Reason why they don't ask for help...getting kicked out!

We tell them they need to ask for help but when they do, too many end up regretting it. If you want to know one more reason why they come home suffering more, here is one of the biggest reasons.

Suffering from a ‘Personality Disorder’: How My Promising Military Career Was Cut Short by a Dubious Diagnosis

Huff Post
Joshua Korsbr
January 6, 2016
In March, Senior Airman Nicole Dawson called me and pleaded for help.

Dawson had served three years with the Air Force and won multiple commendations for her service as a medic at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. Her success was cut short when she sought out medical care herself, requesting some counseling following a family tragedy. Soon she was diagnosed with “personality disorder,” declared unfit to serve, and discharged from the military.

Since 2006, I have been reporting on these “personality disorder” discharges, which the military is using to terminate the careers of service members seriously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, or those who report being raped during their service, or those like Dawson who simply seek out care from the base’s medical facility.

Because personality disorder is a pre-existing condition, the military can deny these service members a lifetime’s worth of disability and medical benefits. Since 2001, the Armed Forces has discharged over 31,000 service members with personality disorder, at a savings to the military of over $17.2 billion in disability and medical benefits.

Dawson had read my articles and watched my TED talk about the scandal. She asked me, “Would you tell my story?” Instead, I connected her with Disposable Warriors, a nonprofit organization that assists soldiers discharged with personality disorder. And I offered her this: the opportunity to tell her own story, here, in HuffPost.

Sadly, to my command, CMRN’s medical evaluation had no value at all. On March 24 the Air Force discharged me under code JFX: Discharge due to Personality Disorder.read more here

Read her story and then understand that she did everything experts, and oh, by the way, military brass keeps saying then need to do. Next suicide report when they act dumfounded as to why there are so many, remember this story.

Making A Successful Comeback?

When you hear about an actor or musician making a "successful comeback" you may think it is a great thing, but I always wonder where they are coming back from. After all, they didn't stop reading scripts or pretending to be someone else. They didn't stop playing music. So where did they go making it necessary to comeback?

When men and women comeback from combat, it seems that far too many are not making it a successful one. Suicides are up even though it seems as if everyone is talking about them, the one person we can't hear from, is the one who accomplished it. Families are still fracturing. Veterans still end up homeless. Far too many have been discovering their comeback from combat was worse than combat itself.

The dishonorable treatment of far too many servicemembers has been going on through three presidents. The following article goes back to a review of dishonorable discharges during an election year. It was still President Bush as Commander-in-Chief while his replacement was on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act of 2007
The text of the bill below is as of Feb 28, 2007 (Introduced).
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 713

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 28, 2007
Mr. Obama (for himself, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Biden, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Bond, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Brown, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Kerry, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Landrieu, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Snowe, and Mr. Conrad) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services

5. Improved training for caseworkers and social workers on particular conditions of recovering servicemembers
(a)Recommendations 

Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report setting forth recommendations for the modification of the training provided to caseworkers and social workers who provide care for recovering servicemembers. The recommendations shall include, at a minimum, specific recommendations to ensure that such caseworkers and social workers are able to—(1)detect early warning signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicidal tendencies among recovering servicemembers; and

(2)promptly devise appropriate treatment plans as such signs are detected.

But as we've seen, just because someone knew something was happening, it didn't mean they made the necessary changes to fix it. To see all of this still going on leaves me wondering if our troops will ever make a successful comeback from combat.

Military must clean up discharge practices
My San Antonio
Express-News Editorial Board
Published July 22, 2017

In 2008, the military was using a different diagnosis — personality disorders — to accomplish the same thing. Congress generally put a stop to that.

Iraq War veteran Dustin Greco was less-than-honorably discharged because the military ignored the possibility that his behavioral problems stemmed from service-related issues. A mental issue arising from the trauma of war is as deserving of attention as any other combat-related injury. Photo: John Carl D’Annibale /Albany Times Union

Iraq War veteran Dustin Greco was less-than-honorably discharged because the military ignored the possibility that his behavioral problems stemmed from service-related issues. A mental issue arising from the trauma of war is as deserving of attention as any other combat-related injury.

In discharging — less than honorably — soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen with service-connected mental conditions, the U.S. military is making a mockery of the standards of honor it is sworn to uphold. The practice was detailed in a recent Express-News report by Martin Kuz.

It is a type of phenomenon not unknown to the Express-News, which wrote in its 2013 “Twice Betrayed” series of the military forcing out sexual assault victims rather than providing them the justice and the services they needed. That series resulted in congressional action that forced the military to remedy its practices in dealing with such victims.

Congress needs to take another look at whether the military is unjustly discharging members to spare the government the expense of providing the care and services due veterans with service-connected mental health issues.

Kuz wrote that the latest tactic likely involves military members diagnosed with adjustment disorders. This has resulted in less-than-honorable discharges, which deny those discharged care provided by the Veterans Affairs Department and a host of other benefits.
read more here

Now that you read that, think of one more thing. These men and women survived combat but were left to fight for themselves and that, that is clearly wrong!

Military Sexual Assaults Not Forgotten By Vicims

We have unlimited access to knowledge today but if we settle for what some folks want us to know, we won't know much at all. That is the basis behind one issue veterans face after another. Some want to believe PTSD only hits the OEF and OIF veterans. That way they won't have to take a look at how many years this has all been going on while members of congress make a bunch of bullshit speeches that allow bad to turn into worse.

We also see it going on even know with speeches about military sexual assaults, as if anything has changed.

Never settle for what we're being told today without wondering how it got this bad. Reporters have a nasty habit of forgetting who did what and when they did it. Nothing will get fixed unless we really hold folks accountable. Never stop asking questions and when you get the answer, ask for more.

In 2012 there was a case where a female veteran had been waiting years for justice. How long? 50 years!

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A former Marine is coming forward with a painful secret.
An 80-year-old Portland woman says she was raped during her military service — and has been fighting ever since for the veterans benefits she says she deserves.

If you want to know why female veterans are fed up with what has been coming out of congress, begin with understanding this betrayal is far from new. All of these stories are on Wounded Times and when possible the link to the source is provided, still active and you can read the entire story.

2008

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said in a Monday letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates that harassment and assault of military women, especially in combat zones, is a “scourge” that needs to be eliminated.

Casey is particularly interested in how the military handles complaints from women in the National Guard and reserve, whose cases may be harder to investigate than those of women on full-time active duty and in the federal civilian workforce.

In the letter, Casey said he knows the military is trying to do more, but added: “I am still very troubled by a process that may dissuade many victims from ever coming forward with claims.”

From Reuters

Nearly 15 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking medical care from the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department have suffered sexual trauma, from harassment to rape, researchers reported on Tuesday.

And these veterans were 1.5 times as likely as other veterans to need mental health services, the report from the VA found.

2009 New York Times James Dao, veterans had to pay after being assaulted.

The department is required to provide free care, including counseling and prescription drugs, to veterans who were sexually harassed or assaulted while in military service. Sexual assault includes rape and attempted rape.

But the Office of Inspector General at the department found this year that an outpatient clinic in Austin, Tex., had repeatedly charged veterans, mostly women, for those services. Based on concerns that the practice may be more widespread, the office decided to expand its review to a sampling of veterans health care centers and clinics nationwide.

An official in the office declined to comment, saying it does not discuss pending reviews. The official said the review would be made public when it was completed, possibly by October.

In a statement, the Department of Veterans Affairs said the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, which oversees the Austin clinic, was reimbursing patients who had been improperly billed. “Patients seen for military sexual trauma should not be billed for payment,” the statement said. “We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.”

From RawStory report of 2011 based on what happened in 2009 when a female soldier was told by a military Chaplain the rape was God's will.

In February 2009, she reported for active duty training and, upon seeing her rapist, went into shock.

"She immediately sought the assistance of the military chaplain," the lawsuit reads. "When SGT Havrilla met with the military chaplain, he told her that 'it must have been God's will for her to be raped' and recommended that she attend church more frequently."

2011
From Army Times

The House Armed Services Committee adopted a series of new protections when it passed the 2012 defense authorization bill last week, and similar legislation was introduced Wednesday in the Senate by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., one of the cosponsors of the House sexual assault provisions, said introduction of a Senate bill “will help move this legislation closer to becoming law.”

The House and Senate initiatives are similar, drawn from recommendations of the 2009 final report of the Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services to fix flaws in the rights and legal protections for assault victims.

Supporters said one in three women leaving the military report experiencing sexual trauma while in the service, but less than 14 percent of sexual assaults in the military are reported to authorities, and only about 8 percent of reported sexual assaults in the military are prosecuted.

2012 From Huffington Post

A U.S soldier committed a violent sex crime every six hours and 40 minutes in 2011, a rate far above that of the general population, the report found.

"This is unacceptable. We have zero tolerance for this," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, said at a press conference Thursday. "Army leaders take sexual assault seriously."

