Landmark Study: Iraq Vets Face Healthcare Crisis

Shortly after Army Spc. Brandon Garrison returned from Afghanistan last June, his nightmares began:

"I remember waking up in the middle of the night. I'd sit straight up in bed and it was just hard to breathe and I was panicking and I remember my wife Lily asking me if I was OK and I remember crying in her arms several times because of horrific visions that I had, and the memories and the mass casualties that we suffered."

Nothing in particular triggered the attacks. He would hear a song or a report about the war and before he knew it, he was reliving it. Garrison started drinking almost daily. It was the only way he knew to escape. (Military.com)

Veterans' advocates have long had to rely on anecdotal stories like these, along with a patchwork of other mental health studies, to explain the psychological injuries that our veterans are facing. Now, thanks to a ground-breaking study by the RAND Corporation, we have access to striking new data on the mental health injuries and the barriers which prevent thousands of new veterans from accessing quality care. You can see the full report, and a quick summary, here.

The new study shines a spotlight on three key issues:

• Hundreds of thousands of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from PTSD, depression and traumatic brain injury.
• Of those, almost 50 percent are not receiving treatment - in part because of lack of access to care, and in part because fear of the stigma associated with a mental health diagnosis keeps veterans from reaching out.
• For those veterans who do get help, only about half are receiving what RAND calls "minimally adequate care."

These findings are appalling, but not surprising. We veterans have been sounding the warning bell for years. I'd call this a wake-up call - but anyone who still isn't aware of the problems facing returning veterans must be in a coma.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched the skyrocketing price tag on this war that PTSD and depression will have a serious economic cost - estimated at as much as $6.2 billion, just in the two years following deployment.

Compared to the $3 trillion cost of the war, that's a drop in the bucket, of course. But these massive costs only underscore how important, and how cost-effective, the reintegration programs for today's veterans are. Programs like the GI Bill are vital for veterans to find their place in the civilian world - and we must do a better job of funding these efforts. It's the right thing to do, and it will save us money in the long run.

You can learn more about the GI Bill, the need for better veterans' education benefits, and what you can do to help, here.

Comments

[nyboomer]

The VA is an agency run by a political appointee. This apointee takes marching orders form someone in the president's office which is populated by chickenhawks as a rule. Those guys know about war because they watched some movies and TV shows.

The VA appears under orders to deny care or hold off any applicants. People who are seriously ill are given appointments month in the future, rather than see as quickly as possibe.

Veterans who request care need to given a tricare card and allowed to use medicare while their applications are being evaluated. If we can borrow billions to buy off Sunni sheikhs and other Iraqi leaders, we can also care for our injured veterans.

What is truly disgusting is the wait for any cases to be decided. Most cases take between 3 & 6 years.

[wolf58]

As a 100 percent disabled veteran I have dealt with the VA health care system and all I can say is it needs to go away. Substandard care by many doctors who are retired from private practice or doctors who are not doctors yet (traning hospitals). Veterans should be put on to the tricare system allowing them to seek care outside the VA system. This is the only way that a veteran will get proper care but it won't happen because ithey need us, so doctors can use us as ginnie pigs before they are allowed to practice on the general public. I'm done with VA, convicts get better care then veterans...

[Rcoke]

I worked at a VA "Hospital" for many years and I can tell you from first hand experience that my hospital did not understand how to treat Combat Veterans. First of all the Mental Health Staff were mostly left wingers who pitied American soldiers as victims. The staff mostly had no knowledge of or interest in American Military history or the psychology of warriors. They mostly had no ability to be moved by Military Service, the camaraderie of a military unit, loyalty, heroism, self sacrifice, pride, etc. They did not understand the interplay of Combat Stress with known psychiatric illnesses. When I left a process was being proposed to punish those doctors who prescribed the most medications. The system rewarded continuing dysfunction among veterans and penalized those veterans who improved. My hospital was the dirtiest hospital I've ever been in. The DVA has 400 lawyers and innumerable bureaucrats who know nothing of value about Medicine. Why does the VA have to be so bad, you ask? Answer: Because it's the Government and it does not HAVE to be good.

[Tane]

This is an atrocity of our government. So why hasn't John McCain given his support to the GI Bill?

[politicky]

Paul,

Thank you for what you do. Nobody really want to see this stuff. The homeless vet situation here in San Diego never went away. Only the war changed, from Nam to Gulf to "on terror."

*sigh*

[jcwtts1]

First, thank you for your service. Second: It is an immoral act to ask people to fight a war and not take care of them afterwards. The ABC debate had 50 minutes of crap before they got to any issues. What if they had used that fifty minutes differently, what if they had used it to have a national dialog about this issue? Imagine the ten to twelve million views who could have been informed specifically about what I consider one of the most important long term issues facing the national security of this country. If you ask men and women to die for you you have a moral obligation to make sure they are taken care of, that means no food stamps for active duty soilders, for every year away from home they get a year here with their familes, a GI bill that will send them to freakin Harvard if they get in, assistance in buying homes or keeping a home, the best health care in the freakin world!!!!!!!!!!! etc. The list goes on. It is always the chicken hawks that want the war, and want the no bid contracts, but leave the people who fight it in the dirt.

