Politics Aside, We Must Meet the Needs of Our Combat Affected Veterans

Photo by Scott Lee

We have been divided long enough, we must all work together to triage the oncoming wave of combat veterans struggling to readjust to peace. With the war’s end soon, we will have war fighters with plenty of time to think and begin to process the multitude of deployments and traumas they have experienced.

When we come together across bipartisan and ideological lines to make cooperative compromises and sacrifices, our veteran’s families and communities are strengthened and the fabric of our country becomes more whole.

The rates of PTSD and suicide will skyrocket in the following 10 years, even exponentially after the war’s end, if we do not do something now. We must mobilize our drive for innovation and creativity to meet the needs of a massive relief effort to help ‘combat affected’ members of our communities thrive in their new environments at work and home, before they are lost in the sea of Combat PTSD and TBI.

Massive Block Grants to Fund Treatment for Combat PTSD

This post all fits together in some fashion or another...dissociation. If you want to discover my perspective on the whole situation, you will have to read all of the roads herein to understand your war veteran.

Dissociation is best written about and described in short and choppy details, blocks really well, because it comes and goes in clarity and can and probably will be anywhere in between. So, now try and keep up. Because now you must check the information you told yourself to remember and now you cannot forget what you just told your self too forget which gets in the way of what you would like to remember, ad nauseum.

The best way I can detail what this means for someone who has combat PTSD is to filter it through my personal experience and hopefully a bit of my wisdom sprinkled on. Since May 7th I have been writing about different thoughts that I have to get back into the "this is my life, again..." to the reality show that is my life. Have you ever watched one? You may wind up in some situations that will require your next move to either save your life, someone else's or die and not necessarily in that order. Better have your shit jacked!

I was writing about the conversation that made me realize the Central Thesis of This Website. If we are not helping our veterans who scream for help, then we are criminalizing the treatment of combat PTSD (More on this to come, hmm cool epiphany). If we can save these mens lives, then we can begin to treat them. Even though they deserve to be saved before they are jailed, become institutionalized, kill others or die at their own hands or police-assisted suicide. If we did not help them, then who's fault is that?

If we were serious about the urgency in treating our modern combat veterans, NOW. We would at this moment be unveiling a massive and expansive vision to triaging the incoming PTSD invasion.Millions going to universities who could put together grant proposals for full federal block grants. Put together a top notched stand alone proposal and you will find an endowment for the best evidence-based solutions in the treatment of complex trauma based on a holistic perspective.

Three years ago I said it when no one else was, "So, does that mean that it will be ok to have a 30-40% PTSD rate for the Iraqi War? We are now, three years into this movement and we must act now to save as many as we can.

If I had a title for this post it would be "Massive Block Grants to Fund Treatment for Combat PTSD." If we are taking the plight of our veterans and soldiers who keep falling, falling from mental wounds seriously.

Then we are committed to them as they were to us! Really, must it be a perfect world for this to happen?

Massive Block Grants to Fund Treatment for Combat PTSD, tweet it, Facebook it, past it on!

National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day

Yesterday was proclaimed to be National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, by our new and honorable President Barack Obama. May God bless their hearts, souls and troubled minds, for I know that I could never completely understand what they face in pursue of daily activities since their captivity. Your continuing sacrifices have finally been recognised as a tribute to your fortitude and resilience. I will never forget.




NATIONAL FORMER PRISONER OF WAR RECOGNITION DAY, 2009

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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

American prisoners of war exemplify the courage and sacrifice that define our men and women in uniform. These brave warriors have paid a massive share of the costs of freedom, and our Nation will be forever in their debt. Today we honor all prisoners of war by recognizing the tremendous sacrifices made and the hardships endured by those who fight for our freedom.

American prisoners of war have experienced extreme conditions across the world and many have made the ultimate sacrifice. Sixty-seven years ago, in the midst of World War II, nearly 12,000 Americans and 76,000 Filipinos were captured while defending positions on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. As prisoners of war, they endured the Bataan Death March, suffering starvation, torture, and unspeakable conditions. Thousands were randomly executed and many perished on this journey. During the Korean War, more than 1,600 Americans died under grave conditions at the Pyok Tong camp. In Vietnam's Hoa Lo Prison — the infamous Hanoi Hilton — Americans endured torture and other forms of inhumane treatment.

