Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

What is the PTSD Timeline?

It's a collection of online news reports listing incidents related to returning combat veterans coping with PTSD. These are the most tragic of all incidents, of course, as mild cases of PTSD are hardly given a mention in our media. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for smaller media organizations and local outlets, we'd probably never even hear about these violent cases, either.

• - Can you remember the last time you heard of a soldier who'd recently returned from combat committing suicide? In the traditional press?
  
• - Can you remember the last time you heard of a marine committing armed robbery just so he didn't have to return to Iraq?
  
• - Can you remember the last time you found out that a recently returned soldier killed himself and his wife in a fit of uncontrollable rage?
  
• - Can you remember the last time you heard about a soldier going AWOL rather than return to the combat zone?
  
• - Can you remember the last time you ever even heard or saw a public service message on this mushrooming crisis?

Pro war or against, a helpless child or spouse abused due to the the undiagnosed or untreated pain of a veteran returned home from battle should resonate with us all. And it should compel us to act in their defense.

The purpose of the PTSD Timeline is to:

• - Aid in our understanding of the magnitude of this all-encompassing problem
  
• - Record the incidents for future study and evaluation
  
• - Allow reporters and researchers to find OEF and OIF PTSD incident data quickly and easily

The Silence is Deafening

No traditional news organizations are tracking returning veteran PTSD-related incidents. The Pentagon isn't doing it. And neither is the cash-strapped Veterans Administration (VA).

Fortunately, most soldiers, sailors, aviators, and marines return to civilian life without any major hardships -- at least the type that can be seen from the outside. They fold back into their home lives, into their communities. And the fickle public happily moves on and forgets about them. They're no longer warriors met with parades; they are simply citizens.  

Then again, that's what they really were all along, anyway. Merely citizens of our country. Our brothers and sisters. Husbands and wives. Mothers, fathers, children, or cousins. How well they cope with PTSD affects not only their own future, but that of the loved ones who surround them. Their ability to function fully and well after their return home from combat also has an immediate and real bearing on the fabric of their local community. Their health also effects our larger society as a whole.

We leave them alone to deal with their wounds (either visible or invisible) at our own national peril.

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The Incidents

Now might be a good time to add my usual disclaimer:

The aim of this research is to shine a sliver of light on yet another burden placed on society by war. It is not to lay blame or demonize our veterans. In my eyes, they are victims, too.

I'm not interested in singling out our soldiers as if they are the only ones in society who commit crime. They're not. Violence exists in the general population -- not only amongst those suffering from combat-related PTSD. Additionally, not everyone with PTSD suffers to the same degree. Most return, folding back into society and family without harming themselves or others.

In an attempt to show respect for the veterans, I chose not to include names in the final list and database because this isn't about their individual acts. Rather, it's meant to bring about a fuller understanding of what happens to the fabric of society when a nation sends another generation to war. And what can and should be done to make sure that those we've sent are well taken care of upon their return -- for their own good and ours, too.

• Murder/Manslaughter: 26
  
• Suicide/Overdose: 33
  
• Faked/Attempted/Suspected Suicide: 3
  
• Aggravated Assault/Resisting Arrest: 5
  
• Assault/Domestic Assault: 6
  
• Burglary/Armed Robbery: 4
  
• Weapons Violation/Instrument of Assault/Police Standoff: 6
  
• Conspiracy/Obstruction: 2
  
• Rape/Statutory Rape: 3
  
• Attempted Murder: 5
  
• AWOL: 2
  
• Kidnapping: 1
  
• Drug Charge: 1
  
• Reckless Endangerment: 1
  
• Wife Abandonment: 1
  
• Felony Child Abuse/Sexual Assault on Child: 4

Notes:

There are more charges (103) than total incidents (69) due to the fact that some incidents resulted in more than one charge (for example a murder/suicide) brought against one individual. Unfortunately, these figures are the tip of the iceberg; many incidents go unreported.

By May 2004, one year after we began our war efforts, there were already 24 reported combat-zone suicides. Since the Pentagon refuses to release data or track suicides -- and while many more suicides take place during post-deployment and are not counted as casualties of war -- it's difficult to determine what the true suicide figure really is. The majority of the above 33 suicides cases occurred stateside, not overseas.

Please see the PTSD Timelines for full descriptions of the incidents above.

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Many of you are familiar with my coverage of returning veteran PTSD. Inspired to increase exposure on this topic I've created a new blog called PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within.

I invite you to bookmark it and share it with others who may be returning from service overseas.