Posted Comment
steve1705
I am a Marine infantry (0311) vet, I served in Iraq and actually saw some combat. I am calling a bullshit flag on these numbers of PTSD and traumatic brain injury. 300k and 360k? You have got to be shitting me.
Considering only a little over 1 million people have cycled through the war zones, you are looking at 1/3 of them getting traumatic brain injury and/or ptsd? Most people aren’t even infantry and yes, they may face IEDs on the rare occasions they leave the fobs but most people in Iraq and Afghanistan weren’t/won’t be engaged by the enemy.
I was in 2/1 and another unit in my regiment (1/4) did 2 tours in Iraq without recieving a combat action ribbon. This means they were never under fire from the enemy. They went twice and got no CARs. Thats 14 months without enemy contact. During this time my unit went over and took 13 kias and many more wounded, this was in 2006 before Iraq really calmed down. My point is even in 2006 when you had men fighting you had an entire Marine infantry battalion, men who were out on patrol looking for the enemy not being engaged. This was not an isolated incident I am sure. I had friends in other battalions who went over to Iraq and while their battalion took some contact, they themselves never fired a shot or even saw the enemy.
It varies even by company in a battalion. My company had 1 man killed and around 8 wounded, another company had 0 casulties, and the other had 12 or so killed and several more wounded. This was in the same AO in the same city even. I don’t believe that PTSD is a problem. I knew 1 dude with legitimate PTSD, he was wounded severley and while in the hospital in Germany his house burned down in the US and killed his entire family. That guy had issues, lots of them. However that is understandable and uncommon.
I knew people who got diagnosed with PTSD. Most of them admitted they lied their ass off just to get the benefits. They were EASing and tried to inflate VA benefits. The doctors are so scared of missing PTSD they give it to anyone. If you want PTSD here is what you say, I have trouble forming relationships with family/friends/girl/boyfriend. I can’t sleep, I need to drink to go to sleep, I have bouts of uncontrollable rage, I don’t trust anyone, I can’t stop thinking about Iraq, I am always checking the area for enemy, I can’t concentrate on schoolwork/work, I am nervous all the time, I have anxiety attacks, I get mad at people for no reason and can’t control my anger, I snap over little things. If you tell the doc you have some combination of not being able to sleep, drinking too much, anger issues, and not being able to form relationships you stand a very good chance of being diagnosed with PTSD. You tell the doc what he wants to hear and you got it.
My son has done three tours in Iraq, on those roads, every single day. He doesn't have PTSD or even a headaches. He's grateful every single day. Where are the success stories re Iraq?
Thought you might find this interesting given your post. Found it on facebook on the WSJ fan page:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704913304575371130876271708.html?mod=E2fb
I’d heard the VA was going to make it easier to claim PTSD. However, I didn’t realize it was going to extend to people who were non-combatants.
I am a Nam guy I have the same doubts that you do about my era.