My coverage of the 2006 YearlyKos Convention will arrive in four parts, each highlighting the words and experiences of the four panelists expertly representing the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). Part I offers a general introduction to The View from the Ground: Iraq Veterans on the War and Returning Home discussion, then moves into presenting the story of Iraq veteran Abbie Pickett - whose continued desire to educate the American public about Iraq and PTSD have caught the attention of many news organizations. Check out her Newsweek profile and interview on NPR's Day to Day program. I consider myself lucky to have had a few moments to chat with her this past weekend.

I was contacted today by Sarah Farmer, the fiance of Sgt. Jeffrey M. Lehner, an Afghanistan veteran who (exactly six months ago today) tragically killed his father and then himself. At the time, he'd completed 2 years of counseling for his combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. From my research of such OEF/OIF incidents for the PTSD Timeline (Lehner's is located at 12-7-05), I remember this case quite vividly.

From the tragedy, now comes hope for others returning home with PTSD through the help of The Lehner Foundation. Learn a little more about Jeffrey, his difficulties with PTSD, and what one woman is doing to make sure our returning troops get the help they need.

From the Fresno [CA] Bee:

Felony charges were filed Friday against a Marine accused of stealing a truck and crashing it into a Hanford house -- acts he blames on stress from seeing his best friend die in combat and having to move the bodies of children in Haditha, Iraq. Lance Cpl. Roel Ryan Briones, 21, is charged with auto theft, hit and run and drunken driving in connection with the April 3 crash of a pickup into a Hanford home.

Not surprisingly, we find the first reported case of posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] related to involvement in the tragedy at Haditha. Military officials at Camp Pendleton have confirmed that Briones -- who took no part in the alleged killing of civilians -- has PTSD; he has been receiving counseling from a psychologist for his condition in San Diego. The Purple Heart veteran was drunk at the time he stole this vehicle, crashing it into a residential home a mere 36 hours after returning home from Iraq.

Much more on this incident, as well as an expanded look on how Haditha affected two Marines ordered to photograph and handle the civilian casualities.

What a week. Actually, what a past few months.

There's been a bit of a backstory going on with the fight for the mental healthcare of our troops. I'm not just talking now about the mental care they receive as vets after they return home -- we're talking now about the actual healthcare decisions the DOD is making for our troops on the battlefield.

This week's first strike was the GAO Report [pdf] stating that only 22% (1 out of 5) troops who are at risk for developing combat PTSD -- as determined via a mental health screening form, the PDHA [pdf], administered by the DOD -- are referred for further mental health evaluations. The DOD then released its response following the less-than-flattering media's coverage of the report stating:

"The level of our effort and our outreach is unprecedented," he said. "We have broken new ground."

New ground, indeed. Stunning, unbelievable new ground. Get your steel toe shoes on, folks, and follow me for the full story on what the DOD dustup is all about...

The 3rd anniversary of the Iraq invasion finds an interesting situation brewing: returning veterans coping with posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] are no longer being hidden away from our view. Rather, the media is beginning ever-so-slightly to lift the veil on this nerve disorder affecting at least 16,000+ of our troops who've served in Afghanistan and/or Iraq.

Since we have so very little else to celebrate as another year moves forward with no end in sight to war and its victims, I'm going to focus on the good reporting on this issue that is finally, finally, seeing the light of day. And I celebrate the fact today that rather than using this anniversary to glamorize and glorify the war, the media seem to have decided to use it to introduce this balooning problem at last to the public. This give me soooo much hope...

Things are not all right at home.

Grandmothers enlisting, fathers speaking out. Mothers arrested while a Vietnam veteran (a minister, no less) chooses death over the pain of another war.

Fathers killed, children abused and dying -- too many dying. Wives murdered, wives strangled, wives drowned, wives stabbed. And strangled again. Ex-wives and their boyfriends shot. Friends slain. War buddies murdered. Cousins shooting cousins over and over, sons overeating, and banks robbed all to keep from having to return to Iraq. Others going AWOL after returning home. Desertion.

We are failing our military families. And we are failing each other. Do you have the courage to see but a sliver of the grand tragedy that is befalling our nation?

What a stunning span of days the past week and half has been for the exploration of combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. A veritable `perfect storm' of events lined up to push the plight of our returning veterans squarely into the forefront of national debate and discussion. The increased visibility is definitely welcomed, and long overdue.

We all have a role to play, and I think our efforts are beginning to pay off. If you happened to have missed out on any of the positive PTSD news events of this week, follow me for a brief run down...

Another inspiring (yet frustrating) local story has hit the wires this afternoon.

We can add it to the fine job local media outlets are doing covering the PTSD issue (as compared to their bigger budget brothers). And we can also file it under the anemic quantifiable support that our veterans seem to be getting from our government after they return from war.

