‘You never forget it'

Panel to address veterans' difficulties coping with post-traumatic stress

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

Post-traumatic stress disorder does not go away if you just ignore it. Mike Moses found this out the hard way.

"I've had it for 30 years," Moses, 61, of Waldorf said. "You never forget it."

Unlike some of his peers, who came back from Vietnam mentally broken and irreversibly changed by the conflict, Moses said he was able to suppress the disorder and forge a normal life — a career with the U.S. Postal Service, head of the Charles County Minority Business Advocacy Council and owner of an educational software company.

But the horrifying memories and feelings of extreme anxiety never completely went away.

"It's like a death book that sits by your bed," Moses said of PTSD. "Death book" is the derogatory term for the end-of-life manual "Your Life, Your Choices" distributed by the Veterans Administration.

"They still ignore us," Moses said of the VA's attitude toward Vietnam-era PTSD sufferers. "They're waiting for us to die."

Moses' experience and that of thousands of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans like him has been one of private terror and public denial. The Southern Maryland chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness is aiming to push the problem into the public consciousness with the help of St. Mary's Hospital and The Patuxent Partnership.

Next Tuesday evening, the alliance will host a panel discussion on PTSD for veterans, active duty service members, families, healthcare providers, educators, clergy, employers, and law enforcement personnel across the Southern Maryland region.

The event will feature presentations by Washington Post journalist Christian Davenport and Dr. Joel Scholten, associate chief of staff for rehabilitative services at the Washington, D.C. Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Davenport wrote the book, "As You Were: To War and Back," after a tour embedded with the Blackhawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard. Scholten is a trauma specialist in combat-related PTSD and mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury.

Connie Walker, a retired Navy captain and president of NAMI of Southern Maryland, said that the modern technology and repeated tours that current military personnel are enduring have aggravated the frequency and severity of PTSD.

"When folks leave to go to combat and leave their families, they're not disconnected from them," Walker said, noting that the fighters are still dealing with issues at home in real time through phone and email.

Soldiers and sailors are now returning home from deployment faster on planes instead of ships, jumping back into civilian life without any decompression time.

"Immediately going back to families is a shock to the system," Walker said, adding that immediate return to family life can put off needed treatment. "They think ‘I'm home, and this will resolve itself.'"

Military personnel also refrain from seeking help because of the stigma of mental illness. Walker said they believe they should be self-reliant and fear losing their security clearances.

Moses said that the VA is now responding to Iraq and Afghanistan PTSD sufferers after realizing their mistake with Vietnam veterans. He said he would like to see the administration extend the same mental health attention to his generation.

"Just give me my benefits," Moses said. He said the community and the VA should also reach out to the homeless veterans who couldn't overcome their PTSD symptoms. "We got to pull them out of the woods."

jfriess@somdnews.com