Chiarelli said the Army was confronting the problem by stepping up surveillance of barracks and cracking down on drug and alcohol abuse, a key factor in sexual assault.

CNN reported that women were being discharged under "personality disorders"

Stephanie Schroeder joined the U.S. Marine Corps not long after 9/11. She was a 21-year-old with an associate's degree when she reported for boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina.

"I felt like it was the right thing to do," Schroeder recalls.

A year and a half later, the Marines diagnosed her with a personality disorder and deemed her psychologically unfit for the Corps.

Anna Moore enlisted in the Army after 9/11 and planned to make a career of it. Moore was a Patriot missile battery operator in Germany when she was diagnosed with a personality disorder and dismissed from the Army.

Jenny McClendon was serving as a sonar operator on a Navy destroyer when she received her personality disorder diagnosis.

These women joined different branches of the military but they share a common experience: Each received the psychiatric diagnosis and military discharge after reporting a sexual assault.

2013

Earlier in the month, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., was one of the first to call for action in light of the Pentagon’s Fiscal Year 2012 Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military.

“I am deeply outraged that today’s report released by the Pentagon indicates that sexual assault continues to be so prevalent today in our military,” Casey said in a May 7 statement.

And here we are after all these years.

2014 December report from the Washington Post

A recent VA survey found that 1 in 4 women said they experienced sexual harassment or assault. WASHINGTON — Thousands of female veterans are struggling to get health care and compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs on the grounds that they suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by sexual trauma in the military.

The veterans and their advocates call it the second battle — with a bureaucracy they say is stuck in the past.

Judy Atwood-Bell was just a 19-year-old Army private when she was locked inside a barracks room at Fort Devens in Massachusetts, forced to the cold floor, and raped by a fellow soldier, she said.

For more than two decades, Atwood-Bell fought for an apology and financial compensation for PTSD, with panic attacks, insomnia, and depression that she recalls starting soon after that winter day in 1981.

She filled out stacks of forms in triplicate and then filled them out again, pressing over and over for recognition of the harm that was done.

And the Pentagon released data on Dec. 4 that showed that 62 percent of those who reported being sexually assaulted had experienced retaliation or ostracism afterward.

They have been waiting for someone to change things so that more victims won't have to remember what we've been allowed to forget.

Call for Amnesty on PTSD Bad Paper Discharges

Studies indicate that more than 100,000 veterans have been discharged from the military since 2001 with highly prejudicial service characterizations of "Under Other Than Honorable Conditions" (OTH), typically for "commission of a serious offense" or a "pattern of misconduct" while in uniform.

The Case for "Amnesty" for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans with PTSD and "Bad Paper" Discharges
JURIST
Guest Columnist Raymond J. Toney of the Law Offices of Raymond J. Toney discusses the case for Amnesty for soldiers with PTSD who received other than honorable discharges...
2 July 2014

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan saw the participation of more than two million American service members.

Over 6,500 died and more than 50,000 were wounded [PDF]. Those statistics do not include the tens of thousands more who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a disorder characterized by behavior changes, sometimes extreme. Common manifestations of the condition include aggression, impulsivity, hyper-vigilance and substance abuse.

The VA estimates that up to 18 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer from PTSD. The American Journal of Public Health reported findings that 39 percent of returning veterans abuse alcohol. Many, undoubtedly, if not most, are self-medicating, a recipe for disaster. Alcohol abuse is strongly correlated with criminal conduct.

read more here

Vietnam Veterans of America: Coast Guard wrongfully discharged hundreds

Veterans group: Coast Guard wrongly discharged members
The Associated Press
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Published: February 27, 2014

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The U.S. Coast Guard routinely violates its procedures and regulations intended to protect service members from erroneous discharges for personality or adjustment disorders, a veterans group and Yale Law School students alleged Thursday.

Vietnam Veterans of America released a report based on an analysis by the students who looked at a random sample of 265 discharges for the disorders over a 12-year period ending Sept. 30, 2012. Of those, the students found 255 failed to comply with Coast Guard regulations in some way.

The violations can lead to veterans being denied benefits and stigma in finding work, the report says.

"We are disappointed to see that so many members of our Coast Guard have been illegally discharged and denied their rights," said Tom Berger, executive director of VVA's Veterans Health Council. "We are hopeful that this report will spark action to correct this injustice."

