It takes a village – our village
Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile the military I know with the military that I keep hearing about.
I’m talking about the treatment of troops, in particular Iraq and Afghanistan veterans returning home all messed up after experiencing some pretty unspeakable things, in combat and out.
If you’re lucky, and with the right commanding officer, you can come home with a rack of medals and promising career. But too many of our “grunts” do not make it that far. They’re doing the dirty work; they’re exposed to the ugliness, most of them are young and unedycated. They left home with an intact mind, an important mission and a supportive community behund then. They return troubled, angry and dysfunctional. Now what?
What is the military that put them in combat supposed to do for them once they’re no longer deployable?
There’s no question that the military has resources for troubled troops, many of them unemployable, suffering from PTSD, relationship problems,, the whole gamut of it of baggage that any war vet understamds.
Our military has learned a lot about taking care of the war’s wounded in the last several years. An entire army of psychologists, counselors, and resources are available for the asking. But still, too many of our troops fall through the cracks. And remember these danaged “heroes” come home to you and me and our neighborhoods and they’ll need our help as well.
I’m not even so sure the military is the right source to solve these problems. Certainly they shouldn’t ignore them and absolutely they should provide funding to help heal them, But in the long run, after the disabililty battle has been fought and (hopefully) a treatnent plan is in place, it comes down to us Americans at home to help our troops assimilate back into society and get the help they need. In short, it takes a village
For some powerful insight into what our damaged troops are enduring, go to the following two stories by Kelly Kennedy at the Army Times. Kelly and I are are both Ochberg fellows with the Dart Society and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.
Read Kelley’s stories here (I challenge you to read them without dropping your jaw once):
http://www.militaryconnection.com/articles/health/ptsd-victim-booted-misconduct.html
http://www.militaryconnection.com/articles/health/ptsd-victim-booted-misconduct.html
Also, these stories were written in the last couple months. In other words, the problems persist, even still.
So once we put the welcome banners away, let’s remember, our job to help these veterans become functional members of society again has only just begun.
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