From the New York Times:

A growing backlog of disability claims is leaving veterans waiting months or longer for their government benefits. Damian J. Todd (left), 33, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic distress disorder after serving two tours in Iraq, waited nearly 18 months to receive approval after filing a claim.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) acknowledges that it has a major problem, with a backlog of unprocessed disability claims that is now over 400,000, up from 253,000 six years ago. Veterans advocates say the actual backlog is closer to one million.

“There are some positive signs in terms of what we’re doing,” said Michael Walcoff, deputy under secretary for benefits in the Veterans Benefits Administration. “But we know that veterans deserve better.”

Earlier posts here.

(New York Times photo by Sara Krulwich)

Writing in the New York Times, former Marine infantry officer Tyler E. Boudreau says the Pentagon should reconsider its recent decision not to award the Purple Heart to veterans and soldiers who have post-traumatic stress disorder.

He suggests that a new decoration be created to recognize those “whose minds and souls have been sundered by war.” An excerpt:

Sadly, as long as our military culture bears at least a quiet contempt for the psychological wounds of war, it is unlikely those veterans will ever see a Purple Heart. That is too bad, I think, because they do deserve all the honor the physically wounded receive.

See also: Counting the Walking Wounded — op-ed by Lawrence M. Wein in the New York Times

From Time Magazine:

The Pentagon has diagnosed roughly 40,000 troops with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since 2003, and tens of thousands of others are dealing with it on their own or ultimately will be diagnosed. The Pentagon is now weighing a change in policy that would make people with PTSD eligible for a Purple Heart.

… Traditional veterans’ groups don’t want the rules loosened. “We vehemently disagree” that PTSD is a physical wound that warrants a Purple Heart, says Joseph Palagyi, the national adjutant of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, who earned the medal in Vietnam on June 2, 1968. “We feel that the purity of the medal must be maintained.”

Learning to deal with PTSD, lost limbs, brain injuries

From the Raleigh News & Observer:

With 1.5 million service members coming out of military duty in Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001, colleges and universities across the nation have been striving to welcome them to campus. But it’s often not easy to help veterans cope with the consequences of their injuries.

Cheryl Branker, director of disability compliance at North Carolina State University, says many departments at the school have been slow to recognize that veterans may need accommodations for their disabilities. Many vets have returned with diagnoses of PTSD, tramatic brain injury, lost limbs or other chronic medical conditions.

“Not only am I a full-time student,” said one returning veteran, “I’m a full-time patient. It takes a toll, mentally and physically. Sometimes I’m there in class, but only in body. Not in mind.”

Many who served in Iraq, Afghanistan remain undiagnosed

Less than half of affected veterans have been treated

From the Los Angeles Times:

Nearly one in five veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is currently suffering from depression or stress disorders, according to the latest and most comprehensive study of current and former military service members, released today.

Less than half of those 300,000 veterans have received care for depression or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to the study, signaling significant problems with the U.S. mental healthcare system.

The study shows that the stress disorders may be more prevalent and lasting than previously known.

The research was conducted by the Rand Corp. and funded by the California Community Foundation.

From Joseph Shapiro of National Public Radio, another extended feature on wounded Army Sgt. Tim Ngo of Minnesota. Ngo almost died of a head wound in Iraq four years ago.

Like many injured soldiers, Ngo relied heavily on a dedicated family member to help him through the laborious rehabilitation process. His mother stuck by him as he learned again to walk and talk, and to cope with everything from short-term memory loss to unexpected bursts of anger.

Although Ngo has made great strides, his relationship with his mother is now badly frayed; they aren’t even talking to each other. He and his girlfriend (above) are moving to Texas. “I don’t know how to fix it,” says his mother, Hong Wyberg. “I don’t know how to change it except to let him go.”

From the San Jose Mercury News:

A federal judge in San Francisco has cleared the way for a national class-action lawsuit challenging how Department of Veterans Affairs treats Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The federal system for weighing individual veterans’ claims “does not provide an adequate alternative remedy for Plaintiffs’ claims for several reasons,” U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti wrote in a 42-page order rejecting the government’s motion to dismiss three of the lawsuit’s four claims.

The lawsuit, which was filed in July by Berkeley-based Disability Rights Advocates on behalf of Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth, claims the VA has violated federal laws and veterans’ civil rights by taking too long to provide mental-health care and disability benefits and, in some cases, denying them completely for PTSD.