Jordan St. John, deputy chief of public affairs for the Coast Guard, said the Coast Guard hadn't seen the report and couldn't comment.
read more here

Mental Health Measures Removed From New Military Spending Bill

Mental Health Measures Removed From New Military Spending Bill
Forbes
Rebecca Ruiz
December 20, 2013

When the House of Representatives recently passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, it contained measures to address serious concerns about the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness in the military.

Most importantly, it included an amendment for the creation of a commission to evaluate claims that soldiers with combat-related psychological distress and traumatic brain injuries are being kicked out of the military due to minor infractions. I wrote about that a few months in a post that looked at the Colorado Springs Gazette’s investigative series on this topic.

The commission would have evaluated those charges and determined what, if any, policy changes need to be made in order to account for the role of combat-related mental or physical illness in a soldier’s misconduct.

But when the Senate passed its version of the bill on Thursday night, that amendment had been scrubbed. Two other mental health amendments had been stripped as well:

Mental health assessments
The law would have provided regular mental health screenings for all active-duty service members. Currently, the focus is on giving these assessments to service members who deploy, and even then, the requirement can be waived if an individual isn’t exposed to “operational risk factors.”

Mental health support for personnel and families
This provision is vague, but it would have permitted the Secretary of Defense to create initiatives that “respond to the escalating suicide rates and combat stress related arrest rates” of service members; train soldiers to recognize and respond to combat stress disorder, suicide risk, substance addiction, risk-taking behaviors, and family violence; and determine the effectiveness of the military’s efforts to reduce suicide rates.
read more here

National Guardsman sues Army for "personality disorder" discharge

Former soldier sues Army for alleged wrongful mental health discharge
Air Force Times
By Patricia Kime
Staff writer
November 21, 2013

A former Army National Guard soldier has filed a lawsuit against the Army, saying the service illegally denied him medical retirement by discharging him for an adjustment disorder when he actually suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Former Sgt. William Cowles of Connecticut alleges he was wrongfully denied full retirement benefits when he was medically evacuated from Iraq in 2003 following a mental breakdown.

He later was discharged for adjustment disorder, a condition considered to exist before a person enters military service, and therefore he is disqualified from disability compensation.

Cowles’ mental health crisis stemmed from seeing several men in his unit die and watching the killing of a civilian truck driver. Two months after he was dismissed from the military, Veterans Affairs Department physicians diagnosed him with service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder.

Cowles is seeking the maximum amount allowed under law for damages — $10,000 — but he really just wants to be medically retired, according to his legal counsel, two law student interns from the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School.

“The Army Board for Correction of Military Records has denied every single application from veterans who received discharges for adjustment disorder and requested corrections to military retirement for PTSD in the past decade,” second-year law student Sopen Shah said. “This discrimination against disabled veterans is intolerable.”
read more here

Sen. Michael Bennet from Colorado wants to find out about the others receiving other-than-honorable discharges for "discipline problems" when most of the time it turns out to be PTSD.

Lawmakers already have been pressing the Pentagon to examine 31,000 discharges since 2001 for adjustment disorders and personality disorders, mental health conditions considered to presage military service and generally not considered compensable conditions.

Finally Senator seeks justice for troops discharged under personality disorders

Personality Disorder Discharges are a disgrace that has never been resolved. Glad Sen. Michael Bennet is talking about these veterans at least.

Senator seeks probe of discharges linked to mental health issues
Navy Times
By Patricia Kime
Staff writer
November 7, 2013

A Colorado senator wants the Government Accountability Office to look into whether the military improperly discharged personnel with conduct problems stemming from a mental health condition.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., introduced a bill Thursday asking the government’s watchdog agency to explore whether troops are receiving other-than-honorable discharges for discipline problems related to post-traumatic stress disorder or another combat-related condition.

“We’ve heard anecdotal evidence about these discharges, yet we don’t have the data to assess if, when, and how often this might be happening,” Bennet said.

The bill would have the GAO examine the services’ mental health assessment protocols, data on any treatment received prior to a discharge and how many troops received a discharge that prevents them from getting VA benefits.

The bill also seeks more information whether troops are counseled on the potential loss of their VA benefits before they accept a dishonorable discharge or bad-conduct discharge in lieu of a court-martial.
read more here

This Suicide Prevention Month, Show Veterans They Matter

All of this is fine and sounds really good but regular folks don't buy it anymore. We're tired of hearing about how much the troops and veterans matter when clearly, they just don't matter enough.

