers on the appropriateness of Defense Department ratings because "there exists a conflict of interest."
go here for the rest
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18742202

Iraq War Stirs Memories For Vietnam Veterans

Iraq War Stirs Memories for Vietnam Vets
by Libby Lewis

Morning Edition, September 25, 2007 · The number of Vietnam veterans seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder has been steadily rising since the 1990s, and the rate has spiked since the United States prepared to invade Iraq in 2003.

Experts say a number of factors could be at play, including that America's present is rekindling ideas of its past and the Iraq war is triggering Vietnam memories.

For Jim Hale, a Vietnam veteran who ran electrical generators on Phu Quoc Island for the U.S. military, the Iraq war is almost like "watching a rerun" of the Vietnam war.

Since 1987, Hale has lived off the grid with his wife, Deena, in the Ozarks, 10 miles from the nearest paved road. He said that for years he thought he was doing all right.

He's always been a bad sleeper, and he tends to get nervous when he's alone at night. But four years ago, Hale got pulled emotionally into helping two old war buddies whose feelings about Vietnam were resurfacing as the United States began laying the groundwork to invade Iraq. All the while, he said, he listened to the news about Iraq on his battery-powered radio.
go here for the rest
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14529768