There are countless tales of the bravery of American prisoners of war — of the burdens borne, of the acts of heroism. These individuals have made great sacrifices and have demonstrated an enduring faith in themselves and in the United States. Their commitment calls out to all Americans to live up to our Nation's highest ideals and to serve our fellow citizens with equal selflessness and honor. We will never forget their sacrifices. Their spirit of service will inspire the American people for generations to come.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 9, 2009, as National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, and I urge all Americans to observe this day of remembrance with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

Dear President Obama

I was reading the Army's StandTo! website as I often do and came across this blog post from a kick-ass blogger at Army of Dude.

Additionally, if you want to know what combat tastes, feels, smells, looks and sounds like check out Alex's intimate five part series where he uses the five senses in an attempt to describe the experince of combat to someone who has never been there.

In the mean time he writes a letter to President Obama,

Dear President Obama,

This letter comes to you from an unlikely supporter: a young Iraq War vet from the blood-red state of Texas. As an Army recruit in basic training, I cast my vote for George W. Bush in 2004 because I felt he was the best choice for a responsible prosecution of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Five years and a combat tour later, I have come to understand the consequences of that decision. Last November I pulled the lever for you after hearing about the refreshing notion of a new era of government accountability that never existed in my adult life. I was sold when you promised to end the practice of involuntary mobilization, a program that reactivates veterans out of the service and sends them back to war. Given the new era of responsibility ushered in by your administration, it is imperative that you keep a promise made to the tens of thousands of veterans across the country.

I am writing to you on behalf of Steve Lewey, one of Illinois' bravest sons. Steve grew up in a working class family not too far from your old stomping grounds of Chicago. He did well in high school and went on to college to study architectural design. After realizing he and his parents could not afford to continue his education, Steve enlisted in the United States Army at the age of nineteen. He did so not only for education benefits but to satisfy the intense need to serve his country in a time of war. As an infantryman, Steve completed a fifteen month tour in 2007, distinguishing himself in the Battle of Baqubah, the deadliest battle of the surge. In one instance, after an insurgent attack claimed the life of our comrade, Steve completely exposed himself to enemy fighters by climbing on top of a Stryker vehicle and firing at three insurgents, killing them instantly. On a dirty and blood-soaked street in Iraq, no one seemed to notice the kid from Chicago in an act of remarkable gallantry. Many of my fellow soldiers are walking examples of his bravery - without his incredibly selfless act, more American soldiers would have surely fallen in that battle.

With his GI Bill in hand, Steve left the service after an extended combat deployment and headed back home to Chicago in the winter of 2007. Filled with the fire of discipline and motivation he found in the Army, he settled into a job and waited patiently for the new GI Bill to become law. He wanted to finish the schooling he started so many years ago. That dream came to an abrupt end late last month when he came home to find a thick brown envelope on his doorstep. Inside were instructions on where to report for medical screening for a deployment back to Iraq.

The IRR has been used in the past as an emergency pool of trained soldiers to augment forces overseas, but recently history has shown it has been badly abused following 9/11. The link between Iraq and the Global War on Terror is tenuous at best, yet the Presidential Reserve Call Up Authority still exists to mobilize and deploy inactive soldiers even in cases of non-emergencies, Iraq being a clear example. Though repeated and lengthy deployments are causing a terrible strain on active duty soldiers, there was no concern on the part of your colleagues to expand the size of the military to meet the rigorous demand of two wars. Instead, the Department of Defense has overindulged on inactive soldiers meant to fix temporary problems, not become long term solutions. Though you seek to draw down forces in Iraq, Mr. President, the recalls continue in the twilight of a six year war.

For combat veterans, the task of integrating back into society has been a difficult journey as old as war itself. From Odysseus to eighteen year old soldiers coming from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, the path to normalcy is wrought with post traumatic stress and a disconnect between soldiers and their civilian counterparts. The added weight of a potential involuntary recall is more undue pressure on the fragile mind of combat veterans. Army career counselors exacerbate the duress with threatening phone calls and ominous visits to the homes of veterans, suggesting recall is a certainty if they don't join the Guard or Reserves. For Steve and over 20,000 inactive soldiers across the country, their worst fears have been realized in the form of mobilization orders. For them it's another crushing defeat in an already burdensome mission to find peace after war.

