Returning Soldiers STILL Need Help

MA-Caver

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Soldier in famous photo never defeated 'demons'

By ALLEN G. BREED and KEVIN MAURER, Associated Press Writers 2 hours, 39 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/military_the_enemy_within
PINEHURST, N.C. - Officers had been to the white ranch house at 560 W. Longleaf many times before over the past year to respond to a "barricade situation." Each had ended uneventfully, with Joseph Dwyer coming out or telling police in a calm voice through the window that he was OK.
But this time was different.
The Iraq War veteran had called a taxi service to take him to the emergency room. But when the driver arrived, Dwyer shouted that he was too weak to get up and open the door.
The officers asked Dwyer for permission to kick it in.
"Go ahead!" he yelled.
They found Dwyer lying on his back, his clothes soiled with urine and feces. Scattered on the floor around him were dozens of spent cans of Dust-Off, a refrigerant-based aerosol normally used to clean electrical equipment.
Dwyer told police Lt. Mike Wilson he'd been "huffing" the aerosol.
"Help me, please!" the former Army medic begged Wilson. "I'm dying. Help me. I can't breathe."
Unable to stand or even sit up, Dwyer was hoisted onto a stretcher. As paramedics prepared to load him into an ambulance, an officer noticed Dwyer's eyes had glassed over and were fixed.
A half hour later, he was dead.
When Dionne Knapp learned of her friend's June 28 death, her first reaction was to be angry at Dwyer. How could he leave his wife and daughter like this? Didn't he know he had friends who cared about him, who wanted to help?
You'd think from some of the veterans from Vietnam who had returned home and committed suicide or spiraled down to homelessness and drug/alcohol addiction would've given the military a serious heads up.
Post traumatic stress disorder or operational exhaustion, or battle fatigue or simply shell shock has been a long standing problem with troops who return home from battle.
I'm sure that help is available to those who seek it... but how many do? How many are placed on a waiting list? How many are simply prescribed drugs and told to come back next month for another appointment?
Everywhere I drive around my city I see a lot of bumper-stickers in ribbon shapes saying "Support Our Troops" But I didn't realize that had a time limit... support them until they come home, then leave 'em be to get on with theirs (and our) lives.

Further those who tried to help him were rebuffed and he brought the war home.

But they soon noticed changes that were more than cosmetic.
At restaurants, Dwyer insisted on sitting with his back to the wall so no one could sneak up on him. He turned down invitations to the movies, saying the theaters were too crowded. He said the desert landscape around El Paso, and the dark-skinned Hispanic population, reminded him of Iraq.
Dwyer, raised Roman Catholic but never particularly religious before, now would spend lunchtime by himself, poring over his Bible.
When people would teasingly call him "war hero" and ask him to tell about his experiences, or about the famous photo, he would steer the conversation toward the others he'd served with. But Dwyer once confided that another image, also involving a child, disturbed him.
He was standing next to a soldier during a firefight when a boy rode up on a bicycle and stopped beside a weapon lying in the dirt. Under his breath, the soldier beside Dwyer whispered, "Don't pick it up, kid. Don't pick it up."
The boy reached for the weapon and was blasted off his bike.
Sounds familiar doesn't it? At least for those of us who remember veterans from Vietnam.

