VA system ill-equipped to treat mental anguish of war

[murielm99]

Forreston Ill. - A year ago on Thanksgiving morning, in the corrugated metal pole barn that housed his family's electrical business, Timothy Bowman put a handgun to his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet only grazed his forehead. So, he put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger again.

He had been home from the Iraq war for only eight months. Once a fun-loving, life-of-the-party type, Bowman had slipped into an abyss, tormented by things he'd been ordered to do in war.

"I'm OK. I can deal with it," he would say whenever his father, Mike, urged him to get counseling.

snip

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16636341.htm

This long article goes on to give an account of Josh Omvig, of Grundy Center, Iowa, who died in a very similar suicide. The article tells how psychiatric treatment varies across the country, how it has been decentralized, how there is little treatment for PTSD, and how older veterans are being shortchanged.

There are pictures with the article, of both families. There are graphics that show how VA health care money is being spent and administered.

I watched Tim Bowman grow up. I saw him turn from a freckle-faced kid to a haunted man. While I don't know the other family, I know people who do know them. Our family's home farm is in Grundy Center, and we go there often for farm business.

It makes it personal that I watched Tim grow up. It makes it personal that he was a friend of my son's, from pre-school, all through ten years of church camp and high school. I see his family's anguish almost daily.

Multiply his story by thousands. Think about all the mentally damaged veterans who will come home to little or no treatment over the next years. Add them to the physically damaged. Look at their fractured families.

I am going to send this article to that stupid Bush*, to let him know how I feel about what he is doing to a generation of young men and women, and to our country.

Please read Tim's story. His father e-mailed it to us. He wants everyone to know.

[GreenTea]

1. It's a fucking disgrace how these republicans have cut ALL vets benefits...

How do these fuckers sleep at night....the republicans pound away about patriotism and support the troops, yet they cut Veterans benefits every chance they get...the republican don't give one fuck about the troops...it's ALL about the poor fighting for oil and fuck the troops when they are back home...family values?

[Monkeyman]

2. Yep one out of four coming home from Iraq with PTSD or other mental problems

[murielm99]

3. I am going to kick this.

I want a few more people to see it.

:kick: