Lost Between the Cracks

How can I go home
And not get blown away
Ain't nobody gonna
Steal this heart away
--When the War is Over,
John Farnham

PILE the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work—
I am the grass; I cover all
--Grass, Carl Sandburg
__________________

The number of soldiers being discharged from service for having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has increased almost 40% between 2005 and 2009 (Mental Illness Costing Military Soldiers). For now, these soldiers are lost between the cracks in their psyche:

Soldiers discharged for having both a mental and a physical disability increased 174% during the past five years from 1,397 in 2005 to 3,831 in 2009, according to the statistics.

Army Lt. Col. Rebecca Porter, an Army behavioral health official, says research shows "a clear relationship between multiple deployments and increased symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD."

In addition, 150,000 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have officially been diagnosed with PTSD; however, the number may be as high as 300,000. The perceived stigma attached to the diagnosis has kept many soldiers from seeking help, medical professionals say (PTSD: New Regs Will Make it Easier for Vets to Get Help.)

A recent study on violent dreams "frequently involve episodes in which an attacker must be fought off" shows a connection with later onset of mental illness, including Alzheimers (Violent Illness May Predict Illness in Advance.) While the study did not target PTSD patients, such violent/acting out dreams are a frequent symptom of the disorder. The implications are depressing.

It is quite simple: If our soldiers are exposed to long-term combat stress associated with stressful deployments while working for stressful organizations, then we must expect a great influx of PTSD cases. That's the good news.

The bad news is that the onset of clinical PTSD -- chronic and severe variety -- is often long-deferred, known to erupt decades after the precipitating events. So if the stats are trending up now, strap down your gear and tighten your helmet, for they will get worse as time goes on, even were the wars to stop today (which they will not.)

These men and women will be or are your co-workers, spouses and early responders. The ramifications of the damage wrought by the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) will ripple out for decades and generations. There is no tidy package in which to tie it up or armistice to hide behind for those who suffer war's lingering impact.

Sandburg wrote about the grass which would inexorably cover the earth's scars, but many humans will not regenerate so easily. Their grass is often a hard carapace of indifference or hostility -- a callous developed to protect the raw meat of the brain.

War does not end when the war is over.

We Support the Troops--Not

This isn't for the man who can't count the bodies
Can't comfort the families, can't say when he's wrong
Claiming I'm the decider, like some sort of messiah
While another day passes and a hundred souls gone

--On With the Song, Mary Chapin Carpenter

It is certainly no criticism of our troops to say that this was a very unnecessary war.
It has always been more about money and power and prestige
than any real threat to us or our people.
This war went against every traditional conservative position I have ever known

--John Duncan (R-TN), 2007
_________

Well, we support, given you look like warriors. Army Strong is good.

The Veterans Programs Enhancement Act tasked Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1998 to review and evaluate literature which could lead to conclusions. . .that would form the basis for authorizing cost-free healthcare service'' for GWI vets (''Gulf War Illness Update'', VFW June/July.'')

They are just now coming around to some gloriously ambivalent governmentese decisions on the matter of Gulf War Syndrome. But before that, this.

Ranger's ire aroused by the wording, since there are no cost-free services for veterans. Cash may not be paid, but long and hard service was the coin. Browse the list of health woes besetting this group and say it is ''cost-free''. This care, which has not yet been provided, is dearly bought.

Why do we veterans even allow these misleading words --cost-free-- which wrongly shed a sense of grandiosity upon this miserly and duplicitous administration to be spoken?

Veterans from the Persian Gulf War have reported symptoms of a mysterious illness or illnesses since returning from their deployment 16 years ago.

In 1998, the secretary of veterans affairs to contracted with the NAS’s Institute of Medicine (IOM) to review and evaluate literature regarding connections between illness and exposure to toxic agents.

''Between 1994 and 2003, three federal agencies expended a combined total of $316 million on 256 studies. In 2005, a St. Louis VA Medical Center-Washington University study concluded that more than 28% of Persian Gulf War vets suffered from what researchers called Chronic Multisymptom Illness (CMI).'' However,

“Though it said no syndrome exists, the IOM did reveal that 29% of the vets experienced multiple symptoms of different ailments.

“The committee investigated potential adverse health effects from exposure to sarin nerve gas, depleted uranium, anthrax, pyridostigmine bromide and the botulinum vaccine.”

This is morbidly funny: 28% of Persian Gulf War vets suffered Chronic Multisymptom Illness (CMI), and 29% of vets experience multiple symptoms of different ailments, but the IOM indicates no syndrome exists. It takes the U. S Army to come up with this sort of accounting.

Maybe the problem is rhetorical in nature. Perhaps they cannot square ''multisymptom illness'' with ''syndrome,'' and so toss the whole thing out. However, this simple Ranger always thought a syndrome was a constellation (''multisymptom'') of symptoms.

Well, it just confirms what the naysayers suspected all along-- 29% of all Gulf War vets are whining wimps looking for a pity and a handout. Buck up, take two aspirins, and drive on!

The article fails to mention that it wasn't exposure to Anthrax per se, but rather, the troops being forced under threat of Courts Martial to take the non-FDA approved Anthrax vaccine, along with a panoply of other untested vaccines, which may have contributed to these veteran's health woes.

“Though conclusions drawn from the panel did not confirm the existence of a 'Gulf War Syndrome (GWS),' it is evident that a constellation of illnesses exists —now known as medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) among some doctors and scientists.”

“The report is presented in such a way that seems ready-made for misunderstanding and confusion about the true nature of GWS.”

“Pre-deployment health screenings and exams were often vague or incomplete, leaving them unable to provide a baseline needed to draw further conclusions in regard to long-term health.”

I really do like the ring of ''medically unexplained symptoms (MUS)''. This allows the government to tread the line between acknowledgment of a syndrome, while diminishing its validity at the same time. They are symptoms, but they elude scientific validation.

So you just may be a malingerer. We'll say it, but not, thereby maybe driving you into the ranks of the loony ward, at which point you really won't be taken seriously. But, you'll be so zoned out on meds that you will not be coherent enough to cause problems by verbalizing your imagined pain. It's so much tidier when a case manager can close a case.

But the vague and incomplete pre-deployment screens are perhaps the best part of the study. In effect, if you are breathing, you are deploying. Have a nice day.

“The IOM study failed to find a single new disability, or a common collection of symptoms, which could be related to the Gulf War experience.

“However, qualifying veterans can still receive benefits if they have a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromylagia, irritable bowel syndrome or a disability which cannot be diagnosed.”

“. . .Of those processed, some 3,733, or 25%, were granted service connection.”

One out of four soldiers granted service-connection for their disabilities. What a Catch-22. Incomplete pre-deployment physicals, then post-deployment service disabilities. The veterans in effect have to prove service connection for a disease or condition that is undiagnosed or unrecognized. That is a losing hand for the veteran.

Veterans should not have to qualify for benefits, but rather, a presumption of service-connection should be applied to this group of veterans. This solution is not as cheap as a yellow ribbon, but it is the right thing to do if the rhetoric of We Support the Troops is to be more than hollow claptrap.