They didn't matter to the DOD when they were discharged under personality disorders and left with nothing. They didn't mater when they were committing suicide at higher rates after the DOD pushed the program doing the most damage to them. On one hand you have the DOD telling they are worth billions a year of special training to make them "resilient" and then on the other hand you have General Gen. Raymond Odierno coming out and saying exactly how he feels about the troops he commands. They are not from supportive families like his and they lack intestinal fortitude. On one hand they say they care but they didn't stop this program.

The VA has the same problem because they say they care but they don't stand up for the veterans coming home and telling them what the DOD just put them through with this programming.

So as good as this piece is, it just does not add up to facts. Many people care, but they just don't care enough.

It Matters: This Suicide Prevention Month, Show Veterans They Matter
Huffington Post
Dr. Janet Kemp
National Director for Suicide Prevention and Community Engagement, Department of Veterans Affairs
Posted: 09/30/2013

Family matters. Friendship matters. Support matters. Every Veteran matters.

For each of us, life is given meaning by a variety of different things that matter: family, friends, relationships, job or interests. And though these things may differ for each of us, they are also what connect us to each other and provide purpose and inspiration each day.

Sometimes, stress, trauma or everyday demands may lead us to forget the things that matter. For Veterans the added stressors of readjustment and combat experience add to the problem. For some Veterans there are added complications such as PTSD or Brain Injuries. Sometimes, something as simple as talking to a Veteran can help them open the door and rediscover what matters most in their life. Whether the Veteran you know has just returned home, or they served years ago, you can be there to support them and help them remember what matters. You can provide that bridge from hopelessness and despair to treatment and hope for the future.

September is Suicide Prevention Month and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) have chosen the theme It Matters to encourage Veterans and their loved ones to focus on the things that give life meaning--the things that matter most to them. For each of us, that represents something different. For me, it's spending time with my father, a World War II Veteran, and honoring him by dedicating myself to the VA services that support Veterans in crisis. For others, it may be spending time with their family and friends, playing a round of golf, creating a delicious meal or participating in community events. During this Suicide Prevention Month, I encourage each of you to reach out to a Veteran you know and show them They Matter.

read more here

Suicidal veterans passed off as someone else's problem

First the Department of Defense discharges servicemen and women under "personality disorder" so they won't have to take care of them or count them. That isn't bad enough. When they commit suicide afterwards or finally come to terms with needing help, they aren't able to get the right kind of help. Still not bad enough. Now a report comes out screaming that the veterans are considered to be someone else's problem again. The VA outsourced many of them into mental health facilities. There they stood in line, waited months for appointments and were forgotten about. When you read the following think about the reports you read here on Wounded Times and then connect the dots because it is a safe bet no one in the government is.

Vets Fall Through VA Mental Health System Cracks
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Aug 05, 2013

In mid-2010, more than 500 veterans were on a waiting list to receive mental health care at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Sixteen attempted suicide before the VA, overwhelmed by a combination of surging demand and budget cuts, could fit them in.

The VA's solution, once funding improved, was to refer more vets to outside treatment facilities. These groups, most of them nonprofits known in VA lingo as "community service boards," or CSBs, provide outpatient counseling, crisis intervention, substance abuse treatment and other services. Then the VA reimburses them for those services.

By October, 2010, the waiting list had virtually disappeared, VA officials said.

In reality, though, the medical center had merely traded one problem for another, a review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found. By this time last year, 372 veterans were on a separate list, waiting for treatment from the CSBs.

They waited, on average, three months, according to a recent federal review. At least two who were referred committed suicide without ever getting treatment there.

The Atlanta center serves about 15,000 outpatient mental health patients; at the height of the program, about 4,000 were referred out under a contract that covered 26 CSBs throughout the state.

The VA Office of Inspector General found a referral system rife with problems: too few VA staff to oversee it, payment delays and a breakdown in communication between medical center and the CSBs.

The VA lost track of many veterans referred to the outside clinics. Based on a sample of 85 cases, reviewers estimated that one in five vets never received any care from a CSB or any follow-up by the VA. Some people waited more than a year for an appointment.
read more here

Congress working to help those wrongly discharged

Congress working to help those wrongly discharged for personality, adjustment disorders
WTKR News
by Laurie Simmons
July 25, 2013

Jessica Hinves thought coming forward to report her rape was the right thing to do, but it ended up ruining her budding Air Force career.

“I wasn’t allowed to stay in the military just because I was sexually assaulted,” said Hinves.

Doctors deemed her unfit to deploy and separated her from service.

