Sick, Literally, of Fighting in Iraq

[babylonsister]

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8981

Sick, Literally, of Fighting in Iraq

By Aaron Glantz / IPS

snip//

Pentagon doctors estimate that 12 percent of the 1.5 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD. Newly revised Defence Department guidelines for service-members with "a psychiatric disorder in remission, or whose residual symptoms do not impair duty performance" say they may be considered for duty downrange. It lists post-traumatic stress disorder as a "treatable" problem.

Many believe President George W. Bush's newly announced plan to send 21,500 additional U.S. soldiers to Iraq will involve the redeployment of soldiers suffering from severe trauma. Press reports indicate Bush wants to implement his "surge" by speeding up previously scheduled redeployments and extending the tours of soldiers already in the field of battle.

That reality has increasing numbers of soldiers taking matters into their own hands.

Between Christmas and New Year's 2006, five U.S. soldiers committed suicide after being informed they'd been ordered to serve an additional tour in Iraq. In Iraq itself, the military announced on Dec. 30 that soldier Michael Crutchfield of Stockton, California killed himself north of the capital, Baghdad.

The day of his death, he e-mailed his foster brother and confidant, Johnny Sotello, to relate his pain to the remnants of his family still living in the area.

"As you know, there are more people waiting for me to pull this trigger than there are waiting on my return to the states," Crutchfield wrote in a portion of the message, quoted by the Stockton Record.

"I'm done hurting. All my life I've been hurting... end this pain," Crutchfield wrote at the end of his two-page message.

more...:cry:

[Olney Blue]

1. Almost too heartbreaking to read.... how much more of this pain?

[Bluerthanblue]

2. oh.... i knew

it would be like this....

and it breaks my heart.

But we need to face this, and take away the stupid -foolish stigma attached to admitting the suffering.

thanks you for posting this.

PTSD is no joke-
it is hell.

[Swamp Rat]

3. 12% my ass! Pentagon doctors are fucking liars!

:eyes:

[babylonsister]

5. Agreed, Swamp Rat. And to call PTSD 'treatable'... perhaps after

tons of therapy and even then, it's not a sure thing. I have a b-i-l who still suffers from PTSD from VN.

[Mandate My Ass]

6. PTSD is a life sentence - without parole

Even when a sufferer goes into a long state of remission, any event or environment that reminds them of the initial trauma is devastating. Nobody with PTSD should be sent back, for their own safety as well as for the safety of those exposed to them.

[Swamp Rat]

8. He will be in my thoughts tonight

:hug:

[babylonsister]

16. Thanks, Swampy.

:hug:

[Bluerthanblue]

7. didn't expect

they'd own this. In this instance denial often kills.

This can't go on- it cannot be denied and ignored, hoping it will just 'go away'- self destruction is not a 'cure'.

[az chela]

4. The desperation is unbearable for most of the troops.

My best friend lives in Tucson and her son,who is my son's best friend is supposed to come home from Iraq in March.She told me today she didnt think it would happen.This year has been unbearable,she is 50 and has has several strokes and seizures and has almost quit eating.
The repurcussions for the families is beyond belief.
I live in a little town and we had another marine from here killed last week.
We have to end this.bush has to go and the funding must stop
NO MORE WAR
PEACE NOW

[libodem]

9. Heart breaking

Beyond sad. I wish I could help carry the burdens on each heart. I wish they would all remember to turn over those burdens to what ever Being they believe in. That's what a Deity is for. My thoughts and prayers for all the poor crushed hearts and aching souls. I was a Veterans'nurse, in a skilled nursing facility for many years. I loved all my Vets. I saw PTSD in some of my Alzheimers patients erupt 60 years later. They held everything in all those years and when their minds went, the truth would come out. God bless all these new guys. I would help them if I could.

[az chela]

11. 2 of my brother in laws died from mentally not recovering

from Viet Nam.They both drank non stop til they died in their 40's.
That is a long cruel way to die.The younger one cried all the time.He was in security and could not talk to any of us about it.
The only thing he ever said to me was that after seeing what we did to the women and children over there he couldnt live with it.They would give the guys drugs and tell them to shoot anything that moved.He told me about seeing a dead woman laying in the road with her baby nursing on her.How can we act like this???What is wrong with the americans that they can become so cold and evil???Is it fron fear only or are they turned into animals by the army???
Another friend flew a helicopter to pick up the wounded,he was 20 years old and would write me 10 page letters about the horrors of picking up the dead and wounded and always wondering if there were too many and they would crash.
WHy in 2007 are we still such barbarians???
My heart aches for all of us!!!!!!No matter who we are we are all humans

[lonestarnot]

10. Damn you bushitler! Damn you!

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

12. The last paragraph kinda says it all~

"He was doing terrible, heinous acts and felt no remorse or guilt," Denis said. "He was in this treatment centre and was diagnosed with a chemical imbalance and you've known it from birth because he's this weird kid. And now the Army is sending him to Iraq. The Army is letting anyone in right now, they're so desperate." end.

Who the hell, is gonna put a stop to this?. It really does look as if it will take the March on DC on the 27th to at least be HEARD.

[Mnemosyne]

13. "after being informed they'd been ordered to serve an additional tour in Iraq"

:cry:The devastation to the families fits right in with those "family values".:cry:

[Bluerthanblue]

14. kick ..... for my brothers and sisters.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

15. 12% sounds a bit conservative, as a PTSD estimate. still, here's a K&R...