Here is hot news for those who were not rated properly by the VA.
The Cleveland VA Regional Office Director had informed the staff and veteran organizations that thousands, upon thousands of veterans will be receiving letters, advising them thay may wish to reopen their claim. VA Regional Offices in several states were found to be unduly conservative in approving VA benefits, especially in PTSD cases. The letters go out in Ohio Friday the 12th of May. I was warned that well over 1,000 will go to my active clients.
Monday the 15th will be a toughy!

Hi everyone! Mike and are are doing ok! Getting things for our home. I got a positive response from my letter to my Congressperson! Other veterans in Washington State are also writing and asking for an investigation! I found my friend in Calif.. Mike and I are planning a road trip leaving July 5. Dave: You are going to be super busy. Take little steps and make time for yourself, too. Sally

Combat stress hitting more vets

May 4, 2006

By David Goldstein Knight Ridder



WASHINGTON — The number of troops back this year from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder could be five times higher than the Department of Veterans Affairs predicted.

Instead of 2,900 new cases that it reported in February to a veterans advocate in Congress, the increase could be 15,000 or more, according to the VA.

At the Kansas City VA Medical Center, only nine vets from current combat were diagnosed with PTSD in 2004.

Last year, it was 58. In just the first three months of fiscal 2006, the hospital saw 72.

"It's absolutely incredible," said Kathy Lee, at the Missouri Veterans of Foreign Wars.

A former Army nurse in Vietnam who works at the hospital, Lee said, "Every single Iraq vet who comes in, I give them a list and say, 'How many of these (PTSD) symptoms do you have?' It's almost nine out of 10."

A top VA mental health official said it was difficult to predict the number of new PTSD cases because of unknown factors like the troop discharge rate and how many veterans will use the VA.

But Laurent Lehmann, associate chief consultant for mental health, disaster, post-deployment and post-traumatic stress disorder, acknowledged that 2,900 new cases "would be an underestimate." He said the VA hoped recent increases in funds and new programs "would catch" unanticipated cases.

"Are we ahead of the curve?" Lehmann said. "That's the question I don't think I can answer except to say we're going to be monitoring our heads off on this."

John Baugh, who attends a PTSD support group at the Kansas City VA Medical Center, said many soldiers still in combat zones are suffering from the disorder.

"They think that the numbers are high right now," said Baugh, 31, a former driver for an Army construction battalion in Iraq. "Wait until those guys get out and try to start functioning in the civilian world. There's going to be hell to pay."

The miscalculation on PTSD echoes last year's underestimation by the Bush administration of how many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans would need medical treatment. It had underfunded VA health care by $1 billion, despite assurances to Congress that the department had enough money.

Congress subsequently added $1.5 billion to the VA's budget, but money problems still loom.

"They're going to be short and they're going to be playing catch-up," Cathy Wiblemo, deputy director for health care at the American Legion, said of the VA's PTSD treatment. "They're not going to have the money, and the waiting list will grow."

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can follow combat or other traumatic experiences. Symptoms include survivor's guilt, flashbacks, nightmares, depression and irritability. It can lead to drug abuse and even suicide.

The war in Iraq presents a higher PTSD risk than other wars, said Robert Ursano of the Department of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

"Since it's a terrorist war, one could be under attack in any spot," he said. "There is an enduring sense of a lack of safety."

Among the half million veterans who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, more than 144,000 have gone to the VA for health care. Nearly a third have been diagnosed with mental disorders, with nearly half of those PTSD, according to the VA.

The White House asked for $80.6 billion in 2007 for the VA, including $3.2 billion for mental health programs. But Rep. Michael Michaud, a Maine Democrat on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, said the VA would need more, sooner.

"What's going to happen is unless we give added resources, they're going to have to start rationing care," Michaud said. "It's going to have to start pitting veterans against veterans."

Jeff Schrade, a spokesman for Sen. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican and chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said Craig was unhappy over the VA's botched estimates on health care last year.

The VA's contradictory estimates on PTSD surfaced in February. Prior to a Capitol Hill budget hearing, the agency replied to written questions from Rep. Lane Evans of Illinois, ranking Democrat on the House VA panel.

Asked about the need for mental health services, the VA told Evans that it expected to see 2,900 new cases in fiscal 2006, which began Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30.

A week later, the agency issued its latest quarterly report on use of the VA by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

The numbers indicated it had diagnosed 4,711 possible cases just from October through December — more in the first three months than it told Evans to expect over the entire fiscal year.

VA spokesman Jim Benson said the estimate of 2,900 cases was based on earlier data. The latest quarterly numbers were still in the draft stage at the time of the hearing, he said, and VA officials stuck with the earlier data because trying to explain "would be more challenging and perhaps more confusing."

"The reason they felt it was OK to do that was that, although the numbers are increasing" due to more troops being discharged and seeking help, Benson said, "the rate of PTSD is staying relatively constant."

But critics said that even if the annual PTSD rate was constant, the number of cases was rising nonetheless.

"They continue to downplay the severity and the real size of the problem," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and a platoon leader during the war.

VA officials also had at the time of the February budget hearing a report from the department's Special Committee on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It warned that the VA was unable handle services to new combat veterans as well as survivors of past wars, saying: "We can't do both jobs at once within current resources."

Most of the PTSD cases the VA sees involve veterans from earlier conflicts, primarily Vietnam.

