Figures show some 5,000 veterans die at their own hands annually and the numbers are increasing. Worse still, an August, 2007 Pentagon reports indicates the problem is not limited to veterans as a record number of active duty service members committed suicide in 2006 as well. With but one vote in the senate standing between veterans and suicide prevention, VMFP demands leadership on this issue.
“Where is the Presidential leadership on this? Where is the Congressional leadership on this? Who among those in Washington truly stands with veterans and military families in the process of coming home from combat?” Howe, a Vietnam veteran asked.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created more than 1.6 million veterans, and as of December, 2006, 36 percent have already received medical treatment through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Of that amount, more than one-third were diagnosed and treated for mental health conditions. Even worse, according to a June 2007 Pentagon study, 38 percent of soldiers and 49 percent of National Guard troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan will present with some type of psychological illness down the road.
“The PTSD claims will continue to rise as the number of PTSD patients rise, especially when the deployed veterans exhaust their two years’ of free healthcare,” said Paul Sullivan, spokesman for Veterans for Common Sense in testimony before the Committee on House Veterans Affairs in July. Sullivan told the Committee that the VA has adopted four “anti-PTSD policies” successful in discouraging the filing of PTSD claims by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. “We will never know how many veterans stopped fighting VA and then needlessly suffered from broken families, lost jobs, alcoholism, drug abuse, crime, suicide, and homelessness.”
“There is a sickening but constant stream of stories filtering into our organization and others, about veterans who, turned away from the treatment they need, are forced to take drastic measures. In fact, each day, nearly 14 veterans take their own lives,” Matt Cary, President of VMFP said. “It is a national disgrace how we wave the flag when they go off to make us safe, but are tightwads when it comes to caring for them on their return home. The gloves are off now. If it’s a war the leadership wants, then by God we’ll give it to them!”
Ellen and Randy Omvig, who have endured suffering to last a lifetime, display a selfless sense of duty in both word and deed that deeply touches and motivates those who know the Omvigs’ story.
“There is so much to be done on behalf of our military personnel, past and present,” the couple wrote to Howe recently. “It will take the care, concern, and the efforts of many people to bring things up to acceptable standards in providing for the healthcare and other support our military men and women have earned and for which many have paid dearly.”
VMFP’s Government Affairs Committee is endorsing a total of 23 pieces of legislation in the 110th Congress but has chosen to prioritize this bill (S-479), and two others, Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act (S-1606), and Veterans’ Mental Health Outreach and Access Act (S-38), to secure their passage in 2007.