More below the fold...

Well, the latest PTSD incident (which occurred this past Thursday) has been added to the PTSD Timeline project housed at ePluribus Media.

Allow me to introduce you to a 20-year old Army private based out of Fort Hood, TX. His name is Jacob Hounshell. His story will be viewable in the PTSD Timeline tomorrow (it's currently being fact-checked). If the past is any indication, the national media won't spend too much time telling you about the tailspin this young man's life has taken ever since he returned home from a year's deployment in Iraq. No one wants to hear those ugly details do they?

Well, I would like you to meet him. Read his story, learn more about post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] at my new blog, and then follow me below the fold to see the breakdown of the 69 other incidents now making preparations for this young soldier to join them...

To head off any confusion, the question I'm proffering here is: Is PTSD as radioactive to the Bush administration as AIDS was to Reagan's? I'm not comparing the two illnesses with one another.

Since Vice President Dick Cheney is currently the big buzz in news these days, I thought I'd be clever and come up with a post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] angle to the story.

As I began my search for that PTSD angle, I found Cheney to be as accommodating to me as he was to the local Texas authorities last weekend. It seems our Vice President, who proclaims to support our troops, has apparently never gone on record uttering the term `post-traumatic stress disorder.'

Even though it is now reported that 40,000 troops have returned from combat showing symptoms of mental health disorder, Cheney's made absolutely no acknowledgement of the problem in any of his speeches or remarks. As a matter of fact, neither has our President:

The Reagan administration also had a problem uttering another deadly acronym: AIDS. Isn't it ugly how our leaders try to banish what they don't want to acknowledge? It's also very dangerous...

ePluribus Media has just published Blaming the Veteran: The Politics of PTSD.

Along with their PTSD Timeline, the folks at ePM hope to shine a light on the plight of veterans returning to us suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. They're not the only ones working on educating the public on this issue -- Garry Trudeau has been doing his part, too.

Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau

Following up on my last diary on the award-winning comic strip, let's find out how returning character B.D. (a hard-nosed wounded Iraq combat vet and amputee) is dealing with his PTSD...

I'd just about completed my musings on an issue that I'd had with the President's State of the Union speech, when I stumbled across an op-ed piece in the Minnesota Daily which began:

I am a soldier in the U.S. Army Reserves. I enlisted because I support Operation Iraqi Freedom and wanted to do my part to help. I am sick and tired of anti-war liberals who are outspoken against the war, but also claim they support the troops. That is really starting to piss me off.

My diary was to open with the following words:

The President and his party continue to do it. They tell us to Support the Troops, proclaiming that their way of supporting the troops is superior and unimpeachable. But one look at the actions that follow their words exposes a hollow, self-serving, and dangerous type of support. Their empty rhetoric and insipid deeds do little to concretely help our returning veterans and their families - and they do even less to tangibly support those still wearing the uniform in combat.

More excerpts of this soldier's letter, as well as my debate with him below the fold...

We are fighting a hidden war with a hidden enemy.

Our leaders and most media outlets refuse to show the full face of this war. We're barely able to make out the form of our veiled enemy. Or even that of our supposed friends. We see no coffins. We see none of the wounded.  We're shown none of the grief taking place at military bases across the country as loved ones return from combat in various states of disrepair.

Yet, another enemy lurks just beyond our gaze.

It's a brutally personal, deeply buried adversary. You and I may know very little about its existence, but many of our returning combat veterans are intimately acquainted with this interloper. Its name is post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], and currently at least 16,000 OEF and OIF soldiers have been diagnosed with this debilitating brain condition which overloads the nervous system.

A short essay on a vastly overlooked problem below the fold...

According to the Department of Defense (DoD), 11% of those serving in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) are women. Officially, they are restricted to non-combat roles; however, in wars such as that being waged in Iraq, there are no front lines. Danger lurks at every turn.

Find out how they're faring. And learn of their unique experience with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]...

A long, well-researched piece in the January issue of Psychiatric Times takes on the issue of returning veteran post-traumatic stress disorder.

Areas explored:

• A review of PTSD figures - troops are suffering "at a scale not seen since Vietnam."
  
  
• What's the DoD Have to Do With It? - annual preventative healthcare assessment, embedded health teams with combat units, 4-page post-deployment health questionnaire + face-to-face interview with military medical provider, and an new Post-Deployment Health Reassessment [PDHRA] form to be filled out 3-6 months following return home by all service members (Reserves and and National Guard, too).
  
  
• Early Intervention is Key - the lessons of Vietnam.
  
  
• The VA: Caught Off Guard? -  U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) raises questions, Inspecter General calls off review.

A review of the article below the fold...