The Sad Untold Story
A tremendously important story has gone virtually untold by the media, ignored by our political leaders and unknown to the American public. Despite the extraordinarily high price they have paid, America's severely wounded veterans are enduring humiliating financial hardships of epic proportions. Home evictions, utility shutoffs, car repossessions and foreclosures are 
commonplace.
Spouses have to give up their jobs to become caregivers, cutting family incomes by up to 50 percent or more. Most disabled vets receive much less in compensation and benefits than they did while on active duty, reducing incomes even further. Many are too dysfunctional to hold a meaningful job, if any, because of the devastating effects of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Rick Amato of the Washington Press. Rick Amato is a radio talk-show host in San Diego and with Washington Times Radio News. Amato Strategic Communications provides consulting services to nonprofit organizations, including veterans causes.
There is a great deal of information out there on PTSD and the military, and this may largely be due to the origins of the PTSD diagnosis.
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be considered a "young" diagnosis. It was not until 1980 that the diagnosis of PTSD as we know it today came to be. However, throughout history, people have recognized that exposure to combat situations can have a profound negative impact on the minds and bodies of those involved in these situations.
In fact, the diagnosis of PTSD originates from observations of the effect of combat on soldiers. The grouping of symptoms that we now refer to as PTSD has previously been described in the past as "combat fatigue," "shell shock," or "war neurosis."
It is not surprising that high rates of PTSD have been found among soldiers from World War II, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, and the war in Iraq.
Rick's perspectives include getting congress to put soldier and veterans disability right to top of the stimulus packages being authorized of late. He quotes President Reagan "Until our politicians feel the heat, they won't see the light."
Read the whole article in the Washington Press including a specific case of a military couple struggling to endure.
