PTSD from Iraq

anthony · #1 14-04-2006, 08:55 PM

This being an obvious military related thread in regard to soldiers returning to conflict and gaining PTSD as a result. I would say, that if your PTSD stems from Iraq, then you may want to think twice about reading some of the following. Actually, if you have PTSD, you may want to think about whether you want to continue reading, as some of the below content contains fairly graphically depicted instances surrounding these personnel getting the posttraumatic stress disorder.

The title of this news story posted by the Indy Pages is Mind Game, and written by Michael de Yoanna. Nothing short of a bloody good story outlining the facts of soldiers within war zones, and the aftermath they suffer through PTSD and other disorders.

The authors main subjective aim was to outline the reasons why Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is crippling thousands of soldiers, but Fort Carson officials aren't ready to talk about it.

Quote:

In a behind-the-lines job in Mosul, Iraq, former Staff Sgt. Jeff Peskoff hadn't conceived he'd be cleaning up burned-out troop vehicles splattered with blood and skin. But those memories have stuck with him. Similarly, Mike Lemke, a former National Guard sergeant, will never forget watching dogs scavenge fingers from corpses as he helped secure Abu Ghraib prison for coalition forces.

Former Army Sgt. Jeana Torgerson can't escape the images of the prisoners of war she saw trying to hang themselves from their own sheets and clothing. And in a prison cell in Washington state, Army Pvt. Adam Kaplan is haunted by hallucinations of the sergeant killed by shrapnel from Kaplan's own grenade launch.

Although now far from Iraq, these one-time Fort Carson soldiers still haven't retreated from the war. All are grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD. Those afflicted with the anxiety disorder compare it to losing a limb, yet the army does not acknowledge it with a Purple Heart...

"I wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweats," Torgerson says. "I can't have walls next to me because I wake up with bloody fists. I talk in my sleep, violently. I have flashbacks of memories, sound. Any moment I can go into crying episodes, and I don't know why."

Of the 505,366 troops who have left the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past four years, 144,424 have sought health care through Veterans Affairs. Of that number, 46,571 received preliminary diagnoses of mental disorders, including 20,638 with PTSD, according to the VA.

The numbers don't capture the full scope of the nation's growing PTSD caseload, however. Many former troops seek psychological help from private practices or other sources. Neither does the number account for PTSD sufferers currently enlisted in the military.

Studies have connected PTSD to increased suicide, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse and a range of other problems. A key to preventing such personal and social problems is early intervention, says an expert with the VA.

Two of the four soldiers featured in this article, however; say they had to fight to get the military to acknowledge their PTSD. Another says the Army watched him spiral into drug addiction, but failed to connect it to PTSD.

Although they were given several days' notice, Fort Carson officials declined comment on this story, saying they would need more time to respond.

Gee, how familiar does this sound to those who have PTSD from active service? Even though it is the American Military, its the same across the board from all accounts. I must say though, the Australian military acknowledges PTSD, but because the commanders are pre-PTSD (old school), you may as well just say your better off rubbing your nuts on a file than getting something from some of these people.

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Quote:

Mike Lemke, 47, sits at the only table in his small Colorado Springs apartment, chugging morning coffee. There's an electric guitar in one corner. A shelf holds trinkets he brought home from Iraq.

He chain-smokes cigarettes so rigorously that a black circle has developed on the kitchen ceiling, directly above his chair.

In May 2003, Lemke suffered a heart attack. But his service in Iraq wasn't over. Within a month, he was sent back into the fray, taking on full combat duties, grappling with orders and counter-orders. But he'd lost trust in his superiors. Looking back, he says this is where the PTSD started to take root.

Quote:

Jeff Peskoff didn't imagine the war would change his life so profoundly. His job overseeing the crew that kept Humvees and big trucks on the road was exactly the kind of work he was looking for when he joined the Army in 1995.

By 2003, he was in Mosul, Iraq, in charge of the Army's 52nd Engineering Battalion motor pool, and far from the front lines.

But the war came to him, in the form of twisted Humvees and other mangled vehicles.

Before they could be assessed for possible repair, the vehicles had to be cleaned â€” wiped free of the human remains that sullied their interiors. It was a job Peskoff chose to do alone.

