Without fail, these men experienced frustration receiving any kind of rating. It was widely accepted among my comrades that the VA would turn down initial requests for compensation. I strongly differ with any notion that 100% disability ratings were given just because someone showed up at a VA facility with a problem.

Certainly there have been cases when undeserving people “gamed the system”. I also would include that bona fide cases of PTSD have been complicated by an individual’s refusal to stop using drugs or alcohol which complicate treatment.

While PTSD is not exclusive to Vietnam veterans, I would point out the shunning we received by a largely indifferent society once we returned home. Many PTSD cases went untreated for many years as a result.

Your friend with the coffee table is among one of the fortunate ones, as he had a loving and caring family that supported him. This is not always the case among veterans or people in general.

My own experience led me down the path of least resistance of drugs and alcohol. For ten years, I did not care if the world came to an end. Like your friend I eventually met a fine woman who has a knack for listening and saying the right thing. Again, not every veteran is as fortunate as I. And not everyone has the inner strength to finally come to the realization that the real unfortunate ones were the ones that didn’t make it back or the ones who suffered terrible, permanent wounds. I witnessed my share of both.

I would encourage any veteran – from any war – to seek professional counseling or go the the VA for help if you feel you need it.

Imam Faizul Khan, long the main prayer leader at the mosque and a friend of Hasan….is a leading board member of the Islamic Society of North America — the main Wahhabi-lobby group in the United States, established by Saudi Arabia to impose extremism on American Muslims.

Read the rest here. Overall, I’m not surprised that Obama is acting the way he is; he, of course, was member of a church with a radical preacher.

-Dave

I am sorry, but we are at war with these people, and war has always been a political issue, particularly in a free republic such as ours.

-Dave

If this SOB lives through his injuries he should be executed for treason.

I was stationed at Ft Hood 3 times from the mid 1980′s until late 1990s.

This guy knew his victims would have little to no defense because of the DoD policies that create essentially gun-free zones* out of military installations. He has committed murder and treason in the same act and deserves to stop breathing and go straight to hell.

*Most of the Military’s weapons are generally locked up until used for training/deployment and personal weapons so severely restricted they are essentially banned from normally having them on base or not locked up somewhere.

I understand the concept of trauma related stress. I remember the wife of a friend telling me how – after being home only a month – he rolled off the sofa and charged the front door wearing the coffee table on his chest at the sound of fireworks awakening him from a nap. I remember the crazy conversations we had with him where he still treated every conflict as something to fight his way out of. But he returned to normal life on his own. He never allowed any “diagnoses” to make him a prisoner to his otherwise temporarily heightened adrenalin levels or lowered morale. It was his wife’s love, the support of his friends, and his own self-determination that allowed him to put the bad experience behind him and carry the good forward. I suspect that those kept on the dole for PTSD would fare better being referred to treatment for clinical depression – a very real, but more understood and treatable condition.

As we know from our multitudinous and mostly misguided attempts to help folks with welfare payments, some people are genuinely “helped” while many just game the system.

The same can be said for a diagnosis of PTSD. As a professional mental health counselor, I’ve seen it in both incarnations. Unfortunately, with falible man, any diagnosis or condition can be gamed for fun and profit. The folks who ultimately pay for it, of course, are those with the authentic condition.

As for this POS at Ft. Hood, he likely does not have it and should probably be lined up in front of a firing squad.

Just sayin’…

This “Jihadist” committed treason employing terror as a tactic. Premeditation was part of his program. Much of modern warfare does not include a uniformed opponent. The Vietnam war was guerrilla warfare for the most part, but only the North Vietnamese Army and their opposing forces wore uniforms. The NVA and Vietcong employed guerrilla tactics, while we used conventional tactics and paid a high price.