The Battle Has Just Begun
Bella Petroccitto
Complete silence echoed throughout the desolate wasteland. Shrapnel danced across the ghostlike streets of Kabul, while the single scream of a lost child pierced the heavy atmosphere. Flames from the suicide bombs licked at a soldiers leg, turning it black and ashen. This soldier is Stephen Leon. The blast from the bomb gave him burns, and wrist, neck, knee, back, and ankle injuries. But aside from all of these horrifying physical injuries, Leon was diagnosed with one two of the most common side-effects of war that millions of veterans are facing everyday. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are like a persistent demon that is always there to haunt you and never disappears.
For a veteran returning home from the Iraq war, life is filled with stress, worry, and discomfort. Vets are returning home to a future threatened by homelessness, suicide, poverty, and unemployment. This is not the way these honorable troops who risked their lives for their country should feel. However, the biggest problem veterans are facing is the government’s failure to care for physical and mental injuries associated with their service. Mike Salois, a regional executive director the Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio, which provides housing for homeless veterans in Ohio, says that, “It’s a waiting game…. And when you particularly are already suffering from something on top of the disability, whether it be a mental illness or substance-abuse problem … they are not knowing how to cope with putting that off any more.” 2.6 million veterans have returned in the last 12 years to a country they call home that is not prepared to meet their needs. The very same government that sent them to war has failed on many levels to fulfill its obligations to these veterans. These promises come in the form of disability payments, jobs, health care and treatment for such afflictions as post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, physical disabilities and military sexual trauma (MST). Unfortunately, when soldiers return home from war their battle is far from over. About 46% of troops from Afghanistan or Iraq came to the Veterans Administration (VA) for care, and of those troops, 48% of them were diagnosed with PTSD.
The transition from war back into civilian life is an incredibly hard one for most troops. Many veterans feel disconnected from those around them and feel that the public does not understand their experience in the war. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, who writes for the Washington Post, states that, “Almost 7 in 10 feel that the average American misunderstands their experience in the war.” He also says that “Half say the military is lacking in its efforts to help them transition to civilian life. The transition back into civilian life has been difficult for 50 percent of those who have left active service.” Although this transition can be made very difficult because of traumatic experiences or injuries, the main reason is because of the government’s failure to meet their needs and the education of the public. 55% of veterans feel disconnected from people who have not served. Jennifer Smolen, who served in Iraq for a year with an Army Reserve engineer unit and is now an active member of a Seattle area American Legion post says that, “There’s a feeling that civilians who weren’t there just don’t get it.” Our government needs to develop strategies to improve this transition for troops returning home, taking a great amount of stress off of troops and preventing serious problems like isolation, depression, unemployment, and suicide.
Dark circles hang below the dim and hollowed eyes of Nicholas Johnson, a veteran of the Iraq War. Johnson served in Iraq for a year starting in 2006. In Iraq he would stand for hours in the hot sun wearing 50 pounds of body armor and gear, jackhammering asphalt to fill in roadside bomb craters. When he returned home, he was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra, three fused disks in his back, constant ringing ears, and PTSD. As Johnson shares his experiences in Iraq with the Washington Post, he expresses his frustration saying that, “I can’t get a good job now because . . . I have to be upfront and say I have this disability, I have a tore-up back. The factories here in Topeka, where I live now, they’re like: ‘Oh, wow, he has military experience. Great. He has managerial experience. Oh, that’s good. Some college — all right. Oh, he tore his back up. Can’t do that, you know.’ ” Johnson at age 21, looked like an entirely different person than the one that speaks today. There was a spark in his eye, color in his skin, and he gave off a confident and passionate aura. The Johnson today struggles with depression, and is constantly battling demons from Iraq that never seem to go away. He avoids Interstate 70 because it reminds him of Baghdad’s roads, and panics at the simple sight of trash on the street because that’s what was used to conceal explosives in Iraq. After Johnson gave the war virtually everything he had and was proud of what he was doing, he has returned home to a minimum wage job and the worry of not being able to provide for his own son. "I left the war zone," he said, "but the war zone never left me."
Another extremely large issue that troops returning home are facing is suicide and depression. 1 in 2 veterans say they personally know a service member who has committed or attempted suicide (Washington Post). The things someone can see and experience in war are sometimes too much to cope with for some veterans. Many have been on constant alert around the clock, been in intense war scenes, or seen others been hurt or killed right in front of them. Some veterans turn to alcohol and tobacco use, which can be very problematic. Others become very depressed and isolated leading to suicide. Chris Clinton Hall, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as an infantryman and now lives in Portland, Oregon, explained to the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting that “all [he] ever considered when [he] thought about suicide was the guilt [he] was feeling and just wanting a way out, wanting to not have those memories anymore.” Hall also told reporters that his fellow soldier and close friend killed himself shortly after returning home. According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, about 3-25% of troops returning home from Iraq face severe depression. For many, the stress and pain they have had to face becomes too much to cope with. The trauma and experiences from the war are unimaginable, and without the proper treatment provided by the government, it pushes thousands of veterans over the edge.
