Sunday, May 14, 2006

GI's and Iraq Stress

from Actor212's Simply Left Behind:
This Is Just Sad


Insufficient combat stress help for US troops faulted

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Only 22 percent of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seen at risk for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder have been referred by Pentagon officials for mental health evaluation, a report has found.

Thursday's report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found the Pentagon did not provide reasonable assurance that troops who needed referral for evaluation for combat-related stress actually got it. . .
Actor212:

"Time and time again, I have sung the praises of the GAO and the Comptroller General, David Walker. Thank god SOMEONE, no matter how marginalized he has been made, is making a stink about this in a position to do something about it. I only wish more Congresscritters, Dems and Repubs, took a little more interest in the folks who, as Michael Moore said at the end of "Fahrenheit 9-11"
the very people forced to live in the worst parts of town, go to the worst schools, and who have it the hardest are always the first to step up, to defend us. They serve so that we don't have to. They offer to give up their lives so that we can be free. It is remarkably their gift to us. And all they ask for in return is that we never send them into harm's way unless it is absolutely necessary.
We'll be paying for this war with our tax dollars for generations. These soldiers, they'll be paying with their lives. "

Moore's close to F9-11 is a killer. Call me corny, or even worse names, but I get the same feeling from those lines that I do when the Star-Spangled Banner is played, or when I hear Taps in the late, quiet night. Maybe because I'm so closely connected to the military for so many generations these stories of veteran abuse, and they are that, strike a particular poignant, painful chord with me. Thanks Dunham, Actor, and Michael Moore.

(Yes, I have a picture! I actually got the Blogger editor to open for once!)

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