Veterans Affairs PTSD

The government has provided support for veterans, but it does not reach out to all veterans. Not all veterans come home homeless.

Our Warriors Today there is an outrage in our Veteran community of how terrible the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and their lack of caring and funding for our heroes. In this paper I will give facts on how terrible this problem really is, whether it is our homeless Veterans, Veterans who die waiting for help from the VA because they cannot afford other healthcare, or the horrid waiting times in order to get any help.

Veteran Benefits The issue of veteran benefits in the United States is not taken as seriously as it should be in our country, even though it is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. The lack of available funding for veterans is especially obvious when compared to that available for lower income citizens, or even illegal immigrants. Also, what does exist appears to fall short in taking care of veteran’s needs. Considering that these veterans are people who have risked their lives fighting for this country, the fact that they are not receiving immediate benefits or even what they have earned is unfair.

Veteran’s Benefits Veteran’s pay a heavy price for our freedom, but do we in turn repay them back? Once veteran’s return home they receive several benefits, such as education, disability compensation, and low-cost medical care. Each are specific due to how they benefit each veteran, but not all are capable of fully providing the veteran. Veterans receive benefits based on discharge from active military service other than dishonorable conditions. Active service must be serving full time as a member under several branches, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, or as a commissioned officer of the Public Health Service, Environmental Services Administration or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Most veterans who have mental illness, mostly PTSD, do not know how to get help. About eleven percent of the adult homeless population are veterans .The veterans who are suffering from PTSD do not want to get help mostly because they do not have the funds to get the help they need or they are afraid of seeking help. If the government would give more funding to the Veteran Affairs or other organizations, it would be easier for homeless veterans to find the help that they

Secondly, some veterans will come back from war and if they were shot or experienced heavy damage to the head, they can have severe brain injuries and when they’re homeless and they don’t have much help, that can be horrible for the homeless veterans. Lastly, while veterans are fighting in wars, if they get shot or a grenade goes

That’s why it makes perfect sense to expand and reconstruct the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to undertake such a massive service. Veterans don’t deserve to be treated like this, the forgotten hero’s, now the homeless, and the starving.

Lack of Government Support For Affected Veterans According to the article, “Government 's PTSD Treatment for Veterans, Lacking”, “They account for more than 75% of the roughly half a million VA patients receiving treatment for PTSD,” (Zarembo). Many veterans still continue to wait for their treatments, creating issues in their home life and even causing them to commit suicide. The 25% of the patients who are not treated suffer, this is where the government should come to play to help those people by providing more care and supporting the costs. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be better treated and better supported by the government to veterans because of the amount of soldiers waiting for treatment, lack of effectiveness in treatment,

USA Today reported a suicide rate of 19.9 per 100,000 for civilian men compared to rates of 31.8 per 100,000 for male soldiers and 34.2 per 100,000 for men in the National Guard. The system for how we distribute the claims made by veterans in the U.S. is not performing as it should. Soldiers cannot refuse to take medications that the government has deemed “mandatory” without the threat of a court martial. Veterans are not always easily acclimated back into civilian life and sometimes they need extra help financially after they come back, but many cannot get that kind of assistance and are simply living with very little. America’s veterans are not being treated unfairly for the sacrifices they made for this country, because the system meant to help them is currently ill equip to handle the situation.

In the recent years, the number of mental health professionals providing for the military has dwindled, there is almost no combat-specific psychologists left, and the wait time to be treated for a mental health issue by the Department of Veterans Affairs has drastically increased. Examining MilitaryOneSource and the Department of Veterans Affairs, two of the most highly regarded military health providers, the lack of mental health services for veterans and active duty members has diminished and has resulted in a multitude of veterans going untreated or even ending their own life instead of receiving the help they

Another issue that veterans struggle with when they come back from war is mental illnesses like PTSD. According to “bringing the war back home”, “Of 103 788 OEF/OIF veterans seen at VA health care facilities, 25 658 (25%) received mental health diagnosis(es)”. This disabilities can make getting into the workforce much more difficult and even leave veterans to live on the streets from lack of employment. The solution discovered from this research is that if these mental diseases are caught early enough, the veterans will receive the help they need and be able to continue their normal civilian lives. “Targeted early detection and intervention beginning in primary care settings are needed to prevent chronic mental illness and

has been understaffed to accommodate the millions of veterans who need access to quality healthcare. According to Reno, “ VA Health Care System continues to worsen in more and more dangerous ways, severely underserving the nearly 7 million veterans who rely on the network for care annually” (Reno, Para 16). If veterans were allowed to go to any hospital they choose, there would be no issue with staffing in civilian hospitals. Local hospitals have the ability to hire to their needs, and do not need access to government funds to hire additional personnel. Veterans should not have to worry about fending for themselves after surgery, because the VA doesn’t have enough room to accommodate their needs.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in The Things They Carried During the turbulent times of the Vietnam War, thousands of young men entered the warzone and came face-to-face with unimaginable scenes of death, destruction, and turmoil. While some perished in the dense Asian jungles, others returned to American soil and were forced to confront their lingering combat trauma. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried provides distinct instances of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and reveals the psychological trauma felt by soldiers in the Vietnam War. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD for short, is the most common mental illness affecting soldiers both on and off the battlefield.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, is a mental disorder that most often develops after a veteran experiences a traumatic event. While having this illness, the veteran believes their lives are in danger. They also may feel afraid or feel they have no control over what is happening. If their feeling does not go away, the symptoms may disrupt the person 's life, making it hard to continue daily activities.

This not only makes them suffer but it also hurts others around them. Most soldiers when dealing with PTSD separate themselves from their loved ones and friends because of their “experience of near death and the fear that they will leave someone behind...” (The Emotional Effects of War on Soldiers). This can cause many problems with the family and the soldier’s relationships with others. Though, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any help provided for soldiers.