The number of soldiers forced to leave the Army solely because of a mental disorder has increased by 64 percent from 2005 to 2009 and accounts for one in nine medical discharges, according to Army statistics.
See full article: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/07/24/one-soldier-in-9-exits-army-for-mental-disorder/
You don’t need to be a student of disability studies to know that people returning from war zones with serious psychiatric disabilities face the general public’s incomprehension of of invisible disabilities. In turn, soldiers with traumatic brain injuries or post traumatic stress disorders or severe depression can be denied the help they need just at the very moment they are transitioning into civilian society with all its attendant stress. Moving, find a job, reuniting with family are all “major stressors” –now factor in having a disability that people don’t understand.
One of the best short stories on this subject is Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home”. Krebs comes home from WW I and all the folks in his little Oklahoma town wonder why he isn’t a social guy anymore–why he can’t get out of bed–why he takes no interest in girls. Where has Krebs been? He’s been in Beleau Woods watching human faces explode. The baseball scores don’t seem to mean as much anymore.
The neo-cons prattle about how service men and women are faking psychiatric injuries. I have a fine solution for them: they should enlist.
S.K.
Planet of the Blind 