VietNow National Magazine

War on Terror Veterans Need Our Help
PTSD: It's not just for Vietnam veterans.

By Rich Sanders – VietNow National President

Why are some veterans affected by certain traumatic experiences, while other veterans who have experienced similar trauma seem to have no lingering problems? Why do the symptoms of PTSD seem very outwardly predominant in some veterans, while others seem to be able to keep their inner feelings suppressed and controlled?

If you are expecting these questions to be answered in the upcoming paragraphs, you may as well quit reading. The answers to the above questions are better left to the trained professionals whose columns appear elsewhere in this magazine.

I recently attended a seminar by Dr. Michael Brandt who is a staff psychologist at the Tomah, Wisconsin, VA. Much of Dr. Brandt’s presentation dealt with PTSD as it is affecting our veterans who are involved with Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Dr. Brandt explained that the level of debilitation from PTSD has less to do with the traumatic event and more to do with how the event impacted the person. The level of PTSD is determined by how the person functioned after the event. He also spent a great deal of time explaining to the layman audience about how an “adrenaline high” can become addictive. People either crave this “high” or shun any kind of involvement that may bring on this “high.”

Dr. Brandt noted statistics that showed slightly more than 15% of Vietnam veterans were diagnosed with PTSD in a 1986 survey. Screening of OIF veterans is disclosing a 78% rate of PTSD symptoms present one year after returning from deployment.

I found myself completely locked into Dr. Brandt’s seminar. He noted that our troops are returning to parades, welcome home parties, and the love of family and friends, but after all the “hoopla” is over, then what?

“Then what” is when VietNow and fellow veterans must go on guard duty. We must keep the enemy, PTSD, from breaching our perimeter and killing our own. We must be ever vigilant. We must be constantly extending our hand. But to who? Most of these returning troops look OK. But are they? Remember the statistic – 78% show signs of PTSD.

Several years ago, I had a Desert Storm veteran tell me that, in his case, things really started to deteriorate 10 months after he got home. After that period it was considered to be time for everything to be back to “normal.” But things weren’t “normal.” The more he tried to meet other people’s expectations of “normal,” the more abnormal he felt.

In my area, two recent incidents have given cause to the need for “Veterans Helping Veterans” intervention. One recently returned OIF veteran spent an afternoon shopping at a hardware store. Later that evening, he drove into the middle of a field of tall corn, and used his newly purchased supplies to asphyxiate himself in his car.

Another veteran who had been home for eight or 10 months seemed to be settling in with his former crowd in social settings. But when he was alone, he knew that things just weren’t right. When the destruction from hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, he thought he could heal (and occupy) his mind by helping the people whose lives were so terribly devastated by the hurricane. In reality, being a part of that devastation and human suffering only made matters worse for him. He returned to our area, and proceeded to take his own life on Thanksgiving Day of 2005.

In both cases, the people close to these young veterans knew that there were problems, but they thought that time would lessen the feelings and emotions that were being exhibited.

So how can we, VietNow members, help? Dr. Brandt pointed out in his seminar that there is a certain social stigma that is attached to PTSD. Thus, it is difficult (impossible) to talk openly to social acquaintances about current difficulties in dealing with past days spent in combat. But, talking “veteran to veteran” to someone who has “been there, done that” is easier. Sometimes the words do not even have to be said, when a knowing nod can offer the reassurance that it’s OK. A listening ear, an arm, a smile, and a concerned expression on the face of a fellow vet is sometimes all that is needed to get through a bad day. Probably one of the most powerful statements we can offer is, “Just call…I’ll be there.”

There have been undocumented estimates of 100,000 suicides related to veterans who served during the Vietnam war. In our world of “Veterans Helping Veterans,” one is a ridiculously high number. It goes without saying that we will be there for our returning troops long after the parades are over. Just call…we’ll be there!

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