PSTD

PTSD: The Scars of Combat

/ Christopher Moritt / Leave a comment

In 2007, I came home from Iraq just before Thanksgiving, it is often something I don’t really think about until my Mom reminds me. That Thanksgiving my family and a friend of mine from the Marines ate our meal at a hotel buffet in California, the food was great and it was great being around my family again. I was a little older than most guys in the Marines and had been away from my family before for long periods of time, but this of course was a little different. This time I had been in combat and no matter how much you think you’re the same, there is something about it that changes you, if only just a little. I thought this week I would talk about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I have mentioned it in passing in my posts about suicide and other issues but haven’t really discussed it detail.

 

On a personal note, I do not believe that I suffer from PTSD, and 90 percent of the time I consider myself a normal person who happens to have had a few unique and harrowing experiences. By most accounts my time in Iraq was not filled with gunfire and waves of enemies coming after us as you would see in a movie about Vietnam. Our unit was shot at, and we encountered IED’s and other problems, but others among the ranks have had far more violent experiences and carry the scars of combat wherever they go. What I can say is that I probably don’t sleep as well as I used to, and for a while I hated fireworks, but not to the point that I did not go see them every 4th of July. Most infantry guys become more aggressive and emotional, and those feelings come and go. For others, it is constant.

 

The National Institute of Mental Health has a great outline (found here) about the issue surrounding PTSD and the steps that are being taken to conduct further research to help those whose lives will never be the same. PTSD is characterized as a change in the body’s fight or flight response, the reaction that helps us survive when we believe we are in danger. PTSD changes this response to believe you are in fear even though the danger is gone. Not just infantrymen who have been in combat suffer from this affliction; rape victims, those who witness something violent like a train wreck, and other people who have suffered from abuse can also encounter problems with PTSD.

 

Additionally, not everyone who experiences a trauma has PTSD. As far as veterans are concerned there are many services available to work through some of the problems associated with PTSD. When units return from a combat zone, we have to undergo classes that discuss whether or not the trashcan will explode on the street corner in our home city and that not everyone who is middle eastern is trying to kill us. These statements seem silly to some and often when I tell people about theses classes it get a laugh; and quite frankly, while I was sitting in one of them, I also thought it was funny. But the reality is I have seen tough, strong Marines take cover when a car backfires or when fireworks go off, a reaction most normal people probably wouldn’t have. A guy I served with goes to the VA hospital once a week to talk to a shrink about his experiences. I am not sure if it helps him or not, but my guess is it is better than not talking about it. For the purpose of this post, I thought I would just get out some of the basics and my thoughts about PTSD and will do a follow up with a bit more detail in a future post.

 

For now, as Thanksgiving approaches, I find myself thankful that if I did feel as though I had problems I have a support element to talk about it. However, not every veteran has that going for him or her. Also, this Thanksgiving, remember there will be a future veteran somewhere in the world sleeping on the ground or not sleeping at all as bullets and explosions fill the air while we eat Turkey with our families.

Veterans Issues: A Brief Overview

/ Christopher Moritt / Leave a comment

As a veteran of the Marine Corps, I have had the opportunity to do many interesting things that many people do not get to do. I have been to the island of Iwo Jima, the DMZ in Korea, and of course I was also deployed to Iraq to participate in combat operations. After all, that is what Marines do. However, once one chooses to end their active duty service a variety of issues become a factor when trying to make your way in civilian life. This Blog is intended to highlight those issues and discuss current developments as it relates to veterans. Many of those who haven’t served only really see a handful of issue that get highlighted in the media such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), unemployment, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). But with two wars winding down in Iraq and Afghanistan and the older vets of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, getting older the number of people relying on services and support has grown larger. Additionally, the type of issues that affects veterans has become more complex.
One question that comes to my mind is what do we do with everyone? Here are some interesting statics from the Veterans Administration website:

• In fiscal year 2011, 476,515 Veterans with primary or secondary diagnosis of PTSD received treatment at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and clinics.
• Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill was implemented on Aug. 1, 2009, VA has provided educational benefits to 773,000 Veterans and their family members, amounting to more than $20 billion in benefits.
• Every year since 2009, VA has completed a record breaking 1 million claims representing over $59 billion in payments to Veterans and their families. VA is building a strong foundation for a paperless, digital disability claims system
• The 2012 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress, prepared by HUD, estimates there were 62,619 homeless Veterans on a single night in January in the United States, a 7.2 percent decline since 2011 and a 17.2 percent decline since 2009.

These statics are interesting because of the sheer volume of veterans the VA is processing for its various benefits programs. Also, the money involved is a big issue, between education and disability alone there is nearly 80 billion dollars in spending. These issues will be explored further in later posts but in general it is worth noting what kind of numbers we will be talking about. As a veteran I am of the opinion this is money well spent and it has helped me out a lot in achieving my educational goals. But I also know several veterans that start school on the VA’s dime and never finish or do anything productive. Is this a waste of taxpayer money? A question we will take up in a future entry.
Another issue to think about is the transition from active duty military to regular civilian is difficult even for those who do not have disabilities or PTSD. The military is a very close-knit society that has its own rules and regulations, many of which are markedly different than that of the civilian world. From my own experience I can say it took me years to be able to walk and talk on a cellphone at the same time (its against Marine Corps Orders to do that). While that’s more of a humorous example, a more pointed one is that I was an Infantryman and as such did not work with females in any capacity. I have never had a female boss, nor have I ever had to work with a female on a work project or task. I mention this because the civilian world is very different; women are often in leadership roles, or work place equals and it can be an adjustment, particularly when its something you have never had to do. Granted, I adjusted just fine (or at least I think I did) but that isn’t always the case. What should be done about those that can’t?

Veterans Issues are plentiful and over the coming weeks and months I hope to establish a good foundation for people to understand the breadth and complexity of problems and adjustments that face today’s patriots that have sacrificed to serve our great country.