Pentagon: PTSD Does Not Warrant Purple Heart

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Pentagon: PTSD Does Not Warrant Purple Heart

Ruling calls disorder ‘not a wound,’ but a ‘secondary effect’
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 17, 2009 7:57:41 EST

The Pentagon has decided it will not award the Purple Heart to troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The decision, reached Nov. 3 but not made public until now, followed months of review by military and outside officials that was spurred when Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked at a May news conference whether he would support awarding the Purple Heart to PTSD victims.

Gates said the idea was “clearly something that needs to be looked at.” But after conferring with the Awards Advisory Group, which includes experts from the Pentagon, Center for Military History and Institute of Heraldry, Gates’ personnel chief, David S.C. Chu, decided against such awards, Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said Jan. 5.

Gates concurred, Lainez said. The decision was first reported by Stars and Stripes newspaper.

The Purple Heart “recognizes those individuals wounded to a degree that requires treatment by a medical officer, in action with the enemy or as the result of enemy action where the intended effect of a specific enemy action is to kill or injure the service member,” Lainez said.

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/01/army_ptsdmedal_011909w/%2e