NATO AIR
03-21-2008, 09:30 PM
- Media misreporting on the issue has citizens scared of crazed vets.
- Some people just don't care.. its not their war and not their problem.
- These vets have been abandoned by the Bush Admin and most in Congress... not nearly the kind of funding required for the VA, especially in treating PTSD as well as training PTSD counselors and setting up special incentives to psych students and others to choose such a career field...
- A mother who is trying to her fallen veteran's son memory by helping his comrades is vilified by some and ignored by most others.... a tragedy of immense proportions.
- One of the coolest places I've ever been to is at Camp Lejune where wounded and PTSD afflicted Marines live together for a number of months under the leadership of PTSD/wounded officers and senior NCO's... learning how to adapt and work together and independently to overcome their injuries (mental and physical).... these group home efforts work....
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TRAUMATIZED_SOLDIERS_HOME?SITE=NCFAY&SECTION=HOME
Group Housing for Vets Raises Concerns
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Associated Press Writer
GUERNEVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- Merry Lane, a cul-de-sac shaded by redwoods in Sonoma County wine country, would seem a pleasant place to recover from the psychic wounds of war. Nadia McCaffrey's dream is to set up a group home there for veterans plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder.
But she is running into stiff resistance from the neighbors. They not only object to the brand-new structure itself, which looks like a four-story apartment house wedged amid their cabins, they are also worried that deranged veterans will move in.
At a community meeting in December, "one person was concerned that even firecrackers would set these people off," said Andrew Eckers, 54, who lives across the street.
McCaffrey, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, said she has tried to reassure the neighbors, but "they are afraid of it because they don't want to understand it."
Projects similar to McCaffrey's have cropped up in other communities across the country, with some also raising concerns from neighbors, in part because of the many news accounts of traumatized veterans committing suicide or murder.
- Some people just don't care.. its not their war and not their problem.
- These vets have been abandoned by the Bush Admin and most in Congress... not nearly the kind of funding required for the VA, especially in treating PTSD as well as training PTSD counselors and setting up special incentives to psych students and others to choose such a career field...
- A mother who is trying to her fallen veteran's son memory by helping his comrades is vilified by some and ignored by most others.... a tragedy of immense proportions.
- One of the coolest places I've ever been to is at Camp Lejune where wounded and PTSD afflicted Marines live together for a number of months under the leadership of PTSD/wounded officers and senior NCO's... learning how to adapt and work together and independently to overcome their injuries (mental and physical).... these group home efforts work....
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TRAUMATIZED_SOLDIERS_HOME?SITE=NCFAY&SECTION=HOME
Group Housing for Vets Raises Concerns
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Associated Press Writer
GUERNEVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- Merry Lane, a cul-de-sac shaded by redwoods in Sonoma County wine country, would seem a pleasant place to recover from the psychic wounds of war. Nadia McCaffrey's dream is to set up a group home there for veterans plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder.
But she is running into stiff resistance from the neighbors. They not only object to the brand-new structure itself, which looks like a four-story apartment house wedged amid their cabins, they are also worried that deranged veterans will move in.
At a community meeting in December, "one person was concerned that even firecrackers would set these people off," said Andrew Eckers, 54, who lives across the street.
McCaffrey, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, said she has tried to reassure the neighbors, but "they are afraid of it because they don't want to understand it."
Projects similar to McCaffrey's have cropped up in other communities across the country, with some also raising concerns from neighbors, in part because of the many news accounts of traumatized veterans committing suicide or murder.