Instead of giving her a diagnosis of PTSD and military sexual trauma, they diagnosed her with personality disorder.
read more here

Disposable Soldiers

Disposable Soldiers
Huffington Post
May 29, 2013


As PTSD cases in the military are skyrocketing, so too are discharges for misconduct, where a small infraction could lead to a lifetime loss of much needed benefits. We need to re-evaluate the military discharge system to match current challenges.

Fort Carson Wounded Transitioned to Betrayed

Left Behind No break for the wounded
The Gazette
By Dave Philipps
May 13, 2013

Jerrald Jensen holds a rocket-propelled grenade launcher at his outpost in Afghanistan in 2009. He deployed to Afghanistan after being Injured in Iraq.

A roadside bomb hit Sgt. Jerrald Jensen's Humvee in Iraq, punching through heavy armor and shooting a chunk of hot metal into his head at several times the speed of sound, shattering his face and putting him in a coma. "I wasn't supposed to live," the veteran lisped with half a tongue through numb lips.

"No one knows why I did. It's shocking." Even more shocking is what Jensen did next. After 16 surgeries, the sergeant volunteered to go back to combat in one of the most savage corners of Afghanistan, where he was injured again. Perhaps most shocking, though, is what happened when he got home.

Jensen returned to recover in a battalion at Fort Carson designed to care for wounded soldiers called the Warrior Transition Unit. In the WTU, the soldier with a heroic record said he encountered a hostile environment where commanders, some of whom had never deployed, harassed and punished the wounded for the slightest misstep while making them wait many weeks for critical medical care and sometimes canceling care altogether.

In 2011, a year after joining the WTU, just days after coming out of a surgery, Jensen tested positive for the drug amphetamine. The then-41-year-old asked to be retested, suggesting his many Army prescriptions might be to blame. His commander refused and instead gave Jensen the maximum punishment, cutting his rank to private, docking his pay and canceling surgery to fix his face so he could spend weeks mopping floors, picking weeds and scrubbing toilets.

Then, Jensen said, WTU leaders said he should be discharged for misconduct — the equivalent of getting fired — with an other-than-honorable rating that could bar him from medical benefits for life.

"To call guys who sacrificed so much dishonorable and kick them out with nothing?" said Jensen, who is now out of the Army, living in a small apartment with blankets covering the windows because his injuries make him sensitive to light. "Christ sake, man, it is a disgrace." read more here
Also
Other than honorable way to treat combat wounded, Army kicks them out

Hope for 31,000 discharged under Personality Disorder instead of PTSD

Bill would review discharges for possible PTSD
Marine Corps Times
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 6, 2013

More than 31,000 discharges for service members diagnosed with personality or adjustment disorders would be reviewed to see if those troops actually suffered from post-traumatic stress, under legislation introduced Tuesday by Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn.

The bill, HR 975, is endorsed by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which is concerned that misdiagnoses of mental disorders are cheating veterans out of benefits. The Wounded Warrior Project also supports the bill.

Personality disorders and adjustment disorders are considered to have existed before service members joined the military, making them ineligible for disability compensation and mental health treatment. There are particular concerns that the diagnoses have been inappropriately used to discharge victims of sexual assault.

Not only are those veterans denied benefits, but the diagnosis also appears on their discharge papers, which can stigmatize them and make it harder to find civilian employment.

Walz, a retired Minnesota Army National Guard command sergeant major — the highest-ranking former enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress — has been a champion of a variety of veterans’ causes. “After fighting for our country overseas, I am absolutely appalled that our brave warriors may have been improperly discharged and left without the care they need to reintegrate into the lives they once knew,” he said. “Action must be taken to correct the record.”
read more here

Vietnam veteran earned Bronze Star V, but wrongly discharged

Why is it so hard to believe that everything we're seeing with PTSD today was happening to Vietnam veterans first? It happened even before Vietnam but no one knew about it. Is it so hard to believe this country had this long to get this all right and still hasn't?

If Vietnam Vets Had PTSD, They Deserve Benefits
Veterans lawsuit seeks redress on discharges
Hartford Courant
December 11, 2012


John Shepherd Jr. enlisted in the Army and earned a Bronze Star for valor fighting with the Ninth Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta in 1969. But after his platoon leader was killed while trying to help him out of a canal, Mr. Shepherd appeared to come undone, eventually refusing to go out on patrol.