What to do? How to go about it? How to get Washington to divert some of the funds for the war to go to more clinics and (qualified) therapists to help these soldiers when they come home to get it out of their system (ok, ok, war doesn't ever leave you) or to at least find a healthy way to cope with it all?
After a three-hour standoff, Dwyer's eldest brother, Brian, also a police officer, managed to talk him down over the phone. Dwyer was admitted for psychiatric treatment.
In a telephone interview later that month from what he called the "nut hut" at Beaumont, Dwyer told Newsday that he'd lied on a post-deployment questionnaire that asked whether he'd been disturbed by what he'd seen and done in Iraq. The reason: A PTSD diagnosis could interfere with his plans to seek a police job. Besides, he'd been conditioned to see it as a sign of weakness.
"I'm a soldier," he said. "I suck it up. That's our job."
Dwyer told the newspaper that he'd blown off counseling before but was committed to embracing his treatment this time. He said he hoped to become an envoy to others who avoided treatment for fear of damaging their careers.
"There's a lot of soldiers suffering in silence," he said.
In January 2006, Joseph and Matina Dwyer moved back to North Carolina, away from the place that reminded him so much of the battlefield. But his shadow enemy followed him here.
Yet another reason why help isn't accepted even when it's offered. "Oh no, I'm fine, thanks! Excuse me gotta get back to work, got a wife and kids to feed."

"There's a lot of soldiers suffering in silence". Including this one and he slipped through the cracks before he could get the help he really needed.

I hope this will be a wake up call for those in Washington.
 

Kacey

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I wish it would be a wake-up call for Washington; sadly, I doubt that it will be. My sincere best wishes to all who served, or are currently serving, our country, and my hopes for their continued health in the future - physical, mental, and emotional. :asian:
 

jarrod

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the men in women in the miltary do a hard job, & they do it with little thanks. historically however, they have almost always gotten the short end of the stick, not just by our own government but by past empires as well. i doubt things will change anytime soon.

jf
 

Empty Hands

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You'd think from some of the veterans from Vietnam who had returned home and committed suicide or spiraled down to homelessness and drug/alcohol addiction would've given the military a serious heads up.

We never seem to learn any lessons in regard to war. The same stupid mistakes are played out over and over again. At least the VA system is better than it used to be, when my veteran relatives would refuse to go to a VA hospital for any reason. The VA system is suffering now though from overburdening and a relative underfunding. We are so overdrawn just supporting this foolish war that I doubt the funding and support that is really needed will end up at the VA. Here's hoping though.

In fairness though, I should also point out that one case does not necessarily indict the entire system. The VA does have its issues, but this man was offered help. Changing how a mental illness diagnosis is seen by society is an attitude change beyond the ability of the VA to effect.
 

RandomPhantom700

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The following link (from a quick google search for Iraq War Veteran Support) is to the website for the Iraq War Veteran Organization, a seemingly quasi-public support group for injured or PTSD-affected soldiers. Of particular interest is the link it provides to the steps needed to make a claim, provided here: http://www.iraqwarveterans.org/anatomy_of_a_va_claim.htm.

As I said, it's difficult to tell whether this is an official government site or not...it's a .org and not a .gov, but it's staffed by a multitude of military officials. Still, I thought the process linked above would be helpful to the discussion. Cheers.
 

aedrasteia

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MC-Caver

thanks for doing this.

A vet urged me to read Achilles in Vietnam by Dr Jonathan Shay (Google both). The vet struggled with PTSD and he decribe this book as helping him understand what he was facing. Shay has long experience with vets and has demanded care and attention for them for many years.

so many people turn away from this pain - for many reasons. So many people just don't want to see and face these soldiers. I think so many of us want to be told that they are 'fine', 'hanging in there'. So many say thanks for your service and then turn away. I'm glad they speak at all, but there is so much more they deserve from us.

Soldiers have the right to demand that we know what we are doing when we ask them to go and serve.

Maybe people turn away partly because of a sense of responsibility for this 'conflict' that has grown and grown and is so hard for so many Americans to understand or justify. WMDs? remove Saddam and Co. and _not_ expect the society come apart? 'war' on terrorism, how? line in the sand? Oil? Implant democracy for another society as if by decree? Support/intervene with al-Sadr? al -Sistani? Chalabi? Allawi? Kurds? Sunni? Sh'ia?

I remember the days just before and after the first US troops entered Iraq. Remember? Remember the noise, the praise for Pres. Bush, the tough talk from Cheny and Rumsfeld, the rallies and cheers? The price of the fighting is paid by those who have died, been injured and by those like Joe Dwyer. It always is paid by them. and their families. If we - or our leaders - decide to take these steps we must be very sure of what we do, so sure that we are agreed that the price - their lives - is worth the sacrifice.

