Meeting The Needs Of America's Veterans
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-11-12/meeting-needs-americas-veterans
President Barack Obama said Sunday no veteran "should ever have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they have earned when they come home.” He touted a program that has helped thousands of vets find jobs in the private sector. He also praised a post-9/11 GI Bill that provides assistance for those who have served to go to college. But an influx of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan faces an uphill battle to find jobs in a weak economy. And while new rules make it easier to get help for Agent Orange-related conditions and post-traumatic stress, the Veterans Administration is struggling to reduce a backlog of disability claims. Diane and her guests discuss how the U.S. is meeting the needs of today’s veterans.
Guests
Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie
M.D., chief medical officer, District of Columbia Department of Mental Health and former chief psychiatrist in the Army. Author of "Battleland" blog at Time.com.
Michelle Joyner
communications director, National Military Family Association
Matt Stiner
director, Justice for Vets.
Paul Rieckhoff
CEO and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and author of "Chasing Ghosts."
Comments
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"A staggering 45% of the 1.6 million veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now seeking compensation for injuries they say are service-related."
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-05-28/veteran-disa...
There is an officer corps of priviledge; and there is an underclass that seeks refuge from poverty and unemployment by joining up. Our military is primarily the enforcement tool of global corporate capitalism. There is an officer corps capable of understanding this a priori; and there are veterans and dishonorable dischargees who get a clue only after they are called to court for beating and threatening loved ones, only after they are turned down by Lowes and McDonalds as timebombs, only after their benefits fall short in their vocational educations, only after their druggy and drunken butts hit the concrete with cardboard for a mattress and trash for covers.
Last week I talked through a fence to a PTSD beater of women and kids who bragged what a great squad leader he had been; using the inertia of a troop plane to guess what continent he was being deployed to, and what shade of colored people he'd have to kill. His green squad clung to him like a daddy and he delivered their dumb intimidated asses into whatever was dealt. When your country lacks honor you have to cook up your own with wild game, a serrated knife and a numb heart. That's what the falsity of a war holiday is all about. Our best defense is to radically curtail our military budget because the economic travesty it supports is collapsing anyway. Defense spending is the last toothpick holding the USA back from sliding into the floodwaters of Global Depression. There is a better way but the Oligarchs can't see it. They are smothered in cash and use war like an alarm clock.
Dr. J. Rufus Fears of the University of Oklahoma has stated that the lust for power is the universal value. Which means that people in all times and all places have power as their primary goal. Inevitably this leads to war after war with no end in sight. It's one thing when a nation has been attacked and must fight for its survival. It's something else when a nation starts a war for supposed idealistic reasons.
The instigators of these military adventures are usually the only individuals who benefit. The ones who must carry the load all too often suffer for the rest of their lives.
One would think that after centuries of this wrong-headed thinking, we would learn our lessons. However, the first lesson of history is that we never learn from history. And the people of the world continue to suffer with no end in sight.
I am a Viet Nam war veteran with an Agent Orrange disability. I'm lucky. I have stayed empolyeed since 1972 until recently. But there are many thousands of us with PTSD, homeless, drug addicted, unemployeed, dead. We only had to serve 12 months in Nam unless we voluteered for more, but in recent wars, multiple deployements with short breaks are destroying the futures of a generation of fine, young people who love their country. There will be a high percentage of percentage of these veterans with medical and mental problems. The government, by policy, refused to help my generation of veterans for decades. The politicians need to accept care for the veterans as a dollar cost of war. It doesn't help Wall Street, but much more needs to be done.
Diane - Please suggest to your caller Laura that she contact the Congressional representative for her father-in-law's district. This is just the sort of constituent problem they should be working on.
I`m completely frustrated with this topic. The military family,like all the rest of America voted last week. Millions of these folks voted against their own interest. I`m tired of the fight for folks who continue to stab us in the back with their vote when it counts. You voted for Ryan,kept him in Congress,and watch what he wants to do to you honored vets. You proudly stood up for our country. Now proudly stand up for the cuts you voted for. Explain to your military family your stance,and why YOU didn`t care,I`m done.
Each branch of the service and the VA have Case Managers and Patient Advocates to assist active duty and retired military professionals to access care for themselves and their families. As an Editor in Chief of a national publication that focus on care coordination, transition of care and medical and behavioral health management, I know that there is a great deal of work being done to assist all.
