> "The Unknown Veteran" noway.com> wrote in messagenews:oaDWj.13$gb7.11@newsfe06.lga...
>
>
>
>
>

>> "Tom Lacombe" shentel.net> wrote in message
>>news:ed877323-1d2e-4031-a938-953b13f5a0d7@25g2000hsx.googlegroups.com...
>> On May 13, 12:06 pm, "The Unknown Veteran" noway.com>
>> wrote:

>>> Gates: Purple Heart for PTSD 'Needs to Be Looked At'
>>> By Donna Miles
>>> American Forces Press Service

>

>>> WASHINGTON, May 5, 2008 - With growing recognition of the toll
>>> post-traumatic stress disorder has taken on U.S. forces, Defense

> Secretary

>>> Robert M. Gates
>>> said the Defense Department may consider awarding Purple Heart medals to
>>> combat veterans afflicted with it.
>>> "It's an interesting idea," Gates said when asked about the concept

> during

>>> a
>>> May 2 media availability at Red River Army Depot, Texas. "I think it is
>>> clearly something that needs to be looked at."

>

>>> Gates' comment followed his visit the previous day to Fort Bliss, Texas,
>>> where he toured the post's Recovery and Resilience Center, which is

> using

>>> a
>>> holistic approach to treating troops with PTSD.

>

>>> John E. Fortunato, who conceived of and runs the center, told reporters
>>> that
>>> awarding the Purple Heart to PTSD sufferers would go a long way toward
>>> chipping away at prejudices surrounding the disease. Because PTSD

> affects

>>> structures in the brain, it's a physical disorder, "no different from
>>> shrapnel,"
>>> Fortunato said. "This is an injury."

>

>>> The Army classifies PTSD as an illness, not an injury, so troops with

> PTSD

>>> don't qualify for the Purple Heart. That distinction is limited to

> troops

>>> killed or wounded in a conflict.

>

>>> "I would love to see that changed, because these guys have paid at least
>>> as
>>> high a price, some of them, as anybody with a traumatic brain injury, as
>>> anybody with a shrapnel wound," Fortunato said.

>

>>> Not recognizing those with PTSD with a Purple Heart "says that this is

> the

>>> wound that isn't worthy," Fortunato said. "And it is."

>

>>> Fortunato said he'd also like to see a regulation prohibiting harassment
>>> of
>>> troops with PTSD, similar to regulations banning racial or sexual
>>> harassment.
>>> "Until there are sanctions that make a superior pay a price for

> harassing

>>> a
>>> soldier with mental health problems, I don't know that it will change

> that

>>> much."

>

>>> Soldiers still get laughed at for seeking mental-health services or told
>>> that it will ruin their careers, he said. Some in the force view people
>>> with
>>> PTSD as weak, believing that if those with the disease "just sucked it

> up

>>> and
>>> soldiered on, [they would] could get over this," Fortunato said.

>

>>> "The Army is making a lot of strides toward changing that, but it's a

> slow

>>> go, because it has to happen at the grassroots level," he said. "Like

> any

>>> other prejudice, it's hard to die."

>

>>> During his visit to Fort Bliss, Gates announced a new policy in which
>>> combat
>>> veterans no longer have to acknowledge on their federal security

> clearance

>>> forms that they have received mental health care for combat stress.

> Gates

>>> said
>>> he hoped the policy would eliminate troops' concerns that seeking
>>> mentalhealth care can cause them to be denied a security clearance and
>>> threaten their
>>> careers. He also expressed hope it would take the stigma away from

> seeking

>>> treatment.

>

>>> Gates called on senior noncommissioned officers to encourage their
>>> soldiers
>>> who need it to get care, and to let them know that doing so is a sign of
>>> strength, not weakness.

>

>>> "All of you have a special role in encouraging troops to seek help for

> the

>>> unseen scars of war -- to let them know that doing so is a sign of
>>> strength
>>> and maturity," Gates told soldiers attending the Army Sergeants Major
>>> Academy,
>>> at Fort Bliss. "I urge you all to talk with those below you to find out
>>> where we can continue to improve.

>

>>> "Those who have sacrificed for our nation deserve the best care they can
>>> get," he continued. "As I have said before, there is no higher priority
>>> for
>>> the
>>> Department of Defense, after the war itself, than caring for our wounded
>>> warriors."
>>> __________________________________________

>

>>> I always thought combat caused PTSD should be awarded the purple heart.
>>> Maybe the military is finally realizing that those with PTSd are not
>>> cowards.

>

>> When I first saw this post I thought I ought to check it out on
>> snopes.com.  Nothing there, so it may be for real. I can see Patton
>> rolling over in his grave at the thought.  I would be against it

>

>> Tom I'm surprised that you take such a view on this.  A grunt should be

> well

>> aware of the effects of combat on the human mind.
>> War wounds take on many guises and affects many diferently.
>> What would your comment be about a soldier awarded the purple heart for
>> being wounded by shrapnel or shot while running from battle?
>> I would be more inclined to award a purple heart for PTSD than for some of
>> the scratches I have seen it awarded for.
>> PTSD is a life long disability and as many are being kept in a combat
>> situation way longer than the average grunt in Nam the injury is more
>> prevalant.
>> A lot of the soldiers today are put into a combat situation and were never
>> trained or conditioned for such a situation.
>> The situation Patton was portrayed in was condemned and by all and he
>> apologized, although I don't think sincerely, but he is one of the reasons
>>  it is looked upon as a cowardly wound and is the source of most of the
>> stigma associated with it.
>> Most with PTSD did not sit cowering in a hole while others fought as
>> portrayed in Patton.  Actually the opposite is true.  Most saw so much
>> combat that it altered their brain
>> to the point of being rendered useless as a soldier and as a citizen.
>> Watch some of the documentaries on the island fighting during WW2

> especially

>> Okinawa, Tarawa, and Iwo and tell me those guys don't deserve purple

> hearts.
>
> I don't think many folks want others to know they have it (PTSD that is)
> and there's those folks who fail to accept the problem even when diagnosed
> by competent medical folks  (with the VfnA that might be akin to 'military
> intelligence')
>
> say Tom and Tom and others who posted...I go along with whoever said
> something about it being good that we were actually discussing the "V" word
> again.  - Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -