http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2/769522716?page=NewsArticle&id=13499&news_iv_ctrl=1261
Monday, January 18, 2010
By: Michael Prysner
'The doctor didn't spend more than 5 minutes talking to me'
The author is a member of March Forward! http://www.marchforward.org/
--
On Jan. 15, more than 30 veterans, active-duty soldiers and military
families demonstrated outside of Fort Hood, Texas, to protest the
criminally inadequate mental health services on base. Combat veterans
suffering from Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury held
a banner that read "Sick of Fighting Your Wars" at the entrance gate
to Fort Hood, which thousands of active duty soldiers pass though.
Fort Hood is the largest U.S. military base on the planet, home to
the III Corps, which presides over the Army's armored divisions. It
has the highest number of casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the
highest suicide rate in the U.S. military. In 2008, a soldier
recently returned from Iraq killed himself on the steps of the III
Corps headquarters.
The rally was organized by Under the Hood Café, a GI coffee house
just a mile from the base, reminiscent of the GI coffee houses during
the Vietnam War that were hubs of anti-war activity and GI
resistance. Members of March Forward! and IVAW took part in the
demonstration. A March Forward! member also distributed hundreds of
leaflets in the Fort Hood hospital, and announced to dozens of
soldiers that these were wars for the rich, and they had every right
to refuse to take part in them.
The rally called attention to the standard military procedure of
mistreating soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress. Soldiers
must endure humiliation, intimidation from their command, and an
uncaring mental health system to even get treatment; and once they
do, they are just given a long list of pills and sent back to combat duty.
Spc. Eric Jasinski, an active duty soldier and Iraq war veteran who
participated in the demonstration, has a typical story for veterans
suffering from PTSD. He returned home plagued by severe psychological
trauma. He spent months trying to get treatment, but was in a
constant battle with his chain of command to be granted time to visit
the hospital. When he was finally seen, a civilian psychiatrist
diagnosed him with severe PTSD, severe depression and alcoholism. He
was satisfied with the diagnosis, and was prepared to wait-out the
few remaining months of his contract.
But Jasinski soon learned that he had been "stop-lossed," the
back-door draft that keeps soldiers in the military past their
contractual obligation. He had difficulty functioning in day-to-day
life, let alone being forced to serve another harrowing year of
combat. He immediately went to the mental health ward, and told them
that he "couldn't handle another deployment." He was sent to an Army
psychiatrist, who would evaluate him and decide his fate.
"The doctor didn't spend more than 5 minutes talking to me," he said,
"and then handed me a prescription for 90 days worth of pills and
told me I had to deploy to Iraq." Jasinski then did what every active
duty soldier with orders to Iraq or Afghanistan should do: He went
AWOL as his unit was deploying. He refused to fight.
After joining for economic reasons, Jasinski said "the benefits are
not worth it. I'd rather die than go back to Iraq. I'm not going to
go kill people for money."
According to U.S. military numbers, over 30 percent of returning
veterans have PTSDbut that is a far cry from the true figure, as
most soldiers never seek treatment. There is currently an epidemic of
suicides and severe psychological trauma in the U.S. military.
The Pentagon brass would rather spend the hundreds of billions of
dollars they have at their disposal to purchase multi-million dollar
bombs and tanks, instead of investing it in treating a lower-enlisted
soldier who is paid around $20,000 a year. To them, an enlisted
soldier is just another piece of military equipmentthe cheapest and
the most disposable. The military brass has dealt with this crisis by
increasing the use of prescription medication, instead of real
treatment, to numb soldiers enough to be sent to fight again.
And, using truly imperialist logic, the military brass found a way to
combat to skyrocketing number of soldiers with PTSD: actually
ordering doctors to not diagnose PTSD. Then the soldiers can be sent
on yet another combat tour instead of receiving the treatment they deserve.
It is a crime to send U.S. troops to kill and be killed in these
imperial wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it is a crime to actively
deny them treatment when they return. Service members have no reason
to obey the orders of a chain of command that subjects them to this
type of treatment, and they have every right to refuse the orders
they are given.
The demonstration outside Fort Hood is part of a growing movement of
veterans and active duty service members who are taking a stand
against the White House and the Pentagon. The longer these wars rage
on, the more troops will be compelled to examine the true nature of
these occupations and realize that these are not our wars.
The war machine can be halted when the cogs in the machine refuse to
turn. For GIs, every day of these warsboth while deployed and while
at homeprovide more and more proof that there is no reason to fight.
Actions like the one at Fort Hood and mass demonstrations such as the
upcoming March 20 March on Washington play a vital role in inspiring
that consciousness in GIs, and empowering them to fight for what is
really in there interestsan end to these wars, and an end to U.S.
imperialism.
.
0 comments:
Post a Comment