 David A. Barker is an AMVETS Veterans Service Officer. Formerly the Senior Veterans Service Officer, for Franklin County Veterans Service Commission.
David Barker has filed thousands of claims in his career as a veterans advocate. He filed his first Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Claim in February 1983, the claim was approved in January 1984. David Barker is a veteran of the U.S. Navy.
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Part 3 of 5
[View Part 2 of this series]
By David Barker
AMVETS Department of Ohio 2002
Cop an Attitude
Today it seems as if it is very popular in some scenes to be a veteran; but it is still far from popularity we watch and observe. It is possibly the oldest reason to care, profit. Many dollars are being made on the sweat and blood of the veteran. Millions on millions of dollars have been made on the sales of T-shirts, hats, and jewelry, as well as literally billions of dollars on movies, TV, records and tapes. All of them shared with very few veterans, if any.
The same TV networks that bring in this entertainment, for very large profits, are the very same networks that brought our latter wars and their protests, with criticism of the service people, to your living room These people who avoided the war by deferments found time to go into business, get ahead and start a home. The terrors of war and disasters were only on their TV or movie screen. Others who aggravated the situation of the veteran, by aiding and abetting the disgusting show of apathy. Many just tried to forget, while anti-military movie stars, TV personalities, political leaders and school teachers, went on about their lives and carved out respectable livelihoods.
Many veterans, after their discharge, would enter the same market areas, only on a much smaller scale. In the big time, big money positions the veterans may find themselves represented by such people as Sly Stallone , or the TV anchor Dan Rather, who did go to Vietnam as a correspondent. We had CNN in the center of Desert Storm. Wow! What a difference our TV makes in our lives.
Is it any wonder we have problems with our returned heroes? Yes, they are real live heroes. Many forgotten, a few remembered. Sly Stallone of Rambo fame was never in Vietnam, he claims the throne of "hero of the Vietnam war", yet he is only a high paid pretender. The real heroes came back to America and were blended into society quietly and mostly never heard from again. Why? Because the war was so bad, so distressing, so depressing, that it was just easier to go along with the crowd upon return and just try to forget it. The problem was and still is: you just cannot forget it, it just will not go away. The same people who were highly critical of the individual soldier are now in positions of high authority. We have watched a steady stream of anti-war protestors take charge of America, and the Vietnam veteran had to hibernate to forget the pain of it all. The Desert Storm veteran is simply ignored.
Nothing is pressing their issues. No special organizational push. Just business as usual. With the "old timers" complaining "they want it all handed to them!"
It seems as if we have forgotten the years of struggle of the preceding generation of veterans. These too found a strange welcome home. Upon their arrival they were met with very unfavorable reaction and many questions. Each common sense answer always seemed to have another common sense answer that was the exact opposite. The thoughts became very intrusive , the war seemed as if it had never ended. The veteran could now relive the war in his or her mind. It became never ending dreams, nightmares and flashbacks. All so real and all so misunderstood.
Many veterans chose suicide as the way out. Others chose to seek professional help. The route of suicide of course did not cure anything but the ceasing of life. The psychiatric help was not all that great either, as many members of the profession did not recognize the problems for what they were. Most in the profession felt the Vietnam veteran was shameful and wrong in their action and very little was done in the late 60's or early 70's to correct the problems that beset the beleaguered Vietnam veteran.
The American Psychiatric Association did not address the issue until 1980 when the all out effort on the part of a few became a part of history. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was revised and included the condition we know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We saw the actual revision in 1981 and recognized PTSD as a condition that explained the actions and reactions of a significant segment of the Vietnam veterans. The year 1987 saw another edition of the Diagnostic Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (third edition, revised) DSM-III-R.
It would be of great help for anyone interested in this anxiety disorder to read carefully the section 309.89 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. One will find the true criteria to show this condition as defined today. This is not to say the book is final and ultimate, it is based on 10 year old information and studies. It was revised again as DSM IV in 1994. After all, the others were revised as well. Effective November 6, 1996 the Rating Board was directed to use DSM-IV replacing the DSM-III-R. This will be a positive for many Desert Storm veterans. This will allow the VA to rate some claims as service connected, that would have been denied under the old criteria. This seems to be a very positive step forward in bringing favorable justice to those who serve.
In the very latter part of 1988, the Veterans Administration, now the Department of Veterans Affairs, finally admitted to part of the dilemma that faces veterans of war. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is experienced by much higher numbers of veterans than projected in the past. The Associated Press article entitled Stress Disorder Found To Affect 15 Percent Of Viet Vets, indicated that a four year study ordered by Congress concluded more than 15 percent of the men who served in the Vietnam war are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. It also went on to say that about 20 percent had sought treatment.
