The Department Of Veterans Affairs has clinics open to qualified veterans. There is a long a tedious process to have PTSD be a confirmed illness. PTSD symptoms can be confused with personality disorder and because of this, many veterans go without treatment. The VA offers compensation to a certain degree and free care for up to 4 years even though PTSD symptoms can have longer lasting effects.
Do you think that the VA should provide longer care? How do you think the community can get more involved? Do you think that the VA should provide mandatory counseling for soldiers returning home from war?
I know someone who was a medic in Iraq and suffers from PTSD. He lost his wife, his job and it was very sad. It is awful that the government does not have better control on the situation. Really liked your animoto and your research paper was very interesting and touching for me.
ReplyDeleteI think that the VA can definitely do more to help soldiers with PTSD, especially if they know that the symptoms can last longer than 4 years. I do think that there should be mandatory counseling for all returning soldiers just to ensure that all of our veterans are living the best lives that they can. This is a really interesting and relevant topic and I really liked your website!
ReplyDeleteI definitely think there should be mandatory counseling following return home. The numbers who have PTSD are too high and victims effect their entire communities. This is a terrible disservice to all the men and women who are so bravely fighting for us. There should be more funds directed towards the VA in order to diagnose and treat those affected.
ReplyDeleteAs the daughter of a Marine, I'm very interested and invested in this topic. I strongly agree with you in that I believe the Federal government needs to create ways in which to get ALL veterans the care that they need, whether that means giving them money to pay for treatment, or making treatment more widespread...whatever it takes to support the men and women that supported our country.
ReplyDeleteIt'd be amazing if there was mandatory care for veterans as soon as they return home. For me personally, even though I've never gone through the things veterans go through, talking things out always helps, and if there's no one for them to talk to, how can they get through it? These people give their lives, potentially, to serve and help us, so why on earth is it so hard, so impossible, for us to serve them in the same way?
ReplyDeleteIn response to your first question, I think that the VA should prolong treatment in certain cases. I believe that if the treatment needs to be prolonged for the individual, then it should be. I think the community could become more involved by sending out flyers to war veterans in regards to this issue. By reaching out to these veterans by mail, they will know that they have a safety blanket to go off of while dealing with this illness.
ReplyDeleteI think that the VA should contribute to counseling and medical treatment for returning soldiers. It doesn't do our families, military, country, or world any good to have soldiers who are not taken care of and become psychologically ill. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the VA should provide longer care. I think that help should be available for the rest of their lives. I don't believe VA should make counseling mandatory but definitely have it always be an option because people deal with things in different ways and at different times, so they may not be ready to talk after the war or 4 years after the war or maybe even 50 years after the way. People sometimes repress feelings for a long time before they even realize how they feel about the topic, so I think it is important that counseling is always available for soldiers regardless of how long ago they fought and for however long they need to talk to feel better.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed learning about your topic! PTSD is something which millions of veterans suffer under, but which can be helped with VA care. I think that it is definitely necessary for the VA to get involved. Counseling should be mandatory. Some veterans may not want to face the reality of their feelings yet, but with a little help they can overcome those difficulties. I think that communities can raise awareness about PTSD and support veterans in their communities by helping them get used to being back into American society. Great job, Cierra!
ReplyDeleteI don't think we do a good enough job as a country of taking care of our vets. When they return home i think it is important to give vets benefits like counseling and other things to make reintegration easier. However at the same time the vets have to want the help. You had do many interesting stats great job. I was never really passionate about this issue but you really did a good job of changing that!
ReplyDeleteMy brother is in the Navy so I find this topic very close to home in a way. I think that as a nation we need to honor those who have served in the military and in doing so we should support them as long as it takes for them to be a part of our society, happily, again. I was surprised to find out that the VA even offer four years of counseling. This is great to hear! But many of the people in the armed forced serve 5 or more years minimum. They have done so much for us and I hope that our society will recognize that and help our veterans the most we can.
ReplyDeleteI think it is good that our country provides things such as counseling to veterans, but I think we need to work more on enforcing these benefits. Because the problem is that many veterans are so affected with PTSD that they do not want to take advantage of the benefits they are given. So I think it would be helpful to make sure that they go to a certain number of counseling sessions, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think this is such an important topic to be discussed. It's great that there are places where soldiers can get help for this, but unfortunately some soldiers don't know how to ask for help or know that they need help. I feel soldiers returning from war should be put in mandatory counseling to help them deal with what they have been through and prevent more cases of PTSD.
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