Soldier's Heart

The single most defining article I have read was printed in the local Austin Chronicle in December 2004. Actually, it was commissioned by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, written by Dan Frosh, and printed nationwide specifically in weekly magazines. This was the story that initiated the Returning Warriors program. Here is a link to that article in the Chronicle: December 24, 2004.

Aside from the example stories, there were a few paragraphs that caught my attention:

"There are thousands of Operation Iraqi Freedom soldiers across the country like Joshua Peterson. They are coming home with minds twisted by what they've seen and done in Iraq.

"A December 2003 Army study - published in The New England Journal of Medicine - found that approximately 16% of soldiers returning from Iraq were suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a psychologically debilitating condition causing intense nightmares, paranoia, and anxiety. But that study is already out of date."

What we know is that the armed forces as a whole don't have the resources -- or in some cases the appropriate approach -- to address the problem. Those that DO have a clue are underfunded. However, the VA's response in Iron Hammer is to put their soldiers in a room and talk for hours about PTSD and how they should be acting, then declaring them "cured" and sending them home.

They are now experimenting with application of the drug Ecstacy as a way to induce patients to "let down their emotional guard and feel free to talk." Is it better treatment to stip away the person's protection and make them "feel" safe? ... or to make them REALLY safe?

More from the article:
"At the same time, there is mounting concern over the system designed to help: the Department of Veterans Affairs. Numerous reports show the VA does not have many of the essential services veterans desperately need. 'I don't know how many people are going to be seeking treatment, or whether the demand is going to be met by available resources,' acknowledged Matthew Friedman, executive director of the VA's National Center for PTSD. 'What I am confident [about] is that people who come for treatment will get good treatment.'

"Yet the VA's mental health programs are chronically underfunded, and the agency currently projects a $1.65 billion shortfall in those programs by the end of 2007. 'If we don't give the VA what it needs immediately, the consequences will be lifelong and devastating,' says Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center."

What we are looking at here is the reintroduction to society of young men and women, many of whom were snatched from their jobs and sent into war zones virtually overnight. Extended stays and for many enforced call-backs ensued. Now months later those returning home find that their lives -- and personalities -- have been changed forever.