Thousands of GIs Cope With Brain Damage

AP via Newsday ^ | 3:07 PM EDT, September 9, 2007 | MARILYNN MARCHIONE

[james500]

The war in Iraq is not over, but one legacy is already here in this city and others across America: an epidemic of brain-damaged soldiers.

Thousands of troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, or TBI. These blast-caused head injuries are so different from the ones doctors are used to seeing from falls and car crashes that treating them is as much faith as it is science.

"I've been in the field for 20-plus years dealing with TBI. I have a very experienced staff. And they're saying to me, 'We're seeing things we've never seen before,'" said Sandy Schneider, director of Vanderbilt University's brain injury rehabilitation program.

Doctors also are realizing that symptoms overlap with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that both must be treated. Odd as it may seem, brain injury can protect against PTSD by blurring awareness of what happened.

But as memory improves, emotional problems can emerge: One of the first "graduates" of Vanderbilt's program committed suicide three weeks later.

"Of all the ones here, he would not have been the one we would have thought," Schneider said. "They called him the Michelangelo of Fort Campbell" -- a guy who planned to go to art school.

[SE Mom]

Oh for Pete sakes- of course I don’t walk up to troops in the VA hospital and ask them their diagnosis. Since my son spent time in a few hospitals since his return, I’ve spent some time in them as well. I’m speaking from what I’ve seen and observed- not secondhand.

I don’t give a good damn what the reporters say- I read carefully what the doctors reported.

Minimizing reality doesn’t prepare us very well to deal with it.

[james500]

I posted this article primarily because it’s a very important topic: the health and welfare of our wounded warriors. My secondary reason was because the reference to Michelangelo was gratuitous. Not a big deal. Certainly not enough to go tell the teacher about.

[Timbo64]

SE Mom, you are right own! Some people hate the MSM so much that they think that everything they report is false and is not to be believed. You are right, it is real.

My oldest brother is a hospital administrator and would back you up 100%. Several of his staff, including his best friend who is a trauma surgeon, are in the Reserves and have been to Iraq.

Many men that would have died in past wars due to brain trauma now live. MANY troops are coming home with horrible injuries and it is our duty to care for them.

To believe any other way is to have your head in the sand!

[KantianBurke]

So essentially the article is a total fabrication and should be ignored? Is that what you’re arguing? Or is ANY news thats NOT rubber stamped by the DOD therefore suspect?

These troops need help and care. There’s nothing treasonable about reporting that. And quite frankly its sickening that there are hyper-partisans who would rather all info be bottled up, even when it impacts those soldiers who have suffered greviously, if it distracts from the latest talking point.

[Fairview]

If you don’t think this is real, buster, you should try visiting the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, where our Marines are treated. You’d see there that brain damage is real enough. Why on earth would you think troops at any time, in any war, could get through a war without suffering significant brain injuries? If their bodies can be injured by explosions, what illogic makes you suppose their brains would not be harmed?

[SE Mom]

Absolutely. You make sound points.

And..it is our DUTY to care for them.

[jimtorr]

"I've been in the field for 20-plus years dealing with TBI. I have a very experienced staff. And they're saying to me, 'We're seeing things we've never seen before,'" said Sandy Schneider, director of Vanderbilt University's brain injury rehabilitation program.

I think what people are objecting to is the idea that the writer is saying that these sort of injuries have never happened before, coupled with a few stories that have appeared that outright called all veterans ticking time bombs.

Personally, I think that this sort of injury has been common since at least WWI. Perhaps Dr. Schneider has not yet researched deeply enough into the records from WW 2 and Vietnam. There must be a few doctors left who treated such injuries to Vietnam Vets.

[syriacus]

but Bush is the CIC and the buck stops at his desk. Do not take me the wrong way, Kerry would have been MANY times worse.

Speaking of "bucks"..."The buck stops here" Harry Truman did the lousy job that you would expect of a modern-day Democratic CIC. Bush has done a far better job.

1. In 1949 Truman withdrew our troops from a young (freed in 1945) and unstable S. Korea (Just as the Democrats want to do in Iraq.)
2. In 1950, as predicted by many, N. Korea invaded S. Korea
3. In 1950 Truman sent troops back to Korea to re-win S. Korea's freedom.
4. Some folks could say Truman lied when he said he was sending troops to fight a "police action" against "bandits," because...
5. In the next 30 months of Truman's presidency (July,1950-Jan, 1953) 30,000 Americans died in Korea (Ten times as many troops died per month in Korea as have died in Iraq per month)
6. In January, 1951, six months into the Korean War, the severest wartime censorship in memory was imposed
7. The military draft was pulling in young men who had never expressed any interest in joing the military.

Truman's Korean war legacy was
An average of 1,000 deaths per month.
Severe censorship.
A military draft.

