When Iraq veteran Jessica Rich was killed in a collision driving the wrong way on Interstate 25 last month, the Fort Carson Army reservist was undergoing therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder – after having been on a waiting list for more than a year.
In 2005, Pfc. Stephen Sherwood, on leave from Iraq, killed his wife and himself days after returning to Fort Carson. He had been a “stellar soldier.”
Their deaths underscore the toll that the war is taking on returning soldiers and highlight the need for Fort Carson to improve its ability to identify and treat psychological problems.
The inadequate treatment of returning soldiers is getting unprecedented attention after recent stories were published in The Washington Post about wounded outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
PTSD is being called the invisible but most widespread wound suffered by perhaps tens of thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cause can be emotional or stem from injuries caused by explosives jarring delicate brain tissue. The injuries later manifest themselves in such symptoms as depression, suicidal tendencies, nightmares, anxiety and flashbacks.
Shortly before Rich’s death, we heard reports that some soldiers at Fort Carson had not gotten proper care for PTSD or were punished for seeking help. Officials denied the allegations but recently took the positive step of mandating training to raise awareness of PTSD and other combat stress disorders.
That’s critical, given the sharp rise in the number of soldiers seeking mental health treatment since Fort Carson started sending troops to Iraq in 2003. Fort Carson treats 1,700 soldiers monthly for combat-stress-related issues, including PTSD. Last year, Fort Carson diagnosed 590 soldiers with PTSD, compared with 32 cases diagnosed in 2002 before the war started. But those numbers are likely on the low side. The disorder often doesn’t manifest itself for months.
At a Colorado Senate State Affairs Committee hearing last month, Sharon Raggio, chief of the Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group in Colorado Springs, testified that a deputy commander of psychiatry at the Evans U.S. Army Hospital at Fort Carson called her recently to plead for help, saying Fort Carson’s mental health facilities were “busting at the seams,” something Fort Carson has refused to acknowledge publicly.
“She said,’Hey, we need help. I’d like to start sending you three active-duty soldiers a day for treatment,”‘ Raggio told the committee.
Veterans have paid a heavy price to serve this country in a disputed war. Their needs, whether physical or mental, should be made a military priority.
