Aloysius, I understand your grief dealing with vet affairs, as DVA here in Australia is no different from that of the USA, from everything I have read from veterans in regard to their dealings. I know the BS I went through for recognition, let alone the red tape and ending up in court that many have to go through to get compensation for what they have endured and suffered for their country. We fight for our countries, get shat on by the civilian population depending on how the media wants to portray a particular war or peace keeping operation, and the duration of that operation, then we get doubly shat on by the Government when we need follow-up support for doing what they paid us to do, kill the enemy or suppress a situation and create order. I have very good friends who I have served with on operations having to take their claims to court with DVA, and fight tooth and nail to get compensation for something that should just be recognised, screened and accepted under each circumstance.

I think the fact that all the other recent events over the past 7 - 8 years is actually now also impacting people from your era, being the vietnam vets, in that whilst the red tape has always existed, there was never an overwhelming quantity of people looking for compensation for their now debilitating illness, and vietnam vets are now just seen as numbers within the overall panic statistics that are returning home to all countries from current conflicts, all being diagnosed with PTSD. Yes, it sucks.

Easy said than done here Aloysius, you need to step back and take a breathe of air, relax yourself as much as possible, and take on small parts at once, and not an entire case load. If your not seeking help already with a veterans advocate, you need to. Being in the US, I have recently heard through Dr Roerich here that another Doctor exists that helps with veterans compensation claims. Maybe contact Dr Roerich in regard to that, which you can get him under username roerich, which he may be able to point you in the most effective direction for the USA.

I understand the bullshit though that your dealing with in regard to the VA, and I understand your sheer frustration, as I had the same, and if not for my wife helping me to get through it by filling out all the forms, and dealing with the VA on my behalf at times, I would have most likely gone into one of the offices and began doing very bad things to people. I was at that frame of mind at one stage during the worst of my PTSD with the frustration that provoked upon me. I see this same frustration now being provoked upon my friends in the same situation.

They attempt to tie us up in so much bullshit red tape, that we will just go away and leave them alone, and take another avenue, suicide or something, so they don't have to deal with the aftermath that they created by sending us into do their dirty work in war zones.

Please do post your frustrations here, as you need to keep getting them out of you, or else you bottle everything up and only make yourself much worse. We are here to provide you support, so please vent any frustrations to hopefully keep your anxiety and stress levels down a little. I know it won't fix them, but it will reduce them by getting it all out of you as things occur.

Keep up the great work aloysius, your coping, and that is already a positive sign.