Collateral Damage: Wars Continuing Toll on Soldiers

This is the first in a series of articles: Collateral Damage home page

Collateral damage: War veterans struggle to fit back into society

Staff photo by Andrew Craft: Joshua Crowell, who is 23, says many people don't believe him when he tells them he's a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. 'Sad thing is, I'd rather be there than here,' he says.

Sep 25, 2011 - Sanders, whose organization works to connect veterans to VA and other services, said she also has seen a slight increase in the number of soldiers being discharged on other-than-honorable conditions. That typically means they are barred from receiving any veterans benefits. Soldiers kicked out of the Army also lose out on some of the services that help them transition into civilian life.

Joshua Crowell is among those soldiers.

Crowell deployed to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division in 2007 as a forward observer in an eastern province near the Pakistan border.

During a mandatory sports day near the end of the deployment, he broke his ankle playing volleyball.

Crowell said the fracture developed into osteoarthritis. He spent the last month of the deployment on crutches, waiting to go home.

When he returned to Fort Bragg, Crowell mowed lawns on post while waiting to be moved to an office job.

He stayed behind on his unit's 2009 deployment to Afghanistan. He felt helpless as friends in the war died; eight times, he was a pallbearer at their funerals. Sometimes he has flashbacks of crying widows.

In February, faced with mounting bills, problems with his girlfriend and the prospect of his mother losing her home, the stress in his office became more than Crowell thought he could handle. He spent a week absent without leave.

"My anger was to the point that there was not a moment where my hands weren't cold," Crowell said. "There wasn't a moment where I felt like me anymore."

Crowell suffered from insomnia and sleep apnea and was later diagnosed with depression.

He went to a counselor after returning to his job. But, he said, he got in more trouble because he had to miss work for appointments.

That's not uncommon, said Cynthia Harris, president of the New Day Counseling Center in Fayetteville. Despite the Army's stated commitment to promoting mental health services, Harris said, soldiers can have trouble getting their chain of command to allow them to attend therapy sessions during the workday.

"What I see as a provider most often is the Army taking care of the Army, not really taking care of the soldier so much," Harris said. "It depends on the chain of command. It's just a system that I think fails a lot of the time." read more>>>

"And so what I've been trying to do and what Mrs. Biden and Mrs. Obama and the chairman and his wife - all these folks, are trying to do is to - is to try and get that other 99 percent to - they all say they support the troops, but it's not just enough to say it." - Defense Secretary Robert Gates - 23 June 2011 - PBS News Hour
Country Must 'Sacrifice' not just Groups Within nor Just Non Profits Fighting for Donations!
No Revenues = Still No Sacrifice = That's Called 'Support' For The Troops = DeJa-Vu all over again, Shared Sacrifice My A**!!
As those war profiteers who ordered are still profiteering and not only on books, their wealthy class does as well, directly or indirectly, and none are taxed to boot!
No Sacrifice now a decade plus long added to the previous decades!!