Please ask for a nurse case manager or a patient advocate at your medical center, at the hospital where you received treatment. If you cannot get help, please feel free to email me at allewellyn@accessintel.com to finding help.
Anne Llewellyn, RN-BC, MS, BHSA, CCM, CRRN
Editor in Chief, Dorland Health
I am a community clinician working with vets and their families. I have contacts at my local VA and would advocate for Laura to help her get assistance. Diane, why would your guests not advocate or you ask her to remain off air for her contact info to help her? You would be making the national statement for help as your guests are advocating. Thank you. I really love this show.
"Millions of these folks voted against their own interest"
I am forced to laugh.
So many people have thanked me for my service. While I appreciate their thanks, I can tell by the way they divert their eyes that their thanks are somewhat hollow. Let there be no doubt, they're sincere; however, they have no idea for what they are thanking me.
As a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, a former paratrooper who once jumped boots first into hostile territory, it is my sole purpose now to show non-veterans what we veterans have endured.
For what is war but a wildfire that spreads across an open field, and what is peace but the renewal of scorched land?
Veterans are the standard-bearers of freedom; they are the vanguards of democracy. We contain those fires; we cultivate hewn earth.
If you want to know why you should thank a veteran, you must first know why you are thanking them. You must empathize rather than sympathize with them.
This is why I write.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, I bundled a collection of short stories and self-published them on Amazon. The reason I did this was twofold: 1) to give me distance and perspective of my own experiences, and 2) allow my friends, family, and others into the world of a veteran.
PTSD alone or with Brain Injury, is often due to the loss of sense of self effectiveness, and frustration with low energy when zapped with the assaults to ones self-esteem. Even with brain injury, the peripheral visual system works and picks up on body language, and any mocking behavior from those who make fun of those having either physical, emotional, or combination problems, military related or otherwise. So WATCH it, civilians, do not mock anyone, as you don't know whether he/or she is injured VET, or somebody's mother or father, son, daughter, etc.
Also, brain injury hard to detect for young recruits and guard members, because they are not doing executive work, but following routines that work. So, when they get home, friends and family may notice 'the old person is gone,' but the way VA works, and civilian, only those who had occupied complex and high level positions, can be seen as having 'diminished capacity.'
So, first do not harm, Do not mock anyone. PTSD can be life long and you don't need to add to someone elses suffering, or delay their treatment.
The benefits for stateside active duty Title 32 and Title 10 veterans are different. Congress has created a contemporary Catch 22. Title 32 is the funding stream for the National Guard Bureau whereas Title 10 is for the Active Duty component. So a soldier could have served on active duty providing health care case manager service to returning mobilized servicemembers at state level(Title 32) or at a Federal Community Based
Health Care Organization(Title 10) level. As a footnote when you mathematically look at the funding stream Title number difference you get 22. As an after thought Congress has awarded similar benefits to
Active Guard Reserve (Title 32) but has still left out those weekend warriors that become called to Active Duty (over 180 days) to serve at the state level then go back to their full time jobs.
I am writing from the Sergeant Thomas Joseph Sullivan Center, an organization dedicated to improving post-deployment health outcomes especially for Veterans with complicated deployment exposure associated illness. This organization is named for my brother Sgt. Tom Sullivan, who died in 2009 four years after returning from Iraq with mysterious illnesses. I came into the show a bit late and noticed reference to TBI and PTSD injuries. I would like also to note the complicated illnesses that follow deployment that may be associated with theater exposures.
By one expert’s estimate 800,000 Veterans of the post 9/11 wars will come forward with war exposure concerns in the years to come. This prediction comes from the estimated percentage of 1991 Gulf War vets who have chronic post-deployment disease: 30%. 400,000 post 9/11 veterans have already sought healthcare from the VA for so called “symptoms, signs, and ill defined conditions,” complicated illnesses that defy diagnosis. We are at the tip of an iceberg of post-deployment illness, and we are not yet ready for it. I hope that a future show might cover this issue so that we may not forget this group of those who served.
Dan Sullivan
President
www.sgtsullivancenter.org
daniel@sgtsullivancenter.org
VA medical centers (VAMC) do a great job under the circumstances. One problem is they end up treating a lot of less than critical veteran healthcare problems. This is not ideal -- VAMC should be able to focus on the critical needs vets. Plus many vets live far from VA hospitals; it can be expensive and time consuming to visit a VAMC.
One of Romney's plans, had he been elected, was to allow vets to receive treatment from any physician or clinic accepting Tricare (the medical insurance program for soldiers, dependents, and retirees) at VA expense.
