Veterans Need More Than Applause
Article is reprinted from The Edmond Evening Sun published
November 15, 2006.
Veterans need more than applause
Published November 15, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The next time you pass a homeless man on the street, you
might ask in which war he served. In the next several years, chances
are good that he (and increasingly she) will say Iraq or Afghanistan.
That grim prediction is based on several facts:
One in three adult homeless males is a veteran and 45 percent of those
suffer from mental illness, according to the National Coalition for
Homeless Veterans.
A recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine, meanwhile,
found that one in four veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were diagnosed
with some kind of mental-health problem.
And those are just the ones who found their way to a VA hospital. Many
don't. Returning veterans are either embarrassed, untrusting of
government, frustrated by bureaucratic gridlock, or simply incapable
of navigating the system.
With large numbers of troops likely headed home in the next year, the
U.S. faces a tsunami of psychologically and emotionally damaged
veterans who have no place to go. Those who don't find the support
they need may end up on the streets.
Or in prison. In 1998, an estimated 56,500 Vietnam War-era veterans
and 18,500 Persian Gulf War vets were held in state and federal
prisons, according to the 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics report,
Veterans in Prison or Jail.
Obviously, not all were model citizens who turned to crime because of
their war experiences. One in six of incarcerated veterans was not
honorably discharged from the military. But the report says veterans
are more likely than others to be in prison for a violent offense.
Families of veterans aren't surprised. Men and women trained to
survive in a war zone bring those same skills home and find themselves
unable to function in an alien environment.
Readjustment symptoms include hyper-vigilance, insomnia, irritability,
exaggerated startle response, withdrawal, isolation, depression and
anger. An act-first-think-later approach to problem solving may keep
one alive in combat, but it's not helpful to family harmony.
Cynde Collins-Clark -- none other than Oklahoma's 2006 Mother of the
Year -- has experienced these problems firsthand. Her son, Joe, left
for Iraq at 19 with the Army Reserve and returned a year later 100
percent mentally disabled by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
depression. Unable to work, Joe lives at home with his mother, a
licensed professional counselor, and his stepfather.
Collins-Clark has her son's permission to tell their story in hopes of
helping others. She's especially concerned about those who will be
overwhelmed by a system that even she finds challenging and maddening.
She wonders how a young wife with small children copes with a sick
soldier without any help.
The biggest problem is simply not enough qualified counselors -- and
not enough government funding to meet current needs. Those needs have
grown exponentially, as the number of vets seeking treatment for PTSD
and other mental-health issues doubled from 4,467 to 9,103 between
October 2005 and June 2006, according to a report last month by a
House subcommittee. That's just the beginning of the wave building
now.
The Senate last year passed a bill to increase funding for veterans'
mental-health programs. Specifically, it would have increased the
number of clinical teams dedicated to the treatment of PTSD and
allowed licensed mental-health counselors, as well as marriage and
family therapists, to work at the VA. The House, however, failed to
take action.
Even without additional funding, the Department of Defense could help
by increasing access to mental-health care for military personnel and
their families. Currently, individuals on TRICARE, the military's
health-insurance program, can seek counseling from licensed
practitioners only after referral from a primary physician.
This process is often too cumbersome for people suffering mental
problems, says Brian Altman, legislative representative for the
American Counseling Association. Also, physicians untrained in
post-combat symptoms frequently misdiagnose and fail to send patients
to counseling.
A veteran's wife testified before a VA committee last year that her
husband, Capt. Michael Jon Pelkey, was treated for everything from
back pain to erectile dysfunction rather than PTSD. Pelkey finally was
diagnosed properly by a civilian therapist -- one week before he
killed himself.
There can be no more shameful legacy of any war than ignoring
veterans' needs. As Republicans and Democrats vow bipartisan
cooperation, they have no greater priority than to simplify veterans'
access to mental-health services.
Meanwhile, citizens can help. Russ Clark, a Vietnam Marine vet and
minister who counsels veterans through Point Man International
Ministries of Central Ohio, says he'd like to see community-based
"Welcome Home" programs in every village, town and city in America.
Veterans don't necessarily need a parade, he says, but they do need
acknowledgement, affirmation, counseling, jobs and housing.
And a parade wouldn't hurt a bit.
Kathleen Parker can be reached at kparker@kparker.com. |
Connecting
Veterans and their Families to Compassionate Resources.
