‘The war doesn't really touch' public

Community urged to understand, ease trauma of returning veterans

Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

By JAY FRIESS

Staff writer

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Staff photo by JAY FRIESS

Constance Walker, a retired Navy captain and president of the Southern Maryland chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, opens Tuesday night's discussion of mental health issues and returning veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

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The Southern Maryland community needs to take ownership of its returning veterans and help ease their transition back into civilian life, according to speakers at Tuesday night's public discussion of veteran mental health.

"They hear about battles, but the war doesn't really touch them," said Constance Walker, a retired Navy captain and president of the Southern Maryland chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, of the civilian public.

Walker's group sponsored the event, held at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center in California. It featured speakers from the Navy, the federal Veterans Administration and The Washington Post. It focused on the rough road faced by many soldiers returning from combat duty in Iraq.

"In a lot of ways, it has become [the military's] war," said Christian Davenport, a Post writer who embedded with a Virginia National Guard unit in Iraq and wrote about the experiences of soldiers coming home in his book "As You Were."

Davenport embedded twice with the unit, chronicling the lives of five different soldiers, including that of Ray Johnson of La Plata, a police pilot who deployed to Iraq after serving in Vietnam. Davenport said he covered the returning soldiers in this way because he feels that America is becoming disconnected from its all-volunteer military and the war.

"And that bothers me," Davenport said.

Rear Adm. Steven Eastburg, executive officer of the Air ASW, Assault and Special Missions Programs, agreed with Walker and Davenport's assessment.

"We have been in Afghanistan longer than we fought the American Revolutionary War," Eastburg said. He noted that one of his peers at the Pentagon is fond of repeating a phrase that appeared in a picture printed by the Kansas City Star: "America is not at war. The Marine Corps is at war. America is at the mall."

Walker said that it is up to the community and state and local authorities to assist the VA in reintegrating soldiers who have suffered traumatic brain injuries and psychological scars.

"The non-VA side of the house needs training if they are going to pick up the load," Walker said.

Walker brought in two doctors to educate the audience, comprised largely of government officials and nonprofit managers, on how to recognize symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, a common injury from roadside bombs.

Dr. Stacy Pollack, director of the trauma services program at the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center, said that PTSD is one of the three most common diagnoses at the hospital. She said the symptoms seem to fall into three categories — avoidance, numbness and hyper-awareness.

Pollack said veterans with PTSD will often avoid places or people who remind them of the war zone. They can become numb to emotions, expressing neither joy nor sadness at appropriate times. And they can become hyper-aware, losing sleep, exhibiting short tempers and worrying that they could be harmed by their environment at anytime.

"When that translates to you sitting at work and thinking that your co-workers want to harm you, that can affect your employment," Pollack said.

Pollack said that veterans who have just returned from deployments may not show signs of PTSD, but those symptoms can develop over time.

She said veterans, taught to be self-reliant and tough, often resist seeking mental health treatment.

Dr. Joel Scholten, associate chief of staff for the VA's rehabilitative services program, said that many of the emotional symptoms of PTSD also match those of a traumatic brain injury. However TBI sufferers often experience additional physical symptoms, such as headaches, ringing ears and dizziness.

Walker said that too many Southern Maryland veterans with psychological wounds are slipping through the cracks in the VA treatment programs.

The region has already seen three suicides of veterans, she said.

"We really don't know how big the issue is, and it's bigger than we know," Walker said.

Eastburg called for the community to wake up and care for its returning wounded.

"Do we need another tragedy … to startle us out of our complacency?" Eastburg asked.

jfriess@somdnews.com

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