This would have reduced costs since providing routine care at specialized VA hospitals is expensive. It would also take pressure off VAMC, allowing them to focus on critical needs vets. VAMC gets stuck giving flu shots etc... that vets could get at a Walgreens under Tricare.
But this plan goes against growing the central VA bureaucracy, and Obama never suggested any such ideas, at least that I heard. So I guess it dies along with Romney's candidacy. Sigh...
De oppresso liber.
In listening to this morning's program, I can only say..."We tried to tell you this 9 years ago when our son and daughter in law were "tips of the Iceberg". The were part of the first wave of military that went into Afghanistan after 9-11 leaving their 4 year old son in care of a dedicated family. They were career military who had already given so much to their country and when they needed help after 2 additional deployments by our son by 2003, it did not exist. We can share our experiences of Military Boards, VA, Criminal Justice, etc. which reflects exactly what the members of your panel discussed today as it happened in the past 9 years. During this time we have had contact with other military families who experienced many of the same issues and with little help. For us we were fortunate to have the Military Peers who continued their fight "not to leave behind a buddy" long after our son was legally out of the military. If it was not for these "angels", The Wounded Warrior Program, family and other caring indviduals, our son would not be with us today. A family unit was destroyed and two valuable military individuals were no longer part of the military....they proved to be expendable.
Publically we pray for the safe return of our military but nothing is said in how we will take care of them after their return....the amount of money expended on the 10 years of war, should continue to assist these men and women and families in their readjustment to this new world they are entering....the one they fought so valiantly for us and themselves.
God bless all of our Military and Veterans and Families...we are proud and grateful for all of them.
The vet that called in toward the end of the segment mentioned that he had published a set of short stories on Amazon.
Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Beaten-Zone-ebook/dp/B009FJ1M4K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8...
To the woman whose mother was having such a problem getting her husband recertified with the VA, another source is to contact her congressperson. The representatives have staff people whose entire jobs are to work on VA and Medicare problems for their constituents.
After watching last night's 60 Minutes segment on manufacturers' struggles to find workers to fill a million openings I would think vets would be a prime source for this type of labor.
That said, there was also the employer who wants the taxpayer funded education system to supply him with a trained ready to work skilled employer while likely wanting the govmint to stay out of his business and keep his taxes low.
One can applaud Gov. Romney for suggesting that Tricare provide claims by veterans for PTSD as being creative. The rub is that Tricare is more expensive since the claims processors and providers include the overhead of extra admin and the negotiated profits by the private companies who won bids for that coverage. Those who live at distance from military health facilities and VA facilities know from experience that Tricare is not only more out of pocket but more expensive for the VA to repay......Tricare claims processors end up charging more for care than the direct care a vet gets at a VA facility.
Perhaps an interim arrangement could be negotiated until the proper number of providers has increased to serve the need.
For those who denigrate the reasons people enlist, please remember the flap John Kerry ran into by suggesting the military is comprised of indigents and those who are desperate. Whether a troop had his/her faculties maimed during a one year hitch or multiple tours, makes little difference.....once a human's mind and body is shattered, it is permanent.......brain cells and limbs and organs do not grow back.
Pertaining to the caller about her father-in-law. It's sad that a family member can't take time off "once-a-year" for their father for this appointment? That seems selfish.
@Pancake Rankin:
Eleanor Roosevelt's Wartime Prayer
Dear Lord,
Lest I continue
My complacent way,
...Help me to remember that somewhere,
Somehow out there
A man died for me today.
As long as there be war,
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?
....Pancake you have -0- credibility or understanding of that which you speak. It always amazes me how those of your ilk (rear echelon oral commandos) are the first to shoot their big mouths off about the military.
INFO for VETS and others: New Brain Treatment for PTSD,TBI, Depression, Anxiety, ADHD ...
I recommend checking out the website www.brainwellnessandbiofeedback.com
Dr. Mary Lee Esty is currently involved in a study (in cooperation with the military) for Vets with PTSD. A preliminary study was encouraging.
Her website is much more informative, but briefly, this involves evaluation, an individualized plan of treatment and EEG biofeedback technology. Patient sits in a comfortable chair with eyes closed for a few minutes while the computer does the work.
I am currently being treated myself and know others with TBI who have had good results. After living with brain injury for over 20 years I am very excited about current brain research and the development of effective treatments such as this one which help our brains to heal without the side effects associated with many medications.