Aside from PTSD, TBI, and depression, there are many other possible physical and mental issues veterans can face. Some common injuries include: persistent ringing in the ears, elevated blood pressure, back pain, blown-out knees, headaches, chronic coughs, broken bones, burns...etc. One of the most serious, however, is Military Sexual Trauma or MST. MST is sexual assault, repeated or not, or threatening sexual harassment that occurs in the military. This is a very serious issue and can happen to both men and women and can occur during peacetime, training, or war. In most recent wars, 1 in 10 American troops are women. “Just being a woman was an additional stressor,” said Melissa Ross, a Post-Kaiser poll respondent, who deployed to Afghanistan as a staff sergeant three times. “Just being a female. Just the amount of fear of ‘What if?’ — ‘What if you have that one airman or Marine or Army guy who doesn’t know you and looks at you just as a female?’ That was the biggest stressor for me daily. That crossed my mind way more than, ‘What if we hit an IED?’ Someone brave enough to put their own life on the line for their country should not have to worry about sexual assault. It is essential that the government develops a plan to stop this from occurring during service. The horrors of MST can be embedded into someone's mind for a lifetime, and on top of the stress from war, it can be far too much for many veterans.
Devastating is the only way to describe the pain and suffering that veterans have to go through. The life of a veteran who returned home from service is not an easy one by any means. Unfortunately, the war is only the first obstacle they will have to overcome. When a soldier returns home, they are faced with a life filled with constant worry, discomfort, uncertainty, and for most, the disappointment in our government for failing to address the physical or mental injuries associated with their service. TBI, PTSD, and MST are extremely serious problems that many troops have to face and the government's failure to provide veterans with the tools they need to manage their stress has lead to a shocking increase of suicide and depression rates. After doing so much for our country, a veteran should not by any means, face what they have been facing after their service in recent wars. The way our government and the uneducated public has treated them is unacceptable and if we do not make a change soon, our nation will continue to lose countless lives of honorable men and women. John Fitzgerald Kennedy once said, "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
Bella Petroccitto
Complete silence echoed throughout the desolate wasteland. Shrapnel danced across the ghostlike streets of Kabul, while the single scream of a lost child pierced the heavy atmosphere. Flames from the suicide bombs licked at a soldiers leg, turning it black and ashen. This soldier is Stephen Leon. The blast from the bomb gave him burns, and wrist, neck, knee, back, and ankle injuries. But aside from all of these horrifying physical injuries, Leon was diagnosed with one two of the most common side-effects of war that millions of veterans are facing everyday. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are like a persistent demon that is always there to haunt you and never disappears.
For a veteran returning home from the Iraq war, life is filled with stress, worry, and discomfort. Vets are returning home to a future threatened by homelessness, suicide, poverty, and unemployment. This is not the way these honorable troops who risked their lives for their country should feel. However, the biggest problem veterans are facing is the government’s failure to care for physical and mental injuries associated with their service. Mike Salois, a regional executive director the Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio, which provides housing for homeless veterans in Ohio, says that, “It’s a waiting game…. And when you particularly are already suffering from something on top of the disability, whether it be a mental illness or substance-abuse problem … they are not knowing how to cope with putting that off any more.” 2.6 million veterans have returned in the last 12 years to a country they call home that is not prepared to meet their needs. The very same government that sent them to war has failed on many levels to fulfill its obligations to these veterans. These promises come in the form of disability payments, jobs, health care and treatment for such afflictions as post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, physical disabilities and military sexual trauma (MST). Unfortunately, when soldiers return home from war their battle is far from over. About 46% of troops from Afghanistan or Iraq came to the Veterans Administration (VA) for care, and of those troops, 48% of them were diagnosed with PTSD.
The transition from war back into civilian life is an incredibly hard one for most troops. Many veterans feel disconnected from those around them and feel that the public does not understand their experience in the war. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, who writes for the Washington Post, states that, “Almost 7 in 10 feel that the average American misunderstands their experience in the war.” He also says that “Half say the military is lacking in its efforts to help them transition to civilian life. The transition back into civilian life has been difficult for 50 percent of those who have left active service.” Although this transition can be made very difficult because of traumatic experiences or injuries, the main reason is because of the government’s failure to meet their needs and the education of the public. 55% of veterans feel disconnected from people who have not served. Jennifer Smolen, who served in Iraq for a year with an Army Reserve engineer unit and is now an active member of a Seattle area American Legion post says that, “There’s a feeling that civilians who weren’t there just don’t get it.” Our government needs to develop strategies to improve this transition for troops returning home, taking a great amount of stress off of troops and preventing serious problems like isolation, depression, unemployment, and suicide.
