Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Yesterday May 12,in Des Moines,Iowa General Wesley Clark met with the family of Joshua Omvig age 22 of Iowa, who on December 22, 2005 took his life in the driveway of his home, sitting in his truck, with his mother, Ellen standing outside the truck screaming at him not to do it, as he put the gun to his head, he aimed the gun to make sure his mother wasn't hurt, and he ended his suffering. Joshua had learned his battle buddy from his time in Iraq, had been killed in the line of duty. Some people call it survivor's guilt, whatever they call it, it is PTSD. Here is   http://joshua-omvig.memory-

of.com/...  the website Joshua's family created in his honor and to help other victims of PTSD, you see they realize what many of us don't, yet, the government is sending these men and women to war, then ignoring when they come home.

This article describe's the governments GAO report on the failings of the Department of Defense in treating the active duty personnel that appear to be affected by symptoms of PTSD, their solution is to just ignore the problem. They are sending some troops back to Iraq and Afghanistan with pockets full of anxiety and anti-despressants. I don't know about you, but as a veteran of the infantry, I am not real sure I want a pill popping person in my unit, that I have to depend on the save my life and protect my back. Is this the best policy DOD could come up with? http://www.foodconsumer.org

/...

As a veteran I have been treated for PTSD at a VA hopsital, when I first started going three years ago, I was seen every month, then in 2004 it became every two months, then in September 2005 I was notified that it was now being changed to every three months, I asked the "new" resident to speak with my real shrink, and asked him what was going on, all the new vets? No, he replied, they were treating so many active duty troops to get them stabilized on medications so they could be reclassified as being deployable.

So that showed me then, that the Army, Marines etc do not have the needed mental health personnel, that they were using the VA doctors that were supposed to be treating myself and other veterans, were now treating active duty troops, as they had priority. Forget the fact they were doctors for veterans, war comes first. My opinion is that DOD needs to hire more mental health providers for the Army and Navy then. If you are going to throw a war because YOU want one, then pay the bills for the aftermath, otherwise don't throw wars of choice.

No Matter what anyone says, Joshua was a victim of this war, even if he will not be counted as one of the war dead by the Pentagon, he died because of this war. If he had never gone, and never had a battle buddy, then he would not have had PTSD, or survivors guilt, and today his mother would not have the memory of watching her child end his misery. This is the true cost of war.

Demand from your elected officials that they must make DOD provide the help these men and women need, as a priority, not as an after thought, people's lives, like Joshua's depend on it. If they can afford 5 billion a month in Iraq, they can afford a few hundred million for the health care of these brave men and women. Do rich people really need tax breaks or do these men and women deserve mental health care?

http://veterans.house.gov/.

..  DOD May 2006

http://www.gao.gov/...   VA Report September 2005

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov  National Center for PTSD

The sad part of all this Joshua was not the first suicide of problems related to the war, and he will not be the last. Am I naive enough to believe that if they hire more mental health workers will it stop all the suicides, no, but even if one more life has the chance of being saved, by the active duty, veterans and family members being afforded the chance to receive the care they need from the government, then YES, we as a society owe it to them, give them a chance, lives or tax breaks which is more important?

This was cross posted at KOS