Broken By War, And Ordered Back (just in case you've run out of outrage)

[Pale Blue Dot]

Nothing was stranger for Mary Jane Fernandez than the events of last Christmas, which had her 24-year-old son, newly returned from the war in Iraq, downing sedatives, ranting about how rich people were allowed to sit in recliners in church, and summoning the Waterbury police to come arrest him.

This Christmas may top that.

Despite being diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and rated 70 percent disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Damian Fernandez has been called back to duty and told to prepare for another deployment to Iraq.

Two weeks ago, Fernandez, who was discharged from active duty in the Army last year and was working to settle back into civilian life, abruptly received orders to report to Fort Benning, Ga., on Jan. 14.

When the FedEx letter from the Army arrived Nov. 28, he calmly told his mother and girlfriend, "I got my orders," staring hard at them with vacant eyes.

That night, he snapped. He told his girlfriend, Riella Darko, that he wanted to die and asked her to take him to the emergency room of St. Mary's Hospital, where he was placed on a suicide watch. He has since been transferred to a locked ward in the Northampton VA Medical Center in Massachusetts.

http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-ptsdcallup1210.artdec10,0,1928399.story?coll=hc-big-headlines-breaking

The orders have not been rescinded, by the way.

[babylonsister]

1. Pathetic on so many levels, starting with the military callousness

and urgent need for warm bodies, regardless of the condition they're in. I'm glad Fernandez got himself to a hospital, though who knows what further damage a locked ward will do to him. :banghead:

[Gogi]

3. Locked ward is not so bad.

I used to go into the locked ward at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and it's not that scary. The patients are there for their own protection and there are nurses who take good care of them. Scarier is being suicidal with no one to care about you.

[Monkeyman]

4. 482 returning troops have taken their own lifes

Waiting list at the VA are huge. 600,000 Veterans turned away last year just for health care

[Morgana LaFey]

13. Do you have a link for that?

Info I'd really like to have documentation on. Thx.

[babylonsister]

6. Thanks for that ray of hope, Gogi, and it does make me feel

better for this soldier.

[Monkeyman]

2. This story is ongoing.

The Courant has been telling the story of how Soldiers and Marines are being sent back to the war zones on Meds with mental problems. You can still see those articles on http://www.vawatchdog.org
Use Larry Site that is his put in sending troops with mental problems back to Iraq.

[Monkeyman]

5. Forgot please forgive me here

Must of these veterans will find themselves homeless if not treated

[gulfcoastliberal]

7. K&R - Half a trillion dollars in "emergency supplements" and a destroyed military

Throwing away soldiers cuase they're "fungible" per rumsfeld... like coffee or tin.

[Monkeyman]

8. Seems like I highjacked this tread

Last point I promise Senators Boxer and Kerry called for hearing on this. But the Republican Chairmen shut it down calling it a Political move for the 2006 run

[babylonsister]

10. Count on new hearings in the very near future, Monkeyman.

That gives me hope!

[Monkeyman]

11. Yep Veterans Committee and Armed Services

Both have told us hearings will be held

[nam78_two]

9. K&R.nt

[ms liberty]

12. K&R - No words for how horrified and angry this makes me n/t

[Dastard Stepchild]

14. This is very unfortunate...

PTSD is such a disabling condition. I have worked clinically with a number of people with this condition, and I intently wish that the soldiers with PTSD could get the mental health support they so desperately need. Funding for mental health clinical care is tragically below what it needs to be.