Watching the new film by Frontline/PBS titled “The Wounded Platoon” was an eye opener for myself. This was an incredible film, as it told the story of Third Platoon, Charlie Company that was deployed to Iraq. The film documented soldiers from the platoon who came home after being deployed to war, and who struggled with Post traumatic Stress Disorder. Though this film also showed me how the battle to get these soldiers help, will never end.
In the film “The Wounded Platoon”, It was clear to me how the system to get soldiers who struggle with PTSD the proper help, just doesn’t work. During this filming, soldiers in Iraq spoke about how they were on several different types of medications, to help them sleep and to help them with symptoms of PTSD while in the war zone. The soldiers of Third Platoon, Charlie Company, had the opportunities to speak to counselors on their home base, and even on their deployed base, though it wasn’t enough. One thing I heard by a military therapist in the film, was the word “understaffed”. A word that comes up all too often when members of the military look for help from either the government, or outside agencies.
Having an understaffed counseling department, will cause soldiers to walk away, cause inabilities to see a counselor on a regular basis and will cause soldiers to find their own ways of dealing with their difficulties, which could lead to alcohol and drug abuse. We saw this in the film, as soldiers time and time again, mentioned how they would use drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism for dealing with their symptoms of PTSD. With the growing number of military member’s finding themselves battling symptoms of PTSD, this is the time mental health facilities (government and private) need to be “OVERSTAFFED”. These men and women deserve every ounce of help, and knowing these facilities are overstaffed and not understaffed will give them even more hope that they can get the help they need in the appropriate time.
What “understaffed” mental health facilities could cause.
- Soldiers will lose hope they will overcome their illness, because of the lack of availability of staff and facilities
- Increase in hand outs of medications by medical staff without also speaking to a counselor on a regular basis
- Not enough time to really understand what a soldier may be dealing with, so a simple survey may be used to collect the information that can cause misdiagnosis of conditions
- Workers for these facilities will be overwhelmed with larger caseloads, giving clients less time to speak to the counselor and even having a counselor who just isn’t working to their full potential because of being overworked with longer hours or larger caseloads as mentioned before
These are just a few ideas that I feel will continuously cause our soldiers to not get the proper help they need, because of understaffed medical facilities. Even in the private sector, we have seen a decrease in mental health facilities and an increase of people with psychological disorders winding up on the streets and even behind bars. Back in the Vietnam era, the lack of facilities caused many Vietnam Veterans to not get the help they needed and many wound up turning to substance abuse and on the streets of the same country that they stood up to serve for.
It sickens me to have to write my feelings about a situation as such, a situation that should have been corrected years ago. Though because we live in a world, where money rules, I feel we may continuously see our veterans not have the ability to find and get the help they need when battling an illness such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
However, where the government lacks, many Americans are stepping in to do what they can to help our veterans, past and present. Groups such as The Soldiers Project, Vets Prevail, American Widow Project, Vets 4 Vets, and other groups, that can be found on Transitioning Veteran Wiki are stepping up to use their experience to help our military men and women. From creating online resiliency training, to individual and group counseling, these organizations that were formed by incredible people, understand that these veterans need help. What they have created has helped to make a big difference for not only veterans, but also for their families.
A special thanks to all these organizations out there who are stepping up to help our Veterans and a special thanks to all such as Frontline/PBS who create incredible films that help tell the truth about what our Veterans are going through in a time of war.
Frontline/PBS – “The Wounded Platoon”
The growing list of non-profit organizations helping veterans
http://transitioningveteran.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Organizations#Health_Services
