think our troops our getting the help they should for P.T.S.D..

The U.S. Military has a bad history of ignoring PTSD. Until recently a veteran has had to provide written verification - a statement from a commander or doctor, or testimony from co-workers - that he or she was involved in a traumatic situation in odder to receive disability compensation for PTSD from VA. The Defense Department used the same rules in evaluating PTSD for disability retirement pay.

This placed a tremendous burden and sometimes impossible task on soldiers who were suffering from PTSD. Now they will have to go through a medical exam, just like every other injured soldier and not have to go the “extra” mile in trying to prove a hard-to-prove diagnosis.

Of the nearly 245,000 veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, almost 12,500 have been to VA counseling centers for readjustment problems and symptoms of PTSD. In addition, a study in The New England Journal of Medicine found that up to 17 percent of troops returning from Iraq were suffering from PTSD or other readjustment problems.

A “new” development is the high incidence in female soldiers. To the point that the military is funding a 6 million dollar study that so far has revealed that female soldiers are more prone to PTSD.

My son was special forces in Iraq. He went to Iraq very early. He has been both physically and emotionally injured. He is not the same. He is haunted. He does not live near a large VA and is receiving no counseling for PTSD. The military will not pay for him to see a civilian counselor, so my son pays for it himself.