For years, you have spoken extensively about the need for a more robust civil service program in the country. I cannot think of a greater civil service than serving in the military, especially in a time of war. For eight years, soldiers have sacrificed their bodies, minds, and in the most tragic of cases, their lives, to complete the mission. We have stared into the black abyss of war to see an inner reflection of triumph and tragedy. There are pieces of us, physical and otherwise, that are left on the battlefield forever. That is what we gave up for this nation. Now that the war in Iraq is coming to a close, it's time to end the recalls immediately. Every soldier in the military stands ready to report, mobilize and deploy in any corner of the world in 96 hours or less. The abrupt cancellation of the Presidential Reserve Call Up Authority and subsequent orders would seem effortless in comparison to what soldiers stand ready for each and every day.

"Keeping faith with those who serve must always be a core American value and a cornerstone of American patriotism. Because America's commitment to its servicemen and women begins at enlistment, and it must never end."

The words above should look familiar. You said them on the presidential campaign trail as my unit conducted combat patrols in the fifteenth month of our tour in Iraq. It must be realized that above all else, the American soldier is the most valuable thing this country has to offer. The bodies, minds and lives of our fighting men and women cannot be taken for granted. There is too much at stake. Ending the involuntary recalls is a step in the right direction to repair the ties that bind the military to the citizens they stand to protect. You were Steve Lewey's senator in the great state of Illinois, and you are now his President. You must keep the faith with him and the many thousands of veterans that hold recall orders in their hand and uncertainty in their hearts. For more than two hundred years, soldiers have fought to protect this land. Now it is time to ask you, Mr. President, to fulfill your commitment to end recalls and put veterans back onto their long journey to peace and prosperity.

Very Respectfully,

Alex Horton

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I have never expected any politician to keep their word, but this issue is too important to remain pessimistic about. Lives and futures literally hang in the balance as we wait for the president to pick up his red pen and cancel the Executive Order allowing the involuntary mobilizations to continue. Please take a moment to send a message to the White House comment page. There is a 500 character limit, so please include the link to this post ( http://armyofdude.blogspot.com/2009/02/keeping-faith-letter-to-president-obama.html ). You can also contact your House representative and let them know about the issue. Anyone that can get the gears turning - newspapers, magazines, local and state politicians - let them know. This is not something to remain quiet about. Spread the word, help some veterans. Now it is your turn to protect them this time.

Posse Comitatus Loophole to Rule by Decree

I have striven to not become political where this blog was concerned as the message here is of great importance to me, our troops and veterans. I will always do my best to not spout my political views here, other than were legislation and actions concerning issues of PTSD and aid to our veterans and soldiers. I have come to realize that sometimes it is necessary to do so, the later more so than otherwise.

I will never think that having the regular military deployed within our borders is a good idea. The executive orders of the last two years have set the ground work for a military "intervention" as prescribed and interpreted by the commander in chief and answerable to no one, absolute power has been consolidated. When has this ever been a good idea?

As the laws stand right now, one man can say I invoke marital law and commandeer the country bypassing and foregoing any judicial or congressional oversight. Without having to explain or a clear indication of a threat to its citizens except to "say" that a national security issue has arisen.

It sets an extremely bad precedence and mechanism for our own troops to be used against its citizens. Yes they may have "nonlethal" means to "subdue" its citizens. But now that our military can be used to quell riots or demonstrations, which was how our nation was founded and every major civil rights and liberties were won, we will see abuses of this power. Do we really have confidence in the benevolence of our leaders in Washington to act in our best interest? Huh, hello, the bailout!

The Posse Comitatus Act has been completely circumvented, even thought it still stands the executive orders of late have created a loophole and sets a very loose interpretation without oversight as to how and when federal forces can be used inside our borders. When has our government ever created a loophole that was not used?

I do not doubt the intentions of our troops, it is the consolidation of powers that I question and do not trust. As it stands right now ONE person can seize control of our government, nation and its assets in the name of national security without a damn good reason to do so.

The only way I see this as acceptable would be a scenario of regular military forces invading our country and a temporary order of command during such incursions.

The actions taken of late are permanent and set the stage for absolute control, a despot, supreme rule. The complete mechanism for rule by decree has been set.