The Bush Legacy
Jan 14th, 2006 at 8:27 pm by Susie
These vets will be paying the price for decades to come - and so will we:
But unlike active duty troops, who come home to a base together, the part-time soldiers come home alone. Their arrival is usually quiet, like Sergeant Papadatos’s first lonely steps in his apartment-for-one in Astoria, Queens, or Sergeant McFadden’s trip back to his home at the end of a road in upstate New York. They do not have the built-in support of peers or chaplains or mental health professionals who are all part of base life. Meanwhile, a lot changed while they were away, including public support for the war they fought.
Military studies already indicate that nearly one-fifth of returning soldiers struggle with depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. Many veterans suspect the numbers are much higher. Military officials said they were especially concerned about National Guard soldiers and reservists who, according to a recent Army Medical Department study, have higher rates of post-deployment stress.
“I tell my friends in civilian practice that over the next 10 years, you need to be aware what’s coming through your door,” said Capt. Robert Sidell, an Army psychologist at the United States Military Academy at West Point. “You’re going to be seeing a lot of these guys.”
The Bush Legacy…
An often overlooked cost of the Iraq war…….