Dark circles hang below the dim and hollowed eyes of Nicholas Johnson, a veteran of the Iraq War. Johnson served in Iraq for a year starting in 2006. In Iraq he would stand for hours in the hot sun wearing 50 pounds of body armor and gear, jackhammering asphalt to fill in roadside bomb craters. When he returned home, he was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra, three fused disks in his back, constant ringing ears, and PTSD. As Johnson shares his experiences in Iraq with the Washington Post, he expresses his frustration saying that, “I can’t get a good job now because . . . I have to be upfront and say I have this disability, I have a tore-up back. The factories here in Topeka, where I live now, they’re like: ‘Oh, wow, he has military experience. Great. He has managerial experience. Oh, that’s good. Some college — all right. Oh, he tore his back up. Can’t do that, you know.’ ” Johnson at age 21, looked like an entirely different person than the one that speaks today. There was a spark in his eye, color in his skin, and he gave off a confident and passionate aura. The Johnson today struggles with depression, and is constantly battling demons from Iraq that never seem to go away. He avoids Interstate 70 because it reminds him of Baghdad’s roads, and panics at the simple sight of trash on the street because that’s what was used to conceal explosives in Iraq. After Johnson gave the war virtually everything he had and was proud of what he was doing, he has returned home to a minimum wage job and the worry of not being able to provide for his own son. "I left the war zone," he said, "but the war zone never left me."
Another extremely large issue that troops returning home are facing is suicide and depression. 1 in 2 veterans say they personally know a service member who has committed or attempted suicide (Washington Post). The things someone can see and experience in war are sometimes too much to cope with for some veterans. Many have been on constant alert around the clock, been in intense war scenes, or seen others been hurt or killed right in front of them. Some veterans turn to alcohol and tobacco use, which can be very problematic. Others become very depressed and isolated leading to suicide. Chris Clinton Hall, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as an infantryman and now lives in Portland, Oregon, explained to the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting that “all [he] ever considered when [he] thought about suicide was the guilt [he] was feeling and just wanting a way out, wanting to not have those memories anymore.” Hall also told reporters that his fellow soldier and close friend killed himself shortly after returning home. According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, about 3-25% of troops returning home from Iraq face severe depression. For many, the stress and pain they have had to face becomes too much to cope with. The trauma and experiences from the war are unimaginable, and without the proper treatment provided by the government, it pushes thousands of veterans over the edge.
Aside from PTSD, TBI, and depression, there are many other possible physical and mental issues veterans can face. Some common injuries include: persistent ringing in the ears, elevated blood pressure, back pain, blown-out knees, headaches, chronic coughs, broken bones, burns...etc. One of the most serious, however, is Military Sexual Trauma or MST. MST is sexual assault, repeated or not, or threatening sexual harassment that occurs in the military. This is a very serious issue and can happen to both men and women and can occur during peacetime, training, or war. In most recent wars, 1 in 10 American troops are women. “Just being a woman was an additional stressor,” said Melissa Ross, a Post-Kaiser poll respondent, who deployed to Afghanistan as a staff sergeant three times. “Just being a female. Just the amount of fear of ‘What if?’ — ‘What if you have that one airman or Marine or Army guy who doesn’t know you and looks at you just as a female?’ That was the biggest stressor for me daily. That crossed my mind way more than, ‘What if we hit an IED?’ Someone brave enough to put their own life on the line for their country should not have to worry about sexual assault. It is essential that the government develops a plan to stop this from occurring during service. The horrors of MST can be embedded into someone's mind for a lifetime, and on top of the stress from war, it can be far too much for many veterans.
Devastating is the only way to describe the pain and suffering that veterans have to go through. The life of a veteran who returned home from service is not an easy one by any means. Unfortunately, the war is only the first obstacle they will have to overcome. When a soldier returns home, they are faced with a life filled with constant worry, discomfort, uncertainty, and for most, the disappointment in our government for failing to address the physical or mental injuries associated with their service. TBI, PTSD, and MST are extremely serious problems that many troops have to face and the government's failure to provide veterans with the tools they need to manage their stress has lead to a shocking increase of suicide and depression rates. After doing so much for our country, a veteran should not by any means, face what they have been facing after their service in recent wars. The way our government and the uneducated public has treated them is unacceptable and if we do not make a change soon, our nation will continue to lose countless lives of honorable men and women. John Fitzgerald Kennedy once said, "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."