Baugh of Kansas City won't talk much about his Iraq deployment because it triggers bad memories. But when he returned home in 2004, he couldn't escape them.

"I was jumpy, angry, irritated, sleeping one-two hours a night," Baugh said. "I was totally worn out. I'd drink and drink and drink just to shut the memories down and the nightmares."

His wife pushed him to get help. Baugh said he'll "jump through the ceiling" if she drops a frying pan. The clattering of kids skateboarding down his street sounds just like "gunfire in the distance: kack-kack-kack-kack."

Joshua Lansdale knows about nightmares and noises, too. A 23-year-old veteran from Kansas City, he spent 11 months in the Sunni Triangle as a firefighter and emergency medical technician with the Army Reserve's 487th Engineer Detachment.

"It was a pretty hot zone," he said. "We took a lot of mortar fire, IEDs, car bombs, saw a lot of helicopter crashes and worked the U.N. embassy bombing. I dragged a lot of people out of burning buildings, cars, motorcycle wrecks and explosions."

Back home, Lansdale was diagnosed with PTSD and joined a support group at the VA hospital. He predicted that returning troops would overrun the VA.

"A third of all soldiers are seeking help," he said. "Do we have the capability of treating all those soldiers? I don't think we do."

A C&P for your review and comments. I am seeing them here at the VA.

HI EVERYONE! I AM POSTING ON THE FORUM ON MILITARY.COM. MY HEALTH AND PTSD IS STABLE! I am still taking my meds. My letter to my congress person has been recieved and has a case manager working on it! Until this problem is resolved, my family lives apart but in touch and we do see each other! Mike still gets his check for $45. every thursday for his 20%VA service connected disability. I found my friend John! Mary Ellen says that she heard from my brother, Joe! Also, my other brother, Jim is in Florida ! They both have been trying to find me but could not because of my breakdown in 2003 and the fact that I changed my last name when I got married! My brothers and myself have the same father but I have a different mother. I am so happy that my family is looking for me! It is like my life is being put back together. PTSD is the bond that we share and it affects, our friends and families also! Sally

We are with ya!

Hello all. I just returned from a year-long tour in Iraq. I just found this site and wanted to be able to communicate with fellow servicemen and veterans about PTSD. I haven't made mental health appointments yet, but I may need to.

I was stationed in Hit, Iraq which is in Al-Anbar province about 40 miles west of Ramadi. I was the TC of a M1114 that got hit by a surface laid IED. No one was hurt thank God. The windshield directly in front of my face was struck by shrapnel. I was shot at by my own guard tower at our firm base. I was sniped at by unidentified insurgents. My team (without me present) was hit by an IED while on a foot patrol through the city. 5 out of the 8 personnel on the patrol were wounded by shrapnel. Thankfully, no life/limb/eyesight wounds were suffered. I've been dealing with the whole leader guilt for not being there with my men and it's hard.

I was the team leader of a Tactical Human Intelligence Team working with Task Force 1-36 of the 1st ID. While I was in Hit 3 soldiers were killed. One was shot in the head by a sniper on his very first day and very first patrol. He was only 23 I think and had been in the Army for less time than I have been on leave. Forgive me if I ramble, but it's hard to write this without tearing up and/or crying. The second soldier who was killed was left in an observation post for an extremely extended period of time. He had no chance. He was shot in the chest as soon as he exfilled. The last one was killed a week before my team rotated out of country. He was driving a M1114 and an IED with over 500 lbs of explosives detonated under him. No trace of his body was found. The gunner (my former roommate at our Firm Base) was thrown with the truck (which overturned) and landed underneath it. The TC was trapped under the wheel well. The turret of the truck was thrown on top of a two story building and the engine was blown 50m down the street.

My whole point to all this is I know what I'm feeling is normal and communicating with others is supposed to help the healing process. I just moved in to my new house in Hawaii and in the past week I've had my car window smashed and my home broken into. My laptop, two digital cameras, and my wife's jewelry were stollen. I've been yelled at by locals, been called "howlie," and been told to "go home." I'm worried I'm going to lose it and get hurt.

I'd be very interested if any of you all are in Hawaii and would like to meet sometime.

Thanks for your time.

Pray for those still over there and their families!

Joshua D. Hall
SSG, USA
B Co, 205th MI Bn

Hello folks! My first post here.

I just got out of the VA hospital in Dallas after 12 days....major depression, high anxiety (and NOT the movie!), PTSD, excessive weight loss. This is the first time PTSD appears in my VA medical records, although I was briefly hospitalize for similar things back in 2000 in a civilian hospital. I should also mention that I'm already 40% VA disabled due to back and neck problems. This and the PTSD are the results of a helo crash I had in the Persian Gulf back in '87.

I went in to the hospital voluntaryily, as I had become all but non-functional. I checked out due to a death in my wifes family, and it was premature. I will probably end up going back in next week unless things smooth out considerable.

Anyway, I will be asking a bunch of questions here since after my initial follow up appointments and pschologist appointment, I will likely be filing with the VA for PTSD.

Thanks, and best of luck to all whom suffer with PTSD!

edit: P.S. my SECOND post! My CRS (Can't Remember Sh!T) is acting up.

Hello everyone, this is only my third post and I just wanted to introduce myself being the new guy to these forums.
I look forward to getting to know everyone and hopefully I'll find what I'm looking for that the doctors and psychiatrists have failed miserably to provide.