He was court-martialed and given an other-than-honorable discharge, making him ineligible for most veterans' benefits. He believes his behavior was the result of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. His immediate problem: PTSD wasn't recognized as a medical condition until 1980.
read more here

Vietnam veterans still have to fight for justice on PTSD

Congress finally takes on fixing 30,000 discharged for "personality disorders"

If you have been reading this blog all along you know this is a very important issue for me considering as of today we still don't know what happened to the men and women kicked out of the military because they didn't get the help they needed. What happened to them? How did they survive when they received nothing from the government except a discharge few employers would honor? How many committed suicide because they were betrayed? So many questions and so few answers but at least Congress is finally looking into doing the right thing. I just wonder how many it is too little to late for.

Changes sought for vets' psych disorder discharges
Kelly Kennedy
USA TODAY

Lawmaker says failing to provide these veterans with the help they need to function in society will cost more money in the long run.

1:05PM EST November 28. 2012 - WASHINGTON -- After nearly 30,000 servicemembers were forced out of the military for "personality disorders," often after combat service, a bipartisan House coalition hopes to require the Pentagon to review those cases in the hopes that some veterans could receive benefits.

Those processed out with a "personality disorder," which is considered a pre-existing condition, received an administrative discharge and no possibility of health benefits or disability retirement pay from the military. Many of those servicemembers had served in combat and showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Vietnam Veterans of America, which filed a lawsuit in 2010 demanding the records of those veterans. They were also not eligible for benefits from Veterans Affairs.

"It's pretty clear to us that it is our responsibility to make this right," said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn. "They need to get back and get their cases adjudicated correctly."
read more here

Troubled veterans left without health-care benefits

Troubled veterans left without health-care benefits

More than 20,000 men and women exited the Army and Marines during the past four years with other-than-honorable discharges that can restrict their veterans health-care and disability benefits. Critics says those rules leave some troubled combat veterans struggling to find treatment and support.

By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
August 11, 2012

A few weeks after Jarrid Starks ended his Army service in May, he went to an office in Albany, Ore., to enroll for veterans health-care benefits.

Starks brought medical records that detailed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a twisted vertebra and a possible brain injury from concussions. Other records documented his tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where his bravery fighting the Taliban was recognized with a Bronze Star for Valor.

None of that was enough to qualify him for health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

That's because Starks left the military this year with an other-than-honorable discharge — his final year of service scarred by pot smoking and taking absences without leave (AWOL).

He was told to fill out a form, then wait — possibly a year or more — while officials review his military record to determine whether he is eligible for health care.

"I was absolutely livid," Starks, 26, recalls. "This just isn't right."

Starks is among the more than 20,000 men and women who exited the Army and Marines during the past four years with other-than-honorable discharges that hamstring their access to VA health care and may strip them of disability benefits.
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This was news on this blog back in 2007.

10 discharges a day for "personality disorder"
Many soldiers get boot for 'pre-existing' mental illness
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
September 29, 2007
By Philip Dine

WASHINGTON -- Thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq - as many as 10 a day - are being discharged by the military for mental health reasons. But the Pentagon isn't blaming the war. It says the soldiers had "pre-existing" conditions that disqualify them for treatment by the government.

Many soldiers and Marines being discharged on this basis actually suffer from combat-related problems, experts say. But by classifying them as having a condition unrelated to the war, the Defense Department is able to quickly get rid of troops having trouble doing their work while also saving the expense of caring for them.

The result appears to be that many actually suffering from combat-related problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries don't get the help they need.

Working behind the scenes, Sens. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., have written and inserted into the defense authorization bill a provision that would make it harder for the Pentagon to discharge thousands of troops. The Post-Dispatch has learned that the measure has been accepted into the Senate defense bill and will probably become part of the Senate-House bill to be voted on this week.
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Will Army review of PTSD and TBI claims include falsely discharged?

Will Army review of PTSD and TBI claims include falsely discharged?
by
Chaplain Kathie

Of the more than 22,000 discharged because of "Personality Disorders" this may seem like good news. Is it? Are they to be included in this review? When will what happened to them be reviewed and when will they have their dignity restored?

We know it was the practice of the military to falsely discharge this way. It left them with nothing. They can't even go to the VA with an other than honorable discharge topped off with "pre-existing" illnesses are not covered by the DOD.

Imagine for a second here that you served your country with the same passion as everyone else. After too much combat, you ended up paying the price with PTSD, sought help and ended up being kicked out with the military telling you that you must have had it when you took their psychological tests. Then you have no more job in the military and zero chance of getting one in the civilian world plus a head filled with PTSD and probably TBI. After you lost your family, your home, your car and woke up in a box, you pick up the old newspaper you used for a pillow and read about how many veterans are getting help because things changed.