I remember asking people supporting the fighting if they knew where Iraq was, what was its history, who were the Sunni? the Sh'ia? the Kurds? what happens when a society held together by brutality and lies is suddenly able to rip itself apart over atrocities and conflict going back generations? Was Iraq bigger than Iran? Which ones were Sh'ia? Sunni? did that matter? Were the Iranians Arabs? or Muslims? Was ethnicity more important than religious connection? If this was a good policy why was our closest freindly Muslin nation (Turkey) so intensley opposed that they refused to help?

They told me they didn't know and they didn't care or it didn't matter. And I was wrong and nearly a traitor to ask those questions and oppose this invasion when the answers did not make sense.

As citizens We have 2 responsibilities I think. One is to demand answers from policy-makers to the hardest and most searching questions about any choice to put our soldiers in harms way, anywhere, at any time, for any purported reason. It is a requirement we must hold ourselves to - to know for ourselves what the facts are and what these policies mean, not to take the assurances of any leaders, even the ones we favor.

The other is to listen to soldiers, even if what they have to tell us is horrific to hear. They did what they were asked to do.

If they had to endure it, we can bear to listen and respect them and work to help them heal. We have no right to pretend they don't exist or allow any labeling of them as weak or deficient.

A PTSD diagnosis could interfere with his plans to seek a police job. Besides, he'd been conditioned to see it as a sign of weakness.
"I'm a soldier," he said. "I suck it up. That's our job."
Dwyer told the newspaper that he'd blown off counseling before but was committed to embracing his treatment this time. He said he hoped to become an envoy to others who avoided treatment for fear of damaging their careers.
"There's a lot of soldiers suffering in silence," he said.

Salute to Joe Dwyer and all those who have done what they were asked to do. for his struggle and his willingness to speak. Salute to other soldiers and families who have paid for this mis-guided choice and the foolish manner in which these leaders decided to pursue it. I believe they persuaded themselves they were right and took every strategy available to persuade our country they were right.
But they did not have to pay the price of soldiers.
 
OP
MA-Caver

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Suicide hot line got calls from 22,000 veterans

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/veteran_suicide

By KATHARINE EUPHRAT, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 28, 6:21 AM ET

WASHINGTON - More than 22,000 veterans have sought help from a special suicide hot line in its first year, and 1,221 suicides have been averted, the government says.

According to a recent RAND Corp. study, roughly one in five soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan displays symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, putting them at a higher risk for suicide. Researchers at Portland State University found that male veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide than men who are not veterans.
This month, a former Army medic, Joseph Dwyer, who was shown in a Military Times photograph running through a battle zone carrying an Iraqi boy, died of an accidental overdose after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder for almost five years.
Janet Kemp, national suicide prevention coordinator for the Veterans Affairs Department, said the hot line is in place to help prevent deaths such as Dwyer's. "We just want them to know there's other options and people do care about them, and we can help them make a difference in their lives," she said in an interview.

Is this enough? One hopes that it is, though one feels that there can be more. Still a phone call reaching out is a good first step. My own personal experience manning a suicide hotline has shown this to me. Hearing the words "I understand, and I care and I'm here" does help lift the burden off one's shoulders.
Still one has to make that call first. One has to reach out... and that definitely takes courage.
This month, the hot line began an advertising campaign in Washington area subway stations and buses featuring the slogan, "It takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help."
Amen.
 

tshadowchaser

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Unfortunately soldiers are needed in times of crises and then cast off by the government. The resources available to those that serve are not nearly as big as the need for help.
We thank those who serve but soon forget that their service to us may leave scars that are not seen on the outside.
Even when help is sought the lines are long and the wait is even longer and the care is not always the best
 

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