[Vision2020] Vets at Mercy of Congress for Post-War Care

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (January 24, 2006) Spokesman Review with a special thanks to
Macarena Hernandez of the Dallas Morning News -

 

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Vets at mercy of Congress for post-war care

By Macarena Hernandez

The Dallas Morning News

 

January 24, 2006

 

Jesus Bocanegra left Iraq more than a year ago, but the war never left him.

 

The 24-year-old cavalry scout spent a year in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's
hometown, beating down doors, raiding homes, searching for the enemy.

 

When his tour was up in 2004, Bocanegra returned home to South Texas. He
began to have head-splitting flashbacks, paralyzing panic attacks and
painfully vivid nightmares.

 

He enrolled at the local community college, eager to transition into
civilian life. He dropped out after two months. He spent a couple of months
as a produce inspector but had to quit, irritable and unable to concentrate.

 

A door would shut, he'd jump. A stranger would approach, he'd panic.

 

"When I was in Iraq, if a stranger walked up to me, he was either going to
blow up himself or throw a bomb at me," he says. That, he believes, explains
his hyper-alertness and why he prefers to be at home in his "bunker," his
cocoon.

 

In the combat zone, his mind and heart raced. Back home, people seem more
preoccupied with washing their cars than some war half a world away.

 

The Department of Veterans Affairs deemed Bocanegra completely disabled upon
diagnosing his post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

He fears life will never be the same. Not all soldiers end up on the front
lines, but for those who do, the ones who witness the horrific reality of
war, how can life ever be the same? Especially those from Iraq, where there
is no real safe zone and the constant threat is from bombers who think
nothing of taking their own lives.

 

Americans return with bodies intact but scarred minds and hearts.

 

Across the country, VA hospitals and clinics - already facing budget
crunches and backlogs - report increases in veterans suffering PTSD.
Ironically, many are Vietnam vets only now seeking help, but the VA is
hardly prepared for the aftermath of Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

A recent New England Journal of Medicine study found that 17 percent of
soldiers who returned from Iraq suffered PTSD, a 2 percent increase from
that reported by Vietnam veterans.

 

The tangled web of bureaucracy and overstretched staffs at home only delays
the help they need. For some, it comes too late. Capt. Michael Pelkey, an
Iraq veteran from Spring, Texas, was diagnosed with PTSD in 2004. A week
later, he killed himself with a shot to the chest.

 

Long after the war is but a memory, Capt. Pelkey's widow will still be
describing him to the son he barely met, and Bocanegra and thousands of
other former soldiers will still be struggling with the consequences of war.
That goes for the ones who are back home, trying to piece their lives back
together, and the ones still at the front, numb to the realities of war.

 

Today, Bocanegra feels abandoned. He sees a psychiatrist for about 10
minutes every three months. He takes one pill for anxiety and another for
depression.

 

The doctor, he says, "just tells me, 'Take your medication.' "

 

After nearly five years in the military, he feels like someone else's
problem now. If he needs an eye exam or a dental visit, he must drive the
four hours to San Antonio to the nearest VA hospital.

 

Supporting our troops means more than sticking a yellow-ribbon decal on our
cars, a standing ovation at the airport or an American flag flying on
Veterans Day. We can talk of patriotism, but until we demand that our
soldiers get the treatment they need, our words are empty. Thousands of them
and their families have been torn apart by war, while the rest of us
sacrificed nothing.

 

"Stay the course" or "Pull out now," few of our leaders are concerned about
making sure these soldiers have the health care they need once they return.

 

Congress must calculate the total cost of this war, which includes caring
for Bocanegra and other vets long after the last gunshot or explosion. If
not, they will continue to feel as if they're begging for handouts, and our
leaders will have failed them.

 

Today, Bocanegra can still hear children's screams and see the fear in the
faces of the women he sighted down the barrel of his weapon.

 

"You see these horrible things in war. You just killed people," he says. "A
lot of my friends that came back say they would have preferred to die out
there."

 

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I understand that the veterans hospital in Walla Walla was recently closed
due to budget cuts and a lack of funds to provide sufficient health care to
our veterans.

 

And the beat goes on . . .

 

Take care, Moscow.

 

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

 

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.

 

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