"I didn't want my soldiers being around it," he says from his home in Fountain. "It was something somebody had to do. I took charge."

Back at Fort Carson, the 35-year-old soon caught himself yelling at his soldiers more than he had in the past. Some sergeants are known for their constant hollering, he notes, but he'd never been one of them.

He couldn't sleep. He was having nightmares, visions of death. He developed obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Eventually, he contemplated steering his car off an Interstate 25 overpass, near Fort Carson's Gate 20. The only thing that stopped him was thinking how it would affect his two kids and wife.

Today, both Lemke and Peskoff receive regular treatment for their PTSD. They each take a laundry list of prescription pills that help them sleep or cope with depression or anxiety. They also are in therapy.

Quote:

Jeana Torgerson says she loves the Army so much she had planned to serve 20 years before retiring. But the 25-year-old was discharged after just four years.

After nine months at GuantÃ¡namo Bay, she volunteered to be deployed to Iraq for six months to be closer to her husband, who also was a soldier.

She says Baghdad was a bloody, smoky blur of rockets and explosions.

"It was constant attacks," she says.

She arrived home in April 2004, and took a screening test. In writing, she told commanders that she was experiencing the "worst possible pain," caused by "fear, hate and sadness." She said she was crying herself to sleep. She felt suicidal and requested to be hospitalized immediately, according to Army documents Torgerson provided.

"I really only received medication for my problems," Torgerson says.

By May 18, she had attempted suicide, using a razor blade on her wrist while severely intoxicated. She was admitted to Evans U.S. Army Hospital on Fort Carson for review.

Soon, the Army began actions to discharge her.

"When I tried to kill myself, they tried to boot me out of the Army as quick as possible," Torgerson says.

Quote:

The Army's first Iraq war mental-health study, completed in 2004, concluded that one in eight soldiers returning from the war experienced PTSD symptoms.

Local and national advocates for PTSD sufferers say such research, and other emerging data, hint at a national veterans crisis comparable to the one seen during the Vietnam War era. Significantly, the majority of the VA's 215,000-plus PTSD cases are from that era, with many Vietnam veterans still seeking help.

Researchers discovered that soldiers struggled with anger problems after they were deployed in the war on terror, and were more likely want to get a divorce after spending time in combat. They also found a 13 to 21 percent rise in alcohol abuse among soldiers in the year after their return from Iraq or Afghanistan.

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If the few snippets above interested you, then you really should read the entire picture on the reality of what goes on. I know these things go on, as I have been part of them myself within the Australian military. You can read the entire article at http://www.csindy.com/csindy/2006-04-13/cover.html
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anthony · #2 14-04-2006, 09:41 PM

And more information from Iraq soldiers gaining PTSD as a result of the conflict.

Quote:

PTSD from Iraq: Army Sgt. First Class Mark Rizzo speaks in hushed tones of those two June days when four members of his National Guard unit were killed on the streets of Baghdad's Sadr City slum.

Two died when an insurgent's rocket-propelled grenade hit their humvee. Two more were lost the next day when a roadside bomb blew up their vehicle. All were like family, Rizzo said.

"You don't do much sleeping after that," the 38-year-old Pitman resident said of the 2004 attacks. "You have a lot of processing to do. There's mourning, resentment, feelings of 'Why did this happen?' "

Rizzo's field-artillery unit, pressed into service as provisional military police, came home last year with 23 Purple Hearts, 17 Bronze Stars - and a lot more "processing" to do.

Nearly 40 percent of the 180 members sought counseling, New Jersey officials said.

Nationally, at least 35 percent of Iraq veterans received mental-health care during their first year home, according to a Pentagon survey of more than 222,000 returning Army soldiers and Marines since 2003.

Across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, military, state and federal veterans organizations are aggressively encouraging Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to get help with posttraumatic stress disorder.

New Jersey this year has more than doubled the amount to treat the disorder, allocating $800,000, which supplements federal aid. An additional $200,000 is likely to be sought next year as the needs grow, veterans officials said.

Calls to the state's 24-hour hotline rose dramatically after 1,700 soldiers returned in November and December. Five hundred calls came in during the first six months of operation last year; more than 400 were logged in just the first three months of this year.

Pennsylvania, though it has no separate fund for posttraumatic stress treatment, is closely tracking returning troops and making them aware of the vast safety net of federal and state veterans programs.