The VA also admitted that 30.9 percent had suffered the full disorder at some time and an additional 22.5 suffered partially. The same study also shows the Vietnam war women veterans have suffered from the condition of PTSD. In 1996 it was found that 8.5 percent of the women who served in Vietnam have the disorder. The report states the women who have suffered the full disorder are at 26.9 percent and 21.2 percent as a partial disorder. We are over a decade away from Desert Storm and no significant studies have shown the PTSD affect upon these troops.
Why not address the real issue: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD has existed and was the reason for the inability to adjust for a large group of Vietnam veterans. This was not the first time our government had just walked away from a conflict. It was at least the third time. First, it was the Korean Conflict, then the ill fated Bay of Pigs, Cuba, that incident was so secret that the President was unaware of the involvement of the U.S. Navy and the average American did not know what actually happened. Vietnam was very different. It was brought into the living room of America. Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, and Chet Huntley, all gave us graphic details of what our sons had done to these seemingly wonderful peaceful people. It seems as if the networks had totally forgotten that the people of that geographical area had warred with one another for many decades prior to our arrival.
The operation in Desert Storm was even more vividly projected into our homes. It seemed as if CNN had a camera on every target. They were in the middle and so was America. Many of the Desert Storm veterans were exposed to various stressors.
The VA study shows a significant number of veterans who suffer from PTSD, yet, the VA makes it so difficult for the veteran to prove a claim. Many give up and walk away. Some have, no doubt, died as a result of poor treatment or no treatment in the past. In handling many claims for PTSD, I have found that very often the claim must go to the Board of Veterans Appeals in order for the veteran to win his or her claim. The VA will deny the claim, even when their own doctors have diagnosed the condition and the service records show significant combat and records of valor.
The VA excuses range from: not enough proof of unusual life threatening conditions, or, the VA may state the veteran was not in a MOS that matches their criteria. To expand on that thoughtless position of the VA, I represented a veteran for PTSD in 1983 who was a member of the Marines. His MOS was not considered a combat position. He was in operation Starlight. During this operation, he was wounded in action, he also earned the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal . The veterans DD 214 clearly states: #25 Specialty number and title 0311 Machine gunner. The original VA letter to my client was a denial, which included a sentence "your MOS was not clearly of a combat position". How utterly wrong can the VA be?
Needless to say, we appealed and won the case with a large amount of back pay to the veteran. This was not all well and fine, the veteran was forced during those years to live on the streets and in the VA hospitals, until justice was done. An obvious ploy by the VA to have the veteran to just give up and quit. The veteran had decided to quit when I begged him to keep with me on the claim. In 1986 we finally saw the fruits. After, much abuse of society, as well as bureaucratic red tape which continued to plague him as well as all other veterans who are suffering from this disorder.
Now we have hope that this issue will be forever resolved with the acceptance of DSM-IV as the guide. Now an acceptable stressor is to include trauma being invoked on someone close to you, possibly your comrade is killed or seriously wounded. As a result you have nightmares, flashbacks, sleeplessness and a valid claim. In October 1996 you would have been denied. Today you have the opportunity to be fairly rated for the first time in the PTSD process.
The VA is eager to use the phrase you do not have medals of valor. It seems as if the only people the VA wants to recognize as service connected are the recipients of valor medals. That situation simply is not acceptable. Many veterans suffered stressors in accidents, fires, sexual assaults, airplane or helicopter crashes and the witnessing of these tragic events.
Once the veteran has established the condition, the VA begins its three year cycle of cutting the percentage or removing the veteran from the program. I have represented several veterans who suffer from PTSD and unable to work at any type of employment. Verified by VA doctors, the veterans were found to be less than 100% by schedule; however, over the 70% minimum required to be granted Individual Unemployability (IU). Because of policy, the nervous conditions were exempt from the IU allowances and the veterans were continually denied. In early 1992, we found victory at last in this area. Many promises, to most veterans, have not been honored.
Yes, we have outstanding doctors in the VA system. Their diagnosis are as often overlooked as a combat record. Which again is no longer going to be a major issue. The VA needs to look at its structure of the rating criteria; rather than trying to silence their critics, as the VA had often attempted. The answers are there if the VA would only listen.
We have come a long way since the day of the closest diagnosis being that of: Anxiety Disorder, adult situational reaction. Let us all attempt to understand the plight of our fellow veteran who suffers from PTSD, after all, their war continues on, even today. Next:
"Something's Wrong!"
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