Veterans

Chairman Reaffirms Commitment to Health Care for Veterans

kpaul.mallasch — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:19:32 -0700

By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service

LOS ANGELES, CA – As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen worries a great deal about the systems in place for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans transitioning out of the military, he said during a visit with health care providers and social workers on Saturday September 20, 2008 at the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System here.

"One of the priorities for me is [the welfare of] the wounded coming out this war and the families of the fallen," Mullen said. "These people are so precious to us, and [the military] doesn't have contact with them any more after they're pushed back into society."

Once servicemembers separate from the military, they can register with the Veterans Affairs Department, which is responsible for helping them integrate back into society. VA assists veterans with health-care needs, entitled benefits and finding employment.

But what happens to those who don't register and suffer physical injuries? What happens to those who received physical treatment but were too embarrassed to seek mental help?

Some may get on with their lives without any issues. Others may suffer from depression, alcoholism or drug addiction. Many may have difficulties holding a job, and some end up in jail. Post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries have become more and more common for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The single biggest issue Mullen has noticed during visits with wounded servicemembers at polytrauma medical centers, such as Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is that they want their lives back, he said. They're eager to get back to their units or shift back into society and just move on with their lives, he added.

Unfortunately, many servicemembers are so eager to separate from the military that they'll forego seeking psychiatric care for possible PTSD or TBI. For these reasons, there are significant issues with veterans struggling or becoming homeless due to undiagnosed, service-related disabilities, he said.

In the Los Angeles area, around 35,000 veterans have been treated through VA systems. However, only some veterans took it upon themselves to seek help. Many veterans were sought out in jails and on the streets here by VA social workers, said Bill Daniels, community care chief here.

The relationship and interface with between VA and the Defense Department is a challenge in itself, said Ron Norby, director for the VA Desert Pacific Healthcare Network, which provides services to more than a million veterans across southern California and Nevada.

Norby has been working with veterans and servicemembers since serving in the Vietnam War as a Navy nurse. The current military-to-civilian transition system is pretty much the same as when he was discharged, he said. Once he finished his paperwork and left his unit, that was it, he added.

But the problem with identifying mental disorders doesn't fall on the military checking up on people after separation, he said. Rather, the screening process needs to be more extensive to catch PTSD or TBI.

Norby and his staff agree that anyone discharged from the military or who has ever been in a theater of war should have a one-on-one consultation with a physician. Many suggest that everyone returning from deployment should be screened before they get back to the United States, he said.

"The faster we can catch the symptoms, the more we can help," Norby said.

During the chairman's visit here, he met with several veterans being treated for mental disorders. He expressed his gratitude for their service and let them know that taking care of them is a priority of the Defense Department.

One former Army reservist, who asked not to be identified, has been attending group sessions and speaking to psychiatrists here for a little more than a month for PTSD from combat in Iraq in 2004, he said. He's been battling alcoholism, unemployment and depression since 2005.

"The care is great, and I'm slowly getting back on my feet," the veteran said. "I didn't think talking to a shrink or group therapy would help."

The veteran said he enjoys being part of a group again, and that it's one of the things he misses most about the military.

"Everyone comes from different situations and have different needs, but we all deal with our anger or depression or alcoholism together," he said.

According to the annual consensus produced by VA homeless centers nationwide in 2007, an estimated 154,000 veterans in the United States are homeless. About 51 percent of those veterans served in the armed forces after the Vietnam War. About 45 percent indicated substance abuse and medical problems. At least 20 percent saw combat.

Mullen said the nation owes its veterans the care they need.

"We as a country have to figure out a way to have a system that is integrated and [in which] we know where everyone is," the admiral said. "We need to make sure those who've sacrificed so much are taken care of."

Source: US Department of Defense

America Supports You: Volunteers Decorate Veterans' Graves

kpaul.mallasch — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:24:21 -0800

By Linda Hosek
American Forces Press Service

ARLINGTON, VA - Over the weekend, they came from around the country, some with tears in their eyes, putting holiday demands on hold to honor veterans most never knew.

On Saturday, December 15, 2007, in a few hours in freezing temperatures, about 3,000 volunteers placed more than 10,000 balsam fir wreaths with blazing red bows on graves at Arlington National Cemetery here.

"I wish I could lay one on all of them," said Charles Wright, a Vietnam War Marine veteran and commander of the Kansas City Composite Squadron, a civil air patrol unit. "This is a tribute I'll remember forever."

Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine, donated the wreaths "to remember the fallen, honor those who serve and teach our children the value of freedom," he said.

"It touches so many people, it just continues to grow," said Worcester, who launched the Arlington Wreath Project at the cemetery in 1992 with about 5,000 wreaths and 25 volunteers, mostly from the Maine State Society of Washington, D.C. This is the first year he doubled his donation.

"There are graves that have not seen anyone visiting to pay respects for years," said Wayne Hanson, the wreath coordinator for the society, which continues to supply volunteers. "You're paying tribute to those forgotten people."

Cemetery Superintendent John C. Metzler Jr. designated section 33 as the area to decorate.

"I just feel very proud," said Metzler, who has watched the project evolve since the beginning. "People are taking time out to decorate the graves and to do it right. And the kids are being taught that this is something good to do."

One child placing wreaths was getting the message. "I'm learning that there are really nice people in the world because they donated like a million wreaths so the people in the graves could feel nice and warm up in heaven," said 11-year-old Zachary Coyle, of Westminster, Md.

Worcester and his wife, Karen, traveled with two truckloads of wreaths and stopped along the way in part to talk to students at schools.

"I don't think they realize that the ultimate sacrifice by these veterans happened for them," he said, adding that more than 740,000 troops have been killed or listed as missing in action since World War I. "It's a tremendous loss of life."

Worcester also stopped at several towns for ceremonies during his 740-mile trip to transport the wreaths, all made in Maine. Two Maine companies donated trucks, which were escorted by Maine State Police troopers and members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a nationwide group of veteran bikers.

Other volunteers who handed out wreaths by the armfuls included members of the Maine Civil Air Patrol, local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts, military units, congressional staffers, scout troops and school children.

Worcester got into the wreath business to earn money when he was a University of Maine student in animal science, but said he now serves as the sole supplier for L.L. Bean and operates the biggest mail-order wreath business in the country.

He also said he started the wreath project "by mistake," explaining that he had extra wreaths in 1992 and decided to decorate graves at Arlington National Cemetery. He had visited the cemetery at 12 after winning a trip to the area for adding a certain number of customers to his newspaper route.

"I wasn't all that patriotic at the time," he said. "But I was impressed with the size of the cemetery, how well-kept it was and with the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier."

This year's event included placing special wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknowns as well as the USS Battleship Maine Monument and the graves of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Edmund Muskie, former secretary of state and Maine senator.

"This comes at a time when we need a little shot of patriotism," said Maine State Rep. Joseph L. Tibbetts, who also served with the 9th Infantry in Vietnam.

Tibbetts adjusted the wreath on Muskie's grave and looked around the cemetery, uplifted by the flashes of red and green against the rows of white headstones.

"This is a beautiful place," he said. "It doesn't take much to turn beautiful into wonderful."

Worcester has expanded the Arlington project to Wreaths Across America, a non-profit organization with the goal of placing wreaths on graves at more than 200 cemeteries and monuments nationwide. He estimated that, with contributions from the public, volunteers would decorate about 35,000 graves nationwide this season.

Cadets from the Civil Air Patrol's Kansas City Composite Squadron alone raised $17,000 in wreath sponsorships for the national effort, said Cathy Metcalf, the squadron's deputy commander.

"We felt it was an important event for our cadets to take on," she added. "It's because of the veterans that we're here walking in a free country."

Worcester had a personal mission during the event: to place a wreath on the grave of U.S. Navy Adm. William "Bull" Halsey for a friend who recently had a stroke and couldn't make the trip. He found the grave and did what he tells others to do: to think about the veteran and the sacrifices he or she made.

"I'm not a veteran, but I'm behind what they're doing," he said, adding that the wreath project will continue "as long as there's a Worcester."

He also said he'd like to place a wreath on every veteran's grave, but added, "That's a tall order."

But Worcester said he sees support growing and gratitude for what's been done as volunteers tap him on the shoulder to shake his hand.

"God bless you," said Kathy Pickett, of Sykesville, Md. "I just think this is amazing. You want everyone to have a wreath on their grave for what they've sacrificed."

Source: US Department of Defense