J

[heal57]

I do not understand why this story has not received more comments. It is a disgrace the way our Vets are treated. Just the fact that MSM refusesto show flag-draped coffins when a soldier dies [at the President's request] makes me sick. We need to do everything possible for the medical, financial, educational,and emotional needs of ALL Veterans. I believe Barack Obama has made this an important issue. Lets hope we remedy this situation quickly and do right by our Vets. I feel ashamed of our government for neglecting our Veterans.

[scepticalobserver]

When Congress thinks that 18 billion dollars in tax breaks for Exxon is of greater benefit to our society's long-term well being than the troops, and their families that are paying as well, we have fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole.

The social and economic impact of thousands dead, many more thousands wounded and an unknown number of with long-term psychological damage will begin to ripple through our society for decades to come. The sooner we come to terms with this problem the better.

As a nation we are still paying the price for the damages inflicted by inadequate post-war care for veterans of Viet Nam and the Gulf War.This problem is slipping through the cracks again and if people don't demand better more of our representatives we'll still be talking about this fifty years from now.
The G.I. bill is the least we owe those who serve.

Telethons, fund-raisers and ad campaigns would help too. In the aftermaths of 9-11 and Katrina we saw the greatest outpouring of compassion in years. We need another.

Thank you for your dedication.

[glitz]

Paul..mental health care in this Country is in itself lacking. Trying to apply an existing broken system to VA standards is without a doubt failing. The thousands of families effected by PTSD and TBI issues as a result of the Iraq fiasco will have their own "war" for the rest of their lives. Soldiers with TBI's are still not being screened. If they are "lucky" enough to at least get the diagnosis, the bureaucracy of the system eventually beats them down. The American public really doesn't want to hear about the wounds of war let alone those that have to be dealt with for a lifetime. Please keep up the shouting, it is people like you, and family members of the wounded who have to make the issues known. The issues are out there and have been for years, the problem is finding someone who has the power to make a difference and does.

[scooperss]

Frankly I was appalled when I saw the sign in the local VA Hospital that said *combat soldiers would receive 2 years free health care*.

Posts like yours and signs like those show more than words that *support the troops* is ONLY a slogan to be used to get more money for an unnecessary war.

*SUPPORT THE TROOPS(Halliburton, Blackwater, i.e.)* not the soldiers or the veterans.

[itmaybetoolate]

And let's not forget to factor in the collateral damage of mental disorders- chronic unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, divorce, spousal abuse, suicide. Mental disorders impact the individual, the family, the community, the state and the nation. And, unfortunately, we live in a country made up of people who, on some level, believe that people can just decide to "get over" their emotional and mental disturbances. We still equate it with moral weakness. We lack real compassion or patience when it comes to those with mental disorders.

[WisconsinLiberal]

I have a son in Iraq, in fact just was messaging with him a few minutes ago, he is ok, but one fear that I have is that something will happen and then? It is on my mind quite a bit.. I work with some chickenhawks and they support Bush, but never ask about him. The ones who ask how my son is and how I'm doing are Vets who are against the war. My supervisor was over in Iraq asks occasionally and sometimes seems to be a "headcase" himself. We are going to have to deal with this for years and many Americans will not want to, it would "get in the way" of their lives. We are so screwed.

[paulrieckhoff]

HuffPost's Pick

Thanks for all your are doing to support your son. Hang in there. And please check out our resources section for you and your soldier: http://www.iava.org/resources-for-vets

Maybe some of these groups can be of help.

[itmaybetoolate]

They STILL support bush - no offense, but you work with morons. Please tell them I said so. And, I hope your son comes home safe and whole. He is a true patriot!! Please thank him for me when next you communicate with him.

[Beowoof]

Yea, another fine example of the Bush/Cheney "let them eat, shit, and die" regime. If anyone ever wonders how the French or Russian revolutions came about, it was the enduring subjugation and oppression of their people by the ruling aristocracy. Yes, there is a breaking point for the military and the Bush/Cheney answer is to hire mercenaries privately from this country and around the world to circumvent the heath- care demands and recruitment. How else can you recruit with the standards they've set other than a draft?

[rollingdivision]

It's time for the leaders of congress to put everything else aside and immediately pass legislation to correct these problems. Why haven't our senate and house leaders addressed these problems?

[bearman]

I truly believe that the bushco inc. should be tried in a war crimes tribunal. The care the troops are getting at Walter Reed is appalling!!!!!!!!!!!