VA to Accept Military's PTSD Diagnosis

By The Armorer on February 26, 2008 | | Comments (1)

It was a simple move - but can have a wide-ranging impact.

VA has announced that veterans who are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while on active duty will now be recognized as having PTSD for VA purposes. Finally, a little rationality in the bureaucracy. This means a transitioning warrior with an existing PTSD diagnosis will not have to provide additional evidence of exposure to specific stressors during their service in order to establish their diagnosis of PTSD. Hey, because it's already been done, eh? The announcement came as a result of a question posed by Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. VA Secretary Peake directed the VA regional offices to no longer require such evidence but instead to immediately schedule examinations for such veterans in order to determine the severity of their PTSD for VA compensation purposes.

This is why your cards and letters to your elected representatives matter, folks. Really.

And I will happily leverage my contacts in Congress - so if you feel like your Reps don't listen to you, send 'em to me, and I'll get 'em to someone who will listen.

Doesn't mean that anything will happen as fast as this did... but it can make a difference.

Of course, we still have to keep the Administration's feet to the fire (including after late January next year) on funding the VA so that the treatment programs (not just the compensation) can meet the needs.

When the war ends/operational tempo drops - that's actually when the hard work will begin. Keeping those inconvenient vets in the public eye - and in the eye of a Congress or Administration that wants to spend money on other things.

*That's* when we'll find out if we really have any pull.

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1 Comments

By Rivrdog on February 26, 2008 10:09 PM
Am I the only one who sees great danger in this? You are on active duty, flying in the war zone. You have some issues related to your marriage falling apart back home, and you get no help for those issues. Then one day you are seen at the O'club after a harrowing flight mission that you survived, and you are seen having a drinki-poo too many, dancing with go-go girls "lewdly" (in front of CinC/SAC). Next, you get to see the friendly flight surgeon, who thinks you would benefit from a three-day pass, so he orders one, but you are removed from flying status for the three days. Next time you are alone with your medical records (next time you rotate), you observe a note with a "P" on it. You have to make an extra visit to the Human Reliability pshrink, who finds you healthy enough to babysit nukes. Close call? You bet, it happened to someone I know well... Jump with me now to the present. Take the above scenario but now you muster out off of active duty and back into the reserves, and that "P" note follows you, and when you get out, you are awarded a disability. The next time you try to buy a gun, you are denied. Still think it's a good idea, Major? I don't. My daughter doesn't, either (USMC E-5, Desert Storm, one of the few WMs who actually jumped off and went North when Shield became Storm). When she got back to her Reserve outfit, she was treated like a freak, so she gave up a VERY promising USMC career (and hasn't looked back). Nope, standardizing labels in the case of PTSD doesn't help ANYONE, IMHO.