What's More Disgraceful?

The fact that this is happening? Or the fact that it still hasn't been fixed?

Yet another story about the Personality/Pentagon Disorder found on VA Watchdog.org:

Veterans are denied mental health help

By Philip Dine
POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON — After two combat tours in Iraq on a "quick reaction team" that picked up body parts after suicide bombings, Donald Schmidt began suffering from nightmares and paranoia. Then he had a nervous breakdown.

The military discharged Schmidt last Oct. 31 for problems they said resulted not from post-traumatic stress disorder but rather from a personality disorder that pre-dated his military service.

Schmidt's mother, Patrice Semtner-Myers, says her son was told that if he agreed to leave the Army he'd get full benefits. Earlier this month, however, they got a bill in the mail from a collection agency working for the government, demanding that he repay his re-enlistment bonus, plus interest — $14,597.72.

Schmidt, 23, who lives near Peoria, Ill., is one of more than 22,000 service members the military has discharged in recent years for "pre-existing personality disorders" it says were missed when they signed up.

"They used these guys up, and now they're done with them and they're throwing them away," Semtner-Myers said.

...

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, calls the treatment of these troops "disgraceful."

I'm glad to hear the problems is being recognized, but when will it be resolved? For years now I've been seeing this story become more and more common:

William Wooldridge, 37, of Blytheville, Ark., re-enlisted shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

...

Back in the United States, he continued to have blackouts, hear voices and have nighttime hallucinations of terrorism and children dying. The Army discharged him, citing a pre-existing personality disorder, even though several doctors diagnosed him as having post-traumatic stress.

"They told me the best way to handle it was to go along with a personality disorder discharge, that the (Veterans Administration) would take care of me. So I signed it and went to the VA, and the VA said, 'You were discharged with a personality disorder; you don't get any benefits.'

"I was no longer of any use to them."

Notice the theme?

Served, got screwed up by events during their service, get told to sign this to get home and get treatment, find out it was a lie and you just got thrown away like a spent shell casing.

Yes it is disgraceful, Mr. Filner. Now do something about it.


Following up on other posts:

Psychological "Friendly" Fire: Veterans struggling with the VA claims backlog and bureaucracy and how the misconceptions and deceptions pushed by the Pentagon are making it even harder for returning veterans to deal with the VA bureaucracy.

Pentagon Disorder: The Personality Disorder Scam. The DoD takes service connected disabled vets and says they have pre-existing mental problems that get the government off the hook for paying for benefits for their war time and service connected disabilities. A real travesty.

More Vet Funding But...: Some good improvements on Vet funding, but still no movement on the Personality Disorder scam being used to deny benefits to veterans.

Other related posts:

Illinois No Longer Dead Last: Illinois is no longer dead last in benefits pay... but it's still pretty close to the new dead last awardee in actual dollar figures.

PTSD and the "Marlboro Marine": One of the most well known images of the Iraq War and the the lesser known story about his PTSD afterwards. Also additional info on PTSD itself and the VA claims process.