After a steady increase at the Coatesville Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans account for more than 20 percent of all veterans being treated in its posttraumatic stress disorder program or on a waiting list, VA officials said.

Nationally, veterans advocates have called for more spending on mental-health care for returning troops. President Bush's budget proposes a 6 percent spending increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The military has stepped up efforts to train soldiers to spot signs of trauma and get treatment sooner. Troops must take suicide-prevention classes within three months of arriving for overseas duty. They are encouraged to watch for signs of depression among fellow soldiers and to get counseling from combat-stress teams after deadly attacks.

Back home, troops go through "reconstitution" programs to learn about benefits, such as counseling, medical services and school tuition, before resuming their civilian lives.

Many requests for counseling come 30 to 90 days after troops return, said Bill Devereaux, director of veterans programs for the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

Soldiers report problems with "nightmares, anxiety, anger, antisocial behavior, adjusting to family, overindulging with drugs," Devereaux said. "They miss the camaraderie of their friends, the rush of adrenaline, the call to arms.

"They also remember things that happened over there - dead friends, dead children," he added. An improvised explosive device "goes off, wounds two GIs, and blows up seven Iraqis. Now they feel guilty for being safe. The hardest thing they do now is get through traffic on Route 73."

At the same time, memories of combat trauma can be triggered when least expected.

"A smell will set you off, a certain song, shadows on a dark night," said Devereaux, a Vietnam veteran who was wounded twice. "You don't get rid of it. You just learn to live with it.

"Like physical wounds, you treat it. You continue counseling, group meetings. Talking to peers is the best cathartic medicine."

Marine Reserve Maj. Alex Chotkowski, 35, a West Chester lawyer who served in Iraq in 2004 and last year, said counseling was required after serious incidents, such as the loss of a comrade.

He recalled how he had been sitting at a desk in an aircraft building at a former Iraqi base in Anbar province in 2004 when the thump of an explosion shook the windows and dislodged dust from the ceiling. A beloved Marine staff sergeant - a husband and a father of three who had volunteered for duty in Iraq - had been killed by a munition left on the base when the Americans took over.

"Those who had the closest contact to the situation were required to see a counselor. And anybody else who felt they had a need also sought counseling," said Chotkowski, who investigated the death and mourned the loss with other Marines during a special military ceremony.

Rizzo got through his readjustment feeling so fulfilled by military service that he left a civilian managerial job and now serves full-time with a recruitment and retention unit at Fort Dix.

But he does recall having "a lot of nightmares" when he got home and being startled by loud noises. He also remembers his strange reaction to a disabled car on the side of Route 55.

"I made my wife get in the passing lane," said Rizzo, a member of the Third Battalion of the 112th Field Artillery with units based in Cherry Hill, Vineland, Morristown, Toms River and Lawrenceville. "I said, 'We need to clear the area.' She kind of understood."

Today's veterans "are better educated about psychological reactions and what to do about it" than troops in past wars, said Steven Silver, director of the Coatesville center's posttraumatic stress disorder program.

"Some information has been provided to them during the demobilization process," said Silver, 61, a Vietnam veteran. "They're told, 'If you have problems, get help immediately.' They've heard that message and are acting on it.

"There wasn't any debriefing or demobilization process at all after Vietnam," he said. The troops "turned in their equipment and were discharged to their homes 24 hours after they left the combat zone."

Rather than set aside funding for posttraumatic stress treatment, Pennsylvania depends on the VA network, said Cecil Hengeveld, deputy adjutant general for veterans affairs in Pennsylvania. "Every state does it slightly different," he said.

New Jersey provides funding so veterans don't have to be on waiting lists for treatment, Devereaux said. They can seek treatment from one of 20 private counselors across the state who are paid a prorated amount for their services.

Brig. Gen. Maria Falca-Dodson, deputy adjutant general of New Jersey's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said additional state money was needed because of the influx of returning troops with exposure to combat. "It's better to get care up front and not let it become chronic," she said.

Rizzo believes troops suffer posttraumatic stress because, he said, "they have feelings for everybody - Americans and Iraqis.

"Is it logical for one person to kill another person?" he asked. "It doesn't make sense, and soldiers struggle with that."