The tragedy of our “disappeared” veterans
AlterNet
by Penny Coleman
08/12/09
McMahon came home from Afghanistan with a serious drinking problem, a hair-trigger temper and conditioned to rely on his combat skills for survival. Both his marriage and his military career quickly unraveled, and then he was arrested. Nobody diagnosed his PTSD until he got to Groveland. McMahon’s obsession with safety and guns, and his compulsive drinking are both typical of a post-traumatic stress injury, but instead of diagnosis and treatment, he was left to his own compromised resources and promptly landed in jail. In terms of the bottom line, it’s a trifecta for the military when that happens. A damaged soldier is disappeared, the cost of treatment avoided and the evidence that would prove how often veterans find it impossible to readjust when they come home is erased...
http://tinyurl.com/r3y52n
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=veterans
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=PTSD
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Penny+Coleman
by Penny Coleman
08/12/09
McMahon came home from Afghanistan with a serious drinking problem, a hair-trigger temper and conditioned to rely on his combat skills for survival. Both his marriage and his military career quickly unraveled, and then he was arrested. Nobody diagnosed his PTSD until he got to Groveland. McMahon’s obsession with safety and guns, and his compulsive drinking are both typical of a post-traumatic stress injury, but instead of diagnosis and treatment, he was left to his own compromised resources and promptly landed in jail. In terms of the bottom line, it’s a trifecta for the military when that happens. A damaged soldier is disappeared, the cost of treatment avoided and the evidence that would prove how often veterans find it impossible to readjust when they come home is erased...
http://tinyurl.com/r3y52n
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=veterans
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=PTSD
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Penny+Coleman
rudkla - 13. Aug, 11:18