Wouldn't it be more fair for them to read that they will have their cases reviewed so they can finally get justice from this nation they served? How about having their records restored, paid back for the money they lost after being falsely accused? How about a public apology so that employers know they served with honor even if the government was not so honorable to them at the time?

“We owe it to every soldier to ensure that he or she receives the care they need and deserve,” said Army Secretary John McHugh, adding that the Army “must ensure that our processes and procedures are thorough, fair and conducted in accordance with appropriate, consistent medical standards.”

Army policy calls for every service member involved in a blast, vehicle crash or a blow to the head to be medically evaluated.

Army launches review of PTSD diagnoses after complaints some were overturned
By Associated Press
Published: May 16

WASHINGTON — Army leaders are launching a sweeping, independent review of how the service evaluates soldiers with possible post-traumatic stress disorder following recent complaints that some PTSD diagnoses were improperly overturned.

The Army said Wednesday it will review the diagnoses at all of its medical facilities going back to October 2001. And top Army leaders said they will develop a plan to correct any decisions or policies necessary to make sure that soldiers are receiving the care and treatment they deserve.

The latest reviews were triggered by revelations that the forensic psychiatry unit at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state may have reversed diagnoses based on the expense of providing care and benefits to members of the military.
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Thousands wrongfully discharged for personality disorders

Veterans study says thousands wrongfully discharged for personality disorders
By ERIK SLAVIN
Stars and Stripes
Published: March 26, 2012

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Defense Department violated regulations by discharging thousands of servicemembers under the pretense of personality disorders during the past decade, according to a study by Vietnam Veterans of America and the Veterans Services Clinic at Yale Law School.

The study data — obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests — reinforces previous smaller studies from the General Accountability Office and supports claims by others that the military diagnosed combat veterans with personality disorders to avoid paying retirement benefits to servicemembers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

While PTSD constitutes a medical disability, personality-related diagnoses are considered pre-existing conditions by the Defense Department.

The data showed that 31,000 servicemembers were discharged from 2001 to 2010 because of personality disorders, a group of disorders in which a person’s behaviors and thoughts differ from their culture’s expectations, causing work and relationship problems.

The Army alone discharged 734 soldiers for personality disorders in 2002, but that number steadily climbed to 1,078 by 2007, according to the report, which was released last week.
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Military's Illegal Personality Disorder Discharge Problem

As Dr. Thomas Berger pointed out in this article, they would have had to talk to family members before making a diagnosis of Personality Disorder. The other factor in all of this is you'd have to believe the DOD tests missed it when they enlisted. All this leads to the DOD is basically telling the troops, they had it before they served so they owe the veteran nothing. Nothing including compensation so they can pay their bills, no jobs because without an honorable discharge, employers don't want them and service organizations only help those with honorable discharges, topped off with the fact that even they have trouble getting jobs. Uncle Sam went to the bowl and washed his hands of these men and women after they served.

U.S. military illegally discharging veterans with personality disorder, report says
POSTED: 03/22/2012
By Mary E. O'Leary
The New Haven (Conn.) Register

Dr. Thomas Berger, VVA executive director for the Veterans Health Council, said to properly diagnose someone with personality disorder, the Department of Defense would have had to consult with the families and he doubted that happened.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The Department of Defense has illegally discharged hundreds of veterans in the past decade by not following their own protocols when making a diagnosis of personality disorder, which denies them certain medical benefits and carries a stigma that hurts re-entry to civilian life.

That conclusion is based on data collected from the Department of Defense as the result of two Freedom of Information suits filed by the Veterans Services Clinic at Yale Law School on behalf of its clients, Vietnam Veterans of America.

The VVA and the Yale clinic Thursday released their report: "Casting Troops Aside: The United States Military's Illegal Personality Disorder Discharge Problem."

A person let go from military service with a diagnosis of personality disorder cannot access retirement disability benefits or severance disability payments and they may not qualify for monthly service connected compensation and timely health care from Veterans Affairs.

Personality disorder is considered a pre-existing condition, as opposed to post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury and usually manifests itself in adolescence.

The Veterans Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007 accused the Department of Defense of deliberately misusing the personality diagnoses to save some $12.5 billion in health care and compensation.

The law clinic has determined that a total of 31,000 service members from 2001 to 2010 were discharged on the basis of alleged personality disorder, which is nearly 20 percent more than the 26,000 personality disorder discharges estimated by the federal General Accounting Office for 2001 to 2007.
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