None of those things are happening under Bush.

[ripley]

may He carry them with Him.

[Non-Sequitur]

Try about 50. They are just making things up, as usual.

They are? Or you are?

[Cvengr]

After reading the article, not much of substance is provided.

I would think there would have at least some comparative statistics since WWI of those suffereing from ‘shell-shock’, which isn’t that rare. I suspect worldwide, there are far greater numbers of cases of such injuries in the mid-East and Africa and SE Asia.

It appears that all that is being reported is some abnormal behavior, with little to substantiate analysis, if any.

[Timbo64]

Your points are well taken. I never said that Truman was a great CIC.

At least Truman had the guts to nuke japan, twice, to end the war. If Bush had that option, would he use it?

I do know one thing however, I would take a clone of Harry Truman over 100% of the current Democrats and 50% of the current Republicans in Washington.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for your additional comments. I do think it’s great you vist the V.A. Good for you.

[ozzymandus]

This may explain those “Anti-war vets” the MSM keeps showing on TV. Doesn’t Kos claim to be a vet? His brain seems very damaged.

[DoughtyOne]

You’d see there that brain damage is real enough. Why on earth would you think troops at any time, in any war, could get through a war without suffering significant brain injuries?

Precisely. Thank you. This is the natural offshoot of war. It is neither an epidemic or something new. And so we're back to the AP and it's fellow rag, doing what they always do. This is the most terrible war ever and it's all Bush's fault. You don't get that? What was the reference to Michelangelo for, just a report of the facts? No! It was meant to play on people.

Dang folks, you think I'm against the troops, but that AP is right there for them. Wow.

[DoughtyOne]

You’d see there that brain damage is real enough. Why on earth would you think troops at any time, in any war, could get through a war without suffering significant brain injuries?

Precisely. Thank you. This is the natural offshoot of war. It is neither an epidemic or something new. And so we're back to the AP and it's fellow rag, doing what they always do. This is the most terrible war ever and it's all Bush's fault. You don't get that? What was the reference to Michelangelo for, just a report of the facts? No! It was meant to play on people.

Dang folks, you think I'm against the troops, but that AP is right there for them. Wow.

[ran20]

Many men that would have died in past wars due to brain trauma now live. MANY troops are coming home with horrible injuries and it is our duty to care for them.

I've seen a couple examples from the media. Pretty gruesome.. and some people who think the war against Islamists is not serious should re-read those stories.

One thing is like you said some of those injuries the person would have died in previous wars.. even in Vietnam. I was wondering if in some cases the medical teams should have let the soldiers die. And I'm not talking about minor brain damage.. or anything the person might recover from with existing medical care.

[DoughtyOne]

When you've had a chance to calm down, I'd like you to think about this again. When you have, please answer the following questions related to your post.

So essentially the article is a total fabrication and should be ignored? Is that what you’re arguing? Or is ANY news thats NOT rubber stamped by the DOD therefore suspect?

1. Before this report, had you ever heard of the A.P.?
2. Before this report, have you ever seen the A.P. print a news flash that was favorable to our troops?
3. Just how many reports of good things our troops are doing in Iraq, have you seen?
4. Which news source do you think is more reliable, A.P. or the DOD, since you brought the DOD up?

These troops need help and care. There’s nothing treasonable about reporting that.

5. Where did you see me say the A.P. had done anything treasonable?
6. Where did you see me say these troups shouldn't get care?

And quite frankly its sickening that there are hyper-partisans who would rather all info be bottled up, even when it impacts those soldiers who have suffered greviously, if it distracts from the latest talking point.

7. Where did I say I thought any information should be bottled up?
8. Do you think the current injuries to our troops are worse than the injuries in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam or the Gulf War?
9. Do you agree that was one of the points in the article?
10. What particular value did the reference to Michelangelo add to the facts in this article?
11. Do you or do you not think this may have been just a wee bit over the top, and a clear propaganda piece?

Thanks in advance.

[Scotsman will be Free]

I do not know the true extent of this sort of injury, but in the past tens of thousands of our troops have been subjected to blast forces, and managed to do fine after the war.
Consider WWI. You’d think that the entire continent of europe would have wandered off in a daze after all of the pounding hundreds of thousands of their men took from artillery.

[airborne]

Dang folks, you think I'm against the troops, but that AP is right there for them.

I don't think you're against the troops. I recognize your dislike for the AP and the majority of the drive by media.

But this is a touchy subject, and people are just being protective of our troops.

I think we can all agree that the media sucks, and will take this,and any other subject,and turn it into am opportunity to bash Bush.

And there is also no doubt that this war has produced many injuries, many of them from IED's.

I've been to my local VA recently (Lebanon, PA) and there are soldiers I have met who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan who are injured, but every one of them have been proud to have served, and proud of their country.

God bless all of them!