The Veterans Affairs Department is currently reviewing
approximately one-third of the cases of veterans who are receiving
disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After
conducting an internal study, the VA believes that they were too
lenient in deciding which soldiers were eligible for PTSD benefits.
Last year, the VA spent $4.3 billion on PTSD disability payments and
the VA hopes to reduce these payments by revoking PTSD benefits for
many veterans. This will be the final insult to soldiers who were asked
to fight a war in Iraq on false premises.
Owing to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of
veterans receiving compensation for PTSD has increased by almost 80
percent in the last five years. By comparison, the number of veterans
receiving compensation for all other types of disabilities only
increased by 12 percent. Under the guidelines of the current review,
soldiers who cannot prove that a specific incident, known as a
"stressor," was sufficient to cause PTSD, their benefits will be
revoked. Given the nature of warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's not
surprising that many returning soldiers are suffering from mental
illness.
In the July 2004 issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine Colonel Charles W. Hoge, M.D., the chief of psychiatry at
Walter Reed Army Institute, published a preliminary study of the
effects of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan on military personnel. The
study concluded that close to 20 percent of soldiers who served in
Iraq, and approximately 12 percent of those who served in Afghanistan
returned home suffering from PTSD. The study found that there is a
clear correlation between combat experience and the prevalence of PTSD.
The study determined that, "Rates of PTSD were significantly higher
after combat duty in Iraq."
Approximately 86 percent of soldiers in Iraq were involved in
combat, as were 31 percent in Afghanistan. On average, soldiers engaged
in two firefights for each tour of duty. The study indicated that 95
percent of soldiers had been shot at. And 56 percent of soldiers had
killed an enemy combatant. An estimated 28 percent were directly
responsible for the death of a civilian. Equally grim, 94 percent had
seen or handled corpses or bodily remains. Additionally, 68 percent
witnessed fellow soldiers being killed or seriously wounded.
Although the number of soldiers suffering from PTSD is high,
Dr. Hoge's study found that a majority of veterans are not seeking
treatment. Only 40 percent of returning soldiers acknowledged that they
need mental health care, and only 26 percent were actually receiving
care. As such, the number of veterans approved for PTSD compensation by
the VA is relatively small. Yet the VA believes that too many soldiers
were approved for PTSD disability compensation and is now seeking to
deny soldiers this benefit.
The lack of pre-war intelligence also likely contributed to a
rise in PTSD disability claims. Studies of the Vietnam War have
indicated that when soldiers can't anticipate the nature and intensity
of warfare that they ultimately encounter they are psychologically
unprepared, leading to PTSD in many instances. During the early phase
of the war in Iraq, many soldiers were almost certainly unprepared for
what they encountered.
The Bush administration initially indicated that the war
would be quick and easy. Vice President Cheney, only a few days after
the invasion of Iraq, infamously stated that soldiers "…will, in fact,
be greeted as liberators." Ahmed Chalabi, a close advisor to the Bush
administration prior to and immediately following the invasion said,
"American troops will be greeted with flowers and candy" by the Iraqi
people, and the administration repeated this many times. President Bush
flew onto a U.S. aircraft carrier in May 2003 and, while standing
beneath a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished," announced that
major combat operations had ended.
It's easy to understand why the VA has seen an increase in
soldiers seeking benefits due to post-traumatic stress disorder. What's
difficult to comprehend is why the very agency responsible for meeting
the needs of our veterans is now turning its back on them. Perhaps it's
attributable to money. The Bush administration may be seeking to reduce
compensation to soldiers for PTSD so that more money can be diverted to
the on-going war in Iraq.
Or, perhaps this is simply a public relations issue. The
effort to revoke PTSD benefits may be an attempt to assert that the war
has not been that devastating. What is certain is that the very people
asked to sacrifice their lives, if necessary, for the nation are now
being punished for doing so.
