Have a Veteran Today Day everyday.

See my response to the first comment about medals and ribbons for PTSD, I didn’t really spend time on these article to promote a purple heart for PTSD. My motivaton was to just get people talking about it. Sort of like therapy for me.

I repeat, and you’ve been there. Do you really want a medal or ribbon that brags about you or me having PTSD or some other mental illness. If so, I respect that. Medals and ribbons meant only one thing to me, so I’m being upfront = PROMOTION POINTS depending on which I earned. I really was too busy to go out of my way to seek medals and ribbons.

And I don’t have a purple heart, and never want one – PERIOD. After the purple heart band aide indicent and politcal questioning of our service from all political points on the compass, I frankly got fed up and (no I didn’t throw my medals and ribbons back at the Pentagon or Clinton or Bush, hell they never gave me any anyway. Nope, I threw my medals and ribbons up in the attack along with my uniforms to gather dust.

Let me tell you what really made me cop and attitude about medals and ribbons, it was long before the controversy over Kerry’s medals or Bush’s AWOL status, it was when an Air Force Tech Sergeant working at the Dental Clinic at Bolling AFB turned to me during my retirement physical and said something along these lines, "Major, if I were you I’d get all my dental treatment done before your last day on active duty, because once you are placed in a retired status you become a second class citizen."

No shit, that is what an Air Force Tech Sgt told a Major. The hidden meaning was the I was no different from her or anyone else once I retired. Now that was the attitude I left the Air Force with. Since then, I’ve learned that lifers are NOT second class citizens, we are third class. Natonal Guard members are second class citizens.

In closing I spend alot of time coming down on VSOs are fail to be progressive or forward thinking, especially those that are nationalistic on the verge of well the National Socialist Party. That is both intentional and caring. There is a reason why the first Veterans Service Organzations created after the civil war are not effectively around TIME MARCHES ON!
The Grand Army of Union Veterans did best it could to get recognition, pensions, and both state and federal relieft for former troops of the Union Army. Heck, that organization played a central role in creation of the first Soldiers Homes during the late 19th century.   Confederate Veterans did the same for their troops down south, advocating for southern state pensions though obviously not eligible for federal pensions. They also played an important role in getting Rebel troops recognized in the south for their service long after they lost the war. Though Sons of Confederate Veterans per se is still around, they obvioulsy have no role to play on behalf of that generation much beyond recognition of what young men mostly form farming communities and immigrants fresh off the boat did to save the Union of defense their home land from Northern invasion or to protect an economic system based on human slavery.

My point is that these generational Veterans organizations served their purpose for their generation. Evoluton of a VSO has become a cycle if I may. That’s reality, if not Vietnam Veterans of America and VVAW would never have been formed to lobby beyond questoning war. If generational VSO were doing our jobs, instead of playing politics with one partisan party or another and not hiding behind or BS non-partisan charters as we did so, there would have been no need let alone motivation to form Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of American or Iraq Veterans Against the War or lord only knows how many other younger Veterans groups who can relate to their experience will rise from the ashes of Iraq and Afghanistan to make the Legion, VFW, and maybe even VVA obsolete to the point of attrition. Sorry, but I historically see this as a natural phenomenon.

Secondly, I wish to thank you for making the time to read my long winded article even if you didn’t agree with it. That is most appreciative. However,

"Most so called PTSD claims are BS and are a way for someone to get out of the service or to get a check. These kids are probed and proded by the shrinks until they plant a seed in their head and convince them that they have something wrong."

I’m sure our readers would be interested in such detail facts on what you say above, I know I would. Could you please provide our readers links and sources to what you say being true let alone debated? I provided link and sources if you agree with them or not, you owe me and our readers that courtesy. Especially if you served for me to have a right to my opinion. Oh, BTW I thank you for that too.

"Has anyone did a study on how many of these people that claim PTSD actually see combat, probably not only that they were in Iraq or Afghanistan. Most of those claims come from people that are not in Combat Arms, and never see their buddies blown up or killed/wounded."

Frankly, I served in two wars also in order for you to have your opinion, and I respect it. Are you going to thank me?

DA, that part I can almost agree with you on IF it as easy to get monthly compensaton as Stolen Valor freaks want us to believe. Having worked at the VA for four years after coming back from Nam, I also know there were Vets who bragged about getting 100% SC for mental illness by faking it. They would come right in the ER and tell me [laughing] how they got over.

That said, in the four years I spent at two VA Hospitals, I witnessed more legitimate cases of mental illness than fakes. In fact, it was near impossible for fake vets to get into the VA system back in the day. One of my many duties at the VA was to sit a Vet down regardless how sick he was, and if we didn’t have a record on him, I had to assist him/her in filing a claim for immediate medical attention. Bro, it that Vet failed to have a DD-214 on him regardless what war it did or did not serve in, he/she was stablized and shown the door. If the DD-214 proved legit we were given a C number. I believe all VA Claims (even for education benefits) have a C number attached even today. In fact, when I returned to the VA system after retiring from the Air Force in 1994, I was still using my VA C number from Vietnam.

"All this Purple Heart BS is coming from the VA doctors that that are trying to get futher entrenched in the veterans daily lives."

Though I have a low opinion of VA doctors doing mental health, I have no beef with primary care doctors I’ve had recently. Mine BTW is Iranian-American not too anxious for US to invade Iran though a stong supporter of the Shah. It’s just that she still has family in Iran. More to the point could you please provide our readers reliable links or sources to your claim that VA doctors are involved in some kind of conspiracy? I look down on VA docs compared to private or military docs, but I refuse to believe there is a conspiracy to delve further into our lives. Sometimes I wish there was then VA doctors would be more proactive about patient care than cutting costs.

" If a person makes a decent living without worries about where the next meal is coming from or how to pay the bills, there is not going to be a lot of stress and the veterans can manage their lives. I speak from experience." Well said.

However, I also agree that the vast majority of GIs that serve in wars do not experience PTSD even if they’ve been in combat because well we are after all a violent society. This generation has thrived more on violence in the media, in video games, and so on than the Vietnam generation ever did. Heck, the Army uses violent PC games to attract those who thrive on violence. The is that some of us handle violence or even witnessing buddie getting blown to bits (call it immunity if you will, because I became immune to it enough to want to stay in the military after Nam).

The fly in the buttermilk is WE really can’t tell how many of those who claim PTSD doesn’t exist actually have it and don’t know it or remain in denile because to them anger and violence is normal behavior. I don’t know.

Lastly, yes there have been successful Veterans as Stolen Valor claims, I’m one of them. However, the vast majoirty of vets who use and misunderstand Stolen Valor or only take selective parts of it to heart are the same Veterans (Rolling Thunder comes to mind) that B.K. Burkett puts down in his book as looking like FAKES. If vets who follow his bible of Vietnam really took a closer look at how he and his describe us that fits every member of Rolling Thunder to a T.

BTW it may have taken me a long time getting there, but I think you know that my take on PTSD and Purple Hearts really has nothing to do with medals and ribbons BUT more to do with talking about PTSD and getting Veterans still alive today to claim they believe PTSD is overblown or a liberal conspiracy and so on.

Do we really think that given the STIGMA welcomed by most VSOs and of course the Armed Forces that anyone with PTSD really wants to go around advertising or bragging about it with a medal or ribbon GET REAL!

Even as a officer, I’m willing to talk about it as it applies to me and my experience HOWEVER STIGMA more than anything keeps me for wanting to draw too much attention to myself with BRAGGING RIGHTS to a purple heart. Most troops I know who actually earned a purple heart do not talk about it.

That’s frankly what happened to John Kerry if attacks on him were right, wrong, or what have you.

One cannot throw you medals and awards (bragging rights) back at your government then turn around and make political hay out of it. LIFE IS THAT SIMPLE. UNFAIR BUT SIMPLE!

Let me first say that I am very sympathetic to those who suffer this condition, but believe that DoD and the VA are fully aware of this terrible disorder and are trying to offer treatment. The problem is that it is difficult to diagnose and treat but the effects are terrible, including suicide, spousal abuse, and substance abuse.

The criteria for this particular medal, however, is the suffering of physical wounds on the battlefield as the result of combat action by the enemies of the United States. It was the Department of Defense and the Congress who established the eligibility, NOT the MOPH. Moreover, There are many other kinds of injuries on the battlefield — someone can have a leg crushed by a vehicle, you can be injured by friendly fire, you could be exposed to chemical or biological agents, you can even contract a life-long disease. After Vietnam, for example, those soldiers exposed to Agent Orange are now suffering from many diseases, including Diabetes. After the first Gulf war, many suffer from “Gulf War Syndrome.” Where do you draw the line? Moreover, PTSD is a treatable disease — loss of a limb, or any combat wound for that matter, is permanent. And, what about those who feign the illness just to receive VA medical treatment; or, what about a group who witnesses a battlefield trauma together, but only one or two suffer from PTSD; should they all receive the Purple Heart?

NO!

Just for the record, this is not a new phenomenon, it just has a new name. Soldiers have suffered from “Shell Shock”, “Combat Fatigue”, and other symptoms since the beginning of warfare. I don’t think there is a single soldier that has ever been in combat who hasn’t suffered some form of PTSD, some are just more severe than others.

Since its inception in 1932, this Medal honors those who have spilled their blood or given their lives in the defense of their country. Expanding that criteria only denigrates its honor and those who wear it proudly.

- John Bircher, Military Order of the Purple Heart

As a surviving disabled vet with hundreds of combat operations in Vietnam behind him, listening to so many phonies, people like BJ Burkette, paid stooge and REMF (saw no combat) in Vietnam or the hundreds and thousands who wear decorations undeserved it is time to put an end to this.

If you have two arms and two legs and can still walk without a cane, you don’t get a purple heart.  Either give them to all wounded or stop giving them to officers who trip and fall at the club.

I have seen nearly every medal this country can award given to people who are professional liars, some former Vietnam POWs.

By some standards I could award myself enough purple hearts to fill a suitcase.  I have gotten drunk, fallen, gotten blown up a few times and have certainly had to pull enough scrap metal out of myself.  A real soldier slaps on a band aid, wraps it in an old t-shirt and moves on.

This is what every other veteran in any other war did.

The chumps that kissed ass to get phony medals so they could piss and moan on the cocktail circuit are a disgrace.

The "wall" is filled with people who earned purple hearts.  I saw hundreds of purple heart winners on gurneys at VA hospitals, rotting to death with nobody caring, missing arms or legs or both.

Pulling a chunk of burning metal out of your leg or as in my case, lower abdomen is hardly a heroic act. 

There are no heroic acts.

Real soldiers do their work because that is their job.

People who collect medals are politicians who disgrace uniforms, not soldiers.

Screw the bunch of them.

These guys are fun to meet in person.  I love to ask one about their combat experiences.  It is a barrel of yucks.

It is hard to tell what book or movie they get their stories from, usually a mixture of Platoon and Apocalypse Now. 

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